In the central part of the primitive island, inside the " Black Emperor's " mausoleum.
After seeing Bernadette off, Roselle did not immediately fall asleep. He slowly raised his head and once again looked up at the infinite heights.
Klein, standing above the Gray Fog, sighed silently, put down the " Staff of the Stars," summoned a paper figure, and casually flicked it.
With a "snap," the paper figure rapidly thickened, expanded, and flew into the semi-transparent vortex of illusory and mysterious symbols beside the " The Fool's " chair.
Although Bernadette has been moved to the edge of the original island, and Klein can no longer see the interior of the " Black Emperor's " mausoleum through the prayer lights that represent her, he can maintain a connection with the Emperor to some extent through the " The Fool " symbol that has been integrated into Roselle's image.
After passing through the slowly rotating vortex, the paper figure descended into the dimly lit mausoleum, where the light source seemed to come from nowhere, and transformed into a human in front of the central platform.
This human, with black hair and brown eyes, bears some resemblance to Gehrman Sparrow, but his features are not as sharp, his lines not as defined, and his demeanor not as aloof. His facial features are also somewhat different, and he has a little bit of extra fat on his chin and stomach, a result of societal influences. This is Klein the image of Zhou Mingrui, the Zhou Mingrui who hung inside the " Sefirah Castle " and had been "roommates" with Roselle Huang Tao Gustav for thousands of years.
Roselle wasn't surprised by his appearance at all. He placed one hand on the armrest, leaned slightly forward, and looked at him, saying:
"You've come."
"I've arrived." Klein nodded almost imperceptibly.
"You shouldn't have come," Roselle sighed.
"I'm already here." Klein picked up on the joke quite naturally.
Roselle was now completely certain of the man's origins. As he straightened his posture, he chuckled softly and said:
"I was originally planning to ask where you were from to see if I needed to discriminate based on your region, but after thinking about it, I realized it wasn't necessary. We're all from another era, pathetic creatures without a hometown."
Before Klein could respond, the emperor's voice deepened as he asked:
"You know the truth about the Apocalypse?"
"Understood." Klein nodded slightly.
Roselle continued to ask:
"You know this is Earth?"
"Yes," Klein replied frankly.
Upon hearing this, Roselle chuckled self-deprecatingly and said:
"You knew so early on? I didn't dare to confirm it until I went to the Moon and saw the true appearance of this planet from above."
At this point, the emperor sighed and said:
" The Moon was so eerie. I clearly felt the terror, but I didn't think at all about whether I would be contaminated. Then, I became more and more extreme and biased."
"However, I occasionally gain some clarity from the opinions of those around me, but I dare not write in my diary in that state, for fear of revealing secrets and losing my last chance."
"I finally decided to use all the groundwork laid beforehand to switch to the ' Black Emperor ' path. This was not only because the Apocalypse was coming and only Sequence 0 could protect the people I wanted to protect, take them to other planets in the vast universe, and use their authority to rebuild a complete order in the desolate and lifeless places that would allow humanity to survive, but also because the ' Black Emperor's' 'resurrection' miracle gave me hope of getting rid of the pollution."
"As long as I can become Sequence 0 ' Black Emperor ' and go half-mad before being truly killed, I will have the opportunity to be resurrected in the mausoleum or the Astral World. At that time, what will return to me is the pure ' Uniqueness ' and three Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic, without any pollution or uncontrollable madness."
"In a way, I did take advantage of the ' Eternal Blazing Sun ' and the ' God of Steam and Machinery ' back then."
"However, the horrors of the Great Old One surpassed my imagination, and with my resurrection came a renewed contamination... Perhaps, only the Great Old One can fight against the Great Old One."
"I had no choice but to halt the resurrection process and live in this state in this final mausoleum, preventing that Great Old One from being reborn in the real world through my body, as that would bring devastating disaster."
Based on his prior knowledge and what had just happened, Klein had already made some guesses about Emperor Roselle's condition, so he wasn't surprised at all and calmly replied:
" The Outer Deity who corrupts you is called the ' Mother Goddess of Depravity,' who has bewitched many believers under the guise of the ' The Moon Primordial.'"
Roselle's facial features, which were barely visible, changed slightly.
He paused for a few seconds before saying:
"I know about the ' The Moon Primordial,' but I don't know that Her true name is ' Mother Goddess of Depravity.'"
"Thinking back on it now, it might not have been a coincidence that I was able to discover Mr. 'Door' was asking for help..."
Upon hearing this, Klein was startled, instantly recalling the various situations on the islands outside, and had a premonition of what Emperor Roselle wanted to say.
Roselle chuckled and sighed:
"My biggest problem in the first half of my life was that I was too confident. I always felt like I could start over at any time, and I didn't examine many details enough."
"Back then, Green was corrupted by the strange power on this island. After dying, he returned here and was reborn. Wasn't that the influence of the ' The Moon Primordial '? After undergoing various tests and Purification, I felt that I was fine. But in reality, Fate may have already changed slightly at that moment, which led to my later 'encounter' with Mr. 'Door,' who guided me step by step to the Moon..."
"This isn't Mr. 'Door''s fault; his condition was probably even worse than mine is now."
Does the Emperor mean that he's been targeted by the " Mother Goddess of Depravity " ever since he discovered this primitive island? Klein sighed.
"Back then, who could have imagined the problem would become so serious?"
Before Sequence 2, understanding the " Starry Sky " and the Great Old One themselves would bring terrible pollution. Without understanding, one would be unable to accurately judge how serious the problem was when encountering certain situations, or what kind of remedy was needed afterward. This led Roselle to regard this primitive island as his secret base and not tell those who were qualified to understand the existence of the Outer Deity, the Great Old One, and the " Starry Sky " about what happened there.
"Yes." Roselle seemed pleased that he had made a mistake that almost everyone would make.
He then said:
"That ancient Concealment organization almost never mentions the Great Old One or the Outer Deity."
At this moment, Roselle paused for a moment and said:
"You should have read my diary; you know that the ancient, Concealment organization is a metaphor."
Klein nodded and said:
"I know which organization it refers to, but I didn't expect that even with Sequence 0 rank, you wouldn't dare mention its name."
"I always felt that He was not simple, and might have an understanding of the Outer Deity that we cannot imagine, so it's better to be cautious. After all, I am not a complete Sequence 0 True God yet." After saying this simply, Roselle's brows suddenly furrowed. "How many of my diaries have you read?"
If the atmosphere weren't so oppressive and bleak, Klein would definitely have been tempted to retort, "The taste of Witch is really quite good," to tease his fellow countryman Roselle.
Finally, he answered calmly:
"A lot of.
After uttering those two words, he casually added:
"I also collected a few ' Card of Blasphemy '."
"Which ones?" Roselle blurted out.
Klein controlled the paper figure's expression above the Gray Fog, and said in a flat tone:
"' Black Emperor,' ' Tyrant,' ' Red Priest,' and ' The Fool.'"
"Phew..." Roselle breathed a sigh of relief, his brows, which had been furrowed slightly, relaxed. "Thank goodness it wasn't the ' Witch,' ' The Moon, ' or 'Mother' cards."
"You brought it up yourself..." Klein didn't respond, just stared at the Emperor.
Roselle realized what was happening after he finished speaking, and quickly coughed, saying:
"Those who watched the live stream should know very well how normal this is..."
As he spoke, he coughed again, then sighed:
"Which path did you take to Beyonder?"
" Seer," Klein replied succinctly.
Roselle fell silent for a moment, then said after a few seconds:
"What a pity! If everyone were in a normal situation, you should have pulled a big-screen TV and a game console out of the Historical Void right now, so we could all play and chat. That's true manly romance."
It's a pity there's no electricity; we'll have to rely on you to invent something..." Klein didn't voice his thoughts, but said in a consistent tone:
I hope that day will come.
Then, he steered the conversation back on track:
"I'm very curious, why are the ' Card of Blasphemy ' you create so that even the gods can't find them? This level of anti- Divination and anti-prophecy is astonishing."
Roselle chuckled softly:
"Because knowledge can bring power, and power can also give knowledge, this is the power of the ' Knowledge Emperor '."
"After I imbued all twenty-two Potion recipes with power, they naturally generated a combined force among Beyonder Characteristic, and thus achieved a certain degree of anti- Divination and anti-prophecy effect."
"Then, with..."
As he was speaking, Roselle suddenly paused, as if he had realized something was wrong.
After a second or two, he said in a somewhat unsteady voice:
"The creation of the ' Card of Blasphemy ' was a year before I performed the ' Black Emperor ' ritual. At that time, I had already been contaminated by the ' The Moon Primordial ' and was mostly unaware of it."
"Why are these twenty-two cards so difficult for even the gods to find?"
This rhetorical question made Klein, who was above the Gray Fog, tense up, and he felt a slight chill run down his spine again.
Before he Manipulation the paper figure to respond, Roselle's voice suddenly rose, carrying a hint of indescribable fear:
Don't collect all twenty-two cards!
Beware of the 'Mother' brand!
These two sentences echoed deep within the tomb of the " Black Emperor," lingering for a long time.
P. S.: I recommend a book, Ren Qiuming's new book "This Assassin Has Something Wrong", which tells the story of an Assassin who loves life and calmly rises to become the strongest in the martial arts world.