"Due to the *Primordial Demoness* statue's influence, Trissy lost her way, mistakenly entering Chanis Gate. This is the convergence of Beyonder characteristics; it's reasonable. (Large sections of smeared text)"
"With Tingen sealed, Trissy cannot escape through her own means and must create a disturbance at the weakly guarded church to draw police and Beyonders."
"Sealed by Chanis Gate, Trissy seeks a way to break free. How unfortunate—she accidentally awakened the divinity within the evil god's statue! Cheek noticed this place, and the evil god's gaze affected Chanis Gate!"
The sentence was followed by splattered bloodstains. 0-08, exhausted, concealed its traces to avoid detection by Sequence 0 entities. Adam stood afar, silently observing Ince Zangwill, coughing up blood.
A quill scribbled rapidly on paper. Despite many words being roughly smeared, an aged hand gripped the restless pen. Ince Zangwill wiped blood from his lips, took a deep breath, and wrote his final line:
"Due to the Cheek statue's rampage, Saint Selena's ashes temporarily lost their power, leaving Chanis Gate's guardians unprecedentedly vulnerable!"
"The Demoness Sect and Nighthawks will both suffer devastating losses!"
He exhaled a turbid breath, glaring hatefully toward the Evernight Church. Fortunately, 0-08 had erased text that might summon the Primordial Demoness, or his backlash wouldn't have been so mild.
…
Klein watched Trissy vanish from their sight, his gaze heavy. The evil god statue, their mission's target, was stolen, marking the night's failure. As he and Leonard exchanged looks, Daly slowly ascended the stairs. In her hand was a Beyonder characteristic glowing faintly pink, indicating Madam Sharon had returned to the Primordial Demoness's embrace.
Trissy's ruthless strike had clearly crippled Sharon. Unlike the Nighthawks, whose different pathways made them noticeable, a Witch concealing her aura was harder to detect. Even if Trissy slipped, leaking some aura, the Demoness Sect's near-monopoly on the Demoness pathway meant Sharon wouldn't suspect a minor Witch—possibly an ally. Who'd expect the fiercest backstab from their own?
"What's wrong?" Daly frowned at the dazed duo. "Sharon was already gravely injured before facing me. Little Klein, was it you and Leonard? No, you couldn't inflict such wounds. Someone else?"
Klein shook his head gravely. "No, it was Trissy. Daly, I suspect this is the Demoness Sect's doing."
"The 'Instigator' Trissy we've been tracking?" Daly was surprised. "Isn't she a Demoness Sect member… No, wait, let me think… Right, from your expressions, did Trissy take the evil god statue?"
"Exactly," Klein nodded. "Daly, I'm uneasy. Trissy's an unstable factor. Unlike Sharon, whose location was fixed, Trissy's movements are hard to trace. Whether it's Demoness Sect infighting or their higher-ups' scheme, this is bad news."
A Seer's intuition was keen, and Klein's words sent Daly into thought.
"…Notify the police to seal Tingen," Daly decided after a moment, addressing Klein and Leonard. "After the 'True Creator Descent' incident, though no one died, our Nighthawks and the Punishers in other jurisdictions lost most of their strength. We're shorthanded. If this is a 'Primordial Demoness' descent, we can't handle it!"
"Got it, I'll inform the police now!" Klein replied decisively, sprinting toward the station. Daly smiled faintly, thinking of the two rings hidden in her office.
After this mission, I'll take Dunn to get married.
Ince Zangwill donned a thick trench coat, wrapping himself tightly. Unseen by him, 0-08's text was erased like pencil marks, replaced by a new line:
"Under the Cheek statue's influence, the White Saint arrived in Tingen due to strong convergence, taking Trissy. Unable to defy superiors, Trissy left Tingen for Backlund to fulfill her mission."
Adam gazed at the notebook with pure eyes, unnoticed by 0-08, which wrote the line. He seemed to see through layers of buildings, spotting 0-08 on Ince Zangwill. Confirming his arrangements, Adam sighed longingly, his figure fading from the spot.
He was merely a projection through the sea of collective unconscious.
But after Adam left, a breeze slipped through the window, playfully flipping Ince Zangwill's open page. Fine, invisible threads danced on the altered text, making dried ink seem freshly written, seeping to the page's back. A faint Sefirot aura cloaked the book, forming a thin veil that silently blocked Adam's returning gaze.
The page flipped back. In the tampered text, the "Saint" in "White Saint" blurred, shifting from "female" to "person."
On the page's back, ink seeped through, forming distorted words: "Trissy prayed to the Overseer, hoping to trade half her task's reward for aid. The Overseer mercifully granted her request."
The text naturally became:
"Under (Trissy's prayer), the White Saint arrived in Tingen due to strong convergence, taking Trissy. Unable to defy (the Overseer's) superiors, Trissy left Tingen for Backlund to fulfill her mission (under the Overseer)!"
The High-Dimensional Overseer laughed uproariously, catching the True Creator's sidelong glance. Like a spectator, He pointed at the light screen, saying:
"This script's not bad. Now, let's see how our heroine chooses. Can Adam keep arranging her?"
If Adam persisted, the High-Dimensional Overseer could corrupt Adam's plans via Trissy, then flee via ocean currents after Backlund's Great Smog, daring Adam to chase Him. If Adam stopped, the High-Dimensional Overseer could disrupt the Great Smog, letting the True Creator gain the upper hand.
Trissy stared blankly at Tingen's sealed exits, gritted her teeth, and ran toward Nighthawk headquarters. She'd just prayed to the great entity from the mysterious space, hoping for aid. But the text before her twisted, stating she hadn't reached a safe, stable place to complete the task.
Unwilling to accept this, she knew Tingen's lockdown meant capture within days by Nighthawks or Punishers. Even as a Witch, Trissy wasn't arrogant enough to think she could face an entire city's forces.
Reluctantly, she asked, "Great Master, if I trade part of this task's reward, what aid can I receive?"
The High-Dimensional Overseer's pre-set response device answered, "By equivalent exchange, your current option is 'Immediate Escape.' Since you're trading part of the reward, it will change to 'a chance to escape the Demoness Sect.'"
"Great Master, I'll trade!" Trissy said without hesitation. Compared to an unclaimed, ethereal reward, her life mattered more. Trading half the reward still gave her a free shot at escaping the Demoness Sect. Capture by official Beyonders meant certain doom.
But the great master's next mechanical words chilled her: "You must submit the task target in a safe location."
—"I can't complete the task!" "Then request aid!"
—"I can't request aid!" "Then complete the task!"
"What are you saying? You seem… delighted," the True Creator asked, puzzled, watching the High-Dimensional Overseer mutter at the screen. The High-Dimensional Overseer smiled, waiting until the True Creator turned to face Him, then said gravely, "Nothing."
True Creator: "…"
A safe place? Hah! Tingen had one "absolutely" safe place, but could this great master extract her? Bloodshot eyes blazing, Trissy took a deep breath, steadying herself. "Honored Overseer, if I submit the task at Chanis Gate, can you extract me?"
Receiving an affirmative reply, Trissy steeled herself and charged toward Blackthorn Security Company. The High-Dimensional Overseer, munching on "seeds" gifted by the Primordial Hunger, watched her with interest. Life-or-death stakes often sparked brilliance. Trissy's bold plunge into Chanis Gate proved it.
"Not bad," the High-Dimensional Overseer clapped lightly, wriggling His limbs to elevate Trissy's screen a tier among layered screens. Previously, Trissy and Glaint were lowest priority, while Megose, devoted for her child, was second-lowest. Many who prayed to Him in fleeting zeal faltered, too timid to change their lives, relegated to the least regarded tier.
The High-Dimensional Overseer deemed Himself merciful, engaging fragile lives in equivalent exchange. Other Outer Gods might accidentally kill them.
—Oh, His finesse with fragile beings came from civilizations obliterated by His ravings in His youth.
Now, Trissy and Megose shared the second-lowest screen tier—worthy of slight expectation. And Glaint? Oh, he was at a banquet.
"Good." The High-Dimensional Overseer nudged the True Creator, drawing His attention. The gods watched the screens, silent, as their "actors" moved with varied expressions.
"It's starting?" the True Creator asked, eyeing Megose's clone, imbued with His divinity, walking stiffly forward.
"It's starting," Amanises sighed, observing Ince Zangwill, cloaked in a trench coat, his expression ruthless.
"It's starting~" the High-Dimensional Overseer sang, watching His screen, joined by the Circle of Inevitability, eyeing fate's end. Far off, the Supernova Dominator fixated on planetary civilizations reaching the stars, sparking fireworks in the dark cosmos.
The Primordial Hunger mused about devouring more Beyonder characteristics on Earth, rich in them. The Mother Tree of Desire worked to corrupt Tolzna, aiming to reclaim her pathway. The universe remained harmonious, with shattered relics and unclaimed Beyonder characteristics drifting between planets.
He laughed, eager for what thrilling developments His stage would yield. Under these gods' gazes, the storm sweeping Tingen and the gales destined to rage across the world began to rise, while the actors center stage remained oblivious.
(End of Chapter)