Mysteries: Arcana Wars

Chapter 477 A Long-Awaited Smile

Backlund time, 15:00 on Winter Festival Day.

Five hours until launch from the outpost.

"Merlin! Merlin, where are you?!"

Winter's Eve was the first of the longest nights in Rune, and by 3 p.m., night had completely fallen. No one was admiring the brilliant starlight overhead; the entire amusement park had been reduced to a chaotic battlefield by the devastation of the terrorist attack.

The arrival of night did not hinder Leonard's journey through the darkness; on the contrary, it sharpened his senses. He ran around the amusement park, searching for Klein's whereabouts.

By this time, the evacuation of the amusement park was in its later stages, with two-thirds of the crowd already evacuated. The park was littered with ruins destroyed by the cultists; the flashes of explosions and flames were blindingly bright in the darkness. Scattered tourists and staff scurried through the dangerous ruins to escape. What was once the happiest place in all of Backlund was now a scene of hell.

The official Extraordinary Team intervened very quickly, and the middle forces of the major churches responded swiftly, rushing as far as possible to the amusement park on the very edge of Backlund.

This was a meticulously planned diversionary tactic. The Sky Cult first used the hospital attack to cover up the little girl's whereabouts, and then used the little girl's whereabouts to cover up their actions at the amusement park.

The little girl absorbs energy during her actions, and the cultists cause riots in the amusement park. It's difficult to manage both at the same time, yet one cannot be ignored.

However, the church quickly realized the situation. The Church of the Night ultimately sent Gloria and another high deacon in different directions to investigate the mysterious little girl, while the remaining forces, apart from the extraordinary ones stationed to protect the stronghold, were mobilized to the amusement park as much as possible. The other two churches did the same.

The military reacted swiftly, dispatching troops and extraordinary officers to the rescue, far exceeding the total number of personnel mobilized by the three major churches. Leonard could hear soldiers everywhere swearing oaths to Margaret, then, blessed by the Valkyrie, charging into the battlefield to carry out their missions.

High-level combat power still relies on the major churches. Although the army has a large number of soldiers, most of them are ordinary soldiers without extraordinary characteristics, who can only rely on the Oath of Margarita to amplify their combat power.

The battlefield quickly became segmented: ordinary soldiers, mainly from the military, conducted large-scale search and rescue operations and evacuations, and were responsible for eliminating ordinary cultists who lacked extraordinary power; low-level extraordinary individuals and officers pursued low-level cultists and protected tourists and staff for safe evacuation; high-level extraordinary individuals, such as senior deacons of the Church of the Night and military leaders, began searching for apprentice priests wandering the battlefield to suppress the enemy's high-level combat power.

Due to his position, Leonard couldn't act rashly. After completing the basic announcements and evacuation procedures, Leonard began searching the court for Klein.

I believe Klein has the means to ensure that I can act safely without revealing my identity.

Ordinary extraordinary surveillance was completely ineffective in tracking Klein's location, so Leonard could only resort to the most primitive method: shouting.

Generally speaking, someone with such a heavy fate as Klein is bound to be at the center of the storm. In addition, given the extraordinary aggregation law, all we need to do is look towards the most chaotic battlefield.

Leonard eventually found Klein behind a bunker.

"Merlin! What are you doing here? How did it happen?"

"...Wait, Merlin, are you...alright?"

Klein leaned against the bunker, staring blankly at the ground, but his lips curled up in a wide grin as he let out a snicker.

Even when Leonard nudged Klein and waved his hand in front of his eyes, Klein remained unmoved, staring blankly ahead and smiling with his head down.

What do you see before you? Are you immersed in a beautiful illusion, or have you succumbed to immense terror?

This bizarre situation made Leonard's hair stand on end. He immediately grabbed Klein's shoulders and shook him violently back and forth.

Merlin! Merlin!

"Merlin, wake up!"

"...Stop shaking! Leonard!"

Klein slapped Leonard's hand away.

"I'm perfectly fine, hehe!"

Klein sprang to his feet with a thud, humming a little tune as he cheerfully brushed the dust off his clothes.

A bizarre feeling permeated Leonard's mind.

Leonard found this feeling strangely familiar, as if he had witnessed it for over a thousand years, so familiar that he could turn his complaints about Klein into a cheesy poem and sing it by Klein's bedside for three days and three nights.

But he doesn't seem... to be here.

The current Klein has forgotten his memories of more than 1,300 years. His former madness and control have been washed away with his memories, revealing the most authentic and pure Klein.

He found this feeling quite unfamiliar, and its impact on Klein made him feel subtly uncomfortable.

Klein should be light and free now. The madness that has been accumulating for thousands of years, the strategies that have been accumulating for thousands of years, and the divinity that has been struggling for thousands of years—all these heavy filth and mire should not taint Klein's soul at this time.

This madness, belonging to the old monster Klein, shouldn't be present in this Klein.

Leonard, however, felt an overwhelming sense of strange familiarity. Long memories flooded his mind, telling him that this was how the real Klein should be.

A happy and carefree smile, clear and simple, coupled with half or more madness, living freely in this rotten, damned world.

Is this a sign of joy, or the beginning of an anomaly?

Or perhaps... it's just a beautiful expectation of my own?

"Alright, Leonard!"

Klein stretched his limbs, rotating his wrists and ankles, like a magician about to step onto the stage, full of ambition and ready to put on a magnificent performance for the audience.

"It's time for us to fight back!"

Seeing Leonard's overly confident smile, his inner turmoil vanished.

He seemed to see the Klein from his memories once again, the Klein who always had everything under control. His smile was the same, carrying the joy and ease of someone in control, but beneath this relaxation lay a hint of madness.

This eerie posture always made those pupil-less eyes look terrifying. It always gave people a subtle, inexplicable discomfort, like a mosquito bite on the skin, so small as to be negligible, yet real in the mind of others, strange and dangerous.

Although he didn't know what had happened, Leonard realized that the Klein in front of him was not someone whose heart had been broken or who had lost his mind, but rather someone who had regained the state of mind that was rightfully his.

Who said he's crazy? He's in amazing form!

Leonard slapped his thigh in excitement.

"Very good, keep it up!"