"Madam Lisa, it must have been hard on you, staying inside the same brain as this little fellow."
Hastur suddenly spoke with a light chuckle. Earlier, Lisa had been hiding inside Ariella's body, which was why Sauron-Einhorn-Medici had felt wary.
Their probing had also been secretly defused by Madam Lisa.
"It is my honor to serve Your Excellency, the Divine Envoy." Madam Lisa's voice came from inside Ariella's mind.
"Meow!" Ariella, who had originally been lying on Hastur's thigh, suddenly cried out. It sprang upright, placing its two front paws on Hastur's chest, its deep-blue eyes looking all around, full of confusion and fear.
Hastur stroked Ariella's head and said, "Don't worry so much, little fellow. Madam Lisa will return your brain to you in a moment."
"Meow?!" Ariella immediately shuddered all over. What kind of devilish remark was that?!
"Your Excellency, that evil spirit just now was not simple. You must be especially careful when dealing with matters related to it."
Faced with Madam Lisa's reminder, Hastur nodded.
Only when Madam Lisa had completely left Ariella's brain did Ariella let out an aggrieved whimper. It had no idea what had happened; it only knew that its thoughts seemed to have been stolen.
"It's fine. Your brain is so small it can barely be seen, and it usually doesn't serve much purpose anyway. Losing it is losing it."
"Meow!" Ariella's fur stood on end. It leapt down from Hastur's thigh and quickly dashed out of the study, likely going to seek comfort from Sharron.
"Chirp." The phoenix Gregrace, standing on Hastur's shoulder, flapped her wings, opened a passage to the spirit world, and left as well.
Only Hastur and 008 remained in the study.
"For the time being, stay inside the pen case and don't come out." 008 only trembled slightly and did not protest. It probably also knew that it might attract even more troublesome figures.
After placing 008 inside the pen case, Hastur slipped the Red Priest card into the pages of the book Fate Weaver, then took it and the pen case back to his bedroom.
On the way, he met a maid who usually cleaned the study and instructed her to buy a fine new desk.
After returning to his bedroom, Hastur sat before the windowsill and opened Fate Weaver to the page where the Red Priest card was tucked in, beginning to carefully read the contents recorded on it.
This Red Priest card was different from the Black Emperor card. Its seal had already been opened by Sauron-Einhorn-Medici, so no opening incantation was needed.
The Red Priest Beyonder pathway:
Sequence 9: Hunter
Sequence 8: Provoker
Sequence 7: Pyromaniac
Sequence 6: Conspirer
Sequence 5: Reaper
Sequence 4: Iron-Blooded Knight
Sequence 3: War Bishop
Sequence 2: Weather Warlock
Sequence 1: Conqueror
Sequence 0: Red Priest
Hastur's gaze swept briefly over the earlier contents, focusing mainly on the information after Sequence 4, Iron-Blooded Knight.
Unlike the Witch pathway, the Hunter pathway only produced the transformation from female to male at Sequence 4.
This was the most iron-blooded and masculine Beyonder pathway. All Beyonders above Sequence 4 were male.
Hastur carefully read through the advancement ritual and potion formula after Sequence 4, Iron-Blooded Knight, several times until he had completely memorized them.
He could now first have the Yellow Monks organization begin searching for the Beyonder ingredients and a portion of Iron-Blooded Knight Beyonder characteristics needed for advancement.
Although he might not necessarily switch pathways, there was absolutely nothing wrong with making preparations in advance.
After finishing, Hastur also took out the Black Emperor card and the Witch card.
Lining up the three Cards of Blasphemy neatly on the table, Hastur felt a rather satisfying sense of collecting figurines.
That was, provided he first ignored the three completely different images of Roselle on the Cards of Blasphemy.
"If there's a chance, I could try collecting a complete set of all twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy."
After admiring them contentedly for a while, Hastur tucked the three Cards of Blasphemy separately into Fate Weaver as bookmarks. At the same time, he placed the pen case containing 008 on top of the book.
After thinking it over, he felt that having 008 press down on it was not very secure. It was better to let that golden box shoulder this heavy responsibility.
He believed that no one could take away this copy of Fate Weaver, which hid three Cards of Blasphemy, from beneath the golden box's suppression without alerting him.
Although 008 very much wanted to stay together with Fate Weaver, it was far too afraid of the golden box, and so it chose to remain in Hastur's study.
...
At the harbor of Puning Port, Sauron-Einhorn-Medici obediently lined up to buy a ferry ticket. Only when They had boarded the ferry and the vessel left the harbor beneath the setting sun did They truly let out a sigh of relief.
Today's encounter made even Them, who had seen much of the world, feel uneasy.
They had naturally seen that the little black cat was unusual, but They could not accurately see through the truth hidden inside its body.
That unknown factor made Them wary. That young nobleman kept using Adam and Amon to frighten people, and with one glance, he had seen through Their true identity.
They had initially thought he might be some old acquaintance They knew, but in the end, They rejected that idea.
What shocked Them the most was the little firebird that had crossed over from the spirit world at the very end.
The aura emanating from it, They could never have mistaken it. The aura of Death Emperor Salinger!
Besides His aura, there was also an even more ancient aura, suspected to belong to the Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace, who had fallen in the distant past.
Could Death Emperor Salinger and the Phoenix Ancestor have successfully fused together, just like Their own current state?
Then who was truly in control of the phoenix that appeared just now? And what was the background of that young nobleman protected by the phoenix?
Or rather, could that young nobleman be the true Death Emperor Salinger?
For a Death God, even after falling, He would certainly leave behind a means of resurrection. Unless the next Death God appeared, it would be possible for the previous Death God to die completely.
Since Death Emperor Salinger, no new Death God had ever appeared.
This meant that the possibility of Death Emperor Salinger successfully resurrecting and returning was very high.
Now, war happened to be breaking out on the Southern Continent, with the shadows of death and war covering the entire land. It was hard to say that this was not being secretly orchestrated by Death Emperor Salinger.
They should be glad that the one who had returned from resurrection was not Blood Emperor Alista Tudor. Otherwise, today They would once again have become hotpot ingredients stewed together in one pot.
"Although the divine kingdoms of the Seven Gods are no longer on this land, we still cannot be careless, especially in our current state."
"This body is also gradually becoming unable to hold on. We need a new suitable body, and we also need to hurry and recover our strength."
"This place is very close to Bansy Harbor. We can stop by on the way and use what was left there to recover a bit of our strength. You two don't want to keep getting frightened away by others, do you?"
This time, Sauron and Einhorn did not oppose Medici's suggestion. They urgently needed to recover a certain degree of strength.
If They happened to encounter Adam and Amon, Their situation would become very bad.
Back then, the reason They had been wiped out in one fell swoop by Blood Emperor Alista Tudor was, besides Medici's stupidity, because the brothers Adam and Amon had joined hands behind the scenes to scheme against Them.
"In my opinion, why go through so much trouble? Let me directly pray to the Lord, then meet up with the great serpent. We'll have plenty of time to recover our strength."
"Stop dreaming!" Sauron and Einhorn rebuked Medici's delusion in unison.
They would never go to the kingdom of an evil god like the True Creator.
Moreover, given Medici's relationship with the True Creator, the two of Them would very likely have Their consciousness erased to fulfill Medici.
"Ignorance has led you to turn away from the Lord. One day, you will understand who the true Creator really is."
Medici retorted disdainfully. Soon, the three of Them once again began cursing and arguing with one another.
...
Bansy Harbor.
Outside the port was anchored an ironclad warship of the Loen Kingdom, along with several large warships.
"We should simply bombard all of Bansy Harbor flat. Only then can we completely sever the hidden danger here."
On the ironclad warship, a person in charge from the Church of Storms spoke with a cold face, his tone filled with killing intent.
Crestet Cesimir, injured and looking weak, immediately stopped him.
"No. There are still many people trapped inside. My teammate Klein is also missing. Once Bansy Harbor is flattened, his last chance of survival will be cut off as well."
"Do you want to use other people's lives to fill in this pit called Bansy Harbor?"
"This..." Crestet Cesimir found it difficult to refute him. Having personally experienced the Bansy Harbor incident, he knew very well how terrifying the place was.
"If they still can't come out alive before six o'clock tomorrow morning, then they can become history together with Bansy Harbor. That is the final mercy I can give them."
Crestet Cesimir said nothing more. This was indeed the best method available at the moment.
As time passed bit by bit, night gave way to a new dawn, Crestet Cesimir's heart sank little by little as the sun rose.
He still had not seen Klein's figure emerge from Bansy Harbor.
"Time's up." The person in charge from the Church of Storms ordered the ironclad warship and the other warships to fire all their cannons at once.
Shell after shell fell upon Bansy Harbor, whose area had not been very large to begin with, thoroughly sweeping over every inch of the place.
Under such artillery bombardment, Klein had no chance of survival at all.
"Klein, I'll help out your family as much as I can for you."
With a heart full of grief, Crestet Cesimir bowed deeply toward Bansy Harbor, which was engulfed in roaring cannon fire.