Deep within the Spirit World Depths, a massive three-masted schooner, covered in pure black, sailed rapidly forward as if navigating the open sea, unimpeded.
This was the "Black Emperor" belonging to Nast, the "King of the Five Seas"!
On the "Black Emperor," many of the lanterns hanging on both sides had extinguished, and the hull showed some damage and scorch marks. The three high, pitch-black sails also had holes burned through them by flames, as if it had just experienced a fierce battle and been bombarded by countless cannon fires.
On the deck, Nast, wearing a proportionally scaled-down spire crown and a black robe with silver trim, stood at the bow, gazing deeply downwards, as if overlooking reality through the Spirit World.
Behind him, a pair of cold, indifferent, lashless eyes containing countless dazzling stars materialized out of thin air.
Innumerable complex and pure information surged out, quickly converging and reassembling to form Leyton's body.
He stepped beside Nast and calmly asked, "You encountered people from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery?"
"Horamick Haydn," Nast nodded calmly, speaking a name.
Leyton nodded, the image of the other party already appearing in his mind: an old man who looked very gentle and kind, dressed in a white priest's robe and wearing a clerical soft hat.
He was not only the head of the Backlund diocese of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery but also a member of the Divine Council and an Archbishop of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.
Regarding Nast's encounter, Leyton could only say that the True Creator's script was too well-written. Neither he nor Roselle had any prior inkling until Amon took out that Black Emperor card.
Sighing, he continued to ask, "Besides that Archbishop of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, who else participated in your battle?"
Nast's voice was quite emotional as he said:
"A 'Prophet' or a 'Cognizer'; I couldn't determine his true Sequence, and it might have been achieved with the help of some Mystical Item."
"He shouldn't be from the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, nor is he any Saint I know, but it's not impossible that he was disguised. He and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery's Archbishop seemed to know each other, happened to meet, and decided to offer help."
"If I hadn't possessed the Black Emperor card, allowing me to temporarily elevate myself to the Angel level using its authority and power, I wouldn't have been able to cope with their encirclement."
"If you hadn't possessed the Black Emperor card, you wouldn't have encountered them."
Leyton sighed, not explaining too much. His body instantly dematerialized, decomposing into streams of information, rapidly surging towards Backlund.
According to Adam's habits, the "Prophet" or "Cognizer" that Nast encountered was most likely a member of the Twilight Hermit Order.
He followed the True Creator's will, contacted Horamick Haydn in advance, ambushed Nast in the Spirit World, and arranged for one of Amon's avatars to coincidentally sense the aura of the "Black Emperor" and take the Black Emperor card from Nast's hand.
Even if I go to Backlund now, Amon must have already left with his spoils. But Zaratul might not have; I wonder how he plans to break his promise regarding the wish he owes me.
As thoughts flickered, Leyton's spiritual perception suddenly burst forth. A scene appeared in his mind: a spire church predominantly dark, with many crows circling its peak, emitting hoarse cries.
Leyton changed direction without hesitation, approaching the location depicted in his mind.
"Still buying time for Amon, worried that I'll disrupt their original plan, so Zaratul is being used as bait?"
As he muttered to himself, the surging information flow suddenly dimmed, covered by a thin, hazy starlight.
This was the Concealment he applied to himself, used to evade the Seer's spiritual intuition.
In a Concealment place somewhere in reality, Leyton found and pinpointed this location based on the information secretly left by Roselle's historical projection, which Zaratul had summoned earlier.
Pieces of dazzling starlight flew out of the void, quickly constructing a Door covered with mysterious patterns and magical symbols.
The moment this Door formed, it distorted, and the sounds of storms and waves faintly emanated from it. Zaratul had grafted this side of the Door's exit to a certain location in the Berserk Sea, diverting any existence attempting to pass through this Door into this place to other locations.
Outside the dark spire church, illusory books floated out, and beneath them were pools of liquid-like black shadows, slowly wriggling, from which eyes sprouted.
These eyes and books together constructed an illusory Tower. Each of its layers was composed of thick books and eyes emitting pure light, constantly extending into the sky, as if encompassing the entire world within itself.
The higher up, the darker it became, and the more it was filled with madness, destruction, ominousness, and disaster.
Silently, the illusory Tower enveloped the entire spire church. The eyes sprouting from the black shadows continuously scanned the surroundings, searching for and analyzing each of Zaratul's marionettes.
Leyton surged and circled within the illusory Tower in the form of an information torrent, thereby evading Zaratul's manipulation of his Spirit Body Threads.
Information beings do not have Spirit Body Threads. Zaratul must reawaken the Spirit Body Threads he once possessed to manipulate them, and given the difference in their Sequence, this is not a quick process.
As Leyton, in his form as an information torrent, gradually slowed, three figures appeared almost simultaneously out of thin air: Roselle from the Great Emperor period, the Abomination Suah, and an angel with twelve pairs of golden wings, radiating heat like a Sun.
Roselle's historical projection was bewildered for a moment, then his eyes quickly became clear and agile.
Deep blue, almost violet, brilliance flowed in his eyes, condensing into complex and illusory symbols.
The next second, the strangely chosen corpses inside the spire church and the crows circling above the church all fell into a peculiar stiffness.
Roselle, who had projected his consciousness over, directly attacked all of Zaratul's marionettes, pouring a large amount of complex and useless knowledge into their minds, causing them to fall into a temporary stiffness.
Leyton, freed from the interference of the Spirit Body Threads, then launched a fierce attack.
A clear, pure, hazy glow, seemingly composed of a massive amount of illusory matter, instantly erupted, forming a terrifying information storm that swept through everything around it.
Bang! Bang!
The corpses hanging above the church and the crows circling outside, their heads exploded in pieces, red and white, splattering everywhere.
In less than two breaths, Zaratul lost all his marionettes.
Without his marionettes, Zaratul instantly lost his ability to interfere with reality, and the three historical projections he had summoned disappeared with them.
A dazzling starlight descended from the top of the illusory Tower, piercing through the spire church and enveloping everything around it.
Under the influence of the starlight, transparent, distorted worms continuously crawled out of the headless, fallen corpses.
These were Zaratul's Worms of Spirit. Under the illumination of the starlight, they struggled and wriggled their bodies, attempting to escape the starlight's sealing and burrow into the historical fog.
A few breaths later, these Worms of Spirit stopped wriggling. They were completely dead, and gray-white specks of light continuously separated from their corpses, gathering into a ball under the pull of the starlight, which Leyton, whose figure had appeared, held in his hand.
Having intercepted the characteristics extracted from the Worms of Spirit, Leyton raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The surrounding starlight rippled outwards, as if it had become substantial, transforming into invisible arms that picked up all the dead Worms of Spirit around and threw them into the "Door" constructed by starlight.
Having done all this, Leyton looked around and walked into the spire church.
He calmly scanned the surroundings, relying on his control over information to restore the scene here, attempting to find traces left by Zaratul.
"As expected of a timid Seer. Promoting to Attendant of Mysteries has already reset the number of resurrections, but I didn't expect him to still be so afraid of death, not even daring to emerge from the historical fog."
Muttering a low taunt, Leyton walked to the stone chair at the front of the main hall and sat down, patiently waiting for Zaratul to appear.
Wherever one enters the historical fog, one will still emerge in the same place. And since there were no more marionettes here, Zaratul would have no chance to slip away from his sight.
Just as he sat down, Zaratul's figure appeared in the hall. He looked down at the headless corpses scattered on the ground, then looked at Leyton with an expressionless face and said:
"The number of resurrections is not infinite. Even an Attendant of Mysteries needs to reduce meaningless deaths."
"You taught me a lesson. I didn't expect a historical projection to actively betray me. Roselle truly hasn't died."
As he spoke, the headless corpses around him stood up one by one, once again becoming Zaratul's marionettes!
The surrounding temperature gradually dropped, and mist began to spread, becoming increasingly dense, pouring into the church.
This mist was dark like the night sea, light as air, blurring scenes beyond two or three meters.
"Meaningless action," Leyton sighed softly.
Beams of brilliance scattered from the illusory Tower, converging into a magnificent pillar of light that enveloped everything within.
Whether it was Zaratul's marionettes or the marionettes he had recreated, they were irresistibly dissolved by the starlight, rapidly collapsing and dissipating.
Beneath the black robe, Zaratul's eyes, dark like a lightless water surface, wavered, as if struck by an imperceptible blow.
A moment later, he exhaled heavily and said:
"You seem to understand the Attendant of Mysteries very well, always delivering the most powerful and effective blows in the simplest, easiest way."