Chapter 24 – "Perhaps in my lifetime I'll see an Imaginary Dog."
"That… is worth a try."
Ning Lu nodded. "If the chance comes, I'll take it."
"Oh, you truly are my best friend." Hearing the answer, the Celestial Worthy spoke with theatrical flair. "Keep watching my dear heir's performance, compatriot."
While the two talked, the Tarot Club continued in an orderly fashion.
After Alger finished recounting news related to the 'blasphemy slate,' Audrey raised several questions, including the subsequent Sequences of the Spectator Path she followed and what would happen if a dog drank a potion.
"I believe that since the dog showed no ill effects after consuming the potion, it must share an innate similarity with God Almighty."
The Celestial Worthy said solemnly, without the slightest hint of payback.
"…Come to think of it, you might be right." Ning Lu pondered a moment and felt the statement could hold water:
"According to the Acting Method, natural resemblance does lower the risk of losing control after taking a potion…"
"Perhaps in my lifetime I'll see an Imaginary Dog." The Celestial Worthy leaned back, tone flat. "Reluctant as I am to admit it, since waking in you I've indeed witnessed plenty of interesting things."
"…I need you to attempt something new." Below them, at the Tarot gathering, Klein—unaware anyone was watching his "masquerade as the Fool"—tapped the armrest and spoke breezily:
"Perform a ritual…"
"…"
"…The incantation is:"
"Fool that belongs not to this era, mysterious sovereign above the gray fog, king of yellow and black who governs good fortune…"
Hearing the three-part honorific he'd coined, the Celestial Worthy shot to his feet; the radiance that formed his face seemed to darken:
"—Who taught him to translate my name like that? Turning 'Mysterious Yellow' straight into 'Yellow-Black'?"
At least it's close to the 'King in Yellow' and not as bad as evoking 'Yellow-Black Matter'… Ning Lu silently quipped, then replied aloud:
"Perhaps it's part of spiritual intuition—Celestial Worthy, your act is a bit obvious; you don't need to perform for me."
The Celestial Worthy exhaled, sat back on the chair he'd conjured, his earlier exaggeration hardening into a winter-calm line as he spoke:
"It was only a spur-of-the-moment experiment."
"Not spur-of-the-moment, and not an experiment. You're using human-like behavior to reinforce your claim that 'you can be the most benevolent god,' so I'll agree to cooperate." Ning Lu analyzed coolly, then smiled faintly and said to the venerable blazing black and yellow before him:
"I now have a question: for mighty beings like you, even someone without any standing—like Zhou Mingrui—can, by parsing your honorifics, create links between those titles and an ordinary person."
"Then I suppose that I, who also hold part of Sefirah Castle, could connect and react with this gray fog without even altering the incantation… am I right, Lord of the Mysteries, king of time and space?"
"I'm curious: if I speak your four-part honorific in Chinese in the real world, how will Sefirah Castle respond?"
"For example, the ritual Zhou Mingrui performed each time before stepping onto the gray fog… Blessed of Blazing Black and Yellow, Sovereign of Blazing Black and Yellow, God Almighty of Blazing Black and Yellow, Celestial Worthy of Blazing Black and Yellow?"
"Maybe after this Tarot gathering ends, I'll try something similar in reality."
Listening, the Celestial Worthy's gaze didn't waver; he merely said softly:
"You are far sharper than I imagined. Yet why won't you trust me? I swear I've never lied to you."
"With Sefirah Castle currently having a master, even if you replicate Zhou Mingrui's ritual in reality, you still can't enter the Castle."
"You know a great deal about our world—many things that haven't happened yet but are already foreshadowed in fate. You must have tried my ritual."
"But before now, have you ever succeeded even once?"
"Come on, trust a pillar symbolizing 'deception'?" Ning Lu said offhandedly:
"Do I look like a lamp god? Among the three pillars, your symbols lean the most toward sheer chaos and madness—Fool, Error, Door; which of them sounds positive?"
Ning Lu couldn't believe the Celestial Worthy—He might never have lied, but He never told the whole truth either. Just like an 'Incubator' never mentions that Magical Girls become witches once they mature (Note 1).
After all, add the right qualifier and a statement's meaning flips from honest to false, and the Celestial Worthy was master of that craft—the greatest fraud in this world.
For instance: "Before now, none of Ning Lu's attempts worked." Yet after Ning Lu transmigrated and first set foot on Sefirah Castle thanks to Klein, might his control over it have improved?
As when, after his first Tarot meeting, he could send items into the Castle—wasn't that also a rise in authority over Sefirah Castle?
Information like this was something the Celestial Worthy preferred to keep hidden. Though He kept saying He "didn't mind cooperating" and wished to "transcend" together, it sounded like a beautiful dream.
But the moment Ning Lu believed, the next opportunity would bring a fatal stab in the back.
One glimpse of the Celestial Worthy's character shows in how His heir Klein Moretti treated the lamp god—He kept His promise to cast the lamp god into the Cosmos, yet used him as bait to lure His own body, the Uncertain Mist.
And compared with Klein, who still retained some humanity, the venerable blazing black and yellow was even more shameless and vile.
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"…I think you're bad-mouthing me in your head."
"Your imagination."
"Heh, I know what I'm like. Anyone who hangs out with me can't be a saint."