As he had the information from the City of Silver's previous explorations, Klein knew which places were dangerous and how to avoid them. It didn't take long for him to follow the small path, pass through the Waning Forest, Barren Tunnel, and use the ancient elevator to arrive at the residence of the guards.
After waiting for a while—until the "curtain" above the gray fog split into two, separating the Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic—Klein reached out to pull his past self out.
He didn't know if the other divine kingdoms would isolate the fog of history, but at least without the Giant King's Court having its owner present, no one would be able to stop his attempts.
Unfortunately, this matter involves too many levels. I can't obtain any results from divination; otherwise, I will feel more at ease... Klein shook his head and muttered to himself.
He was in no hurry to jump into the fog of history. He first took out two items and handed them to his projection.
One of them was a deep-black wooden box. It contained the ashes of Giant Guardian Groselle.
Klein had never forgotten his promise.
He had originally wanted to wait for Little Sun's second exploration of the Giant King's Court before handing him Groselle's ashes and getting him to help do the burial. However, due to various matters, he ended up coming to the Forsaken Land of the Gods and entering the Giant King's Court.
As for Snowman's ashes, Klein planned on scattering it into the golden sea just as he was about to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods—it was a sea churning with the divine blood of the ancient sun god.
After handing over the urn and the black iron key from Vice Admiral Iceberg, Klein followed his usual practice and leaped into the fog. He dashed to the fragment of light that represented a time before the First Epoch, and he allowed his consciousness to naturally shift to the projection he had summoned.
This projection didn't hold the Staff of the Stars and only wore Creeping Hunger. This was because the palace that the Giant King lived in was still quite a distance away. There were many troll statues blocking him, so Klein couldn't guarantee that he would reach his destination in five minutes.
Right on the heels of that, he made the glove on his left hand transparent as he disappeared from where he was.
In the next second, Klein appeared outside the guards' residence with the huge black iron key. He hadn't "Teleported" too far away.
Yes, in the Giant King's Court, it's clear that most of the powers within have weakened... Only a guard acknowledged by the divine kingdom can perform at relatively normal standards? Uh, Beyonder powers similar to "Teleportation" have also been suppressed. I can only do "Blink" within a relatively small area... From the looks of it, even if I were to summon the Staff of the Stars, I wouldn't be able to appear outside the Giant King's palace by outlining the corresponding scene in my mind... As expected of an ancient god's divine kingdom... Klein seriously observed the influence his surroundings brought him.
After making a preliminary judgment, he turned and walked back to the guards' residence. Opening the wooden box in his right hand, he solemnly scattered Groselle's ashes in every corner.
According to the scene he saw in Groselle's dream, this guards' residence was where the giant lived for a long period of time. It was the "home" that he had the deepest impression and was most fond of.
It could be imagined that during that period of time in ancient times, Groselle and the other rational Giant Guardians from future generations would rest, rabble, gossip, talk about music, and think of fun games to play. They didn't need to worry about food and ailments. They would live every day of their lives happily...
With the shaking of Klein's hands, the ashes scattered on the wall, the ground, the bedside, the tables, chairs, and stone pillars.
The orange light outside the window shone forever, making everything look peaceful.
When the last speck of ashes was scattered, the dusk suddenly deepened. It dyed the scattered ashes orange, becoming a part of the divine kingdom.
Klein closed his eyes as though he could sense Groselle's joy.
A vagrant who had been forced to leave his hometown for three thousand years had finally returned to the place he had missed day and night.
The light of the dusk softened, making Klein feel that he was less ostracized.
Eh... It's equivalent to being acknowledged to a certain extent. I've become a guard that has been accepted by a number of people. Klein emanated his spirituality to confirm the changes.
He didn't stay any longer. He used Creeping Hunger and the path scouted by the City of Silver's expedition team to constantly "Blink" and take detours. From time to time, he would pull out the Unshadowed Crucifix. He passed through the hall where the fateful plot was made with relatively little difficulty, and he arrived at the residence of the Giant King. There, he saw a row of huge stone columns on the left that formed railings. Beyond the railings was an orange-red gas and a churning dark blue sea.
Taking a deep breath, he returned to the hall he had just exited. He reached out his hand and dragged out the marionette, Enuni, who hadn't been "Parasitized" by Amon.
Even if it was a historical projection, he didn't want to open the door himself!
Looking at the slightly dazed Enuni, Klein handed the black iron key that he had tucked under his armpit over to him. He controlled Enuni to leave the hall and follow the railings formed from stone pillars to the tallest and most magnificent building in the Giant King's Court.
The dusk's glow seemed to be corporeal as it covered the palace's surface, bringing with it a strong sense of decadence, as though the curtains had drawn on everything in the world.
Lining both sides of the palace were separately steeples and spires. The grayish-blue front door was covered with mysterious symbols as it stood at a height exceeding ten meters.
To the left of the door, there was a pitch-black hole that was the size of an adult's fist at the height of three to four meters.
Enuni stared at it for a few seconds before raising the black iron key that resembled a seven-string guitar and inserting it into the deep crevice in front of him.
It fit perfectly without leaving a single gap.
As the gigantic black iron key entered the deep hole, Klein held his breath in the nearby grand hall, constantly preparing to remove his existence.
With a click, the black iron key in Enuni's hand reached the end.
It suddenly turned soft, as if it had fused with the hole as it emitted grayish-blue light.
The various symbols, labels, and patterns on the door lit up as they protruded.
All the lights quickly interfered in a constructive manner, pressing down heavily into the inner chamber as it slowly opened the grayish-blue palace door.
The gap between the door widened when Enuni's eyes suddenly reflected a turbulent pitch-black, viscous, and illusory sea.
Not good... Warning bells sounded in Klein's mind.
Without any hesitation, his consciousness returned to his body as he severed the connection with his Historical Void projection.
In the next second, his vision suddenly darkened. The left side of his head felt a sharp pain, as though someone had inserted a red-hot chisel into it and kept rotating it.
At the same time, he heard indistinguishable ravings that seemed to come from an era older than ancient times.
Klein's expression instantly twisted, appearing extremely ferocious.
He could still barely maintain his rationality, but he had no energy left to remain in the historical fragment.
Without a sound, Klein landed in the guard residence of the Giant King's Court. With a thought, he entered the world above the gray fog.
Before undertaking such a dangerous task, he had no doubt found a reason and excuse to arrange for the members of the Tarot Club to pray collectively to awaken Sefirah Castle's ability to "summon" its master. This allowed him to skip taking four steps counterclockwise and reciting the incantation at critical moments to return above the gray fog.
However, just as Klein's Spirit Body saw the grayish-white fog, he heard a familiar roar, he felt himself be rejected by Sefirah Castle, as though it had accepted an order from someone else to stop him from entering.
This... In his shock, he saw a black shadow leap past him, heading straight for Sefirah Castle!
It wasn't Amon, but a shadow that exuded an aura identical to his!
Subconsciously, Klein influenced Sefirah Castle and made it reject the intruder.
Then, he succeeded. The shadow was also blocked by the grayish-white fog as well.
Right on the heels of that, he and the shadow fell back into the real world at the same time.
After his Spirit Body returned to his body, Klein bent down in pain, like a curled shrimp.
The half top hat on his head fell to the ground.
He took several seconds to eventually recover. He slowly straightened his body and cast his gaze on a glass window ground from orange gems.
The window reflected his current appearance:
With the bridge of his nose as a border, his right face was the same as usual, but countless objects were crawling out of his left face.
Klein narrowed his eyes.
He hurriedly took a deep breath to calm himself down and regain the Clown powers of control.
His mind outlined a clear image of his appearance.
He was dressed in a black trench coat, had black hair and brown eyes. The right side of Gehrman Sparrow's cut face was the same as usual, while the left side had become translucent and was formed from twisting maggots.
As he looked down, his neck was in a similar state. It was the same with his body that lay beneath his clothes.
The edge of losing control... Man, I need to resist the inclination towards intense madness... W-why? Suddenly, he sensed something. He instinctively lowered his head and looked at his feet.
It was empty. He was missing the shadow that was supposed to exist.
The orange light of the evening shone through the window, but it didn't create a shadow by his side.
"Haha, I understand." Klein bent down and laughed uncontrollably.
He suspected that the "seawater" that surged out from the Giant King's palace had not only "drowned" his marionette and historical projection, but it had also used the latter to slice off his own shadow, causing his spirit to lose its completeness. He was unable to completely suppress his inclination towards losing control.
As for the shadow, which was slightly equivalent to him, it could also affect Sefirah Castle. This resulted in a situation in which both parties were unable to head above the gray fog.
As long as I get rid of that shadow, the problem can be solved... The corner of his right forehead twitched as he straightened his back.
At that moment, the orange light that shone from outside was dyed gold, becoming rather resplendent. It made the entire Giant King's Court seem to retrograde from dusk to noon.
With a thought, he cast his gaze out the window as an image appeared in his mind.
In front of the tallest and most magnificent building in the Giant King's Court, Marionette Enuni stood there, facing the door.
It was dark past the door, impossible to see anything clearly.
Suddenly, Enuni turned around and looked down.
His face was covered in a shadow, and his hair turned deep black that draped over his shoulders and curled up slightly.
On his back, there were pairs of dark illusory wings.
In the grand hall nearby, a pure shadow's lower body was pressed against a stone brick as its upper body came over in a ramrod manner.
