Southern Continent, Bainlair. In the depths of night, in Bainlair’s capital, Whitelinburg, thick black clouds veiled the moonlight in the sky. Dim darkness engulfed the entire city. One by one, the city’s flickering lights went out, and a silent stillness deepened in the night… Above the silent city, across rows of tiled rooftops, two shadows streaked low through the air, flying rapidly away from the urban center. They were Dorothy and Nephthys. Each rode a flying magic carpet powered by magnetic levitation, speeding into the distance. Dorothy wore a serious, solemn expression, while Nephthys, trailing slightly behind, yawned sleepily. “Mm… Miss Dorothy… what’s the rush? What’s going on? Where are we headed this time?” Nephthys asked drowsily. Flying ahead, Dorothy replied in a low voice. “His Excellency the Regent has begun to move. This might be our chance to catch Hafdar and Dark Coin Noble in the act—perhaps even run straight into them. We can’t let this opportunity slip away… “The Secrets Cardinal is already tailing and monitoring Otto. We’re heading to pick up Vania first, then we’ll rendezvous with her. We need to gather our forces in case something unexpected happens.” Seated on her carpet, Dorothy explained seriously. After listening, Nephthys nodded, then muttered thoughtfully. “We haven’t been in Whitelinburg for very long… and there’s already suspicious activity? Could it be a trap, Miss Dorothy?” Nephthys spoke with a trace of concern, and Dorothy responded promptly. “Even if it is, creating a trap elaborate enough to ensnare all of us would require those two old geezers to act personally. In a way, that makes this our opportunity too. If we can neutralize the trap, we’ll also confirm their location… So trap or not, we’re going to take a look either way.” “Oh…” Hearing her reply, Nephthys nodded pensively. At that moment, Dorothy began lowering the height of her flying carpet until it hovered above a certain street. This was the edge of the Repose Cathedral district in Whitelinburg. There, waiting respectfully by the roadside in a white nun’s habit, stood a familiar figure. “Let’s go, Vania.” “Yes, Miss Dorothea…” Without wasting words, Dorothy retrieved another flying carpet and descended. She hovered in front of Vania, who climbed on without hesitation, and the carpet slowly lifted into the air. As a precaution, Dorothy used her Mind Vision emblem to scan Vania, confirming that she had not been subject to profiling or any mental influence. “All right, let’s move.” With Vania secured and no abnormalities found, Dorothy resumed control of the three carpets, accelerating them once more out of the city. As they flew, Dorothy stared intently into the darkness ahead. Behind her, Nephthys and Vania exchanged a glance. In each other’s eyes, what flicker of expression did they see? … Whitelinburg, the other side of the city. On the quiet, deserted streets of the old quarter, scattered streetlamps flickered dimly. In the gloom, a brown horse-drawn carriage trundled along the broken cobblestone road. Inside the carriage, two figures sat together. “Latest intel—Otto seems to be on the move…” Sitting upright in the carriage, Aldrich emerged from a state of silent contemplation and addressed Rudolf beside him. Rudolf looked surprised. “Faster than expected… could it be a ruse?” “Whether it is or not, we’ll take a look… see what those people are plotting.” Aldrich replied. Hearing this, Rudolf nodded thoughtfully. “Mm… let’s check it out first. But if we can confirm Dark Coin Noble’s presence—if he really is in Whitelinburg—we must alert the Golden Triad immediately.” “Of course.” Aldrich answered as he reached out and tapped the edge of the carriage window. As if triggering a command, the carriage began to shake more violently and emit a series of loud clacking noises. Then, the two horses pulling the carriage rapidly transformed. Their leather hide split open, revealing tightly meshed gears and linkages within. The iron reins extended, and a pair of large wings unfolded from the horses’ backs. With a flurry of motion, they rose into the sky, dragging the now-winged carriage toward the heavens. … Late at night, in the remote outskirts of Whitelinburg, deep within a lush forested estate, a luxurious carriage slowly emerged from the wooded path. The guards at the gate initially tensed with suspicion, but upon recognizing the carriage, their expressions turned respectful, and they hastily opened the heavy iron gates. The carriage entered the estate and came to a stop before the main manor. When the door opened, it was the true power behind Bainlair—Regent Otto—who stepped out. After surveying the surroundings, he entered the grand building. Leaving his attendants to wait outside, Otto followed the ornate carpet into the depths of the estate. Before long, he reached a resplendent golden hall, where a figure was already waiting. A crisp suit, gleaming shoes, youthful and handsome face, carefully styled golden hair, and a monocle on his right eye—this was none other than the head of the Dark Gold Society, the gentleman known as Dark Coin Noble… “Your Excellency…” Standing before Dark Coin Noble, the powerful Regent Otto bowed respectfully. All of this was being observed through a pair of eyes hidden in his shadow. “So it really is him…” At that moment, atop a tall tree in the dense forest beyond the estate, Artcheli watched through her shadow clone, murmuring thoughtfully. Her contemplation only lasted a moment. Once the look of calculation faded from her face, she spoke solemnly. “Prepare for action.” “Yes!” Responding to her command, the hidden Inquisition agents in the shadows around her answered softly, drawing their blades and slipping into combat formation. … In the skies above the dark, vast forest outside Whitelinburg, Dorothy was flying at high speed with Vania and Nephthys at low altitude. They were heading swiftly toward the secret manor of Otto, as guided by Artcheli. But just then—something suddenly changed. “Watch below!” The first to notice the anomaly was Vania, who had her Lantern vision active and had been on alert for threats in their surroundings. She sensed a sudden fluctuation of spirituality below and immediately warned Dorothy. Dorothy reacted at once, using several pre-prepared chunks of refined Aurum Gargoyle alloy scraps from her flying carpet to assemble a shield in front of her. Moments later, multiple silent and invisible attacks slammed into the shield, producing crisp metallic clangs. Wind blades! And not just any wind blades—they were from Aurum Gargoyle! With its initial assault blocked, the Aurum Gargoyle hidden underground launched its next strike. In an instant, three blinding, searing beams burst from the soil beneath the canopy, shooting straight up toward Dorothy. There was more than one golem underground! Dorothy maneuvered the flying carpets with emergency evasive maneuvers, pulling herself, Vania, and Nephthys away from the oncoming beams. During the maneuver, Dorothy retrieved three metallic spheres from her magic box and dropped them downward. Upon hitting the ground, the spheres transformed—tiny drills emerged, they oriented themselves and burrowed into the earth. Moments later, massive underground explosions erupted, emitting dazzling flashes and violent shockwaves. Boom! Boom! Boom! The earth quaked as internal explosions swelled the surface upward. When the fragile topsoil ruptured, flames gushed out and rapidly spread across the forest. These alchemical burrowing bombs were crafted by the White Craftsmen’s Guild specifically to counteract the Dark Gold Society—tools Dorothy had acquired from Aldrich! As firelight engulfed the forest below, three crimson-skinned Aurum Gargoyles erupted into the sky, spreading their wings wide and launching a three-pronged aerial assault on Dorothy and her companions. “One for each of us.” “Got it!” “No problem, Miss Dorothy!” Dorothy gave the order to engage, and Nephthys and Vania responded promptly, locking their focus on the respective golem approaching them. With her allies handling two of the golems, Dorothy turned to face her own target head-on. As she extended her hand, countless crimson threads appeared out of thin air, stretching forward rapidly. The golem in her path tried to dodge, but still got entangled in several threads, causing its speed to visibly slow. Seizing the chance, Dorothy levitated a fragment of gargoyle before her eyes. Sparks arced around her, forming a powerful magnetic field. The next moment, an electromagnetic cannon was nearly ready—just like before, she planned to pierce the golem’s body again. But… it remained only a plan. Dorothy never fired. Because in the very next second, her outstretched arm—charged with lightning—was severed in a blinding flash. Eyes wide with disbelief, Dorothy turned toward the source of the light—and saw a white figure wielding a glowing-hot metal longsword. It was a familiar figure. White nun’s habit… platinum hair… but the cold eyes were utterly unfamiliar. “Va—” Before she could finish the name, Dorothy’s chest suddenly burst outward—an elongated blade twisted together from tentacles lined with sharp fangs had pierced through her. Staring in stunned disbelief, Dorothy looked behind—and saw yet another familiar figure. “Neph—” “Good night… Miss Dorothy…” Gripping the monstrous sword, “Nephthys” smiled wickedly and whispered. Betrayal. Sudden, brutal betrayal had befallen Dorothy. Her most trusted companions—without any signs of mind control—had raised their blades against her. But this was not the only betrayal this night. Far away in another part of the night, the flying mechanical carriage suddenly lost control mid-air. The mechanical pegasi twisted unnaturally with harsh mechanical screeches, sending the carriage plummeting toward the ground. Inside the narrow metal cabin, Aldrich’s elderly body was pinned to the interior of the door—his throat pierced by a sharp spike. His eyes were wide, frozen in death. The bone-drill that skewered him was tightly gripped in the hands of Rudolf, who stared at Aldrich with burning hatred. “I’ve finally got you…” And so, consumed by long-smoldering hatred, the runaway carriage plunged into the forest and exploded in a brilliant flash and thunderous blast. Dorothy and Aldrich had both been ambushed by betrayal en route to Otto’s secret manor. And within that very manor—the target of their mission—the situation wasn’t much better. Though they had successfully located their primary target, Dark Coin Noble, and the order for operation had been given, Artcheli had not yet moved. She remained in the shadows outside the estate, doing nothing as Otto turned and smiled meaningfully in her direction. She couldn’t respond—blood leaking from the corner of her lips, Artcheli knelt numbly on the ground, pierced by several blades from all sides—back, side, waist, chest. Every one of these blades belonged to her most trusted personal guards. Behind her, one such guard removed his mask… revealing the handsome face of Dark Coin Noble himself. Silently, he raised a long sword wreathed in wind and sliced off her head. Her defiant eyes hit the ground, and a raging storm from his blade consumed her body. “The truest illusion… is reality itself. Undetectable mind control… is but a reflection of truth.” “Heh… seems I learned something from you after all… you old corpse in a grave.” Watching her turn to ash in the storm, Dark Coin Noble sneered with a touch of mockery. Everything had ended—ended within this “true illusion.” In the play authored by Dark Coin Noble and the ancient Sage-King, those trapped within had been condemned to death. On both battlefields, Dark Coin Noble and Hafdar believed everything was over. That is, until Hafdar noticed that the magic sword in his hand—conjured by tales and meant to capture souls and flesh—failed to seize anything from the girl it had impaled. Then the severed girl’s head twisted around 180 degrees. Her eyes popped out. Her face split open—revealing a ringing metal bell inside that emitted a shrill alarm. Now it was Hafdar’s turn to stare, eyes wide. “Damn—!” BOOM!!!! Explosion! A tremendous blast echoed across the sky. A giant fireball swelled rapidly from the depths of the black forest, shaking the ground and lighting up the night. It rose into a mushroom cloud that surged into the heavens. Trees all around were flattened by the sheer force, and nearly every window in Whitelinburg shattered simultaneously. The whole city awoke in terror. “What!?” Staring at the mushroom cloud rising on the distant horizon, Dark Coin Noble’s victorious expression turned to shock. This scale of explosion was not in their plan! But before he could react, the shadows cast by the explosion around him suddenly shifted. Countless shadow-forged weapons—swords, spears, blades—shot forth, cleaving through shadows and flesh alike. Dark Coin Noble and the “Court of Secrets agents” around him were shredded on the spot in a storm of screams and blood. Elsewhere, within the plummeting carriage, the situation also spiraled. Just as “Rudolf” reveled in his kill, the gray trench coat exploded. The tiny body within unfolded into a swarm of gear-and-chain-driven mechanical arms—each tipped with drills and buzzsaws—which lunged at “Rudolf.” Being too close to Aldrich’s corpse, he couldn’t defend in time and had to scramble to dodge. But at that moment, the seemingly ordinary carriage began to transform. Panels opened everywhere—releasing shackles that bound “Rudolf’s” limbs. Even the seat behind him released curved steel bars that locked around his waist, securing him tightly. “Rudolf” struggled but found the restraints unnaturally strong—no way to break free in a short time. Meanwhile, more hidden compartments opened. More mechanical limbs emerged: drills, saws, spiked clubs, tongue-pullers, poison sprayers—all descending upon “Rudolf.” “ALDRICH!!!” “Rudolf” screamed in fury as sparks flew from his body under the onslaught. The out-of-control carriage finally struck the ground, crashing into a hill and gouging out a crater. Then, after a moment’s eerie silence, the carriage erupted in a violent explosion. A massive fireball swallowed the entire hilltop. Another mushroom cloud rose into the sky—echoing the one before. Standing on another hilltop, clad in a gray trench coat, Aldrich watched the towering flames. Pressing down the brim of his short top hat, he smiled. “Long time no see. Did you enjoy my little welcome gift… old friend?” As Aldrich spoke quietly, a soul-rending wail echoed from the flames. Within the blaze, a massive stag skull—cracked and fractured—began to manifest… … Returning to the scene of the initial explosion—at the heart of the first mushroom cloud’s dissipation—what remained in the vast, barren crater, hundreds of meters wide and devoid of vegetation, were only a few remnants. Among them lay three unmoving Aurum Gargoyles, sprawled across the ground, their fates uncertain. There was also a charred heap of scorched flesh—a massive meat-hill giant, heavily burned and curled up on the ground, face down and completely still, as if all life had left its body. As the smoke and dust stirred by the distant blast winds began to disperse, the twisted meat-hill form suddenly unraveled and dissolved into nothingness. Once its shape was completely lost, a figure was revealed beneath it—that of “Nephthys.” At this moment, the “skin” of “Nephthys” was severely damaged, unable to hide the truth beneath. With a gesture of impatience, the disguise was cast off, revealing the figure’s true form in full. Hafdar, the undead monarch returned from death—the Sage King of seven thousand years past. “Ah… At last, we’re face-to-face without all the veils… Mr. Pharoah of the Fallen Gods.” Descending gently into the massive crater, a girl clad in a tea-colored pleated skirt and khaki top landed. Her dark boots touched the earth, and Dorothy smiled as she gazed at her “old friend.” Hafdar, now fully unveiled, slowly turned his body, hands clasped behind his back as he looked toward Dorothy. He didn’t appear angry—instead, his brows furrowed with a trace of puzzled curiosity as he spoke. “How did you see through it?” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚 “Your ‘real illusion’ was indeed formidable. I couldn’t tell truth from fiction at first. But the real will always be real—and the illusory will always be illusory. No matter how seamless your fabrication, flaws always remain—hidden in the corners you failed to notice…” Dorothy explained, then shifted her tone with a touch of admiration. “But even so, I must commend you. Creating a convincing hoax between two worlds—that was nearly perfect… “So I take back what I said before. You’re a brilliant ‘playwright.’” With those words, Dorothy acknowledged Hafdar’s craft—his cunning ruse. Though she now appeared composed, for much of the ordeal, she had been dancing in the palm of his hand, nearly caught entirely within his fabricated stage. Hafdar had succeeded in deceiving Dorothy—and even her Mind Vision—by orchestrating a real play between two worlds. These two worlds, to put it simply, were: the real world and a story world crafted by Hafdar. Just like what he had done in Tivian, Hafdar had preemptively built a story world—but this time, he didn’t draw Dorothy into it directly. Instead, he lured in Vania, Nephthys, and Rudolf. By simulating their actions inside the story world, Hafdar misled Dorothy in the real one. Take the case of Nephthys, for example. Hafdar’s plan began with crafting a story-world version of Whitelinburg—an environment nearly indistinguishable from the real one. Every building, street, and detail was replicated one-to-one, just like in Tivian. Then, Hafdar used his methods to gather intelligence on Dorothy and Nephthys’ movements. He exploited a moment when Nephthys would be separated from Dorothy—say, in a crowded station or while using the restroom—and during that moment, one of his profiling puppets intercepted her and pulled her into the story world. This didn’t require Hafdar to profile Nephthys directly. Since the story world was perfectly synchronized with the real world, Nephthys disappeared from one location in real Whitelinburg and reappeared in the same location in the story world. The scenery, buildings, even the residents were all faithfully reproduced—NPCs perfectly mirroring the real people’s behaviors. Thus, Nephthys naturally assumed she was still in the real world. She moved as usual, seeking out Dorothy—unaware that the Dorothy she met was just an NPC in the story world, imitating the real Dorothy’s responses and actions. Then came the critical move: once Nephthys was trapped in the story world, Hafdar took her place in the real world, disguised as her. His impersonation was flawless—because he was directly copying Nephthys’ actions from the story world, which were themselves responses to a perfectly synchronized NPC Dorothy. So when real Dorothy spoke, Hafdar would immediately have the NPC Dorothy in the story world say the same thing to Nephthys, then observe Nephthys’ genuine response, and repeat it in real life to Dorothy. In this way, every behavior he exhibited was exactly what Nephthys would have done. Even Dorothy, as a high-ranking Beyonder of the Revelation Path, skilled in detecting dissonance, saw no flaws—because Hafdar was impersonating Nephthys based on Nephthys’ own responses, essentially letting her teach him how to perfectly mimic her, step by step. Because Hafdar was the one disguised as Nephthys, there were no traces of profiling on him. Thus, Dorothy’s Mind Vision couldn’t detect any abnormalities. And if Dorothy had attempted to reach the real Nephthys through her information channel, she still wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong. The real Nephthys hadn’t been profiled—she was simply stuck in a perfect illusion. Her mental state appeared normal. Even if Dorothy borrowed Nephthys’ senses, what she’d see was a flawless replica of Whitelinburg, offering no cause for suspicion. The story world was a semi-border realm parasitizing the real world, with a paper-thin boundary. Even if Dorothy tried tracking Nephthys’ coordinates, she’d get an accurate reading that overlapped with the real world—not the hidden layer. And the same applied to the others. In addition to Nephthys, Vania, Rudolf, and even some of Artcheli’s Court agents had been drawn into the story world—none of them realizing it. The scene around them included NPC versions of Aldrich and Artcheli, mirroring their real-world counterparts. Their genuine reactions were sent to Hafdar’s impostors in the real world. Deer Skull impersonated Rudolf, Dark Coin Noble posed as one of Artcheli’s agents, and other Dark Gold Society members took on the rest. Dorothy, Artcheli, and Aldrich weren’t drawn into the illusion because they were harder to manipulate—Dorothy had divinity, Artcheli was a Gold-rank Beyonder, and Aldrich shared some Gold-rank traits. Hafdar’s abilities couldn’t easily affect them, so he targeted only Crimson-rank and below. As for the disguises themselves, they were masterful—led by Dark Coin Noble. First, he’d collect and forcibly acquire mystical powers, then use them to craft perfect disguises. Then, he’d rent out all the powers the impersonator had, leaving them a “blank slate.” Into this blank slate, he would infuse spirituality identical to the person being impersonated, while constantly leasing the exact reactionary traits the disguise should emit. This ensured that even under ordinary Lantern vision, without needing additional concealment via Shadow, the impostors would pass undetected. Incidentally, the current archbishop of Whitelinburg had also been pulled into the story world. A disguised stand-in was operating in the real world. Since Dorothy had no information channel with the archbishop, he was heavily profiled. Thus, the Layered Vision in Whitelinburg had been tailored from the start to serve Dark Coin Noble and Hafdar. It was through that very Layered Vision that they had identified Rudolf and Aldrich, who’d infiltrated Whiteforest. From there, they traced the trail to Dorothy and her allies—shielded by the Mirror Moon’s blessing—and began laying their trap. During earlier encounters, Hafdar realized that Dorothy and her trusted companions shared a powerful mystical channel of communication—able to exchange precise, truthful information at will. To deceive Dorothy, that channel would also need to be deceived. And in the real world—Hafdar succeeded. He used two perfectly mirrored worlds to trick both Dorothy and her entire communication network. With precision disguise using the divinity of the Commercial Gold, combined with the confusion of those trapped in the story world, Hafdar and his cohort executed a near-perfect deception. This was the play written by Hafdar the Playwright—for Dorothy. A stage constructed in secret, a script laid out with care—within which Dorothy nearly met her end at the hands of those she trusted most, convinced they were real. And the only reason she was still alive now… Was because Hafdar’s deception, as perfect as it seemed, still contained a single flaw. That flaw… was temporal delay. Hafdar’s process worked in steps: first, observe the real world’s actions and replicate them in the story world; then observe the responses in the story world and replicate them again in the real world through the impostor. From real → story, then from story → real again. This introduced an unavoidable delay. No matter how precise Hafdar’s execution, he couldn’t fully erase it—because the story world could only follow the real world. It was always half a beat behind. Even if that delay was reduced to a fraction of a second. From the real world to the NPC in the story world was one step behind. From the story world back to the impostor in the real world was two steps behind. Hafdar had compressed the delay down to a microsecond—imperceptible to most. But to Dorothy—a high-ranking Revelation Beyonder? It was enough. She noticed. This was just like an online game: the player sends commands to their character through their own client, which are transmitted to the server, and only then does the server return the corresponding data to influence what’s displayed on the client’s screen. So when the network is poor, the game screen experiences lag. Of course, this doesn’t mean that lag doesn’t exist when the network is good—just that it’s so small players can’t perceive it. But for high-ranking or professional players, even the tiniest delay is noticeable and affects their gameplay. Dorothy was like such a top-tier player. So was Artcheli. Hafdar knew well that operating between two worlds could introduce latency—delaying the real-world impostor by half a beat and risking exposure to high-ranking Revelation or Lantern Beyonders. That’s why he devised a countermeasure: predictive reading. Yes, predictive reading—Hafdar didn’t wait for events to occur in the real world before syncing them to the story world. Instead, he pre-played the events ahead of time. Simply put, Hafdar used his powerful Gold-rank Revelation cognitive engine to calculate and simulate real-world outcomes at an immense scale—predicting where a falling leaf would land by its trajectory, deducing what someone would say by analyzing the shape of their mouth. Through these vast and complex calculations, Hafdar successfully predicted the immediate future of Whitelinburg down to fractions of a second. Then he fed this predicted future into his story world, allowing the entranced targets to respond a hair ahead of time—responses which were then mirrored by their impostors in the real world. In that moment, the impostors’ actions no longer suffered any delay—Dorothy and Artcheli would perceive nothing abnormal. Only high-ranking Revelation Beyonders could perform predictive readings on such a scale. Even though the prediction only covered less than a second into the future, it was sufficient to mask any delay. But even so… Dorothy noticed the flaw. And the trigger that tipped her off—was Vania’s evening prayer. Unless interrupted by emergencies, Vania always performed her evening prayers at the same fixed time. If a church was nearby, she’d pray there; otherwise, she’d find a clean spot herself. It was a habit she’d maintained for over ten years since childhood. Ever since Dorothy had saved her years ago, the object of her prayer had, unwittingly, shifted to Dorothy. And tonight was no exception. The Vania within the story world, at the usual time, went to the story-world version of the Repose Cathedral for her evening prayer. Hafdar had predicted this and simulated the cathedral accordingly. However… what he hadn’t accounted for was that while Vania outwardly prayed at the altar of the Three Saints, the true direction of her prayer was Dorothy. Though she faced the saints and recited standard Radiance Church prayers, her heart and intention were directed at Dorothy. Since Vania’s prayers were addressed to Dorothy, the communication link between them activated—allowing Dorothy to “hear” Vania’s prayers within the story world. On its own, this wouldn’t have exposed anything. But during Vania’s prayer, the Repose Cathedral rang its bell. The bell-ringing was something Hafdar had accounted for in his predictive reading. To eliminate delay, the story-world version of the bell rang slightly before the real one. So when Vania heard the bell, it was ahead of real-world time by a tiny instant. Because of her prayer connection, Dorothy also heard the bell through Vania’s ears. Then… Dorothy heard the real-world bell—but it came slightly after the one she’d just heard through the information channel. Immediately, something felt off. She mentally calculated the difference in sound travel time between the cathedral and herself—and found that the discrepancy remained. The bell she heard directly was too slow. That’s because the bell she heard through Vania came from Hafdar’s story world prediction, while the bell she heard herself came from reality. This… was the flaw in Hafdar’s plan. If Dorothy used her information channel to observe the same event from both real-world and story-world perspectives, she could detect that the story world was always half a beat ahead. But such scenarios were rare. Normally, for Dorothy and her allies to observe the same event, they’d need to be close by—like when Nephthys was beside her. Dorothy wouldn’t normally use the communication link just to check Nephthys’ view for trivial comparisons like carriage speed. Only when they were far apart would she use the channel. But if they were too far apart, they wouldn’t witness the same event anyway. Unless it was something like a church bell ringing—a major event perceptible across a wide area. In short, Dorothy realized the flaw because Hafdar never expected that Vania would pray to Dorothy in a Radiance Church chapel, under the Three Saints’ altar, reciting the saints’ praises while directing her plea to someone else entirely. He never predicted that Vania would be in live communication with Dorothy during her prayer—letting the story-world bell sound pass through! Had Hafdar foreseen Vania’s prayer misdirection—had he known that Dorothy and Vania had a routine communication at that precise time—he would have taken extra steps to conceal it. From Hafdar’s perspective, no one in the story world should have been in secret communication with others at the moment of the bell. So this misstep—was partly luck, and partly inevitability. Because Vania always prayed at that time. And the cathedral always rang its bell. Once Dorothy discovered the delay, she realized something was wrong. After deeper analysis, she saw through Hafdar’s entire scheme and discreetly informed Artcheli and Aldrich through the information channel so they could prepare. Before the ambush, Dorothy had already secretly equipped herself with one of Thief K’s anecdotal abilities—allowing her to magically escape at the critical moment and leave behind a substitute body: a mechanical doll personally gifted by Aldrich. Inside that doll was a powerful alchemical bomb crafted by the White Craftsmen’s Guild, specifically designed to combat the Dark Gold Society. Upon detonation, it unleashed a powerful shockwave capable of disrupting the minds of Aurum Gargoyles. Though their exteriors were nearly indestructible, the shockwaves could bypass their armor and shake their brains—knocking them out. It was a “can’t kill you, but I’ll shake you unconscious” kind of bomb. And now, the three gargoyles had all been knocked out cold. “Flaws… huh… sigh…” Standing in the massive crater, Hafdar quietly sighed after hearing Dorothy’s explanation. Then, staring at her, he said with an odd tone. “Your wit and insight… I acknowledge them. You’re indeed a skilled wielder of Revelation—a true Cognizer. I must admit, even now, seven thousand years after the fall of the Holy Dynasty, that someone like you still exists in this world… “If I hadn’t already heard the voice of a true Divine Mentor… I might have believed you were a successor of one.” Looking at Dorothy, Hafdar—Gold-rank of the Revelation Path—spoke with sincere emotion. He seemed to offer some recognition to the girl who had resisted his schemes twice, not with brute force, but with subtlety. Dorothy, however, responded calmly. “As for the Divine Mentor… perhaps we should talk. There may be some misunderstanding between us—” “No. There’s no need.” Hafdar murmured, and once again, a dangerous gleam lit his eyes. With a sweeping gesture, numerous bizarre and clawed Anecdotal Bodies manifested around him. “The oracle is final. Even if my plot failed… I will destroy you with all I’ve got!” As he spoke, Hafdar commanded his swarm of entities to charge at Dorothy! But she didn’t immediately react with her powers. Because she knew—in this moment when every front was erupting into battle—she couldn’t freely use her abilities. Otherwise, Dark Coin Noble might forcibly rent them again. Just like in Tivian, she was entering a confrontation with her powers restricted. But this time—Dorothy had backup. “It’s your cue, Mister White Stone!” BOOM!!! Suddenly, the ground trembled violently. With a thunderous rumble, the fragile surface split and shattered. Giant stone spikes—like titanic spears—erupted from the earth, piercing, impaling, and shattering the Anecdotal Bodies above! Once Dorothy learned of Hafdar’s plot, she had begun preparations. Her silent cooperation had simply been to buy time. Knowing the real Hafdar and Dark Coin Noble were likely hiding near Whitelinburg, Dorothy had secretly instructed Aldrich to alert the White Craftsmen’s Guild. And now, the Golden Triad reinforcements were here. Dorothy… wasn’t fighting alone.