Preparations... Of course there weren't any... Klein put on a smile and pointed at his puppet Enzo: "That glove still needs to be sealed."
As he spoke, Enzo, whose skin was red and peeling, used his left hand, adorned with the two rings "Blood" and "Green Blossoms," to remove the human-skin glove covering his right palm.
This was "Writhing Hunger".
Normally, when Klein wasn't using Writhing Hunger, he preferred to leave it on the Gray Fog, since after the glove mutated, the original seal became invalid, and it needed to feed on a living person every day, or else it would devour its wearer. But considering that Mr. Azik had already replied to his letter and might come to meet up recently, he ultimately decided to keep Writhing Hunger in the real world except in special circumstances.
After all, he had already envisioned the scene of Mr. Azik's arrival and didn't want the following conversation to occur:
"Didn't you say that glove needed to be re-sealed?"
"Yes, wait a moment, I'll go to the bathroom."
Or:
"Are you ready?"
"...No, wait a moment, I'll go to the bathroom."
Just thinking about similar scenes and lines made Klein feel awkward and strange. Even without considering the possibility of Mr. Azik discovering the secret of the Gray Fog, this would cause his image in Mr. Azik's mind to slide in an unpredictable direction.
So, after obtaining a new puppet and completing the "looking at himself" attempt, Klein brought Writhing Hunger back to the real world and made up for the previous meal.
The difference from before was that the wearer was changed from himself to his puppet Enzo.
Apart from this, to curb Writhing Hunger's daily cannibalistic urge, Klein carried a few ordinary mushrooms with him and kept his puppet always within less than 5 meters from him.
Hearing his words and seeing the puppet's actions, Mr. Azik nodded and reached out to take the human-skin glove.
Meanwhile, Klein took the opportunity to take a few mushrooms from his pocket and toss them toward a nearby trash can.
Pop!
He snapped his fingers, causing the mushrooms to burn on their own, rising into a red flame without affecting anything around them.
This was the "Magician's" ability to manipulate flames.
After doing this, seeing that Mr. Azik's gaze inevitably fell on him, Klein gave a dry laugh and said:
"The previous incident made Writhing Hunger a bit afraid of mushrooms. I use this weakness to curb its usual impulses."
In reality, this was of little practical use, because carrying mushrooms to suppress Writhing Hunger would cause the hungry sealed artefact to immediately backlash once the mushrooms disappeared, unless there was other easily obtainable "food" in front of it, or else it would only become an ally of the enemy.
"Mushrooms..." Mr. Azik muttered to himself, holding the glove that was starting to stain with blood. The surroundings suddenly darkened, and even the sunlight from outside was blocked out.
Pale, greenish, complex symbols, marks, and patterns appeared out of thin air, as if written by invisible vengeful spirits, shadows, and souls.
They interwove and combined in the air, evolving into a mysterious, illusory, double-leafed bronze door, as if connecting to another world, a deep, silent, terrifying world.
The illusory door shrank smaller and smaller, finally landing on Writhing Hunger, causing the blood color on its surface to quickly fade, with pale becoming the dominant color.
A few seconds later, the human-skin glove returned to normal, still a thin layer, but even without the suppression of mushrooms, it showed no signs of mania or impulse.
"Same as before." Mr. Azik handed Writhing Hunger back to Klein.
It feels great to have a powerful backer! Klein sighed, sincerely thanked him, and put Writhing Hunger on his left palm.
He thought for a moment and took the initiative to mention:
"Mr. Azik, when I passed through the Roaring Sea earlier with the copper whistle you gave me, I had a series of identical dreams.
"The main part of the dream was a dark, cold mausoleum that extended deep underground at an inverted angle, filled with countless coffins. Inside the coffins were lying the dead, with dense white feathers growing from their backs."