Chapter 623: Antigonus

Pausing briefly, Rekton looked at Charatu, whose expression was darkening, and added, "To ensure you won't break your word, we need a safeguard—a vow with strong binding power."

"It sounds like I have no room to refuse," Charatu sighed lightly, then asked, "What did you promise the Night? Or what did you give?"

"A drop of water from the River of Eternal Darkness," Rekton replied plainly.

Charatu's expression remained unchanged, and in an even tone continued to ask:

"There are other living Miracle Masters besides me; why do you pay such a high price to seek me?"

"My wish is somewhat troublesome; getting help from a Mysterious Secret Servant would be better," Rekton still answered Charatu's question truthfully.

After a moment of silence, Charatu sighed lightly, "I have no further questions. What kind of oath do you need as a mutual binding?"

Rekton smiled and replied calmly, "Simple: a witness with absolute binding power."

"Who?" Charatu asked in confusion.

Rekton chuckled, "The one who best represents knowledge."

Charatu's facial expression still showed no change, but his eyes—dark as a lightless water surface—flickered slightly, and a hint of doubt flashed in his gaze toward Rekton.

After two seconds of silence, he said seriously, "The witness can only be the God of Knowledge and Wisdom."

"Fine," Rekton smiled and nodded; Charatu's reaction was exactly as he expected.

While speaking, he extended his right hand forward, grasped from the void before him a pre‑prepared yellow‑brown parchment scroll, bearing a design of an open book combined with an all‑seeing eye—the holy seal of Knowledge and Wisdom!

This is a contract blessed by the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, personally witnessed by Him! "Conveniently, I am fairly familiar with Him."

As he spoke, Rekton handed the parchment scroll to the Charatu opposite him.

Charatu stared deeply at Rekton, then took the gray‑brown parchment scroll; his eyes held restrained emotion, making his thoughts unreadable.

"I see the shadow of a prank‑loving fellow on you."

He sighed softly, reached into a historical fissure for a round‑bodied fountain pen, wrote his name on the scroll, and then handed both the parchment and pen to Rekton.

When Rekton also signed his name, the gray‑brown parchment instantly became ethereal, breaking into strands of brass‑colored glimmer that pierced Rekton and Charatu's bodies, imprinting deep within their spirits.

Suppressing the faint desire in his heart to fulfill the other's wish, Charatu, with a detached expression, looked at Rekton and said:

"How do you intend to take this historical projection of mine out of here?"

"I will briefly open the link between this hidden world and reality; you just return to the historical fissure yourself."

Rekton spoke while stepping toward the bluish‑black stone wall at the back of the chapel.

During this, his body gradually became insubstantial, as if turning into something that does not exist, and his movements quickly grew effortless.

After a brief interference, the chapel's control over the thread of his spirit returned to its original state.

Feeling a mild numbness and sluggishness, Rekton smiled lightly and approached the double doors set into the stone wall.

He placed his right hand, wearing a mechanical glove, on the cold stone door; a deep blue‑purple radiance flowed in his eyes, and silently, faint, colorless glimmers burst from his hand, swiftly covering the entire door.

He quickly parsed and altered the door's information, using data to fill missing parts, bypassing necessary steps, and opened a subtle slit in the door.

The next second, his body instantly became ethereal, fragmenting into massive streams of knowledge, turning into a pure information‑flow entity that passed straight through the bluish‑black stone gate, arriving inside the palace on the summit of the Honachis Mountains where Antigonus slept.

As he left, the Charatu historical projection seated on the stone chair also seized the chance to re‑establish a link between this hidden world and reality, departing from here back to the historical fissure; the consciousness forced to remain within that projection finally returned to its original body.

In the palace atop the Honachis Mountains, Antigonus reclined against a bronze‑carved high‑back chair, eyes closed, yet occasionally a painful expression flickered, as if trapped in an un‑awakening nightmare.

His face wore a translucent mask etched with the Fool symbol; beneath the mask were countless continuously writhing transparent worms, giving a grotesque, twisted appearance. His long hair was half‑white, half hidden, half exposed, evoking a contradictory sense of both aged and youthful, both rational and mad.

From beneath his classically ornate garments, translucent white tendrils protruded, flailing haphazardly around, as if sensing an intruder in his domain.

Rekton stared calmly at this mad "Fool"—the Angel‑King of the Path—his eyes a deep, flowing lavender, swiftly sketching one symbol after another.

Around him, star after star appeared, dense and dazzling.

These stars seemed extensions of Rekton's eyes, allowing him to see more details, observe Antigonus's condition from various angles, and extract occult knowledge from him.

"Hmm"

Stimulated by Rekton's gaze, Antigonus emitted meaningless babble, a sound seeming to come from every spirit‑worm, layered upon layers, bearing intense corruption.

Beneath him, translucent white tendrils flailed chaotically within the palace, shattering each star they touched.

"Not sleeping soundly enough, huh."

He sighed softly, raised his right hand, and more and more stars materialized around, scattering rays upon rays, turning the palace into a brilliant sea of stars.

As starlight wandered, the palace quickly fell silent; the tendrils spreading from Antigonus gradually lost vigor, grew weary, and sank back into deep slumber.

Rekton flickered, appearing before Antigonus; his figure was somewhat transparent and insubstantial, as if nonexistent, and the tendrils formed from countless spirit‑worms passed through his body unhindered.

A drop of clear, colorless liquid fell from Rekton's outstretched right hand, pierced the translucent mask, landed on Antigonus's forehead, and seeped into his body.

The writhing tendrils on Antigonus suddenly halted; the translucent worms beneath his exposed skin fell silent, each spirit‑worm sinking into deathly stillness, into the deepest sleep.

Amid the flickering starlight, eyes sprouted from the void, each glowing with a pale violet luminescence, appearing both extraordinarily sacred and chillingly cold.

Reflected in those eyes, Antigonus's form lost its human shape, becoming a deep, dim vortex of worms extending countless slick tendrils.

The mysterious patterns woven on those worms were gradually illuminated and extracted; aromas of history, time, fate, change, and secrecy spread around, slowly warping spacetime and forming an incomplete "Mysterious Secret Realm" nearby.

As he parsed the occult information embedded in Antigonus, Rekton gradually sensed an unusually weak yet firmly existing consciousness, attempting to take deep root in Antigonus, awakening bit by bit within his flesh and soul.

Affected by the Goddess of the Night, Antigonus fell into a profound slumber, and the consciousness reviving within him was forced into sleep as well, halting the restoration process.

The Heavenly Venerable's consciousness revived in Antigonus to a greater degree than I expected; once Kelei En incorporates its Sequence‑One traits and uniqueness, and with the veil of the Abandoned Divine Land, even without A Meng's influence, it would inevitably fall into sleep, entering conflict with the Heavenly Venerable, albeit to a different extent.

As thoughts drifted, Rekton bent down and picked up the Fool Card lying at Antigonus's feet.

The front of the card depicted a traveler‑styled Roselle, dressed in garishly bright clothing, holding a white rose in his left hand, a staff with a bundle tied to it in his right, and a small dog at his feet.

In the card's upper left corner, a line of ancient Gufsak script read: Sequence 0: Fool.

After stowing the Fool Card, Rekton turned and left the palace; without his support, the surrounding drifting starlight quickly faded, and the incomplete Mysterious Secret Realm formed by the mingling auras also receded.

Around the bronze‑carved high‑back chair at the top of the hall, the tendrils extending from Antigonus's robe fluttered again, moving erratically as if uttering meaningless dream‑mutterings.

As the incomplete Mysterious Secret Realm vanished completely, Rekton's body instantly became insubstantial, fragmenting into massive streams of knowledge, turning into a pure information‑flow entity that pierced the palace walls and doors, surging toward the distant horizon.

Above the gray mist, Kelei En stared at the Fool Card on the table, opened his mouth, and for a moment didn't know what to say.

After two seconds of silence, he finally whispered, "Did you go to the Honachis Mountains?"

His voice transmitted through the flashing deep red stars to Leikeddun's ears, and the latter responded in a flat tone: "I made a deal with the imprisoned Zhalatu there."

I went to find Zhalatu to make a deal. Klaien's pupils contracted and dilated slightly, and he asked, somewhat startled: "You didn't let Him out, did you?"

(End of chapter)