"What makes you say that?"
"Because when Roselle came to find me, he asked about the Black Emperor pathway switch. And putting together what I've observed from the various people who've passed through here over the years — it's easy enough to conclude that Roselle did indeed end up switching to the Black Emperor. I'd originally assumed He failed. Now it seems He succeeded — but something happened afterward, and the path ended in a fall."
Medici gave a quiet, wheezing laugh. "But the fall of a Black Emperor isn't the end. It's the beginning of a new cycle. He still retains the possibility of resurrection and of reclaiming the Black Emperor's throne — unless someone advances to Black Emperor before He can."
"From the way you reacted when Roselle's name came up last time, it was easy enough to read your feelings toward Him. So you naturally don't want this George III to complete his ascension, and cut off Roselle's path to resurrection."
He tilted what passed for his head to one side. "Am I right?"
"..."
Bernadette hadn't expected it — she'd already known this evil spirit had once been a schemer's Angel, but to have it piece together a near-perfect conclusion from a handful of small reactions and a few sentences exchanged was still striking. She quietly raised her guard another notch.
"Back to your earlier question."
Medici jutted his chin upward. "Although Cheek is a god, there are still many things in this world capable of moving Her. A Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, various Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics, or even simply treating George III as a future partner — any of those would be enough to get Her on board. After all, having your subordinate demigods and angels do the work is not exactly a divine war."
A pause. "Oh — and what is Cheek's current relationship with the seven Orthodox Gods?"
Bernadette said: "Based on the Fourth Epoch history I'm aware of, the Primordial Demoness joined forces with Death Emperor Salinger during the Fourth Epoch to launch the Pale Disaster across the Northern Continent, and was jointly suppressed by the seven Orthodox Gods."
"The Death Emperor fell. The Primordial Demoness was severely wounded and went into hiding, from which She has not openly moved since."
Medici murmured: "So all of that happened after my death — quite a lot of interesting developments, and I've been stuck in this lightless vault the whole time. That damn Tud—"
The dim underground burial chamber settled into a long silence.
After a while, Medici shook himself and said: "If what you've described is the situation, then the things that could move Cheek into taking that risk are quite limited."
A brief pause. "If I had to name one, I'd say it's almost certainly the Conqueror's Beyonder characteristic."
As the one who had once been the Conqueror — as someone who had been within half a step of advancing to Red Priest, only to be set up by Adam and that little crow, and to have Tudor snatch the fruit of all his effort away — who had then survived as an Evil Spirit and been fused against his will with those two old women, and whose every waking moment was coloured by festering resentment — Medici practically felt the answer in his bones.
Bernadette was somewhat surprised. She hadn't expected the evil spirit to give a clean, direct answer.
"Oh? Are you planning to offer something of higher value to get the Demoness Sect to drop their cooperation with George III — or even assist you in stopping him?"
Put bluntly — if she genuinely had that kind of resource, Bernadette really would have considered doing exactly that. Unfortunately, the highest-value item she currently controlled was the Sealed Artifact made from the Death Emperor's Sequence 1 Pale Emperor characteristic.
And while that was also a Sequence 1, against the Primordial Demoness's taste for the Hunter Pathway, it was of considerably less interest.
"Heh. As I said just now — Cheek's cooperation with George III probably does have the Conqueror characteristic as part of the equation, but at the same time She's also positioning him as a future ally."
"A Black Emperor who's already fallen versus a Black Emperor who's about to ascend — that's not a hard choice."
Bernadette said flatly: "I'd actually rather see George III truly treat Cheek as a partner. I don't believe the seven Orthodox Gods could tolerate that for long. In which case, perhaps without me lifting a finger, George III would end up with the same fate as the Death Emperor."
George III wasn't stupid. To ascend to Black Emperor, he'd been willing to cooperate with two major evil-god organisations — the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order. But he knew exactly what he was doing: a mutual transaction, an exchange of interests, mutual exploitation. That was all.
In the original novel, after the Great Smog of Backlund, the Loen royal family had immediately pivoted 180 degrees and cut ties with the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order — specifically to signal to the seven gods: I, Old George, am firmly and unshakeably on your side.
Medici was a little puzzled too now. "Then what exactly was the point of all your questions?"
"Pure curiosity."
"You—"
Medici couldn't stop himself from going through the full motion of a husky-pointing-at-someone pose — I've been answering your questions without holding anything back, and you're just browsing? Does that mean I've given all of that away for nothing?
Starting right now, if I answer even one more of your questions, I am a dog.
Bernadette had no idea what was going through the evil spirit's head. She raised one hand and opened the hidden door behind her, producing the small golden kettle — the Magic Wishing Lamp.
"Do you recognise this Sealed Artifact?"
"..."
Medici narrowed his eyes at it, then flicked his gaze away immediately, saying nothing.
"Someone told me my father hid this here in his time. Was that what he came looking for when he visited you?"
Medici still had the air of someone who hadn't heard a word.
"That same person told me this Sealed Artifact was recently removed from the burial chamber. Do you know who took it?"
"???"
This time, Medici did react — because he genuinely had no idea. Other than Bernadette and that Tudor descendant, as far as he knew no one else had ever entered this place.
That was very strange.
Weakened as he currently was, he was still a presence with a Sequence 1 standing. Someone who could slip under his nose to take something without his knowing — outside of the gods, there were precious few who could manage that.
At Vincent's suggestion, Bernadette then asked: "The person who gave me this Sealed Artifact was a priest carrying a cross, dressed in white robes. Does that description mean anything to you?"
Medici's head snapped up instantly. He said one name, cold and clear: "Adam."
His gaze locked onto the cross-shaped bracelet on Bernadette's wrist. Colder still: "What is your relationship with Adam? Why did He give you the Magic Wishing Lamp? And that bracelet — did He give you that too?"
"I have no particular relationship with that priest. He claimed my father and He were kindred spirits with a shared cause. He returned the Magic Wishing Lamp to me because I completed a commission for Him."
Bernadette raised her wrist and gave it a small wave. "As for the cross — it was given to me by the True Creator."
"!!!"
In Medici's desiccated, hollow eye sockets, two points of light flared to life. "You're His follower?"
To be continued…
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