Mysteries: Arcana Wars

On the left there is a big man as agile as a tiger, on the right there is a muscular man as strong as an ox, and their four copper bell-like eyes are staring fiercely at the suspicious magician in strange clothes.

The petite magician stood pitifully at the entrance of the church hospital, looking up at the two burly security guards.

This time I was completely kicked out...

The magician still maintained his mysterious smile, took a few steps back calmly, gracefully performed a classic Rune hat-tip salute to the two dedicated security guards, then turned around and walked away in style.

Next time I find a big secret doll, I will make it into a two-meter tall figure!

It seems that it is about time. Since we are already here in the Harvest Church, we might as well go to the museum next door to see the Fifth Age exhibition and meet Mr. Dodge Lamar.

Today is a weekday. After lunch break, the number of people on the street is much smaller. There are still many volunteers on the roadside handing out flyers to the sparse crowd, most of whom are students who seem to be still studying. It is obviously not a good time to hand out flyers. They still have a large stack of flyers tucked under their arms.

The distribution of flyers and the performance of Dodger Rama during the lunch break worked together to achieve excellent publicity effects. Klein looked from afar and saw that although it was a working day, there were still many people gathered in the square in front of the museum, queuing in an orderly manner to enter.

It seems that a billboard with extraordinary power will definitely be very popular.

This kind of weather was not suitable for the children to stand on the street for too long handing out flyers, so the kind-hearted Klein walked over and, in the eager gazes of the children, took away a handful of flyers, and began to fold paper figures for himself as he walked.

After several encounters with Dodge Lamar today, Klein felt somewhat uneasy. He felt that something troublesome might happen to him or Dodge Lamar soon. These vague warnings made Klein's folding hands more agile.

Judging from Dodge Lamar's skills today, Klein was certain that he must have extraordinary characteristics above the Fortuneteller Sequence "Joker". Some of his exaggerated movements would be difficult to achieve even with the help of prosthetics.

Judging from his guidance and influence on the crowd, he must have used the extraordinary characteristics of other sequences to achieve this effect. It could be the ability of the criminal sequence to mobilize emotions and desires, or it could be the ability of the audience sequence to hint at passers-by, or the eloquence and persuasion ability of the lawyer sequence to make passers-by accept his point of view...

As far as Klein's current knowledge is concerned, there are many ways to achieve this effect.

But now Klein couldn't be sure which path the other person came from. And whether his iconic red bow and ruby ​​ring with an evil aura were the extraordinary items he used.

Most actors with the stage name "Rama" believe in the god of steam and machinery, and advocate the use of technology to achieve performance effects. Coupled with very radical prosthetic modifications, this clown is somewhat connected to the Church of Steam.

...This ingredient is too complicated!

But the only thing Crane was sure of was that Dodge Lamar had noticed him.

This is my first day of freedom after resigning!

He quickly folded the flyers in his hand, but Klein was still worried and decided to do some divination. He controlled a cat puppet to return to his small apartment, while his real body turned and walked into a small alley. He used an illusion to cover himself in an inconspicuous corner, swapped the position of the real body and the cat puppet, and returned home in a second.

Through various tests with Leonard last night, the two determined that Klein's small apartment could barely be considered a trustworthy safe house. In addition to the basic properties of anti-prophecy and anti-divination, all extraordinary powers that entered this space were silenced, except for Klein himself and some extraordinary items. The only thing to note is that this apartment still maintains very basic material properties, just like a normal small room, it is not immune to physical damage from guns and ammunition.

It seems to be a safe house that Melissa and her friends made for themselves as a transition.

During these days when I cannot reach Sephira Castle, only this wonderful little apartment can give me a sense of security at home.

Thinking that the other party might have the ability to predict danger from the criminal sequence, Klein decided to return home and perform dream divination to avoid alerting the enemy.

“Where the Dodge Rama is now.”

Klein wrote the divination statement on the paper made of gray fog and closed his eyes on the bed.

The broken images gradually emerged in the dream.

Swaying trees, overgrown weeds, dilapidated and deserted factories, and the next second, the magnificent and ancient Harvest Church suddenly appeared in the dream, and countless treasures shone in the crowded museum hall. Two completely different scenes squeezed each other and competed for a place in Klein's dream.

Is this…is this a form of divination interference, or does he have the ability to be in two places at once?

Things are getting weirder and weirder.

Klein immediately ended his divination and used the gray mist to condense several paper figures that looked exactly like the flyer figures. He then swapped places with the cat doll and walked back to the street. The closer to the church, the more cameras were deployed, so Klein did not send the cat doll directly to the church.

The magician followed the crowd and walked forward quickly, but was forced to stop by the crowd. The red light came on and the cars did not stop.

There wasn't much time left. Crane picked up Melissa's pocket watch to check the time. He needed to get to the other end of the Harvest Church, which served as a museum, before the Dodge Rama performance.

Although it is the same building, the surrounding roads have become rugged because of the height of the church and the fact that the church is divided into two parts for function. In addition, the church hospital was forced to expand, and the poor urban planning formed in the rapid development of the city center made the roads between the hospital and the museum even more difficult to travel.

At this moment, a familiar feeling of uneasiness once again filled Klein's heart. All his senses seemed to be covered by a layer of illusory gauze, and the hands of the pocket watch in his hand began to reverse madly.

"Klein, I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon."

A familiar voice, a familiar Roselwen, and Melissa, with her hair tied up, walked out from behind Klein with a smile.

The twitching pointer finally stopped at "2".

"According to the Disillusionment Compass, we only have ten minutes this time. So, Klein, hurry up and ask an important question!"

Melissa, with black hair and black eyes, pushed her glasses up and put on her serious expression again.

...So, the appearance or not of the illusion Melissa is not under her control?

There's just one problem, it's too harsh.

Regarding Melissa in front of him, Klein had too many questions that he wanted answers to and too many words that he wanted to express.

Klein wanted to know where she and Benson had gone, what kind of life she had lived after the church wedding, whether she had found her ideal partner, and whether she had walked into a solemn and holy church holding her partner's hand like Benson. Klein also wanted to know what amazing mechanical creations she had created with her smart and capable hands, what kind of feelings she would have when facing the bright silver moon of the Sixth Epoch, and how her strong and hard life had dyed her eyes into a deep, dull black...

"The Blasphemous Slate. Did I get a second Blasphemous Slate afterwards?"

Klein finally asked this question.

The dangerous environment and conflicting testimonies from multiple parties made Klein more aware of the importance of completing his memories of the Fifth Age.

"If I had indeed become a being above the sequence back then, and had set up such a big game with others, I must have been fully aware of the knowledge above the sequence."

Melissa pushed her glasses, tilted her head and smiled, revealing an expression of "I knew it", then she pulled her hand out and grabbed the air, and a handful of misty black smoke condensed into a stack of A4 paper in her hand, which was printed with densely packed Roselle text.

Then the stack of A4 paper was stuffed into Klein's arms.

...Why does this feel like the shoddy paper printed out by a street printing shop...

Klein began to quickly flip through the stack of A4 papers. Spiritual intuition was not very useful in front of the illusion of Melissa, so Klein could only flip through them one by one. The first sheet of paper was just the cover, and the second sheet was the directory of the 22 paths. To Klein's surprise, the third sheet of paper had the necessary "formula" for the Ascension Sequence, which was exactly what was not on the first blasphemous slate.

It was as if everything he wanted to know and needed to know had already been clearly known and sorted out for him and placed on the first page.

This knowledge was purified into dry text recorded on this stack of paper made of illusion or black smoke, but this convenient form seemed very strange. It was clearly the same thing, but it didn't have the mysterious feeling that the so-called "blasphemous slate" should have. It was more like a watered-down paper submitted by college students in a watered-down class or a cheat sheet brought into the examination room for an open-book exam.

What is this, a desecration of A4 paper?

Next came the 22 recipes and rituals that were similar to what he remembered. Klein quickly flipped through one of them. Some parts of the potion recipe seemed to be slightly different from what Klein remembered. It should have been replaced with the current version more than a thousand years later. As for this ritual...

Klein suddenly felt a chill in his head.

Melissa stood at the intersection on the other side of the crowd and gave Klein a smile that showed she had succeeded in her trick. In her hand was Klein's magician's hat.

The red light flashed and then went out, and the green light came on. The crowded flow of people pushed Klein forward, and Melissa ran in front of the crowd.

“Melissa! Wait—excuse me, please move aside!”

Klein tried hard to squeeze through the crowd and keep up with Melissa. Just as he was about to touch the hem of her flowing skirt, he saw Melissa turn around and slip into an alley.

This is a little-known, unmonitored shortcut.

The illusion of Melissa nimbly shuttled through the gaps in the building at a speed beyond Klein's expectations. She looked back at Klein, smiled, and then jumped up from the ground, breaking free from gravity, and landed and jumped up lightly in the air.

Klein hurriedly turned around and followed. The A4 papers in his hand were blown up by the wind as he ran. After circling in the air a few times, they turned into a puff of black smoke and dissipated.

"In fact, I felt your presence at Benson's wedding, but I didn't recognize you at the time. That feeling was you coming."

"Then there was an ordinary and turbulent period of life. I think this story must seem very dull and boring compared to your magnificent adventure."

Small yellow flowers grew out of the cracks in the buildings, smoke emitting gray steam rose from the earth, and the steel buildings shed their bright glass, revealing mottled bricks and thick wooden strips on the walls of the houses.

Backlund of the Fifth Epoch once again meets Klein in a hallucination

Melissa turned in the air, and her colorful skirt faded. The young girl Melissa in Klein's memory appeared before Klein again.

"Like Benson, I also met my other half who is worthy of my trust. It's a little funny to say it, but we met in college. Then we went through the apocalypse together and came to the Sixth Epoch blessed by the Silver Moon."

The roar of the steam engine rang in Klein's ears. Huge and ferocious mechanical creations grew wildly in the city. Airships soared into the sky, wild and powerful armor, trains running day and night, everything in the city was proudly spewing turbid white steam. The steam civilization that was marching towards glory at the beginning of the Sixth Epoch showed Klein a corner of its glory in Backlund.

When Klein turned around from his running and jumping, he saw that Melissa had tied up her hair again and changed into a dignified brown dress with a bulging tool apron on the outside.

"But I think I am also qualified to say that I have lived a magnificent life. My husband, Is, and I have accomplished several earth-shaking events. I have made academic achievements that you can be proud of. I have also reached the distant Sequence Three on the extraordinary road..."

"I once regretted why I didn't have the ability to accompany you during the years when you were in the most pain. But after the end of the world, I have more than 300 years of life to accompany you. After that, I have endless time to accompany you in your illusions..."

"So, please trust me a little more, Klein."

Melissa, who had changed into a colorful dress again, slowly landed in front of Klein and placed the magician's hat in his hand. The simple hat was filled with bright yellow Seville chrysanthemums.

"Now, you are the little boy and I am the old monster."

Klein stared at the dark eyes of the illusion Melissa and wanted to say something, but at this moment Melissa's lively face suddenly froze, and her eyes stared blankly into the distance, as if she saw something in the distance beyond Klein. Then she suddenly shouted at Klein anxiously:

"Watch out for the church! They've got the upper hand! Watch out for the cup..."

Before Melissa could finish her warning, she collapsed along with the glorious city. All of her illusions turned into black smoke and dust, which disappeared from Klein's world along with the unstable sense of nothingness.

The last wisp of smoke disappeared, and all that was left in front of Klein was the tall and solemn main entrance of the Harvest Church. This was the entrance square of the museum.

The magician's hat in his hand was empty.

The inverted pointer is reset to zero.