Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1365 The Celestial Venerable's Compromise

The Klein who appears in the "Fool's" chair is both the real one and not the real one.

His true form is still "asleep." Although this state is different from the deep hibernation and inability to respond to prayers that most gods and angels, as well as members of the Tarot Society, imagine, it is merely a disguise. However, he cannot escape his slumber at any time and leave the dark blue-green light gate above the gray fog of the Source Castle.

His usual external communication relied on the "Mirror of Arodes" on the bronze table, shrouded in historical mystery. The expressions he showed in the mirror to Angel were almost all from Klein himself, not the timid Arodes.

What revealed his true form at this moment was merely a special "spirit worm".

The complete "Lord of Mysteries" can deal with multiple "Old Ones" without restraint, precisely by utilizing abilities such as puppets, clones, and teleportation, along with corresponding concepts and symbols. The "Celestial Venerable" can show signs of resurgence within multiple "Source Castles" and three-path angels, preventing any of the angel kings of the Fourth Age from daring to become gods, also due to this symbolism.

The fact that a spirit worm remaining in the gray fog can directly carry its own complete consciousness without affecting the sleeping main body is proof that Klein is about to accommodate the "Source Castle" and can already utilize part of the symbol of the "Lord of Mysteries". The main body inside the Source Castle is him, and any spirit worm outside can become him at any time. Moreover, it is not a clone, but an existence that is infinitely close to the main body.

This is why Angel, who has become "half of the Old Ones," was able to enter the gray fog without hindrance, without being instinctively resisted or even countered by the Source Castle. If it were just an ordinary spirit insect, it could at most pull the spirit of a true god into this place, and that would only be for those few who had not come into contact with the source matter beforehand.

Of course, after several wars of the gods, only three remained who did not come into contact with the source matter to prepare to become the ancients: the Lord of Storms, the God of Wisdom, and the Mother Goddess of the Earth.

After his consciousness fully merged into this vessel, which was both his clone and his main body, Klein glanced at Miss "Chariot," whose appearance had changed somewhat since their last meeting, clearly indicating that she had now absorbed the second "Conqueror" trait. His gaze then settled on Angel, and he asked with a smile:

"You've already dealt with the 'evil dragon'?"

Angel nodded:

"With the help of those Dao-Merging cultivators from the Western Continent, and countless martyrs who sacrificed themselves to seal away the calamity, this matter is not difficult."

Klein, who had already been able to communicate simply with the Dao Integration cultivators through the seal of the Western Continent during the process of accommodating the "Source Castle," had also heard about the situation beneath the Dragon-Locking Well. Instead of dwelling on these details, he pressed for further information:
"What about the 'city of disaster'?"

Angel leaned back in his chair and answered in a relaxed tone:

“I originally wanted to say that this was very difficult. The spiritual imprints of many Source-type Daoists were mixed on me, which almost made me immerse myself in memories of wine pools and meat forests, beacon fires and magistrates, and burning books and burying scholars alive... But with you and the anchors of other believers, I was able to maintain myself and contain that Source-type power.”

"Unfortunately, this is not the real 'catastrophe'. I need to accommodate the uniqueness of the 'Red Priest' and at least one Sequence 1 characteristic before I can use this as a foundation to fully reveal the status and symbolism of the source matter and become the old day above the sequence."

"Moreover, even if I become a 'catastrophe of destruction, the root of all evil,' I can only be considered the most ordinary level of the Ancients, just like the Super Star Overlord and the Mother Tree of Desire, lower than a pillar-level Ancient like the 'Fallen Mother Goddess.'"

This doesn't mean that Angel lacks confidence in fighting the "Fallen Mother Goddess" head-on. After a portion of her essence and symbolism were torn apart, apart from being higher in rank than ordinary Old Ones, her combat power might not be much higher than Outer Gods like "Primal Hunger" or "Superstar Overlord".

The most important problem is that ordinary Ancients cannot truly break the seal on the Western Continent set up by the "Celestial Venerable." Not only Angel cannot do it, but those ordinary Ancients who have been waiting for the barrier to break and enter Earth also cannot.

In such matters, it is not a matter of special symbols or authority; what they lack is personhood, a hierarchy that is distinct even above the order, and differences even between the old days.

The highest level is naturally the original Creator who created everything. He represents the beginning and the end, chaos and the ultimate, and is naturally in an unstable state of constant aggregation and division.

The next level up are the "Fallen Mother Goddess," the "Celestial Venerable," and "God." They respectively control the real world, the spirit world, and the astral world, and are the pillars of this world. Although the latter two have fallen in the struggle, their spirits are immortal and their wills endure, and they are always planning their resurrection.

The remaining ones are the "Old Ones" who possess source matter and have mastered the corresponding pathways. In terms of combat power, they are not much lower than the pillar-level Old Ones. Even if their quality is not good enough, their numbers are far greater than the three pillars. However, they lack the key symbol that sustains the universe.

Because of this difference in level, even the "pillars" cannot break the barrier left by the original creator. They can only wait for it to disappear on its own or try to weaken it. The ordinary "Old Ones" cannot do anything about the seal created by that Celestial Venerable as the symbol of the "ruler of the spirit world" unless the "fallen mother goddess" who controls reality or the "God" who is the lord of the stars takes action.

Of course, after learning of the existence of the "Fourth Pillar," Angel believed that if she could cooperate with the "Eternal Darkness," an Ancient, and use the power of the two source substances simultaneously, she should be able to break or at least severely damage the seal, allowing other Ancients to retrieve their sealed source substances. However, this was on the condition that the Goddess of Night obtain the "River of Eternal Darkness."

It's like only being qualified to go to university after graduating from university... Perhaps using the symbol of the "original creator in the mirror" could break the seal, but that could also cause the barrier to fail prematurely, or even lead to the end of the entire universe. It can only be used as a last resort... Angel thought to himself, seeing Klein deep in thought, he turned and asked:
"And you? You've been sleeping on top of us for over a year, you should have gained something by now, right?"

As she spoke, she pointed to the dark blue-green light gate high up, shrouded in gray mist. It was a spectacle that only Klein and she, who had Klein's "permission," could see. Even if the members of the Tarot Society were holding a meeting here, they could not see through the mist.

This is essentially a protective measure; otherwise, simply looking directly at the essence of the "Source Castle" would be harmful, or even result in its contamination.

Upon hearing Angel's teasing question, Klein habitually adopted a comfortable posture and began to explain everything that had happened while he was "asleep":
"After advancing to 'Fool' and the Source Castle being invaded by Amon, my condition was actually better than I had imagined. After all, that 'blasphemer' ultimately gave up everything and did not challenge me as a dual-path god like the one in the other timeline and severely injure me."

As he spoke, he looked at the "chariot" Gray, which was further away. The information Gray brought was the key to changing everything and creating the current situation.

Under the watchful eyes of him and Angel, Gray snapped out of his lazy posture of propping his head up with one hand and slumping on the table, revealing an awkward smile like a poor student who had been called on in class.

After spending several days together and receiving many favors from "The Fool," she no longer harbored the inexplicable hostility towards Klein that she had when she first appeared.

Withdrawing his gaze, Klein continued:
"Originally, I should have stabilized my own condition, fought against the resurrected consciousness of that 'Celestial Venerable' while trying to contain the Source Castle, and finally mastered the adjacent pathways to become the 'Lord of Mysteries'. This was risky, but it was something I had to do."

Otherwise, when the barrier breaks, the seal of the Western Continent might not be able to be opened. At that time, Earth would have no chance to fight against the Outer Gods. The Fallen Mother Goddess could crush the seal with her own status and release the source essence. That would be a cosmic spectacle. Unfortunately, no one on Earth would have the opportunity to attend... Angel sighed inwardly.

“Fortunately, Amon’s compromise means I don’t need to risk relaxing the suppression of the Celestial’s consciousness and disrupting my own balance, nor do I need to enter a deep slumber to maintain my state,” Klein continued with a smile. “And the most crucial point is the compromise of the ‘Celestial’ himself.”

Back when Klein and Amon were having their "secret talks" above the gray fog, the Celestial Venerable had already made concessions due to the changes that had occurred on the "God's" side. Not only did he allow Klein to become more stable after advancing to the "Fool," but he also granted him some permissions to the Source Castle, allowing him to confront Amon as a single-path True God.

All of this was to prevent the other Pillar-level Ancient who fell with Him from truly being resurrected. The two Pillars shared a remarkably similar strategy in interfering with each other and keeping the other in slumber:
Even if it means my own death, I cannot let the other person live first!

This led to the fact that, under the schemes of Grisha and Amon, both "God" and "Celestial Being" gave up the opportunity for resurrection and instead continued to lie low, even willing to take a step back and then another step back, giving "Fool" Klein and "True Creator" Grisha the opportunity to ascend to the status of the Old Ones in the short term.

In this competition for "agents," as long as one's own ancient self appears first, one's own consciousness has the opportunity to revive first, then defeat and dismantle the other party's resurrection vessel, and win this contest that began long before the original creator awoke.

They also didn't need to worry about Klein and Grisha suppressing their own status and not ascending to the Old Ones, because the end times were imminent. Once the barrier broke and the Outer Gods invaded, Earth without the "Lord of Mysteries" and "God" would also face certain death. Besides competing with God, another reason for the Celestial's compromise was that He saw the possibility of the "First Creator" being resurrected.

This possibility existed from the moment the great being who created everything split apart. It was also a possibility that the Celestials and God saw after absorbing more Source Matter during their struggle. In order to prevent Source Matter and Extraordinary Characteristics from merging more and to allow the Creator's spirit and will within them to fully awaken, they tacitly engaged in a final battle. After leaving behind a contingency plan for resurrection and a means to prevent the other from resurrecting, they both perished, thus ending the possibility of Extraordinary Characteristics merging more into them.

Otherwise, if either the Celestial Venerable, who had already contained the "Source Castle," the "Land of Chaos," and the "River of Eternal Darkness," or God, who had contained the "Sea of ​​Chaos," the "World of Shadows," and the "City of Calamity," had prevailed, they would have instinctively continued to contain more source matter, thus leading to the awakening of the original creator.

That would mean the destruction of the existing world and the birth of a new world and a new order. In that new universe, no living being can exist except for the original creator, not even a pillar.

For the Celestial Being, this was the same outcome as God's resurrection while he himself was not.

In the struggle for dominance over the title of "Lord of Mysteries" with Klein, even if the Celestial Venerable were to compromise and relinquish it now, on a scale of millennia or tens of thousands of years, His immortal spirit would ultimately prevail. However, if "God" were to be resurrected first, or if the revival of the original creator led to a restart of the universe, He would completely lose any hope of returning.

Driven by two reasons, the Celestial Venerable finally made concessions, allowing Klein to gradually take control of the "Source Castle" without dragging the other party into a deep slumber, and to acquire the foundation to accommodate adjacent pathways as the ancients.

Compared to the other timeline of history brought by Gray, the current situation is undoubtedly more favorable to Klein.

Of course, no matter how the Celestial Venerable compromises, the difficulty for Klein to contain the Source Matter is far greater than that of other ordinary Old Ones. Whether it is the "City of Calamity" contained by Angel or the "River of Eternal Darkness" that the Goddess has already come into contact with, the consciousness inside them has been destroyed in the battle between the Celestial Venerable and God. The newly formed consciousness is even weaker and has become more peaceful and docile through the efforts of generations of Dao Mergerers in the Western Continent.

Even an existence like the "Evil Dragon," which is imbued with more thoughts of conquest and destruction by Dao-mergers, cannot compare to the Celestial Venerable or God. Moreover, when Angel defeated the opponent and absorbed the source matter, he had the help of Dao-mergers such as the Celestial Master and the Celestial Emperor, as well as heroes who sacrificed themselves in the Western Continent. Klein, however, could only rely on himself.

What he faced was a pillar of one of the original Creator's personality aspects.

Therefore, while Angel has already easily accommodated the "City of Calamity," Klein is still one step away from truly accommodating the "Source Castle."

"...In short, with more and more anchors in the 'Church of Fools,' and with your status becoming more and more stable and your position gradually rising, I have reached a certain tacit understanding with that Celestial Venerable. At least until the end of the world, He is willing to remain asleep and will not interfere with me any further."

Klein said, placing one hand on the long bronze table and tapping his index finger repeatedly, making Angel feel as if he were seeing the "diviner" Klein from the Tingen era. However, the somewhat hazy expression behind the thin gray mist gave Angel the feeling of looking directly at the mysterious "Fool".

I suspect that reaching an agreement with the Celestial Venerable wasn't easy for him. After accommodating the "City of Calamity" and the Evil Dragon, I also learned that advancing to the "Ancient" realm is essentially a process of integrating one's own consciousness and spirit into it. No matter how smoothly it goes, it's inevitable that some elements that didn't originally belong to oneself will be mixed in; the only difference is the proportion... She suddenly felt somewhat tired and asked in a low voice:

"With a deal and tacit understanding, both sides naturally have to pay a price. What does that Celestial Venerable require of you?"

“His bottom line is that the ‘First Creator’ cannot be born, and the same goes for the ‘Primordial God’ who competes with Him. He didn’t make any other demands. After all, as long as I become an Outer God, a part of His spirit and consciousness will be inherited, so there’s no need to worry about not being able to be resurrected…” Klein’s fingers, which were tapping the table, stopped in mid-air as he explained, “In addition, He also revealed the existence of the ‘Fourth Pillar’.”

So, the Celestial Venerable's bottom line is that he himself cannot truly die, and that the Primordial God cannot be resurrected before him? Presumably, God's requirements are similar for Grisha… The "Ancient Sun God" has already researched the fourth pillar, but it's hard to say whether it was caused by God's arrangement or hint. It seems both pillars are worried about the birth of the "fourth pillar," symbolizing destruction and the end times… Angel pondered for a moment and reminded him:

"This tacit understanding has no guarantee whatsoever. He might go back on his word at any time unless the strongest 'notary' vouchers for him, or he makes an oath before the genie. But the former is already the 'true creator' Grisha, and the God within him would never vouch for the Celestial Venerable. The latter would probably hide back in '0-05' upon hearing about this and wouldn't reappear for a hundred years..."

Klein nodded and said:

“I will keep that in mind, and there is not much room for manipulation in this matter. He and God are mutually deterring each other, and the existence of the end times may also give rise to the original creator within the barrier. He has no reason to deceive me on this matter.”

"Moreover, even the outer gods avoid the Celestial Venerable's wicked nature. Even if He wanted to cooperate, I'm afraid no one would be willing to trust Him."

Angel smiled as he thought of how the genie had acted when he faced the Celestial Venerable.

Seeing her smile again, Klein relaxed and said:

"For the past year or so, I've relied on you to maintain the Tarot Club and spread my faith. Although it may sound a bit formal, I still appreciate your hard work."

Although he could communicate with Angel through Arodes and make the Spirit Worms accept prayers and sense external events, Angel had to pretend to be in a bad state while maintaining the Astral Barrier and developing the "Church of the End Times" and the "Church of Fools," essentially splitting himself into two gods, which still made Klein somewhat emotional.

Under his gentle gaze, Angel's smile widened even further:
Is it just a verbal thank you?
"I have just taken over the 'City of Calamity' and have been affected by the malice of the evil dragon and those Dao-merging beings. My destructive desires have nowhere to be released, and I need to kill at least one true god to alleviate the situation."

Upon hearing this, Klein felt a chill run down his spine and back, and immediately straightened his posture.

"cough--"

Gray, sitting in the "chariot" seat, couldn't stand it any longer and coughed lightly.

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.

In the city on the western continent that originally overlapped with the "City of Calamity," a phantom exactly like this metropolis quickly appeared, and then disappeared as if a mirror had shattered.

The sounds of shattering glass echoed simultaneously from locations such as the completely destroyed port of Bansie and the depths of Trier in the Quaternary period, which were also affected by the leaked power of the "City of Calamity".

In that instant, all the angels of the witch and red priest paths felt a chilling fear in their hearts, while the angels of other paths, especially those with the authority of "prophecy" and "divination," had a premonition that the end of the world was coming.

In the deepest part of the mirror world, unseen by anyone, the reflection of the city of calamity contained by "Conqueror" Gray in the mirror has swapped positions with the real, true source matter of the Western Continent, separated by the seal of the Celestial Venerable.

What overlapped with that metropolis was no longer the source of disaster that intermittently devoured the living or released flying heads, headless corpses, and swollen women, but a false mirror city.

Beyond the seal, at the very bottom of the world that connects all the mirrors, a true "City of Calamity" has appeared.

Through the authority and symbolism of the sovereign in the mirror, and the connection after containing the source matter, Angel swapped this source matter with the corresponding mirror image, pulling it out of the seal!
(End of this chapter)