Hot Pot

Neph almost laughed in anger.

"All of them?" she asked.

"To be precise, it's from Backlund," Klein shook his head. "Of course, it can't be all of them, because Emlyn didn't come into contact with anything."

"Useless," Neph muttered under her breath, "No, I just don't understand, why would that plague god target Sanguine?"

"I don't know," Klein shook his head. "The Church is handling this. Bishop Utravsky said he would contact the Church of the Earth Mother."

Neph calmed down a little, Exit, shook her head and said, "Church of the Earth Mother —well, that's fine too."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway—though I still don't understand why He targeted Sanguine? And if we're talking about connections, Emlyn and I aren't that closely connected—could it be because of you?"

Neph frowned as she looked at Klein, Klein let her scrutinize him, only to sigh and say, "Neph, sometimes I really wonder who you're referring to."

Neph shrugged and replied, "If I could tell you, I definitely would."

"Alright," Klein gave up, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm?" Neph raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Why did you say—well, you know who I'm talking about, why did you say He is the other half of the True Creator?" Klein's brows furrowed slowly. "The other half of the soul—I initially found that term ambiguous, but you—"

Neph blinked.

With Adam on the verge of becoming a god, she didn't mind giving Klein a little reminder, but she couldn't say the answer herself. She shook her head and chuckled, "Have you forgotten? Sasrir took Eve's place, and my My Lord —I told you, as God's Left Hand," after the three betrayers devoured the lord's corpse, Sasrir became the True Creator of today."

Klein looked enlightened, the entire myth becoming clear in his mind. He exclaimed, "Hmm, you're saying this because of the Bible? I remember that God Almighty took Adam's rib and used it to create Eve."

"However, in that case, the Ancient Sun God ' wasn't a complete copy of mythology, just like Sasrir wasn't called Eve, wasn't a woman, and certainly wasn't created from Adam's rib—"

Neph's lips twitched uncontrollably. She raised her hand to interrupt Klein, stopping him, "Stop!"

"What you're saying reminds me of something unpleasant—maybe it was a Spirituality warning that prevented Him from making Sasrir a woman."

"Why do you say that?" Klein was taken aback.

Neph remained expressionless, uttering only one sentence. "The Ritual of ascension for a ' Demoness '."

Klein's expression changed instantly. Neph had discussed this issue with Klein before, and he knew that for this "Ancient Sun God" who lived in mythology, the "Demoness's" ascension Ritual was no longer a problem, and she could switch to this Pathway at any time.

Neph's words left Klein speechless. He remained silent, and Neph added, "You know what? Before—well, before in front of Adam, He saw through my thoughts—"

"----?" Klein took a breath. "You're thinking about why He didn't become Demoness in front of His children?"

"I've thought about it a bit more," Neph said calmly. "I've also been reminded of Emperor Roselle's diary, and you know what I mean."

Moreover, I wasn't thinking this in front of the children; this is just me—myself!

Neph's expression betrayed a hint of collapse. Despite the absence of the most crucial element, Klein could still understand why she was so distraught. He remained silent and patted Neph's shoulder.

"You'll be killed by your own heart sooner or later," he said.

Neph glared at him, suddenly remembering the book "The Groselle's Travels," and felt a strong urge to send Klein to jail to teach him a lesson, but she quickly gave up, because it didn't fit her self-image.

--Oh right, that ten thousand years! I need to have their Angel bring me that portrait when they come!

Neph suddenly jumped up from where she was. Under Klein's questioning gaze, she said goodbye, stepped back into Saint Hylarn Church, and then went to Backlund University.

"A portrait of Amon?" Archbishop Horamick, having dismissed the others, looked at Neph in his office and asked, "You want this?"

"Yes," Neph nodded, "I heard it's in your Holy Cathedral?"

"Yes," Archbishop Horamick nodded. "According to tests, that portrait drains the time of anyone who gets close to it, causing them to age and die instantly. Objects also age when they are within a certain range. I don't know why, but it's quite dangerous."

To be honest, I don't know either. Now that you mention it, I suddenly realize that stealing time is the ability of the "Worm of Time," Amon shouldn't have Sequence 1 clone outside.

"I know," Neph shrugged. "Amon and I made a deal, and this is the reward He promised. After the deal was completed, He told me the reward was in your Holy Cathedral, and I have to go and get it myself."

"----?" Archbishop Horamick glanced at Neph with a surprised look. "This---- I will inform the Holy Cathedral of this matter, and we will contact you once we have the results."

The Holy Cathedral of the Church of Steam and Machinery did not seem to intend to make things difficult in this matter. When the Angel, carrying the great mission of "rebuilding the Second Church," arrived in Backlund with their entourage and the Sealed Artifact, Neph also obtained the portrait from the sacrificial passage.

In the Pure White Space, Neph saw the portrait. The Angel of Time in the painting wore a classic black Warlock's robe, a pointed soft hat, and had curly black hair. He wore a beautiful monocle on his right eye.

When Neph's hand touched the portrait, the Pure White Space suddenly trembled. Neph froze on the spot, watching as the Angel of Time in the portrait winked lightly at her.

"----?" Neph gritted her teeth.

Having already Sequence 2, she possessed sufficient control over the Pure White Space. Without her permission, the power revealed was either Limit 1 or Amon hadn't used his full strength. In any case, Neph finally understood the problem with this painting.

It possesses no Beyonder Characteristic; it is merely a fixed Ritual object through which Amon can descend.

Neph, clutching the portrait, exited the Pure White Space, tossing it onto the table and glaring at her, saying, "Get out here!"

"Such a rough movement." Amon's voice rang out, tinged with a gasp. Neph saw a slender hand emerge from the portrait and rest on the table, then a second, a third, a fourth—

Chapter 13 Hot Pot

"How many hands do you have?" Neph finally couldn't help but ask.

In an instant, those hands transformed into tiny, transparent insects. They wriggled together, coalesced back into two arms, and used them to prop up a body as it leaped out of the picture frame.

Amon slid down the table, picked up his own portrait, shook his head and laughed, "If you want to see it, I can make my whole body grow arms."

"I think you should already understand this: for beings at our level, physical form is never the key factor."

"If you don't care that the result of your physical form is becoming like this, then I think it's quite important," Neph retorted.

Amon looked her up and down with a surprised expression, his voice tinged with a hint of admiration. "Being Angel really makes a difference, huh? You even sound so assertive when you talk to me now?"

Neph chuckled softly and asked only, "The time on this portrait is clearly in your possession—why did you make me go to the Church of Steam and Machinery's Holy Cathedral to retrieve it in the first place?"

"Do you want to hear the truth?" Amon asked her.

"Will you tell me just because I want to hear it?" Neph retorted.

"Hmm—" Amon looked her over, his expression seemingly thoughtful, "You can guess whether this is the truth or not."

Neph looked at Him quietly, Amon chuckled softly, replying, "I originally wanted to see you steal it back from Trier, and if you were lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the Pure White from back then. I never expected you to get it this way—really."

"I'd love to see a real show of Pure White!"

"----?" Neph glanced at him coldly, then reached out and grabbed at the air.

Ten thousand years passed so easily into her hands. Neph's expression instantly turned bewildered. She looked at Amon with a startled expression. Amon chuckled and said, "Can you answer one question for me?"

This time, Neph truly had no other choice, and she spoke without hesitation, "Speak."

Amon's smile faded, and his expression became more serious than ever before. "I've been thinking about a question."

"Fate tells me that you are my opportunity to go further, but you are unwilling to reveal to me either the location of another Sequence 1 or the Sefirah Castle."

"So, what exactly is the opportunity that will allow me to take this further?"

Upon hearing this, Neph was stunned. She blurted out, "You've changed your Fate Pathway?"

"Why do you ask that?" Amon asked her, puzzled.

"You've known Ouroboros for so long, you must know something about the ' Pathway of Fate,' right?" Neph shrugged.

"That's true, "Amon chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, your suspicions are valid."

"But then again, the ' Fate ' Pathway is actually just a bunch of scammers too—"

Meeting Neph's questioning gaze, He smiled and said, "Next time you see the Great Serpent, you can talk to Him about Prophecy."

"The Great Serpent— " Neph's lips twitched, "I have a question."

She paused for a moment, and without waiting for Amon's response, asked directly, "I know that your nicknames were given by Medici, but I'm curious, in my memory, no one seems to have given Him a nickname?"

"What?" Amon laughed. "You're planning to give Him a name? Oh, I think He'll thank you properly."

Neph hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help asking, "How will He thank me? Will He burn me to ashes with flames of anger?"

"I don't know," Amon chuckled, "but it's possible. He did that to me before, well, after I was caught trying to steal something from Him—"

"I see you're not simple either," Neph grinned, speaking sincerely. "Actually, before I met you, I had already researched your image, and since then, I've had a question."

"Is your hair Medici- style perm?"

"----?" Amon's smile froze. He reached up and adjusted his Monocle. "Good question."

"So that's it?" Neph persisted.

"Of course," Amon forced a smile, "I think He'll give you a perm too."

Neph paused for a moment, then looked at Amon, hesitated for a few seconds, and still didn't ask for his opinion, "I actually—well, theoretically speaking, I think it's unlikely."

"We all know that your Mythical Creature Form is a cluster of Worm of Time huddled together; if burned, they would naturally turn black and curl up—"

"But I think I'll probably melt away—"

"----?" Amon's smile vanished completely. He didn't say a word, but simply turned his Monocle around.

"I've noticed something," He said in a tone devoid of laughter, "That before today, you were indeed much more restrained in my presence—not just in your behavior, but I think you probably wouldn't have even dared to think about these things before."

"I'm sorry." Neph lowered her head.

"So," Amon looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze, "Have you thought of a nickname?"

"----?" Neph looked up, confused. "----Hot pot?"

"What is this?" Amon was stunned for a moment.

"A kind of—" Neph began hesitantly, "a way of eating food? It's like first making a broth, then putting all sorts of random foods into the broth and cooking them, and finally scooping out and eating the food, leaving the broth in the pot—"

She paused, then added, "There's a type of hot pot that's exactly red in color—"

"I will pass this memory on to Medici intact," Amon promised. "I promise."

He paused, then asked, "But before that, could you take me out for hot pot?"

"Good question, but I don't know how to make the broth." After a few seconds of hesitation, Neph said, "Would you mind waiting a while?"

"Why do we have to wait?" Amon didn't understand.

"I can't cook," Neph told Him expressionlessly. "I need to find someone to research how to make this. Or, you could go to Intis and see if Emperor Roselle invented this way of eating—oh, and you could also look for Elf cuisine; maybe they've made it before."

"I'm pretty sure the Elf never ate like that," Amon shook his head, "Otherwise I should have seen it in the Third Epoch."

But Intis is a good place, I can go check it out. Hmm, speaking of which, I remember there were descendants of the Jacob Family there. I saw them there; they were too lazy to eat, so they should still be alive. I'll take a look—"

He departed amidst Neph's mercy toward Jacob.