A thousand Amons each made their "theft."
With such numbers, unless luck failed them altogether, some were bound to succeed; and the lump of "Fool" potion was, at that moment, ownerless — stealing it presented no difficulty whatever.
While they "stole," the Amons also undid a certain seal upon themselves, letting the extraordinary characteristics of the "Apprentice" and the "Thief" pathways show their aggregating power.
This was very effective on the "Fool" potion: it raised the Amons' rate of success to the highest possible.
Yet, in the end, every one of the Amons failed.
For upon the "
Earlier, to deal with the reviving "
Seizing the moment, the phantom brand on Klein's brow grew ever more vivid.
Around him, thin grey-white mist wove itself into a thin "cocoon."
He drew with all his might upon the "Origin Fortress" and, in concert with his own "Mystery Pryer" characteristic, produced an immensely strong aggregating effect upon the "Fool" potion.
That formless black liquid, like a beast that, after long hunger, has at last seen food, leapt upon Klein at once.
It stretched and changed without cease, like a half-transparent sheet of human skin, and wrapped Klein entirely within.
Klein's face emerged beneath the liquid, his features now distinct, now blurred, now warped, now blank.
Within the God-Forsaken Land, beneath the vast figure of light into which the
This once-sovereign Existence did not use the name "
Were the former the subject, Klein could have disregarded it altogether: what has Klein Moretti's failure to ascend to do with Antigonus becoming the "Fool"?
But once the subject became Antigonus, this sentence — half prophecy, half decree, half result-fixed-first-and-reasons-given-after — turned the situation grim.
If Klein did not give up the identity and fate of Antigonus, he would be bound by these words.
If he did give them up, then the Sequence 9-to-1 extraordinary characteristics within him would no longer truly "belong" to him; they had never been digested — they were the characteristics Antigonus had once controlled, and presently had nothing to do with Klein Moretti, who had only forcibly swallowed them.
In such a state, even setting aside other factors, the unsifted characteristics alone would, in all probability, cause Klein to lose all control on the spot — and to take the "Fool" potion and complete the ritual in such a condition leaves not the slightest chance of success!
As the Ancient Sun God inscribed those words, the "
But even diverting the greater part of His effort to restraining those three true gods, even appearing markedly strained, the Ancient Sun God still swiftly completed that line.
Yet the great figure of light that He had become grew clearly dimmer — He could not, it seemed, hold it for long.
Inside the ancient palace adrift in the stellar realm.
The fight between the "Earth Mother" and the "
The Amons were forced to "flash-step" everywhere; yet a portion of them still turned into plants, blossomed, bore fruit, and returned to the earth; others collapsed into letters and were stamped into illusory books.
Beyond this, a great many of them were strengthening the seals and constraining the "Trunsoest Brass Book," so that the rules it set might fail to take effect, or only operate for a moment.
Under threefold pressure, even with their numbers, the Amons seemed somewhat outnumbered.
Yet, even so, a small portion of them seized the chance: their crystal-polished monocles and similar circle-shaped marks all reflected Klein's figure within them.
The next second, those monocles and circle-marks blazed with pure light.
This was not "theft," but return.
The Amons chose this very moment to give back to Klein what they had once stolen from him.
It was Klein's wish to commit suicide!
When Klein had been seized by Amon and brought to the God-Forsaken Land, he had wished to kill himself many times without succeeding — the other had "stolen" those very thoughts.
At the critical moment of ascension, if such a thought arose in him, the outcome could be imagined!
At this very instant, Klein — wrapped tight by the "Fool" potion — found his thoughts grown chaotic and dispersed; he felt his skin extremely cold; the viscous liquid was, bit by bit, sinking in.
Then he had the thought of suicide; the thought of giving up.
It was a change Klein had not at all anticipated. He had long forgotten that the suicidal thoughts had been "stolen" from him by Amon, and had not imagined that the other would, rather than carelessly discarding them, keep them earnestly preserved.
In ordinary times, in any other moment, such a thought — however strong — Klein could have opposed, through his own self-control, by forcing it down and waiting for it to dissipate on its own, as with any other foul notion.
But now, in the midst of an ascension ritual, under the influence of the potion, with his mental stability lost, he had no way to check the wish for suicide.
The Amons always had every kind of strange but highly effective method.
Fortunately, Klein was now not only Klein, but also Antigonus.
What had Klein Moretti's wish to die to do with Antigonus?
Relying on the cognition this identity gave him, Klein did not at once give up and end his life. He drew the Antigonus spiritual brand from within himself, tangled it with the suicidal thought, and just barely pressed both down.
Under such a balance, his spirit and body were further eroded by the "Fool" potion.
His thoughts, as during his ascension to "Mystery Pryer," again spread utterly outward.
But this time, instead of merging with the Spirit World, they continued to extend, like a gas filling up the whole planet, the whole Spirit World, and a part of the stellar realm.
At that moment, Klein felt himself within every believer, within every human being, within every animal, within every living thing.
All things have divinity within them.
At the same time, he was scattered through the mists of history, scattered through flowing time, scattered through the still-flowing river of waters of light, with all its many tributaries.
He was one, and he was the myriad.
Such a divine-level experience worked away at Klein's thoughts further; it seemed nothing remained but the indifferent gaze that looks down upon all things.