Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The sixth gust of wind arrived, but it was meaningless to the lava giant at this moment. Its movements might have been slowed down by a few microseconds, but this had no bearing on the final outcome.

The whole world seemed to brighten several degrees at that moment, and the giant then raised the sword in its hand.

'boom--!!!!!!'

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

"Pfft—!" Zhang Jie suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood mist, and necrotic blood gushed out from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth at the same time. He didn't bother to wipe the dirt and bloodstains off his face and let out a series of sharp screams!

"She's awake!"

With a loud bang, several kilometers away, the Heavenly Emperor opened her eyes and caught a sniper bullet that was aimed at her head between her fingertips. This bullet, which had the appearance of an early 21st-century gunpowder weapon, contained some kind of extremely powerful magical energy, but it could only dissipate helplessly because it could not directly hit the target.

She looked around, and the surroundings remained unchanged. The tower was still a tower, the fortress was still a fortress, the cursed tree was still intact, and the priests who were dedicated to baking the undead had not noticed her at all.

What happens in a dream is but a fleeting moment in the outside world. And so the attack comes to an end.

"Nightmare combined with Magic Bullet Shooter, mental attack combined with Magic Bullet Sniper, huh?" She held the magic bullet, sensing the subtle aura it contained. The next moment, she sprinted towards a concealed location, and when she arrived there, all that remained was a completely cleared ambush area.

The opponent's plan was quite clever, using a causal chain—the seventh magic bullet from the Magic Bullet Shooter was guaranteed to hit—combined with some kind of dream illusion to create an ambush. By firing six magic bullets in the illusion, they guided the seventh bullet, which was sure to kill in reality. If the Emperor hadn't seen through the illusion's true nature in time and forcibly dismantled it from within—she would probably be back home by now, continuing to be the river galaxy's overlord with no retirement age.

"Quite creative, reminiscent of my younger days." The Empress slightly tightened her fingertips, crushing the magic bullet into dust. She was quite certain that this magic bullet contained enough power to kill her. And it was most likely related to some kind of demonic eye or cursed poison.

"A mentalist who primarily enhances the Illusion series... It feels like Freddy's Nightmare Domain ability after secondary development. But the ability is slightly impure. Although it won't hinder him at his level, it at least allows me to see that he has exchanged for multiple mental enhancements."

"Besides that, there's another person who's a sniper who primarily focuses on magic bullet shooting and secondarily on penetration ability... This kind of profession is quite rare. However, since he uses sniper bullets instead of the more enchanted classic lead bullets, he must have first used cheaper 21st-century firearms, prioritizing penetration ability, before finally switching to the magic bullet shooting enhancement path. Hmm... This kind of sequential enhancement must be from the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception lineage."

She casually collected the dust, looked around to make sure she wouldn't find any new clues, and then turned to leave—she had already figured out the general abilities of the two reincarnators, so their threat to her had decreased significantly. And since these two were being considerate enough not to leave any strange traps in their ambush site to soil her dress with dust, she didn't want to waste time on a long and unpredictable chase.

Now, it's time to get down to business.

She spread her wings and quickly returned to the tower of the Undead Fortress. This time, no one stood in her way as she broke the curse within the fortress. Soon, the cursed tree began to tremble slightly, and she forcibly awakened a cursed life that had been quietly growing within its heart—which she then devoured and absorbed.

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

"Zhang Jie and his team have completed their mission. Now, all that's left is to wait for the enemy to arrive." Inside the Papal Hall, Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses slightly while receiving the latest battle report. He realized that his goal had been achieved, and now all that was needed was to wait for the harvest.

Calculating the opponent's landing point wasn't difficult for him. After excluding the areas where Alice and Patchouli were located, there were only a few places where the invaders could rapidly accumulate power and launch an attack on his location. A process of elimination followed by long-distance spatial teleportation would easily solve the problem. Furthermore, he didn't intend to calculate the extent of the opponent's power, since he hadn't expected Zhang Jie and the other two to win from the start.

Zhang Jie and his companion's mission was merely to "stir up trouble," their main objective being to lull the enemy into a false sense of security through a fierce, but not fatal, attack. This would allow them to steer the situation in their favor. While the fact that the descendant was none other than Hinami Tenshi from the Final Destination world was somewhat unexpected, it didn't matter. He only needed to know that as long as they acted according to the rules of the Divine Realm, the enemy's combat power, including their ultimate techniques and self-destructive methods, would definitely not exceed the early fourth tier. And if the enemy was only at this level, then it would be a much easier problem for them to handle.

after all……

He turned his head slightly, and in a place that Yakumo Yukari couldn't see, a certain muscular idiot stroking a deep red Destruction Greatsword was looking restless. Since Chu Xuan had the ability to wake up Zhang Jie and Zero Point by bypassing Yakumo Yukari's monitoring, then adding another Zheng Zha wouldn't be difficult.

It wasn't too difficult for him, at least.

Transformation, Section 27: Transformation

After that, the Empress's power expanded rapidly. She devoured the Cursed Tree in the Undead Fortress, and then used the borrowed immense energy to forcibly transform the cursed undead into 'angels'. Angels with more comprehensive abilities, greater firepower, and no significant weaknesses than the Ring Angels in the original work—she then used these angels to form an army and pushed straight towards the direction of Irithyll Valley.

She kills anyone she sees, and her army grows stronger with time—she's not the kind of foolish villain who would recklessly charge into the enemy's lair without any preparation. She prepares her forces, pushing her strength and power to the limit before battle. Whether she ultimately achieves her goal is another matter entirely.

Zheng Zha was waiting for her in the Pope's Hall in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, and she had absolutely no idea this was happening—everyone in the world knew that the famous Hero of the First Flame, Zheng Guda, resided in the Firelink Shrine. Even if she were extremely cautious and thoroughly investigated the shrine beforehand, she would only be able to obtain the information that 'Zheng Zha slumbers here.' And when she stormed into the Pope's Hall, her expression at that moment would certainly be… quite something.

In short, her war ended before it even began. The power that a painter's body can wield in this world is ultimately limited, and even if she were to push it to its limit, she could only fight Zheng Zha in his full power to a standstill in pure brute force. As for areas beyond brute force, those were even more beyond her ability to handle.

After all, Chu Xuan was no pushover. Given the superior intelligence, comparable combat strength, and ample time, it would be unimaginable for him to make a mistake in his strategic planning. And that scenario was destined to avoid happening.

Thus, the 'entry certificate test' that Shen Qi arranged for Chu Xuan and the others was easily passed by Chu Xuan without affecting the rest of the arrangements. Although it would take a little while to actually pass, during this time, Zhao Yingkong could follow Alice and her group without distraction, just as planned, without having to turn back to save the day.

Of course, this march led by the Empress of the Undead also had a huge impact on the entire world—she drove her army from the Undead Fortress, deliberately separating herself from Alice and Shinki's routes while traversing most of the Kingdom of Lothric. And obviously, she couldn't possibly be like a 21st-century commander adhering to the Geneva Conventions, completely refraining from harming non-military targets—

She destroyed everything that could move along her path, drawing life from the living to fill her own body and devouring the forms of the inanimate to strengthen her army. She advanced relentlessly, even scraping away ten meters of the earth's surface. The kingdom's army retreated, all those who resisted becoming part of her power.

The kingdom was engulfed in war, and in this relatively chaotic state (because the Emperor traveled in a straight line, and the capital city of Lothric was not included), Patchouli and her companions, who had previously been wanted for the destruction of the border fortress, naturally found themselves in an even worse environment than before. Some of Lothric's high-ranking officials, realizing they were powerless against the Emperor's angelic legions and that they themselves were not considered enemies by the Emperor, wisely chose to abandon the effort. Instead, they recalled their heavily damaged troops and shifted the blame for the disaster onto Patchouli and her companions.

They may regret their actions in the future.

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

"...It's unbelievable that we've been accused of such an outrageous crime. The king of this country must be insane. He should have just passed the throne to either of his two princesses and gone to a sanatorium to get his utterly corrupted brain treated!"

Mokou stared at the large wanted poster hanging on the city gate. With her sharp eyesight, she could clearly make out every word and every picture written on it from the woods two hundred meters away. And it was precisely because she could see it so clearly that she felt extremely annoyed.

At the top of the wanted poster were quick sketches of the four women's faces, both frontal and side profiles—they hadn't reunited as a team after their encounter with Patchouli, but the kingdom considered them a single entity—below the sketches were a series of fabricated charges. The first charge was that they had instigated the massive war that nearly destroyed the entire Kingdom of Lothric, the justification being that they had excavated a magnificent ancient tomb and, in stealing its treasures, unsealed an indescribable and terrifying monster.

Secret treasure, monster.

The former was an inducement, the latter a suppression based on moral principles. Add to that the hefty bounty and official titles attached to the arrest warrant, and it's safe to say that nothing in this country could be more tempting than the heads of a few people. The turmoil caused by the emperor's breach of the country was thus naturally transferred to the four of them—though neither Kaguya nor Mokou cared much about such a trivial matter. But this 'trivial matter' undeniably caused them considerable trouble.

The most basic problem was that they couldn't rest or buy supplies in towns. Not only could they not buy supplies, but they were also identified by some unknown detection spell as soon as they approached a town—the first time, they fell into an ambush and killed everyone on the enemy side; the second time, they fell into an ambush and killed everyone on the enemy side, along with many innocent bystanders. The two Penglai people didn't want to repeat this a third time.

Ultimately, these two aren't exactly heartless villains. Bullying the weak doesn't align with their code of conduct, unless those 'weak' individuals actively seek death. And once they abandon their strategy of infiltrating towns to gather supplies, all that awaits them is a life of hunger and dew.

Clearly, this is not a healthy lifestyle. Mokou might be able to endure it, having grown accustomed to hardship, but for Kaguya, who had been a princess for countless years and now, after being reborn, continued her life as a lazy, good-for-nothing young lady in Eientei… these past few days of camping had pushed her to her limit. Especially in a situation where she could easily and overwhelmingly take what she wanted…

...Okay, she can still hold on.

The former Moon Princess sat leisurely on a thick tree branch, fiddling with a small, blooming white flower. A delicate fragrance drifted outwards with her gaze, quickly fading and spreading in the air before mingling with the scent of roadside wildflowers and drifting towards the city walls two hundred meters away.

"I believe that even if the King of Lothric were to pass the throne to his twin princes, whose positions have been overshadowed by the Komeiji sisters, it wouldn't help the current situation." Kaguya narrowed her eyes, her gaze following the invisible fragrance of flowers to the distant fortress. The sturdy and thick, magically protected outer walls seemed like transparent glass to her, posing no obstacle whatsoever, and the structure and the distribution of people behind the walls came into her view.

“They clearly haven’t woken up yet.” Kaguya held up a finger, calculating the defensive nodes in the fortress as she gave her deduction. “Remember the task that the girl pretending to be the Fire Keeper gave us? She wanted us to awaken them and our companions to forcibly push through this fire-linking ritual. Since she gave us this task, it means that it still needs some progress to be completed… Ah, the guards in this city are tighter than I expected.”

Kaguya's brow suddenly twitched, and the connection between her gaze and the fragrance of flowers was immediately severed by an unknown defensive barrier. Although no alarm was triggered, this meant that her probing attempt had been futile.

The other party hasn't discovered her spying yet, but sooner or later they will find the traces she left behind.

So, it's time to move our positions.

“That’s possible, so I was just complaining casually.” Mokou nodded, and without waiting for Kaguya’s signal, she retreated from her hiding place towards the edge of the woods. She moved quickly, and Kaguya followed closely behind, quickly covering several kilometers from their previous hideout. A slight commotion seemed to be brewing in the distant city.

The enemy reacted faster than expected, but it was of little use. The two Penglai maidens had already reached another safe location, and they would soon be moving to an even more remote place. After all, they weren't particularly afraid of confronting the kingdom's soldiers head-on, and the reason they were trying so hard to restrain their destructive impulses wasn't just because they still had a bit of passion in their hearts, but more importantly, because they needed to remain vigilant to avoid making any mistakes.

They learned about the Emperor from post-battle intelligence gathering after their first ambush. It was obvious that this Emperor, unlike the one they remembered, was not the same being. The only connection between them was their names and appearances. The Emperor they knew was far less cold-blooded and brutal than this one, and his power was nowhere near as great.

This made them sense a conspiracy, and the two Penglai people, who were always vigilant—and in this situation they had no choice but to be even more vigilant—decided to adopt a more deliberate and cautious approach.

For example... figuring out what the two of us came into this world for.

“To be honest, Kaguya.” Mokou slowed her pace slightly. “I feel that everything we’ve encountered in this world has been utterly meaningless… Whether it’s that overpowered, modified Gundyr, or that incomprehensible Fire Keeper, or the one who throws magical cannons at us the moment we meet, or even Patchouli who won’t listen to our explanations… I still don’t understand what they’re doing, what they want to do, or what they’re after… Perhaps we shouldn’t have tried to come out of that nameless graveyard in the first place. We should have just waited there quietly, waiting for all of this that we can’t understand to end.”

Her voice was melancholic, and her steps hesitant. Her doubts about herself and the world were palpable.

Ah, yes, they are called the heroes who connect the plot, the protagonists in the script, but since they woke up in the cemetery, have they done even one meaningful thing?

Not a single one. They didn't, like the protagonists of the game, fight their way through the Lords of Cinder to forcibly complete the linking of the fire ritual. Nor did they, as entrusted by the 'Fire Keeper,' awaken their friends and members of that unknown team one by one to correct this world. The plan for merging destinies that Zhao Yingkong told them about was more like a colossal joke, and as part of this joke, the two of them hadn't even encountered anyone to make them laugh!

“But that’s not your style, is it?” Kaguya replied softly. “Neither you nor I are people who can bear loneliness. As long as we wake up there, we will inevitably explore the way out of the graveyard again and again. As long as we can see each other, even occasional discouragement will rekindle our fighting spirit—because neither you nor I are people who are willing to be inferior to the other.”

"Now that you mention it, I feel like the two of us together are practically an alarm clock." Mokou smiled wryly, pointing to herself and then to Kaguya. "One of us is the minute hand, and the other is the hour hand. We chase each other, pushing the whole clock to work, until the set time finally arrives... We woke up that guy named Zhao Yingkong, didn't we? And what else did we do besides that?"

"We didn't do anything!"

"...That's a harsh way to put it, but I agree." Kaguya shrugged. "I hadn't realized it before, but gradually, I've come to understand something. It's that all along, compared to my negligible growth, Eirin has cared far more about my safety. And if there really is a grand plan involving the safety of the entire Gensokyo, then her first thought... would probably be to place me in a safe rear area, rather than entrusting me with heavy responsibilities."

"It's really unpleasant to encounter something like this, but..." Mokou shook her head slightly, and her steps finally came to a complete stop. Then, she turned her gaze to her side.

"I think that as one of the instigators, and also as our friend, after listening to our complaints for so long, you should give us an explanation." She looked at the black-clad girl who appeared from the void, dressed as a high-ranking priestess of the Black Church, but without the conspicuous bird-shaped helmet from the game.

"Don't you think so?"

"She claimed to have transformed into Frieda, but instead became Alice, who is now Julia?"

Transformation, Chapter Twenty-Eight: The World in My Hands

"To be precise, I'm not Alice yet; I'm just Julia now." The Black Church priestess before the two Penglai girls smiled, and without any visible movement, a large area of ​​land around them suddenly fell silent. It was as if the few dozen square meters of land beneath their feet had been ripped from this world, and an indescribable silence filled the entire airspace.

"I can give you the explanation you want, but before that, I must first become myself again," the priestess said softly. She stretched out her hand, and the two discs that Mokou and Kaguya had respectively kept on their bodies disintegrated into an unrestrained stream of particles that gathered in her palm and then quickly fused into her body, becoming a part of her flesh and blood.

A faint light flickered in her eyes.

In that instant, the two Penglai people present simultaneously sensed a significant change in the woman before them. It was a feeling... very difficult to describe. It was like a rifle being loaded with ammunition, a key unlocking a lock, or a gashapon toy emitting colorful light. The girl before them had undergone a fundamental change, a change that transformed her from a 'strange woman with Alice's appearance' into the genuine Alice.

Alice, Alice Margotrovid.

“Unfortunately, I am only a part of it. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call me Alice Julia now.” Alice shrugged. “Id, ego, superego—the individual Alice was divided into three parts. I am the superego, Fried is the ego, and Lillianu is the id. The two discs were backups of my original memories, prepared in advance to prevent the possibility of amnesia after the characters were overwritten… Although in reality only the ego should have lost its memory, I felt that only by retrieving it could I become complete.”

“I thought I wouldn’t need this backup plan, but it turns out that my foolish but insightful observation often comes in handy. Although it’s not important to the overall situation, it at least makes me feel better psychologically.” Her fingers clenched slightly, and her light blue eyes looked at the two girls in front of her.

Not only them, she was also watching those hidden presences lurking around the two Hourai maidens, unnoticed yet constantly by their side—a thin black slit like a strand of hair connected to the hem of Mokou's dress, a swaying pale flower, a pale green snake, a small frog perched on its head, a slightly distorted light, and a door hidden in Kaguya's hair—she was watching them, and they were watching her in return.

"Even if it's meaningless to you whether you know or not, you still want an explanation, don't you?"

“Ah, right,” Mokou cracked her knuckles on purpose. “I want an explanation right now, I’m dying to! Alice, we’re friends, for goodness’ sake. If you’re really telling me you brought us in here just to use us as alarm clocks—then don’t blame me for punching that pretty face of yours hard!”

She might have expected a negative answer, but Alice immediately replied, "You guessed it, I did indeed use you two as alarm clocks. The reason I placed you there was simply so that you could wake up my teammates at the right time, nothing more."

"Why?" Mokou continued to ask.

“Because that’s all you can do,” Alice replied quickly.

“Very good.” Mokou nodded, then suddenly clenched her fist and slammed it towards Alice’s face! Her speed was extremely fast and her strength was immense; the moment her right arm swung, it even stirred up a gust of wind! Then, her fist stopped abruptly before it touched Alice’s cheek.

She ultimately failed to strike, her arm frozen in mid-air, only able to glare hatefully at Alice.

Alice met her gaze calmly.

Kaguya reached out and pressed Mokou's fist, which was frozen in mid-air, down. "I think we need a more detailed explanation. Alice, you didn't come here specifically to get beaten up—since you've already gotten what you wanted and haven't been able to leave in time, I think you probably have something to say to us."

"There's no need to keep us in suspense; let's get straight to the point."

"Knowing too much is not a good thing."

“You’ve emphasized this several times already, and no matter how many times you say it, our answer won’t change.” She stared intently at Alice, her dark eyes filled with seriousness. “I need an explanation, and this turkey needs an explanation. Besides us, many others need explanations—you should know I’m not talking about you using us as alarm clocks; I can easily take that kind of teasing as a slightly excessive, but harmless joke—what I want to know is…”

She took a small step forward.

"...What exactly is going on with this world? Don't give me that talk about the fusion of two worlds. If you really wanted to promote the fusion of two worlds, this world would have already entered the season of the linking of the flame! You and I both know that the natives of this world have no power at all, even including that unknown person, but definitely not the original, Tenshi Hinana. As long as you and your team cooperate sincerely... even if you just stand by and watch, everyone in Gensokyo can be quickly awakened by others and then sweep through this world!"

“That’s because there’s an external force interfering,” Alice replied.

"Then what is the external force? The one who summoned that strange emperor?" Kaguya scoffed. "Such words are weak and unconvincing... Even if a powerful being, stronger than the entire Gensokyo combined, had descended upon this world, the situation shouldn't be like this—we, and everyone in Gensokyo, our actions to influence the world have only been halted, not brought about by disaster. Everything that strange emperor has done is pushing this world towards destruction, and we haven't even encountered a single real enemy!"

"Could it be that your so-called 'unimaginably strong' ruined your and the sages' plans just to play a tender game of make-believe with us? That's ridiculous! Don't treat us like fools! Alice Margot Lloyd!"

Her voice was shrill, and her expression was angry. Then…

Everything came to an abrupt end before Alice could utter her next sentence.

“Because this is Gensokyo,” Alice replied.

"Of course I know this is Gensokyo, and I also know that Gensokyo is a fusion of the world of Dark Souls III—" She suddenly realized something, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth at the same time.