Story of Tingen

Back on Independence…

Max quickly unlocked the door of the cabin, and placed Independence's door on the circle he had prepared in advance, immediately sacrificing it to the Amalgamation of All.

His body was behaving rather similarly to when Unity had just fused with Samuel and Max, with random moments of stiffness and odd expressions forming on his face. He could feel his spirituality was in constant flux and his sanity was straining to remain focused.

'You need to get out of the village first. If anyone sees you, we will have to forgo all work here. We will also lose all our anchors here.' Samuel analysed the situation seriously while Max struggled to retain control of his body and jump out of the window of the house, and escape the village by quickly running across the empty spaces behind the houses.

Thankfully, it was currently night time and all the villagers were in their homes and asleep. However, even after exiting the village, Max did not stop running and continued into the distance until he could no longer run as he lost all control over his body.

*Boom*

Max's 'fist' which had rapidly degenerated into blackish-grey tentacles slammed into the ground. The weight of his hand had been increased exponentially on the way down, causing a visible crater in the soft soil, as the trees and plants in the area were blown away by the shockwave.

The tentacles rapidly spread from his arm and covered his entire body within 2 seconds, causing him to lose all form and collapse onto the ground.

At this moment, the spirit of Unity had grown incomprehensibly stronger within Max's mind due to the influence of the potion and its ingredients.

But it did not move to try and devour Max and Samuel like the Original Beings of the other pathways. Instead, it just remained in its merged state with Samuel and Max, without actually doing anything.

'It is already United with us. There is no need to Unite any further…' Samuel guessed, and Max could only nod in slight confusion. They were perfectly fine here, despite the incredibly large size and power of Unity, solely because of the tens of 'anchors' they had both in Independence and on Earth.

They were holding together the souls of Max and Samuel, preventing them from being torn to shreds by the sheer size of the soul of Unity, just how a sun or black hole would tear apart and absorb anything smaller than itself that came too close to it.

At this moment, the potion ingredients, which were originally only giving power to Unity, were pulled away from it and sent to Max and Samuel.

'The Fool's End ritual,' Max thought and Samuel could only nod as they saw Unity's size return to normal, and they were no longer pressured by its very existence. On the other hand, the power from the ingredients was split three ways in equal parts, under the influence of the ritual, and boosted the souls of all three parties present equally.

The final result was Max and Samuel having the most powerful souls, closely followed by Unity.

…

In a Tingen suburb, there was a house with a green lawn. The house had a garden that had begun to wither at the beginning of September. Attached to the house was a crimson chimney.

There was a desk next to the window in the bedroom of that house. An ordinary notebook was spread open on the table. A slightly pale hand flipped the notebook to the very first page, then it quickly flipped to the back. As the paper flipped, the rows of words appeared faintly.

[Regence, a member from the Secret Order, sold the Antigonus family's notebook as an ordinary ancient book by accident due to the influence, both of weariness and illusions. It was a coincidence that made logical sense.]

[Affected by the calling of the Antigonus family's bloodline, the notebook secretly affects its owners, one after the other. After repeated changes in ownership, it came to Tingen. It fell into the hands of the members of the Aurora Order—Sirius Arapis and Hanass Vincent.]

[After they flipped through the content that temporarily appeared in the notebook and copied the corresponding potion formulas, Sirius and Hanass were worried that the Secret Order, who were good at divination, would track them down. After discussing it, they decided to avoid the risk by selling it to another person.]

[They didn't wait for Mr. Z's reply; perhaps because he stayed at Enmat Harbour. Through Sirius's introduction, Hanass got to know Welch McGovern from Khoy University's Department of History. Then, Hanass sold the Antigonus family's notebook to McGovern as an ordinary ancient book.]

[Subsequently, Sirius was attracted by the treasure that was said to exist on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range. He started to visit the Deweyville Library and research the mountain. He didn't think that there would be any problems, so he left his real address and name. That aligned with his personality.]

[During this process, he acquainted himself with Lanevus, who was reading up on information about iron mines to set up a scam. Lanevus's hidden lunacy and swindling ability were well appreciated by Sirius. He decided to nurture him into a member of the Aurora Order. Of course, before that, an investigation was inevitable. Sirius covertly informed Lanevus about the evil ritual of praying to the True Creator to deliver "His" spawn into this world.]

[But he knew that the possibility of Lanevus succeeding was very low, because the difficulty level of the ritual was very high, and the requirements were very harsh. However, the latter expressed his strong interest in the matter, tempted by the possibility of obtaining a deity's approval.]

[He planned to complete the ritual simultaneously as he carried out the plans of establishing his steelworks company. The cunning Lanevus could tell that there was something fishy about Sirius Arapis. But for his personal goal, he didn't expose him. He visited Hood Eugen in the asylum once again.]

[They had known each other long ago, and they knew about their respective situations. After a dark divination, the Antigonus family's notebook was awakened fully. Welch and his classmate died. The lucky survivor, Klein Moretti, sent it to Ray Bieber's house under the influence of the notebook. It was a destined ending.]

Many rows were scribbled off and new content followed. For some baffling reason, and a lack of sufficient explanations, Klein didn't commit suicide after that and somehow managed to stay alive. In the Nighthawks' investigation of Welch's case that followed, he met Dunn Smith and joined the Nighthawks.

Although it had already exceeded Ince Zangwill's description, it didn't affect the development of the story. Bacchus and his brothers were down on their luck. They lost their last chip at the gambling tables and were drowning in debt. In a bid to obtain money, they decided to kidnap and blackmail the somewhat wealthy individuals.

When they were looking for their final hideout, they chanced upon the room opposite Ray Bieber's apartment. By then, Ray Bieber was already seduced by the power offered by the Antigonus family's notebook. He hoped to digest the gift left behind by his ancestors. However, he was in a semi-insane state, and he couldn't make the best and safest choice. He abandoned his dead mother, but he continued remaining in Tingen City.

He only found a more elusive spot to carry out his digestion ritual. It was truly pathetic. If he had been slightly smarter, the story could've become even more complicated, but his decision was made based on his instincts and his poor state of mind.

Bacchus and company purchased weapons and took the youngest son, Elliott, of the tobacco merchant, Vickroy, and held him for ransom. Finally, they successfully carried out the abduction and took Elliot back to the apartment opposite Ray Bieber's.

Vickroy's butler was entrusted with looking for help from a security company. Because of Welch's mysterious death, security companies were short on hands. Klein chanced upon a deliveryman and happened to discover the existence of the Blackthorn Security Company. Leonard Mitchell and Klein accepted the job.

Relying on their Beyonder powers, they quickly saved the merchant's son. Regrettably, Klein didn't immediately realize that clues to the Antigonus family's notebook were in the apartment opposite them. However, his spirituality reminded him in his dream. As such, the Tingen Nighthawks discovered corresponding clues.

Sealed Artifact 2-049 arrived in Tingen.

With the aid of the Antigonus family's puppet, Dunn Smith led the Nighthawks to find Ray Bieber before interrupting his digestion procedure. Ray Bieber became a monster, and the situation was out of control.

In the end, the Nighthawks skilfully worked together and took care of Monster Bieber, but they immediately faced the attack of a member of the Secret Order. More rows were scribbled away again, and the original content was impossible to read.

Leonard Mitchell, who possesses a secret, was going to end the situation. Before he could, Klein, who was supposed to be doomed, killed the Sequence 7 member of the Secret Order in an inexplicable manner. That didn't affect the development of the story. Dunn Smith got in touch with the Antigonus family's notebook and flipped through its content. From that point onwards, he was secretly tainted!

Having finished with all his preparations, Lanevus beguiled Hood Eugen and used him to assist in his ritual. They tricked Lanevus's fiancée, Megose, into becoming the vessel that would carry the True Creator's spawn. Lanevus had almost no possibility of success.

The most serious problem was that even though Megose would be protected by the ritual's power, she wouldn't be able to withstand sexual intercourse with the illusory projection of a deity. It would cost her her life on the altar. At that moment, the kind Ince Zangwill helped Lanevus in secret.

He split off half a piece of a descendant of Death's characteristic that he obtained and planted it into Megose's body ahead of time. Hood Eugen made Megose enter a semi-unconscious state and convinced her that the True Creator's illusory projection was Lanevus. Nourished by the accumulated resentment, gloominess, and oppression of the factory district, the ritual succeeded.

Megose was pregnant with the True Creator's spawn. The deity saw through the coincidences, but since "He" wished to break through the shackles placed on him by the seven deities, "He" didn't refuse. Hood Eugen was contaminated.

After the ritual succeeded, the mad Lanevus regained his rationality. He clearly knew that if the deity's spawn was to descend into the world, Lanevus, himself, would become one of the sacrificial offerings. How could a mortal be the father of a deity's son?

This was blasphemy of the highest order! Lanevus decided to leave Tingen ahead of time and left clues to the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Machinery Hivemind so that they could resolve the repercussions of his actions.

There was ultimately a price needed for lunacy. However, Lanevus didn't write the letter directly to the Beyonder squads. He thought it would make him look stupid. He decided to leave the letter in one of the houses that he rented. He pretended to be playing a game with the Beyonders from official bodies.

As such, he didn't bring up Hood Eugen's contamination and brought with him everything that he had obtained. Just in case, he informed Sirius Arapis in the safest way he could. The latter didn't quite believe him, but he could faintly feel the possibility of success.

Selena Wood accidentally chanced upon the real magic mirror divination incantation from her mysticism teacher, Hanass Vincent. Her bold attempt was interrupted by Klein Moretti by coincidence. The latter successfully resolved this supernatural incident that might've caused serious casualties.

The Nighthawks then investigated Hanass Vincent who had recently been awarded. Therefore, Dunn Smith coincidently saw a clear image of the True Creator in his dream and suffered severe injuries. However, he wasn't contaminated because of what happened. That would've been noticed by the upper echelons of the Nighthawks.

The injury made Dunn Smith's contamination by the Antigonus family notebook worsen. His absent-mindedness and forgetfulness worsened, and he was getting closer and closer to satisfying Ince Zangwill's requirements.

Many rows were scribbled away again.

[Seriously unbelievable! Klein Moretti noticed Ince Zangwill's secret influence and saw the crimson chimney. Th-this is because he was reminded by the teacher from the Khoy University's Department of History, Azik, and- and- and- and- and-]

The writing near the end of this line had turned incomprehensible like the scribbling of a child who had his hands tied behind his back.

[He possesses many secrets. But even so, it's astounding enough for Klein to discover actual clues. It's unexplainable.]

Regardless of the reason, Ince Zangwill continued to act, and the story continues.

[Klein coincidently ran into Sirius at the library and had no choice but to kill him. Hence, the clues leading to Lanevus were abruptly severed, and the discovery of the problem was delayed. Klein met Megose, but his spirituality stopped him from observing her closely. However, he didn't notice the subtle abnormality. That is logical.]

[Our stories aren't made up randomly. He searched for the red chimney, but he always opted for a route that didn't include his target. Maybe in another two or three months, when he was on the last batch, he would find the real red chimney house.]

Rows and rows of writings were scribbled away, more than all of the previous rows added together.

[Dunn Smith's problem was alleviated! His condition obviously became better! He actually mastered the 'acting method!' This was taught to him by Klein Moretti, who found inspiration from Daly Simone and Old Neil's example.

No—Ince Zangwill didn't believe that, but he could only change his original plans slightly. New elements in the story came into play.

[Azik decided to go to Backlund in search of his lost memories. It wasn't long until Klein and Dunn found clues from Hood Eugen. In order to ensure that Tingen City's Conservative Party and New Party would be in complete opposition, Madam Sharon, who wanted to vent the accumulated madness after her transformation, decided to take the risk and murder Member of Parliament John Maynard.]

[Her motive wasn't strong enough, but she took action anyway. There are always times when people are not clear-minded enough, and she happened to be in that stage. Besides, she was confident that she wouldn't be discovered.]

[Maynard's wife founded the Blackthorn Security Company through the tobacco merchant, Vickroy. They didn't disappoint her, and they quickly found Madam Sharon's abnormality. Dunn Smith, who possessed power that was close to Sequence 6, decided to take action first. He passed the Sealed Artifact 3-0271 to Kenley. When the two of them and Klein returned to Madam Sharon's residence, Dunn attempted to pull her into a dream to control her from a distance.]

[It was a good plan, but, unfortunately, Madam Sharon happened to have the statue of the Primordial Demoness by her side. Hence, the Nighthawks' plan failed. Kenley reflected himself in the mirror due to his nervousness and saw himself.]

[Madam Sharon was taken care of while Kenley died. Dunn blamed himself and consumed Kenley's Beyonder characteristic as he usually did. His digestion procedure was interrupted as a result and was delayed. As such, his mental state became unstable.]

[Under the circumstances, Leonard and Klein noticed the letter left behind by Lanevus. Megose received a baffling summoning and arrived at Zouteland Street. She entered the Blackthorn Security Company, and the baby in her stomach was at a critical point in its development. It couldn't stop her urges.]

[Outside the Blackthorn Security Company, a meeting between the Angel of Imagination; Ad-]

The feathered quill had abruptly been lifted when it had reached this point, and if Max had been here, he would have been laughing his a*s off at the terrified expression of the already pale Ince Zanguill holding the pen with trembling hands.

He placed the feathered quill back into the book scratched out the name and let the pen continue.

[Between the Angle of Imagination, and M- M- M- M- M- M-]

The quill was once again failing to write the name of the one who was having a meeting with Him. However, Ince Zanguill had only seen this once, and his face was more terrified than before as he could feel the crimson moon in the sky, as well as another equally powerful force restraining the pen.

'So, He has met Him… and it is all right outside the space I need to be at?' had been Ince's thoughts when the notes had been written.

[Dunn made a detailed plan, a plan that was right, but he made one mistake. If he steeled his resolve to Megose behind Chanis Gate, he would've stood a chance with the aid of the environment and the items present. If he wanted to wait for backup, he definitely shouldn't have just taken Saint Selena's urn out.]

[Unfortunately, Dunn's mind wasn't in the right place due to recent events, and he didn't think of the most critical point. A deity's son would be able to feel the threat of the Saint's urn. Hence, it was triggered and started to absorb its mother's strength in a bid to be born ahead of time, even though it wasn't exactly ready.]

[Azik was in Backlund, but he wasn't a Traveler, so he couldn't rush back on such short notice. A few rows were scribbled away. Megose became a monster, and the fight began. With the aid of the Saint's urn, Blood Vessel Thief, and two high-level charms that strangely appeared, Megose died and the deity's son was exorcized.]

[Dunn Smith died as a result, and the power of Saint Selena's ashes was severely damaged as well. That went perfectly with Ince Zangwill's intentions. Ince Zangwill didn't get a chance to showcase himself, but it didn't hinder him from achieving his goal.]

[He killed Klein Moretti, the fellow who kept disrupting his plans, and he took away Saint Selena's ashes. Ince Zangwill set up a ritual with the remaining half of the characteristics of Death's descendant.]

[He consumed Saint Selena's ashes and successfully advanced from Sequence 5 of the Death Sequence pathway, Gatekeeper, to Sequence 4 of the Evernight Sequence pathway, Nightwatcher.]

[As such, he received godhood characteristics and became a Demigod. The sun continues to shine brilliantly on the land. Nearly no one in Tingen City realized how they narrowly escaped a huge disaster.]

[Half-Monster Ademisaul…] The notes had stopped here abruptly. This time the crimson moon had not acted, and thus the quill had been able to write down the name, but the other mysterious force had stopped it from actually making any difference to the life of the one involved.

'So, he is related to the child.' Ince Zanguill thought as he flipped to the last page.

Ince Zanguill; a middle-aged man that was holding onto the book had dark blond hair, a dark blue eye that was nearly black, a tall nose, and tightly pursed lips. His facial features were like that of a statue and didn't have a single wrinkle.

He held a classic quill with his slightly pale hand and wrote a line clearly without dipping into any ink. He ended with a simple sentence.

[Tingen's story ends here]

The papers rustled as he closed the book, leaving only a brown leather cover.