Lord of The Mysteries: Enigma

Klein's calm and amiable voice resounded through the vast chasms of the grey fog. His words resonated within Audrey's and Alger's hearts as they looked at him with a bit of reverence.

Nero smiled at their bearings and cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention, "Mr. Fool, would you please permit me to take the liberty of asking you to witness the trade?"

"It's nothing" Klein's serene voice rang out as his demeanor was lax but stern. Seemingly conveying his "great" existence.

"It is our honour" The three of them said in unison as they each took a bow. Alger bent his back with his right palm on the chest as Nero mimicked his demeanor, while Audrey held up her skirt and bent her knees slightly.

"Continue," Klein smiled with a slight gaze towards everybody.

Audrey and Nero soon finalised each detail. Audrey directed her curious gaze to Klein and asked in a curious tone, "Mr. Fool, would you mind making more attempts like this?"

Alger listened to her suggestion and with a tempting tone said, "Mr. Fool, don't you find such 'Gatherings' interesting?. Although your powers exceed our imagination there has to be certain tasks which you find tedious, perhaps we could carry out these missions."

Nero chuckled and added, "We also represent different factions. Maybe someday "You" can use our help. The young lady sitting next to you Mister has a lofty stature and jewels that even the wealthiest Viscount's can't afford she clearly is a Loen Nobel while the blue-haired man is a lackey of the Lord of Storms,"

Nero then pointed to himself and grinned, "And I am I, I have extensive and useful knowledge of The Beyonder world; I maybe quite useful to you "Great" Sir."

Audrey and Alger stared blankly at his words, 'Lofty stature and Jewels?, did he really find out everything about myself from these?' Audrey seemed to keep questioning herself, while Alger seemed astonished.

His mouth hung open as looked at him with caution, "Mr. Fool, I think it's a very good suggestion. As long as this Gathering becomes regular, you can totally leave certain things that are inconvenient for you to us. Of course, it has to be something within our capacities."

Nero's words made Klein's go into a dilemma, 'If I hold more gatherings it is easier to expose myself, especially to the blonde haired person. He's quite adept at identification, but with great risk comes greater reward; if I conduct this gathering I might be able to return back home' Klein inwardly lampooned.

Considering the fact that he was in control of the gathering's summoning and dismissal, any threat of exposure was within the confines of his control. The pros clearly exceeded the cons, so Zhou Mingrui rapidly made a decision.

He stopped his rapping as he smiled at the anticipative and perturbed gazes of the duo.

"I'm a person who likes a fair and equal exchange.

"Your help will not go unrewarded.

"Every Monday at three in the afternoon, try your best to be alone. After I make a few more attempts and figure out certain things, perhaps you can apply for a leave of absence ahead of time. You will no longer need to worry about being in inappropriate situations."

This was a form of agreement to their suggestions. Audrey seemed quite excited at the fact that the gathering would continue and pumped her fist making Nero chuckle with delight.

Nero was the first to speak. "Since we can't use our names here, we need to use some codenames. Since The Fool is numbered 0 from the tarot cards. Then, as a fixed, long-term, and secretive 'Gathering,' we should be uniform in our designations. I'll go first, my name is called The Tower"

Nero's sentence made Audrey frown before she continued. "You can call me Justice!"

"What about you Mister?", she asked the man sitting in front of her cheekily.

Alger frowned and deliberated for a few moments, "The Hanged Man"

"Alright, then we can be considered as the founding members of the Tarot Club!" Audrey was the first to blurt it out happily, only to look fearfully at the fog-concealed Zhou Mingrui. "Will that be alright, Mr. Fool?"

Klein shook his head in amusement, "You can decide these trivial matters by yourself"

Following that she looked at Nero, "Mr. Tower could you repeat the address once again?. I'm afraid that my memories might fail me"

Nero nodded, "Send the money to The Mercenary Guild, hand it over to the front desk and tell the receptionist Mysteries wants it"

After repeating it to herself silently thrice, Audrey said again in excitement, "I heard that tarot cards were invented by Emperor Roselle as a game. In fact, doesn't it come equipped with the power to divine the future?"

"No. Most of the time, divination stems from one's self. Everyone has something spiritual about themselves, allowing them to attune to the spiritual world and connect to information about themselves at an even higher level. However, ordinary folks are unable to notice this, much less be able to interpret the 'signs' they receive. This information will present itself with the help of divination tools. Let me raise a simple example, dreams and dream interpreters." Alger took a glance at Zhou Mingrui and seeing no response from him, he refuted Audrey's claim. "Tarot cards are, in fact, such a tool. It uses more symbolism and more logical elements to help us in conveniently and accurately interpreting the signs."

"Got it." Audrey nodded in agreement. Following that, she emphasized, "That's not what I meant. I'm not doubting the tarot cards, but I heard that Emperor Roselle had actually created another set of cards, secret and mysterious ones. They were paper cards which symbolized a particular unknown power. There was a total of twenty-two cards that he completed. Later on in life, he referenced them to create the twenty-two Major Arcana tarot cards which are used as a gaming tool. Was what I said correct?"

Nero smiled, "Yes, it's not a rumour Roselle actually created such cards. Its called the 22 Cards of Blasphemy"

Audrey and Alger instantly turned their heads to the enigmatic Tower, "Could you please explain more Mr. Tower" Audrey said with enthusiasm.

"For sure, Roselle witnessed The Blasphemy Slate which contains the 22 Pathways to The Divine. Using that he created cards which he referenced from Tarot Cards. These Cards are called The 22 Blasphemy Cards."

"Twenty two cards of Blasphemy …..", Audrey repeated with a longing tone.

At that moment, Klein's headache intensified. He felt that his invisible connection with the crimson stars and grayish-white fog was beginning to falter.

"Alright, that will be all for today's gathering," he said in a deep voice after making the decision immediately.

"By your will." Alger bowed his head respectfully.

"By your will" Nero said respectfully

"By your will." Audrey mimicked The Tower.

As Klein severed the connection, he said with a smile, "Let us look forward to the next gathering."

The 'stars' brightened once more as the crimson light receded like water. Just as Audrey, Alger, Nero heard Mr. Fool's words, their figures turned into a blur as they phased away.

In a second, the 'projection' shattered as the gray fog restored its silence.

******

"That was quite mysterious, why does the original Nero have an item that has a connection to Sefirah Castle?. Well putting that thoughts aside I'm finally strong enough to start digesting my potion in a new way."

Nero then paused before he laughed, 'Before that, I have to check what sequence I have to ascend next.'

Nero then prostrated himself and clasped his hand.

'Ruin Cast aside to a New Era,

The One Encoded to the World, The Being That is Enshrouded in Codes,

The Manifestation of All Powers, The Loophole in all Rules,"

Soon codes sprouted from Nero's body and covered him. Within a second, Nero was dragged to the Ciphered Realm.

Nero soon awoke into a realm, stars speckled in the distant space as thousands of sun and moons enshrouded the starry sky. In a lone center of the space, a huge weathered star speckled long table with twelve seats sat quietly.

Nero walked upto the seat of honour and sat quietly, he tilted his head up and saw thousands of small stars made up of codes. He then directed his gaze to the star speckled long table where a typewriter sat in front of him.

Nero waved his hand and soon a hologram appeared in front of him. There were ten symbols, two of the ten symbols were lit up. The first one was a magenta symbol symbolising the Demoness Pathway.

The second symbol was a reflecting sun which was golden yellow depicting the Sun Pathway. The third symbol was a gigantic silver snake forming a wheel that was connected to each other which was mercury.

Below the symbol were a singular text which made Nero's eyes lose focus as he yelled out in surprise, "What The Fuck!"

*****

A/N - MC looks like Minato