Wearing a monocle and sporting the appearance of "Winner" Enuni,
Before he could finish, he suddenly stopped. Across from him, Dwayne Dantès had transformed in the blink of an eye into a dirty, mangy gray mouse.
The mouse raised its right forepaw and pressed it against its own eye socket.
At the same time, in the garden of 160 Boorkland Street, a lean-faced, sharp-featured man with black hair and brown eyes — Gehrman Sparrow — appeared in the middle of a cluster of monthly roses.
Earlier, while Amon had been broaching fascinating topics, he had secretly split off a "Worm of Time," attempting to infiltrate Klein's true body and parasitize it. However, Klein had remained on high alert the entire time. He had detected the attempt through changes in the Spirit Body Threads and, at the critical moment, swapped positions with a puppet he had rapidly created!
Without a sound, the half-blooded youth appearance of Amon materialized before Klein once again.
Behind him, a translucent, segmented larva with twelve segments fell from the third floor and merged back into his body.
In that same instant, earthworms in the garden soil, bugs inside the trees and plants, and rats in the shadowy corners all burrowed out — some converging on the spot where Gehrman Sparrow and Amon faced off, others fleeing the area entirely.
The reason Klein had patiently listened to Amon's monologue was largely because he had been seizing every second to create puppets!
For a "Faceless," having puppets was what made one complete!
Amon still showed no urgency to act. He pinched the monocle wedged deep in his eye socket, glanced left and right, and said with a smile playing at the corners of his lips:
"Your actions tend to reveal your weaknesses. For a master of the domain of deception, everything you've just done is more than enough for me to seize upon your vulnerabilities.
"In such a tense and dangerous situation, you've only converted rats, bugs, birds, and earthworms into your puppets, without considering the butler, maids, and footmen inside the house. What does that tell me? It tells me you possess a strong moral code and still view yourself as a human being, unwilling to harm them.
"Having grasped this, even though this clone of mine is below you in level, I can play you until you break down — unable to die even if you wanted to.
"Ah, right — you can stop your covert attempts to manipulate my 'Spirit Body Threads.' Because the ones you're manipulating are ones I stole — they belong to your butler, your maids, your coachman. If you keep going, I'm afraid you'll be consumed by guilt."
He could steal Spirit Body Threads? No — it was more like a transference… Klein's expression tightened slightly as he severed his manipulation of Amon's Spirit Body Threads.
The reason he had been so patient all along, letting the other spout nonsense, was that he'd been harboring the idea of secretly turning Amon's clone into his own puppet.
For a "Faceless," this kind of battle — both sides stalling for time while covertly exerting influence — should have been the type he excelled at and enjoyed most. Unfortunately, he was up against Amon, the "Desecrator" currently standing at the apex of the "Marauder" Pathway, and even a single clone was enough to leave him somewhat helpless.
— Klein actually suspected that Amon's words were a ploy to deceive him, but he had no way to discern the truth and didn't dare gamble.
At times like these, a "Spectator" was needed to assist!
"You've said quite a lot? Surely not just to find a way to 'parasitize' me? You should understand that before inflicting serious damage on me, it's very difficult to parasitize a 'Faceless' who can see the 'Spirit Body Threads.'" Gehrman Sparrow looked at Amon as he spoke, his tone suddenly turning calm.
Amon chuckled:
"You've finally caught on."
"You're stealing my fate?" Klein swapped positions with yet another puppet, making his true body flicker constantly to different corners of the garden.
"No." Amon shook his head, both hands tucked casually in his pockets, and said with a leisurely smile, "The fact that this 'Magic Mirror' Arrodes is willing to obey your commands and deliberately ingratiate itself with you means you're far from as simple as I initially assumed. I'm not a Beyonder of the 'Tyrant' Pathway, so I certainly wouldn't rashly steal your fate. Heh, I've suddenly developed a premonition — directly replacing you would bring about some things I'd rather not see."
"How do you know Arrodes is ingratiting itself with me?
His different puppets continued shifting positions.
Amon withdrew one hand and pinched his chin:
"Didn't I just say so? I spent some time tracing and locating the source. Well, I went to the Church of Steam and had a little chat with Arrodes. It wasn't very forthcoming — it would rather endure my torture than reveal your true origins. Pity that was inside the Church of Steam; otherwise, I would have simply 'parasitized' it and learned everything."
He could parasitize even a living sealed artefact? If Arrodes strictly followed its rules, then its previous answers indicated it didn't actually know much about his true situation — only harbored certain suspicions… Klein's eyes widened slightly. Just as he was about to speak, Amon let out a laugh:
"You really aren't in any rush at all. What exactly are you waiting for?
"Don't you know that Sequence 2 of my Pathway is called the 'Horse of Destiny'? Granted, I'm currently just an ordinary clone, but certain abilities can still be applied on a preliminary basis — for example, making a few adjustments to your fate, introducing certain errors that manifest within a certain timeframe. Like right now: no matter how you cry for help, no one will notice.
"Heh — in other words, even if you activated that Night emblem in your hand, you could only borrow a secretive influence; the call for help itself would never get through, regardless of whatever arrangement you made. And even if you shouted 'help' or caused an explosion, passersby and the servants in the houses wouldn't hear a thing.
"That's the reason I said so much earlier. For an ordinary clone, this sort of operation requires a sufficient amount of time.
"Alright — it's your turn to answer my question from before."
Klein didn't answer directly. He kept swapping positions with his puppets, but always ensured one puppet remained facing Amon, maintaining the "conversation."
At that moment, he had that puppet ask:
"If you've already completed your manipulation in the domain of fate, then why haven't you made your move yet?
"You seem to be waiting for something too…"
Before this Gehrman Sparrow — stretched thin into a wafer-like "paper figure" — could finish, a violent rush of wind was already sweeping in from the distance.