"Grounded Angel? Protection? Do Justice and Devil know each other in real life? Or did Devil use the information from last time to find Justice's real identity, and Justice then deduced Devil's identity from that?"
The Hanged Man could barely suppress the shock in his heart. He realized that everything the Tarot Club members discussed today was so high-level. In comparison, bringing up Zilingus somehow felt rather cheap.
But...
Devil possessed a method that even those below Grounded Angel could not see through? Did that mean he actually had the strength of a demigod? Or that he controlled a Sealed Artifact at the demigod level?
Come to think of it, since Devil could offer protection to Miss Justice, who wielded considerable influence in Backlund, he must also be some powerful Beyonder in Backlund, right?
If so, perhaps Zilingus could be dealt with without needing Mr. Fool's Blessed to step in?
With that thought, the Hanged Man ultimately failed to restrain his desire to eliminate Zilingus and said:
"Mr. Fool, Miss Justice, Mr. Devil, I have obtained new intelligence. Vice Admiral Hurricane Zilingus infiltrated Backlund in order to complete a difficult task. He may remain there for quite some time and cause horrifying massacres. In addition, I know this matter involves a very important item, one that could help Zilingus quickly become a High Sequence powerhouse."
"Become a High Sequence powerhouse quickly? Isn't he afraid of Loss of Control?" Audrey immediately seized on the key point. After Mr. Devil's previous description of the Acting Method, she had clearly recognized the essence of Loss of Control. That mutation of two spirits blending together seemed even more terrifying than death to her.
"That is precisely why that item is so important." Alger spoke very frankly, then shifted the topic. "Of course, these are merely my speculations. The intelligence I received specifically states this—Zilingus believes that once he completes the commission and obtains that item, he will soon stand alongside King of the Five Seas Nast and the others, turning the Four Kings among pirates into the Five Kings."
Alger slowly used his Beyonder knowledge to analyze the underlying implications of this intelligence, repeatedly emphasizing the importance of the Extraordinary Item in an attempt to draw Mr. Fool's attention.
But unfortunately, neither Mr. Fool nor Mr. Devil had yet reached beyond the complete Sequence Nine stage. Though both were ready to advance at any time, confronting Zilingus was clearly unrealistic.
Still, Klein was not without ideas. Mr. Azk seemed to be in Backlund at the moment. Though Klein did not know whether he could truly contend against Zilingus, it should be fine to remind him in a concerned tone. Besides, Klein also wanted to ask about the Sacrifice Ritual.
Thoughts flashed through his mind one after another, yet Mr. Fool remained outwardly unruffled as he calmly delivered his signature line—
"I understand."
Seeing that Mr. Fool remained unmoved, Alger shifted his attention back to Devil and Justice, beginning to describe Zilingus's various habits in detail. Yet to Sno, it all sounded extremely strange, because—
The Hanged Man's manner of introduction was practically like a lovesick obsessive describing the person he secretly adored!
The discussion of Zilingus gradually drew to a close. Klein felt that today's Tarot Club had gone on long enough and immediately smiled. "Let's end things here today."
"As you wish." Everyone rose and bowed simultaneously. Then, after Klein severed the connection, they swiftly returned to their bodies.
Klein returned to his bedroom and dispelled the Wall of Spirituality. He had originally planned to buy Extraordinary Materials as scheduled, but after thinking for a moment, he took out paper and pen first and began writing a letter to Mr. Azk.
Inside the room with the red chimney, a Feather Quill danced merrily across a notebook. Lines of flowing cursive appeared smoothly without it being dipped in ink, forming one continuous sentence after another—
"I do not know what exactly went wrong. A Witch discovered his existence and informed the official Beyonders. Heavens, is she not afraid of being thrown into a church basement?"
"Oh! Poor Ince Zangwill. His script has changed once again. The official Beyonders have begun to notice the existence of coincidences, and his plan is once more facing failure..."
At this point, the Feather Quill's movements suddenly froze. It did not continue writing, because it knew what would happen next.
Sure enough, an aged hand roughly seized the Feather Quill and began writing again beneath the line it had just written—
"The Beyonders of the Night Watcher Church unexpectedly detected the aura of the Evil God Progeny, thereby confirming that Magaos was hiding in the lower district of Iron Cross Street. To avoid causing excessive harm to the public, the Three Great Churches discussed the matter and decided to hold a large charity event. By distributing food to the poor, they would relocate most of them away from Iron Cross Street."
"The unborn Evil God Progeny and Magaos, already thoroughly corrupted by Evil God Power, could not understand the importance of charity to the poor. Therefore, they did not discover the Church's conspiracy. This was clearly logical."
"However, Mr. A, who had long been paying attention, noticed this detail. As a fanatic, he decided to risk infiltrating the lower district of Iron Cross Street. After all, as a Shepherd, he possessed sufficient means to escape. This, too, was logical."
"As the most powerful Church in Tingen City, the Church of the Evernight Goddess dispatched all its mid-sequence Beyonders, leaving only a few Low Sequence Beyonders on guard. They would never imagine that the enemy's target was actually their headquarters."
"Ince Zangwill's plan will not fail! He will definitely obtain what he wants!"
Perhaps it was driven by 0-08, or perhaps the matter itself simply conformed to "logic." In any case, after some unfortunate Beyonder nearly suffered Loss of Control because of the Evil God's aura, everything began developing as Ince Zangwill had hoped...
Having finally reined in the spirituality leaking from the Clown Potion and intending to spend the rest of his half-day leave resting, Klein was suddenly summoned to Blackthorn Security Company. The moment he entered, he saw Dunn and several Night Watchers who had come from other cities as reinforcements organizing their equipment. Among them, Your Excellency Goddess's Sword, carrying a suitcase, and the members beside her wearing Red Gloves were particularly conspicuous.
"Captain, have you found the Evil God Progeny?" Seeing this scene, Klein immediately understood what had happened. He reached out to touch the pocket containing the Flaring Sun Charm and swallowed lightly.
"Yes, but this time it is a joint operation by the Three Great Churches. Low Sequence Beyonders do not need to participate. Seeka, Kenley, and Frye will go to the cathedral to maintain order. You, Leonard, and Royale will remain at headquarters and prepare for any emergencies..."
P.S. There is a very interesting question about the original work: where do the Beyonder Characteristics of Supernatural Creatures come from?
As everyone knows, Beyonder Characteristics are indestructible. So how do creatures like Lava Octopuses, which possess Beyonder Characteristics from the three cowardly pathways, reproduce?
And where do their Beyonder Characteristics come from?
After all, judging from the original work, creatures like Water Ghosts, Lava Octopuses, Deep Sea Marlins, and firebirds are not rare. So it should not be a case where the old ones lose their Beyonder Characteristics after producing offspring. Otherwise, after producing so many Low Sequence offspring, these creatures should have gone extinct long ago.
So the question is, how do they reproduce?
If Beyonder Characteristics truly cannot increase, then there are only two possibilities—
First, transporters—like Dragon's Breath Grass in fantasy novels, they can only live in places where the aura of high-level existences lingers. They absorb those auras to generate Beyonder Characteristics, much like the 422 Pollution I mentioned before. Honaquis Gray Goats should belong to this type, but does that mean they will go extinct once the aura of high-level existences is exhausted?
Second, processors—this speculation is based on the idea that all things possess divinity. Perhaps these creatures can separate trace amounts of Beyonder Characteristics from their food and accumulate them within their bodies, much as pufferfish do not produce toxins but accumulate them through their diet. But that raises another issue: the quantity of Beyonder Characteristics. After all, according to the original work, the Beyonder Characteristics concentrated in a specific part of every Supernatural Creature should be the same, or at least not differ by much.
Which do you think it is?
Before you continue