Analysis

Captain, thanks for showing me how it was done...

Klein flashed an exaggerated grin, grateful he had never let down his guard. He had kept the Language of Foulness charm, packed with a "grand sermon from the True Creator," pressed into his palm. Even with his thoughts sluggish and his movements slowed, he had managed to activate it, hitting everyone indiscriminately with its ravings. Thanks to all the times he had "tempted fate" in much the same way, he recovered first and killed his enemy.

Once he came to his senses, Klein saw that the bodyguard he had hired for 1,000 pounds, a woman in a black Gothic court dress, had gradually stopped screaming. Her thrashing had slowed too, though her skin seemed much more transparent.

He glanced down at the flesh still writhing on Rosago's corpse and, without hesitation, took out a Requiem charm he had made himself.

Under its soothing calm, the corpse finally went still.

At the sight, an idea struck Klein. He took out another charm and murmured:

"Crimson!"

He infused it with a little spirituality and tossed it toward his bodyguard.

The power of slumber spread outward. Still weakened by the lingering echoes, the woman fell quiet at once and drifted off to sleep.

To be safe, Klein used another Sleep Talisman. He did not want her interrupting what he was about to try.

Then he wasted no time. He set up a ritual to summon his spirit body, took the Azik Copper Whistle, wrapped himself around Rosago's remaining spirituality, and entered Above the Gray Fog.

Seated in the chair belonging to the Fool, Klein immediately saw the Crimson Star representing The Tower swelling and shrinking repeatedly. The illusory prayer he had heard earlier had clearly come from him.

But Rosago's spirit could dissipate at