On the outskirts of Tingen, a house with an emerald green lawn.
It had a garden that was beginning to wither in early September, and a dark red chimney.
Behind the bedroom window of this house was a desk, on which an ordinary notebook lay open.
A slightly pale hand flipped the notebook to the first page, and then quickly flipped backward.
Amidst the rustling of the pages, lines of text faintly emerged:
"Due to the combined effects of fatigue and hallucinations, Riggins of the Secret Order mistakenly sold the Antigonus family notebook as an ordinary ancient tome. This was a coincidence that conformed to logic."
"Summoned by the bloodline of the Antigonus family, the notebook silently influenced its successive owners, passing from hand to hand until it reached Tingen, falling into the hands of Sirius Arapis and Hennessy Vansom of the Aurora Order."
"After flipping through the notebook's current contents and copying the corresponding potion formula, both Sirius and Hennessy feared that the Secret Order, which was skilled in divination, would trace the notebook back to them. After consulting, they decided not to take this risk and sold the notebook to someone else."
"They didn't wait for Mr. Z's reply. Perhaps this was because he lived in Emmat Port."
"Through Sirius's introduction, Hennessy met Welch McGovern, a history student at Khoy University, and sold the Antigonus family notebook to him as an ordinary ancient text."
"Afterward, Sirius was attracted by the possible treasure on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range. He began to frequent the Deville Library, looking through relevant materials, and without thinking it was a problem, left his real address and name. This was very much in character for him."
"It was during this process that he met Lanevus, who was looking through iron mine materials in an attempt to carry out a scam."
"Sirius greatly appreciated the madness and cunning hidden within Lanevus. He decided to recruit him into the Aurora Order. Of course, an evaluation was unavoidable beforehand."
"Sirius covertly revealed to Lanevus the evil ritual for praying to the 'True Creator' to bestow an offspring. However, he knew the chances of success were very low, as the ritual was extremely difficult and required harsh conditions. The latter, however, expressed strong interest and was exceptionally tempted by the divine rewards that might come from it. While preparing to establish his steel company, he planned to complete this ritual."
"The cunning Lanevus saw that Sirius Arapis was problematic, but for his own purposes, he didn't expose him."
"He visited Hood Eugen in the asylum again. They had known each other for a long time and knew something of each other's circumstances."
"After a dark divination, the power of the Antigonus family notebook was fully awakened. Welch and his classmate died, and the survivor, Klein Moretti, driven by the notebook, delivered it to Ryer Bieber's home. This was a fateful ending."
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"What is baffling, and lacking sufficient reason, is that Klein did not commit suicide and successfully survived."
"Through Welch's case, he met Dunn Smith and joined the Nighthawks team."
"Although this deviated from Ince Zangwill's description, it doesn't seem to affect the development of the story."
"Barkus and his brothers' luck turned bad. They lost their last chips at the gambling table and accrued a huge debt. They decided to get some money and planned to kidnap and ransom a certain wealthy merchant."
"When choosing their final hideout, they coincidentally set their sights on the room opposite Ryer Bieber's home."
"At this time, Ryer Bieber had already been attracted by the power of the Antigonus family notebook, hoping to digest the gifts of his ancestors."
"However, carried away and half-mad, he failed to make the best and safest choice. He abandoned his deceased mother but still remained in Tingen City, only finding a more concealed location to conduct the digestion ritual. What a pity. If he had been slightly smarter, this story would have become much more complicated. But his choice still matched his state at the time and the implied logic."
"Barkus and the others purchased weapons and targeted Elliot, the youngest son of the tobacco merchant Victorol."
"In the end, they successfully carried out the kidnapping, bringing Elliot back to the room opposite Ryer Bieber's home. Victorol's old butler, Corey, accepted his master's commission and began seeking help from a security company."
"Due to the impact of Welch's death case, there was a shortage of manpower in the security companies and private investigation industry. Corey coincidentally met a delivery boy and learned of the existence of the Blackthorn Security Company."
"Leonard Mitchell and Klein accepted the commission. Relying on their Beyonders' abilities, they quickly rescued Elliot. Regrettably, Klein failed to immediately discover the clues that the Antigonus family notebook was hidden across the street."
"However, his spirituality warned him in a dream, and the Tingen Nighthawks team obtained the corresponding clues."
……
"Sealed Artifact '2-049' arrived in Tingen. Using this Antigonus family puppet, Dunn Smith led the Nighthawks to find Ryer Bieber, interrupting his digestion process."
"Ryer Bieber turned into a monster, and the situation briefly spiraled out of control."
"In the end, the well-coordinated Nighthawks resolved the monster Bieber, but they immediately had to face an assault from a member of the Secret Order."
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"Leonard, harboring secrets, was about to bring things to a suspiciously clean end when Klein, who should have died, incomprehensibly once again killed the Sequence 7 member of the Secret Order."
"This did not affect the development of the story. Dunn Smith came into contact with the Antigonus family notebook, read its contents, and was slightly and covertly corrupted!"
……
"Lanevus, having completed his preparations in all aspects, deceived Hood Eugen into helping him conduct the ritual, using his conned fiancée Megose as a vessel to conceive the True Creator's offspring."
"Lanevus had almost no chance of success. The most serious problem was that, even with the protection of the ritual's power, Megose could not withstand union with the illusory projection of a deity. This would cause her to die on the altar."
"At this moment, the kind-hearted Ince Zangwill secretly helped Lanevus. He split the Death descendant characteristic he had gathered, implanting half into Megose's body ahead of time."
"Hood Eugen put Megose into a semi-comatose state, making her perceive the illusory projection of the True Creator as Lanevus. Nourished by the grudges accumulated day and night in the factory district, catalyzed by the tangible darkness and oppression, the ritual succeeded. Megose became pregnant with the True Creator's offspring. The deity saw the coincidence in the matter, but He, who wished to break the blockade of the Seven Gods, did not refuse."
"Hood Eugen was infected."
"After the ritual's success, the maddened Lanevus regained his senses. He knew very clearly that if the deity's offspring was truly born into the real world, he would become one of the sacrifices. How could a mortal possibly become the father of a deity's offspring? This was a tremendous blasphemy!"
"Lanevus decided to leave Tingen early and inform the Nighthawks, Punishers, and Machinery Hivemind about this 'bomb,' letting them resolve the aftermath for him. Madness always comes with a price."
"However, Lanevus did not directly write to those Beyonder squads. He thought this would make him look like a fool."
"He decided to leave the letter in a specific room he rented, pretending to play a game with the official Beyonders. For this reason, he did not warn Hood Eugen about the infection and also took away all the gains."
"To be safe, he also informed Sirius Arapis of the situation in a secure manner. The latter didn't quite believe it but sensed the possibility of success."