In the middle of the primitive island, in the Black Emperor mausoleum.
After sending away Bernadette, Roselle didn’t immediately fall into a deep sleep. He slowly raised his head and looked up once again into the infinite distance.
Above the gray fog, Klein sighed silently. He put down the Staff of the Stars and grabbed a paper figurine before shaking it.
With a smacking sound, the paper figurine rapidly thickened and expanded before flying into the translucent vortex formed from illusory mysterious symbols beside The Fool’s chair.
Although Bernadette had already moved to the edge of the primitive island and Klein could no longer see the situation inside the Black Emperor mausoleum through the prayer light. However, he could use the symbol of The Fool that had merged with Roselle’s figure to maintain a connection with the Emperor up to a certain extent.
After the paper figurine passed through the slowly spinning vortex, it descended into the dim mausoleum which had an unknown light source. It then turned into a human in front of the central platform.
This human’s black hair and brown eyes were somewhat similar to Gehrman Sparrow’s, but he didn’t have clear-cut features. The lines weren’t deep enough, and his bearing wasn’t cold enough. There were also certain differences in his facial features. His chin and stomach had a small amount of fat induced by an indulgent society. It was Klein’s original appearance as Zhou Mingrui, the Zhou Mingrui who had been hanging inside Sefirah Castle for thousands of years beside Roselle Huang Tao Gustav.
Roselle wasn’t surprised by his appearance. With one hand on the armrest, he leaned forward slightly and said, “You’re here.”
“I’m here.” Klein nodded indiscernibly.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Roselle sighed.
“I’m already here.” Klein very naturally participated in completing the meme populated by a popular Chinese novel by Gu Long.
Having completely confirmed the origins of the fellow in front of him, Roselle returned to his normal sitting posture, chuckling as he said, “I originally planned on asking where you’re from to see there’s any need for regional discrimination[1], but after some thought, there’s no need for that. We’re all anachronistic miserable wretches without a home.”
Without waiting for Klein’s reply, the Emperor’s voice sank as he asked, “You know the truth about the apocalypse?”
“Yes.” Klein nodded slightly.
Roselle continued asking, “You know that this is Earth?”
“Yes,” Klein answered frankly.
When Roselle heard that, he laughed self-deprecatingly.
“You actually learned about it so early. I only dared to confirm it after I went to the moon and saw the true appearance of this planet from high above.”
At this point, the Emperor sighed and said, “The moon is bizarre. I clearly felt terror, but I didn’t even consider the possibility of being corrupted. Then, I became more and more extreme.
“However, I did occasionally gain a certain level of clarity from the views of people around me, but I didn’t dare to write it in the diary in that state. I was afraid of exposing secrets and losing my final chance.
“I eventually decided to use all the groundwork I did previously to switch to the Black Emperor pathway. Apart from the impending apocalypse with Sequence 0s being the only ones capable of protecting the people ‘They’ wish to protect, ‘They’ can hide them in other planets in the vast universe and use the corresponding authorities to rebuild a set of order for humans to survive in desolate lands. I also saw the hope of escaping my corruption, by using the Black Emperor’s ability to ‘resurrect.’
“As long as I became a Sequence 0 Black Emperor and was truly killed after turning half-crazy, I’d have the chance of resurrecting in the mausoleum or in the astral world. When that happened, what would return to me would be a pure Uniqueness and three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics. I wouldn’t be tainted at all, nor will I contain an uncontrollable madness.
“Speaking of which, I made use of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery to a certain extent back then.
“But the horror of the Great Old Ones far exceeded my imagination. Accompanying my revival was a new life of corruption… Perhaps only Great Old Ones can resist Great Old Ones.
“I could only terminate the revival process, and live such an ignoble existence in my final mausoleum to prevent the Great Old One from using my body to be born in the real world. That would’ve brought about a devastating disaster.”
Klein had long guessed Emperor Roselle’s condition based on what he knew and what had just happened. He wasn’t surprised at all as he calmly replied, “The one who corrupted you is called the Mother Goddess of Depravity. ‘She’ has bewitched many believers as the embodiment of the Primordial Moon.”
The facial features that appeared faintly on Roselle’s face immediately changed.
He fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “I know the Primordial Moon, but I didn’t know that ‘Her’ true honorific name is the Mother Goddess of Depravity.
“Now that I think about it, my discovery of Mr. Door’s cry for help might not have been a coincidence…”
Upon hearing this, Klein was alarmed. He instantly recalled the situations happening off-island. He had some sort of premonition about what Emperor Roselle was about to say.
Roselle laughed and sighed.
“The biggest problem in the first half of my life was that I was too confident. I always had the feeling that I could reload a save file and redo things. I didn’t pay enough attention to the details.
“Back then, Grimm was corrupted by the strange powers on this island. He returned here after dying and regained new life. Isn’t this the influence of the Primordial Moon? After I finished all sorts of investigations and did the corresponding purifications, I felt that I was fine. But in fact, fate might’ve undergone a tiny change at that moment. This resulted in me encountering Mr. Door later, and was slowly guided to the moon by ‘Him’…
“You can’t blame Mr. Door. ‘His’ condition might be worse than mine.”
Does the Emperor mean that he has been targeted by the Mother Goddess of Depravity the moment he discovered this primitive island? Klein sighed.
“At that time, who would’ve thought that the problem would be so serious?”
Before Sequence 2, understanding the cosmos and the Great Old Ones led to terrifying corruption. And without understanding it, one wouldn’t be able to accurately determine how serious the problem or what kind of patchwork was needed subsequently when faced with certain situations. This made Roselle treat this primitive island as his secret base; thus not informing existences that had the right to understand the Outer Deities, Great Old Ones, and Cosmos.
“That’s right.” Roselle seemed to be very gratified that he had committed a mistake that almost anyone would make.
He then said, “In that ancient and secretive organization, there was almost no mention of the Great Old Ones or Outer Deities.”
At that moment, Roselle paused for a moment before saying, “You should’ve read my diary. You should know what the ancient and hidden organization represents.”
Klein nodded.
“I know which organization it is referring to. I never expected that you wouldn’t dare mention the name of ‘His’ organization after having the level of a Sequence 0.”
“I have a nagging feeling that ‘He’ isn’t simple. ‘He’ might have an understanding of the Outer Deities that far exceeds our imagination, so it’s better to be more careful. After all, I’m not a complete Sequence 0 true god.” After Roselle said this simple sentence, his brows suddenly furrowed. “How much of my diary did you read?”
If the atmosphere wasn’t that heavy and sorrowful, Klein would definitely find it irresistible to reply with “the taste of a Demoness ain’t bad” as a way to tease his fellow Earthling.
Finally, he replied calmly, “Plenty.”
After saying the word, he casually added, “I even found a few Cards of Blasphemy.”
“Which ones?” Roselle blurted out.
Klein controlled the paper figurine’s expression from above the gray fog and said in a flat tone, “Black Emperor, Tyrant, Red Priest, and The Fool.”
“Phew…” Roselle exhaled as the faint crease on his brows eased. “Thankfully, it’s not the Demoness, The Moon, and the Mother card.”
You had to mention it yourself… Klein didn’t respond as he looked at the Emperor without a change in expression.
After Roselle said that, he realized something and hurriedly coughed.
“Well we’ve all watched live-streams, so you should know very well how normal it is to cross-dress…”
As he spoke, he coughed again and sighed.
“Which pathway are you from?”
“Seer,” Klein replied succinctly.
Roselle immediately fell silent. After a few seconds, he said, “Unfortunately, if everything is fine and dandy, you should be responsible for pulling out a large-screen television and a game console from the Historical Void. We can chat while playing. That’s a romantic dream of us men.”
Unfortunately, there’s no electricity. I have to rely on you to invent it… Klein didn’t voice out his thoughts. He maintained his tone and said, “I hope such a day will come.”
Then, he pulled the topic back on track.
“I’m very curious why the Card of Blasphemy you created can’t even be found by deities? Such a level of anti-divination and anti-prophecy is amazing.”
Roselle immediately chuckled.
“It’s because knowledge can bring power, and power can also bestow knowledge. This is the authority of a Knowledge Emperor.
“After I infused the potion formula of the twenty-two pathways with power, they naturally produced the convergence powers between Beyonder characteristics. They also gained anti-divination and anti-prophecy effects to a certain extent.
“And then…”
As he spoke, Roselle suddenly paused, as though he had sensed something amiss.
After one or two seconds, he said in an ethereal voice, “The creation of the Card of Blasphemy was a year before I held the Black Emperor ritual. Back then, I had already suffered the corruption of the Primordial Moon, and I didn’t have the corresponding realization most of the time.
“Why can the twenty-two cards not be found by deities?”
Upon hearing this question above the gray fog, Klein’s heart tightened as he felt his scalp tingle again.
Without waiting for his response from the paper figurine, Roselle’s voice suddenly raised, bringing with it an indescribable fear.
“Don’t gather the twenty-two cards!
“Be careful of the Mother card!”
These two sentences echoed in the deep interior of the Black Emperor mausoleum for a long time.
[1] Something common in China. Instead of being “racist,” they look down on people from poorer regions.
