Lord of Mysteries: Starting As A Reader

In the Dream Labyrinth Tower, Tingen market scene:

When the Hero Bandit Black Emperor Klein and Miss Sharron arrived at Megose's residence, squads from the Machinery Hivemind and the Mandated Punishers were already locked in fierce combat with her.

It was clearly midday, but a crimson full moon ominously hung in the sky.

Without hesitation, Sharron retrieved a potion from her pocket and drank it. Her extraordinary item, which previously allowed her to ignore the influence of the full moon, was at the Sequence 5 level. In this dream layer, its effects were suppressed, forcing her to rely on "tranquilizers" to control the werewolf curse.

"Are you alright?" asked the crown-wearing Hero Bandit with concern. "If it's too painful, you can retreat beyond the moonlight's reach."

Her face turning even paler, Sharron shook her head and said simply, "I can hold the pen."

So you're planning to stay and use "0-08" to support me at any time?

Seeing the resolve in her eyes, Klein didn't insist. He wrapped the three "Solar Flame Charms" with his spirit body and phased through the shattered walls of the house, entering the "battlefield."

At that moment, most of the Punishers and Machinery Hivemind members had fallen under the assault of grotesque, clawed bats, their fates unknown.

Only a few senior members wielding sealed artifacts were barely holding on.

On the other side of the room, Megose no longer resembled a human at all, having transformed into a grotesque mass of flesh vaguely shaped like a person—a sickening sight.

At her "abdomen," a writhing flesh ball roughly the size of a basketball squirmed rapidly, as though trying to break through the "flesh" and "skin" encasing it.

This looks even worse than being corrupted by the True Creator!

Klein inwardly apologized to the Mandated Punishers and Machinery Hivemind members in this dream realm. He had orchestrated their arrival by using the feather pen to "arrange" the situation, mainly to prevent the spawn of the evil god from attacking Captain Dunn at Blackthorn Security Company. Their role was to delay until he and Sharron arrived.

After paying tribute to these "guardians," Klein infused his spirituality and threw a "Solar Flame Charm."

Sensing danger, the flesh ball at Megose's abdomen let out a piercing screech, causing the nearby official members to bleed from their eyes and clutch their heads in agony.

Some Punishers even developed scales—a sign of imminent loss of control.

If this had been the Klein from Tingen, just that screech would have disrupted his attack and rendered him powerless, much like the baby's cries back at Blackthorn, where he would have perished without Captain Dunn's sacrifice.

But now, with the support of the gray fog's power from the Blasphemy Slate and the high-level authority granted by the Black Emperor card, the screech merely made Klein's spirit body tremble slightly. The "Sunlight Barrier" he had set up using the Sun Brooch remained intact, and the "Solar Flame Charm" activated with an ancient Hermes incantation:

"Light!"

The room was suddenly filled with blinding radiance, and the eerie blood moon temporarily vanished as though dreading the solar brilliance.

A massive hole had inexplicably appeared in the villa's ceiling, exposing the blue sky and dazzling sun.

The golden Charm fused with the sunlight above Megose's head, expanding into a blazing orb surrounded by countless flames.

Boom!

The entire villa trembled violently, and the windows along the nearby streets shattered.

However, the blast's power was concentrated at the core, with minimal outward dispersion.

Outside the villa, taking advantage of the blood moon's disappearance, Sharron calmly picked up the feather pen and swiftly wrote in her notebook:

"Intimidated by the power of the Solar Flame, Linster's fusion with the evil god spawn was further delayed. Unable to control its instincts under the pain, it failed to use 'Moonlight Transfiguration' to reduce the damage. Instead, it extracted power to launch the 'Blood Moon Arrow,' aiming to kill the sudden intruder."

Unlike her usual speaking style, Sharron's writing was meticulous and highly detailed.

Inside the villa, as the Solar Flame struck the writhing flesh ball at Megose's abdomen, a blood-red arrow with a pungent stench instantly formed. It crossed the space at an unavoidable speed, about to strike the Hero Bandit Black Emperor's spirit body.

The black-armored figure abruptly vanished, reappearing a few seconds later as he emerged through the fractured wall. With calculated composure, he hurled another charm at the now formless mass of flesh that had lost all semblance of humanity under the "Solar Flame."

"Light!"

Sensing imminent danger, the mound of flesh writhed violently, showing signs of "phasing" into countless "bats" to mitigate the damage.

However, the writhing flesh ball at the mound's core suddenly concentrated its power, attempting a devastating counterattack against the spirit that had caused it such agony.

This act disrupted its ability to execute any other evasive actions, leaving it defenseless as the Solar Flame descended.

Boom!

Under the searing white brilliance, most of the grotesque flesh evaporated, leaving only a few fragments desperately shielding the writhing core.

Seeing this, Klein decisively hurled the third and final "Solar Flame Charm" to finish the job.

...

Outside the villa, Miss Sharron, gripping the now visibly worn feather pen, ignored the sweat streaming down her forehead and the unbearable discomfort of extreme spiritual depletion. Gritting her teeth, she scrawled a final entry in her notebook:

"If Linster had continued fusing with the spawn of the evil god at this moment, he might have survived and achieved true descent. However, his inherently selfish nature and fear of the relentless high-level charm assaults led him to decisively abandon the spawn and attempt a solo escape, hoping to find another host later...

"But just as he severed most of his spirit body and detached from the evil god spawn, the third Solar Flame Charm successfully activated...

"Thus ends Linster's story."

Closing her notebook, Sharron listened to the resounding explosions and then collapsed onto the ground, fainting from exhaustion.

At that moment, the once worn and fragile feather pen stood upright on its own under a stray beam of lingering moonlight. It "hopped" toward a wall and began writing on its own:

"In the final moments of being dissolved by the Solar Flame, the evil god spawn split off a fragment of its spirit, which discreetly attached itself to Sharron, subtly tainting her..."

The pen barely finished writing before it could no longer withstand the immense strain, snapping into fragments and completely disintegrating.

The writing on the wall vanished as if it had never existed.

Unaware of any of this, Sharron lay unconscious.

...

Inside the villa, Klein, still in his Hero Bandit Black Emperor form, surveyed the remnants of Megose and the spawn of the evil god, frowning in contemplation:

"Was that too easy?

"What about Linster's traps? Just that?"

Carefully reviewing the battle, Klein concluded that nothing seemed amiss. He then exited the villa and glanced at the unconscious Miss Sharron, confirming that she had only exhausted her spirituality without any physical injuries. Satisfied, he prepared to cancel the "summoning" and return to the gray fog.

But then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the shattered fragments of the feather pen.

At first, he dismissed it, but a sudden thought made him halt his return to the gray fog.

"Wait, something's wrong!

"Even if it was just a knock-off, in this dream world, it was still a 'Grade 0 Sealed Artifact.' How could it have been damaged just from orchestrating dream characters?"

(End of Chapter)