BOOM!
Thunder exploded in all directions, forming a silver-white prison of lightning that stretched for a full kilometer.
Edward had absorbed many high-sequence abilities from the Tyrant pathway through the Book of Calamity, but he was, after all, not a true Sequence 2 Calamity. Without the corresponding physical resilience, taking a direct hit from his own thunder was still unbearable.
At once, he waved his hand, conjuring a phantom door before him. His true body stood behind it, in a world apart from the raging lightning, completely untouched.
In that instant, the old man, wings flaring—four pairs of black, solemn wings—rushed toward him. His voice resounded with pious fervour:
"I am Steph, Angel of the Holy Word, attendant to the Lord's throne. I walk this earth in my Lord's stead."
"You dare impersonate the messenger of my God? Your sin cannot be forgiven!"
With every word he spoke, his aura, strength, and very essence surged higher. Though his body had not yet arrived, the sheer oppressive force already pressed down on Edward until he could hardly breathe.
Edward's eyes widened. He recalled the elderly man's identity—this was the very man who, in the original narrative, had forced Klein into such dire straits with just a few words that he had no choice but to cry out the "Tyrant's" true name for aid. A Sequence 2 of the Secrets Suppliant pathway—Angel of the Holy Word.
He could twist the answers of others, seizing fragments, amplifying ambiguities, turning them into word-spirits with tangible effects.
The countermeasure was simple: do not answer him.
Damn it…all I did was impersonate Mr. F and borrow some manpower from the Aurora Order, and they send a full Angel after me?!
No—that wasn't it. This was very likely the backlash from forcibly reversing with [Madness to the Right].
Steph hurtled closer. A layer of black, icy armour quickly coated his body, and in his hand appeared a straight, abyssal greatsword. With a single swing, shadows gathered into a colossal black blade of light, swelling to ten meters wide as it slashed toward Edward.
What the hell! It's bad enough getting bullied by Amon, but does that mean anyone and everyone gets to bully me now?!
Magnify, Regression!
Magnify, Steal!
The ancient gears in Edward's eyes spun as his hands snapped forward. While Steph dropped to Sequence 3 for a few precious seconds, Edward pierced his defences, stealing two or three seconds of his current thoughts, then reached further, attempting to seize the grazed [Prohibition] ability.
Unfortunately, the second theft failed.
Edward immediately drew his wand, whipping off a barrage of spells—Fiendfyre, the Killing Curse, Transfiguration charms. He didn't expect these spells to harm an Angel, but at least they might throw him off balance.
Steph shook off the interference. With his withered hand, he reached out and stole the distance as he appeared before Edward. The massive blade of flesh and spirit swung down mercilessly toward him.
Edward repeated his trick, slipping behind another phantom door. But this time, faced with a sword that could corrode flesh, annihilate souls, and even cleave barriers, the illusory portal lasted only seconds before shattering.
Fortunately, those seconds were enough. Edward twisted away at the last instant, retreating violently. The phantom pages in his eyes turned, and in his hands materialised an ancient, dusky horn. He raised it to his lips and blew.
It was the final ability he had recorded from Bernadette before his regression—the Miraculous Horn.
Hoooooo!
The deep, weighty blare resounded with an overwhelming force. Steph took the blast head-on. His black armour splintered apart under the dreadful resonance, exposing a desiccated yet blood-soaked body brimming with terrifying vitality.
All around him, space itself cracked apart under the note, tearing open fissures that yawned into the spirit world.
Edward wasted no time. He flickered rapidly, flashing into six positions—above, below, ahead, behind, to the left, and to the right of Steph. At each point, he left behind a phantom door, hemming the Angel in like a dumpling sealed from all sides.
"Exile."
All six doors flared open at once, unleashing torrents of chaotic spacetime. The terrifying pull dragged relentlessly at Steph, drawing him into the outer void. Edward didn't wait to see the result—he bolted immediately.
Steph pressed his hands together devoutly, his voice solemn:
"The Lord says—
That which cannot bind me will only make me stronger."
In an instant, His aura swelled once more.
No—what swelled was not only His aura, but His very body.
Crack!
One of the illusory doors splintered apart.
Yet Steph's body was still being slowly drawn into another of the gates.
Chi!
Suddenly, a blood-drenched head sprouted from his left shoulder, its features resembling his own but much younger—seemingly only in his forties. Immediately after, a childlike, tender face burst forth on his right shoulder, also slick with blood.
Around both heads grew two flayed, skinless arms, raw flesh exposed.
One head invoked a prohibition: "Teleportation is forbidden here!"
The other repeatedly cast theft. Even though Edward had already flown some distance away, he was still affected—his thoughts blanked out for several seconds, and his body plummeted downward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Six consecutive explosions rang out as the illusory doors restraining Steph shattered one after another. With three heads upon his shoulders, Steph leapt forward like an arrow loosed, rushing toward the falling Edward. The blade of Spirit and Flesh in his hand cleaved down at Edward's skull.
At that very moment, the world abruptly darkened.
The once-eternal noon vanished. The sun disappeared, and the sky was swallowed by a dense, impenetrable night.
Just regaining clarity, Edward instantly blinked toward a nearby reef. Yet he did not immediately slip into slumber—instead, he watched the Angel of the Holy Word cautiously. Who could say whether Steph would pursue regardless of the night's descent?
Fortunately, Steph too knew well the peril of the Battlefield of Gods at night. He descended into a ruin, cast a distant glance at Edward, then closed his eyes and sank into sleep.
Edward sneered coldly, conjured a lightning arrow in his hand, and hurled it toward Steph. Without waiting to see the result, he leaned against the reef and quickly closed his eyes.
Almost the very next second, Edward's eyes snapped open again. He had returned to that grey, misty world.
This time, he appeared directly within the black monastery. Around him stood rows of ancient, black houses. Raising his gaze to the distant sky outside the window, he could still see the colossal mountain covered by countless palaces, towers, and walls.
"I wonder if that Angel of the Holy Word can maintain consciousness here…If he can, things will become troublesome."
In this dreamscape—woven together from the dreams of all beings and infused with the power of the Evernight Goddess—ordinary people could not remain lucid. As far as he knew, only himself, Klein, Bernadette, Amon, and Ouroboros could.
He and Klein were most likely blessed by the Evernight Goddess. Bernadette—perhaps talent, perhaps the Hidden Sage. As for the latter two, they were Kings of Angels.
Ah, nearly forgot. The strongest hunter, Anderson, also seemed able to remain awake here. He'd even put on airs to spook "Coward Klein." Considering his later work with the Russian Priest, perhaps that too was His doing.
"Speaking of which…could I hide in the Sefirah Castle now, wait until that old man leaves, and only then come out?"
But—
"My body in the dream world seems to be just my consciousness. If I let my consciousness retreat into the Sefirah Castle…wouldn't that mean abandoning my physical body?"
Though Edward could shift between spirit and flesh, it was a special state—much like a Sequence 5 Wraith of the Prisoner pathway. At its core, it was still merely an extraordinary ability.
If his physical body were destroyed, then he would truly become nothing more than an evil spirit.
"So the only choice is to find a safe, hidden room and wait until morning?"
No…
At dawn, the old man's pursuit would resume. And from the looks of it, even with all his advantages, a Sequence 4 was no match for a Sequence 2 angel.
The enemy hadn't even employed his most devastating "Foul Speech" and had already forced Edward into chaos.
No—he had to find an opening through the dreamworld.
If Steph was as dazed here as the future Aurora Order's Saint of Darkness, then perhaps…perhaps he could set a trap.
Changing his face and attire, Edward donned his Invisibility Cloak and walked deeper into the black monastery.
Along the way, he encountered many who were caught in dreams. Judging by their clothing, most were pirates, with a few harder to identify. They moved in a haze, acting purely on instinct.
Soon, Edward entered the monastery's main hall.
No candles lit the space; it was cloaked in darkness. Only the light spilling through the front doors gave the place some faint illumination. Brilliant frescoes—lavishly painted with golden hues—covered the walls and ceiling seamlessly, their grandeur evoking a sense of the sacred.
On one wall stretched an immense fresco depicting Ouroboros in pilgrimage. Yet Edward, who had seen Ouroboros with his own eyes and witnessed His innocent foolishness, found that the painting lacked the same awe.
Suddenly—
On the once-empty wall before him appeared an ancient, worn chamber.
Its door stood ajar. From where he stood, Edward could already make out the familiar layout within—it was the very same room he and Bernadette had hidden in during their first visit here, the one where they had discovered Lilith's elementary school textbook!
"!!!"
His heart surged with excitement. At last—another encounter with Lilith?
Edward hurried in, rushing to the spot where Bernadette had once found the book. Yet while everything else remained, the elementary school textbook was gone.
"Why…why is it missing?"
He scoured the shelves on both sides, checking every inch. Still nothing.
"Could it be that its appearance last time was only a coincidence?"
Just then, a narrow door appeared in the wall beside the desk, opening into another dim chamber.
Inside, everything was shrouded in shadow. Only a vague black silhouette could be seen crouching on the floor, its actions indiscernible.
"Is that…Lilith?!"
———
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