"Chernobyl!" Hearing Amun's words, Caine's first reaction was astonishment. As he approached the towering, dark-eyed giant, he had envisioned numerous developments, yet never anticipated hearing such a name. It felt as though a water-cooled machine gun appeared in an ancient oil painting, or a novel plot unfolded within a scientific paper—so incongruous and unbelievable. The very next moment, Caine recalled the amusing tale of the ancient sun god crafting the dark angel Sassel from his own ribs, yet naming his eldest son Adam. He instinctively saw his current situation as a parallel to that story, and found himself unable to suppress a smile. When the powerful, almost "bug"-level angel king Amun, usually so aloof and unimpressed, uttered the name with such seriousness and solemnity, Caine's urge to laugh grew stronger, and he resolved not to hold it back. Amun was so embarrassed he was furious—he would have killed me right then and there. Amun's current state must owe a significant part of his transformation to the education he received from the ancient sun god! Klein smiled, ready to let out his inner laughter without mercy. Klein heard his own heartbeat. Suddenly, a cascade of common knowledge about the current world flooded his mind: "One year has twelve months, 365 days, with leap years... "Each day has twenty-four hours, each hour sixty minutes, each minute sixty seconds... "Confirmed: it's a planet... "The sky has exactly one sun and one moon..." Thump! Thump! Thump! Klein's instinct urged him not to go on, yet deep within him a voice quietly arose: Perhaps there has never been any "transcendence" at all—maybe I've always been on Earth, merely suspended above the gray mist, behind that luminous gate for so long that I've truly ceased to belong to this age. As this thought took shape, countless details he had previously overlooked erupted in his mind like volcanic eruptions: "At the easternmost point of the Sunya Sea, before entering the divine war ruins, there are rusted and collapsed steel structures surrounding the ancient deep-sea well—these appear to be remnants of human civilization. "The overall topography of the northern and southern continents bears a strong resemblance to that of North and South America, except that the region where they are closest seems to have been entirely erased by some force, resulting in a turbulent, winding, and meandering sea route. Furthermore, the Sunya Island has drifted southward, much like the large northern island. The Inter-Sea resembles an expanded, interconnected version of the Great Lakes, as though it had been struck by a massive meteor impact. "On the northern continent, while mountains and rivers have undergone significant changes, the overall shape remains recognizable. "Thus "Yet, the moon in this world is a deep crimson... the stars also differ somewhat from those on Earth... I'm not particularly fond of astronomy, so I can't recall the exact details, but the Emperor has been taking the 'Universal Knowledge' potion. If the starry sky were exactly the same, he would have noticed long ago..." Objections arose in Klein's mind, solid and unyielding, like anchors that kept a ship steady in a storm. But in the very next moment, Klein remembered two phrases. One was a prophecy he had once read online in a previous life: "When the stars align, chaos will rise from the depths, and the Great First will awaken." The other: "Beware the moon!" This... Wasn't the prophecy entirely fabricated? Did the alignment of the stars indeed mark a difference from before? Klein almost ignored the figure of Amun standing before him, his body trembling slightly. With great effort, he managed to let out a sigh in his heart: Perhaps I have never truly left my hometown, yet I will never be able to return home... Just as this realization took root in his mind, a silent, gray-white mist appeared before him without a sound. This time, he stood directly within the historical scene corresponding to the "declining forest," the transition period between the second and third ages. Unlike before, the boundless gray mist in front of him was no longer empty; deep within the mist, far off, one after another, bright spots of light emerged—like lighthouses, illuminating the path of history and drawing him forward, urging him to run, to trace back, to cross through thousands and tens of thousands of years, even more. Then, he saw the brilliant light gates tinged with a hint of dark green, the translucent silken cocoons suspended above them, and himself—wearing a t-shirt and casual pants. A无形 breeze passed through, layer upon layer of gray-white mist beneath the light gate unfurling to reveal cities upon cities. Within them, towering skyscrapers stood upright, various automobiles parked, and pedestrians moving in and out, seemingly frozen in time. These cities stacked one upon another, cloaked in layers of gray-white dust, many buildings collapsed, their broken rebar jutting out like spears; some cars were dented, others crumbled, some flattened into iron discs; the pedestrians moved with lifeless expressions, like statues of wax. Witnessing this scene, Caine came to a halt, gazing deeply. He now understood with absolute clarity: this world was Earth! His "ancient scholar" elixir had been fully absorbed at this very moment. Suddenly, Caine's consciousness returned to the real world, and he sensed his connection to "The Source Fortress" had grown stronger. The resonant hum intensified, growing more vivid as the harmonies generated by the Tarot Circle members' prayers surrounded him. Earlier, he had already been able to faintly sense the "Source Castle" rising above the gray mist, and see the chair of "The Fool" — now, it seemed, finally establishing a connection with the deep red humanoid figure that had been twisting and attempting to take shape. At that instant, Klein had a sudden realization: at this very moment, he no longer needed to recite incantations or reverse his four steps. With merely a thought, his spirit could enter the "Source Castle" and merge completely with that figure. This was undoubtedly the best opportunity for him to break free! Without pausing to marvel at the fact that this world was Earth, nor at the sheer surprise that Amun would never have imagined such a transformation, Klein immediately turned his intention toward the "Source Castle." At that very moment, within Klein's eyes, he saw Amun—wearing a pointed soft hat, a single eyeglass, and dressed in the classical mage's robe—his lips gently curled, radiating an indescribable joy. Klein's mind suddenly exploded, overwhelmed by Amun's frantic ramblings: "You're absolutely right. I didn't intend to steal your destiny, to become the new master of 'The Source Keep' while burdening myself with heavy responsibilities..." "You're absolutely right. This has been a fraud from the very beginning..." "But the core of this fraud is making you believe that I've consistently offered you hope only to dismantle it, in order to break your will and secure my own pledge to become your servant..." "Wouldn't you have been certain that my true form had already arrived, had I not deliberately changed my attire upon entering 'The God-Abandoned Land'? Had I not several times 'unintentionally' demonstrated my mastery over 'errors'?" "Wouldn't a God of Fraud have realized that such a change in appearance would reveal so many issues?" "Wouldn't you, someone who already knew about Chernobyl, have understood what that name signifies?" "For over a thousand years, ever since the divine abandonment, I have been seeking the oldest history—beyond that of the First Age." "The true purpose of this journey is to give you time, to impart some historical knowledge, so that you may fully absorb the 'Ancient Scholar' elixir, relax your vigilance, and then, when your connection with the 'Source Citadel' deepens and you begin to awaken its potential, seize the opportunity—exploiting a vulnerability—to directly steal the 'Source Citadel' itself." "Destiny is yours; the 'Source Citadel' is mine." ...These terrifying murmurs from the Angelic King carried not only Amun's quiet laughter, but also inflicted upon Caine's spirit a strain no less severe than that of the 'Gate' man's desperate cries. On Caine's skin, traces of the 'Spirit Insects' began to emerge, clearly signaling that he was on the brink of losing control. And within him, a "Chrono-creature" composed of twelve segments emerged, transforming into the ethereal form of Amun—dressed in a black mage's robe, wearing a matching pointed soft hat and a crystal single-lens spectacles. This was Amun's shallow-level presence within Caine's body, not aiming to monitor his thoughts nor to seize control at critical moments through deep-level parasitism, but rather to seize upon this very opportunity! Amun had initially adopted deep-level parasitism precisely to enable a subsequent, shallower-level parasitism of a "Chrono-creature" without Caine's awareness. The Amun ethereal form turned back, gazing at Caine, whose murmured words disrupted his thoughts and prevented him from forming coherent ideas, and smiled with a smile identical to the original entity—his lips gently curled, radiating an indescribable joy. Then, turning once more, he leveraged the intangible connection and "leapt" toward the "Source Citadel" rising above the gray-white mist. This is analogous to the earlier instance when He "parasitized" within Deric Berg, striving through the deep red star corresponding to the "Sun" to penetrate the gray mist. Yet this time, no one within the "Source Keep" performed purification, closed the "doors," or isolated Amon. It was a masterful performance. This is the God of Deceit.