The "Spirit Controlling Bullet" that Klein had crafted using his own "Worm of Time" as material, bearing the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog, was capable of paralyzing even a Sequence 3 Saint for a second or two!

And at this moment, if it had truly been only Hvin Rambis in his incomplete mythical creature form standing there, he would have been as good as dead — after all, two seconds was more than enough for the "Bizarro Sorcerer" not far away to get a preliminary grasp on his "spirit body threads."

But unfortunately, the true nature of Hvin Rambis was nothing more than a...

"Marionette?!" Klein, who had been attempting to seize control of the other party while Hvin was paralyzed, finally realized something was wrong and blurted it out.

At the same time, the "spirit body threads" on Hvin’s body — the ones that had been tampered with by "Adam" to make others deliberately overlook them — finally appeared before his eyes.

Upon noticing this, Klein inwardly muttered "not good," because now that the other party was confirmed to be a "Marionette," the effect of the "Spirit Controlling Bullet" would likely be negligible, and the enemy’s attack had very possibly already been launched.

Sure enough, in the very next moment his head suddenly throbbed with a sharp pain, and an uncontrollable frenzy surged up inside him.

In an instant, he became wildly agitated, the figure of Ince Zangwill seeming to appear before his eyes, as hatred for all things welled up within him and he felt the urge to destroy everything in sight. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

This is bad... Before his mental state could deteriorate any further, Klein realized he had been subjected to Hvin Rambis’s influence at some unknown point, and that his mind had fallen into an abnormal state.

He hurriedly attempted to meditate in order to resist the abnormal mental state, but one thought after another flashed through his mind, each seemingly belonging to a different person:

"Just let it end like this..."

"For crying out loud, think of a way to save yourself!"

"What on earth has gone wrong, I feel as though I’ve contracted a severe mental illness..."

"Wait, that’s not right — the one who went over with Sharon was only my Marionette, ’Secrets Sorcerer’ Botis. Why would my true body be affected as well?"

"A contagious mental illness? That peculiar mental illness Old Liu once mentioned? This does indeed fall within the high-Sequence abilities of the ’Spectator’ pathway!"

This was a highly contagious "mental plague," transmitted in reverse through Botis’s "spirit body threads" to infect him.

Having the rare chance to cross hands with Mr. "Fool," I didn’t intend to go too easy... Though I won’t be making use of my own abilities.

As his thoughts turned, Ebner suddenly noticed that Miss Sharon had vanished completely, and even her own "mental island" had entered a state of "concealment," fully immune to the "mental plague" he had unleashed earlier.

He knew this was a high-Sequence application of the "Wraith’s" "stealth" ability — in the original story it could even directly "possess" a Demigod without being detected — and so he immediately raised his guard and released his "Dragon’s Majesty" in all directions.

Whooom!

A ferocious gale that blended reality with illusion swept outward in all directions with the dragon at its center, and every living creature caught within it was inevitably struck by the "mind stripping" ability. Not even Sharon, who had "self-imprisoned" her mental island, could be exempted.

Her figure remained elusive and formless, but the "cage" imprisoning her mind appeared before "Hvin’s" eyes.

Taking advantage of the moment when Hvin turned to deal with Sharon, Klein had already found a way to save himself. With a single thought, a translucent and blurry book materialized above his head, accompanied by a distant, ethereal chant:

"I came, I saw, I recorded."

The moment the chant rang out, the book began to flip rapidly, and a gentle, intangible ripple spread through his heart.

Klein instantly felt as though he had risen early on a sweltering summer day and caught a cool morning breeze — the scorching heat and agitation within him vanished abruptly.

Carried along by the "soothing" ability he had recorded from Miss "Justice," his "mental plague" began to ease... But very soon, Klein sensed that Sharon was about to be forced out of her concealment by the "Dragon’s Majesty," and so he swiftly pulled open an "illusory door" in front of Sharon, sending all "mental" attacks into the "other world."

Seeing that she could no longer draw close to "Hvin," Sharon flew back in retreat and once again transformed into the likeness of the other party’s puppet.

Klein, in perfect unison with her, drew out the "Death Knell" and fired another "fatal attack" into the "puppet."

However, this time he used a "Fortune Stealing Bullet."

The primary material for this bullet came from Flora Jacob, a recipient of the favor of the "Unknown" and a "Parasite." Klein had traded his own "Worm of Time" to obtain it.

With the enhancement of the "gray fog," although it could not truly "steal" fate the way it could with Amon’s or Palez’s "Worm of Time," it was more than sufficient to steal ownership of the "spirit body threads" — even if only for a few seconds.

Seeing that "the couple" had once again pulled out this kind of "shameless" move, Ebner had no choice but to take it head-on, because as "Hvin" he did not have many means to counter "curses," while "Zaratul," who was controlling him, had been isolated by Lady Arianna’s "Concealment." Although he could rely on the "Worm of Time" to let Hvin fight on his own, he could not "share" his own abilities across to him.

But once the effect of the "Fortune Stealing Bullet" transferred over to him, Ebner knew that Klein had seized upon the greatest weakness of this body, and could not help but sigh inwardly:

"Truly worthy of being Mr. ’Fool’ — his combat intelligence is remarkably high... I had originally intended to exchange a few more moves with you, but it seems I have no choice but to make my exit now...

"Though having ’Zaratul’ forcibly break through Arianna’s blockade is not entirely impossible, there is simply no need for it!"

Just as Ebner was thinking this, he saw Klein’s other Marionette, Euni, emerge from the "shadows," raise the hand wearing "Creeping Hunger," and activate "Amplification."

This... This is impatience at how slowly I’m dying... Heh, I’ve always been the one using multi-pathway abilities to overwhelm others. Being overwhelmed by someone else’s multi-pathway abilities for the first time is truly an unusual experience.

After that final thought flashed through him, Hvin’s incomplete ash-grey dragon body immediately fell into a stupor.

Klein dared not delay. After helping Sharon transfer her wounds, he immediately took hold of Hvin’s "spirit body threads" in his own hands.

Some ten-odd seconds later, when the effect of the "Fortune Stealing Bullet" faded, his mind inevitably collided briefly with the original master of the "Hvin" Marionette.

"Zaratul?!" Sensing that somewhat familiar aura, Klein thought for just a moment before the name surfaced in his mind.

...

Outside Viscount Graylint’s manor, the moment darkness began to descend upon the garden, the personality avatar of the "Saintess of Purple," Josenna, sensed that something was wrong. She produced a mirror and held it up toward the space that had been "concealed," and in the next instant her complexion went white, as though she had sustained tremendous damage.

Putting away the mirror, whose surface had already begun to crack, Josenna turned to flee from this place at maximum speed, no longer caring whether Hvin lived or died.

But at that moment, she suddenly saw a golden-haired young girl appear before her, twirling a parasol and wearing a monocle.

"Your structure is quite interesting... Let me take a closer look!" The girl curved the corner of her lips upward, then gave the parasol handle a turn.

Josenna had already been preparing to make her move, but all of a sudden she found herself producing a monocle from somewhere and placing it over her right eye, then revealing a smile identical to that of the girl across from her:

"I see... So Zaratul has indeed formed an alliance with the Loen royal family... And they’ve even drawn up a ’Crow Trapping Plan’? Heh, how very... in-ter-est-ing!

"However, the Hvin here was only a decoy — meant to pin down Ebner and his friends — while Zaratul and Hermes have also gone to intercept Alvin?

"The goal being to carry out a massive-scale sacrifice in Beldan...

"Heheh, Ebner... or rather, Alvin — as an ally, I trust you won’t be fooled by a plan like this, so I won’t bother warning you."

...

On the outskirts of Beldan, a newlywed young woman who had been washing her husband’s clothes suddenly stopped what she was doing, her expression shifting and flickering.

After a long moment, she walked out of the house and gazed out toward the Beldan city district not far away, murmuring to herself:

"Hvin is finished... Which means he was not on their side after all... The suggestion he made should not be problematic!

"And ’Josenna’ has been ’stolen’ by an angel of the ’Marauder’ — there is a very good chance the plan will be leaked... So the ’sacrifice’ must be set in motion immediately!"

(End of Chapter)