Tower of God: Sequence Strength

Chapter 117: A Thief



An Inverted Hanged Man, the Tower and a Devil.

These were the three cards that Winston had seen in his dream, and the meaning of which, although was quite clear, eluded him still.

As a member of the Mysteries pathway, his ability to see through abstract symbols and divination was quite good. He could even infer such meanings through a single look.

Tarot divination was, after all, fairly straightforward. Perhaps there was a reason he had subconsciously used Tarot divination even in his dream. The symbols and meanings were already established and set in stone.

There was no need to rack his brains to figure out the supposed 'true meaning' behind a specific symbol.

But that was the problem.

It was sole fact that he did not need to do that that troubled him.@@novelbin@@

Why?

Because the symbol associated with the three Tarot cards was the follows.

The Inverted Hanged Man symbolized acceptance of the current state of affairs. It shuns rigidity in the face of change, and promotes the act of surrendering to the flow. In retrospect, it may also hint towards reflection of one's actions and taking a break in the face of adversities.

The Tower symbolized destruction in the truest sense. It hinted at sudden change that will, and shall be distasteful and disastrous in some way or form; whether it be financial, emotional, physical or psychological loss. It was a Tarot most used to symbolize tough times, where one must brace themselves for a bumpy ride.

And the last one, the Devil. It suggests feelings of entrapment and being stuck between two things- instant gratification and long term benefits. But in this case, it symbolized something else.

A trap, one that he had no idea he was trapped in. In essence, he had 'sold his soul' to the devil, in that he had walked into a trap knowing nothing about it and playing along anyway.

And finally, the last bit. The words he had found inscribed on the paper.

'Death is near.'

Damn... Winston could not help but click his tongue when he thought about such things.

It simply made no sense.

To his knowledge, and the way his divination had subconsciously responded, there was a person controlling everything behind the scenes. But that was impossible.

His Visionary self should have instantly been made aware of the one doing so. But when he thought about it further, it seemed not so far fetched.

After all, the gaze he kept feeling wasn't known by his Visionary self. There were indeed people that could hide from his power.

And the fact he realized such a thing so late made it all the more chilling.

He had never even realized it, but he was being consciously steered away from believing in his own spirituality.

And that was the reason Winston had a really ugly expression on his face as he appeared above the battlefield where Hell Joe was trying to take out Bam, Yuri and Garam.

He could stop such an expression, but he let it out openly.

I need to progress in Sequence... he thought grimly.

At this point, he wasn't sure how many of his decisions were truly his own.

He had previously wished to take on Bam's sorry fate of having to go against Jahad empire, thus, declaring war on them with his avatars. Furthermore, he had attained information about them using his Visionary self and further into the goal, he had challenged two of them openly to gauge their strength.

Looking back on it, it was truly a strange decision to make for him. It was... too hasty. Too rash. Even a bit stupid.

He had found his own people. People he could call friends. Even family. It was reasonable that he wished to shoulder their burdens.

But it was simply not like himself to jump into the fray and declare war so fast.

Slowly, everything in his mind began to fall into place.

He felt like he was back on the floor of tests; unable to do anything against an opponent which was far too elusive to see- being reduced to a mere chess piece in a large game between powerhouse.

To make matters worse, he didn't know who held the reins. There weren't many that could escape his Visionary powers.

The simplest suspects were the administrators. Hence, it was logical for Winston to assume that the perpetrator had an administrator on his side, or even multiple of them- or was, most likely, an administrator themselves.

And all of it had a simple solution.

Progressing in Sequence.

Getting closer to godhood and ascending beyond what could bind him.

Winston closed his eyes, spreading his senses all around.

After his potion fully digested, he had become able to actually visualize the sefirah castle. The boundless gray fog that stretched on for all of eternity. Endless and infinite.

And the gateway to the position of Above the Sequence- and for the Mysteries group, the

Lord of Mysteries.

He opened his eyes and gazed down upon the figures.

Once he got to Sequence 3, he would be able to descend into the sefirah castle with his spiritual body. And after fully digesting it, with his physical one. He knew of these things with

absolute surety.

As a beyonder from all three pathways, his susceptibility to the sefirah castle was unreal.

It stood to reason that he could know of these things instinctively.

Winston breathed. And then, his eyes exploded into a thousand colours.

A faint gray fog began to gather behind him, rapidly transforming into a supercilious

phantom.

It was a large stone door with engravings upon it. The door glowed with an otherworldly sheen, casting it's light down upon the world.

It held little significance since he wasn't trying to banish anyone here. But it served the purpose it was supposed to- being cool.

Solemnly, he looked down at the crimson figure of Hell Joe who had noticed him at this point.

Then, he opened his mouth and proclaimed.

"You hold the embers of a dead God." He said. His eyes drilled deep into Hell Joe's spirit,

taking in the vision.

What he saw was... ineffable. It was not something that made sense in the truest of cosmic

laws and will.

It was an abomination. A blasphemy against creation, a disgusting mockery of all matter, force and order. Unnatural, twisted, monstrous was the thing.

A swirling mass of all colours imaginable and unimaginable that coalesced into a... being. No, even calling it a being was giving it a shape. It simply... was.

Winston knew what it was. He wiped the small tricke of blood that flowed out of his eyes. He was lucky it was a budding administrator. If it had been a complete one, or even a half formed one, he would have lost control in a second, taken over by divinity and corrupted by the spirituality of the true form if a God.

Winston smiled. "I'll take them away from you now."

As his words landed, a notable shift happened in the area.

The large clearing which was collecting shinsu at a rapid pace around Hell Joe suddenly

paused.

"What the?" Hell Joe paused. The heartbeat. It paused. The breathing ceased.

The power that coursed through his body just a few moments ago began to ebb away at a rapid

pace, leaving him behind.

His eyes widened instantly as he felt his grasp on the shinsu slip away. His lips quivered in shock and a breaking sound, akin to the chimes of a temple bell began to sound as his armor

fell apart.

"no..." He managed to squeeze out of his mouth.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" A sickening scream escaped from his mouth. And he fell.

His sorry figure tore through the shinsu. His wings made out of light began to crumble as his

weight carried him down. There was a certain unwillingness in his expression; alongside

anguish, pain and the unmistakable feeling of anger.

Alas, there was nothing to be done.

Without his powers, Hell Joe lost everything. His powers, his status and most importantly...

His dreams.

There was no one that would pay him any attention anymore. No one even watched him

impact the ground.

Winston watched as the shinsu dispersed. He felt the lingering gazes of the three figures that were floating on towards him on a blue platform.

He smiled. His grip tightened around the throat of the strange creatue he had snatched from hell Joe. The budding administartor. A god in the making, coming equipped with an incomplete mythical creature form.

"Well well. Aren't you a great object for experimentation..." The creature in his hands looked similar to a lamprey combined with a stingray, but Winston knew it was anything but. It was the child of the administartor, or perhaps the administrator itself. It was always difficult to

kill gods.

Take anything in Lord of Mysteries for example. Each god had various backup plans for their backup plans which would result in their revival. if even that failed, they had 17 more backup plans for the same. It was simply absurd.

Though not to say every 'God' was the same. Frankly, Gods in Lord of Mysteries were a

different breed.

They were more analogous to cockroaches. Cockroaches that carried the firepower of small supernovas sure, but cockroaches nonetheless. You thought you killed a God?

Nah bro. Better luck next time.

But even if the two couldn't be compared, Winston was sure the administartors had some revival method. Gods were, after all, called as such for a reason.

He narrowed his eyes at the strange creature. He would not fuse with it, even though he could.

He spirituality could mess up his ascension to the Lord of Mysteries- similar to how characteristics of non-adjacent pathways could simply softblock you from accomodating the corresponding sefirah.

There was also the chance of the underlaying spirituality corrupting his psyche - similar to Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth in the original franchise.

He turned around to look at the gigantic door behind him. With a simple command, the door

connected to his castle.

With a gentle push, the door turned slightly ajar and Winston watsed no time in throwing the

poor creature through the thing. Though not before delivering a sharp sting of lightning to it

to make it unconscious.

On the other side, the creature was grabbed by his Death Pathway avatar who looked silently

at the creature in his hands.

Finally, as the Door closed, Bam and the two ladies finally reached him.

"Mr. Winston!" Bam exclaimed, his face beaming with a wide smile. Momentarily, Winston found himself caught dumbfounded. Then, a similar smile blossomed

on his face as well.

Wow... Didn't know a simple smile could convey so much. Floating over, he boarded the blue platform and met up with his... younger brother. Yeah. That feels about right.

As he landed, he was instantly taken into the arms of none other than Yuri Ha Jahad. The

princess herself.

Instantly, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and smiled at him.

"Man! That was something else! How did you defeat that guy so quickly!? I guess irregulars

are just built different huh?!" She ruffled his hair which was uncovered by a hat.

Inwardly, Winston felt a tad bit embarassment at being treated as such; but he let it go for

now.

But momentarily, he also wondered.

Why did I fight her to begin with? Was it merely a test on my part? His eyes narrowed.

imperceptibly to others.

Or was it... sigh! Man. This is getting far too ridiculous.

...

...

A/N: This chapter is of an acceptable length. I'm quite satisfied with how this chapter turned

out. Also, volume 2 will end in 10 chapters, plus or minus.

Anyways, there was something I wanted to ask the readers.

Anyone remember than one fanfiction about Re zero, where, instead of Subaru, Ainz from

Overlord gets transported into Lugunica Royal Capital? From there on, he joins Emilia Camp, makes everyone fawn over him through misunderstandings and at one point, even questions the royal council and humiliates them.

I wished to read that again but can't find it. Did the original author delete it? If not, can

anyone tell me the name and how I can find it? Anyways, cheers~~