At that moment, the shadow seemed to turn corporeal. It was ice-cold and moist, and it instantly bound Klein within it like he was a mosquito in amber.
Klein's figure was squashed and compressed as he regressed into a piece of paper, rapidly turning into mush.
Paper Figurine Substitutes!
Having sensed the danger ahead of time, he had made timely use of Paper Figurine Substitutes!
His black-robed figure appeared on the other end of the dining table as he opened his mouth, producing a bang sound.
At this moment, Klein's mind suddenly turned adrift as he found his surroundings blurry and unclear.
He instantly understood what was happening. He had been forcefully pulled into a dream!
And with this, he determined one point—his abnormal ability of maintaining his lucidity and rationality in dreams had already solidified and become one with him. There was no need to use the gray fog to do so!
After a brief struggle, Klein suddenly snapped awake and saw the shadows in the building slowly surging at him like a tidal wave.
Bang!
He opened his mouth and produced an extremely mighty Air Bullet.
This bullet struck the shadow, producing a huge swath of white.
The shadows around the whiteness immediately receded and filled it to the brim, returning everything to normal once again. Klein took this opportunity to roll to the side and turned his left glove pale with a tinge of dark green.
With a clap, the spot he stood at was smashed by a lump of flesh and blood that flew out from the shadow, covering the dark red carpet that was covered with strange mold.
In an unobvious manner, Klein had a feeling that he was being weakened. Without any time to think deeper into the matter, he immediately made his feet produce an icy layer that emanated cold air.
White frost crept up and rapidly froze the shadow. Underneath the crystalline frost was a squirming and warping pitch-blackness, like oil that had its own life.
Zombie's Ice Stun!
Klein did another flip and changed his position while making his glove produce black granules that were profound and dark.
Right on the heels of that, he straightened his body, and facing the shadow beneath the layer of ice, he said a word filled with foulness, a word that came from the Devil language:
Slow!
Suddenly, Klein saw the shadow's squirming slow down. Clearly, it was in an extremely sluggish state; however, his thoughts had also turned sluggish, preventing him from dealing any follow up attacks.
His Language of Foulness had been distorted, and although it was clearly directed at the shadow, it had been distorted to target the entire living room; hence, affecting himself.
In just seconds, Klein extricated himself from the slowed state, and without any thought, he lunged for the dining table, picking up a plate with half a piece of steak and throwing it at the shadow.
During this process, his left glove remained dark black, but it had a sinister and noble vibe.
Bribe!
He had used the steak to Bribe the enemy, weakening the other party's offensive, defensive, and controlling abilities!
At this moment, the figure suddenly shrank back into the corner of the wall, allowing the dining plate to smash and shatter into the melting ice.
Then, the figure surged upwards, taking the form of a pitch-black figure with a hooded robe.
In the palm of the figure, a transparent and blurry book appeared in front of him. It was accompanied by a distant and indistinct chant: "I came, I saw, I record."
Just as the chanting sounded, the book rapidly flipped through the pages and produced a burning-white spear.
Mr. A? Has he gone completely mad? He dares to use fire-related Beyonder powers in such an environment? Klein's heart tightened as his thoughts raced. He hurriedly rushed towards his opponent and held his left hand behind him.
Creeping Hunger was quickly tainted with the dark colors of corruption before condensing a ridiculous great sword that seemed to be combined from scarlet magma and blue-hot flames.
Thump!
Klein's footsteps were heavy as he bent his back, pulling his shoulder back as he forcefully delivered a strike with his left arm.
The muscles on his arm bulged as he swung the Sword of Lava!
Pfft! The resplendent great sword cleaved down on the fiery spear, sending sparks of white, blue, and red scattering in every direction as they ignited the chairs and curtains.
The murmurs outside the street had long vanished. All the indistinct figures had turned over and there was extreme silence.
After shattering the fiery spear with a cleave, Klein bent his knee and genuflected, snapping his fingers with his right hand.
Pa!
The flames in the entire room were extinguished.
Klein didn't move any further. He had a nagging feeling that a dense array of gazes were trying to see through the curtains to seek out any abnormalities.
The hooded man formed of shadows didn't take any action as well. Although he was acting crazy just moments ago, he seemed to have sensed the inexplicable horror that was slowly approaching.
In the dark room with tiny hints of crimson moonlight, Klein was genuflecting while the other was standing close to the wall, it was as though the two of them had turned into stone statues.
In the unbearable silence, time passed by abnormally slowly. All Klein did was count ten seconds, and it felt like an hour had passed.
Finally, the beast-like growls sounded once again in a staccato, disjointed manner, and the indistinct figures outside began walking again, returning back to the streets.
Almost at the same time, Klein obtained initial control of his target's Spirit Body Threads. The hooded man's actions of pouncing forward instantly turned sluggish!
Without any hesitation, Klein bent his body and circled the area, preparing to take advantage of his opponent's delay to disrupt any of his subsequent counterattacks and slowly turn him into a marionette.
At this moment, his nose suddenly felt an itch as he couldn't help but open his mouth.
Achoo!
Klein sneezed and lost his control over the Spirit Body Threads. Furthermore, his throat began to hurt as mucus began to take form.
He had caught a cold!
He actually caught a cold in the intense battle!
After suspecting that his opponent was Mr. A, Klein had actually been wary against a Demoness's ailment based on his past experience when fighting Mr. A. He had been placed at a significant disadvantage back then, but in a battle that didn't give him time to think, he had made a mistake. His constitution had long weakened due to the plague from the actual Demoness, Panatiya. He had no way to wait until the marionette conversion completed. He didn't even have a chance of obtaining a deeper level of initial control and use Air Bullets to deal a lethal strike!
Achoo!
As Klein sneezed, he rolled away. Meanwhile, he switched Creeping Hunger to the Baron of Corruption state and attempted to use his Distortion powers to reduce the effects of his cold.
Of course, thanks to his Bribe from before, his condition wasn't too serious. All it did was affect his control over the Spirit Body Threads, and not make him incapable of fighting.
While rolling away, Klein noticed from the corner of his eye that his opponent was leaving his shadowy state. The hood slipped backward, revealing a face that looked beautiful like a female. It was none other than Mr. A.
This Aurora Order Oracle had actually managed to survive this long despite the harsh environment!
However, his eyes were already bloodshot. He looked at Klein as though he was looking at a delightful delicacy. The hunger that was innate and instinctive wasn't concealed at all.
At that moment, Klein's mood didn't wane because he still had sufficient strength to do battle.
What he was most worried about wasn't Mr. A, but that their escalating battle would produce flames and attract the danger outside. When that happens, there was no way the two of them could escape death!
Hunger... The immense hunger has made Mr. A lose his rationality and no longer care about the loitering figures... If I can slightly alleviate his hunger, he should stop attacking and patiently wait until the crimson moon is once again hidden by the fog... Give him some "food?" As his thoughts raced, Klein nearly sliced off a piece of his flesh to throw at Mr. A.
Thankfully, he thought of something in the nick of time.
He had food on him!
They were the dried mushrooms that Frank Lee had produced. It was said to be a crossbreed between beef and the flesh of a Rose Bishop. As long as there was fish and water, it could keep reproducing.
As this was a new species in a subtle sense, making it not directly related to a Rose Bishop, Klein had placed it with herbal powders he often used like slumber flower, without removing them. He wasn't afraid that it would trigger any anomalies within the core seal behind Chanis Gate.
Achoo! With another sneeze and another roll, Klein had taken out the dried mushroom and thrown it at Mr. A.
Perhaps the smell of beef had attracted him, or perhaps it was the mutual sense shared between Rose Bishops, Mr. A immediately stopped attempting to flip through his illusory book. As he caught the mushroom, he stuffed it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it.
The hunger pangs that were written in his eyes gradually lessened, but the way he looked at Klein remained the same.
Klein threw the remaining dried mushrooms at Mr. A who caught them. Without any hesitation, he cleanly ate them.
His vision finally turned for the better. Glancing at the indistinct figures loitering outside the windows, he stepped back into a corner, fusing into the shadows.
Phew... Klein heaved a sigh of relief and retreated to another corner of the wall.
Mr. A actually isn't dead... I have to say that in such an environment, a Rose Bishop's abilities can provide immense help. Just using the stored flesh and eating himself can make him last quite long... Of course, the fact that Mr. A hasn't been killed by Lady Despair Panatiya implies his strength. However, the demigod-level powers he recorded must have been used up... As Klein thought, he deliberated over his words, wishing to sound out Mr. A for more information.
"Have you found any clues on how to leave?"
There was silence as Mr. A didn't give an answer.
His insanity has made it impossible to talk to him? Klein pondered for two seconds and said a name, "Leomaster."
This was the name of the Aurora Order's Saint of Darkness who had dissociated personalities.
After a brief silence, Mr. A's slightly hoarse voice sounded again.
"He has been ‘sent' in here as well?"
Indeed, only matters regarding the Aurora Order elicits a response... Klein frankly said, "No, he is trapped inside the ruins of the battle of gods."
Without waiting for Mr. A to say a word, he continued, "Why don't you enter the cathedral?"
Mr. A said in a muddled manner, "It's very dangerous, very, very dangerous...
"It's also dangerous outside. All the dangers stem from there. All the people who vanished would reappear during the crimson moon..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the tiny bit of crimson moonlight that passed through the curtains suddenly turned extremely dim.
