Drawing Close

After meeting Adam, the Angel of Imagination and the most powerful Spectator, and witnessing the abilities of Hvin Rambis, a Demigod Spectator, Angel had gained a basic understanding of the Pathway.

But repeatedly forgetting the King of the Black Throne still sent a shiver through her.

Being unable to see someone standing right beside you was frightening enough. Knowing someone existed yet constantly forgetting him was worse... And this ability clearly did not require active use. Its reach stretched from Loen to Intis, from the Rorsted Archipelago to the Sonia Sea—almost the entire world.

Angel recalled Queen Mystic Bernadette saying that a Sequence 3 Beyonder could answer prayers through an Honorific Name across a considerable area, while only a Sequence 2 could make her powers work worldwide. That gave Angel an estimate of the King of the Black Throne's strength.

A Sequence 3 Beyonder could not achieve this alone, unless he possessed a Mystical Item equivalent to a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, or an Angel of the Spectator Pathway was helping him...

Of course, Barros Hopkins, the King of the Black Throne, was unlikely to be a Sequence 2 himself. Otherwise, he—not Nast, the King of the Five Seas—would stand above all pirates.

From another angle, the fact that Anne could disregard Hopkins's Psychological Invisibility also spoke to the gap in their strength. This Pirate King was probably only a Sequence 3 Beyonder.

Having worked that out, Angel looked toward the antique-styled Black Throne and tried to commit the rare ship's shape to memory, even if, once she left the island, the memory would be buried deep in her mind and seldom see the light of day.

Unfortunately, like the others, the King of the Black Throne did not show himself. *Well, I'm probably the only one foolish enough to