"Mystical Reenactment—Calling a Deer a Horse," combined the authorities of "Distortion" and "Fooling," allowing an object to transform into the form one designated, while making both the object itself and anyone who saw it believe that its form had always been that way.

Because the target to be altered was an item formed from a Sequence 1 characteristic, the "Mystical Reenactment" that Ebner could "simulate" was actually insufficient, so he could only ask Bernadette, an angel of the Mystery Prier pathway, to take action.

Of course, he could have gone to Yaloran as well, but since "Pale Death" had been borrowed from Bernadette, there was no need to trouble another person for the same matter.

"It can maintain this state for six hours... provided I don’t encounter enemies or engage in combat during that time," Bernadette said calmly. After speaking, she handed the "scalpel"-shaped "Pale Death" to Ebner.

Actually, I’ve already ’recorded’ its current form and can pull it out from history at any time.

Muttering inwardly, Ebner still accepted "Pale Death." After all, when performing surgery on Medici and the others shortly, it would already require a large amount of spirituality. Adding another historical projection would be quite a heavy burden for him.

"Thank you... As for the additional information about the ’Central Kingdom’ I promised you, I’ll prepare it and tell you next time I visit," Ebner said before leaving, putting away the "scalpel."

You could actually just write it down and give it to me. There’s no need to come in person to explain it... Although Bernadette thought this inwardly, she didn’t refuse on the surface and only nodded lightly.

...

In the quiet night, close to midnight, inside an empty workshop of a clothing factory in the Saint George Borough.

A cleared space had been prepared here, where nearly ten mysterious figures stood, dressed in black robes with hoods covering their heads.

At the center among them was a deep black coffin that looked quite heavy. Around the coffin were many golden ornaments stained with traces of soil, multiple candles burning with pale flames, and one skull after another.

These ferocious white skulls came from various sources—some were human, some belonged to animals, and some were extremely strange, carrying a sense of deformity that made it impossible to imagine their original forms.

The largest pile of skulls was stacked at the front, where Ebner’s clansman, "Undying Fool" Patrick Bryan, stood.

He too had changed into a black robe but did not pull up the hood, revealing his sharply contoured face, black hair, brown eyes, and relatively thin features.

This demigod had yet to do anything, yet the surroundings had already become extremely cold, as if countless invisible creatures were reveling.

As Patrick Bryan raised his right hand, the hooded believers began to dance—movements slightly convulsive, somewhat frenzied, yet full of rhythm.

This was the "Spirit Dance," a ritual favored by Death. The stronger the spirituality of the dancers, the better the effect.

As the dance grew more intense and an invisible, chilling wind blew out from within the coffin, Patrick Bryan lowered his head and chanted in a language that seemed to originate from the Underworld:

"The king deep within hell;

"The angel who plays the symphony of death;

"The ruler above the River Styx."

As Patrick Bryan chanted, the various skulls around the pitch-black coffin gradually took on a layer of eerie green, blending with their original white to create an extremely horrifying effect.

The "Spirit Dance" grew more and more intense. Voices seemingly from the Underworld echoed continuously, and the skulls floated up one after another, as if they had gained their own vitality.

Then, in chaotic order, they flew toward the heavy black coffin, passing through the lid as if it had no substance and entering inside.

The coffin instantly transformed into a bottomless, dark vortex, expanding in place and emitting an aura that was cold, frigid, lofty, causing Patrick Bryan to instinctively tremble and lower his head.

This was the aura of an angel!

It came from none other than the high priest of the artificial Death faction of the Numinous Episcopate, the Sequence 2 Death Consul, Heitel.

At this moment, His aged, icy voice—one that seemed capable of directly pulling a soul out of its body—resounded:

"Well done.

"Have you made any progress recently in awakening the god?"

Patrick Bryan quickly recounted his cooperation with the "Saintess of Purple" from the Demoness Sect in Berdan City.

After a round of questions and answers, although Heitel, the angel of the Death domain on the other side of the vortex, easily saw that the Saintess of Purple had ulterior motives in this cooperation, He did not expose it.

After all, as a pure native of the Southern Continent, He held no goodwill toward the Kingdom of Loen. Even if Berdan were sacrificed entirely, He would gladly watch the spectacle.

Or rather, Patrick himself had been an accident in His experiments. Letting him cause trouble in the Northern Continent would be good if it succeeded, and if something went wrong, it would be Loen, the enemy force, that suffered.

"Very good. Continue. I will provide you with support." After giving Patrick a few light words of praise, the angel severed the connection, and the terrifying aura in the surroundings vanished instantly.

At the same time, in another building of the clothing factory, Ebner stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling window on the fourth floor, observing the ritual that communicated with the angel through multiple layers of obstruction.

Beside him stood a young man with gentle facial lines and fairly decent features, though somewhat pale.

The young man smoked a cigarette while glancing toward the direction of the ritual. Then the corners of his mouth curled slightly upward, his eyes half-narrowed as he smiled:

"Someone is performing such a dangerous ritual in Backlund, and you’re not going to do anything about it? 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"That day at the baron’s mansion, you were quite proactive in disrupting the Lord’s descent."

Interfere? Why should I interfere? I suspect the angel they’re contacting might not even really be Heitel... or rather, there’s an eighty percent chance Heitel has already run into problems and might even be under the Goddess’s control.

After all, the Goddess obtained the uniqueness of the "Death" pathway thousands of years earlier than in the original story. Even if She didn’t want to expose herself prematurely and alert the enemy, there’s no way She wouldn’t have planted hidden measures within the artificial Death faction.

What’s even more interesting is that the leader of the royal faction of the Numinous Episcopate, the "Pale Empress," has long been one of the Goddess’s identities. Even if those hidden measures were discovered, they would only be seen as internal conflict between the two factions.

Additionally, unlike in the original story, Klein has not yet directly contacted the Goddess. When he wants to request Her help, he always relays it through me or comes to me directly... so Patrick has yet to meet Klein.

However, the fact that Klein hasn’t guided Patrick already indicates that the Goddess no longer needs such arrangements... which means the entire Numinous Episcopate is probably already under Her control, including that angel from the artificial Death faction.

Now that I think about it, during the battle in the eastern sea of Balam when the Hidden Sage seized the Knowledge Emperor, that angel from the Numinous Episcopate even intercepted my "Rose Beast"... If He was already under the Goddess’s control back then, that attack was purely a setup orchestrated jointly by the Goddess, Lilith, and Vera!

No... perhaps it was precisely that action which allowed Heitel to be completely controlled by the Goddess.

Heh, if my "premonitions" are correct, that incident was truly a scheme within a scheme.

It was originally a plot against the Hidden Sage, yet those three each gained something from it... Lilith used it to interfere with Sauron-Einhorn-Medici, allowing Him to be further corrupted by the Mother Goddess of Depravity, likely paving the way for the so-called "Silver Moon Plan";

The Goddess most likely gained full control of the Numinous Episcopate because of it;

As for Vera, she severed Chik’s connection with reality at that time, causing Him to only receive false information, and even the "responses" given to His believers were distorted.

And all of this perfectly concealed the scheme against the Hidden Sage, preventing both the Outer Deities and the Hidden Sage from suspecting anything.

If I weren’t so familiar with them, and if they hadn’t deliberately avoided hiding things from me, I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong either!

But looking at it this way, between Amon and me, it’s not one to one—it’s at least four to zero...

As his thoughts raced, Ebner turned his head and glanced at Medici, smiling faintly. "Amon picked up more than half of his bad habits from you, didn’t he?"

"Of course. I raised Him!" the man—Medici—replied proudly, not offended in the slightest.

"So then He teamed up with His brother and got you killed?" Ebner asked with a smile.

"Little Crow didn’t participate. He just tacitly approved," Medici defended Amon, then instinctively wanted to mock Ebner. But suddenly remembering that Ebner was about to perform "surgery" on him, he restrained himself and instead said, "The show’s over. You should separate those two annoying fellows from me now, right?"

"The most annoying one isn’t you?"

"What do you mean separate us? You should be the one separated! This body is mine!"

Two "mouths" suddenly opened on his cheeks, each shouting separately.

Medici extinguished his cigarette and chuckled. "Keep arguing. It’s the last time anyway, so I won’t bother with you."

"Hand me the ’Red Priest’ card first... Also, you’ve already made a contract—each of you has to fulfill one of my requests. Don’t forget that," Ebner said as he snapped his fingers. Immediately afterward, the surrounding scene changed, transforming from the clothing factory building into a palace forged from gold.

This was Alvin’s "domain of the bizarre" covering reality—performing "surgery" on a King of Angels would not be a small matter, so a quiet place was naturally required.

Moreover, as a believer of the Fool, with Klein’s permission, his "domain of the bizarre" could borrow a portion of the gray fog’s power, reducing the consumption of historical projections within it.

Although Medici was momentarily stunned by the sudden change in scenery, he wasn’t too surprised. After looking around, he smiled and asked, "Where’s my ’chief surgeon’? To complete this surgery, you’ll need at least a ’Goddess of Beauty’ and a ’Naturewalker.’ I’m curious whose projections you’ll pull out."

"They should both be acquaintances of yours," Ebner said with a smile. Then he extended both hands forward and grabbed, and in the next moment, the figures of two women appeared beside him.

One had black hair and red eyes, her beauty peerless, as if she herself embodied the very concept of "beauty."

The other was full-figured and gentle, her chest prominently curved. Although her clothing seemed simple, woven from leaves and grass, it perfectly accentuated her figure.

They were precisely the "Queen of Blood Moon" and the "Goddess of Life" that Ebner had seen in the dream within the "Observer’s Ancient Castle."

"Auernia? Isis?!"

Medici’s eyes widened in disbelief. He suddenly looked at Ebner and asked in great confusion:

"Who exactly are you?"

(End of Chapter)