Even Lynn, at this moment, felt a small pang of conscience. He then found a stick from somewhere and poked the seemingly frail and possibly dying Tiny Amon lying in the cage. He said, "Are you okay? You're not really going to die, are you? You're a mythical creature; how could you starve to death after just three months?" His tone was laced with both disdain and suspicion by the end.
Tiny Amon weakly raised his eyes to look at him, his expression pitiful as he said, "I won't starve to death, but I do get hungry... If you didn't eat for three months and were stuck in a dark, cramped space, can you really endure it?"
Oh right, it seems hunger is still a thing!
Recalling the original novel where even after becoming an Angel, the Fool never gave up on three meals a day, Lynn nodded in agreement and continued, "So, will you die? If you are, let me know so I can inform your main body and get your replacement ready."
"You—" Tiny Amon immediately looked deeply hurt. He stared at Lynn in disbelief, his eyes wide open. After a long pause, he said, "How can you say such icy words with your warm breath?"
Clearly, during his time with Lynn, Tiny Amon had learned to keep up with the times and had picked up quite a few old jokes from him.
"Foolish child, information beings theoretically don't need to breathe." Lynn responded with a doting smile as he reached into the golden cage and playfully flicked Tiny Amon on the forehead, sending him rolling a few times before smiling and saying, "Also, don't think I didn't notice—you've been busy these three months and secretly weakening the cage's seal. No wonder you're starving."
"Ouch—" Tiny Amon sat up after rolling a few times, holding his head with both hands and playing the pity card. "I'm dying! I'm dying! Woe is me, not only starving for three months but also being hit..."
Apparently, compared to the more reserved Amon's main body, who maintained his image most of the time, Tiny Amon had much less shame and could cry on cue.
Of course, it's possible that this fellow picked up bad habits from Lynn, considering that a certain little Mr bubbles is also quite shameless.
"Alright, alright, stop crying like a cat. You're not a cat; a hamster should know its place!" Lynn sighed in exasperation, even though he knew Tiny Amon was playing the pity card. But little Mr bubbles really did have a soft spot for this kind of act.
Lynn then turned to Pallez Zoroast and saw the latter looking over with an expression of over-imagination, which didn't surprise him. He merely asked, "Mr. Pallez, would you mind preparing some food for Tiny Amon? He's not picky, anything a normal person can eat will do."
"Of course, no problem..." Pallez, who had witnessed the entire interaction, glanced at Tiny Amon with a peculiar look, feeling as though his worldview had been reshaped once again.
God help him, he had never seen Amon like this before. In Pallez's memory, all his impressions of Amon were of cunning and treachery. Occasionally, there was some warmth, but that was usually just a prelude to a cruel prank. Amon would smile gently while completely parasitizing your soul, causing you to lose yourself entirely and become yet another Amon.
Typically, anyone caught by Amon wouldn't be the only one in trouble; their entire family, possibly even an entire clan, could all end up turning into Amon.
Pallez had seen this firsthand. He once encountered a noble family with a Saint in its lineage, one that was a vassal of the Zoroast family. The head of the family was a Sequence 4 Parasite of the Marauder Pathway, and perhaps because of this, he fell victim to Amon. By the time Pallez arrived, he saw the entire family, hundreds of them, putting on monocles in unison right before him.
Honestly, even Pallez found that scene chilling.
And that wasn't an isolated case. Besides the Marauder families that followed the Zoroast family, over the years, Amon had devoured countless Beyonders of the Marauder Pathway. Some were from the Solomon Empire, some from the Trunsoest Empire, and even some from the noble families that followed the Tudor dynasty.
Pallez sometimes wondered why Amon did such things. Devouring Beyonders of the Marauder Pathway might bring him some benefits, but it couldn't cause a significant qualitative change. Instead, it carried high risks—ordinary Beyonders who swallowed too many Beyonder Characteristics, even those of the same Sequence are needed to digest them again, and it was easy for them to be overwhelmed by the accumulated madness in those Characteristics.
Beyonder Characteristics were not inherently a good thing in large quantities; otherwise, Beyonders wouldn't have children specifically to expel excess Characteristics.
And Amon's behavior was also overly cruel, in Pallez's opinion. Though Pallez himself could be a ruthless Angel, never sparing his enemies, he was generally kind to those who weren't his enemies. If he encountered a junior of the Marauder Pathway without any conflict of interest, Pallez wouldn't mind teaching them a few tricks to help them avoid pitfalls.
After all, while Beyonders of the same and adjacent Pathways could be enemies, that depended on the situation. Pallez was not so paranoid as to worry that low- or mid-sequence Beyonders of the same Pathway would grow up to become his competitors. If that were to happen, it would be a matter of fate.
—Which is why Pallez is considered the conscience of the Marauder Pathway; his mindset is the complete opposite of Amon's.
So while the Amon family consists of just Amon, the Zoroast family, although later consumed by Amon for various reasons, was once a thriving clan.
Because he had experienced Amon's terror firsthand, Pallez found it hard to believe his eyes when faced with this shameless Tiny Amon. It almost made him wonder if he was hallucinating.
Perhaps his gaze was too obvious, for the young Angel suddenly glanced at him, handed him a branch, and said with a smile, "Would you like to try? Teasing Amon is quite amusing."
Pallez: ...
Pallez looked down at the branch in his hand, then at Tiny Amon in the cage, and resolutely extended the branch into the cage.
How could anyone resist the temptation to tease Amon?
Honestly, which high-sequence Beyonder of the three Mystery Pathways could resist this? If word got out, people would line up to pay for the chance to tease Amon.
...
Meanwhile, in the Fifth Epoch, in Leonard's mind, Pallez, who had been quietly resting, suddenly said, "I suddenly feel like Amon might not be that terrifying after all." His voice was old and filled with emotion.
Leonard, who was currently carrying out a mission for the church in disguise, was puzzled: "What? Who is Amon?"
(End of Chapter)
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