Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1340 Relief
As one of the current controllers of "Source Castle", Klein has undoubtedly noticed these changes.

He knew that, from the outside, the spirit world was experiencing a massive earthquake from the depths of the earth. In that instant, all prophecies, divinations, and ritual magic would become ineffective, all extraordinary beings who traversed and roamed the spirit world would be kicked back to reality and unable to enter again, and all spirit beings that depended on this space for survival would feel that the end of the world had arrived.

This was countless times greater than the commotion caused when he was promoted to "Mysterious Servant" and truly mastered this source essence. It even surpassed the "blind folly" phenomenon that occurred when he first became Sequence 0. For the gods and ancient beings who were extremely concerned about this but could not see inside due to the shielding of the Source Castle, it seemed that a new "Lord of Mysteries" was about to be born.

That would most likely mean the return of the "Celestial Venerable".

So that's how it is, He planned to "deceive both sides"... The idea in Klein's mind took shape.

He was initially worried that the "Celestial Venerable" would notice something amiss because he had thought of this, but he soon realized that the state of this pillar was completely different from that of God, who had already partially revived within the "Eternal Sun".

Specifically, the resurrection of the Celestial Venerable was in an extremely passive state. Unlike the God who left a spiritual imprint in the City of Calamity and the Shadow World, and even used the Mother Nest to give birth to the Divine Child, placing the extraordinary characteristics of the dual pathways in the "Chaos Sea" for Grisha Adam to inherit, this pillar, apart from suspending hundreds of "transmigrators" in the Old World, devoted all his thoughts to how to interfere with and destroy God's resurrection methods.

Of course, He did this because He was confident that He could ultimately win the battle and successfully revive. Because whoever becomes a god, in order to break the seal of the Western Continent and obtain those "source substances", must support the emergence of a "mysterious lord", which would give Him the opportunity to possess and resurrect.

Unfortunately, this overconfident arrangement caused problems for the Celestial Venerable's potential status as a candidate for the three paths to true god of the "Source Castle" in modern times, as well as for the revival of the three "transmigrators" deployed by the Source Castle.

Amanisis, the "Goddess of the Night," inherited the body of a dire wolf through the "Dark" pathway because she absorbed the unique influence of Fregra, the "Fool." Although Roselle was resurrected in a human body, she chose the "Common Sense" pathway, which is not adjacent to the human body. As for Klein himself, he received the goddess's help at birth and "grafted" the curtain containing the Sequence 1 characteristics to the Forsaken Land.

Meanwhile, the angel kings of the Fourth Age, on the one hand, were summoned to Arista Tudor's side. While influencing this "Blood Emperor" to create a special mirror world and interfere with the "God's" resurrection, they also had the opportunity to become friends rather than enemies, communicate with each other, and become more vigilant about the "Celestial Venerable's" resurrection. They did not choose to ascend to godhood in that era.

Of course, Antigonus, the "half-fool," being a born mythical being, lacked sufficient anchor and self-awareness. Coupled with the uniqueness of the "fool" path, which was most suitable for becoming the Lord of Mysteries, he ultimately could not hold on and allowed the Celestial Venerable to recover to some extent within him. He could only rely on the authority of the Goddess of Night to fall into a deep sleep and wait for further developments.

While not as successful as the "Fool's" path, the "Door"—a rare combination of three Sequence 1 characteristics and uniqueness—did not suffer the same fate, Klein suspected was related to the corruption of the "Fallen Mother" within him. This was a deduction from the result to the cause, but he believed it was highly probable. This meant that the "Fallen Mother's" corruption of Bethel had begun long before his banishment to the void, even before the Fourth Age, during the chaotic Second and Third Ages, when even angels could fall at any moment.

As for Amun, who, like Antigonus, was a naturally born mythical being, Klein considered him the most unique.

His birth originated from the actions of the "ancient sun god" in order to expel excess characteristics from his body. Unlike his brother "imaginary angel" Adam, who was resurrected, Amon's uniqueness came from the Celestial Venerable, not from that God.

As to how the unique "mistake" belonging to the Celestial Venerable entered the Chaos Sea, became part of God's legacy, and was ultimately taken away by Grisha Adam, Klein can only speculate based on the existing information. It may have been one of the results of the ancient war between the Celestial Venerable and God, caused by God tearing the Celestial Venerable's body apart. It may also have been something the Celestial Venerable actively abandoned as a means to interfere with God's resurrection when the two pillars fell one after the other.

However, since Amon actively collected characteristics, advanced to "Error," and wanted to seize the Source Castle to become the Old One, he had the potential to revive "Celestial Venerable" within his body.

However, in Klein's view, the will and spirit of the "Celestial Venerable" within these Angel Kings were far from being able to be revived.

This leads to a problem: in terms of perceiving and interfering with the outside world, the "Celestial Venerable" is not as good as the "God".

Even in the crucial matter of the Source Castle deploying the "transmigrators," He seemed unable to intervene. Instead, the Goddess of the Night, who indirectly controlled the uniqueness of the "Fool," retaliated and saved Klein from the near-death experience of becoming a god upon landing.

He probably can only obtain some key information through the Source Castle itself, especially information related to that "God," which should be His biggest concern... Klein's scattered thoughts came to a close, confirming his current thoughts, and even that his conversation with Amon was unlikely to be discovered by that Celestial Venerable.

Of course, the parts that are actively revealed are not included, such as the secrets hidden in "Destined Madness" and Amon's voluntary revelation of the possible cooperation between God and the Fallen Mother Goddess, which gave Amon and Klein the possibility of "deceiving" the Celestial.

Klein deliberately revealed his divination of "destined madness" to the spiritual imprint and will of that Celestial Venerable, leading the Celestial Venerable to believe that God's resurrection was of a higher degree than his own, which in turn led him to make a huge concession in order to bring forth a "Lord of Mysteries" as soon as possible.

Otherwise, Klein would rather follow the example of his future self shown by Angel Grey, fall into a deep sleep after becoming a god, and let "God" revive first, than give the Celestial Venerable any chance.

In this matter, Klein did not actively contact Grisha Adam, but he did provide some guidance and hints during the operation. The strongest "spectator" would inevitably notice the anomaly and use His abilities to cooperate with Klein in misleading the Celestial Venerable. At the same time, He would also use this to get "God" to make concessions.

The key to this is that Amon deliberately provoked the turmoil in the "Source Castle".

The internal state of the Source Castle, which even the "Old Ones" could not see, has changed. Everyone will think that the battle between Klein and Amon has reached a fever pitch, and that the "Celestial Venerable" may be resurrected at any time.

Of course, that's not entirely wrong. If they were to fight by unleashing their suppression of the Celestial Venerable's will and constantly seizing control of the Source Castle, the Celestial Venerable would inevitably revive. However...

...But this battle did not exist.

Looking at Amon, who was still sitting in the high-backed chair with his legs crossed and a smile on his lips, Klein couldn't help but feel uneasy.

In their tacit agreement to "deceive both the Celestial Venerable and God," the two did nothing more than slightly awaken the "Celestial Venerable's" consciousness and fight for the ownership of the Source Essence.

This also allowed the Celestial's spiritual imprint within Klein to remain stable, enabling him to maintain balance through his own anchor.

While Amon uses only his own clones as anchors, making him less stable than Klein, there is certainly a personality created by Grisha as the "Dreamer" beside one of his most important clones, constantly comforting him and maintaining balance so that he is not corrupted by the will of the Celestial.

However, besides the fact that they consciously maintained their bottom line and did not truly awaken the "Celestial Venerable's" spirit, the most important reason was that the activity level of this pillar was far lower than expected.

It seems this insane plan has truly succeeded, at least on our side. I wonder how things are going on "God's" side? Can "Grisha, the True Creator," defeat "The Eternal Sun"? Other gods are unlikely to participate; even Roselle has to maintain the barrier… No, there is one god who can provide assistance: Angel, who has just become a god… Is this the full picture of Grisha's plan? So He never stopped Angel's path to godhood, and even actively pushed for it on several occasions… Klein's mind raced with these thoughts, his gaze lingering on Amon's rather amused smile, and he asked:
"So now, should I beat you up?"

"How can you be so sure you can beat me?" Amon pushed up his monocle and asked rhetorically. "We have similar 'Source Castle' permissions, and I am a dual-path True God."

But He still didn't make a move... Moreover, inside the Source Castle, there wasn't much difference between dual-path and single-path deities; both could use the Source Matter to invoke the authority and power of adjacent paths... Klein's inner suspicions were further confirmed. He let out a long breath and tentatively said:

"The recovery of that pillar is very slow." Amon's smile faded, and he nodded slightly.
"He dared not gamble, so he could only suppress it."

Indeed, the "Celestial Venerable" is not confident in directly controlling one of us and reviving one of our ancient, pillar-level status. If he fails, the one who opposes him will inevitably give up the struggle and let the other kill him. At least I will show such determination, and Amon... if he really has the "courage" he claims to have, then he should also make this decision... Klein silently added in his heart.

If things fall into this situation, then "God" will definitely give up this chance of resurrection, promote Grisha Adam to become the Old One, and in turn dismantle the three pathways of the "Lord of Mysteries," making the Celestial Venerable completely lose the possibility of resurrection.

This is the effect of "double deception," where both pillars make huge concessions because the other might be resurrected before them, hoping that the true Old One will appear first in their respective paths.

Most importantly, compared to the "Celestial Venerable" whom no one and no god wanted to be resurrected, "God" had a greater advantage. He could obtain help from the Outer Gods through the power of justice, and the conditions He proposed would inevitably include the burial of the Celestial Venerable.

As for cooperating with the Celestial Venerable, the fate of the "Child of Chaos" serves as a warning to all those from the past.

Thinking of this, Klein sighed with emotion and said:

"I originally thought there would be a 'Battle of the Source Castle'."

Upon hearing this, Amon chuckled, sat up slightly, looked around, and said:
"Heh, if you're lacking in this sense of ritual, I can go along with it."

"But what's the point of fighting when both sides have the same, controllable abilities and authority?"

“This doesn’t sound like someone who would say ‘life needs some excitement and fun,’” Klein laughed. “I thought your obsession was ‘Source Castle,’ especially after I came to understand the nature of divinity.”

"Do you only like 'adventures' that are truly certain of success?"

Klein's sarcasm did not provoke Amon's anger; the latter maintained his smile, a glint of light flashing in the eye behind his monocle.

"Becoming the 'Lord of Mysteries' was merely a means, not an end. That end has already been achieved ahead of schedule, and with your help."

He answered calmly.

The purpose… is with us, with Angel and me? It can't be to find Dad, can it…? In that case, “Mistake” truly betrayed the Celestial Venerable's original intention; no wonder His other arrangements also had significant errors… Klein pondered, still unable to determine whether Amon's words were sincere or merely a facade. He cautiously asked:

"So you really don't intend to steal my identity and authority?"

Upon hearing this question, Amon's lips curled up dramatically, revealing the most relieved and relaxed smile he had shown since arriving at Source Castle.

"You can enjoy this bullshit of fate and responsibility yourself."

He answered in a tone completely unlike that of a dual-path God, crossing his arms, leaning back in his chair, and even putting one leg on the bronze table of "The Fool," pushing himself backward as if he had given up everything.

In that instant, Klein felt that all the authority over the "Source Castle" had returned to his hands, restoring his perception of the outside world, his ability to respond to the prayers of the believers, and all control over this gray fog space.

Has Amon really given up the fight for this source material?
Without the slightest hesitation or giving the other party a chance to back out, Klein immediately chose the most powerful attack method he could think of.

He "grafted" a concept from the starry sky onto a blasphemous card in his hand, then tossed the "Fool" card, which depicted Roselle dressed in gorgeous clothes, carrying a cane and luggage, with a hopeful expression, towards his opponent.

In Amon's eyes, the card that shimmered with starlight suddenly erupted into a sea of ​​blazing light that made all the stars pale in comparison.

With a smile, He opened His arms and embraced the supernova.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Unbeknownst to anyone, within the impenetrable veil of shadow, a young man with black hair, black eyes, and a thin face sat up from the shimmering darkness.

He looked around, as if he had just woken up from a beautiful dream and hadn't fully come to his senses yet.

A moment later, He reached out and grasped at the air, then withdrew His arm, only to find that His palm was empty.

The crystal monocle that had been with Him since He could remember was nowhere to be found.

He sighed, reached into the pocket of his classical robe, pulled out a single-lens reflex with a brass frame and slightly worn edges, and put it in his right eye socket.

Before he could even straighten his glasses, a gentle, calm voice, tinged with laughter, came from behind him:
"I feel this suits you better."

"Is that so?" Amon turned around and looked at the figure in the shadows. "That's good."

He laughed.

P.S.: This part feels a bit dry and was quite difficult to write... There probably won't be any more lengthy explanations like this in the future.

(End of this chapter)