Mystery: When the Fool Meets the Masked Fool

Chapter 474 Serres's Arrogance

Seeing Audrey slash her way off Herwin Lambis's head with a spinning leap, Edsack, who was unable to help, swayed slightly.

She seemed to want to widen her eyes and make a shocked expression, but unfortunately, she didn't have a head now and couldn't show any expression.

With Herwin Lambis's death, the trees outside the "soap bubble," which appeared enormous to them, rapidly "shrank" and "returned" to their normal size.

To be precise, the space they were in returned to its original position and normal size.

Edsack took a mirror out of his pocket, and Triss Chick, who was in a servant's room in Audrey's villa, leaped out of the small mirror, holding Edsack's head, and put Edsack's head back on her neck like a wife putting a hat on her husband.

Her original purpose was to seal off the surrounding space to prevent Herwin Lambis from escaping. However, Klein did a better job than her, so she didn't feel obligated to participate.

“I didn’t expect you could kill him so easily.” Edsack’s tone was slightly strange, and he looked at Audrey’s extraordinary belongings with a somewhat blank expression.

This was the first time she had ever seen someone use extraordinary items as talismans.

Now, they've gone from being partners to clients.

The phrase "cooperating with Audrey to kill Herwin Lambis" has been changed to "commissioning Audrey to kill Herwin Lambis".

"Then... when it's time to divide the spoils, you'll have to take a little less." Audrey smiled and released the machete from her hand, letting it fall towards the ground, then disappear into a transparent ripple in mid-air.

“I don’t need spoils.” Edsack slowly shook his head. “I just want him dead. His death is enough for me.”

“That works too,” Audrey nodded.

As the two were talking, Klein, who resembled Dawn Dantes, walked over, stepping on the fallen leaves.

“This isn’t over yet.” Klein produced a mask out of thin air with a warm smile. “Herwin Lambis, he’s not quite dead yet.”

After saying that, he put the mask on his face.

Edsack and Triss looked at Herwin Lambis's head on the ground in surprise.

Not completely dead?
His extraordinary characteristics are almost fully revealed; is that what you call not quite dead yet?
“Yes.” Klein nodded, reaching out a hand and grasping something in the air.

"I hope this place will truly emerge."

Then he pulled hard.

tear up.

The illusory curtain was torn open, and the definitions of illusion and reality briefly intersected, revealing Herwin Lambis walking around nearby. But his eyes were vacant, and his movements were slow, as if he were sleepwalking.

The order on Earth is temporarily distorted. When people are near death, they enter into false dreams, briefly lingering on their lives and maintaining their spiritual existence through a false and distorted life.

Klein extended his hand, making a "please" gesture.

"Do you have any questions for this spirit?" Klein asked.

“No.” Audrey shook her head.

“Neither do we,” Edsack shook his head as well. “I just want to die here.”

"Is this also your wish?" Klein looked at Audrey.

Audrey paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, I also hope he can die completely."

Snapped.

Klein snapped his fingers.

"Very good, then your wish has been granted."

A gust of wind blew past, and Herwin Lambis was silently turned into dust and scattered by the wind.

When people are killed, they die.

this is normal.

Conversely, it is wrong for a person to be killed but not die; this is a kind of "illness".

Although the physician who advises others to treat the "tragedy" has to pay an equal price, it is a fallacy in itself, and it is easy to correct.

At this point, Herwin Rambis's extraordinary qualities had also emerged.

I've reached the stage where I'm pretending to be a ghost or spirit.

Klein muttered to himself.

…………

The living room of the Serres home at 22 Minsk Street.

With Herwin Lambis's death, the priest sitting on the sofa looked at Serres, who was playing on his phone.

"Herwin Lambis is dead," the priest with clear eyes stated the established fact.

“Yes.” Serres put away his phone. “Herwin is dead. You chose Adam.”

Adam nodded without arguing.

"The war is about to end," Adam said calmly, as if he weren't talking about his own affairs, "and I will be promoted to a dreamer in the next few days."

“There’s no need to tell me this, is there?” Serres picked at his ear. “Although I did know it a long time ago.”

“You’ve helped me a lot,” Adam explained. “I remember you’re a collector. So, I wanted to give you something.”

One by one, black stone pillars rose up, supporting a magnificent and sacred church that replaced the villa and enclosed Him and Serres.

This is the Church of Adam's Bones, Adam's Kingdom.

Every pillar, every arch, and every dome here is inlaid with skulls of different races. Most of them are pale white, densely packed together, staring at the outsiders with empty eyes.

Transparent, distorted, and pained faces are highlighted on the walls, windows, and doors of the church, completely separating the interior from the outside world.

At the very front of the church stands a cross that is over a hundred meters tall.

In front of the cross, there are rows of black chairs with backrests.

Dressed in a simple white robe, with a light gold beard and a silver cross pendant, Adam stood beneath the cross, facing the rows of seats, like a pastor preparing to preach to his believers.

Serres sat in a relaxed, reclining position on a black chair with a backrest, looked at Adam in front of him, and shrugged.

Adam walked toward Serres, and specks of light appeared from all parts of the church, drifted toward Adam, floated into His hand, and gathered into a golden eye.

"These are your eyes from the time of the ancient sun god? Indeed, quite a fine collectible." Serres glanced at it. "What should I call it? What about the remains of a saint?"

"You can call it by any name you like." The eyeball detached from Adam's palm and slowly flew towards Serres.

Adam gave the eye that once belonged to Him to Seres.

Upon receiving the eyeball, Serres immediately realized that he had established a connection with the church.

This church exists based on this eye, and therefore, it has now become the divine kingdom of Serres.

Serres whistled: "So extravagant?"

“Since I am about to become a dreamer, then this kingdom of God has no meaning for me anymore,” Adam said calmly.

"The way you're saying that makes me feel like a junk collector." Serres laughed as he opened a portal of light and placed his eyeball inside.

So he does have a folding storage box called "Barrel Boy," but when it comes to storing his real collection, Serres doesn't put it with miscellaneous items.

"Do you have masks? I prefer collecting masks," Serres asked. "After all, I'm the Masked Fool."

“Yes,” Adam nodded. “Coincidentally, Herwin Lambis is dead. So, do you want the Psychological Review Board’s [Persona]?”

“Okay, okay,” Serres nodded. “As long as it’s not particularly ugly, I’ll take it. Of course, if it’s ugly but has a unique style, then I’ll take it too.” A seemingly ordinary mask appeared in front of Serres, except that the eyes were slightly rolled up, as if looking down on everything in front of it.

“Arrogance.” Serres recognized the emotion represented by the Persona. “To be honest, I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty kind person. Ah, that’s good. It’ll be good to experience what arrogance feels like.”

He grabbed the mask and pressed it against his face, but there was no reaction.

Serres pressed the mask against his face with both hands, looked up at Adam, and said, "Is there something wrong with your mask? I don't feel anything."

“Perhaps it’s because you’ve been arrogant enough,” Adam said with pity.

"What? Everyone knows I, Serres, am the easiest to talk to." Serres took off his mask and played with it in his hand. "Look at Klein, how well they're doing with me, much better than they were on their own before."

"And I have never discriminated against anyone."

“That’s because you don’t think they deserve to be discriminated against by you.” Adam saw through Serris’s thoughts at a glance.

“You’ve never considered them as ‘people,’ have you?” Adam’s tone was as if he were enlightening a lost believer. “To me, you’ve treated them as toys rather than as people.”

“You even treat yourself like a toy, instead of a living, breathing person.”

"This is not like Amon, who is unable to empathize because his species is different from humans, nor is it a superior being who looks down on humanity from a divine perspective."

"You don't see yourself as a god, nor do you possess divinity; you simply treat everyone as a toy."

"Including myself."

"Isn't this arrogant enough?"

“So that’s how it is. So I’ve always been an arrogant person?” Celeste stroked his chin. “Is that so? It seems quite amusing to have that label attached to me.”

“See, this makes my character even more complete.” Serres proudly put his hands on his hips.

Then, he opened the portal of light once more, and the scene behind it transformed into a wall covered with countless different masks.

The Persona mask, which had no physical form, solidified and gained physical form the instant it passed through the portal.

Serres found one of the empty spaces and hung up the mask, which was plain on the surface except for its slightly upturned eyes.

This mask became one of them.

“Yes,” Adam nodded, “that’s your humanity, I envy it.”

"Why should you envy me?" Serres retorted. "Is it because you lack humanity?"

Adam nodded without saying a word.

“Ha.” Serres chuckled.

The roles of counselor and listener were suddenly reversed.

"Do you really think you have no humanity?"

"Then let me ask you, if Amon and Klein both fell into the water at the same time, who would you choose to save?"

“No water can hold Amun, except the River of Eternal Darkness or the Sea of ​​Chaos. So I can only watch them sink,” Adam replied.

“Hmm, that makes sense.” Serres nodded. “Then let me ask you a different question. If you had to choose, between Amon and Klein, who would you choose to become the Lord of Mysteries?”

“If Klein hadn’t been facing Amon, I would have chosen Klein to become the Lord of Mysteries,” Adam admitted his thoughts. “But now, this match is no longer under my control.”

Snapped.

Serres snapped his fingers.

"Look, this is your humanity."

“You will be biased, you will have selfish motives, and when the highest interests are not involved, you will be more inclined to favor your own people rather than choose to abandon Amon after weighing the pros and cons.”

"This is your humanity."

"Perhaps when you first separated from the true Creator you only had divinity, but people always change, and so do angels."

"Over this long period of time, you have long been tainted by humanity, tainted by humanity that you yourself have not even realized."

"As for Adam, who was only divine, he died long ago, killed by the humanity that came from a father."

Adam pondered for a moment, then raised his head and looked up at the infinite height of the church.

"So... I had already regained my humanity long ago..."

"Haha, an angel king who only appears as a spectator can't even understand himself, this is really hilarious." Serres made no attempt to hide his laughter and his amusement.

Adam fell silent, and Serres' laughter ceased.

The church of bones fell silent.

A few seconds later, Adam spoke again: "If you see the world and everything in it as a toy, then who is the one playing with the toys?"

“You can guess.” Serres tilted his head and pointed to the chair next to him. “Sit down, don’t be shy, just make yourself at home in your own divine kingdom.”

Adam sat down in front of a chair and offered his guess: "Is it the Star God?"

“No, they are toys too,” Serres answered without hesitation. “Eh? Come to think of it, I am indeed quite arrogant. I can’t defeat any of those Star Gods, but that doesn’t stop me from seeing them as toys.”

"So, is it the reader who is looking at this sentence?" Adam guessed again.

"You've seen Klein's or Paddo's memories?" Serris asked instead of answering.

“The cat never covered up the book you gave me,” Adam replied.

“That’s true.” Serres nodded. “Unfortunately, you were wrong again.”

"Guess again, guess again." He held his chin with one hand, seemingly quite interested.

Adam thought for another minute and gave several answers, all of which were rejected by Serres.

"So the answer is: 'the toy itself,' right?" Adam gave the final answer.

“That’s right!” Serres clapped his hands. “How did you guess that?”

“I don’t know,” Adam shook his head, “but I guess that’s what you think.”

"Haha." A die appeared in Serres's hand. "The answer is actually quite simple."

"Since you are a toy, then you must be the one playing with it. Because a person's life, whether interesting or boring, absurd or epic, is their own choice."

"As for the arrangements from the more powerful, well, it's like playing an online game, being attacked by other players."

"You think this is interesting?" Adam asked in an affirmative tone.

“Of course,” Serres nodded.

"This game is all about having fun, and as for how it ends, well, it's all about having fun."

“Everyone comes into this world with nothing… oh, except Jia Baoyu,” Serres explained.

"So, no matter what you do, what you accomplish, or what you can ultimately take away, you've made a profit."

"So, since this game is a sure win, everything that happens in the game is naturally just for fun."

"Life, whether it's smooth sailing or not, is like a die, full of adventure and fun."

"You are the dice, you are the pieces, and you are the one playing the game."

"Just as the truth of the world is merely a joke, the ultimate meaning of all things remains only in simple laughter. Haha, this is truly a great joke."

(End of this chapter)