"Your Majesty the Emperor, please forgive me for my reluctant request."

"It was rude to leave the table on such a solemn occasion, and I feel deeply guilty and regretful – but the timing of this avalanche was so coincidental and unsettling."

"Admittedly, this may be just an ordinary natural disaster, but I can't yet estimate the weight of mystical forces in it. I would rather be cautious than careless about any disturbance on the frontiers of the Empire - after all, it is a sacred obligation that you have entrusted to me. ”

"Thank you for your permission, then please allow me to leave."

In the third minute after the avalanche, there was no hidden sage in the seats at the Imperial Capital Sword Fighting Competition.

Beneath the blizzard is the wreckage of the village. When it was engulfed, it did not struggle, did not cry for help, did not even have the slightest panic, and became the food of the snow beast in silence.

Because the people here have long since moved away.

"It's a blessing that there are no avalanches here, but if there is an avalanche, your parents, children, brothers and sisters will die."

As early as the Glory Age, the Gruno followed the oracle of the Hidden Sage and migrated out in droves with the help of the Gabians. Some of them went to the northern shore of the Jianhai Sea, where the climate was warm and the supplies were abundant, and some did not want to be too far away from their homeland, so they found a wide and flat snowfield and established new towns and villages. More than 500 meters away from the town, the roaring snow beast unwillingly stopped its galloping footsteps and pressed its claws, and the people were still singing and dancing, and the smell of meat and wine filled the night.

They would not know that the God of faith had gazed upon them briefly, and then plunged into the barren and cold darkness, and in the moment of turning, Thoth's expression changed from mild to dark, as if a mountain rain was coming.

The "Giant's Shoulder" stood at the end of His line of sight.

"Because the avalanche came so abruptly and coincidentally, the Hidden Sage couldn't help but wonder if his actions were all being watched. Despite his hidden authority, he did not rush to the next step, but chose to blend into the darkness and wait for the change. ”

"For a god who has been in business for many years, such caution is reasonable, but that doesn't mean that my script will be invalid."

"Because the avalanche did disrupt some of the occult methods he had set up in the snowy mountains, and the part that sealed the spirit was even more coincidentally out of spirit, and those sinister and ominous auras overflowed, silently causing negative effects over time. Although it is far away from the town where the believers are, in order to fulfill their duties as gods and reassure themselves, the Hidden Sage will definitely make repairs in the next few days. ”

"And the act itself will expose Him even more."

"The way you enjoy the festival is something special." The angel mocked, and the cold wind of the hunt blew his black cloak, but could not scrape off his top hat.

"What you want to know will come back in a few days."

Adam turned a deaf ear to Amun's ridicule, and his tone was sincere and calm, like a father's promise to give his child a gift. Ever since his father's fall under the secret plot of the Rose to redeem Rose, ignorance has become Amun's most disgusting thing, and if this gift involves some secrets, he will gladly accept it, but the thought that the protagonist of this secret is Thoth makes him feel inexplicable...... No, you can't think about it. He suppressed his floating thoughts, because any vacillation would only be infinitely magnified in the eyes of the audience.

"The result? Isn't it a set-up for the climax of the drama? ”

Adam looked at Him deeply: "This time I am not trying to make a storm, but to let the dust settle." I just want to put an end to the depravity and get it back on the right track. ”

"It's not like you say it."

"After all, he counts as our brother."

Adam drops a bomb in an understatement tone, and even the cynical Angel's eyes widen in surprise.

"I have heard the Father speak to Sasriel that He is an ethereal creature of information, that the Father made Him out of His own flesh and blood—in other words, He has His Father's blood in His body." Adam paused, "Perhaps that's why you felt close to Him as a child. ”

"How boring are you to talk about human kinship in front of mythical creatures?" Amon sneered, "And I never looked for a shadow of my father in Him. ”

Light and darkness, black and white, sacred and depraved, the more different things are, the more difficult it is for people to be connected, so few people can think that somewhere in the pure and flawless snow-capped mountains hides a hidden space that interacts with the spiritual world, dark, turbid, and sinister, like a hell on earth.

It was the private execution ground of the Hidden Sage.

A cold light lit up in the darkness, and it was a pale blue ice coffin, which was sealed with extraordinary creatures: some of them were feathered serpents with human faces, some were beautiful women with thick snake hair, and some were sheep's horn demons with cracked eyes...... Some folded their deformed bodies, some tried to strangle themselves, some made fireball throws, and some seemed to turn and flee...... Their last expressions and movements were frozen by the "crystal coffin", like bugs in amber. But unlike the insects, they are still alive, but the light and heat of life have nothing to do with them, and death refuses to give them eternal sleep.

Butterflies perched on the ice coffin, the faint light outlining the lines of the eyes on their wings, and the "eyes" stared at the prisoners indifferently and mercilessly, and the whispers rang in the prisoners' ears from time to time, and the curse-like ghosts lingered, making them have the illusion that these "eyes" could speak.

"Have you ever thought about today?"

"When you polluted the water source with poison and caused a village to die in the blood and pus all over the body, did you think about today?"

"Have you ever thought about today when you disemboweled, disembowelment, and filled the altar with their hearts, livers, and intestines?"

"When you commanded your men to ransack ships, let husbands watch their wives being raped, and parents watching their children beheaded, did you think about today?"

"You must not have thought about it today, because in this extraordinary and supreme world, you feel that you can do whatever you want with power, and hell is nothing but a lie to scare children...... Indeed, I occasionally doubt the veracity of the term 'hell'. ”

"So I decided to dig a hell myself, and although it was a bit cramped, I hope it matches your imagination of the word 'hell'."

The sound of rustling came from the darkness, like a stalkling pit viper, more unsettling than the sheer silence of death. In a trance, a witch of pain who had dried up her tears realized that the ice coffin that had imprisoned her had melted, but she was powerless to flee because the black thorns wrapped around her body, plunging the spikes into her flesh and squeezing her life force, and a muffled grunt of pain came from her already hoarse throat, and her screams had long since been exhausted from the previous torture.

It's okay, it's nothing, I'm used to it...... She comforted herself like this, but suddenly felt a thorn stabbing into her abdomen.

"Gollum, Gollum—"

The witch did not die immediately, she felt the branches of the plant wriggling inside her in horror, playing with her internal organs, poking at these parts that had no skin protection with tiny new branches, a sense of foreboding enveloped her, and she struggled in vain, and the new branches pierced her stomach, and then went up against her esophagus, and finally came out of her mouth!

In her fading vision, a bright red rose bloomed on the branch.

Thoth watched as her head tilted to the side at an eerie angle, her face devoid of sorrow or joy, shadows spreading at his feet, stretching, erect, and finally turning into Monber in a suit and leather shoes.

Meng Bai was smiling, licking his lips, as if he was full of wine and food.

A small cracking sound came from the air, and they looked up together, their eyes narrowed at the light that came through the hole.

Snowflakes and black feathers fell one after another.

"It turned out to be you."

The Hidden Sage let out a sigh of relief, looked at the Angel of Time with his usual gentle and calm gaze, and said no more.

A sharp pain hit his face, and the figure of the angel in his field of vision was divided into seven or eight, and Thoth knew that his mythical creature form had emerged again, and the left half of his face cracked into a slit, and the flesh and blood inside solidified into black and white eyes.

It must be ugly. With this in mind, he planned to find a place to hide and get through this embarrassing time, but Amon grabbed his wrist, and the thief, who was not good at brute force, was so strong that his wrist hurt slightly. Before Thoth could react, Amon pulled him out of this dark and bloody space, crashing into the lead-gray canopy and the heavy snow, the distance was stolen one after another, and the scenery in front of him changed in turn, the port, the forest, the village, the dizzying...... They scurried around like headless flies, and Thoth could only be sure that he was still in the North Continent.

Thoth finally asked, "Where are you taking me?" ”

"It's good anywhere, don't stay there."

Don't stay in such a dark and muddy place, but stay in the sun and blue sky, surrounded by green grass and flowers, surrounded by the worship of believers and the praise of their families, surrounded by soft pillows and warm bedding, just like before.

As if knowing that Thoth didn't want people to see him, Amon kept pointing the back of his head at him, but his voice was hoarse as if he was holding grit.

"Let's go somewhere and sit down." Thoth whispered, "Let's talk." ”

The chariot drove slowly in the fog of the spiritual realm, and the two big eyes like brass bells were spinning slowly.

The lemon slices were fragrant under the hot water, and Thoth pushed the teacup in front of Amon and said, "You have a question, I have a question, is that okay?" ”

"Yes."

"Then I'll ask first, whose hand is that avalanche?"

"Adam." Amon replied without hesitation.

"I'm glad the answer to this question isn't you. Go back and tell Adam that for the sake of no casualties this time, I can be blameless. Thoth poured himself a cup of tea, "It's your turn." ”

"What's that shadow that looks exactly like you?"

"He is the dark side of my being, merging with my shadow under the influence of 'fallen' authority, and finally taking on what you see it to be." Thoth paused, "By the way, how did you find that place?" I thought I was hiding it well. ”

Amon pulls out a somewhat faded ball of yarn with a broken string tied to one end.

Its name is "The Thread of Eliadne", which helped Theseus escape from the Minoan labyrinth in ancient Greek mythology, and was fished out of the dust of history by Thoth with a "mysterious reappearance". Its only purpose is to find its way, and an item strapped to the thread will lead the way to where the owner is.

Thoth then felt what it meant to shoot himself in the foot, "Seriously, I kind of regret giving it to you. ”

Amon smiled playfully, "It's too late. ”

"Next question, the ......," Amon chose his words, "the dark side, what negative effect will he have on you?" ”

"He amplifies my negative emotions and makes me impulsive, irritable, extreme, and if I don't let those emotions go unleashed or satisfied, He will keep whispering in my ear."

"Satisfied?" Amon caught the keyword. "That's what you just killed that witch for? Pleasing that dark side with blood and carnage? ”

Thoth smiled wryly, acquiescing.

"Other than that, it's not a big deal." He added a bit of a rhetorical add.

"Wow." Amon showed a smiling expression, "It's not a big deal other than that, it's better to put it bluntly, your mental state is becoming more and more unstable." ”

"Ahem, ahem." Thoth took a sip of his tea, and after a few moments of silence, he asked, "Will you tell anyone else about our conversation today?" ”

"No, it won't." Amon replied simply, "It's you—why are you willing to be so honest when you know that I might reveal your secrets, or use it as a lever to manipulate you?" To be so honest with a thief who can steal authority, to a born fraudster? ”

"Maybe it's because I'm tired of pretending to be normal." Thoth smiled, "Or maybe I'm expecting your attention—it's a great fulfillment to be cared for by a child who grew up." ”

"Your sense of accomplishment is so cheap." Amon let out a breath through his nose.

"To be a human being, you must know not to have too high expectations. Well...... I don't have anything more to ask, do you still have any? ”

"Why is the pollution of the hanged man so deep in you?" A cold glow flashed across Amon's monocle, "I don't think Medici and Ulorius would have such a lively shadow. ”

"You know, I'm always going to see more than anyone else this way, so it's normal to be inadvertently contaminated with more......" Thoth paused, "and that's your dad, don't call him that." ”

"Is it fun to change the subject less and fool me like a child?"

"I want Him to come out of his madness."

Although he had expected it, Amon was stunned when he confessed it himself. Studying madness inevitably leads to madness, and He is really doing something that does no good.

"Of course, I know it's unrealistic, it's whimsical, and before he can come out of his madness, I'm tossed into this way myself, it's useless, right? Well, you can laugh at me to your heart's content! ”

Thoth slammed the cup on the table with a thud and rubbed his hair almost to himself.

"But you don't always have to be productive." Amon touched his fist-clenched hand and stroked his white knuckles from too much force, "You are at the top of the path of the Mystery, and you have countless occult knowledge and even the secrets of the past. Even if the process is a little tortuous, if you want to, you can do it, right? ”

"Flim Flam." Thoth blinked his reddened eyes vigorously.

"It's sad, it's one of the few truthful things I've ever said as a fraudster."

"Productive, but not much. It took me many years to figure out the most basic thing, and that was why He was crazy all the time. ”

Amon made a gesture of deferential listening.

"Simply put, He's dreaming all the time."

"You're too simple."

"It was a dream that spanned a huge span and was fragmented. It's like a picture scroll that has been torn apart and then put back together piecemeal, and finally becomes something unrecognizable. ”

"You're saying there's something wrong with His self-perception? But there is no shortage of His followers. Amon wondered, "Medici even made his entire family believe in Him." ”

"Amun, His life is too long, and the few honorific names recited by believers cannot be summed up at all." "And the most important passages have long been lost in the dust of history." ”