Klein looked at his fellow man deeply, a complicated expression on his face.
Of all the things he expected Joa to say, that he was a Herald was not one of them.
Being careful what he thought, Klein pursed his lips slightly and, after a few moments of consideration, he slowly asked.
"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"
He might not be able to know anything about it at the moment due to the hazardous nature of the information itself, but whether it was something positive or negative wouldn't affect him, so it was safe to know.
With his jaw a bit clenched, Adryan sighed wearily, "Let's leave it at negative."
Running a cracked hand through his hair, he grunted in frustration, "With how well this day had started... Sigh"
Nodding to the man, Klein thought something over for a moment. Raising a hand, he patted his fellow man's shoulder a few times. The table wasn't very wide, so he didn't have to stretch at all.
Seeing and feeling how he was using his method of comfort against himself, the redhead's mood lifted a bit at the amusement of it.
'Always a guardian, eh? Ha... That's why you're my favorite clown.'
Shaking his head, Adryan looked down at the pages he still held in his hands, and his eyes narrowed a bit.
Being that this title of the Emperor's was never revealed to the public, then it must have been because his relationship with the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery was completely severed before that.
"What do you think Roselle tried to steal?" He asked without looking away from the page.
Even if he didn't want to change the subject, Klein noted, hoping it might be for the best, so nodding, he answered.
"Quite possibly an artifact with the characteristics of Sequence 1 of the Mystery Prier Pathway. Looks like he wanted to change his path."
"Sigh. I think the same thing." Adryan internally clicked his tongue.
In the original story, Roselle had to find and face an artifact to obtain the characteristics of the Knowledge Emperor. The Church of the God of Steam and Machinery never had it in their hands.
But this time they did. How?
Also, why had that 'guy' helped him?
Many questions, no answers.
Sighing, Adryan looked at the detective who had yet to let go of his shoulder and smiled slightly.
"Thank you, Zhou."
Returning a small smile, Klein nodded and removed his hand.
"We have to watch our backs, don't we?"
At that, the redhead nodded, snorting in amusement, "You really have to state the obvious?"
Raising a fist, he extended it to the front.
Rolling his eyes slightly, Klein also raised his fist and bumped it with his.
At that moment, Adryan spoke in a somewhat heavy tone, "By the way. There's something I wanted to tell you."
" 'Seriously?" Klein couldn't help himself and said almost immediately, eyes wide in judgment.
When he used that voice, something good never came, never!
Lowering his fist and sighing wearily, he took a breath and nodded, "What is it?"
"Abandon any attempt to pursue Lanevus. It's not safe."
Klein's heart skipped a beat yet soon returned to a relatively normal rhythm, with the bonus of being heavier than before.
All the information he had gained about the ritual that brought the True Creator spawn into the world had come from the man in front of him. That he knew who Lanevus was was no surprise.
What frightened Klein was that he would mention it.
Controlling his tone, he asked worriedly, "What about him?"
"Lanevus as an individual and as a human being no longer exists; he is dead. Only his body remains, but whoever is inside is not him."
Klein immediately understood what that meant, and pure horror filled him.
A little over a month ago, when the World went online, his soul brother had revealed in the Tarot Club that the Aurora Order had accomplished something with the Moonless Night that had improved the True Creator's status.
He hadn't understood at the time what they could have done to accomplish it, but now he finally got the answer....
And it was one he would never have wanted to hear.
"They did it... The Aurora Order created a Vessel of Descent for the True Creator..." Staring at the ground, Klein felt his world fall apart.
While he had managed to stop the ritual in Tingen, that meant nothing if it were completed elsewhere.
In the world, the vessel of an Evil God walks.
No wonder Joa had not explained himself when he mentioned the improvement in the True Creator's condition. If this news were to spread, it would cause the world to fall into chaos and fear.
His heart ached, and Klein could not help but raise a hand and clutch his chest in anguish.
In the end, all his efforts on Tingen were for naught-
Controlling his thoughts before they went off the rails, Klein closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.
He couldn't think like that; his efforts were for nothing! The captain's sacrifice couldn't be disrespected in such a vile way.
"You're taking it better than I thought," Adryan admitted, honestly surprised.
"I'm doing my best." Klein didn't elaborate, controlling his expression so as not to show how furious he was.
"Why would you hold something like that back?"
"The Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom is aware, as both Mr Fool and my Lord." Adryan sighed calmly, "It may not seem like it, but that guy is necessary."
"...Necessary?" Klein repeated slowly, eyes wide and mouth half open.
Was this guy even listening to what he was saying?!
Feeling the man's control slipping, Adryan held up his hands.
"Just hear me out, okay?"
Breathing slowly, Klein closed his eyes and entered a state of semicogitation.
His emotions that a moment ago had jumped and wallowed like beasts were quickly calming down, until after about 30 seconds, they fell asleep.
Opening eyes that were more serene than before, the detective sighed wearily, "Go ahead."
Internally, Klein could only groan at his slip; it had been a long time since he had been so upset that he had lost his temper. That, coupled with the fact that he was usually more relaxed here, made him let his guard down, and he ended up expressing annoyance when he didn't usually do that.
'Only this guy and Leonard can get on my nerves so easily... Sigh.'
Noting how the detective was calmer, the redhead had to do his best not to burst out laughing.
'He looked like an angry cat!!!! What is this?!' Incredulous, Adryan strengthened his efforts on himself.
But try as he might, the image of the slightly hunched, shouldered Klein was etched in stone and chisel in his mind.
He really was a black cat!
Knowing that Klein's spirituality could alert him to the fact that he was taunting him, despite the situation they were in, Adryan stopped playing games and explained himself.
"I'm just going to confirm the obvious, this will tell you everything you need to know... But first, I want to confirm that it's okay for me to tell you this."
That said, the red-haired man placed a hand on his chest and looked up at the kitchen ceiling, but he was not looking at it, but at something beyond it.
With humility and seriousness, Adryan spoke, "Mr Fool, is it okay if I tell a little of the truth? I will only say what is necessary and nothing forbidden.
"But if you do not wish it, then I will say nothing. I will do what you see best."
'This...' Groaning inside him, but with the same expression as before, thanks to his Clown powers, Klein used the control he had over this space and spoke in his mind.
In the distance, the Fool's voice responded to the request calmly, "Alright."
Giving a bow, Adryan closed his eyes, "Thank you, Mr Fool."
Turning to him again and after a short pause, the red-haired man said, "The True Creator is the Lord that the City of Silver believes in."
"..." Klein looked at his companion with his mouth hanging open slightly.
That... that had been fast.
"Straight to the point, eh?" muttering, the detective was grateful to be sitting. His legs were deferring limply.
With Joa's confirmation of something he already thought about, other questions were born out of it.
His partner had described the hatred between the Church of the Lord of Stroms, Eternal Blazing Sun, God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and the True Creator as deserved....
Did these gods have anything to do with his downfall? That would explain the constant clashes between the organizations....
Shaking his head, Klein quickly went into cogitation.
Thinking about such things would only bring unnecessary danger upon him! He couldn't risk that!
Placing his arms on the table, the detective used them as a pillow to lay his head on.
With his arms choking his voice a little, he growled, "This world is in complete chaos..."
'And you don't know the half of it...' Adding inwardly, Adyan brought the cup to his lips and took a sip.
"Amen to that..."
Watching as the red-haired man disappeared from the kitchen. Klein changed his appearance back to the Hall of Giants and took his place in the seat of honor.
He still had a few transfers to complete before he could return to his body.
...
Feeling the weight back on his chest, Adryan lazily opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling of his living room.
"..." Lowering his gaze, a cloud of white hair greeted him back.
His dear worm was lying on top of him, taking a now customary nap in which his body was the bed and his chest the pillow. A thick blanket with a wool interior covered them both.
After a late breakfast due to their nightly activities, they stayed in the living room and fell asleep on the couch, which luckily was big enough so that it was not uncomfortable to lie down as they were now.
Unable to help himself, the redhead's lips curled into a small smile.
Reaching up with his left hand, he gently stroked the woman's head.
At the feel of her head being touched, Flora groaned slightly as she settled better into his chest and her arms wrapped tighter around his waist.
'And you dare call me a cuddlebug?' Laughing softly, but making sure not to make noise or disturb her, Adryan shook his head in amusement.
He was feeling a little better now.
Seeing that he still had some time before preparing the altar to receive the formula and materials from Little Sun, he closed his eyes and began to draw the sphere of light in his mind...
Reopening them back in his usual corner of the City, the red-haired man could only sigh heavily. Without even looking, he sat down in his already manifested beach chair and sipped his head.
With a dark whisper, the honorific name of the bastard who brought him here repeated itself in his mind with illusory murmurs in lenburg—not daring to even think it in a language that moved nature.
The Fire of Destruction that burned depravity;
Incarnation of Calamities...
The Closest to the Oldest One....
'The second line belongs to the honorific name of the Calamity of Destruction. But the rest...'
Ever since hearing that honorific name the first time he died and resurrected, Adryan had been racking his brain trying to make sense of the first and third lines.
While his experiences with the Rose School of Thought and the Doctor had been unpleasant, it was undeniable that those idiots gave him too much information.
'If there's one thing I have to give Doc, it's that it's thanks to him I know my life as Joa isn't a lie...' Adryan sighed, shaking his head, and went back to the subject at hand.
'Fire of Destruction is not only the Great Old One of my path, but it is very likely that he also tried to accommodate the River of Eternal Darkness, or came across it in some way.
'The existence of Hunters Hallow tells me that there was at least contact between the two.'
The mere fact that the City of Calamity and the River of Eternal Darkness were so close was terrifying....
"A true calamity..." Muttering, Adryan narrowed his eyes.
No longer bound, his mind began to interweave the information he possessed with the information he had just obtained, quickly giving birth to numerous theories as questions.
Why was Fire part of his honorific name instead of Calamity, when a Calamity was what best represented him?
'Throughout history, fire has been seen as both destruction and purification. Perhaps that is what it represents? Purification? Being that it includes 'burning depravity', it is very possible...
'This would explain why the second line is as it is.'
Incarnation of Calamities...
'Destruction inevitably brings Calamity... But only the second part of the line... The first part of Incarnation is most likely due to the third line...' His jaw clenched a little.
The closest to the Oldest One....
Even if the bastard really had tried to accommodate the river, that didn't explain the third line of his name.
'Not counting that the universe would die with that, the only thing he would manage to reach would be the level of a Pillar. Putting himself on equal footing with God Almighty, the Celestial Worthy and the Mother Goddess of Depravity...'
Adryan covered his face and sighed heavily. What he had discovered today replayed in his mind so many times that it made his head hurt.
'Roselle... Why can't anything be simple when you enter the scene? Don't you ever make a small entrance, oh Emperor?' Grunting a little, he sank back in his chair, his sight lost in the yellowish sky of this place.
That 'Caesar' was also a herald made everything more complicated as well as terrifying. The mere implications of what it could mean made his jaw unconsciously clench.
'From the Doctor's words, it would not be incorrect to assume that, looking at it in the simplest possible way, a Herald is a prospect to be a chance of the Fire of Destruction to revive.
'But that should pertain only to beyonders of the Red Priest and Demoness path, perhaps also to the Sleepless, Death, and Warrior group, because of the possible accommodation of their sephira.
'But for a Savant Pathway beyonder to be a Herald?'
That would be impossible, nonsensical.
However, for Adryan, with the information he possessed as a Transmigrator and knowing the end of the story, he could see how the impossible became possible.
And contrary to what one would expect, the explanation was extremely simple.
Staring into nothingness, Adryan cursed with pure venom.
'That bastard tried to accommodate another sefirot.'
The Fire of Destruction, aside from trying to accommodate the River of Eternal Darkness, had also tried to accommodate the Knowledge Moor, the sephira of the Savant and Mystery Prier Pathway.
That would not only explain how Roselle was also a Herald, but also how something impossible like Hunters Hallow - something created purely from the water of the River of Eternal Darkness - could exist.
The robe had been created using the Savant Pathway's authority over creation and with the Mystery Prier Pathway that controlled information, allowing the wearer of the robe to 'join' their soul with their body and load it back to when they were healthy.
Just like putting two files back together after separating them.
Adryan's eyes widened slightly, understanding shining in them.
'That would also explain the state of my right arm. Because I interrupted the process of joining my soul and body over and over again, a bug happened!'
Trying to keep two files separate during the joining process would always end in a glitch, and that was what happened to him.
The more Adryan thought about it, the more it became apparent that the bastard had successfully accommodated the Knowledge Moor.
A part of the redhead wondered for a moment how that was possible.
Not the fact that the bastard had managed to accommodate it, but that the Knowledge Moor had even been available to do so.
It was supposed to be sealed in the Western Continent with the rest of the Sephiroth!
Of course, as soon as that question came up, he already had an answer.
The only way that could have happened was if the Fire of Destruction had accommodated it before it was sealed.
That meant that...
When Fire of Destruction attempted and fell into madness by accommodating a non-adjacent sefirot, as well as becoming completely lost in the sense of convergence....
God Almighty and Celestial Worthy were attempting to do the same.
With a shudder, Adryan looked expressionlessly into nothingness.
"..."
After an unknown amount of time in silence, the red-haired man blinked twice slowly.
"... How the fuck is this planet still standing?" he muttered, completely incredulous.
In the First Epoch, or as it was also known, the Age of Chaos. Three fallen pillars in madness clashed over that uncontrollable sense of convergence....
No, not only that.
But considering the other part of the first line of the honorific name, the bastard also clashed with the Mother Goddess of Depravity!
Four Pillars collided!
In every sense, this planet should no longer exist!
'The only thing I can think of that would explain the planet still existing is that the conflict didn't happen in the Physical World but in the Spirit World or the Astral World or even the Mirror World, that's the only way...' Adryan muttered, not sure if that was really the case.
Shouldn't there be traces of a battle of that magnitude?
Pursing his lips a little, he brought his hand to his forehead and massaged it a little.
This was too much...
'And that's not including the God of Steam and Machinery's attitude in this.
'Why the fuck would he go public with the title of Herald of Roselle? Wouldn't that be counterproductive for him? Likewise, why did Roselle only receive the title of Herald when he had already been an Angel for several years and his fame was already worldwide?'
The first question had no apparent answer in his eyes, but the last one, Adryan could see some sense in it.
'Roselle was just an Angel. He had nothing special about him. Unlike him, I have the City of Calamities, and I'm that bastard's backup plan.'
If Adryan named it... It would be nepotism.
Roselle had to start from the 'bottom' and work his way up slowly. Only once he broke and abandoned his humanity and became a true Mythological creature was the Emperor worthy of being considered a Herald.
Adryan, on the other hand, just had to wake up, and he was one.
Nepotism.
'And not of the style that I have a fortune and live comfortably. But the kind that is a cancer that has a high chance of killing me...' The red-haired man sighed again.
This was all complicated.
At that moment, a fleeting thought crossed his mind. One that made him grunt heavily.
'Also, if Roselle was a Herald. That means that every Angel and up of the pathways of Red Priest, Demoness, Mystery Prier, Savant, Sleepless, Death, and Warrior are as well...'
Also, Adryan couldn't help but go back to thinking about what the Emperor had planned to do, that heist. More specifically, the support he had received.
'That he had received help from the Twilight Hermit Order meant that Adam participated... As far as I know, the paranoid had never helped him. Why now?'
That russian pastor never did anything just for the sake of it; Adam planned to accomplish something by helping Roselle. But what?
'Maybe he wanted to use Roselle like he did Antigonus, use him as the canary in the mine to see how active the will of the Fire of Destruction was?
'No, that couldn't be. With the Hidden Sage out there, the Bastard's will on the pathways is weak to almost non-existent... Sigh. What am I doing?
'I'm missing too much information to be trying to find a reason why Adam helped Roselle. But that it's related to the Bastard, there's no doubt...' Snarling Adryan this time used his whole hand to cover his face...
An instant later, a scream echoed from the outskirts of the City of Calamities.
"Fuck!"
Again, all this was complicated.
But what confused him now was what each of these names stood for.
He was the Herald of the Hunt, while Roselle was the Herald of Steam. What did these names mean? What kind of symbolism did they have?
At least the symbol he had seen made a little more sense.
It wasn't a spear fighting against fate and resisting it. It was a spear piercing it, trying to bring it to an end, but not quite breaking it.
The book was what still confused Adryan a little...
Perhaps the closed book could be seen as the authority it gained by accommodating the Knowledge Moor, knowledge. It would be similar to the Reader Pathway, which also features a book representing knowledge.
Sighing, Adryan finally just closed his eyes and cursed everything.
"This is why I hate Mondays..."
And he still had a lot to do today.
Shaking his head and knowing that he had already wasted too much time here, he left the City and returned to his body.