Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Aren't you going to ask me why?" Esdeath tilted her head slightly, looking at her.

“You will tell me,” the girl at the edge of her vision replied calmly.

"That's so much like your style, exactly like the you in my dreams." A strange blush suddenly appeared on the Imperial General's face. His eyes became even more dangerous than before. "Ah, the same indifference, the same aloofness. Whenever I close my eyes, I see myself in my dreams being defeated by you, being repeatedly tortured and ravaged by you in various ways. And that feeling... it's truly irresistible!"

“I think… I might have fallen for you. My lovely lady, I don’t know whether to call you Aria or Alice. Although I’m used to being in control, if it’s you… I don’t think being controlled is such an unacceptable thing.”

"As long as... you can defeat me just like in my dream!"

The next moment, her figure suddenly disappeared from the spot, and immediately afterward, a terrifying gas explosion suddenly erupted in front of the girl with the scythe!

Her sword met her scythe, and black flames clashed with azure ice in mid-air!

Esdeath saw, as she had hoped, an expression on the girl's face that wasn't indifferent or calm—she almost wanted to categorize it as shyness at being confessed to. But she also knew that the expression on Alice's face at that moment had absolutely nothing to do with what she imagined. It was a strange look, as if Alice were examining a rare insect. And this gaze, more like a study than a condescending look, excited her even more.

“Young lady,” Alice’s tone held an unexpected maturity beyond her years. Her eyes were deep and unfathomable as she effortlessly swung her giant scythe, deflecting Esdeath’s seemingly inevitable sword strike. Then—

“Some things shouldn’t be said carelessly.” She flipped the scythe handle and punched Esdeath in the stomach with a speed Esdeath couldn’t even react to. As Esdeath arched up like a shrimp, an uppercut launched the unsuspecting Esdeath into the air.

“Speaking out will come at a price.” A wisp of black flame appeared at her fingertips, and the next moment, this fiery finger was about to pierce Esdeath’s heart!

The general's eyes widened; the physical pain and mental excitement gave her an even stronger reflexes. She had adjusted her position just before the finger reached her, her prepared attack poised to strike!

"The Demon God manifests, Mahapadma!" Her voice was accompanied by her power, and her power suddenly erupted!

In an instant, time stood still. Everything turned into a silent gray.

However, only all things are gray and white. Among all things, there is still one that is colorful.

In her eyes, filled with excitement mixed with disbelief, the finger burning with black flames pierced through her defenses with unstoppable force and struck her chest! With a tremendous roar, her chest and back were completely pierced through, the powerful impact engulfing her and shattering her gray world like a suddenly falling meteor, returning her to reality—slamming heavily onto a piece of ground at least two kilometers away.

'BOOM! A mushroom cloud of explosion rose slowly, and a few seconds later, a strong wind blew Alice's hair.'

A deep sound resounded, accompanying the pulse of the earth.

"As expected, as expected, you never disappointed me!"

Alice raised her black giant scythe, and a wall of flames suddenly rose before her. She saw a huge, pale silver ice flower bloom on the ground where Esdeath had fallen, and a towering ice pillar rose from the flower, pointing straight to the sky. Large swathes of the ground were gradually covered by ice crystals, and in the blink of an eye, the ice crystal layer had spread for two kilometers, reaching the camp beneath her feet.

The girl raised an eyebrow, and with a wave of her free hand, about a third of the thousands of dolls following her sprang away and rushed towards the nearby logistics camp. Although she had long anticipated that Esdeath's power would be pushed to its limit in their battle, such a large-scale expansion of her domain was somewhat beyond her expectations.

"Want to protect those ordinary believers? Sure." Esdeath's voice, which was kilometers away just a second ago, was right in front of Alice the next! The deep black flame shield was shattered by her attack, and the sword slash that followed was aimed at Alice's waist again!

—The puppet lines unfold and then retract.

The seemingly inevitable sword strike, along with the hand wielding it, was captured by the dense net woven from the puppet strings. Immediately following, plasma cannon fire erupted from the puppet array, completely engulfing Esdeath—her form vanished abruptly, reappearing amidst the puppet ranks. The nimble, icy rapier struck the ground, unleashing a burst of intense freezing air that, with temperatures low enough to liquefy nitrogen and oxygen, reduced thousands of threaded golems to scrap metal!

“But protecting those ants makes you weak.” Esdeath turned around amidst the wreckage of the doll array. The intense freezing air and ice shells transformed into a sturdy Greek-style armor that shielded her body—it was the Polaris Cloth from the Saint Seiya series. Even though it had long been destroyed by the main cannon of the Great Library and its form had been forgotten by Esdeath, it still appeared around her in this way when she needed protection.

The wound in front of her heart had completely healed, and apart from her tattered clothes, there were no visible injuries. Moreover, in Alice's vision, she resembled a giant, burning torch, with countless invisible, mist-like fuels being drawn from all directions and continuously poured into her 'candlelight'!

That is destiny, the will of this world itself.

When all the other favored ones die, the destiny of this world, based on her memories, will continuously concentrate within her body whenever she faces danger. Destiny itself represents power, and if the limits of this power continue to rise with the increasing severity of the crises she encounters, it might even propel her directly into the transcendent realm!

Alice raised her scythe, and huge plumes of black flames surged wildly toward Esdeath with her slashes—this was exactly what she had planned, and she was happy to see it happen.

I will not follow the path of destiny, because destiny is merely a shackle for me.

However, without relying on luck, pushing my power to the fourth tier requires sufficiently strong external pressure. Even with ample resources and accumulation, the limit between humans and gods is ultimately insurmountable.

So... you need to become even stronger!

The next moment, Alice's power erupted once more. An energy twice as powerful as the one that had previously defeated Esdeath suddenly burst forth. And this power arrived before Esdeath in the blink of an eye!

Chapter Sixty: Metamorphosis, Part Two

The sky burned, and the earth trembled and shattered. A rain of meteors, mixed with azure freezing rain and frost, lashed the sky and ground within a ten-kilometer radius. Thick tornadoes were created by the aftershocks of the collisions, only to be annihilated by the energy barrage that covered the sky.

This is the scene three minutes after the two clashed. The former makeshift camp had long been razed to the ground, blasted into a massive crater a kilometer wide by a falling ice meteor. Huge plumes of ice crystals grew and spread everywhere, while an equal number of lava flows and volcanoes rose up—the ground was a mixture of ice and fire, the sky a mixture of fire and ice. And on the main battlefield in the center of the sky, the clash between the two never ceased.

"Not enough, not enough, not enough!" Esdeath screamed, her excitement and pleasure almost uncontrollably radiating from within her. Her eyes gleamed, and chilling, silvery-white aura emanated from every pore of her body. Each wisp of this aura was enough to turn a large village into a wasteland in half a second. And in the blink of an eye, a thousand wisps of this aura had gathered!

They coalesced, forming a sword. The mere slash of the blade caused the nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere to condense rapidly. And the instant the sword was thrust forth, a thin, long silver chain appeared in the sky. And the end of the silver chain pointed directly to the place beyond her gaze!

“Give me more pain! Alice Margot Lloyd!” she screamed, and the silver chain came to an abrupt halt before Alice’s raised index finger. An endless stream of freezing air and frost expanded outwards, then extended for less than three meters in the air before vanishing completely.

She wanted pain, so Alice gave her pain.

First, a barrage of over 100,000 silken golems blasted through her protective ice armor. Then, the witch swiftly closed in, unleashing a barrage of attacks with less-than-refined but incredibly fast close-quarters combat techniques—beating her in the abdomen, breaking her joints, piercing her ribs, and ripping out her heart. Finally, she even raised her shadow scythe and severed her head from her neck.

She experienced pain, enough pain.

But this pain is not fatal.

The fist imprint on her abdomen vanished completely as the fist left her, the broken joints automatically closed, and together with the broken ribs, formed a healthy shape. Though the heart was missing, the writhing flesh and veins instantly formed another heart. The heart that had been dug out earlier exploded into a bomb the moment the replacement was created, and the headless husk also launched a counterattack against the witch!

No one says that a person will die without a heart, nor does anyone say that a person will die without a head. The severed head floated in the air, its eyes and mouth emitting a chilling deathly light. The headless body then unleashed a series of exquisite close-combat techniques, fighting with fists, feet, and rapiers that were in no way inferior to its previous skills!

The bomb exploded, freezing the surrounding hundred-meter area into solidified frost. However, this frost ultimately could not penetrate the black layer of fire—it, along with the head and torso that attacked from both sides, was easily parried by Alice. Then, a series of merciless scythe cleaved them into countless pieces!

Then, the flesh and blood reassembled.

[Has it already begun to show the initial characteristics of the fourth stage? Luck... it really is an incredible tonic.]

[What a pity, I don't need it.]

Alice thought to herself, but her actions never faltered. The puppet strings danced, tearing apart the barely formed, blurry flesh and blood shell into even smaller pieces. Some of the puppets, under her will, coalesced, forming hundreds or even thousands of humanoid mechanisms into massive mechanical behemoths resembling giant robots.

String puppets were originally basic units she created for her industrial system. While they possessed some combat capabilities, their dispersed power was ultimately no match for a concentrated fist. Therefore, Alice designed them as modular pieces with humanoid forms, and when her will was conveyed, these modules constructed the war machines she desired!

They are enormous, and their interconnected power reactors provide them with energy protection, allowing them to operate freely even at sub-zero temperatures. Their weaponry is sophisticated; their shockwave artillery, constructed from thousands of interconnected puppets, delivers a single burst of fire equivalent to a small nuclear bomb.

In the past, when Alice's puppet army was still in her hands, these heavy war behemoths assembled from puppets were called 'Goliath,' a name that referred to the powerful giants of mythology. Although after entering Gensokyo, she transformed the 'Goliath,' whose every construction detail proclaimed power and violence, into the gigantic humanoid 'Gloria,' whose appearance was more than nine-tenths as good as its practicality, the experience and skills she gained in creating 'Goliath' remained in her mind, and now they were coming in handy!

She waved her hand, and the massive plasma cannon suspended from 'Goliath's' arm immediately opened fire. The magnetically confined deuterium sphere, reaching millions of degrees Celsius, easily engulfed the space where Esdeath's body was, wiping her from the world completely, leaving not a trace of her!

Almost, but not entirely.

In Alice's true vision, the Imperial General, who should have been completely incinerated by the ion cannon fire, still had some residual cells. Their numbers were small, but thanks to the world's fortune, they managed to struggle out of the ion cannon's blast hole, which shouldn't have existed, and then, following a falling icicle, quickly bypassed the chaotic energy dissipation in the atmosphere and crashed directly into the ground—and right near where the icicle landed, a strange little flower suddenly sprouted, blooming and withering seven times in less than half a second, finally bearing a tiny fruit that fell onto the melting icicle!

Seven lives, seven deaths, the flower falls and bears fruit—even though Alice had never seen anything like it before, she could guess that this must be some kind of top-tier natural treasure. In some high-energy worlds, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to classify it as a 'primordial spiritual object,' a high-end item whose very name sounds terrifying. And sure enough, when that tiny fruit happened to land on Esdeath's last remaining cell in the melting ice, a massive energy reaction was released wildly outward from that point!

[So, as long as the protagonist of the world is constantly pushed, she will be endlessly elevated by the world, perhaps even to a level beyond the mortal realm?]

Alice raised her hand, and the massive 'Goliath' war machine extended from behind, forming a huge wing of light constructed from dissipating energy and jet propulsion mechanisms. The anti-gravity system and the mimicry magic reactor immediately activated, and the remaining skeletal golems all took flight, transforming their structure into sturdy mecha armor that enveloped 'Goliath'—it silently took off and hovered motionless about fifteen meters behind the witch, a thousand meters in the air. The witch then gracefully landed on its extended mechanical arm, looking down at the humanoid radiance below, whose intensity was steadily increasing.

She didn't intend to take advantage of the world's protagonist leveling up to deliver a fatal blow to Esdeath, because she knew it would be futile and pointless. With the world's favor, her attacks would only aid the protagonist's leveling up; even if they didn't, she didn't want her interference to prevent the protagonist's leveling up from being incomplete.

Esdeath was not her enemy, not in the first place.

She wasn't worried that Esdeath would be strengthened by the world to a level stronger than herself—even if that happened, she wouldn't care. She knew she had plenty of ways to deal with this forcibly elevated fourth-tier being, and she also understood that she was currently only at that level.

Fourth order.

The most basic requirement for entering the fourth stage is "microscopic mastery." "Microscopic mastery" refers to the manipulation of individual gene pairs internally and the control of single energy flows externally. Achieving this requires extremely powerful computing power, and the simplest way to obtain this immense computing power is to push the third stage of the gene lock to its extreme.

Alice had reached the third tier long before Esdeath appeared, and had pushed the power of the third tier to its limit. She knew very well that her calculation ability was more than enough for her to wield the power of the microscopic level, and it was precisely for this reason that she had been able to keep Esdeath at bay.

The opponent was covered in wounds, while he himself was unharmed.

Such a level of combat intensity was completely insufficient, utterly inadequate to exert external pressure and propel Alice towards greater heights—at this moment, she finally understood why so many legendary demon kings always sent out their minions one by one to level up the heroes, rather than crushing them in the starting village themselves. Because sometimes… a sufficiently powerful opponent is truly crucial.

She waited, waiting for the protagonist, favored by fate, to grow to the level she needed. In reality, her wait was short, only a few seconds. Then, a power far greater than Esdeath's had erupted from the area she was focused on! This power was sharp and concentrated; in the blink of an eye, the intense energy reaction completely contracted and vanished, leaving only a pale blue figure silently floating hundreds of meters above her!

With this level of precision, Esdeath had finally reached that level. Her next step was to use this unimaginable precision to fully awaken and activate the billions of cells within her body. And when she accomplished this, the power of the fourth tier would be within her grasp.

“I haven’t felt this pain and helplessness in a very long time… a very long time,” Esdeath said softly, as an energy armor with multiple properties appeared around her body, modeled after Alice. Her eyes radiated an indescribable smugness and confidence.

“I have to thank you properly. Alice Margot Lloyd, or Arya St. Grey.” She gently opened her hand, and ten times more frost spears than the ice blades she had painstakingly created before suddenly materialized. Each spear contained an ultra-low temperature of nearly two hundred degrees below zero, but this temperature was completely sealed in, without leaking even a fraction to the outside world.

The difference between subtle and non-subtle application of the same amount of energy is at least tenfold. Now, the two are on the same level.

So, it's time to start the next round.

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

[Exx, is she the final protagonist of this world?]

[That's right, that's the final protagonist of this world. The last Imperial General, Esdeath, her opponent should be the final villain of this world, or another protagonist of similar stature.]

Luo Gandao stood on a mountain peak about 300 kilometers from where the two were fighting. Looking into the distance, the sky was almost completely obscured by burning clouds and freezing air. These two incompatible climates and the energy that caused them collided violently in the sky, turning the center of the battle into a chaotic mess, while covering the periphery with hurricanes and torrential rain.

The alternation of hot and cold weather naturally brings wind and rain. In many places, the wind and rain are even mixed with fire and hail, vividly resembling the arrival of the Apocalypse and the destruction of the world as the angels of destruction sound their first trumpet.

Luo Gandao was unconcerned about this imposing celestial phenomenon, which posed no threat as long as one stayed away. However, he couldn't help but consider his chances of survival if he were to participate in the war... The answer was not optimistic, and this made him hesitate.

I can't beat them.

Logan admitted very directly that just half a day ago, under Ex's guidance, he had killed a boy and a girl named Tatsumi and Sayo. They died strangely, without resisting, only calling out the other name of this body, 'Iyeas,' in an incredulous and sorrowful tone before obediently letting him kill them. But so what? Logan didn't think he had anything to do with the guy named 'Iyeas,' so killing him was no big deal.

More than the deaths of those two men, he was concerned about his own power. His body had been further strengthened after killing them, even experiencing a strange sensation of some kind of shackle breaking, releasing the potential within his very marrow—a power that Ex called the genetic lock. And his abilities, without a doubt, had been enhanced at least three times after unlocking this 'genetic lock.'

However strong he was, he was only at the level of someone who could kill a thousand men, or even someone who could defeat ten thousand. Facing the two monstrous creatures before him, he didn't think he had any hope of winning or even surviving—perhaps he did, but he didn't want to take the risk.

"I need a straightforward and safe way, Ex. If not, I'll just have to stay here until they settle things and then go pick up the scraps." — Roger said bluntly, making his demands clear and unambiguous.

And Exusia in his mind quickly gave him an answer.

Chapter Sixty-One: Metamorphosis - Part Three

They are actually much weaker than you realize. Of course, with your current strength, trying to force your way in and fight them head-on would be certain death. Therefore, you must weaken their forces before joining the battle.

Ex's words were as calm as ever. There was no importance, no contempt, no anger, and no joy in her voice. It seemed that in her eyes, the two people hundreds of kilometers away, whose battle was enough to tear the sky and trample the earth, were nothing more than two toddlers learning to speak, slightly stronger than ants, but not enough to make her turn her gaze away.

She is very strong.

Luo Gandao also knew that she was very strong.

However, having strong support doesn't necessarily mean he has exceptional ability. Therefore, he needs to provide more explanation.

"They...are much weaker than I thought? What do you mean?" he asked疑惑地. Although he knew that Ex was probably just trying to reassure him, since she was willing to answer, he naturally wanted to extend the topic: "And how can I weaken their power?"

"It's just the literal meaning," Ex explained patiently. "Their power is shifting from controlling their internal bodies to controlling their external environment. Both of them are currently stuck in this stage, slowly improving as the fight progresses. The impressive scale of their attacks is actually a waste of energy caused by their inability to fully control every ounce of their own energy."

[By your time, armor-piercing rounds and high-explosive rounds should already exist. Therefore, you should be well aware that when armor-piercing rounds penetrate early metal-ceramic composite armor, they actually concentrate a jet of extremely hot metal into a single point to achieve penetration. While high-explosive rounds create a powerful explosion upon detonation, they are actually unable to penetrate thick armor and cause sufficient damage internally.]

Luo Gandao's thinking lingered briefly on the phrase "your era".

He didn't know if it was a slip of the tongue by Axe or something she said intentionally. But he didn't intend to miss even the slightest bit of information Axe had revealed—he wasn't stupid. Based on Axe's consistent behavior, she was either a wandering ghost without a body, only able to feign power in her own head, or a truly powerful being so strong that the world couldn't tolerate her, forcing her to lower a wisp of her will to interfere with this land—and the latter possibility was growing stronger with time.

A peerless powerhouse... Such a great figure is willing to waste time on this continent with a penniless nobody like me. She even condescended to patiently teach me a great deal of extraordinary knowledge that she considers kindergarten level. It's obvious she has grand ambitions, and once she achieves her goal, I, this ant who is both an obstacle and knows too much, will probably reach the end of my life.

Luo Gandao didn't believe that someone like Ex was completely without malice, like a venerable old man in a fantasy novel who imparts power without a single thought. He didn't believe she was solely focused on helping the protagonist—he knew very well he wasn't cut out to be the protagonist. Furthermore, along the way, he had clearly witnessed Ex's views on those true 'protagonists'... and the actions she used to influence him.