Chapter 750: The Response of the God of Death
In East Balam's Gurain Castle, in a dilapidated building near a suburban cemetery.
Several men and women in black windbreakers and bright red gloves kept coming in and out, moving corpses, escorting surviving captives, or preserving important evidence. A lady in the robe of a clergyman of the Church of Night floated above the cemetery, her beautiful black hair fluttering in the sea breeze, obscuring her delicate face.
From time to time, a "Red Glove" would look up at her, then carefully look away to avoid meeting the other's deep eyes that hid countless stars.
She is the senior deacon in charge of the affairs of the Southern Continent of the Church of the Evernight Goddess, "Eye of the Goddess" Ilia.
This time, Gurain's elite "Nighthawks" were deployed, and even the "Eye of the Goddess" was invited to take action. The purpose was to capture the extreme member of the artificial death faction in the "Spirit Cult" based on the clues of the last operation, the Sequence 4 "Undead" known as the "Pale Hand", Palenque Tasib.
"You mean, Tasib is not in this stronghold?"
Inside the dilapidated building, Red Gloves captain Soest asked with a frown.
In front of him was Daly Simone, the only one not wearing a trench coat, but a robe over a simple black dress. Her eyes had just turned from deep black to emerald green, and her voice was still vague and ethereal:
"There are an unusually small number of spirits wandering around here, but they certainly haven't seen Palenque Tasip."
As she spoke, she turned to a member of the Spiritual Cult who was escorted in and asked:
"Where is your 'Pale Hand' Tasib?"
The prisoner, huddled up with a pale face, was practically being carried forward by two red gloves on his left and right. He slowly replied:
"He left town early this morning. He said he was going to meet someone."
"who?"
Soster asked, and the other Red Gloves stopped what they were doing. In the corner of the room, Leonard Mitchell, who was keeping his head down and silent, also cast a concerned look at him.
"His name is..." The prisoner's eyes were a little dazed, as if he was recalling something unimportant, "...Ince Zangwill."
Ince Zangwill, the former Archbishop who defected and killed several Nighthawks?
Hearing this name that shouldn't be here at all, all the Night Watchmen fell silent. Only Leonard's eyes changed a little, and his breathing became heavy.
This only attracted some sympathetic glances from the surrounding Red Gloves - everyone knew that he was the only survivor of a disaster caused by Ince Zangwill.
But at this moment, Leonard's mind was not filled with anger, but a hint of excitement.
"Sure enough, that guy left the kingdom and headed for the sea, his destination being the Southern Continent!"
He tried to use this to recall the words of the parasite in his mind, but unfortunately the latter did not respond.
Soest asked a few more questions but didn't get any effective answers. He sighed, looked at the "Red Gloves" around him, and glanced outside the room. He found that Ms. "Goddess's Eye" Ilia had left at some point, and he became the highest-ranking person on the field.
Licking his lips, Soest said carefully:
"Cindy, return to the base immediately and report this to Her Excellency, the Eye of the Goddess. She will contact the Holy Temple and decide on the next course of action. Ince Zangwill is carrying the '0-08', and we cannot deal with him."
"Yes." Cindy, who had burgundy hair, nodded and replied, then left the room and chased after Senior Deacon Ilia.
"The rest of you, interrogate the surviving members of the Spiritual Cult. Use psychic channels, enter dreams, and any other methods to find out Tasib's purpose. Since we can't track down Ince Zangwill, we must find out why he contacted the Spiritual Cult.
"From now on, pay attention to any coincidences that happen to you, such as accidentally forgetting something or having your original plans suddenly disrupted by an unexpected event. Report them to me. This is very important!"
As the captain of the "Red Gloves", Sost knows a little more about the "0" level seal than his members. Although he cannot say it explicitly, he must remind everyone how to deal with "0-08".
Leonard, however, did not hold high hopes for these actions. He knew the horror of "0-08" better than anyone else in the team, so he did not show an overly positive attitude. Instead, he completed his work silently, as if recalling a painful past, and then followed the team back to the base.
After finding an excuse to leave the base, he came to a secluded alley, took out a written letter, used a simple spell to summon the messenger called "Him" by the old man, and respectfully handed over the letter and a gold coin under the gaze of four pairs of scarlet but slightly lifeless eyes.
Leonard finally breathed a sigh of relief after watching the messenger disappear into the void. As he cleaned up the scene, he muttered:
"How could that guy possess such a powerful messenger? Is it a benefit from that mysterious organization, or is he special?"
Suddenly, he was reminded by the voice in his head and closed his mouth, slowly looking back.
Wearing a long robe and with her face painted with eye shadow and blush, Daly Simone stood quietly at the entrance of the alley, looking up into the air with a pale face.
That was exactly where the headless messenger left.
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"When you usually order food, does it always come with a 'servant meal' for two secret puppets?"
Angel asked in a somewhat slurred voice as he poked a piece of barbecue with a fork and put it into his mouth.
In the small hotel in the southern continent, she finally didn't have to abide by the dining etiquette of the upper class. She could enjoy a whole piece of grilled meat with a fork, burp openly after drinking iced sparkling sweet wine, and speak with food still in her mouth.
"After all, they're effectively dead and don't need to eat, and I, well, have to act well..."
Looking at the entire table, which included two sumptuous lunches and two servants' meals, Klein smiled helplessly.
In order to appear "normal" to himself and his two marionettes, he ordered three servings of each meal to be delivered to his room. Drinks and soup could be poured down the drain, but he always had to take care of the main course himself. As a result, the three-day trip to East Balam had already made him feel a bit fatter.
Fortunately, today's consumption was a bit high, and there was one more person to help share the burden... He smiled secretly and looked at Angel who was eating voraciously. Just as he was about to make a comment, he suddenly felt something and looked up.
In the clairvoyance, one of Renette Tinicole's heads spit out the letter it was holding, then quickly disappeared into the ceiling.
"Whose letter is it?"
Angel, who also noticed something unusual but didn't pay much attention to it, asked.
"Leonard's letter says..." Klein opened the envelope and quickly scanned the few lines. "The former archbishop appeared near Gurain and met with Palenque Tasib, the 'Pale Hand' of the Artificial Death God faction of the Spiritual Cult. He wants us to conduct a covert investigation."
According to the agreement, in the real world, Angel and Klein would refer to Ince Zangwill, who possessed "0-08," as "former archbishop," so as to avoid being detected by the seal in his hand if they called his name directly.
Of course, even so, the two of them had no intention of talking about anything about him at the dinner table; this was something they had decided long ago.
They just looked at each other, confirmed this from each other's eyes, and changed the subject at the same time.
"Do you have any impression of this 'Pale Hand' of the Spiritual Order?"
Angel swallowed the barbecue in his mouth, drank the sweet wine in the cup, and asked.
"He's a Sequence 4 'Undead' of the Death God Path, the same Sequence we previously assumed Mr. Azik was in. He's active in West Balam, frequently clashing with the local colonial government and responsible for several devastating attacks in the city... This is all the information I had about the Church before I left the Nighthawks."
Klein replied, instructing his secret puppet, Enzo, to put away the tableware. He then settled into a comfortable position in the chair and continued:
"Based on Mr. Azik's experience in the Death God's Tomb, I actually suspect that the 'Artificial Death God' is the Spiritual Cult's attempt to revitalize the uniqueness of the 'Death God' path. Of course, their plan may have been anticipated by the 'Death God' Salinger, or perhaps it was in line with His intentions, leading to the creation of that giant feathered serpent..."
Although he didn't see it with his own eyes, Klein understood the truth of what happened in the mausoleum based on Angel's description afterwards. Based on the actions of the one who came to the mausoleum through divine descent, he guessed that his purpose was to uniquely identify the "Death" path adjacent to the "Night" path.
Angel, who also knew this, was silent. After a moment, he asked:
"So, while He prevented the 'God of Death' from resurrecting, He also began to explore another path?"
The voice was very low. If it was not the bright sunshine outside the window but the night sky, Angel would not have dared to ask this question.
Klein nodded solemnly, suddenly remembering that in addition to the complete "Sleepless" or "Night" path potion, the Church of Evernight also possessed low- to mid-sequence "Death" path potions, and was not reluctant to cultivate Beyonders of this path, in stark contrast to the cautiously selected "Fortune Tellers."
Could it be that the goddess had already made arrangements, and had long since set her sights on the uniqueness of the "God of Death"... Thinking of this, Klein felt a chill down his spine.
What about the "diviner"? This path doesn't seem to have any gods yet, and from what I understand, it's not adjacent to "night" or "death"...
Gathering his scattered thoughts, Klein carefully told Angel his guess.
After listening to this, the latter said thoughtfully:
"If your guess is correct, can we pray to the goddess and ask directly about the Pale Hand's situation? Is he now a follower of the goddess?"
How is that possible? Even if a madman like him who carried out terrorist attacks wanted to convert, the goddess wouldn't accept him... Klein subconsciously refuted in his heart, but was stunned the next second.
Yes, even if he is not a believer of the Goddess, he at least still believes in the "artificial God of Death". According to my experience as the "Fool" and the "Sea God", at this moment, the Goddess may have already mastered a certain degree of "Death God" authority and can respond!
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At three o'clock in the afternoon, in the palace shrouded in gray fog, flashes of crimson light appeared, and the members of the Tarot Club gathered here again.
At the head of the long table, Klein the Fool's mind was elsewhere.
After Angel had lunch and returned to Backlund through the "Mirror World", he tried to pray to the "Artificial God of Death", asking about the recent behavior of the "Pale Hand" and the purpose of his meeting with the former Archbishop.
The "artificial god of death" who had never responded to believers since the Spirit Cult launched its plan actually gave a definite response!
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