"You placed bets on me?" Harley tilted her head slightly, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
"Then may I ask where the corresponding stakes are?"
"We've already given them to you, Miss Harley Potter."
God tapped the table twice, seeming very patient.
"You were able to follow that special path all the way here and sit before us. That was part of the stake we put up."
Harley looked puzzled at first, but then suddenly remembered something.
The gray-white mist and black liquid from earlier; the purplish-red mist in the city; her Beyonder Abilities, which had inexplicably grown stronger but were somewhat out of control...
"Your guess is correct." God's voice remained even, His gaze clear, as though He could see what Harley was thinking.
"The Chaos Sea, Sefirah Castle, and the projection of the City of Calamity. Those are the three components of that path."
"As for this place, it is the less-overlapping of the only two points where the City of Calamity intersects with reality. It exists only in dreams."
"Originally, only you should have been qualified to enter. But the Lord of Mysteries quietly deceived the rules and opened a back door at this intersection, allowing me and Him to enter as well."
"An interesting ability, isn't it?"
"Then... before I arrived here, I should have gone straight out of control?" Harley furrowed her brows and asked softly.
"After all, I've now come into direct contact with the Sefirah at the peak of my own Pathway, even though I'm just an ordinary Sequence 4."
"That's right. You should have lost control, but you haven't. That's part of the reward we advanced to you, or you could say, one of the bets we placed on you."
God's expression was quite gentle, even carrying a hint of pity.