Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

Damn it! Ince Zangwill cursed loudly upon seeing the words written by "0-08" on the rock. Forcing back the powerful spirit-world creature that had sided with Azik before the battle, he grabbed the feathered pen with all his strength and quickly wrote on the rock:

"On his way, Saint Anthony coincidentally discovered traces of the Demigod of the 'Marauder' pathway who had once humiliated the Church of Evernight and toyed with the Nighthawks. Thus, he decided to change course and investigate. This decision is reasonable."

After finishing the sentence, the remaining eye of Ince Zangwill glimmered coldly. He knew he could not allow this to continue. If it was Saint Anthony today, who might it be next time? Could it be the "Eye of the Goddess"?

He had to remove this "misfortune" from his body!

At that moment, Ince finally made up his mind. He pulled out an umbilical cord from a seal hidden in his teeth.

This umbilical cord belonged to the "Spawn of an Evil God," a child of Megose's womb, a child of the True Creator!

The reason why Ince Zangwill hadn't used this miraculous item earlier was because of its significant side effects. Once used, he would be marked by the True Creator and his strength would be halved for a period of time. The price was extremely steep. Furthermore, the item could only be used three times in total, making each use incredibly precious.

As a Demigod of the "Misfortune" domain, Ince believed he could handle the "blessing" left by the so-called Hero Bandit Black Emperor as long as he had enough time. Unfortunately, his enemies pressed him relentlessly. Misfortunes piled up, "0-08" kept stirring trouble, and he had no opportunity to resolve his predicament, ultimately forcing him into a desperate situation.

Thus, he had no choice but to use the umbilical cord of the Spawn of the Evil God, his ultimate trump card.

The powerful spirit-world creature, which had been relentlessly attacking Ince Zangwill, hesitated the moment it saw the umbilical cord in his hand. A distinct expression of human-like fear flashed across its face.

Even "0-08," which had been causing chaos the entire time, suddenly quieted down, pretending to be nothing more than an ordinary feathered pen.

Seeing that the umbilical cord had frightened the spirit-world creature and subdued "0-08," Ince Zangwill finally breathed a sigh of relief. Confirming that the misfortune lingering on his body had been suppressed by the aura of the Evil God, he turned his attention to assisting Testier in fending off Azik's attacks. This bought the military Demigod enough time to activate an artifact and prepare for Teleportation.

At this point, Testier had no intention of continuing the fight. The entire battle had been inexplicable from the start, and their opponent was absurdly strong. Grasping the chance to retreat, he immediately opened a Door of Teleportation and dragged Ince Zangwill with him, returning directly to a secret base of Military Intelligence 9 near Backlund.

Before leaving, Ince Zangwill didn't forget to order one of his sealed spirits to self-destruct, obliterating the rock covered in "0-08's" writing.

Mr. Azik watched the spot where the two had vanished, refraining from pursuing them. He turned to the spirit-world creature, who was now bowing in apology, and waved his hand to indicate he bore no grudge. Then, covering his forehead, he muttered softly, as though to himself:

"That golden-masked man's fighting style felt so familiar… It's as if I've fought against many like him in the past…

"Trunsoest… Tamara… Augustus… Castiya…"

....

In the northern district's sewers, Archbishop Saint Anthony, who had lost track of his target, suddenly frowned in confusion.

"Why did I insist on chasing that Marauder pathway Demigod? Clearly, the Saint-level battle in the northern suburbs or the situation mentioned in the Earth Mother Church's telegram are far more important…"

"Could it be that the Marauder pathway demigod stole critical memories from me, making me forget why I was pursuing her?"

After some thought and weighing his options, he ultimately abandoned the chase, resurfaced aboveground, and headed toward the northern outskirts of the city.

This allowed a certain demigod, hiding deep within the sewers, to finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, she didn't dare remain there for long. Instead, she followed the pipes into Backlund's safest yet most perilous district: the Queen's District. There, she infiltrated a noble family's household, searching for a new "host" to parasitize.

She had avoided choosing a host until now because she needed time to recover from her injuries. However, just as her wounds were beginning to heal, her first trip outside to procure supplies ended with her running into the Archbishop of the Church of the Evernight. While lamenting her dreadful luck, she resolved to find a host as soon as possible.

At 6 Rhine Street, in the basement of the Aurora Order's hideout.

Steam Church Archbishop Horamick had already departed, seemingly to provide support to the "Spellsinger of God"...

However, members of the Machinery Hivemind and the Nighthawks had now arrived in succession, bringing together Extraordinary members from four different churches.

After hearing Stuart's detailed account of what had transpired, the gathered individuals couldn't help but feel a mix of fear and relief.

The fear stemmed from the infamous reputation of the "Flesh Abyss" ritual. Had it not been disrupted, no one in this entire district would've survived. It would've been a massacre significant enough to force the king and prime minister into public mourning.

The relief, on the other hand, came from the fact that it had been stopped—though it seemed the one who intervened was a subordinate of some unknown evil god...

"'The Fool'... 'Hero'... 'Tarot Cards'... Were you resurrected by an evil god?" thought Daly, a member of the Nighthawk squad called in as reinforcements. She was gazing at the piece of paper containing "The Fool's" honorific name, lost in thought.

She had her suspicions about the identity of "Iron Man," and while she was worried about a certain someone's safety, her priority now was to gather as much information as possible about this so-called "Fool."

After some consideration, she broke the silence and asked, "In the Lanevus incident, the fraudster had the cards 'Emperor' and 'Wheel of Fortune' placed above his head. In the Capim case, the slaver's corpse was adorned with 'Emperor' and 'Judgment.' And in this event, the destroyed altar was surrounded by the cards 'Emperor' and 'The Tower'...

"What do these combinations mean? Are there any reasonable theories?"

"I have a guess." Stuart, who was somewhat familiar with Daly, took over the conversation, explaining his deductions. "I believe the 'Emperor' represents the Hero Bandit Black Emperor himself. He might have been involved in the Lanevus case as well, though we didn't notice at the time…"

At this point, he glanced at the Nighthawks present, since that case had been under their jurisdiction.

"We weren't present at the scene when Lanevus died," said Loretta, who was dressed in a black coat, white shirt, black tight-fitting trousers, and matching leather boots. Her appearance was quite striking, and she nodded in acknowledgment of Stuart's statement.

Stuart returned the nod slightly and continued, "As for the secondary card paired with the 'Emperor,' I think it could have two possible meanings...

"First, it could symbolize what the Black Emperor achieved. The fraudster's death was at the hands of a 'The Fool,' which could represent mockery from 'Fate,' hence the inclusion of the 'Wheel of Fortune.' Similarly, the slaver Capim faced 'Judgment,' so the card 'Judgment' was placed. And in this case, a sinful ritual was destroyed, which is why we see 'The Tower'...

"The second possibility is that these secondary cards represent other members of their organization. Perhaps they assisted but weren't detected, so their presence wasn't revealed... Hmm, perhaps in the Lanevus case, the codename of the member involved was The Wheel of Fortune, whether it was The Fool or Iron Man."

After hearing his deductions, everyone present nodded thoughtfully, finding his reasoning quite plausible.

If it's really him, it wouldn't be "Wheel of Fortune," but "The Sun" instead... Ms. Daly pursed her lips before asking again, "How exactly did the Hero Bandit 'Black Emperor' manage to destroy the 'Flesh Abyss'? If we could figure out his method, we might not have to worry about this ritual anymore.

"You all know, this ritual relies entirely on whether the 'True Creator' responds. Even though it's not hard to set up, members of the Aurora Order rarely manage to complete it... but every time they do, it's a disaster!"

"There were no useful traces left at the scene, and 'Backtracking' couldn't uncover any valuable information," Stewart shook his head first before turning to Machinery Hivemind's steward, Ikanser Bernard, and asking, "You brought '2-111,' right?"

The perpetually disheveled-haired Ikanser immediately understood Stewart's meaning and, after a brief consideration, pulled out an ancient silver mirror with intricate patterns.

Just as Daly had pointed out, everyone present was eager to know the method used by the Hero Bandit "Black Emperor," and Machinery Hivemind was no exception.

Upon seeing the silver mirror, the Mandated Punishers and Machinery Hivemind members instinctively took a step back. Only Stewart remained unmoved as he looked at Ikanser and asked, "You or me?"

Ikanser glanced at Stewart with surprise, impressed by his "courage." But feeling guilty for having "tricked" him once before, Ikanser ultimately said in a solemn voice, "I'll do it."

With that, under the curious gazes of the Nighthawks and Hazel, and the pitying stares of the Mandated Punishers and Machinery Hivemind members, Ikanser took the silver mirror, gently stroked its surface three times with his right hand, and asked in a deep breath:

"Respected Arrodes, my question is, how was this altar destroyed?"

As soon as his voice fell, the lighting around them deepened, taking on a misty quality reminiscent of a post-rain haze. The surface of the silver mirror rippled with an ethereal water-like glow, gradually forming an image:

A ghostly figure clad in black armor and wearing a black crown methodically set up another ritual around the altar. Then, offering himself as the sacrifice, he prayed to an unknown entity. He disappeared almost instantly but reappeared a mere second later. At that moment, the "Flesh Abyss" altar abruptly shattered.

The scene shifted. The black-armored ghost passed through the floor, ascended to the roof through the lightning-scorched hole, and elegantly bowed toward the people below.

As he stared at the final, frozen image, Stewart couldn't help but feel as though the Hero Bandit "Black Emperor" in the mirror appeared even more dashing and charismatic than in real life.

Perhaps it was the composition and angle of the scene... Stewart quickly found a reasonable explanation for this impression and ceased to dwell on it. Instead, he focused on analyzing the ritual depicted in the image.

After a moment of thought, he seemed to catch on to something and exclaimed with excitement, "I get it now... He used a ritual to 'distort' the 'Flesh Abyss's' target, redirecting it to the 'Fool.' That's how he managed to successfully end the ritual..."

Hearing his explanation, a few people showed expressions of sudden understanding, while the majority still looked confused, completely unable to grasp what he was saying.

But before they could delve further into the matter, the surface of the silver mirror displayed a series of blood-red words:

"What is the other name of the 'Fergen's Hound'?"

Huh? "2-111" actually asked a "serious" question? Is it in a good mood today, or is it laying another trap? Stewart's face betrayed a look of surprise, thinking Ikanser was having a lucky day.

But Ikanser himself didn't share the sentiment... because he didn't know the answer!

Inevitably, his hair was once again electrocuted into stubborn spikes.

...

In the Southern Continent, near a valley base by the port city of Alasser.

"White Saintess" Katarina, along with her daughter, "Vice Admiral Ailment" Tracy, quietly infiltrated a heavily guarded research facility.

Suddenly, Katarina paused and softly exclaimed, "Huh?" causing Tracy to glance at her in confusion.

"Test isn't here? He didn't personally oversee that item... How is that possible?!

"Did he leave early? Or... is this place just bait?"

(End of Chapter)