In the dimly lit world, a massive crimson moon hung silently above the rooftops, and everything in the garden seemed to be slumbering.
The incomplete gray-white dragon's eyes had lost their desperation. It folded back its membrane-covered wings and became as docile as a trained hunting hound.
Hewen Lambis — member of the Psychological Alchemy Society's council, demigod of the Spectator pathway — had lost his life and become Klein's mystery puppet!
Klein had no time to admire the sight. He directly swapped positions with "Winner" Enuni beside the gray-white dragon, appearing there in the image of Gehrman Sparrow — wearing a black overcoat and a silk top hat.
Then, he manipulated the new mystery puppet to heal himself of the "Mental Plague" infection.
A soft, cool breeze drifted over, crossing the Sea of Collective Subconscious and seeping into Klein's island of consciousness. He felt as though something foul, rotting, fractured, and contradictory within his Mental Body was being gathered drop by drop into a mass and surgically excised.
Klein's face twisted immediately into a grimace, baring his teeth, as he once again felt the excruciating agony of his soul being torn apart.
Fortunately, having grown accustomed to this sensation while crafting "Spirit-Control Bullets" and "Yesterday Once More" talismans, he didn't clutch his head and roll across the ground.
After the highly contagious mental "virus" and the infected consciousness were separated and expelled, the cool breeze shifted to carry a gentle warmth that made one want to nap. It soothed Klein's damaged spirit, as though he were soaking in a bathtub — body and mind nourished together, beginning to heal and regenerate rapidly.
Once he had recovered from the mental illness, the gentle breeze that had been blowing suddenly turned fierce, sweeping outward in all directions and purging every last trace of the "virus" lingering in the air.
Having done all this, Klein had the gray-white dragon rapidly shrink its body, suppress its divinity, and revert to human form.
However, since Hewen Lambis's clothing had already been shredded to rags, the gray-white scales covering his skin did not retract.
A few seconds later, Ariana — the leader of the Church of Darkness's ascetics, dressed in a coarse robe with a bark belt and long black hair flowing behind her — stepped out from within that enormous crimson moon, treading upon the void, and arrived at a position diagonally above Hewen Lambis.
The Angel extended her right hand, and with a simple grasp, drew Hewen Lambis's slightly blurred soul out of his body, letting it float upward from the crown of his head.
"Why did you help George III?" Ariana asked quite directly.
Hewen Lambis's dazed expression instantly turned solemn.
"This is the choice of the era, this is the inevitability of destiny. We merely followed the current and guided it in a certain direction, so that the era would develop toward the correct path."
The standard answer of the "Twilight Watchmen"... So it seems the demigods of the Psychological Alchemy Society don't know
Ariana showed no sign of surprise and pressed further:
"What will the next era's current bring?"
Hewen Lambis's gaze was unfocused, yet his expression was quite solemn as he replied:
"A war — a war that will engulf the entire world."
Isn't peace better? Klein furrowed his brow slightly, unable to help muttering to himself.
He knew all too well what kind of devastation a world war would bring to humanity.
He only hoped that he and the Church of Darkness's investigation could seize the key breakthrough as soon as possible, successfully preventing the war that the "Twilight Hermit Society" was so desperately pushing to ignite.
Ariana was silent for a second before asking:
"What is George III's secret?"
A hint of a smile appeared on Herwin Lambis's face:
"Every king is bound by the Three Great Covenants, limited to at most Sequence 5. With our help, he circumvented this restriction and has essentially attained a higher Station. All he needs to do is wait for the tide of the era to arrive, and he can smoothly ascend to the position that has always been his."
The Three Great Covenants... What were those? Hmm, the clause limiting kings to Sequence 5 was understandable—after all, under the general premise that the supernatural should remain hidden from the world as much as possible, it was best for kings to be succeeded normally. Living to their eighties or nineties was something the public could accept; if they were still spry past a hundred and twenty, that would inevitably spark speculation and panic... So George III cooperated with the Psychology Alchemy Society and the Witch Cult just to live longer? Normally speaking, this restriction applied only to the king and shouldn't affect other members of the Augustus family—they should have had Angels among them, so there was no reason to support George III... A flood of questions suddenly surged through Klein's mind.
"George III isn't a Demigod yet—he's merely attained a higher Station through some method and performed his Acting in advance?" Ariana asked at an unhurried pace.
For the Church of Darkness, this was an extremely critical question. If George III had essentially already become a Demigod, they could directly contact the Church of the Storm and the Church of Steam to seize him, because the king's very existence would constitute evidence.
Herwin Lambis's soul nodded and said:
"Yes."
"What exactly was the method?" Ariana continued.
Herwin Lambis slowly shook his head:
"I don't know. The person in charge of this matter was our President. I only recall him mentioning once that he needed to make George III more... talented."
More talented? At this description, Klein instantly and sharply recalled certain contents from Roselle's diary.
In the great Emperor's eyes, so-called "talent" meant making one's mind and soul more closely resemble those of an ancestor of higher Station, thereby gaining the recognition of the corresponding Beyonder characteristic or the spiritual imprint within a sealed artefact, and more easily enduring the tremendous negative effects that came with consuming a potion or wielding a sealed artefact.
This was not a perfect method—one could even say it carried enormous hidden dangers, because the spiritual imprint would reactively alter the soul of the consumer or wielder, causing certain mutations.
If someone used this method to advance to Demigod, there was an extremely high probability they would become a patchwork abomination in spirit!
Had George III been hypnotized by someone to accept this method? No—if it were hypnosis, the Augustus family's Angels or sealed artefacts would certainly have detected the problem... Klein grew ever more perplexed, waiting for the ascetic leader floating in midair to ask her next question.
Ariana clearly understood what "more talented" meant, and asked without any change in expression: