A Mess

Melissa accepted the Messenger's summoning method and the snowflake, but did not summon the Messenger in time.

This wasn't due to distrust. Backlund had a strong security force. As the political and economic center of Loen, the Three Great Churches stationed a large number of Angel and "0" level Sealed Artifact there. In addition, there was the power of the military and the Royal Family. Melissa believed that this girl, who could appear openly in Backlund and even tamper with George III's speech, must have something to rely on.

The other party clearly stated her reliance, showing no fear, and left her name and a token. So, at this moment, Melissa was in her Teacher's laboratory, recounting her experience. "----That's how it was. She said that as long as I came to you and said the name 'Miss Pure White,' you would naturally know who she was. This is the snowflake she left behind----"

Portland Montmont frowned as he looked at the snowflake. He did know something about the name, but it was a secret beyond his comprehension. Besides, he couldn't possibly know what the snowflake was for. So he said, "Come with me. I'll take you to see someone."

Neph witnessed this, and a few days later, Neph shrugged and said with a smile, "Your sister has changed hands several times in the Church of Steam and Machinery, and now she's changing hands in the Church of Evernight. Once she's in Leonard's hands, she'll naturally contact you."

Klein seemed a little puzzled by her description. He looked at Neph with a questioning gaze, waiting for further explanation. Neph thought for a moment and explained, "It seems she intends to first find out what her brother was doing during his time in anonymity. She has already learned about Gehrman Sparrow's true situation and is now investigating what Gehrman Sparrow did after disappearing from public view—"

Klein's expression changed. He looked desperate about the situation, but there seemed to be a sense of relief brewing within him. He couldn't help but ask, "What about Benson? Does Benson know?"

"I don't know," Neph said. "Aren't you going to mark them both?"

"They didn't pray," Klein shook his head. "I can't see their condition."

Neph looked at Klein with pity. This wasn't Klein's problem; it was the difference between him and a true Angel.

He only obtained a false status by borrowing the power of the "Sefirah Castle," and he couldn't even completely control the "Sefirah Castle."

She didn't say anything more to Klein, but simply chuckled and asked, "How do you plan to get into the Forsaken Land of the Gods?"

"There are different ways to enter?" Klein was taken aback.

Neph shrugged and offered three options. "Pilgrimage, being led in by Oracle, or—"

She paused, then tentatively offered one last option. "To smuggle myself across under the watchful eye of my My Lord."

Klein's attention was unsurprisingly drawn to the last option, and he asked, "If we're being watched, how can it still be called smuggling?"

Neph smiled and replied, "To get in there, you need to push open a door, but once you do, you'll be watched. If you don't want to be watched, you can use the Apprentice's power to open a small door for yourself, but the problem is—"

"Mr. Fool, you are with me now."

"So I'm bound to be watched," Klein understood, "I'm essentially sneaking into His house right in front of Him—"

"Yes," Neph scoffed, "Sometimes I wonder if Amon actually did that."

"I don't see the need for doubt," Klein said sincerely. "I'm more curious about whether you've actually done it."

"I thought that someone as truly intelligent as you wouldn't ask such a question," Neph said with a polite and courteous smile.

These words gave Klein an immediate answer. He shook his head and asked, "Then, Your Oracle Your Excellency, how is your taking me in different from a normal Pilgrimage?"

Neph didn't speak; she simply smiled and extended a hand to Klein.

As Klein placed his hand on it, pure white wings suddenly unfurled, enveloping him. A cool breeze brushed against his cheek, and he suddenly recalled his own "Angel's Embrace," sighing, "So this is what a real ' Angel's Embrace ' is like."

"No," Neph said, "This is a special effect I added especially for you."

Klein looked at her. The surrounding scenery was like oil paint washed clean by rain, all mixed together, with Uniqueness the two of them clearly visible. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, "What exactly is the real ' Angel's Embrace ' like?"

"Real Angel don't have wings," Neph said. "And they're not necessarily what they are. I'm lucky; at least a cloud of mist doesn't look scary. Some Angel are just a bunch of maggots—"

Klein's face Distortion in Affliction, and he raised his hand to interrupt him, "I beg you, don't tell me the truth, okay?"

"Okay," Neph agreed.

They stopped on a golden sea of gold. Klein, his eyes glazed over by the dazzling gold, murmured in a daze, "It really looks like gold—"

"That's not wrong," Neph said. "After all, my My Lord's blood is far more valuable than the same volume of gold."

"----?" Klein looked at the golden sea, a bad feeling creeping into his heart. "Where is this----?"

"I think it shouldn't be hard to figure out," Neph looked at him strangely, walking on the sea. "You know this is the War of the Gods Ruins, you know my My Lord fell here, you know the blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun is golden, and you even know my My Lord was once the Sun God— "

Klein gasped, and Neph suddenly laughed, "Speaking of which, the reason Eternal Blazing Sun uses gold as its symbol is perhaps because the color of Xiu's blood is similar to gold? Tsk, I'm tempted to look through Xiu's Holy Bible; I wonder if it says anything like 'His blood flows with gold'—"

"Speaking of which, if he actually wrote it, wouldn't there be risk-taking capitalists who want to dissect this God of Contracts and commerce and sell it for a good price?"

Klein shook his head and replied tactfully, "Even unbelievers or heretics grow up under religious education. I don't think anyone would have such offensive thoughts."

"That's a pity," Neph gently raised her hand, "The capitalists here still don't have enough capital."

As she spoke, she swung her hand down suddenly, and a faint phantom of a scepter appeared, slashing down with her movement. Then, as if on command, the ocean in front of her spontaneously receded to both sides, and land emerged.

Under Klein's astonished gaze, she turned around and smiled, "This is the Oracle."

"Mr. Fool, have you thought it through? Do you want to take this path, or do you want to find your own way in?"

Klein stared into her eyes, those beautiful eyes that unusually maintained a calm blue-green hue. She was clearly smiling, but Klein sensed an emotion that shouldn't have been there. He looked at Neph and suddenly realized something.

If he takes this path and enters the "Forsaken Land of the Gods," he will truly be bound to the "True Creator."

But the problem is----

Klein sighed softly, stepped forward, and asked, "Will finding my own way in change anything? From the moment I decided to bring you to Sefirah Castle, in other people's eyes, we're already bound together, aren't we—"

"No," Neph said, turning around, "We weren't tied up yet back then."

"What does it mean to be completely bound together?" Klein followed behind her, smiling as he asked, "Friends may break up, couples may divorce, and even alliances based on shared interests can one day crumble because of differing interests—"

He paused, shook his head, and chuckled, "Unless you truly become my mother, I can't think of anything else."

Neph stopped in her tracks, turned around, and looked very strange. "---- Mr. Fool, what you said----"

"Actually, sometimes, the mother-child relationship isn't so secure after all—"

She seemed to have something to say, but dared not speak it. Klein only read a sense of elation in her eyes, and asked with some doubt, "What is it that you dare not say?"

Neph raised her hand and made an Inverted Cross in front of her chest.

"----?" Klein's expression became even stranger.

Neph guessed he must have misunderstood something, but in any case, she couldn't reveal that Lilith had replaced the "Earth Mother" at this time. So she just smiled and said, "How about this, my sister knows about this too. Pray to her and ask her what's going on."

"----Do you think I'm as crazy as you?" Klein glared at Neph. "Praying just to ask something like this?"

Neph shrugged and turned to continue leading the way.

Pushing open the door to the Archbishop's office, Leonard asked with a slightly puzzled expression, "Archbishop, you wanted to see me?"

Anthony Stevenson looked at him from behind the table, nodded slightly, and said, "Yes, after thinking it over, I think it's probably more suitable to leave it to you."

Leonard closed the door and stepped forward, a casual smile on his face, "Oh? Is there something that absolutely requires my help?"

"Come here," Anthony said, turning around.

Leonard then noticed that there was a young girl hiding in the corner of the room. She was wearing an old-fashioned black dress, with black hair and brown eyes, and her features were both childlike and familiar.

"Melissa?!" Leonard's eyes widened.

"She wants to know something about her brother," Archbishop Anthony said. "You should speak to her about it, following the secrecy standard of Sequence 9."

Leonard swallowed hard, lowered his head, and said, "Yes."

Melissa followed him out the door. They went into a makeshift office, where Leonard handed her a chair and sat down himself before asking, "How much do you know?"

Melissa's voice was calm. "He left the Church through death, and after a period of anonymity, reappeared prominently at the Sea as Gehrman Sparrow— "

"----?" Leonard's eyes widened. "This is the security standard for Sequence 9?"

"The secrecy standard for Sequence 9 is that he's already dead," Melissa said emotionlessly, "But I knew he was Gehrman Sparrow Soothsayer."

Leonard understood. He took a deep breath to calm himself and asked, "How did you know?"

"A girl left me a keepsake, and a way to summon a messenger," Melissa answered truthfully. "She called herself 'Miss Pure White.' The people at the church told me that she is the messenger of the 'Goddess of Winter' in the sacred rites, the eye that watches over humankind, and the embodiment who walks among us."

Leonard easily noticed the change in "her" and "His," and immediately realized that Melissa already knew everything she should know, and perhaps even some things she shouldn't know. He couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. After a few seconds of contemplation, he said, "I might need to contact your brother."

Melissa looked at him, showing no intention of leaving.

Leonard's head throbbed even more. He cursed Klein in his mind as he continued, "Since you're standing here, you must already know something about the Beyonder. During his time at the Church, he kept it from you, partly because of Church rules, and partly for your own good. The more you know about these things, the more dangerous it is for you."

"As for what happened after he left the Church —I don't know if it was the Church's information or Miss Pure White White's words that caused you to misunderstand. As far as we knew at the time, he was indeed truly dead."

"I don't know how he came back to life, but I can tell you that for a time I was very sad and wanted to avenge him, the captain, and everyone else. After attending his funeral, I—"

"A funeral?" Melissa interrupted him. "What funeral?"

"You didn't know?" Leonard was taken aback.

He looked confused, but the Archangel residing within him spoke up, a rare occurrence. "Her memories show signs of tampering—if I'm not mistaken, it should be your Pure White 'Miss'."

---- Klein, what kind of mess did you leave me with?

Leonard was cursing even more in his heart, but Melissa was still waiting for his explanation, so he had no choice but to say, "Anyway, that's it. Don't worry about it now. I need to contact your brother. Could you please step outside for a moment?"

Melissa gave him a deep look, then turned and left the room.

Leonard breathed a sigh of relief, slumped into his chair, and after a few seconds, straightened up and prayed in a low voice. "Fool doesn't belong to this age;"

"The Mysterious Ruler Above the Gray Fog"

"The King of Yellow and Black, who holds the key to good fortune----"

"What's wrong?" When they crossed the Boundary Between Reality and Illusion and saw the real "Giant King’s Court," Klein stopped in his tracks, Neph looked back at him in confusion.

"Someone prayed to me," Klein said. "It seemed to be Leonard —I felt he was in a hurry, and also—very angry?"

His tone was uncertain, so Neph thought for a moment and suggested, "Why don't you go check on him first? What if he really has something urgent to attend to?"