Lin Huai sat facing the empty night sky, lost in thought for a long time.
Marionette, vessel... A long while passed.
He suddenly raised his head. In his eyes, which had regained clarity, all confusion, sorrow, and self-doubt had already vanished.
Facing the sky that had witnessed all the joys and sorrows of this night, he slowly, firmly, raised a middle finger.
To hell with fate.
To hell with schemes.
He stood up, patted the dust off his clothes, and regained his composed, confident demeanor. He walked to the spot where Itmer and Kaelan had last disappeared, bent down, and carefully picked up the breathtakingly beautiful eye and the mosquito perfectly encased in yellow amber from the ground. He placed them into two separate boxes and stored them carefully.
After finishing this, he turned and shouted towards Thor in the distance, who stood like a silent sculpture carrying Loki on his back:
"Let's go, time to go home."
Thor silently nodded, carefully adjusted the posture of his brother on his back, and took heavy steps to follow.
Just as the three of them were about to leave this suffocating place, a furious voice came from behind.
"Shit! What the hell is going on? Can someone explain it to me?"
Danitz scrambled over, his face a picture of utter bewilderment, completely unable to understand why the life-and-death struggle from moments ago had suddenly turned into a scene of familial warmth, and then everyone just went their separate ways.
Watching the backs of Lin Huai and Thor, who clearly had no intention of acknowledging him, Danitz stamped his feet in frustration and shouted loudly, "Hey! Wait for me!"
Returning to the Church of the Fool in the City of Generosity, the scene before Danitz once again left him stunned.
The ruins that had been struck by the Lord of Storms' wrath were now brightly lit. A large group of people wearing the vestments of the Church of the Fool were methodically carrying out cleanup operations. They worked with clear division of labor and high efficiency—some moving stones, others clearing rubble. Their meticulous seriousness and professional process were exactly like Police cleaning up a crime scene in a Hong Kong cop movie.
At that moment, a cleric wearing a mask and sporting striking blue short hair walked quickly through the busy crowd towards Lin Huai.
He placed his right hand on his chest and bowed respectfully.
"Hail to you, Your Eminence. May your radiance forever guide us."
Lin Huai recognized him immediately: Alger Wilson, the 'Hanged Man'. Seeing this important member of the Tarot Club before him, he felt little surprise.
"So you know all about this, do you? You arrived right as things were resolved."
Facing Lin Huai's words, Alger remained humble. He lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "These are all the designs of the divine. I am merely an executor. Your Eminence, please follow me. The Lord's oracle awaits you."
Led by Alger, Lin Huai passed through the bustling hall and entered the deepest prayer room of the church alone.
He looked up at the complex Holy Emblem on the wall, composed of the 'pupil-less eye' and 'Twisted Lines', symbolizing the Fool.
The moment his gaze fell upon the emblem, the surroundings instantly transformed.
Familiar, boundless gray-white mist surged forth, and a grand, ancient palace emerged from within the fog.
Once again, he was pulled atop Sefirah Castle.
Beside the ancient long table, on the High-backed chair symbolizing the 'Fool', the black-haired, black-eyed youth was still slumbering. His face was peaceful, as if merely lost in a lengthy dream.
Unlike last time, a silver mirror with an ornate design now rested upon the mottled long table.
Lin Huai's arrival seemed to activate some preset program.
The mirror trembled slightly and floated into the air. On its smooth surface, lines of silver, twisted words rapidly appeared:
"Great Master, are you ready? Now that you know the truth, what do you intend to do?"
It was Arrodes.
Looking at the words on the mirror, then at the sleeping Klein in the distant High-backed chair, the heavy burden and weariness that had weighed on Lin Huai's face for so long suddenly vanished completely.
He grinned, laughing, laughing with immense joy and relief.
Then, he walked around the long table and, under the mirror's gaze, resolutely sat down in the High-backed chair symbolizing the 'World'.
"What's there to prepare for?"
His voice echoed through the vast emptiness of Sefirah Castle, filled with an unprecedented lightness and determination.
"I am him, he is me. We were always one and the same."
Lin Huai crossed his legs, leaned back comfortably into the chair, and uttered that name only he knew in a tone brimming with nostalgia and fervor.
"Klein... no, Zhou Mingrui, brother's here to pull you out."
He raised his hand and made a grasping motion towards the figure in the High-backed chair.
"Let's charge forward together one more time!"
After saying this, he turned his head, his gaze burning as he stared at the floating silver mirror.
"Arrodes, speak! What is his plan? Tell me!"
"If this World truly needs a Lord of the Mysteries, then it must be Klein!"
Before his words fully faded, Arrodes' mirror surface flashed. The surrounding gray-white mist and ancient palace rippled violently, as if a stone had been thrown into water.
The scene before him rapidly shifted, finally settling into a painfully familiar modern study.
Warm light fell from the ceiling. A floor-to-ceiling bookshelf lined the wall, crammed with all sorts of books, from historical tomes to physical editions of web novels. On the desk, beside a glowing computer screen, sat a steaming cup of black tea. A few empty snack wrappers were scattered near the keyboard.
The slumbering youth was now wearing comfortable casual loungewear, sitting in a gaming chair behind the desk, reading a book. Seeing Lin Huai suddenly appear before him, he was momentarily startled, then offered a somewhat shy yet utterly sincere smile, adjusting the nonexistent glasses on his nose.
"Oh, you're here?" he greeted with a laugh, casually placing the book aside. "Your experiences lately have been quite something. I watched them all, as thrilling as following a top author's serial. Who would have thought... those movie plots were actually real. By the way, why didn't you go back to the old hometown? I really miss Sichuan cuisine, especially Maoxuewang and hotpot."
Lin Huai was completely dumbfounded. He pointed at Zhou Mingrui before him, his face a mask of disbelief.
"You... you... you... weren't you asleep? What's going on? Did you win your resurrection match?"
Zhou Mingrui waved his hand with a smile. On his face, identical to Klein's, was an expression of modern ease and a hint of helplessness.
"No way, resurrection matches aren't that easy. This is just a sliver of consciousness I managed to separate, barely enough to 'live' here and chat." He pointed at Lin Huai. "Thanks to the experiences you brought back, especially Itmer's choice. That intense brilliance of humanity anchored my own humanity like the strongest anchor, letting me briefly find myself again within the Celestial Worthy's will."
He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and looked up at the ceiling, his gaze somewhat distant.
"My plan... you probably understand most of it now. The Celestial Worthy is a born mythical creature—cold, merciless, viewing all things as ants. I can't guarantee that if I lose, He would ignore humanity or not toy with this World. So I must be the final Lord of the Mysteries."
"My original plan was simple and crude: have you collect enough humanity and emotions, then'sacrifice' them all to me in one go, using a massive surge of humanity to forcibly break through the Celestial Worthy's suppression and win this resurrection match. Straightforward and direct."
He shifted his tone, looking back at Lin Huai, a strange light in his eyes.
"But later, from Alger's report, I learned the story of Saint Itmer. I thought to myself... if a born mythical creature can also be 'bestowed' with humanity later, and ultimately chooses it..."
"Does that mean... the Celestial Worthy could also be changed? If even He could be filled with humanity, then... could I finally, truly, clock out?"
"So I directed this stage play. Indeed, born mythical creatures can also possess humanity."
Zhou Mingrui's voice carried an indescribable weariness and longing.
"I miss home so much... really."
Lin Huai was just about to say something more.
However, the room before him suddenly began to distort and flicker violently, like an old TV with bad reception. The bookshelves on the walls warped, the computer screen filled with static. A cold, ancient, terrifying will—unlike any known concept—was trying to pierce through the barrier and manifest here!
Zhou Mingrui's expression instantly turned grave. His previously clear figure also began to grow faint. He urgently waved his hand at Lin Huai.
"No more talk! Do what you must. Take Arrodes with you; he can help you a lot. Go now, the Celestial Worthy is dropping by!"
"We were always one entity anyway, nothing to fear." Lin Huai made an 'OK' gesture towards the fading illusion, his face displaying unprecedented resolve. "At worst, I lose, then I shout 'Klein Moretti' and he revives within my body."