Knowing that the "Mystery Queen's" carefully selected diaries must contain extremely important content, "The Fool" Klein focused his mind and, feigning nonchalance, cast his gaze upon the yellowish-brown parchment in his hand:
"September 11. Since becoming an angel, I've felt as though my personality is splitting. Inside my heart, within my spirit, deep in my mind, there are always voices urging me, influencing me, creating an uncontrollable coldness, bloodthirst, cruelty, and madness.
"This does not come from the outside, nor is it the influence of gods on their own Pathway. I can clearly feel that it originates from genes, from the collective subconscious passed down through human generations, from the Beyonder characteristic itself, rather than lingering spiritual influence.
"It gives me a strong desire to hunt and kill, to devour all living beings with Beyonder characteristics around me. I must expend most of my energy to fight it. Even though I've been acting and digesting the potion, there has been no improvement.
"No wonder Mr. Door said, 'Reason is temporary, madness is eternal.'"
"September 28. I haven't written in a long time. For most of the past half-month, I felt as if I was watching myself be slowly replaced by a stranger, becoming gradually cold and terrifying. Even my daughter Bernadette could only evoke a small amount of paternal love, very little.
"Just as I was on the verge of madness, I seemed to hear countless praises—from my subjects, from those who benefited from my reforms, from the believers who regard me as the 'Son of Steam.' They were praising me, singing hymns for me, erecting statues for me, writing stories for me, composing poems for me.
"Their voices were like a ship's anchor, helping me 'position' myself.
"I began to be able to resist that desire, that inner cry. I slowly pulled myself out and was once again able to have normal emotions as a father, a husband, a man.
"If even Sequence 2 brings such change, how terrifying must the madness be at Sequence 0, at the level of a True God?
"Perhaps They also need 'positioning' to fight the intense tendency to lose control hidden deep within Beyonder characteristics and the collective subconscious.
"I think I somewhat understand why They establish churches, spread faith, write chapters for Their saints, and leave legends for Their angels...
"But why don't They have human forms, only symbolic representations?
"I can't figure it out.
"Next time I'll ask Mr. Door. He knows a lot about the divine domain. If He hadn't been exiled, there might be one more god."
"September 29. Rereading yesterday's diary, I remembered the rituals corresponding to my Sequence 4, Sequence 3, and Sequence 2. They all clearly have a sense of madness and cruelty, like the kind a villain in a novel would perform.
"The sequence pathways might be a path destined for madness and despair.
"And yet this is the only way for humans to gain extraordinary power.
"How laughable. How ironic.
"We strive to save ourselves, only to better and more thoroughly destroy ourselves?"
The content of the first diary page made Klein feel heavy and oppressed. The one who wrote those words was no longer an ordinary human; he had become an angel, joined the "Twilight Hermits Order," seen the "Blasphemy Slate," and had a much deeper understanding of the mystical world and Beyonder characteristics than Klein currently had. Yet he was more pessimistic, seemingly believing that this world is twisted, mad, and destined for self-destruction from its root and essence.
But the seven gods seemed to have found a way to maintain their sanity. Ordinary humans were not entirely useless. Their perceptions and their spirituality gathered together could potentially help the gods 'position' their original images and retain the accumulated memories and reason from past years... This could be inferred from Roselle's personal experience... But why did the seven gods abandon their human forms and switch to symbolic, abstract holy emblems? This didn't match Klein's judgment... He couldn't understand... Klein wasted no time and turned to the next page of the diary:
"December 5. Night of the Blood Moon, communication with Mr. Door.
"As always, He made a request, asking me to help Him return to the real world, but He didn't insist too much and randomly answered some of my questions.
"Heh, He was like playing a game, trying to raise affinity. But sorry, I've already locked that option in advance.
"Because I already knew the legends of the Angel Kings, I asked Mr. Door with an 'it won't hurt to ask' attitude, focusing on what level the power of the Angel Kings actually was.
"Mr. Door said that some Angel Kings have accommodated uniqueness, some have taken two Sequence 1 potions, and some have both.
"The word 'accommodate' is used strangely. I questioned it, but Mr. Door didn't answer directly. He just told me that if one cannot 'accommodate' uniqueness, then before holding a ritual and advancing to Sequence 0, uniqueness is a burden to a Sequence 1 angel, not a help.
"Hmm, that's understandable. It's like using a Grade 0 sealed artefact. The negative effects are always terrifyingly great, and uniqueness must be even more so."