"Alright, Medici and the other two, step on this platform," Max ordered and the Red-Priest Spirit did as he was told, not just because of the contractual obligations, but also because he would soon be getting a rather suitable body he had helped Max pick from the surviving members of the particular bloodline he required.
Max placed three candles around Medici, and then just closed his eyes for a moment, but in that moment, the evil spirit vanished from the face of the earth, appearing in a vast expanse of endless blackness that was squirming around his own decaying darkness as an evil spirit.
'Alright, he is now in my control completely with no chances of escaping. I now know I can't use him as a capable subordinate. Instead, milking all the information of the other pathways and their formulae, as well as some other useful information is a much better use of him than to keep him by my side like a time bomb.'
Max had been thinking about it after gaining the divination from Klein. He understood that the Medici three-in-one was not someone who could be trusted and so he could only find a way to deal with him quickly.
'Sigh… what did I even expect from someone who was made up of three individuals, all of who belonged to the Red-Priest Pathway? Even if he wanted revenge on Adam and perhaps even Amon, he would definitely not work under someone else. Or perhaps… he still does not know that Adam was the one behind it all, and my approach of baiting him with revenge was wrong from the beginning? Should I have used Amon as a target?'
'Well, despite losing a good portion of my Unity energy to summon him into the Amalgamation of All, I have already gained a lot from this encounter.'
Max gripped the potion formula for the Monster potion in his hand and grinned, it was time to go shopping.
'Hmm… I also need to increase the world I have access to. Some of these materials most definitely do not exist in this world. I will need access to a lot of other worlds, like the technologically advanced world I would need for this lubricant of a warp engine. Also, why in the world would such an ingredient even be in something that should be consumed? Does Unity think I am an engine? What the hell?'
Max sighed and walked through the door he had summoned previously and left this underground location. A few moments after he left, the symbol of unity drawn with chalk below the door flashed, and both vanished leaving only candles that had been put out.
A few hours later, the tides came in and washed away the last evidence of human or Beyonder activity in the cave; the candles, returning the cave to its original state.
…
In the Amalgamation of All, Medici, Einhorn, and Sauron had been split up using the Unity energy for the first time since their deaths, and were then isolated from each other to prevent any sort of collusion.
Then, bit by bit, a portion of new Unity energy that was produced went towards eating away at the evil spirit, at random moments with random intervals and random amounts of damage.
This was a method of torture to the already insane evil spirits to help remove any lingering hope, while also breaking them down into their weakest states, both spiritually and mentally. Only then could Max actually extract any useful information from them.
Max had realised that the moment the evil spirit got a proper body, he could no longer threaten it with certain death, only beat it up or chase it away. Plus, if the evil spirit ran away from him, it would likely grow stronger and come back for revenge. Thus, he had to nip this threat in the bud, and since he could deal with the spirit in its spirit form, that is exactly what he did without any thoughts.
Despite being one of Max's favourite characters, that fact did not stop him from killing or worse torturing the character to get what he wanted.
…
Oct 7th, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch
After Lanevus had reached Backlund, the True Creator suddenly combined with the 'sapling' in his body, which made him become the vessel of the True Creator. Lanevus wanted to report to the police, however, he was warned and controlled strictly by the members of the Aurora Order.
Meanwhile, Klein had only recently entrusted a mission to search for Lanevus' whereabouts to Miss Justice, and after discovering Lanevus' situation, he urgently let her notify the Church of the Evernight Goddess, who decided to send out Crestet Cesimir; one of the nine high-ranking deacons of the Church of the Evernight Goddess and a Sequence 4 Nightwatcher with the Beyonder title 'Goddess's Sword.' He was also one of the three powerhouses of the Red Gloves and possessed a holy white bone sword, this enhanced his combat strength beyond that of a normal sequence 4.
Crestet Cesimir led two Nighthawks to the Dock Union and underwent a brutal battle against three Aurora Order members, and with the help of Sealed Artifact 1-63, he was able to defeat all three Aurora Order members, all well as Lanevus.
However, in his attempt to live, Lanevus revealed his body that inlaid some authority of the True Creator.
Suffering a serious injury in the process, Cesimir successfully removed the authority of the True Creator but failed to stop Lanevus from escaping into the sewers.
…
In the clock tower of East Balam Dock, Klein hid in the darkness while donning a clown mask as he quietly stared at the dormitory of the Dock Union.
An airship floated above. He couldn't see the details of the battle, and he had no way of knowing the developments of the operation in the red-brick building. All he could do was endure and determine the situation by observing the changes in the surroundings and the occasional black dot that passed by.
Just then, he saw all the gas lamps in the area extinguish. All of them had been extinguished! It was pitch black there! Right on the heels of that, a feeling that left an extremely deep impression on him exploded from the small red-brick building.
Even from a long distance away, Klein couldn't help but tremble all over; his legs went soft, and he bent his waist. It was the feeling of being looked down upon, a feeling that repressed one's spirit. It was a feeling that was impossible to resist or face!
'No, don't look directly at God.' In his adrift thoughts, Klein seemed to recall the time when he was in the hall of the Blackthorn Security Company. It was like when he was about to activate his Spirit Vision to probe the mental state of Megose and the baby in her womb. That feeling was exactly the same as it was now!
'No, it's even more extreme and terrifying right now! How could this be? Wasn't Lanevus just bestowed with a little bit of the True Creator's godhood? At most, he would be given one or two other corresponding items! Why does it feel like an evil god is about to descend?' Before Klein could shake off the trembling of his body and the numbing of his thoughts, he suddenly felt a deep, serene, and profound darkness engulfing the feeling that couldn't be looked at, probed or resisted.
The two sensations were obliterated at the same time, causing the gas lamps in the surrounding area to light up once again. The airship which couldn't stop itself from plummeting floated back up again.
Everything seemed to return to its original state, without the slightest change. But Klein didn't believe that everything was over. He stood up with all his might, knowing that something important had happened in the red-brick building.
'The feeling that exceeds a Beyonder, at a fundamental level, is no longer there, nor is there the feeling of the descent of an evil god. This means that the True Creator or Lanevus's plot has failed. However, the Nighthawks must've suffered some sort of serious blow as well. They might not even have much strength left.'
At that moment, Klein's heart stirred. He quickly took out the spirit pendulum inside his left sleeve, holding it with one hand as he said in a low voice, "Lanevus is no longer dangerous at the moment."
After quickly repeating it seven times, he opened his eyes and saw that the topaz pendant was rotating counterclockwise. However, its frequency wasn't fast, and its amplitude wasn't large.
This showed that Lanevus was still a dangerous man but to a lesser degree. What caught Klein's attention was something else. The divination hadn't failed again! This meant that Lanevus had been separated from the godhood bestowed upon him by the True Creator!
'Maybe I can do something!' He suddenly had this thought and no longer hesitated. He took four steps counterclockwise in the dark clock tower and went above the grey fog. Without wasting any time, he sat down and conjured a piece of yellowish-brown goatskin parchment and wrote a divination statement: "Lanevus's escape route."
Klein leaned back, quickly chanted the statement, and entered a deep dream. In that illusory, separated, misty world, he saw the slush-filled sewers with their dark, dirty tunnels and rusty metal pipes. It was cramped and sealed.
'It's the sewers!' Klein immediately woke up, enveloped his body with spirituality, and descended into the grey fog. As soon as he returned to the real world, he took a few steps back and came to the side of the clock tower that faced away from the airship. Klein didn't walk down the spiral stairs but instead somersaulted over the dark yellow fence.
With the help of the platform, the bulging spots, and the decorations on the surface of the building, he jumped down level by level, his body was so balanced it was if though he was walking on the ground. In a very short period of time, his feet stepped on the thick flagstones on the street.
…
Cough! Cough! Cough! Lanevus spat out a mouthful of foul blood, seemingly recovering some of his mobility. He took a difficult step forward, and his chiselled face suddenly turned soft for some unknown reason as he began resembling his original self.
Lanevus reached out to the staircase's handrail and laughed tauntingly, "Thankfully, if the True Creator wishes to fully descend and completely replace me, He'll need large amounts of pessimism, despair, numbness, resentment and primitive evil. Only Backlund—only East Borough, the factory and dock area, could satisfy His requirements. This gave me a chance to interact with others."
"I knew that it was unrealistic to report this to the police simply through the people I interacted with because the people I come in contact with could very well be members of the Aurora Order. I initially wanted to instigate a strike to get the police to notice me, but I was warned by someone from the Aurora Order. After being tortured, I could only hastily end it."
"I acted as though I was on the brink of losing control and had gained the opportunity to head into the sewers to vent. During this process, I secretly used my blood to corrupt the creatures living in there, turning them into terrifying mutated monsters. Unfortunately, before you could fully investigate the reason behind it, it was discovered by the Aurora Order. Apparently, a member of theirs died under a mutated monster. Sigh, now that I no longer have the godhood or the sapling, my blood no longer has such effects."
"After that, I was controlled even more strictly, but I still found an opportunity. I killed a prostitute and used the cruellest method to attract the attention of the police, but who would've thought that the people of the Aurora Order would disguise the case as part of a series of serial murders? I still failed to receive the rescue I needed."
"Out of similar opportunities, I could only use a more ingenious method. I took the initiative to request for the fiercest, craziest, most radical member of the Aurora Order to watch me, and this suited their thoughts. Hehe, can't they use their brains? Such a lunatic would get into trouble at any moment. As expected, you guys came!"
Lanevus somersaulted out the red-brick building through the window of the washroom at the end of the corridor. Soon after, he opened a manhole cover along the streets and quickly climbed into the sewers.
Lanevus seemed to be very familiar with this place. Even though it was dark, he could still run, jump, and turn, quickly fleeing deep into the maze of sewers.
Suddenly, he instinctively stopped and leaned back.
"Oof!" A card had stabbed deep into his right chest and blood began dripping profusely from its edge.
Lanevus looked up, and with his ability to see in the dark, he saw his attacker. It was a medium-sized man in a worker's uniform, wearing a mask with a raised mouth and red nose.
It was a happy clown.
[There are so few chapter or paragraph comments? Are people not reading my fic? Should I just stop uploading??]