When she entered the Black Emperor's mausoleum, Bernadette vaguely saw a black shadow. However, after she extricated herself from being an embodiment of information, and reassembled her body with the pure, messy knowledge, she didn't sense anything. It was as though what she had just experienced was just an illusion.
Queen Mystic wasn't in a rush to venture deep into the mausoleum. She stayed in her spot and carefully observed her surroundings.
Without using the powers of Mystery Prying, everything was clearly presented before her eyes.
The interior of the Black Emperor mausoleum was empty. Apart from the pitch-black walls and the high platform in the middle, there was nothing.
On the high platform, there was a chair that looked like it was prepared for a giant. It was made of iron, and its surface was engraved with complicated and distorted patterns. At the top of the seat, there was a crown-shaped object.
At this moment, there wasn't a single figure on the huge, heavy seat, as if it was waiting for its emperor to return.
Just as Bernadette was about to take a step forward and approach the platform, she suddenly realized that her body was completely immobilized, as if she was being bound tightly by invisible shackles.
Right on the heels of that, pairs of illusory and holy white wings appeared behind her as though they were passively resisting something.
In the next second, on the pairs of angel wings, white feathers dropped as they fluttered. They grew deformed, thin, and fluffy limbs. The gaps in the layers of feathers spread open one after another as though they had become countless eyes.
The deformed feathers immediately let out crisp laughter, causing a hollow chuckle to echo inside the mausoleum.
All of them had come alive, turning into miniature "winged creatures."
This reminded Bernadette of some fairytales that her father had told her. There were always little pixies that weren't as big as a thumb in them.
As this thought flashed through her mind, Bernadette felt her right eye itch.
The eyelashes of that eye grew rapidly, turning into tiny arms that took root on her face, trying hard to pull her eyeball out.
"I see it! I see it!" The veins in Bernadette's right eye protruded as they let out a child-like voice as though they had gained sentience and consciousness of her body.
This was also a form of new "life."
Almost at the same time, Bernadette's left ear suddenly drooped down and covered her ears.
"I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it!" the ear shouted with a sharp voice.
If she didn't use her spirituality, Bernadette would definitely imagine that she had a young maiden by her side—one that was covering her ears, stamping her feet, and screaming.
Without cushioning anything, the Sage Frontlet in the middle of her forehead automatically left her body and floated into the air.
The surface of the vertical eye embedded with "diamonds" instantly flashed with countless cold beams of light. It was as though numerous tiny eyes had grown out of it.
Each eye reflected Bernadette.
The Sage Frontlet had also obtained a certain living characteristic.
Just as the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact was about to awaken and affect its target, a pale-white, slender, illusory palm reached out and grabbed it.
The Sage Frontlet's living characteristic rapidly dispersed, as though it had reached the end of its life.
The ice-cold and pale hand that clearly belonged to a woman came from behind Bernadette. At some point in time, a figure with only an upper-body appeared.
This figure grew out of Bernadette's back. It was almost transparent and rather illusory.
She was wearing the same clothing as Bernadette, and she was wearing the same feather triangular hat. Her blue eyes were like the projection of the ocean. It was like Bernadette herself, a part of her spirit that had drilled out of her body.
However, there was a pale-white face mask on Bernadette's half-body phantom.
The mask only had holes where one's eyes were with no other gaps elsewhere. This made Bernadette's phantom appear extremely cold and noble, but it lacked the aura of a living being.
This was the third item she possessed, and also her last Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. It was an item made after Emperor Roselle returned from the Southern Continent in his later years, called "Pale Death."
Its negative effect was to make the wearer slowly die until it became a corpse and become its slave.
At this moment, Bernadette had used this point to restrain the abnormal life growing in her.
Just as the half-body phantom appeared, her right eye quelled. Her eyelashes which had turned thicker and longer into arms began to fall off one by one.
Her ears didn't make any noises either. They slowly opened and returned to normal.
Without such a suppression, Bernadette's facial features, arms, and legs would've broken apart to seek "freedom."
After stabilizing her body, Bernadette tried to take a step forward. However, she was still unable to do anything. All she could do was control the half-bodied Spirit Body.
After some thought, she made the Spirit Body behind her take out a ritual silver dagger from her pocket. Then, bending down, it drew a circle in the middle of her right boot.
With a ripping sound, the leather boot quickly shortened by half.
Then, Bernadette used her half-body Spirit Body to tear her pants near her left knee. She cut off a corner of her coat and blouse, removing one of the feathers on the side of her triangular hat.
This attempt didn't seem to have anything to do with supernatural beings. It was just like a willful and rebellious girl who wanted to dress up in a different way from the normal sense of aesthetics.
However, as Bernadette completed this series of actions, she carefully took a step forward. Her body could actually move, as she no longer felt restrained.
The invisible suppression effect vanished instantly. The Black Emperor mausoleum seemed to accept Bernadette in this form.
Who would've thought that something an ordinary person could do was able to deal with such abnormalities?
Furthermore, Bernadette suspected that the more she used her Beyonder powers to resist whatever she was facing, the deeper the effects.
This was because she had the feeling that she was facing an invisible deity. Only by pleasing the other party's sense of aesthetics could she be pardoned. Otherwise, she could only rely on the authority of a Sequence 0 to circle around it.
In addition, the lucky thing was that Bernadette wasn't once a knowledgeable Mysticologist, but she also had a deep understanding of the Black Emperor pathway. She knew what the authorities this domain consisted of. She knew that it represented the shadow of order, a distortion of order.
That was why Bernadette twisted the normal order around her using her dressing; thus, obtaining the recognition and acceptance of the invisible deity.
Yes, in the matter regarding mysticism, knowledge and ideas are more useful than abilities at times... In that situation just now, any resistance would've been viewed as a provocation towards the internal order of the mausoleum, triggering unpredictable and terrifying changes. Once one figures out the crux of the problem, the negative effects will be easily resolved... Klein nodded above the gray fog and learned quite a lot from Queen Mystic.
Although he was already a Sequence higher than her, to the point of being a King of Angels inside Sefirah Castle and having experienced quite a number of major events, his growth had been too fast. He was still lacking when it came to the details in problems. Now was the perfect time to make up for the deficiency through observation.
After taking a step, Bernadette began to follow her spiritual intuition and walk toward the huge, empty chair on the platform.
One step, two steps, three steps. Suddenly, a breeze blew past her neck.
This cold wind made Bernadette's body turn numb.
At that moment, she felt a black shadow appear behind her.
Silently, her long chestnut-colored hair parted, revealing a pair of eyes on her scalp.
It was a pair of eyes without any eyelashes. They were almost transparent, cold, and heartless.
Eyes of Mystery Prying!
The pair of eyes turned slightly and saw that the shadow-like curtain in the mysterious world showed clear signs of distortion.
However, it didn't notice the shadow, nor did it find the source of the cold wind.
Just as Bernadette attempted to close the Eyes of Mystery Pryer and lower the possibility of an accident, the cold and sinister breeze suddenly appeared in her mind.
Her thoughts became active as she became increasingly out of control. She was unable to direct her thoughts in the required manner.
This seemed to be a trend that couldn't be changed—one that led to chaos.
Without any hesitation, Bernadette grabbed the few seconds of thought she was capable of. She let the half-body spirit on her back remove the pale-white mask.
Then, she put Pale Death on her face, while the half-body spirit retracted into her body and fused with her.
From this second onwards, Bernadette's thoughts would gradually die along with her body. However, her thoughts could not help but stir and turn chaotic.
Both of these conflicting conditions offset one another, forming a weak and delicate balance that helped Bernadette regain her ability to think.
To Bernadette, compared to the Beyonder effects of Pale Death itself, its negative effects were even more effective at this moment.
Maintaining the balance, Bernadette took a few steps forward.
During this process, she always felt that there were shadows hovering around her, but she couldn't find them no matter how hard she tried.
After thinking for a few seconds, Bernadette's blue eyes darkened once again, losing focus.
She tried prophesying the consequences of her choice.
Soon, a corresponding scene appeared before her eyes:
After putting on the Sage Frontlet again, she once again transformed into pure and complicated information streams, using it to circumvent the obstruction and head to the high platform in the middle.
However, just as she approached, the flood of information suddenly disintegrated. It lost its order and formed several Bernadettes built on different tenets. There was a young girl in a layered dress, a tall young girl, a melancholic and confused girl, a woman with a twisted and pained expression, and a calm and determined queen.
The prophetic vision instantly disappeared and Bernadette's eyes instantly regained focus.
At this moment, she saw the black shadow.
It was standing right in front of her, no more than a fist away from her!
That face formed from pure shadow completely occupied her vision.
