106: How Terrifying, This Old Man

Can't pull it, simply can't pull it at all.

Don wiped his monocle, looking calm and composed on the surface, but secretly he had already exerted all his strength, trying to hoist the Worm of Time before him and make it his marionette.

[Go for it, go for it, Host go for it!] The system cheered and waved flags.

"What am I supposed to go for it with."

Don was speechless, and ultimately had no choice but to give up his attempt to manipulate the Spirit Body Threads of the Worm of Time.

The gap between Sequence 4 and Sequence 1 was too vast. Even if he could distinguish the real Spirit Body Threads hidden among those Pallez Zoroast had stolen, he still couldn't manipulate them.

Angels and demigods—the mystical difference between them couldn't be bridged simply through Euclidean space.

[Mission status updated.]

[Mission: 'Acting as a Bizarro Sorcerer']

[After advancing to "Bizarro Sorcerer," you have truly undergone an essential transformation! Cunning, terror, horror, and madness are the truths that a Bizarro Sorcerer upholds throughout their life. Please digest the potion as soon as possible and summarize the acting principles of a Bizarro Sorcerer!]

[Mission completion: 44%]

As expected, this scare caused the potion digestion progress to shoot up rapidly.

At this rate, he might be able to fully digest the Bizarro Sorcerer potion today.

Don had already finished wiping his monocle, wearing a gentle smile on his face as he looked at the baby-faced knight who had failed to escape and been kicked back by the theater's core, along with the parasite on his body.

His tone was indifferent, showing no trace of the embarrassment of being unable to manipulate the Spirit Body Threads, like a villain toying with his prey: "Pallez, won't you introduce me to your host?"

Pallez gave no response, or rather, he clearly understood the importance of self-preservation and wouldn't waste time chatting with 'Amon.'

Ah, that future Marauder pathway demigod mouse should silently shatter, right? Don thought of this randomly.

That mouse demigod was parasitized by Amon's avatar precisely because he talked too much nonsense with Amon.

"So then, what will this one do after seeing a suspected true body of Amon?"

Soon, Don witnessed the first self-rescue attempt of this Marauder pathway Angel.

He noticed that the figure of the Angel before him flickered for just an instant.

The next moment, he found himself swaying as well, as if something was trying to steal his very existence.

"Distinguishing whether the one before him is an avatar of Amon, or Amon's true body?"

Amon's avatars could hardly reach Sequence 1 level, as splitting off avatars of this degree would greatly affect the main body. As long as the Amon before him was just an avatar, then as a fellow Sequence 1 Angel, he wouldn't be afraid.

But Don, standing before this Angel, was merely an image projected from higher-dimensional space into this world. What could possibly be stolen from him?

Ripples spread through Euclidean space as invisible forces tugged at something. Before Don could react, he saw something being peeled away from that space.

He saw clearly—they were fragments flickering with subtle brilliance, indecipherable, incomparably magnificent, containing countless mysterious radiances.

They were stolen away.

Just like that, they were stolen away so easily...

Don blinked: "Ah, this."

The next moment, the baby-faced knight before him, along with Pallez Zoroast's figure, suddenly stiffened.

Don saw those stolen fragments break free from Euclidean space and appear in the real world.

That was incomprehensible mystery, that was twisted radiance.

Floating in the air, the tiny fragments bloomed with irresistible light.

This was Don's first time directly observing these fragments in the real world.

Before he could examine them for long, the thief was instantly devoured by those countless mysterious and twisted radiances.

Don heard a muffled groan as those fragments merged into their flesh and blood, invading their bodies, seemingly becoming one with the thief. In the next instant, their bodies began growing translucent, crystal-like fragments that seemed to contain countless mysterious symbols, serene and distant crystal shards.

They became like a crystal mother lode constantly growing fragments, using their flesh and spirit body as a medium for those crystals infused with higher-dimensional power to grow wildly.

Don watched as the baby-faced knight was enveloped by crystal fragments. Then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the baby-faced knight, along with Pallez Zoroast's movements, came to a complete stop.

Breathing, heartbeat, the fluctuation of beyonder power, and a Worm of Time with twelve segments all ceased struggling, firmly imprisoned within the crystal, like insects trapped in amber after being dropped in resin.

They seemed to have been dead from the beginning, turned into specimens.

"No, it's not just that."

Don observed the real world scene through his connection with the marionettes.

In the real world, the baby-faced knight and Pallez Zoroast's figure had mysteriously disappeared.

They had vanished without a trace, disappearing within this theater surrounded by hidden forces and unknowingly unfolded.

"Pallez Zoroast and his host have been devoured by Euclidean space. They were assimilated by the stolen space fragments, dimensionally elevated into this space, becoming part of this space."

Don switched perspectives again, standing from an observer's angle, looking at the two people before him who were like specimens.

"Is this the price for stealing part of Euclidean space's power? Being devoured by space fragments, forcibly elevated in dimension, thus entering Euclidean space... But it seems that even entering here, they're in an extremely special state. Are they alive? Or already dead? Would they be liberated if dimensionally reduced again?"

To this day, Don had never encountered other life forms within Euclidean space. After advancing to Sequence 4, he had never tried bringing other creatures here, so he was unclear about the changes involved.

"But these questions can wait for later..."

Don looked toward the not-distant castle. The baby-faced knight and Pallez Zoroast beside him were completely exposed under Euclidean space's observation.

Unlike the two who had been dimensionally elevated and were now in Euclidean space, those two were vivid, normal, undoubtedly living beings in the real world.

"First self-rescue failed. Used a Worm of Time to substitute for the fate of being dimensionally elevated due to stealing power, then silently stole distance, stole the marionettes' attention, hiding himself to attempt a second self-rescue."

Calm, decisive, efficient. This was Don's first impression of this Sequence 1 Worm of Time.

"Very powerful, stronger than the divine descender from the Dark Side of the Universe, stronger than Father. Sequence 1, power near the apex of sequences, an beyonder being who has lived for a thousand years... Indeed, this beyonder world is full of dangers everywhere. Who knows when one might encounter an attack of this level."

Don put on his monocle again, this time positioning it over his right eye socket: "Sorry, I wore it in the wrong place earlier."

Pallez Zoroast fell silent again.

Don saw this Worm of Time seem to take a deep breath. He glanced at the system interface—the potion digestion progress hadn't increased.

"You are not Amon."

Don keenly sensed the change in the other's mood—that was certainty.

Ara, so I've been exposed?

"It seems fooling a Sequence 1 really isn't easy."

He felt he had disguised himself quite well, imitating every word and action based on his impression of Amon and the Amon avatar he had observed.

"How do you think so?"

'Amon' curved his lips into a still-gentle smile, "Pallez, are you stalling for time? I don't mind, but if you keep stalling like this, I can't guarantee when I might substitute your fate and take a look at your family—hmm, the Zoroast family."

"I heard they established a secret organization calling themselves Hermits of Fate. When I substitute your identity and infiltrate them, I'm sure I'll see quite a few delicacies."

The delicacies Don spoke of naturally weren't pastries, but Marauder pathway demigods—their beyonder characteristics would naturally be 'delicious' things to Amon.

This Angel chuckled. He seemed to have realized the problem and wasn't provoked by such words at all: "Seeing through this point is quite simple."

"Oh?"

'Amon' adjusted his monocle, making a gesture of listening attentively.

"First point: although you disguised yourself as Amon... hehe, don't doubt it, you disguised yourself very well. Even at first glance, I momentarily thought the real Amon had come."

"But I didn't feel any attraction—that attraction from the instinctive aggregation of beyonder characteristics."

At this level, the Law of Beyonder Characteristic Convergence had almost become substantial. With Amon possessing the Marauder pathway's Uniqueness, how could Pallez not sense this attraction? Of course, it was also possible that Amon had stolen the attraction between beyonder characteristics.

So, Pallez immediately raised a second point: "For beyonder beings, what is most important?"

He asked the 'Amon' before him in return.

Don pondered for a moment, realizing this point.

"I'm fake—where would I get Marauder pathway beyonder power from?"

He glanced around the entire castle. It was clean here—there was no grafting of fate, no other Worms of Time, no Law of Beyonder Characteristic Convergence. Except for his projection, everything left here were marionettes and things related to the Seer pathway.

No matter how you looked at it, it didn't seem like Amon had set up an ambush in advance.

And also...

Don looked up at the black curtain that had fallen from above, dragging this place into a hidden realm.

Even if he were Amon, what he displayed would at most be one of Amon's avatars. Using this mystical item to isolate inside from outside—not to mention whether it was to prevent Pallez Zoroast from escaping—just this arrangement alone didn't look like one designed to let other Amon avatars or even the main body come handle this Sequence 1 material and recover beyonder characteristics.

Of course, it was equally possible that the Amon avatar had already notified the main body, and now just needed to trap the person here for a perfect trap.

"Of course, the most decisive point."

This meticulously groomed middle-aged man said leisurely, "That strange beyonder ability just now is completely incompatible with the Amon I understand, not sharing a single similarity."

Instead, it was somewhat similar to Apprentice, but the high-sequencer of the Apprentice pathway was that 'Mr. Door,' who couldn't possibly be here now. How could there be any connection to Amon? This level of deception couldn't fool a Worm of Time.

"You are not Amon. You are a Bizarro Sorcerer who is digesting his potion. So, you're pretending to be Amon because you want to get spiritual feedback from me to accelerate your potion digestion progress."

"A sealed artifact appeared in Tingen before—a high-sequence sealed artifact related to the Seer pathway. Hmm, that item should be the thing above. Are you a descendant of Death? Or someone with certain connections to Death's descendants?"

"You know me, you know my name. Similarly, you're quite familiar with Amon. Through some method, you discovered Amon's traces..."

"Your pathway is adjacent to Apprentice and Marauder. After reaching high sequences, Amon's preferences aren't limited to his own pathway—he's equally welcoming to adjacent pathways."

"You know Amon's terror, so while acting and digesting, you're also hiding a small calculation."

He glanced at the curtain above, then this Angel said leisurely, "You appear to have no malice, your methods are much more peaceful... You want to cooperate with me to eliminate or lure away Amon's avatar. You have certain connections to Tingen—otherwise you wouldn't choose to eliminate or lure away rather than flee. You have certain bonds with this land, so you won't choose to leave."

"The entire castle consists of marionettes. As I know, this castle belongs to a baron, and that baron's wife comes from Backlund nobility, protected by the Church and family. Such a noble lady wouldn't and couldn't easily be made into a marionette without notice."

"Little Ramde? This shouldn't be your marionette, but your true identity."

This Marauder pathway Angel seemed to be retaliating for the earlier scare, stating his analysis with clear logic, finally asking: "Am I right?"

Don: "..."

System: [...Host, he got everything right.]

"I can only say how terrifying this old man is. In such a short time of probing, he guessed it almost perfectly... And System, is this gloating tone really appropriate?"

"Oh, and I think I need to advise you—don't casually impersonate Amon." This Angel smiled again, "Substituting His fate might cause Him to notice."

That's exactly why I didn't face you directly in the real world.

Don smiled.

If it weren't for relying on Euclidean space's own isolation, impersonating Amon in the real world might have led to Amon actually finding him based on fate's fluctuations.

That would be interesting indeed.

Hmm, let him think—Amon, Adam, the Goddess, plus an old man who directly revealed his true identity. Wow, what a luxurious lineup. If they all came visiting, what should he do? Hang himself at the door so everyone could have a good laugh?

(End of Chapter)