Ever since returning from that remote island, Vincent had spent nearly a full day holed up in the house on York Street, only stepping out twice — once to eat, once to grab a newspaper.
Mostly because, after such a grueling day yesterday, and today's rush to advance straight to Sequence 4, there wasn't anything urgent left demanding his attention.
Time to properly rest, for once.
Or, put another way — ever since transmigrating into the Lord of Mysteries world, the tension he'd been carrying could finally, at last, start to ease.
Partly because, through sheer happenstance, he'd destroyed one of George III's tombs, delaying his path to Black Emperor. But more importantly — compared to everything confirmed yesterday, George III, his original imagined enemy, suddenly felt like small potatoes.
Sure, the guy was still a Sequence 1 Grand Angel just beneath true godhood, and held two other Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristics on top of the Black Emperor's own Uniqueness.
But the fact that even someone on that level barely registered to him anymore — what did that even mean?
Getting cocky?
No, no, no!
This was called broadened horizons. This was called worldliness!
Don't agree?
Take it up with my baby mama, the Goddess of the Evernight!
"Are you thinking about something weird again?"
Right in the middle of amusing himself, Bernadette's voice cut in.
"No!"
Vincent denied it firmly, shaking the newspaper in his hands. "Just saw the updated casualty numbers — only a few hundred more than what I saw this morning. Mixed feelings, that's all — relieved, but complicated."
That wasn't a lie, exactly — before his mind had wandered, that really had been his mood: because of his own interference, tens of thousands fewer people had died. That "transmigration" hadn't gone to waste.
Bernadette gave no clear response either way. "Once we've met Dad, do we still need to make a trip to the god-forsaken land to see the True Creator?"
"Yeah."
Vincent set the newspaper aside, his tone turning serious. "It should be able to help us untangle a few mysteries — especially about whatever 'future me' did back in the past."
"With 'the apocalypse' as the real enemy waiting out there, I have to believe 'future me' would've made some preparations, some kind of arrangement, ahead of time... probably."
As his memories continued resurfacing, Vincent had come to a clear realization: the entire conflict between Klein and Amon over Beyond the Grey Fog, in the original Lord of the Mysteries story, had really just been an appetizer within this world's much larger picture.
Amon only read as the "final boss" from Klein's perspective, as the protagonist. In reality, the world's greatest threat was that apocalypse — the one thing even true gods feared.
As for what the apocalypse actually was, Vincent's memory remained blank there. The only thing he could say for certain was that it originated from beyond the Starry Sky.
Still, based on the clues he had so far, Vincent had managed to piece together a rough theory: the "apocalypse" almost certainly wasn't some natural disaster, like a great flood, nor was it some vague, mystical inevitability like Norse mythology's Ragnarök.
It had to point toward specific, concrete enemies — and those enemies were most likely entities beyond even true godhood itself. Like the Child of Chaos, once trapped inside the Wishing Lamp. Or whatever it was that had corrupted Roselle, forcing him to abandon his own resurrection.
He'd have answers to all of this soon enough, though.
"Oh, right — about playing the 'Overseer' role — got any thoughts?"
"The Overseer, hm..."
Bernadette considered it. "If the first five Sequences were all built around using and enforcing rules and order, the 'Overseer' clearly takes things a step further."
"Before, you could only punish a target through 'Prosecution' after they'd committed some crime — violated some rule or order. Now, offending the 'Overseer' directly is itself equivalent to violating rules and order."
"It feels like the 'Overseer' has shifted from being a mere user of rules and order to becoming their living embodiment."
"And the 'Word of Power' ability — that's essentially the power to 'create rules' outright." She paused. "You could already achieve something similar by drawing on the Nation of Disorder's power, but the 'Overseer' does it far more directly."
Vincent followed her logic, summarizing, "So the 'Overseer' is the embodiment of rules and order, the one who sets them, and the one who enforces them. Er, then why call it 'Overseer,' of all things?"
Bernadette gave a small laugh. "I imagine the point of the 'Overseer' setting rules isn't really about wanting people to break them, just to have an excuse to punish them — though punishing rule-breakers is naturally part of 'oversight' too."
"But the more important point is using 'oversight' to get others to actually follow the rules you've set. That's probably why one of the new abilities from this advancement is specifically about overseeing and punishing your own subordinates."
"Put simply — oversight exists to uphold the rules."
Something clicked for Vincent. "Put that way, it makes sense."
"This is all just my own theorizing for now, though. We'll need to keep refining it as we actually play the role going forward."
"I think you're basically right, though."
Vincent said, "Right after I advanced to 'Overseer,' I noticed the potion was already about a third digested — I was confused about it at the time, but this actually lines up now."
The bulk of that digestion almost certainly came from Bernadette's own role as head of the "Essential Dawn" — inevitably, she'd have set plenty of rules for her own crew to follow. A smaller portion likely came from the "contracts" formed when Vincent, as Lord of Chaos, handed out those granted positions.
Which meant the direction for playing "Overseer" going forward was becoming a lot clearer.
The two of them then spent some time discussing plans for after tomorrow's body-swap — including making another trip to see Boneva, to have her help shatter the Sage's Diadem into a Beyonder Characteristic, among other things. After wishing each other good night, they each settled in to rest.
Even though neither of them technically needed sleep anymore, for both of them, sleep wasn't purely a physical necessity — it was also a pleasure. Even once they eventually ascended to Angel and no longer needed food, they'd probably still enjoy every meal all the same.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning.
Vincent opened his sleepy eyes, yawned, and rolled over lazily, meaning to steal another couple minutes of sleep — but suddenly felt something hard digging into his back, nothing like the soft mattress he was used to.
He squinted, sitting up, pressing a hand against the hard surface beneath him. "Hm? Where's my nice, soft mattress?"
Why had it turned into a wooden plank with a thin blanket over it...
"???"
"Wait, that's not right!"
The next instant, Vincent froze completely. He looked down at his own hands. "That's not right! That's not right! Isn't it supposed to be Bernadette in control of the body today? Why can I still control it?"
To be continued…
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