Outskirts of Tingen.
A house with a dark red chimney and a green lawn.
The first ray of morning sunlight filtered through the window, casting mottled light on the open, unremarkable notebook on the desk. A slightly pale hand turned a few pages of the notebook, trying to see what that damned pen had written.
Amid the rustling of the pages, lines of text vaguely appeared:
"Ash Black from Backlund selflessly shared the Church's highly confidential Acting method, allowing the Beyonders of Tingen City to grow rapidly."
"The Sleepless Royale Reideen and Kenley white have been Beyonders for a long time, and they are only a step away from promotion. With the help of the acting method, they successfully digested their potions last night and immediately applied to Dunn Smith, the head of the Tingen City NightHawk, for promotion to Sequence 8 'Midnight Poet.'"
"Corpse Collector Frye was a Beyonder even earlier and applied for promotion at the same time to Dunn Smith."
"They successfully ingested their potions and stabilized their states, adding three Sequence 8 Beyonders to Tingen City."
"Seeka Tron also chose to submit an application at this time."
"Seeing others become Sequence 8 one after another, Leonard Mitchell's pride was greatly impacted. Thanks to the exposure of the acting method, he no longer needed to hide his uniqueness and applied to Dunn for the Sequence 7 'Nightmare' potion!"
"Benefiting from Senior Deacon Cesimir review a month ago, Leonard no longer needed any procedural review for promotion and could directly ingest the potion under Dunn's witness!"
"Without a doubt, the strength of the Tingen City NightHawks will be unprecedentedly enhanced!"
"Oh, poor Ince Zangwill, how much of a delight this is for him, right?"
"Poor Ince Zangwill, seeing this line, fell into chaos. His thoughts became incredibly chaotic, anger clouding his mind, making it impossible to think calmly. Oh, poor Ince Zangwill~"
"Damn it!"
Ince Zangwill's eyes were incredibly dark, but he knew there was still room to salvage this!
He immediately grabbed the quill and began writing quickly in the notebook:
"Leonard Mitchell applied for promotion to Sequence 7 'Nightmare,' but Tingen City lacked a crucial primary material for the potion, delaying the promotion by a week."
Just after Ince Zangwill finished writing, the next second, this line was swiftly crossed out.
The 'future' he had written could not come true.
Ince Zangwill's face darkened, and he quickly flipped a few pages back in the notebook.
Finally, his gaze fixed on a line of text.
"Klein Moretti applied for the Sequence 8 'Clown' potion, personally prepared by Dunn Smith."
"Moved by the rapid promotions of his team members, Dunn Smith felt obligated to prepare for others' promotions."
"While inspecting the warehouse, he found enough materials for other Sequence 8 Beyonders but lacked a crucial primary material for the Sequence 7 'Nightmare' potion. Therefore, he applied to the Holy Cathedral that night, and materials sufficient for two Beyonders to be promoted to Sequence 7 'Nightmare' would arrive in Tingen the next day."
Ince Zangwill's face darkened to the point of dripping water; he now wanted to curse.
In the past month, he had delayed these people's potion digestion as much as possible.
But now, under the arrangement of '0-08,' this had all become a foregone conclusion.
He could not stop Leonard from promoting to Sequence 7, nor could he stop Seeka Tron's promotion.
Just as '0-08' was also powerless to change what he had once written.
He could certainly rewrite reality with '0-08,' but only if it was logical.
Tingen City did not lack Beyonder materials, so he could not make them disappear into thin air.
Likewise, he could not let a thief steal these Beyonder materials from the Tingen City NightHawks' headquarters.
Because no thief could escape the eyes of the Beyonders.
Even now, he faced three Sequence 7 'Nightmares' and four Sequence 8 Beyonders from different paths.
These people were enough to pose a significant threat to him—at least they could hold him when he appeared, preventing him from escaping in time.
And when the Beyonders of the mechanical hivemind and the Punishers arrived, he would find it even harder to escape.
If he delayed further, the support from the Holy Cathedral might even come to Tingen.
Although a series of events required enough 'coincidences' to occur, '0-08' lacked coincidences the least.
Once he was held up and couldn't get away, '0-08' would undoubtedly cause a chain of coincidences to unfold.
If he continued to wait, Dunn Smith might even be promoted to Sequence 6 'Soul assurer!'
This was not impossible.
Although Dunn had become unstable from consuming too many Beyonder characteristics, '0-08' could create enough 'coincidences' to force Dunn into Sequence 6.
And once Dunn became Sequence 6, it would mean the complete failure of his plan!
Because a Sequence 6 Dunn, along with a group of Sequence 7 and Sequence 8 Beyonders and the sealed items behind the Chanis Gate, could even pose a deadly threat to him!
This meant he had to advance his plan!
He had to act before these people fully stabilized after their promotions!
Although everything was not ready yet.
"Whoosh!"
Ince Zangwill took a deep breath, his nerves thoroughly frazzled, and began writing quickly.
"Dunn Smith worried about simultaneous promotions of two Sequence 8 Beyonders, fearing accidents, and decided to postpone Leonard Mitchell's promotion to tomorrow. Leonard Mitchell accepted his opinion; he was not in a hurry."
"Although most Beyonders had been promoted, their newly promoted states were clearly unstable."
"Even after a night's digestion, they still couldn't maintain their optimal state; this was reasonable."
"The gradual accumulation of madness from her body's changes affected Lady Sharron's sanity, making her irritable. To create complete conflict between Tingen City's conservatives and new factions, she decided to take the risk and immediately kill Congressman John Maynard!"
"Her reasons were insufficient, her motives not strong enough, but she acted nonetheless. Everyone has moments of unclarity; she was in such a phase and was confident she wouldn't be discovered."
"The congressman's death drew the NightHawks' attention. Dunn Smith believed the killer had already fled and sent the newly promoted Sequence 7 Seeka Tron and two other Sequence 8 Beyonders to the scene."
"There, they encountered the revealing Lady Sharron."
"They clashed."
"At the same time, Megose received a mysterious call, leading her to Zoutlan Street and entering the Blackthorn Security Company. Her pregnancy was at a critical stage, preventing her from stopping her impulse."
"Klein coincidentally discovered the secret of the baby in Megose's womb." (Crossed out)
"Klein received information and, by chance, discovered Lanlus's former residence, reading the letter he left behind."
"Returning to the Blackthorn Security Company, he encountered the unstable Megose. Concerned, he tried to use Spirit Vision to observe, but its warning aroused his vigilance."
"Combining the letter and previous experiences, he suspected the baby might be an evil god's offspring."
Pausing, Ince Zangwill continued writing.
"This was reasonable."
(End of Chapter)
50 Power stones = Extra Chapter