Gray Fog

Neph's first reaction was fear.

When she identified herself as the Child of God," she was considering the role of the " Child of Winter," but now, listening to the meaning of those words—

What Child of God? That's nothing but a puppet!

Even containers----

Fear spread through her in an instant. Neph felt herself trembling. She gritted her teeth, summoned her Spirituality, and the colors of her emotions faded. She calmed down again—but only for a moment.

The mere thought of those words sent waves of fear through her, draining her of all strength. Neph nearly fell to the ground, but a gentle wing swirled behind her, lifting her up. Realizing this, Neph was momentarily bewildered and looked at the wing's owner, who was unusually frowning, her gaze still fixed on her.

"---- Your Grace?" she asked tentatively.

"I can't see clearly." The Angel of Fate closed her eyes.

Neph was stunned. She wasn't sure what Ouroboros couldn't see, and her thoughts instinctively drifted in a worrisome direction, a guess forming in her mind: Surely He couldn't see the way out?

She was clearly terrified, and even with her eyes closed, Ouroboros could sense it. This was a very novel experience for Him, as He had never felt such a strong emotion before, and most of the people standing before Him had lost that ability, or if they didn't, the emotion could never be fear.

Ouroboros clearly lacked experience in comforting people; he could only open his eyes and try to describe what he saw in clearer language. "Your future is shrouded in a Gray-White Fog; I cannot see its contents, only this sentence appears faintly within the mist."

"Grayish-white... mist?" Neph's eyes widened.

She immediately recalled the swirling mist around the "Sefirah Castle." Coincidentally, Ouroboros had only recently met Klein, and before his advancement, traces of the "Sefirah Castle" should still be visible on Klein.

Ouroboros nodded slightly under her expectant gaze, affirming, "If you want to ask about the mist on the Fool, it's most likely one of them."

Hmm—that is to say, at least you think so—the two kinds of fog look about the same to you— Neph's eyes flickered, and her fear dissipated considerably.

It wasn't that she wasn't afraid anymore, but if we followed Ouroboros's Oldest One Prophecy, the answer was very clear: she was the vessel that the "Eternal Winter" had prepared for her in the Great Old One. But now, the White Mist indicated that the "Lord of the Mysteries" from the past had intervened at an unknown time.

When mentioning the "Lord of the Mysteries," one cannot help but mention his old adversary, "God Almighty." Neph Oldest One believed that this Sefirah should have arrived on Earth after the birth of the first "Blasphemy Slate," since no Pathway called "Bitter Winter" was written on that "Blasphemy Slate." However, at this moment, Ouroboros's words offer a third possibility.

Whether it's "Blasphemy Slate" or her standing here, it's all the result of the game between "God Almighty" and "Lord of the Mysteries".

This isn't really a good thing. Neph hasn't forgotten the pile of dried corpses that the "Lord of the Mysteries" left on the "Sefirah Castle," but this unclear purpose is at least much better than the overly explicit one from before.

Moreover, the Celestial Worthy's goal is actually quite consistent with God Almighty's: I would rather die than let Him be resurrected—well, although the possibility of a backup plan after resurrection cannot be ruled out, in the current situation, my main function is probably still to interfere with the other party's resurrection—but why me? I certainly don't want the "Lord of the Mysteries" to be resurrected, but I also don't want to see the "God Almighty" resurrected—you two can't be planning to perish together, can you?

This confusion flashed through Neph's mind, but she didn't dwell on it, because the true end of the story was too far off, and her understanding was too limited; these entanglements were beyond her comprehension.

What she could explore at that moment was, "Do you think I should be promoted like this?" Neph asked.

Ouroboros glanced at her, Neph wasn't sure what the glance was for. But then her wings suddenly retracted, and the sudden loss of support startled her. She steadied herself and looked at Ouroboros with a questioning gaze.

"I don't know," Ouroboros told her casually.

Good heavens, I was just grasping at straws in my desperation—this thought had barely crossed Neph's mind when Ouroboros added another message: "The Lord asked me to give you a message."

"What?" Neph was clearly taken aback.

Ouroboros's gaze fell upon her, his voice calm. "If He wishes to erase the trace of your existence in this world—"

"Then what you need to do is make your presence more prominent."

To make one's presence more prominent— Neph blinked and nodded, seemingly understanding.

This was the second time she had heard something similar. The "True Creator" had once sent Ouroboros a similar message. Neph closed her eyes briefly, recalling the words: "Every path you walk, every person you meet, every story you experience will become your colors."

"You need more color."

Color—to make one's presence more vivid— Neph. After delivering her message, the Angel of Fate vanished without hesitation. She blinked, her gaze sweeping across the plaza. Everyone else had left, and the Beyonder of the Church of Evernight had already arrived. Before she could make a move, a pair of eyes suddenly looked over.

She was floating in front of Ince Will's body when her gaze shifted from the corpse to Neph. Neph saw a pair of dark, deep eyes, and the starlight within them gave Neph a clue as to her identity.

"Who are you?----?" Neph asked tentatively.

After a brief pause, the owner of the eyes landed on the ground, quickly walked to Neph, and surprisingly bowed to her.

"The Eye of the Goddess," Ilya. Neph heard her answer.

Sure enough— Neph exhaled and asked thoughtfully, "Were you watching too?"

This was a question she had been curious about in the past. The "Eye of the Goddess," whom she had only heard of but never seen, appeared on the scene after everything was over, making Neph suspect that there was actually a hidden Spectator, the Evernight Goddess, in the performance.

I just don't know whose position it's calculating----

Neph frowned in thought, but Ilya didn't answer the question directly, "I just arrived at the scene."

"Not being there doesn't mean you can't see it" —Neph glanced at her but didn't pursue the matter further, considering for a moment...

A few seconds later, he couldn't help but ask, "Does it have other facial features?"

"----What?" Ilya was a little confused.

"It's nothing," Neph coughed lightly, "Hmm----"

She paused, a smile spreading across her face, and continued, "Just think of this as a younger sister greeting her older sister."

"Hmm, it should be able to get through; it's not like I'm being unreasonable—"

At least it's much more normal than that topic about M—I don't even dare to think whether Adam heard my innermost thoughts back then—to put it another way, maybe those thoughts were actually induced by Him—

Wait a minute, this seems quite possible—that might actually be the real "examination," because that inner voice approved of me—uh, doesn't that sound a bit strange? Because the human side I suspect is a submissive, so it approved of me—

Neph took a breath, abruptly interrupting her train of thought. She took a step back, gave a somewhat awkward curtsy, and then ran off without hesitation.

Instead of rushing to take the Potion or figuring out how to handle the Ascension Ritual, she went to find Klein first.

Mr. Fool sat upright in his Hotel room, as if an invisible barrier Quarantine him from the world. Neph knew something was wrong the moment she saw him. She raised a hand to her forehead. Startled by her arrival, Klein turned to look at her, his aura slightly lessening. "Neph?"

Neph gave a soft "hmm," pulled out a chair for herself, and sat down.

Her worried gaze fell on Klein, Klein shook his head and spontaneously began, "I'm fine, I—"

He paused, then suddenly laughed and said, "I'm not a child anymore. I go to the doctor when I'm sick, and I go to the Psychiatrist myself too."

"You don't need to worry about me too much, Mother."

"----?" Neph wasn't sure what expression to make. She moved her lips slightly, her face full of helplessness. "You still have the energy to joke? Looks like you're in good shape."

"----It's not exactly good," Klein shook his head, "But I already knew—well, I was somewhat mentally prepared, but more than that, I was shocked and terrified."

He paused, then turned to Neph and asked her, "You knew all along what was there, didn't you?"

Neph pursed her lips and nodded.

"Can you tell me?" Klein asked her, "In a way that I can understand."

Neph glanced at Klein thoughtfully. Considering Klein's condition, she did not refuse the request, but instead tried to organize her thoughts. "Let me think... well, it has to start with the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings."

"He is an ancient God living in the distant past, and He has an old adversary, an adversary with a name you are very familiar with— God Almighty."

"God Almighty?" Klein frowned. "You mean—"

Neph nodded slightly and said, "Your situation is somewhat similar to my My Lord's. You are each other's chosen backup plan after resurrection. I won't go into how my My Lord came to be, since we're talking about you today."

"When the Great Old One civilization still existed, the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings" used various means to select a group of people who met the criteria, such as you, and Emperor Roselle, and yes, you should have seen that there is still an empty cocoon there--"

Neph looked at Klein, Klein nodded, and she continued, "That's the Evernight Goddess."

Klein's pupils constricted and then relaxed abruptly. He exclaimed in realization, "So this is why I'm so favored?"

Neph nodded and said, "The most fundamental reason."

"You, and the rest of the people, were chosen by the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings through various reasons, and thus hung there, such as your Luck Enhancement Ritual, or the silver plaque mentioned by Emperor Roselle in his diary—there are many forms, a great many."

"Although I wasn't chosen by the Celestial Worthy, the reason I transmigrated is because I clicked on an unknown link."

"----That sounds like a scam," Klein commented.

"Of course it is!" Neph sighed. "She told me that the game based on this novel had been released, and then sent me a link. I clicked the link, and here it is."

Klein was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly felt like laughing.

"Actually, it's not a problem," he said. "Your initial state really resembled playing a game."

This was an indisputable fact. Neph was speechless, shook her head, and asked, "Are you still going to listen?"

Klein nodded, adopting a submissive posture as he listened attentively.

He seemed much more relaxed now, which put Neph at ease. She continued, organizing her thoughts. "You are the contingency plan that Celestial Worthy prepared for his resurrection. Of course, his plan was disrupted by his opponents and encountered some problems, as I think you have seen."

"The first one Evernight Goddess, under a Concealment Authority. I cannot speak her true name, but it is actually irrelevant. I think you saw her at 'Little Sun,' the Annihilation Demonic Wolf Flegrea, who has a Subordinate Deity known as the Goddess of Misfortune."

"You mean—" Klein's heart skipped a beat.

Neph nodded and continued, "She fell into the body of a Demon Wolf on a Darkness Pathway, which is clearly problematic. And the second one, Emperor Roselle —you saw it too—first went through the ' Savant ' Pathway, then jumped to the ' Mystery Pryer ' Pathway, Sequence 1: Knowledge Emperor, and finally brazenly jumped to the Black Emperor."

"Anyway, from beginning to end, he never considered the Marauder, the Apprentice, or the Seer; he only expressed regret in his diary."

Klein nodded again, then asked thoughtfully, "Then I—?"

"To prevent a third unexpected event, you descended directly with the Sefirah Castle," Neph shrugged. "Not only that, according to the original plan, you should also possess the Beyonder Characteristic of the ' Attendant of Mysteries.' You should know that this is your Sequence 1."

Klein's expression changed. Without Neph's reminder, he could naturally imagine what that would bring, because he had a senior who most likely followed this path!

"Did someone save me?" he asked.

"Of course, it's my sister who does good deeds anonymously," Neph shrugged. "Using the Uniqueness of the Fool's ' Pathway, he sent away that Attendant of Mysteries, allowing you to be born safely, instead of directly becoming—"

Neph gently shrugged, but then remembered her own birth.

Come to think of it, I still haven't seen any Potion recipes of Sequence 2 or higher.

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