Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Then, the two people behind the shield saw the light.

Pure light, pristine white light, emerged from the pillar of clouds, piercing the sky and transforming into enormous wings. These wings covered an area of ​​several thousand meters in radius, their translucent outlines revealing the perfectly preserved Vatican architecture. And the number of wings exceeded one hundred pairs.

There are at least one hundred angels here. And each of them has the combat power to annihilate a well-defended modern fortress complex in a direct battle—some of them folded their wings into spears of light, shattering the second wave of nuclear bombs into large, scattered sparks before they even exploded.

“It seems we haven’t come to the wrong place.” Alice gently tapped her forehead. “The Papacy certainly has value to the angels. I suspect that those children we haven’t found, those chosen after divine revelation, must be hidden there, inside the Papacy’s Grand Palace. And those angels won’t allow these children to die.”

Angels don't care about the lives of ordinary people, but they do care about the safety of the chosen children. This argument was personally verified by Alice in Boston. Her subsequent control of the Americas and her sweeping conquest of several nations were primarily aimed at finding these chosen children—but she failed. The children vanished without a trace, leaving no online or written records. Therefore, she deduced that these children had likely been taken in by angels or their subordinate forces. And in this world, the most likely force to become a pawn of the angels, possessing both immense influence and power, is the Papacy.

Therefore, influenced by her own reasoning and a few distracting thoughts, she decided to make the Papacy her primary target. However, when she arrived at the outskirts of the Papacy and discovered that her usual intelligence methods, such as satellite observation and information gathering, were useless, her already 50-60% chance of success immediately soared to over 95%—there must be something fishy going on inside the Papacy, and if she wanted to find out its hidden secrets, she would simply use a nuclear bomb to destroy it.

—Anyway, I won't feel bad even if I make a mistake.

This was Alice's thought, and driven by her inner impulse, she made a decision with more decisiveness than ever before. And the moment the nuclear flame ignited, she achieved her desired result.

"Everything is going smoothly; now it's time to reap the rewards," she murmured, as a new spell rapidly formed in her hands.

Zhao Yingkong, the main personality who hovered near her using her abilities, glanced at her with a slightly strange look.

"You're just lucky," she scoffed.

“Luck? I don’t think so.” Alice tapped her head. “My thinking was indeed a little flawed before, so I made some inappropriate responses. But now that I’ve figured it out, some details that I hadn’t noticed before have also come to mind.”

"What...are you saying?"

“Didn’t I tell you before? This is a hint.” She tossed the prepared spell into the air, watching it dissipate into the atmosphere. Then she turned her head and glanced sideways at Zhao Yingkong, the main personality. “My brain is under my own control. Whether it’s my subconscious or conscious mind, they won’t do anything outside of my plan.”

Her words came to an abrupt halt, for in the next instant, the angelic spear of light struck from the area where the Holy See was located, traversing the void, and then shattered into pieces upon impact with the invisible barrier in front of her.

The war has begun.

Author's Note:

..........................................

Losing fifty favorites every day, I don't even feel a jolt of emotion _(:з」∠)_

Chapter 72 The Distorted Person

The sky was scorched, and the atmosphere generated a massive discharge due to the impact of high-energy particles. When Alice and Zhao Ying, the main personality, launched their attack on the location of the Holy See aboard the third round of nuclear bombs, the energy structures of two angels were immediately destroyed, and their bodies disintegrated into scattered light.

There were over a hundred angels in total, so the death of two wasn't a major blow. As always, they showed no emotion or thought. They simply remained silent, silently counterattacking the two's attacks—silently advancing, silently fighting, silently killing, silently dying.

Their formation will not be chaotic, their movements will not be sluggish, their judgment will not be wrong, and their offensive will not be hesitant.

They are machines, weapons far more technologically advanced and intelligent than Alice's mechanical army. Even without operators, they still demonstrate extremely high responsiveness. The true nature of divinely created weapons is fully revealed here. Although they are weaker than Alice's forces in terms of overall strength, completely annihilating them is not something that can be done in a short time.

【Angel.】

Alice constructed her spells at high speed, while dozens of battle dolls hovering behind her unleashed devastating high-energy lasers at the angels' formation to create a distraction. She raised an eyebrow, and the surrounding air, heated to a plasma-like semi-solid state, solidified. This aberrant air then formed a barrier, blocking hundreds of incoming light feathers.

She excels at playing the role of a 'butterfly flitting through a barrage of bullets.' And in response to the barrage of light feathers and interwoven wing slashes that create a network of firepower, she unleashes another brand-new nuclear explosion.

—If humans don't use tools, what's the difference between them and monkeys?

Compared to the angels in the original Bible, these guys seem more like the secondary creations in the Divine Comedy. Humanoid, with wings, and holy light—the angels in the original records didn't look like this at all.

A massive amount of light and heat was released outward from the center of the explosion. If viewed from space, it would appear as a bright spot, like a new star, suddenly bursting onto the Earth's surface. However, after the light faded, the forms of the angels remained.

[Is it light radiation absorption or network load sharing?]

She squinted, trying to glean as much intelligence as possible from her adversaries during lulls in the fighting. The more she fought these guys, the more she sensed something amiss.

Because she had taken the time to read the original texts and carefully researched the origins and evolution of various myths in 'this world,' she knew that the angels in mythology were not all humanoid creatures with light wings. In the oldest records, angels were actually gods of various nations who were defeated in their struggle against Yahweh and thus demoted from deities to Yahweh's servants. Although their status declined, the essence of their power and their physical form remained unchanged.

In other words, if we truly consider the myths and legends of this 'world' as the basis for our research, then the angels she is currently encountering should be various alien creatures with different power systems, rather than a group of winged birdmen who look exactly alike!

[And they're a bunch of mindless, weapon-like birds who operate solely according to fixed logic and patterns of behavior!]

Alice thought with a touch of annoyance. She wasn't close to the very heart of the war, so she still had room to think during the lulls in the fighting. She continued weaving the spells in her hands, deftly performing one maneuver after another amidst the angels' attacks.

The sky is a perfect stage, and she can dance without wings. By utilizing anti-gravity fields, she is even more agile than those angels with wings on their backs.

She wasn't afraid of the gods of the nations who were the origin of angelic texts; in fact, she would be more at ease if they were truly those gods. Because gods possess myths, deeds, and legends. And for her, these myths and legends could become her weapons in battle. Even if these degraded gods of the nations had nothing to do with those myths, as long as they held the title, her magic would be effective.

However, the same strategy had no effect on these winged angels from Dante's Divine Comedy. This is because they are merely mindless weapons, lacking any concrete origin and simply occupying the concept of 'angel'. And it is precisely for this reason that the power of mythology has little effect on them.

Just as a poison that is just right to kill a human is merely a potent anesthetic or has no effect on an elephant, a spell that is miraculously effective against a specific angel is unlikely to yield significant results when dealing with a massive multitude that embodies the concept of 'angels'. Spells like 'Lost Eden' are ultimately rare, and against multiple angels, such time-consuming and costly magic becomes quite useless.

They weren't useless, but after weighing the cost-effectiveness, Alice found that the results of using ritual magic were not as good as simply bombarding the enemy with general-purpose magic cannons.

That's why I need a combatant with absolute destructive power.

Her gaze shifted to Zhao Yingkong, the main personality who was weaving through the angelic battle formation like a leaping shadow. Having reached the fourth rank, she felt almost no pressure dealing with these divinely created weapons—the angelic wings and energy impacts couldn't harm her, while she could easily penetrate their defenses and destroy their internal energy structures. Within minutes, she had shattered nearly ten angels, their fragments scattering into chaotic particle turbulence in all directions.

The total number of angels exceeded one hundred, but it was only one hundred. These divinely crafted weapons always went all out when they attacked, so the battle would only become easier as the enemy's numbers dwindled. And for Zhao Yingkong, who could wipe out one-tenth of the angels in a matter of minutes, annihilating them should only be a matter of time.

however……

Alice frowned. She noticed that the number of angels had not actually decreased. Even though Zhao Yingkong had killed nearly a tenth of them, their total number remained unchanged.

[Resurrection or reorganization? This truly reflects the Legion's style of warfare.]

She thought to herself, her body drifting with the scattered energy tides in the space towards a more advantageous vantage point. The spell she maintained in her hands quietly dispelled, its release directed towards the area of ​​space where the angels were most densely concentrated.

The next moment, the sky was filled with rainbow-like radiance! The radiance enveloped most of the angels in an instant, and at the end of the radiance was the great palace where the Papacy was located!

[Seven-Colored...Magical Cannon!]

The space trembled as a result.

..................................................................

Meanwhile, above the Papacy, as a streak of rainbow light, like a tsunami, hurtled straight towards the Papacy, only to shatter into pieces upon the sudden unfolding of a pure white light barrier, the hundreds of thousands of believers praying within the city gasped in slight fear. But when the light barrier proved its strength, firmly withstanding the rainbow light—enough to instantly vaporize a mountain range—their fear transformed into fervent prayers and enthusiastic cheers.

The novice believers became devout believers, and the devout believers became fanatical believers. This single act of resisting a single blow was enough to glorify the ancestors of all the mortals who participated in this battle—they cried out in praise, showering God and His believers with every beautiful word and glorious light. At the same time, through this praise, they hoped that their own lives would be blessed and truly endure.

The city was enveloped in a fanatical belief, which in turn permeated the light barrier, making the already somewhat ethereal barrier, weakened by the rainbow light, even more solid. This solid protective wall, in turn, fueled an even more fervent faith.

The city had gone mad—no, perhaps for the ordinary believers protected by the light barrier, the spectacle before them was the key to pulling them out of their madness. Their convictions were strengthened, and their own aura and power were elevated accordingly.

Meanwhile, somewhere within the Vatican, in a secluded room, a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses looked up at the sky.

It's Qi Tengyi.

Qi Tengyi, who had retreated in the previous battle, revealing his defeat to show his attitude.

If Alice could glimpse the figure inside the church, at least a small part of her previously devised plan would have to be overturned. While it wouldn't significantly alter the overall outcome, it would drastically change her modus operandi.

His gaze fell upon the rainbow light that covered almost half the city. Even with the aid of intelligence, he still possessed other weaknesses—he could easily assess the current situation and extract the fragments of information he sought. But regardless, his physical body remained fragile.

It is relatively fragile.

A new era has arrived... Yes, indeed a new era for the future of this world.

Qi Tengyi sighed softly. His gaze lingered briefly on the two people fighting the angel horde. After confirming their safety, the mental energy he had previously expended diminished, and he shifted his attention to the section that required more concentration.

He arrived at the Vatican six hours earlier, and now, everything was going according to plan.

Miss Alice should have already noticed my hints to her. Although her mind is very rigid, directly interfering with her judgment is practically an impossible task. But since she harbors deep hatred for the Papacy, all that's needed is to draw it out. This turbulent emotion will be enough to make her decide to 'send troops to the Papacy' based on her own thoughts and decisions. Then, her attention will be successfully drawn to this region.

He thought to himself, gently tapping his forehead.

Before him lay the chosen children, gathered by the Vatican, lying haphazardly in this hidden chamber—a plan Alice had been prepared to complete at great cost, which he had ended before it even began, and now everything was under his control.

He clenched his fist gently.

"Finally, we've come this far. I've done the last part of what I can for everyone. Now, all that's left is to eliminate the last loopholes."

Qi Teng was lost in thought, his mind wandering over what he was doing.

—In his encounter with the main personality Zhao Yingkong, he deliberately fought to a draw, because only in this way could he inflict sufficient mental strain on her while simultaneously diminishing her fighting spirit. This forced Zhao Yingkong to remain unable to recover her full strength before the arrival of the sixth day. And as long as she couldn't recover, she would naturally cooperate with others.

He knew what she wanted: revenge. But she feared that the Supreme God would completely annihilate her once he knew all this information. Therefore, she planned to find a time before the horror movie ended to completely devour her alternate personality in an attempt to break through to the fourth tier. In doing so, she would complete her revenge before the Supreme God killed her.

Qi Teng knew he couldn't help her in this regard, but Alice had a way. However, the two were on different levels, making dialogue difficult. Therefore, to create a space for equal dialogue with Alice, a high-energy skirmish was necessary. And after that, Zhao Yingkong, exhausted, indeed agreed to Alice's cooperation plan.

—As expected.

His plan was also to stir up hatred for the Papacy in Alice's mind. In reality, it didn't matter whether it was the Papacy or not; he just needed a place, a place where Alice could be chosen as a target. Alice's deepest hatred was for the Papacy, so he invoked that concept. If Rome was the most vivid place in Alice's memory, then the location bombed by the nuclear bomb would be the Italian capital.

—Because he was very clear about his own identity.

I am the envelope, the envelope carrying a message. And since I am an envelope, there must be someone to receive it. So, no matter where I end up, the recipient will find me. Therefore, I only need to choose a location that Alice thinks is an important area, and then wait there for the recipient to arrive.

Alice hated the Papacy most, so that place was the Papacy. The chosen children gathered by Ziteng ensured that the angels would concentrate in this area. After their battles with the angels, they would inevitably stop here and investigate carefully. And when the recipient arrived, they would surely notice 'her' and successfully gather the necessary intelligence.

In this way, Zhao Yingkong's alter ego was preserved. The team also gained the key to breaking the deadlock. By secretly harming Wang Xia and Zhu Wen, the lives of the newcomers could be preserved to the greatest extent possible.

There's no need to worry about Zheng Zha, as I've already removed his fatal calamity through 'Wang Xiaoxiao'. As for Zhang Heng, the argument at the villa planted the seeds of his troubles; while it might make him overly sensitive and obsessive, he should now be able to clear some of those distractions. Zhan Lan, I used 'Lost Eden' to make her clarify her relationship with Zheng Zha, so her future grudges will be gone. As for Xiao Honglu… let Miss Alice handle that brat.

With that, everything was ready. Everyone had been arranged meticulously. He had done all he could—he gently rubbed his temples, feeling that nothing should be missing.

So, all that's left to do is wait for the recipient to arrive.

Author's Note:

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Today was another day with 50 drops. _(:з」∠)_

Section 73, Day 5

The angels' regenerative abilities exceeded Alice and her companion's expectations. Even the Rainbow Demon Cannon, whose trajectory axis temperature exceeded 12,000 degrees Celsius and was powerful enough to create a neon effect in the inert gases of the atmosphere through electrical discharge, could not completely suppress them. Although the attack destroyed nearly two-thirds of the angels in one go, in less than half a second, an equal number of new angels were born from somewhere within the Holy See and immediately filled the gaps in the defenses caused by the previous casualties.

In half a second, Alice knew she couldn't kill the remaining third.

She couldn't, and neither could Zhao Yingkong—perhaps because the previous battle with Saito Hajime had taken a heavy toll, or perhaps because they needed to conserve their strength to deal with more important enemies. At this moment, although Zhao Yingkong was strong, she did not demonstrate the absolute suppression of mortals by the fourth rank—she did not use any power derived from the Flame, but merely relied on her superhuman strength and speed to hunt down the angels.

She was incredibly fast, killing an angel every three seconds on average. However, the angels regenerated much faster than she could move – provided the total number did not exceed a hundred, for every angel she defeated, ten Heavenly Attendants with combat power equal to the fallen would rise from her radiance.

Angels are not particularly destructive because they only have a few attack methods: sharp and swift light feathers for long-range suppression, vast and powerful light wings for mid-range area suppression, and light mist swords that rely mainly on close combat and can erode, decompose, and reconstruct matter and energy. These three simple methods cover almost every aspect of angels as combat units, making them a powerful combination that can handle various situations.

However, while this combination was superior, it was only effective against enemies of similar strength. Neither Alice nor Zhao Yingkong were on the same level as individual angels. Therefore, it didn't take long for their advantageous combat combination to be countered by the two using their speed and skill respectively. This significantly reduced the angel's threat level.

However, a decrease in threat level does not equate to an increase in the rate of kills. And as long as this obstacle remains unresolved, the situation will inevitably reach a stalemate.

Because the rate of killing cannot keep up with the rate of regeneration, even a contest of energy consumption cannot deplete the reserves of both sides in a short period of time. This is what is meant by being helpless. At least temporarily, until the robot legions have assembled nearby, or until the Great Library equipped with its macro cannons has reached the skies over Europe… helplessness.

They could see a connection between the angels' repeated resurrections and the prayers of the hundreds of thousands of believers within the Papacy. If they could find a way to address this connection, they could achieve twice the result with half the effort. However, the Papacy had now become a massive oversight body, rendering spells and mental manipulation useless within its sphere of influence.

Without a doubt, Alice will ultimately emerge victorious in this battle. But that will take time, a great deal of time. Meanwhile, the battle above the Papacy has reached a stalemate, unlikely to end quickly.

—Time is thus inevitably wasted.