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"What is this situation?"
Watching Leonard and a child toss a ball back and forth on the gray fog, the Lord of Mysteries fell into deep contemplation. He even glanced around—just to make sure He hadn't miscalculated His destination, that this really was Sefirah Castle—before going back to staring blankly at the scene before Him.
Here's how it started: Recently, some evil gods suddenly stirred up trouble, plunging the entire Church of the Evernight Goddess into chaos. Leonard, as a high-sequence deacon, was sent on missions by direct divine oracle from the Goddess—meaning he hadn't set foot in Sefirah Castle for days. The Lord of Mysteries, whose productivity had somehow spiked from sheer annoyance at His partner's absence, plowed through all the backlog in one go and realized He actually had a few hours to spare.
The Angel of Darkness over there had already informed Him through prayer that the mission was wrapping up, and only the part of reporting to the Goddess remained. Considering Himself a mature deity, The Lord of Mysteries couldn't bring Himself to unreasonably insist that the Poet skip the report and come back immediately to see Him. He could only grit His teeth and tell the other to "come back soon."
But He still needed to find a way to pass the extra time. Remembering the last travel, He decided to try the same trick again and secretly visit other worlds to see how He and the Poet were getting along there.
But after He appeared in Sefirah Castle this time, He didn't see Himself, who had also become the Beacon of Destiny in this world. Instead, He saw a little boy who looked very much like Him as a child playing ball-tossing with this world's Leonard.
No way... The "me" here has progressed way too quickly. Does this mean even children are involved now?!
"You are?" Since the Lord of Mysteries hadn't bothered to conceal His presence, this world's Leonard quickly sensed that a new high-level being had entered Sefirah Castle. He warily pulled the child behind him, tensed into a defensive stance, and only then turned to look.
The moment He saw who it was, His whole posture softened.
"Klein?" This world's Leonard didn't stop to wonder why another Lord of Mysteries had just appeared before Him. Instead, He walked straight over, the child still in tow. "You're the Lord of Mysteries from another world, aren't you? Sorry—our Klein got a bit contaminated while holding back the Outer Deities. Now, every so often, He turns into a child for a few days. Just like you see here."
Maybe it was the responsibility of looking after this world's underage version of the Lord of Mysteries, but this Leonard seemed especially steady. His speech carried that calm, patient tone that only comes with raising a child.
A little too polite... The Lord of Mysteries wasn't used to Leonard being this formal, but He still nodded with restraint. "Is there anything I can help with?"
"It's not a problem now. Klein's been having versions of Himself from other worlds use Fooling, and the residual contamination is almost gone. According to His last divination, a few more rounds like this should finish it off."
"The main job now is probably just taking care of Him. In this form, even though Klein can still tap into the power of the Lord of Mysteries through His subconscious—without memories, He mostly just acts on instinct. Like a natural Mythical Creature."
"Probably because I'm His best friend—He listens to me more than the others in the Tarot Club. So when the contamination acts up, I'm usually the one here with Him. Now that you're here... if it's not too much trouble, could you watch over Him for a bit? There are a few urgent Church tasks I've been putting off..."
Alright, scratch that earlier thought about this Poet being polite! Even in another world, he still can't get away from his damn work! And he actually dares to ask me—someone he just met—to babysit another version of Himself!
Does that make any sense?!
Despite the chaos inside His head, the Lord of Mysteries kept His face perfectly still. "Go ahead. But I can only stay in this world for a short time. Be back before then."
"No problem! I'll be back within a few hours." This world's Leonard pressed a kiss to the young Klein's forehead, murmured a few more gentle reminders, and then hurried out of Sefirah Castle.
"Alright. Just you and me now. Hello there, little Zhou." The Lord of Mysteries gave a small wave, aiming for friendly.
A tentacle—from somewhere—smacked Him on the head.
The moment Leonard was gone, this world's Klein turned instantly hostile. Now He stared at the being before Him—the one who had, in His eyes, just "made Leonard abandon Him"—and dropped into a battle stance.
Somehow I feel like I've just poked a wild Pokémon... And I don't even have any Poké Balls on me!
The Lord of Mysteries rubbed the sore spot on His head, then eyed Himself in this world—back arched, glaring like an angry cat. For the first time in a while, He felt a flicker of unease.
But I already promised Leonard. Even if it's this world's version... He shook it off. Come on, it's just watching a kid. Watching myself. How hard can it be?
He tried another friendly smile.
A barrage of balls—appearing out of nowhere—came crashing down on Him. Bang. Bang. Bang. Some of them were even shot puts!
Oh, so you want to play, do you?! Fine—my authority over Sefirah Castle might not match yours here, but I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve! The Lord of Mysteries rolled up His entirely imaginary sleeves and waded into battle with Himself.
As a result, after just a few hours with a high-energy Mythical Creature—even one that happened to be Himself—the Lord of Mysteries was utterly exhausted. And honestly? Now He finally got why Amon was the way He was. If His own younger self was this unmanageable, Amon must have been downright impossible. At some point, someone must have just given up and let Him do as He pleased. And well—this was the result.
And when He was finally rescued by the Leonard who had returned again, The Lord of Mysteries was done for. He even recalled, for the first time in ages, why as Zhou Mingrui there were always a few painful days when He went home for the New Year—because the bunch of bratty kids at home were just too terrifying!!
Compared to meeting His younger self again, He felt He would rather go fight the Outer Deities for another three years now.
——From a certain perspective, the Leonard from that world, who could still maintain a smile while facing the constantly screaming, randomly throwing things, occasionally disappearing and suddenly attacking young Klein, was truly too powerful! He even suspected that Leonard could take on ten Outer Deities by Himself!
"Where did you go just now?"
By the time He rushed back to His own world, the Angel of Darkness was already there.
It seemed He'd wanted to see the Lord of Mysteries early too—He hadn't waited until the agreed time, but had come back to Sefirah Castle ahead of schedule.
Of course, to prevent this possibility, The Lord of Mysteries had left a note before leaving, so the Angel of Darkness didn't look too anxious now, only curiosity filling His gaze as He looked over.
"Need a hug," The Lord of Mysteries, disregarding His image, draped Himself over the Angel of Darkness, and said in a muffled voice, "I want to hug your Mythical Creature form."
"No problem." Although still puzzled, the Angel of Darkness still did as The Lord of Mysteries asked. A huge demonic wolf with black fur and green eyes soon appeared in Sefirah Castle. Against the backdrop of the massive demonic wolf, even The Lord of Mysteries seemed much smaller.
Nestling Himself entirely into the fluffy fur, The Lord of Mysteries finally relaxed. After maintaining this for a while, He then hugged His partner again, or more accurately, He completely turned into a pile of worms, all of which burrowed into the fur of the Mythical Creature form He had asked for. The whole pile of worms contentedly wriggled around in the wolf's thick fur until finding a comfortable spot to sprawl out.
Then He spoke—
"Promise me, Leonard,"
"No children. Let our family just be the two of us, okay?"
"Huh?" The Angel of Darkness blinked in confusion, looking as if He wanted to confirm again whether The Lord of Mysteries had been subjected to some unknown contamination.
"In short, no children! Absolutely not!" Once the thought of children arose, the worms curled up in the demonic wolf's fur even shivered.
"Okay, okay—no kids, we won't have any." The demonic wolf was already used to His partner slipping into this strange, anxious, utterly unreasonable mode. He stopped questioning the specifics and carefully lay down in Sefirah Castle. It was a simple movement, but He performed it with extreme slowness, giving every single Worm of Spirit on His body enough time to relocate—making sure not a single one got hurt in the process.
"Can you get bigger? I want to lick you."
He kept muttering—something about cats and dogs being different, about how only the alpha cat grooms others while dogs do it the other way around, about how the Poet shouldn't ask to groom Him so often because it sounded like a challenge. But despite all that, the Lord of Mysteries still obediently pulled together most of His Worms of Spirit, shifted into a small black cat—well, a large one—and lay down in front of the demonic wolf.
And sure enough, being groomed by that massive wolf slowly calmed Him down.
"Or if you really want one..." He thought of the Leonard from that other world, who, although tired from missions, immediately showed a gentle smile and became visibly happier upon seeing the energetic younger version of Himself, "...it might not be entirely impossible."
Then He started plotting—how, without involving any Outer Deity contamination, the Lord of Mysteries might produce an heir that combined His traits with those of the Angel of Darkness.
"Actually, I don't think that version of me really liked kids that much." After listening to the now-calm Lord of Mysteries explain what had happened, the demonic wolf nuzzled against the black cat's head, thoroughly ruffling its fur—earning himself a flash of claws—before hastily licking the mess smooth again. "He was just happy because He liked you—the you from that world. So seeing a little you made Him that excited, right?"
"Is that so？"
A third voice suddenly ringing out in Sefirah Castle startled both Mythical Creatures. The demonic wolf instinctively stood up, assumed an attacking posture, and intended to block the Lord of Mysteries, who was still in cat form.
"Sorry, I mean no harm." Appearing with hands raised was another Klein, also dressed in a black robe.
"Klein?" The Angel of Darkness transformed into human form and looked bewilderedly at this other Lord of Mysteries before Him.
"Hello, Leonard of this world," the newly appeared Klein showed a gentle smile, "May I ask you for some advice?"
"You can, I suppose..." Looking again at the Lord of Mysteries still in cat form, and seeing no objection from Him, the Angel of Darkness hesitatedly nodded, "But I don't know what I can do for you."
"It's okay, just tell me what 'my' Leonard's thoughts towards me might have been when He did certain things in these situations."
"To be honest, I want to tell 'my' Leonard how I feel. Once my contamination is completely cleared, I mean. It's just... I'm not really sure how He feels about me. Getting a chance like this, to ask for advice—it's kind of wonderful, actually."
You've got to be kidding me! You came all the way here just to ask my Poet about this?! Don't you have a demonic wolf of your own?!
The Lord of Mysteries angrily shrank Himself a bit smaller, then completely nestled into the arms of Leonard, who was still chatting with the newly appeared Lord of Mysteries from another world, and then kept pawing at the hair of the Angel of Darkness holding Him.
Seeing this, the Lord of Mysteries from the other world somehow burst out laughing.
"Sorry, actually I came initially to apologize."
"Although I used to turn into a child form before, I wasn't usually that much trouble. And after I recovered just now, I realized I must have put you through a lot, so I thought I should come and apologize."
"But seeing this now, I think I understand why that version of me did what he did." The other Klein glanced at the Lord of Mysteries—who was diligently trying to wrap His tail around the Angel of Darkness's wrist—and the smile on His face grew even wider. It was that unmistakable kind of smile, the one that said: I see it all. I get it completely. We're trained not to laugh easily, but this... this is just too funny.
"Back then, with only instincts left, that version of me probably sensed something uneasy in how 'my' Leonard treated you. So he subconsciously took extreme measures."
The Lord of Mysteries, still maintaining cat form, simply shrank entirely into the Angel of Darkness's embrace, deciding that from now on, He would not hear a single word from another version of Himself.
After all, right now He was just a little kitten, and little kittens shouldn't have to hear bad things.