"I didn't expect to see you here."
Bethel Abraham stepped out of the shadows and approached Antigonus, whose hood still left the coarse, short black fur on his face exposed, replying in a largely level tone.
The two former friends stood beside the collapsed castle, looking at each other in silence.
Two thousand years ago, they had both been great nobles and Kings of Angels of the Tudor Empire. One had fully mastered the Door pathway and needed only to wait for the Celestial Worthy's residual consciousness to weaken before becoming a god, earning him the name of that pathway's highest Sequence. The other possessed a Sequence 1 Characteristic and the Uniqueness of the comparatively most dangerous pathway, Fool, and was known as the Half Fool.
Together with Amon, who had also been a great noble and King of Angels of the empire, they had even formed an Old One Research Group. Setting aside the prejudices and hatred between adjacent pathways, they had researched secrets buried in history and discussed how to prevent the Celestial Worthy's resurrection. During the Fourth Epoch, when the residual consciousnesses of the Creator and the great existence remained powerful, they had achieved a delicate balance, avoiding a protracted war among the pathways connected to Sefirah Castle.
Bethel had even helped Antigonus hunt the Mystic Seer Zarathus during the war, helping him obtain and accommodate a second Sequence 1 Characteristic.
But everything had changed toward the end of the Four Emperors War.
Amon had abruptly vanished, seemingly after receiving instructions from his brother, who lurked in the shadows. Mr. "Door", Bethel, had encountered the Evernight Goddess, who wielded the authorities of Concealment and Misfortune, and the Lord of Storms, whose speed was enough to catch even the most agile King of Angels. The two gods had