Five figures wearing plague doctor outfits ran from a hoard of zombies.
"Honestly it seemed like a good idea at the time." Apollo said.
"Aren't you a doctor? Why did you think giving zombies rabies would work?" Hela yelled.
"It was only because I ran out of other diseases. Also I never said I was a good doctor."
The five of them picked up the pace as they ran through the streets of East Borough. Turning a corner there was a small group of people. Immediately the five plague doctors scooped them up and continued running.
"Don't worry we are here to save you."
Apollo looked at the man he was carrying and realised he was a zombie.
"I should get glasses."
He threw the zombie towards the hoard which the others quickly did as well. After Hela threw the one she was carrying there was a scream as he flew through the air.
"Do you think he's ok?" Klein asked.
"Eh, after getting rabies he will practically be a zombie anyway."
Apollo pulled out a variety of different vials and realised he didn't table them.
"Hmm, quite the predicament we are in."
Sharron grabbed the vials from his hand before throwing them all in to the hoard. Something was clearly flammable as a small explosion went off.
"I was about to do that." Apollo pouted.
Sharron frowned at him, however her face was covered by the mask, but Apollo still felt disappointment from her gaze. They turned right as another group of people were there. The group ran past as the official beyonders were suddenly surrounded by a hoard of rabies infested zombies.
Leonard facepalmed as he really didn't want to report that he was attacked by zombies with rabies after 5 plague doctors ran past him.
***
"Alright I know what you all are about to say."
"Good then you will know why we did this." Hela smiled wildly.
Maric pulled out a large length of rope.
***
The next morning Apollo was hanging from the ceiling with his mouth tied up.
"Ah, Sherlock, you hear that. This is peace we're hearing. No annoying doctors yelling about some stupid ideas." Hela sipped her coffee.
"Indeed, I could get used to this." Klein looked at the cloudy Backlund sky.
"Sherlock, have you considered how you can use your beyonder abilities to improve the quality of your life?"
"Are you talking about the bone softening lap pillow again?"
"Think about it though, it's a genius idea."
"It's not happening."
"Come on, try it. It will change our lives."
"No, you're the only one that benefits from it."
"Well, if you got to keep your beyonder abilities when you return home what will you do with them?"
"Assuming I'm sequence 6 I would probably just use faceless abilities to make myself look slightly better."
"Oh, what did you look like before?"
Klein transformed his appearance to Zhou Mingrui's.
"Did you also wear glasses before?"
"Yeah. I actually don't need them now, I'm only wearing them as a disguise."
"Well what would you make yourself look like with faceless abilities."
"Probably like this."
His body morphed revealing a familiar face to Apollo. It was Gehrman Sparrow.
"I think it's a little too good looking, people would probably not recognise you." Hela pointed out.
"I guess I could slowly change my appearance over the course of a year or two. Anyway I don't really care that much as I would probably just go back to living a normal life so maybe I wouldn't even use my abilities. Though divination could probably be useful for buying stocks."
"That's a good one. I really can't do much with mine. Maybe I can become a really good detective or something as I can just ask the victim who killed them."
"Speaking of returning home, what was your life like?" Klein asked.
"Pretty normal. I had a good family, a few close friends and was just living life as it happened. My best friend mysteriously disappeared a few days before I transmigrated though. Who knows maybe she was also transmigrated."
"That would be nice if that were the case as maybe you can meet her again."
"What about you?"
"I was a hardware engineer and like you I had a pretty normal life."
"It's nice to know more about you, even if if it isn't much. Honestly I'm surprised it took us so long to have this conversation."
"Yeah it did take a while. But I'm glad as we have gotten to know each other well before then. Because it's more meaningful that we shared our stories because we are friends rather than just because we're transmigrators.
"So when we return home should we meet up and celebrate?" Hela suggested.
"Sure why not? Though it would probably be kind of weird to everyone around us. Like one of us would have to fly to another country to meet up."
"Eh, just say we're in a long distance relationship or something. Of course that only works if you're not already with someone."
"Nah I'm not. I kind of stopped looking for someone to focus on my job. Though the last time I tried to ask someone out ended up in failure. But hey at least I learnt stuff about Tarot cards, which ended up being quite useful in this world."
"Damn that sucks. But hey at least you aren't completely lonely."
"Yeah. You know I wonder how it would have gone if you weren't transmigrated with me. I probably would have continued to not form any proper relationships as I would have to leave one day. I'm glad you showed up as I feel a lot less lonely and have managed to become friends with Sharron and Maric because of you."
"I'm glad to have helped. I was in a somewhat similar state to you when we first met. I was lost in this crazy world, simply following around Sharron and Maric as I had nowhere else to go. But when I met you I felt a surge of hope as I was not alone."
"I'm glad to be your friend." Klein said.
"Likewise." Hela replied.
***
Apollo was finally let down after they had enough fun.
"Geez, do you really think I'm that annoying?"
"Yes." Everyone declared simultaneously.
"I mean I can't be that bad the other times worked just fine. If I prepared properly then we wouldn't have had to run from the zombies."
"I fail to see how giving zombies various diseases would kill them." Sharron said.
"Listen, they're still human bodies so diseases should work."
"A bullet to the chest would kill a human, but it won't kill a zombie. So I have no idea why you are applying human biology to zombies." Klein pointed out.
"I mean in some cases a bullet to the chest would kill a zombie."
"Yes, but those are with special bullets."
Apollo sighed in defeat as he moved a pot of beef stew to the table.
"We have cleared most of the large indulgence hideouts in the area. However many still remain throughout Backlund and official beyonders are getting closer to finding us. Along with that there is at least one hideout with an angel who will likely be looking for us after we have killed several saints." Maric informed them.
"We could get teacher to help, however "she" is still recovering and gathering the remaining temperance faction members. So unless we can get another angel to help it would be far too risky to attack another hideout." Sharron said.
"I have a way to get one but it's probably going to cost a lot." Klein said.
"Does it have something to do with the weird Tarot card cult?" Hela asked.
"Yes it has something to do with the Tarot card cult. Though we prefer to be called the Tarot club."
"And Backlund prefers to be called the Land of hope. That doesn't change the fact that this place is essentially hell."
"You know hell exists. It's called the abyss." Apollo remarked. "There's also Trier."
"Yeah but that's Intis so it's to be expected." Hela replied.
"Damn, I didn't know you were racist." Klein joked.
"Oh, shut up you showed me Roselle's diary."
"How can you even read that?" Sharron asked.
"Umm, cult related stuff."
Sharron shrugged before going back to eating.
"Hey, can we join?" Hela asked.
***
Inside Sefirah castle the Tarot club was gathering. Several figures appeared as Justice bowed to the head of the table.
"Good afternoon Mr Fool~."
"Good afternoon Miss Justice."
She turned to greet the other members of the Tarot club when she noticed four new members.
'Ah, the Tarot club is growing quite fast. It must be due to Mr Fool regaining "his" power.'
"This is Miss Death, Miss Temperance, Mr Moon and Mr… so umm what codename do you want?"
Maric looked through the deck of cards.
"I'll take the devil."
The others greeted the new members. Hela looked around for Klein and saw him at the other end of the table.
"Mr Fool, why is Mr World on the other side of the table?"
"Because he is my blessed."
'This god is surprisingly chill. I thought he was going to respond with you shouldn't know that yet or something.' Hela thought.
'Wait since when was I "his" blessed? Well I'm not complaining.' Klein thought.
"Mr Fool, I have got 3 pages of Roselle's diary." Audrey conjured the pages.
The Fool read through them.
"What do you want in exchange?"
"I have almost digested my telepathist potion. I was hoping for the ingredients as I have received the Psychiatrist formula from the Psychology Alchemists."
"Sure, just set up the ritual and I'll get you the characteristic."
"Now let's move on to the exchange segment."
"I have been looking for the formula for wind-blessed as my potion has been digested for a while now. I would be willing to part with more of my share from the Blue Avenger exploration for it."
'Alger, you sly fox. Well it's not any problem anyways.' The Fool lampooned. "Sure."
'Is it just me or is this just a regular beyonder gathering with some special effects?' Hela questioned.
"Mr Fool, is there a confirmed date for the Blue Avenger exploration? I have some business to finish and won't be able to attend for a week" Fors asked.
"I have finished my accommodation of the Error uniqueness and just need to stabilise for a bit a week should be enough."
Hela's brain froze for a moment as she wondered what a uniqueness was and also what the word error was doing here.
'Hmph, I don't know what that is but clearly 'he' is weaker than the ancestor if it takes 'him' a week to stabilise.' Emlyn thought.
"Mr Fool, I am in need of some assistance dealing with an angel of the rose school of thought indulgence faction." Sharron brought up the topic.
'Finally I was waiting for this.' The Fool maintained his neutral expression.
"How would you like me to deal with 'him' ? I have various ways to handle this. Would you like never to be found again, used to frame someone or hung up in a large populated area for everyone to see?" The Fool asked.
'Umm, I'll have the number 3 please.' Klein lampooned.
"I'll have the number 3 with the area near a large hideout of the indulgence faction." Sharron said completely straight faced.
'Who is this Miss Temperance? She must have quite the backing considering she is asking for the death of an angel. She must be sequence 4 or 3 given how she can't kill the angel herself. Maybe she is a member of the temperance faction of the rose school of thought?' Alger theorised.
'Sharron I don't know how you didn't laugh saying that.' Hela thought.
'Miss Temperance is quite good at hiding her thoughts.' Audrey observed.
'It's a shame Miss Temperance speaks otherwise she would be perfect.' Emlyn thought.
"Alright, I will handle the payment with the Temperance faction."
Sharron nodded.
"Let's move on to the free exchange if no one else has anything to trade."
They chatted about some events that were happening for a bit.
"Mr Fool, what is your relationship with the ancestor?" Emlyn asked.She" is someone from the same hometown." He responded in a somewhat melancholic tone.
"What was your hometown like?" Klein asked curiously.
"It was by no means perfect but it was home." The Fool reminisced.
'That is so vague, just say you don't want to tell us.' Hela lampooned.
'Hmm, the Fool's hometown must be incomprehensible to mortals such as us after all both "he" and the sanguine ancestor are both from there. Perhaps even other deities originate from this so-called hometown.' Alger thought.
'Hmm, The Fool conjured food from Earth last time so is there a chance 'he' considers Earth 'his' hometown. If that is the case then the sanguine ancestor is also a transmigrator. In that scenario there could have been many more transmigrators throughout history. But it's strange it took until Roselle before many modern inventions were made.' Klein theorised.
"Alright let's move to the casual chat section." The Fool waved "his" hand.
The surroundings changed as the Tarot club members sat in a cafe. Large unrecognisable buildings that stretched into the sky.
"Mr Fool, is this your hometown?" Audrey asked curiously.
"A part of it." "He" replied
"Could we look around?" Fors asked.
"Maybe, another time." The Fool replied.
Hela looked around at the surrounding city. She had no doubts about it, this was Earth.
'T-this.' Klein was panicked. He recognised this place. It was a cafe he quite enjoyed and would often visit to get coffee on his way to work. 'Was "he" using my memories? Or was this really a place "he" visited. Though this does confirm "he" considers Earth "his" hometown.'
The Fool looked at the two transmigrators with a soft smile. "I want to talk to you two afterwards."
The two of them nodded.
'Who are you really? Mr Fool.' They both wondered.
***
Amanises summoned the Tarot club to her divine domain. The various angels bowed before her.
"Lady Eternal Darkness. Is there something you need?" Alger asked.
"I have received a message from The Fool."
"Is there something we need to do?" Audrey asked.
"Klein is not in a very good state right now. From the message I noticed his humanity is being lost, Lumian has also come to a similar conclusion from his message. He is barely hanging on because of his wish to return home. I don't know exactly what is going on with him as I can't look in to Sefirah castle, however it is clearly not good."
"Isn't Arrodes kept in Sefirah castle?" Derrick asked.
"Little sun, you're a genius!" Fors exclaimed.
"But, do we really want to ask that mirror for help? It's probably going to ask some embarrassing questions." Emlyn said, concerned.
"Well as of now it's the only way to find out Mr Fool's state." Cattleya replied.
"And it's not like we don't already know all your embarrassing secrets Mr Moon." Leonard sneered.
"Mr Star, could you be more professional?" Xio jabbed him in the side.
"We should not waste anymore time." Sharron said.
Franca shivered remembering what that mirror had asked her before.
***
The Fool's angels as well as Amanises stood around a large mirror. Lumian was also there however through a mirror projection.
"Eyes that watch all living beings; The stigmata from the primordial land; The omniscient one who serves The Fool; The great Arrodes."
"Hello everyone, the great Arrodes has arrived."
"What is Mr Fool's state right now?" Lumian asked.
"The great master's body has disappeared. I am completely incapable of tracing him. Now I will ask my question. Now that you have become a Hermaphrodite, what kind of underwear do you wear?"
"Women because the majority of me is made up of women." Lumian answered.
"How considerate." Franca joked.
"Amanises you, ask next." Lumian said.
"Are there any anomalies in Sefirah castle that could have led to this?"
"There was space was distorted in a strange way the moment the great master stepped through the door of light. It didn't seem to lead anywhere in the material, spirit or astral world. The power seemed to originate from …"
Arrodes had stopped talking and everyone's spiritual intuition began reacting as if a great danger was coming. Lumian fired a flame of destruction at the mirror as Amanises quickly followed up slashing it with the twilight greatsword.The Fool cut off the connection of the Tarot club members leaving only "him" and the two other transmigrators.
"First off I want to make sure you want to learn the secret of transmigration."
The two of them gulped and nodded their heads. The Fool waved "his" hand and the grey fog shifted. They appeared before a door of light surrounding them were thousands of cocoons.
"The one behind your transmigration was a being known as the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings. The reason for this is for "his" resurrection plan as "he" planned for a transmigrator to ascend the sequences in order for "him" to take over their body."
'It makes sense with the incantation. However, how did "he" plan this and why Earth?" Klein thought.
The Fool let out a deep sigh. The fog around "him" visibly reduced to the point where they could see "his" face.
Klein looked carefully, seeing that "he" looked like a mix of Klein Moretti and Zhou Mingrui. His heart began beating rapidly and his head began to spin. "His" expression was soft with a small smile on "his" face. Waving "his" hand once more 4 broken cocoons appeared.
"Not all people from the modern era were transmigrators. Rather some such as Lilith the sanguine ancestor and Farbauti the devil monarch are more like survivors."
There was a lot to unpack with that statement but Klein and Hela began feeling a looming sense of dread as they began putting the pieces together. The Fool gave them a moment to think while watching them with "his" dull black eyes. "He" continued.
"There are 4 transmigrators that originate from Sefirah castle. That being you two, Roselle and Amanises."
Hela's breathing suddenly became heavy upon the mention of Amanises.
"W-where is she? Is she alive?" Hela asked.
"She" was the first transmigrator. Appearing during the second epoch. Originally "she" was a subsidiary god under Flegrea known as the goddess of misfortune. Though now you will know "her" as the Evernight goddess."
Both transmigrators stiffened up. The Fool had given them so much information to work with that they had no clue what to even think.
'Good, perhaps this will hurt less now.' The Fool thought, analysing their body language.
They suddenly returned to their bodies before swiftly being transported elsewhere. The Fool stood on a cliff overlooking several greyish-white buildings.
"This was the place where the Ancient Sun God crawled out from the Chaos sea. This place had a name that has been long lost through history. This place is called Chernobyl." The Fool declared in a melancholic tone.
***
Amanises and Lumian appeared in the astral world looking at the vast grey fog before them. They felt a pull to each other attempting to converge however it wasn't strong enough for them to act irrationally.
"So, how do you plan on breaking in to Sefirah castle?" Lumian asked.
"Luckily it is still damaged from the fight with Supernova Dominator so we will likely be able to force our way in." Amanises responded.
"Wouldn't that harm Mr Fo-. Sorry I should say Klein's healing process?"
"Yes, but do we really have a choice? It's either that or we lose Klein entirely." She explained.
"Also will referring to him by his name really help?" Lumian asked.
"It's in essence the same as using he instead of "he "; it allows us to view ourselves as closer to humans."
"Alright. But on to the plan. Even though Sefirah castle is damaged it would still be nigh impossible to break in without risk."
"That's why we should take a risk and try. Weren't you always a risk taker Lumian?"
Lumian looked at Amanises slightly stunned. He never really thought about her being the kind of person to take risks. Seemingly sensing what he was thinking she spoke.
"If I weren't willing to take risks then I wouldn't be here today."
"Right."
Lumian utilised the chaos sea to invoke the authority of speed from the tyrant pathway to approach Sefirah castle. All of a sudden he found himself being pulled to another point in the spirit world.
Amanises covered space to singular point preventing the teleportation.
They looked at Sefirah castle which had begun to stir. Waves of grey fog stretched out across the astral world extending to the farthest reaches of the spirit world. It began to move as tendrils of fog attacked the two great old ones.
Lumian dodged each attack precisely using his omniscience authority to calculate where the tendrils would strike. Suddenly he was unable to detect the tentacles as they became concealed. One struck him, ripping space-time alongside him in half. He was forced to use a mirror substitute to save himself.
Lumian conquered the tendrils stopping their assault however that only led to another. Time slowed almost to a halt but the two great old ones used their symbolisms to resist. Then they were both thrown in to a space time labyrinth.
Slowly they broke through the labyrinth making their way back to Sefirah castle. Upon emerging they realised they had never escaped rather they had been fooled. Finally breaking through they realised something.
For some reason Sefirah castle had become stronger not by a large amount however by enough that it would affect the battle. Most attempts the duo made were thwarted by Sefirah castle. Lumian looked at Amanises who took the silent message and nodded.
Lumian borrowed the powers of Eternal darkness temporarily using the symbolisms of the fourth pillar. Space-time covered in to one and concepts were being broken down by the vortex. Amanises realised that small errors were being created in the vortex which would lead to its collapse so she made haste and rushed in to Sefirah castle.
Breaking through the weakened defences she entered the main body of sefirah castle. She took back her symbolisms to be safe and ran towards the door of light.
***
Outside Sefirah castle had calmed down, no longer attacking. But Lumian was still worried as Sefirah castle was stronger than it should have been. Especially its Error related abilities it was almost as if an extra uniqueness had become accommodated.
***
The Fool had all of a sudden felt horrible. A numbing pain spread throughout "his" body as if something was attacking "him". "His" body squirmed as it deformed in to countless maggots which lashed out at "his" surroundings tearing it apart with various authorities and symbolisms. Luckily "he" was within Sefirah castle so the damage quickly repaired itself.
"His" head began to hurt as "he" heard a faint voice which sounded familiar. "His" vision blurred and "his" other senses were suppressed. "His" thoughts turned dull almost to the point where "he" no longer thought. "He" felt something begin to attach itself to "his" spirit body.
'N-no!'
"He" wanted to scream however no words came out. The other Sefirah had begun forcefully accommodating itself.
"Oh, Mr Fool, what a shock." A malicious voice rang out.
"W-why are you here?" The Fool barely let out "his" words.
"Why wouldn't I be? We are one in the same after all. And now we're even closer to being the same. After all Mr Fool you really don't have much humanity left." The voice mocked "him".
"So why show up now?" The Fool asked.
"Well some of your little friends were trying to rescue you and damaged Sefirah castle in the process." The Celestial Worthy replied.
The Fool's breaths grew heavier as "he" tried to fight against the convergence.
"Aren't you scared of convergence if you accommodate another Sefirot?"
The Celestial Worthy smiled at "him".
"Do you think I haven't figured that out? That is why I am accommodating alternate versions of my pathways. While it may lead to me devouring all characteristics under my pathway it won't converge with others. And since when did we care about lower sequence ants anyway? It's just a small sacrifice."
"So you plan on taking characteristics from other universes?"
"Don't act so shocked Mr Fool. I have always been selfish. Every other me could tell you that and would do the same. It's just that I was the only one who managed to pull it off. The door pathway contains the symbolism of alternate worlds. I'm surprised it took you so long to put 2 and 2 together. All it took was the right price." The Celestial Worthy explained. "Even if you continue to clinch victory over and over again against me I will make sure that in the end I don't lose. I will make sure you go down with me and don't think you knowing this will change anything. You can struggle all you want but in the end you will lose yourself to divinity just like every god before you."
"Are you really going to become a slave to convergence?" The Fool asked.
"I always was and so are you." The Celestial Worthy spoke slowly.
The Celestial Worthy smiled and pulled out a mirror. It reflected The Fool's face. It was covered in the featureless mask of the Fool's uniqueness and through the mask "he" saw "his" eyes were filled with starlight. The Door and Fool uniqueness had been accommodated. In "his" shock "he" lost concentration and the second Sefirah castle had been accommodated. The Celestial Worthy left with a teasing smile.
"Fine I lost." "He" sighed in defeat. "But I will definitelymake sure that you don'tget the satisfaction of seeing it. If I am going to lose myself to divinity then I am making sure that you aren't a part of me and I will make sure that every world no longer has to deal with you or any great old ones."
The Fool smiled wildly at the door of light. It was a mad smile, a bizarre smile, a foolish smile.
***
Inside their safehouse Klein and Hela sat on the couch staring listlessly at the ceiling. Not a word had been spoken since they had returned. Sharron and Maric had left them alone seeing their state and even Apollo had disappeared to who knows where. Hela slumped down suddenly laying on his lap with her arm over her face. Klein softened his bones making it more comfortable. They sat like that for a few more minutes without any words.
"Thank you." Hela whispered.
Klein nodded forgetting she couldn't see him.
"I don't know what to say." Hela mumbled.
"Then don't say anything." Klein mindlessly replied.
"Should I start going to the Cathedral and pray to Amanises talking about my feelings?" Hela joked half-heartedly.
"It may make you feel better." Klein responded.
"She's probably too busy with goddess things to care. Will she even remember me? It's been at least a few thousand years since the second epoch. Even if she does remember, will she care?"
"Why don't you find out?"
She suddenly sat up.
"Because I'm scared! I don't want to know if the only person left to connect me to my home doesn't care about me or has forgotten me."
"Do you really want to live in fear for the rest of your life?"
"Why are you comforting me? Shouldn't you be thinking the same?"
"Well I can't relate as I have no one I know in this world, or rather time and also… you're my friend of course I will comfort you before myself."
"I'm sorry it's just been such a shock."
"I know, I was there."
"You're good at hiding your feelings."
"Of course I have been hiding them since the Tingen doomsday."
Hela bit her lip.
"Well let's talk about you now."
"Have you come to terms with your emotions already?"
"No, I still feel like I'm going to explode. But your feelings matter too so complain about them."
She grabbed Klein and placed his head on her lap.
"I don't really want to talk."
"Well I'll wait until you're ready."
"I don't know what to say." He said.
"Then don't say anything. Yet" Hela mimicked Klein's earlier tone.
"I guess I'll start since I have a feeling you won't let me go until I do."
"Wait, until you are really ready. I still have some things to say so don't worry about having to rush. Plus it's pretty comfortable here." She replied.
***
Amanises had attempted to enter the door of light however she was unable to push it open. The door suddenly became see through and on the other side she witnessed a chilling sight.
Klein was kneeling on the floor looking at the door of light. His face was covered by the Fool's uniqueness however she knew the expression on his face. His lower body had become countless tendrils of maggots that flailed about. His upper body had begun to morph as if something was trying to crawl out of him. Worms of spirit, time and stars crawled out from beneath the mask joining the mass of worms below.
He was on the verge of losing control.
Notes: