Plan

As Klein's mental state began to stabilize, he heard the prayers that appeared to have come from an infinite distance away.

His tentacles that had once flailed violently throughout the entirety of Sefirah Castle had now calmed down, resting on the foggy floor—some even convulsing on the long table.

Then, he heard the other chant.

"…The mysterious ruler above the gray fog."

Again, the female voice that said this chant sounded familiar. So familiar, it gave Klein an eerie feeling.

Then, the last chant sounded:

"The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck."

At that instant, Klein's state had stabilized to the point where Amon's attempt at making him lose control completely failed.

He rubbed his forehead as he saw an opening in the grey fog. An illusory, dark thread was connected to this opening as a figure stood in it.

An extremely beautiful woman who had "Her" face covered in a translucent veil appeared. "She" was in a layered star speckled dress. "Her" aura was almost sinister, but it was strangely calming—resembling that of the crimson moon.

This was the Evernight Goddess.

"The Goddess…" Klein whispered as he observed the Lady, who had looked as if "She" was peeking into Sefirah Castle.

Klein didn't hesitate. Stirring the powers of his Divine Kingdom, he transported to the edge of it as he pulled the projection of the Goddess inside.

As "She" faded into the ancient majestic palace, "She" didn't take up her giant form. "She" didn't even bring her scythe, nor did she have her extra arms.

Klein immediately knew the reason why. In fact, he knew the reason why "She" prayed to him to begin with.

In a stoic voice, he asked, "You're not from this timeline either, are you?"

If his suspicions were right, the Goddess would know exactly what he meant.

"I am not." The Goddess' ethereal voice reverberated throughout Sefirah Castle. "I only noticed something very wrong that happened with you and decided to follow you to investigate the situation."

"How were you able to follow me?" Klein asked. "Was it because of the water from the River of Eternal Darkness?"

The Goddess nodded.

"Yes. After accommodating the Sefirot, I have the authority to connect with all possible concepts regarding the river, its water, and what it symbolizes."

Going back to the topic, "She" asked another question.

"So, what happened? Why are you only Sequence 0, and why were you transported here?"

Klein sighed.

"In truth, I have no solid answers. I only know that it had something to do with my battle with Celestial Worthy for the position of Lord of Mysteries."

"After all, "He" also has the authority of time, errors, and fooling."

"Are you saying that in attempt to prevent you from taking the position of Lord of Mysteries, "He" decided that he would use his Error authority to revert everything back in time?" The Goddess roughly understood.

Klein nodded, agreeing with the Goddess' explanation.

"Yes. I suspect that "He" even used the authority of Fooling to make this 'timeline' believe that a Sequence 0 can exist with Sequence 1's of the same pathway."

The Evernight Goddess rested her chin on her hand as she rubbed it gently.

"Though, why would "He" still allow you to be as powerful as a Sequence 0 rather than just letting you be as weak as you were when you first came out?"

Klein rubbed his forehead, appearing deep in thought.

"Yes, this is would I had been wondering. If "He" had truly defeated me, or was close to, there would be no reason for "Him" to leave me as a Sequence 0."

"Which makes me believe that "He" wasn't close to defeating me at all. My initial thoughts about me defeating "Him" was at least close to being correct." Klein said, still trying to control his mental state despite his scattered mind.

"Since "He" wasn't close to defeating me, at the very least, "He" was in a stalemate with me. If not, I was defeating "Him"."

"Therefore, in a last ditch attempt, "He" had used his authority as Lord of Mysteries to turn back time. However, since me and "Him" were similar in power, "He" couldn't do much regarding myself. "He" could've only made me a Sequence 0, and not anything weaker."

The Goddess listened to Klein's explanation, fully digesting his words.

Not long after, the Goddess began to speak again.

"I roughly understand."

"What we need for you to do is to get back the position of Lord of Mysteries so that the timeline will be corrected."

"But before that happens, your mental state needs to stabilize fully. Even though I prayed to you, you are still at risk of losing control."

Klein nodded while holding his head, affirming the Goddess' judgment.

"Yes, that is why I went to the City of Silver to gain new believers. I plan to go to Moon City as well to also convert them and lead them out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods."

"I'll help you in that," The Goddess responded. "I'll help you conceal both cities as you 'Fool' the world into believing that the City of Silver and Moon City were always out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods. This is to not cause any further errors that could affect your stability."

"And, yes, also the timeline. However, we still don't know how that works in reality. I guess we have no other choice to test it out."

"Once that happens," "She" continued, "You will have to go after Amon and Bethel to take the uniqueness and Sequence 1 Characteristics for Error and Door. Amon should be straightforward for you. I can also help you with getting Pallez' Sequence 1 Characteristics. Antigonous and Zaratul are non-factors here."

"As for Bethel," The Goddess paused, thinking on her next words. "It'll be a little more complicated since we would also have to deal with the Mother Goddess of Depravity. The good thing is that the world barrier isn't weakened as much as it is in the correct timeline."

"In either case, Bethel should be the last one we should be going after." She continued, her ethereal and calm voice calming Klein despite the stakes in her words.

Klein laughed.

"Haha. I don't think Amon is too straightforward at all. While "He" did stop his attempt entirely after failing to make me lose control, "He" is still a trickster st the end of the day. Once "He" sees that the gods will inevitably notice me, "He" will immediately try to go after Pallez. Then, after succeeding, "He" will speed up the process that enabled George III with the help of Adam, stealing "His" apotheosis ritual and becoming Error."

"In fact, we might see Adam become Visionary and Amon becoming Error at the same time!"

"Things have only gotten more crazy!" Klein exclaimed. "Things will progress much faster!"

The Goddess didn't want to argue with Klein's logic. While "She" disagreed on some aspects, "She" still understood the point, which was to stabilize Klein's condition and get everything he needed for Lord of Mysteries as fast as possible, faster than Amon and Adam would move.

"I understand." The Goddess said.

"What's your plan? Do you have any ideas?" "She" later asked after a small pause.

Klein controlled his emotions perfectly and asked, "You said you accommodated the Sefirot. You are a full Great Old One, correct?"

The Goddess nodded.

"Good." Klein expressed his joy.

"Then, that means our plan is simple—together, we trick the world into believing that the City of Silver and Moon City were always in Bayam, and were always believers of The Fool."

"Afterwards, you can get me Pallez' Sequence 1 characteristic. Then, we both can deal with Amon."

"Once we're done, we can deal with the last piece of the puzzle, Mr. Door. Or rather, the Mother Goddess of Depravity."

"Of course, this is all general. There needs to be sufficient preparations for all such things, which we can discuss later after my mental condition is stabilized."

The Goddess stood silent, listening to Klein's plan.

"At some point, we are going to have to meet the seven orthodox gods, and perhaps even some other existences. We can't completely hide from them forever. I am going to have to meet myself if I want to take Pallez' characteristic especially."

Klein chuckled.

"I'm aware. I would like for us to meet the gods before we deal with a Pillar. The more allies, the better.

"It's going to be interesting seeing the God of Combat again." The Goddess finally let out a grin, almost enjoying the thought. "Hopefully nothing bad happens to the timeline due to this meeting of gods."

Klein smiled, reflecting The Goddess' grin.

"Well, we can only do so much. At first, I thought that it would be best to allow things to go as it normally did in the past while fooling the world to take care of minor changes, but it seems like that's almost impossible now."

"It's still best to be cautious…so when I become Lord of Mysteries, I will have to revert everything back to normal if our changes get too out of hand."

The Goddess' smile was removed from her face as she took on a stoic expression.

"That just emphasizes the importance of you becoming Lord of Mysteries. Otherwise the timeline might never be corrected. If it doesn't, reality itself might try to correct, causing a convergence…"

Klein kept his smile, however. Even though he felt the weight of the entire universe on his shoulders, his head didn't hesitate one bit as he nodded.

After all, he was already used to this responsibility.

He then stirred the powers of Sefirah Castle to formally allow the Goddess to fully enter it.

"Her" entire conceptual body, not just a projection.

As "She" stepped in, "She" bowed "Her" head as she resisted the powers of Sefirah Castle that was quietly stirring around her.

The ancient majestic palace shook violently, however Klein stopped it in an instant.

With a smile, Klein put on a transparent mask as he said emotionlessly,

"Let's go."