Lord of the Mysteries

The full-body mirror’s silver words seemed to have a life of their own as they vanished and reformed:

“The Concerto of Light and Shadow is a pocket watch. It can restrict certain actions in a particular area, and it can also strip certain Beyonder powers from the target. When the two are put together, the limitations that are created far exceed the two types.

The Concerto of Light and Shadow is also able to ‘gift’ certain negative side effects to the target, making him sluggish; eager; avaricious; or lose their fighting spirit, only capable of focusing his attention on money.

“Apart from these effects, the Sealed Artifact’s wielder would have the ability to distort the target’s speech, actions, intentions, and attacks. It can reduce a lethal blow into a serious injury, or it could repel an attack, turning progression into retrogression, escaping into leading a charge.

“The negative effects of Concerto of Light and Shadow are rather serious. Amongst them, the main negative effect to take note of is that once it’s brought into combat, all the Beyonder effects produced in a certain region would intermittently experience random anomalies. It wouldn’t distinguish between friend or foe, making it hard to control and unpredictable. That also means that Lightning Strike might still create a bolt of lightning, but it might splash the target with a blast of cold water or summon unknown spirit world creatures.

“Due to this reason, Qonas Kilgor has deliberately sought out a mystical item that can make him sufficiently lucky at critical moments, hoping that the random intermittent effects will benefit himself. It’s definitely useful to a certain extent, but it’s not that great.

“Qonas Kilgor also has a strange revolver. It originated from an anomaly during an evil god’s sacrifice. It’s called ‘Rever’s Shout of Despair’… It can shoot without bullets, and each shot possesses immense strength… It can shoot at a rapid pace like a miniature machine gun… Targets who are hit by it will suffer Rever’s shout of despair before he died. They will suffer different levels of pain, dizziness, and confusion…

“The biggest problem with the revolver is that the wielder will also hear the shout of despair. It just won’t be too frequent.

“As an Earl of The Fallen, Qonas Kilgor no doubt has a qualitative change when it comes to ‘Distortion’ and the unreasonable ‘Bestowment.’ In addition, he can also ‘Exploit’ laws and ‘Magnify’ effects, and use ‘Disorder’ to disrupt order.

“Exploit can extend certain states for longer periods of time or end it ahead of time. It will make the rules more beneficial to himself. For example, after jumping into midair, the state of being away from the ground can be extended, achieving the effect of floating.

“Magnify can boost the effects or influence of his actions. It can make an ordinary attack become an execution. It can turn a hug from a distance away into a restriction.

“Disorder will influence the structure of objects, the standards of measurement, and the accuracy of attacks. It will make a seemingly massive building collapse, causing what seems like a huge distance to be shortened to that of a few paces, as well as allowing attacks that are aimed at him to miss their mark.

“Through Magnify, Exploit, and Distortion, Beyonders of the Lawyer pathway can achieve certain things that only Beyonders of the Arbiter pathway can accomplish.

“Of course, Low- and Mid-Sequence Beyonder powers of the Lawyer pathway like Bribe are equally possessed by an Earl of The Fallen and are even stronger.

“Great Master, I’ve finished answering your question. Is that okay?”

Your answer is like a guidebook. You must’ve been gathering information from the spirit world while delivering it… Also, must you seek praise even for matters such as this? Klein lampooned and nodded slightly.

“That’s right.”

After answering Arrodes’s question, he quickly got into the zone as he analyzed the powers and traits of the powerful Sealed Artifact which the demigod, Qonas Kilgor, had.

An Earl of The Fallen is indeed a Sequence 4 demigod existence. There are qualitative changes in various aspects. Be it “Bestowment,””Distortion,””Exploit,” and “Magnify,” none of them are easy to deal with. I might suffer if I’m careless…

Rather, Disorder isn’t terrifying. It’s basically an enhanced version of the Sequence 5 Mentor of Confusion’s power…

The Concerto of Light and Shadow does have traits of the Arbiter domain. And the most frustrating aspect about it is the negative side effects… To a Beyonder of the Seer pathway, my combat style is definitely closer to one of preparation, precision, and control. Once the battle begins, the moves will chain one after another. During this process, if a random deviation were to happen, the entire plan can easily be messed up and not be accomplished… It’s very dangerous…

As he thought, Klein discovered that the main problem stemmed from the Sealed Artifact named Concerto of Light and Shadow.

As a Beyonder who liked setting up traps for his enemy, Klein didn’t wish that after throwing himself into a perilous situation through his painstaking planning and hard work, he would realize that the item would summon a rabbit just as he was using the Fate Siphon charm to switch fates with his target to turn the tables and finish off his opponent. Or perhaps it would turn into fireworks to celebrate the death of the user.

Qonas Kilgor can reduce the effects by raising his luck, but I can’t do it. Fortune or Misfortune that’s not at the angel level won’t be effective on me… However, I have the marionette, Winner Enuni… Klein thought as he gave Arrodes the second question:

“How can the intermittent random anomalies of that Sealed Artifact be avoided?”

Silver words appeared out of the ripples of the deep mirror, forming a new sentence:

“There’s no need to avoid it!

“Qonas Kilgor just needs to become unlucky, and for this, the demigods of the Evernight pathway are experts.”

Makes sense… According to the theory of relativity, as long as Qonas Kilgor is more unlucky than me, I’ll be the lucky one. Ma’am Arianna said that “She” can provide me with assistance… To “Her,” secretly slipping some misfortune onto Qonas Kilgor before creating the concealed state should be very simple and easy… Klein immediately nodded cheerfully.

“Very good. That’s it for today. I’ll summon you again if there’s anything else.”

“Yes, Master! No problem, Master! Goodbye, Master-” On the full-body mirror’s surface was a simple drawing followed by silver words.

Seeing the mirror instantly return to normal, Klein retracted his gaze and quickly simulated the battle that would happen in his mind.

Gradually, he came up with an idea, and grabbing onto that flash of inspiration, he proceeded forward in refining it.

After having a few tentative plans, Klein walked to the balcony and looked at the garden in the night sky, whispering, “Can you inflict misfortune onto Qonas Kilgor before the battle?”

After a brief silence, a calm and ordinary female voice rang in his ears:

Yes.”

“Then it’s fine on my side,” Klein immediately replied.

Tranquility quickly returned to his surroundings.

A rather cold breeze blew by, and Klein expressionlessly stared at the manor for a few seconds. Then, he pressed down on his silk hat, pulled the human-skinned glove on his left hand, and drew Death Knell from his underarm holster.

Right on the heels of that, he flicked his thumb and made the iron-black revolver’s cylinder spin.

The night grew darker as the crimson moon occasionally tore through the clouds. Maygur Manor was completely in a state of deep sleep.

At this moment, a figure stealthily came from the Tussock River’s south bank, taking two to three steps to return to his room.

He was none other than the deputy director of MI9, Qonas Kilgor, who wore a white shirt and black trousers.

This demigod with a stout look surveyed the area and didn’t notice any abnormalities. He gradually revealed a smile and walked to the bar counter in the guest room. Getting a cup, he picked up a bottle of Maygur red wine. He prepared to pour some for himself to celebrate the wonderful night.

At this moment, his spiritual perception was triggered as he looked up abruptly.

He saw the buildings with a few grayish-white chimneys suddenly become covered in shadows as if they were dyed with ink.

To the side of the chimneys, on one of the steeple landmarks of Maygur Manor’s main building, it was equally dark. The bright red moon was silently hanging behind the chimney.

The clouds and stars high in the sky had vanished. Apart from the gigantic crimson moon, there was pitch-black darkness.

Under the night sky, the flowers and trees were clearly in front of him, but they lacked any signs of life. They were dim, as though they were a great distance away.

Black and red, shadows and buildings, and the silence and plants presented themselves in front of Qonas Kilgor in such a strange state.

This… The demigod’s pupils dilated as he didn’t hesitate to respond.

He reached his left hand into his clothes and extended his right hand under his armpit, taking out two items.

Amongst them, he held a strange revolver in his right palm. It was entirely gray in color, bigger than an ordinary revolver. It looked like it was half the size of a sledgehammer that was used in classical battles.

Another unusual trait of the revolver was that it had six barrels, each rather thick. The mouth was dark, and its cylinder was embedded with more than ten ugly rivets, making it have a rather crude beauty.

Qonas Kilgor’s left hand held an iron-skinned pocket watch. On the watch’s face, half of it was filled with neatly arranged symbols that followed the order of time, while the other half was a chaotic mess. It even intruded into the neighboring region. On both sides, it seemed impossible to see the machinery behind them as they formed into a structure that looked even more complex and headache-inducing.

Almost at the same time, a figure emerged out of the gigantic crimson moon. It glided over at an extremely fast speed.

He grew bigger and clearer. He was a young man with black hair, brown eyes, and cut features.

The young man was wearing a silk top hat and a black trench coat. He held a unique revolver in one hand, and a transparent human-skinned glove covering the other. Under the bright illumination of the surroundings, he seemed to be burdened with the weight of the gigantic crimson moon.

Gehrman Sparrow.

Meowhead

An only slightly assisted fight against a sequence four, where planning might go awry. I am looking forward to seeing how he will pull this off.