Chapter 1351: Wish

Adam turned his head to look at Klein, the clear, light-colored eyes reflecting that face from which streams of fresh red blood were flowing.

His expression remained unchanged—gentle and tinged with a trace of pity, as though a deity were gazing upon mortals.

Klein looked back at Him with a smile, and his head cracked open, inch by inch.

This spreading trend immediately extended to the rest of his body, causing him to collapse into a puddle of blood.

Floating in the blood were a shirt, a coat, and other items; sinking within it were a blood-stained wooden cross stake and an ancient-looking mirror.

Inside the Church of Bones, within the divine kingdom of Adam the "Visionary," Klein perished in this bizarre manner.

Adam, clad in a simple white robe, watched this scene with gentle composure—whether he had anticipated it all along or had simply eliminated his own emotions, it was impossible to tell.

Above the Gray Fog, within the ancient palace.

The frenzied "Worm Vortex" instantly went still, disintegrating into one lifeless "Soul Worm" after another.

The next second, these Soul Worms became ethereal, tinged with gray-white, as if they were merging into the mists of history.

Then, they came alive again, flickering with a deep, abyssal light as they writhed and gathered together.

In just a few seconds, the Soul Worms reassembled into a human figure—none other than Klein Moretti, with his black hair, brown eyes, and formal shirt.

With the return of the master of the "Sefirah Castle," the mottled long table that had been destroyed and the twenty-two high-backed chairs rapidly restored themselves, and the miscellaneous items scattered all over the floor once again piled together.

Klein picked up the "Staff of Stars," inlaid with multiple gemstones, and took the seat belonging to "The Fool."

The entire space above the Gray Fog trembled, and a vast, majestic invisible force surged forth.

Klein then nodded to the golden figure that had occupied Bernadette's "prayer light point" and said:

"I will fulfill my promise."

The "Genie" chuckled and said:

"It seems you haven't inherited His cunning and shamelessness. Good."

No sooner had the words fallen than the blurry, distorted golden figure rapidly retreated, no longer projecting itself onto Bernadette's "prayer light point."

"Well done." Klein dispatched a Soul Worm to respond to the "Mysterious Queen's" prayer while lowering his head to make a wish to himself: "I wish to restore myself to the state I was in before tonight."

When his original body died, it had only taken away the core portion of the "Miracle Invoker" Beyonder characteristic; the rest had been isolated by Adam's Church of Bones and could not be recovered.

Of course, Klein still had a substantial portion of the characteristic within these Soul Worms above the Gray Fog and in the marionettes currently remaining in Utopia—Zaratul did not need additional Beyonder characteristics and didn't want to affect his own state by doing so, so he hadn't directly utilized the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence to absorb same-Pathway characteristics within Utopia. Instead, he had been using other methods to collect them, which was relatively slow and required a certain amount of time.

After making this wish, Klein summoned the "Curtain," draped it behind him, and snapped his fingers with a crisp crack.

Inside the pile of miscellaneous items, the Beyonder characteristics of Sequences 9 through 3 of the "Seer" Pathway that had previously been separated from the "Curtain" all floated up simultaneously, transforming into individual points of pure light that drilled into Klein's body.

His state instantly returned to where it had been when he was close to fully digesting the "Miracle Worker" potion—apart from lacking a physical body, there was no difference from when he had been attacked.

Immediately after, Klein directed his gaze toward Utopia, which was closely linked to him.

…………

Inside Utopia, Zaratul—his face covered by a white beard, wearing a hood and black robes—stood atop the roof of the Saint Arianna Church, surrounded by the historical projections of Roselle Gustav, William Augustus, and the "God's Evil" Sia, patiently waiting for the gates of the Church of Bones to open and Gehrman Sparrow to walk out on his own.

Under his control, a portion of his marionettes were dealing with the small number of Utopia marionettes that had begun to undergo mutations, leaving those that were still temporarily normal for last.

Just then, on those Utopia marionettes that had been standing rigidly motionless, ethereal and intricate "Threads of Spirit" suddenly surged upward, drifting rapidly toward the infinite heights.

They came alive in an instant, all turning around to face Zaratul and his historical projections.

Those pairs of eyes gleamed brilliantly in the darkness.

At the same time, a massive shadow descended from the faintly emerging gray-white fog, enveloping all of Utopia within it.

Zaratul and his historical projections instinctively raised their heads, looking up toward the high sky where a thin layer of gray fog was spreading.

"This place shall not be sealed." The next second, the historical projection of William Augustus raised the longsword in his right hand and solemnly declared.

The shadow that had been enveloping Utopia immediately began to tremble, developing numerous gaps, unable to completely isolate this marionette city from the outside world.

The historical projection of Roselle Gustav instantly transformed into a torrent of complex information, surging toward Klein's remaining marionettes in an attempt to disrupt their actions, while the historical rift image of the "God's Evil" Sia attacked that curtain-like shadow, expanding the corresponding gaps.

Zaratul then extended his hand, "connecting" the void before him with another island in the Tempest Sea that he had pre-positioned.

All that remained was for him to take one step forward, and he would be free of Utopia.

Just then, Klein's marionettes, acting before the torrent of information could be forced into their spirits, simultaneously opened their mouths and chanted an incantation in the Giant language:

"Leodero!"