Chapter 554: Victory and Defeat

Thanks to the establishment of rules, the two men, their madness slightly receding, could now do more.

Before him, Amon's figure twisted, the space he occupied pulling even light into its grasp, everything drawn toward profound darkness.

Through the ability of "grafting," Kleine fused a black hole from the universe with this space, and two puppets appeared beside him.

One was a Deep Abyss Demon Knight from the Journey to the West World.

The other was a Saint Lord from the Veil of Heaven World.

The former blocked before Kleine with unique Abyss-system magic, while the other exploded violently, causing the void to crack and curl, divine light across the sky forming a mesmerizing scene under the black hole's pull.

That wasn't all—without hesitation, Kleine gave the same command to the Deep Abyss Demon Knight: to self-destruct, becoming the very embodiment of his own law, and charging into the black hole!

One breath after Kleine issued this command, a symbol of a key materialized in empty air.

It was precisely to prevent Amon from stealing or misusing power from other worlds to strengthen himself and cause trouble that Kleine had, until now, almost never used his own gains.

And once used, it must be utterly destroyed at any cost, to prevent Amon from stealing the "soul-thread" of the puppets, exploiting a bug, and reverse-gaining two advantages!

Space shattered inch by inch, like glass spiderwebbed, and Kleine focused his dwindling attention on that region, preparing to deliver another strike against Amon caught in the conceptual shock.

At that moment, Kleine's intuition stirred—a new intruder had entered the Source Fortress!

A strange light-gate appeared, from which stepped a man wearing a monocle.

It was Amon, but his madness was not obvious; his smile carried clear mockery and triumph.

"Since I have a clone outside, then the clone can also be the original," Amon murmured, a faint curve touching his lips.

"He is powerful, but he doesn't care about these details, and you trust him too much, centering your focus on the known future—just like the Outer Gods' invasion during the God-Abandoned Land, clearly outside his plan."

"I must thank him—last time, he turned one of my clones into an ordinary baker who sought to survive through labor, forcing me to parasitize that clone again and make him recognized as an independent self under Adam's modification."

"I did revive the Secret Master, but even if I bet everything, so what?"

"Now, I am fully capable of taking a gamble."

The phantom book in his hand shimmered with rippling light; an illusory consciousness of the mind emerged from the Record Ability of the "Door" Path.

Kleine listened silently, thoughts of surrender flowing into his mind through mental power, manifesting as mental and physical resignation.

"You've been deceiving me from the start?"

Including making Kleine believe he had gone mad, shattering the established impression—yet Amon was still Amon.

"But you've made one mistake," Kleine said weakly, opening his mouth: "Your understanding of him is stuck in many versions ago."

"Your own clone wouldn't dare treat him so lightly."

"You mean the spacetime discrepancy on your body? Irrelevant," Amon raised his hand, trapping both Kleine and the collapsing vortex within an elliptical arc of light, smiling as he spoke:

"You have only two paths now."

"One: become my devotee. With the God of Light present, I guarantee you—all prior conditions were never fraudulent, and I will find you a Sequence One characteristic."

"Two: die together with this clone, letting the former Secret Master return. Sounds thrilling—I wouldn't mind trying."

Kleine's semi-transparent cloak gradually faded, and he looked at Amon, then suddenly smiled.

"You seek thrill? If you seek thrill, then see it through to the end."

Kleine gripped his cane, his voice eerily calm: "Then it's settled—the liar must swallow a thousand needles."

The cane transformed into a black-and-white phantom clock, and as his fingers turned it, the hands began rotating counterclockwise.

One tick.

All tentacles ceased writhing: Sequence 1 Star Key, Sequence 3 Wanderer, Sequence 4 Parasite, Sequence 7 Cryptologist, the uniqueness of the "Star Key."

These characteristics and extraordinary traits long digested by Amon now forcibly peeled away from his tentacles, shrouded in bluish-black phantom light, forming a vortex centered on Kleine.

On Amon's clone's forehead, a cold, eerie mask surfaced.

It glanced at Kleine, then

Its body abruptly split into countless insects, wriggling toward the starlit sky.

Amon's expression grew strange, for he sensed the entity now controlling that clone was not himself—but the former Secret Master.

And the latter was now using the Source Fortress's permissions, opening countless doors to every corner of the starry expanse via the Traveler's ability.

"So you don't know what this is?" Kleine looked up, the resignation still in his eyes, yet a chilling smile curled his lips:

"This is what awakens the Original Creator—it forcibly aggregates all Source Substances and extraordinary traits. Look, just like this."

Second tick.

From within the gray mist, faint sounds of a river emerged.

A chaotic sensation, embracing all colors, began to rise from a certain region.

Within the slimy tentacles beneath Kleine, a phantom light flickered faintly; all the fleeing worms halted, slowly yet resolutely converging toward Kleine.

Amon snatched the monocle flying toward Kleine and reinserted it into his right eye socket, clicking his tongue: "You've gone even madder."

In the region where chaos emerged, a sea of chaotic water—embracing all colors—flowed; Adam, as if at an infinite distance, watched sternly.

He was resisting the aggregation, yet also reaching out to Amon.

But he failed.

Amon's form froze as he prepared to plunge into the chaotic sea; the cold, eerie mask surfaced on his face. He deliberately removed the monocle and stared toward the convergence.

The next instant, countless tentacles burst from his body, curling like revolvers, all aimed at Kleine.

Beneath Kleine, the phantom light within the tentacles also raised its hand, solemnly declaring:

"Let there be light."

To resist aggregation, God and Yuanshi Tianzun both acted at once; the next moment, an ocean of light surged, the monocle shattered completely within the radiant glow, along with the region fused to the starry sky.

The Outer Gods, already severely wounded, gazed at the sea of light surging across the universe, destroying all things, sensing its aura, and buried themselves even deeper.

In a patch of darkness, a single drop of water fell, rippling the surface, making the waterlight tremble.

Beneath the veil of shadow, a broad-foreheaded man with black hair slowly opened his eyes, rising to grasp for the monocle from the air.

His hand, empty, paused briefly; after a moment of stillness, he lowered it, revealing a helpless smile: "Looks like I truly failed."

"No matter how the world evolves, he will always press his life into the gun barrel for what he values," Adam said, standing at the entrance of the Bone Church, his voice gentle yet devoid of emotion.

"As I predicted your defeat, you know what courage and sacrifice are—but you cannot understand them."

"You dare not stake everything truly; even if you cheat in another way, you cannot outplay him at the gambling table."

"I only came to test the waters, never expecting his obsession with the Source Altar to be this intense." Amon grinned, but said no more, sinking slowly into silence.

He rose from the shimmering water, his eyes gradually deepening into darkness, as if lost in thought.

"My avatar told me there are many valuable things beyond this world—perhaps I should go there."

Amon rubbed his right eye socket as he walked through the Shadow Curtain, water splashing beneath his feet, the surroundings gradually falling silent.

In utter stillness, a slimy tentacle wriggled out from beneath his magician's robe, curling around a phantom monocle and placing it upon his right eye socket.

"You've been watching me since the beginning, hoping to revive yourself within me?" Amon maintained his stiff smile and said:

"You're avoiding him. How fascinating."

One by one, strange tentacles emerged, and the darkness and madness in Amon's eyes grew even deeper.

"So this is a dead move—because no matter what, you will choose to leave the Source Altar through me, fearing he will awaken the Original Creator?"

He spoke as if to himself, yet the tentacles on his body slowly fished out from the void certain errors and the Divine Characteristics of Sequence One or Sequence Two, shoving them into Amon's body.

Gradually, Amon's gaze was replaced by another coldness and madness—Yuanshi Tianzun.

He looked up toward the infinite heights, ready to split into countless selves and enter the starry void.

"The God of Light not of this age, the beacon of redemption and grace, the alien deity of destruction and downfall."

Unexplained prayers interrupted his motion; he froze in place. Within the shadows, Kong Dong appeared, faint light seeping through like stars in the night.

Illusory specks of light danced slowly to the resonant sound of a piano.

No one knew when the sound began, nor when the light illuminated—suddenly, Tianzun felt an itch on his back. The instant he turned, his classical magician's robe had sprouted a massive bulge.

Swish—

The moment the robe tore open, six wings composed of light particles unfolded abruptly from their curled, folded state; countless feathers of light drifted down, exhausting all radiance, tearing apart the Shadow Curtain.

"The God of Light has revived within me."

His body slowly collapsed, falling into the shimmering water and splashing up waves.

Moments later,

A figure clad in a classical robe woven from light particles rose from the mirror-like sea, pushing his wet hair back with a lazy yawn.

"Strange," he pulled a pocket mirror from the air and frowned. "Why is this my nephew's body?"

He adjusted the position of the monocle on his right eye socket and dried the dampness from his body.

Only then did Su Lin turn to face the golden-haired priest who had appeared behind him and asked:

"Comrade Ancient Sun God, your family education is lacking—you never told this brat not to casually awaken other consciousnesses inside himself?"

"Suffering a loss isn't necessarily bad," Adam said, his childlike, clear eyes fixed calmly on the divine figure.

"You descended because he used your influenced avatar?"

There was no great surprise—as if all this were inevitable. After witnessing Su Lin's fusion with Tianzun and God, Adam had already understood their connection ran deeper than imagined.

"I merely sensed Tianzun's consciousness awakening and came over to check the link," Su Lin smiled and said.

"I thought the Fool, lost to indulgence, had been possessed—I came to thank the Merciful Tianzun for eliminating a scourge across all worlds. Turns out it's my nephew who got caught."

"Pity."

Su Lin removed the monocle from his right eye socket and tossed it to the ground; Amon's form rapidly coalesced in the void.

"This is genuine God of Light inheritance," Su Lin pointed to the wings behind him. "I gave it to you—and you use it as a spare body?"

Back at the bakery, when Angel Amon said he wanted knowledge and power from outside, Su Lin, as an elder, had given it to him—but it seems he never used it at all.

Only when Su Lin awoke within this body did the system's power activate.

"Heh..." Amon smiled, but his eyes looked as if waking from a nightmare. "Your rank and power have revived to this extent..."

"It seems that whether the Lord of the Mysteries' consciousness revives or I ultimately win, you've left him a chance to turn the tide."

"This is probably paternal love," Su Lin smiled warmly. "Though I don't think he'd be this disgraceful."

As he spoke, a door woven from gray-green runes slowly opened.

Holding his cane, Kleine stepped out. He was unchanged from before, save for a pair of starlight-formed eyeballs beside his head and a monocle carved from crystal.

He glanced at Su Lin with mild surprise—this guy entering his "home" clearly no longer needed to knock via the chat group.

"I will contain the Source Substance while resisting and fusing with Tianzun's will."

Kleine tapped his cane; another starlight door opened, and a female figure resembling Amon by seven-tenths descended. "Excuse me for now."

He feared Su Lin would follow him here, so he fabricated a legitimate excuse—he planned to set him up on a date.

Now that the outcome was decided, Amon's avatar could be returned.

Kleine took a step forward, turning to leave—when suddenly, "A Meng" rose from the ground. After regaining consciousness, she glanced around at her own body and Adam, then at Su Lin and Kleine.

She grinned, letting out a tinkling laugh:

"Are you preparing for my century wedding with the Fool?"

Amon's original body looked at his female avatar, then at Kleine—and now wore a strange, half-smiling expression.

Su Lin extended his hand toward Adam. "Comrade, from now on, we're family."

For the first time, Adam's emotionless eyes showed confusion and surprise.

Only Kleine, gripping tightly the "alarm clock" in his hand, restrained the urge to turn it again.

He offered no explanation, showed no other expression—only raised his hand to gather back the Sequence One Divine Characteristics from Su Lin's body, then hurriedly retreated into the Source Altar.

Kleine sat upon the Fool's seat, his chest rising and falling deeply several times. Finally, he covered his face and walked toward the depths of the Source Altar. The strange light gate above the gray-white mist drew near—and he was about to step into it.

But strangely—

Even now, Tianzun's consciousness showed no sign of awakening.

Closing his eyes to sense, he shattered each "cocoon" on the Source Fortress, letting countless specks of light fall into reality.

Then, without looking back, he stepped through the gate formed of dark green mist and vanished behind it.

This time, he did not bring Adelos.

Only himself.: mhtxs

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