The Tarot Club members had just heard a startling revelation from the Hermit: the Blood Emperor Tudor had killed Medici to become a True God of a Non-Adjacent Pathway!
Three or four seconds passed before the Fool, Klein, recovered enough to make the World ask, "Did He... I mean, did Tudor not lose control because of that?"
Skipping to an Adjacent Pathway might, in theory, carry some risk.
But even an unaffiliated Beyonder should know that switching to a Non-Adjacent Pathway meant losing control on the spot and dying.
The other members had the same question. Why had Tudor taken such a risk?
Even if He could not become a Sequence 1, becoming a Sequence 2 Angel was hardly unbearable compared with the risks of switching to a Non-Adjacent Pathway.
"I can't give you a definite answer," Odys said. "But from what I've learned, once someone reaches the level of a God, they can defy a great deal of conventional wisdom.
"Or rather, at that level, they can withstand more and bear some of the consequences of switching to a Non-Adjacent Pathway.
"But Tudor paid a terrible price. They say He spent most of His time in a state of madness and bloodlust!"
Behind the Gray Fog, Klein suddenly recalled Mr. Azik's description. He had said the Blood Emperor was as tall as a mountain, and that a single glance from Him had grievously injured him.
With the information traded today in mind, Klein suddenly understood why the Blood Emperor had seemed so strange in Mr. Azik's account.
The other members simply listened to the exchange. The revelation had hit so hard that they still had not quite recovered.
That included the High Priestess, Cattleya. Despite her extensive knowledge of mysticism, she knew little about matters at this level and