Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

Chapter 1346: The Scheme

Finally, if the "Prince of Abolition" who had helped Cheek ambush the "Demoness of Apocalypse" Aglaia Constantine was not the "Night Emperor," then who could it have been?The later "Blood Emperor" Tudor? Or another Sequence 1 of the "Black Emperor" pathway that he was unaware of?

If it was Tudor, it was not without motive... I recall that when the "Red Angel" was hunting Sauron and Einhorn back then, it was precisely because He was distracted guarding against Cheek that He ended up being "stewed into a hotpot"...

Perhaps Tudor and Cheek made an exchange?

While speculating inwardly, Ebner glanced at the "theater" screen again, and this time what was displayed on it was an image connected to the "River of Eternal Darkness."

The image showed a golden ornament shaped like a slender bird, surrounded by wings of pale flame, with layered and overlapping radiance flickering within its bronze eyes — as though a door after door of illusion lay hidden within.

This was precisely the legendary image of the "Phoenix Ancestor" Gregrace.

I confirmed it before — the earliest special soul connected to the "River of Eternal Darkness" is the "Phoenix Ancestor" Gregrace. However, after her fall, the Sefirot imprint appears to have been taken over by the "Wraith Sovereign" Vicente Miranda, and later fell into the Goddess’s hands...

When exploring the Observer’s Castle several months ago, I saw the "projector" wraith that Vicente had left behind... Since He had been there, it is entirely possible He had tampered with things.

So, same as the "God of Fortune’s" — best not to touch it for now!

In any case, that Sefirot imprint is ninety-nine percent in the Goddess’s hands, and its whereabouts are fairly clear.

With that decision made, Ebner "cut away" the image on the screen, revealing the final "Brood Hive" scene.

This task involving Lilith cannot be avoided... "All that fate bestows has long since been marked with a price in the shadows." I’ve received such enormous benefits from Lilith — this work cannot go undone!

Though I still haven’t figured out to this day exactly what She wants me to do... or what it would take to count as completing the task...

Letting out a soft sigh, Ebner extended his spirituality and touched the theater’s screen.

In the next moment, he felt himself once again being lifted into a "higher-dimensional" state, entering the story of the special soul corresponding to the "Brood Hive."

The first reincarnation of this special soul bearing a Sefirot imprint had taken the identity of the "Giant Queen" Omebella.

Just as Ebner and Cohinem had speculated, Omebella, as the wife of an "ancient god," was herself not a Beyonder of a single pathway either...

In addition to being a Sequence 2 "Desolate Matriarch" of the "Mother" pathway, She had even gone further by making use of the "Naturewalker" characteristic left behind after "Lilith’s" death. She had also accommodated a "Hand of God"... after all, the authority of "desolation" is close in nature to the decline and death associated with "twilight." Before ancient gods knew of the existence of potion Sequences, they always preferred to consolidate similar authorities together.

After the Giant King Aurmir fell in battle and the Giant King’s Court was overrun, the fleeing Omebella and Her eldest son, the "God of Dawn" Badheil, finally chanced upon the means of ascending to godhood for both the "Mother" pathway and the "Twilight Giant" pathway.

But at this point, Omebella possessed the "Mother" Uniqueness yet was unable to accommodate it due to the presence of the "Hand of God";

And Badheil was also unable to gather all the materials for Sequence 0 because he lacked that one "Hand of God."

In the end, after deliberation between mother and son, Omebella decided to make use of the special nature of the "Naturewalker" Sequence’s authority and have her son kill her once, so as to extract the "Hand of God" characteristic. She herself could also rely on "reincarnation" to expel the other pathway’s Beyonder characteristics she had previously consumed, retaining only the "clean" "Naturewalker."

Moreover, based on the knowledge they had accidentally obtained, "reincarnation" was itself the most effective Acting Method for "Naturewalker," and could help Her rapidly digest the potion.

At the same time, the "God of Dawn" Badheil could also complete the ritual of accommodating the "Twilight Giant" Uniqueness through the process of killing "Abundance" and letting "Abundance" transform into "Stillness."

Truly a stroke that achieved multiple goals at once!

And yet, tragically, Lilith had not truly fallen. The characteristics She had left behind had naturally been tampered with long in advance, and this tampering had been concealed with such subtlety that neither Omebella nor Badheil had detected it.

And so after Badheil killed his own mother with his own hands and buried her in her domain, the Silver Kingdom, the one who ultimately revived through "reincarnation" was no longer the former Giant Queen, but Lilith...

Omebella had been replaced halfway through "reincarnation"!

But this was something the "God of Dawn" — who later became the "God of Combat" — did not know...

And Omebella, this "Goddess of Harvest," had come to harbor suspicion and resentment toward her eldest son before her final fall. The mental remnant within the corpse contaminated by the "Desolate Matriarch" Beyonder characteristic thereby developed into the "Silver City’s" "Patricide Curse."

Seeing this, Ebner could not help but shake his head. It seemed that of the two scenarios he had speculated about back then, it was the first that was correct... The "God of Combat" truly had not known that his mother had been replaced...

Furthermore, from these memory scenes one could infer that the "Blood Moon Queen" Auernia, upon seeing that Omebella had become a "Naturewalker," had suspected that it was She who had ambushed the "Life Goddess" Isis. And so upon discovering that the "God of Fortune" and the "Queen of Calamity" were privately on good terms with the "Goddess of Harvest," she had left the Elf King’s Court in fury... Of course, this appeared to have been the "God of Fortune’s" calculation all along — the purpose being to get her away from the Court before the "Ancient Sun God" attacked, thus preserving her life.

But there are still some questions... When Lilith replaced the Giant Queen, She apparently did not yet know about the "Sefirot imprint" and the soul stone... So who exactly stripped away the imprint from Omebella’s soul stone?

Carrying this question with him, Ebner continued watching the "storyline," only to be surprised to find that the memory scenes developed a "gap" beginning from Omebella’s death. By the time the "Brood Hive" imprint appeared again, it was already in the Fifth Era — appearing directly in the hands of Giuseppe Castia.

Giuseppe... I understand now... This tool really is useful!

After a few moments of self-deprecating musing, Ebner immediately grasped what had happened, and through this "discerned" Lilith’s true intentions.

The only possible explanation for the "gap" in the imprint’s "memory scenes" was that it had entered into "Sefirot."

And judging from the scene of it suddenly appearing in Giuseppe’s hands, it had been within "the Land of the Unknown" the entire time... Ha — it seems the one who stripped away this imprint was in all probability "me"!

What’s more, the "Brood Hive" imprint is ninety-nine percent currently within that unknown space behind my "eye"!

Lilith’s calculation may be quite simple — She wants me to select a new location for the imprint within this "Memory Theater," and then have the "information" overwrite reality, misleading the "Mother Goddess of Depravity."

Wherever I place it, that place will be the future "main battlefield" — the trap aimed at the "Mother Goddess of Depravity"...

Ha — although having "information" overwrite reality is sufficiently covert, and within the barrier the Great Old Ones would find it difficult to detect... this certainly does not include the Outer Deity "Higher-Dimensional Observer," who once possessed the "Memory Theater."

Though the Outer Deities are also mutually hostile, there is no guarantee those two would not make an intelligence exchange.

No — Lilith must be quite certain that the "Higher-Dimensional Observer" will help the "Mother Goddess of Depravity," otherwise this scheme would not exist!

Hmm — based on my understanding of Giuseppe and Lamia, this "imprint" was not placed casually either, otherwise the changes caused would be too significant and "information" overwriting would fail.

So through "discernment," there are in fact only three locations that satisfy the "Convergence Effect"...

First — the body of the "Life Goddess" beneath the valley on Blue Mountain Island... After She "reincarnates" and is reborn as Frank, the imprint would naturally be on him... Hey, speaking of which, Frank does indeed display certain characteristics of that nature — otherwise Bernadette would not have been on guard, nor would the "Primordial Moon" have arranged for Sharif to be by his side...

Moreover, the reincarnated form of the "Life Goddess" attracting the "Brood Hive" imprint is perfectly reasonable and would not cause too great a backlash when the "information" overwrites.

Second — hand it to Lamia, having her transfer the imprint onto the "Abomination" Siiakha after being captured and killed by her...

Well, Siiakha is indeed currently being eroded by the "Primordial Moon" — perhaps that is precisely what the "Mother Goddess of Depravity" is suspicious about.

Furthermore, Siiakha also carries a "Beauty Goddess" Beyonder characteristic on her body. It would be perfectly "reasonable" for her to have obtained the "Brood Hive" imprint.

Third — also hand it to Lamia, have her bring it to the small island at the boundary between the Mist Sea and the Polar Sea on the western side of the southern continent, and place it within the prison where the "Black Emperor," the "Underworld Emperor," and Rhine conducted their collaborative experiments.

Lamia was captured by Siiakha on her way back precisely because she had gone to the southern continent to handle this matter.

Combined with the intelligence Bernadette provided — if my guess is correct — that place very likely conceals Roselle’s "Mother Card," making it equally reasonable in terms of the "Convergence Effect."

Ha — there appear to be three options, but in truth the first two are "bait" and the last is the "trap."

If I choose to place it with Frank, the Future would likely immediately erupt into an Angel-level confrontation — but this would be utterly meaningless to Lilith... The same goes for the Siiakha option.

Only the prison on that small island would meet Lilith’s wishes...

If my guess is not wrong, when observing the "Divine Chest" from the outside, the result obtained would show the "Brood Hive" imprint at one of the first two locations.

And after the "Mother Goddess of Depravity" obtains the true location intelligence from my "choice" through the "Higher-Dimensional Observer," She will not act immediately. Most likely She will feign patience and wait for the right moment, allowing Lilith to believe She has been "deceived" and is waiting for a more secure opportunity.

In truth, when Lilith sends someone to the island to retrieve the imprint, She will have all of Her forces within the Earth launch an ambush — and may even descend in person via an avatar!

And in doing so, She should fall right into Lilith’s and the Goddess’s calculations... Perhaps this is the full picture of what is known as the Silver Moon Plan...

Though I still don’t know what exactly this calculation entails, or how one would go about subduing the avatar of a top-tier Great Old One...

But this scheme — it must have been laid out from a very long time ago.

It’s too late, my head is a bit muddled writing this, hopefully the logic holds up.

(End of Chapter)