Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“The elements are complete, my soul has returned to my body.” Suddenly, concentric circles of runes, nested and combined, unfolded around Alice—a part of her had just almost completely withstood a hammer blow from Morgoth's power. She could even sense the wisp of dark power, like a leech, lurking deep within her soul, seemingly trying to devour and assimilate her obsessive self. And through the tiny connection created by that wisp of dark power, she could even vaguely glimpse an incredibly enormous black star falling from beyond the world!

That is Melkor, Melkor, Morgoth Borgriel, one of the original Valar, the eternal god of darkness who rules over the deepest part of the world—it has broken free of its prison and is falling toward this world along the dark power affixed to the hammer of Grundrum. In a few minutes at most, it will cross the membrane and descend upon this world, and the final battle will begin.

The darkness of this world is boiling, and the corresponding light is pulsating. Even in daylight, several stars appear in the sky—those are the Valar, or rather, the Valar. They obtained this information the instant Melkor escaped, and their arrival was swift.

They would kill Melkor, and if possible, wipe out all the Celestials' reincarnators as well. Even through the outer membrane of the world, Alice could clearly sense the anger and caution surging within the Valar, and the unparalleled power that leaked out with those emotional fluctuations.

That is... a power that an ordinary fourth-tier initial reincarnation user could never withstand. The power of the Light of the Mind.

“It’s truly powerful…” Alice sighed softly, sensing that the concepts emerging from the bubble world had been fully constructed within the ritual of the Apocalypse. As all the energy blocks created by the Star Extraction Tower were filled into it, a sense of abundance comparable to the stars in the sky spread through her body. “But this is meaningless.”

She reached out to the sky, and the wisp of darkness within her soul resonated with the falling Melkor. This resonance naturally drew the attention of the Valar, and their will followed suit, sinking towards that direction!

Alice took a deep breath.

"I am the Creator, the highest God in the world."

"I am Satan, the leader of the red dragons, the strongest dragon in the world."

Within her body and around her, concepts coalesced to form a new crown. A power belonging neither to this world nor to human history was forcibly created by her using immense energy and concepts. And a vast sea of ​​energy immediately surged!

"I am the dragon above dragons, Io. Conceptual homogenization, transformation. God above false gods, Ao. You have caused Melkor to fall, to lose the glory of the gods. Thus..."

"I will unleash... the Holy Cataclysm!"

The ritual runes around her instantly collapsed, and through that connection in the darkness, Melkor and the Valar gods were immediately drawn into the apocalypse by the power of the world's fall!

And the force of this fall, in turn, pulls their shape!

"The Compilation of Revelation, Apostolic Revelation, and the Cataclysm of the Saints".

The sky has fallen.

And the stars fell like a torrential rain.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Holy Cataclysm Begins

A massive rift opened in the center of the sky, and the barrier between the world's surface and outer boundary was forcibly torn apart by the Apocalyptic Outer Canon, the Cataclysm of the Saints. The gods, who had only intended to descend from Valinor to cleanse Melkor and his liberators of the End War, were instead bound by the power they used to shatter the world membrane, cast them down from immortal gods to saints still possessing flesh and blood, and banished them from Heaven to Earth.

They may be able to withstand the Book of Revelation, but they cannot withstand the power it unleashes, which originates from themselves. The fourteen celestial beings who rule the world are all bound to it, and while they are reduced to saints, Melkor, who escaped from the outer void, did not escape the same fate.

The process from god to mortal is instantaneous. Their divine power is sealed, and the light of their immortal souls is imprisoned. It will take them at least several days to return to their original form and regain their fully transcendent divine bodies—they reacted swiftly; the fourteen…or rather, fifteen meteors that fell from the sky vanished without a trace the moment they touched the atmosphere. And after that, a violent wind arose beyond the crack in the heavens.

"There are fourteen celestials in total: seven male Valar and seven female Vali. Among these fourteen, eight are exceptionally powerful and are known as the Yaritar. Above them is Ilúvatar, who created this world with songs and music, and who controls and yet indulges all things. Her power cannot be fathomed by common sense."

Alice turned her head to look in Chu Xuan's direction. The next moment, fourteen sacred artifacts radiating power suddenly appeared beside Alice, and the shattered rune circles around her immediately converged and were reassembled into a different operating mode than before.

Fourteen sacred artifacts, fourteen celestial beings. While the other reincarnators were working, Chu Xuan wasn't idle either. Taking advantage of the fact that the Celestial Team was trapped in the Tower of Babel world and the East Sea Team was unable to intervene due to the contract, he used his power to clean up many worthwhile corners of this world. As he expected, since these celestial beings participated in the creation of the world, there must be remnants of their power in this world.

These remnants are the sacred objects of the gods of this world, like the emblems and sacred beasts possessed by deities who feed on faith—they normally serve little purpose. Aside from being enshrined in temples to symbolize the gods, they have almost no other use. But now…

Alice reached out towards the relics, the concept of Ao still clinging to her. The runic array around her spun, and the forms of the fourteen relics disintegrated, transforming into pure energy clusters imbued with subtle divine power. These fourteen energies were forcibly molded into an irregular sphere under the constraints of the runes. The dark power that had seeped into her body due to the impact of Morgoth's hammer and the return of her obsessive form stirred slightly, then surged forth from within her, flowing into the sphere!

She looked up at the sky, at the void storm beyond the rift. She could clearly sense an immeasurable, immense power brewing in the void. And beneath that immense power, countless sparks were swirling and boiling in the sky.

“Like Ilúvatar. And the celestial armies led by those gods, who failed to descend with their deities due to the sudden outbreak of the Holy Cataclysm.” Alice sighed softly, the sphere in her hand, gathering fifteen divine powers, then transformed from a smooth, curved surface into a blank stone slab about an arm's length and wide. A converging circle of runes then enveloped the stone tablet.

"The reason the original Cataclysm of the Saints occurred was because three members of the gods stole the Tablet of Destiny from Ao. When the Tablet of Destiny returns to the hands of the world's owner, the world will revert to its original state." She closed her eyes, and the concept of Ao shifted from her body, from her fingertips to the tablet floating in her palm. The next moment, this mere tablet exuded a heavy and solemn aura, and the power to control the world subtly shifted at that instant.

The Book of Revelation: Transformation.

The pseudo-canon, the Slate of Destiny, is complete.

"And I commanded the gates of the world to close, returning it to its original state." Alice's fingers gently traced the stone slab, and immediately afterward, the rift in the world above the sky closed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The passage between the surface and the outside was severed before the storm that tore the world apart had subsided, and it was certain that it could not be reopened in the short term.

"Thus, Ilúvatar and the legions of the gods are isolated outside the world. They cannot easily descend again unless Ilúvatar, the creator of this world, is willing to risk destroying the world. And even if it does, the Tablets of Fate can buy us some time."

Alice gazed at the stone tablet, and rows of strange characters appeared on it. Although it was merely a disposable item with a shelf life of less than a week, the Stone of Fate was now undeniably displaying the power of the original tablet. The names of the banished gods quietly emerged on the tablet, and through the resonance between the faint divine power within the tablet and the power of the gods who had become saints, she easily located the fourteen fallen stars huddled together in the sky, their tracks concealed.

The gods, experienced in dealing with crises, did not intend to scatter and hide in various places. Instead, they planned to unite, using fourteen powerful beings—temporarily stripped of their inner light but still extraordinary—as the foundation for their defensive fortress. Once the storm in the Outer Realms subsided, and the passage to the edge of the world reopened, as if Ilúvatar's power had descended, or if they had reclaimed their inner light—if any of these possibilities materialized—they would immediately break free and then use their regained power to retaliate against the spellcaster.

Alice wouldn't allow this to happen. So when she realized this change, her will resonated with the divine power of the gods through the Tablets of Fate, reaching the other side of the converging stars. Accompanied by her undisguised malice and intimidation, along with some information about Melkor, she saw the fourteen stars, gathered together, scatter in all directions like startled birds. And her purpose was thus achieved.

If they don't separate, Melkor, who recovers faster, will find them. But if they do separate, it will be the Reincarnators who find them.

This outcome is simply a matter of weighing power. Since the gods, hampered by the forged Tablet of Fate, couldn't accurately assess Alice's true strength, they naturally opted for a safer strategy than simply sticking together. And that's exactly what Alice needed. After all, they knew nothing about the Tablet of Fate…

"The gods have had their spiritual light sealed. At least until they are killed, they cannot break free from the shackles of the Apocalypse and unleash their true combat power equivalent to that of a fourth-tier being. Moreover, they are not currently united but scattered in all directions, and the gods are currently preoccupied with their own survival."

"My task is complete. Now it's your hunting time."

Alice spoke softly, pushing the Fate Stone forward. The next second, all the energy stored in her body, including her obsessive soul, was instantly drained by the fully activated Apocalypse. She closed her eyes, fell backward, and entered a deep coma that shouldn't exist in a supernatural being. The instant she fell, Patchouli caught her and held her in her arms.

She glanced to the side and saw Zhao Yingkong appear from the void, then shook her head slightly.

"We failed to catch those guys from the Celestial Team," Zhao Yingkong said softly, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Those bastards had powerful interference devices on them, and they made several puppets that looked almost exactly like real people to fool me."

“It’s alright,” Patchouli replied, then took the stone tablet from Alice. “There’s no need to worry about the Celestials; the most urgent task now is to eliminate those Vera who have been demoted to saints.”

She pointed to the name engraved at the very bottom of the stone slab, and as her finger touched the stone, a vague coordinate appeared in her mind.

"Our first target is Ilmu, the god of inspiration and dreams."

Chapter 79: The Abyss Within (4/19)

Alice opened her eyes again, and what came into view was a dark dome.

The ceiling felt strange… no, it was familiar. She subconsciously sniffed, and the scent of books she'd often smelled before wafted around her. Her gaze shifted, revealing rows and rows of neatly arranged bookshelves. She remembered the name of every book here, because she had personally organized almost half of them, and had read the rest more than once, placing them in their proper places.

This is the Great Library. To be precise, this is the Great Library that hasn't yet emerged from underground and is still located in Gensokyo. Because while she could smell the fragrance of books, she could also vaguely sense the weight of the earth, and this information naturally told her a fact she needed to know.

This is not the real world, nor is it some random barrier, illusion, or outer space. There is only one reason why she was able to reach this place: it is the deepest part of her heart, an abyss even deeper than the bottom of the subconscious sea.

"Was it because I exhausted too much strength and energy that I sank to this place?" Alice gently pushed herself up from the ground, quickly arriving at a guess in her mind that, though lacking concrete evidence, was probably quite accurate based on intuition. She couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and wandered aimlessly along the maze-like walls of bookshelves.

She felt extremely exhausted during this period. Whether it was gathering spellcasting materials, compiling the Book of Revelation, devising numerous plans for this team battle, or signing alliances with the other reincarnators who had become allies or remained neutral, all of these tasks had undoubtedly drained a great deal of her energy. She even somewhat missed the days before she reached the fourth tier and before she achieved her Demon King-level obsession—

Back then, she was probably just as busy as she is now, sometimes working for ten days straight without sleep, but at least she had the right to sleep. Unlike now, where no matter how exhausted she is mentally, her mind and brain are constantly in a state of peak activity, and she can't even rest when she wants to, because when she 'want' to rest, there's simply no time for her to do so.

As long as she could "think," she could work; and as long as she could work, projects and engineering would never end. Although these were things she enjoyed doing and didn't feel burdened by, she would still occasionally feel a bit tired deep inside. Now, she could finally take a good rest.

Everything that needed to be done had been done. Whether he was awake or asleep, his presence wouldn't affect the overall plan until the first fallen Vera was eliminated. After all, Ilmu, considered the top priority target, was a relatively weak Celestial. He might not even have condensed the Light of the Mind, and at his peak, he didn't possess power equivalent to a fourth-tier Celestial. And since he had scattered the Veras, their fate was sealed.

There was no need for her to participate, or even to observe. This first battle was less a war between the extraordinary and the divine, and more a practical exercise to fine-tune the newly joined Sirin, Zhao Zhuikong, and the others. With the Tablet of Destiny in hand, and facing the weakest god, if they still couldn't win—or even reached a stalemate—the Central Continent team could simply throw the Ring into the pre-prepared extract from Mount Doom and end this world, then run away.

“There shouldn’t be any other omissions,” Alice thought to herself, speaking softly. She took a few steps forward, then chuckled to herself. “Even if there were, there’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing I can do here, but Patsy outside should be able to help me fill in the gaps—if even she and Chu Xuan can’t solve these problems, then adding me to the list wouldn’t make any difference. Besides, there can only be a few problems that could arise.”

She abandoned her plan to continue thinking and instead took advantage of this rare opportunity to rest. Her body on the outside was undoubtedly recovering its energy under Patchouli's care; she only needed to stay here quietly and wait to return to reality after a period of time, a time that shouldn't be too far off.

Alice then let out a soft breath—this seemingly meaningless action, reserved for the mundane, was etched deep into her soul by her subconscious. She then set aside her burdens, quickened her pace, and walked deeper into the Great Library.

It was obvious that since this was the depths of her soul, the deepest part of the grand library would naturally be just as familiar to her. The further she walked, the more familiar and joyful the feeling filled her body and mind. Her inner weariness gradually faded, and a pleasant mood nourished her heart. The further she went, the clearer those familiar, sweet memories became—she remembered the times she used to organize the bookshelves with Patchouli, she remembered those early days when she often made foolish mistakes, the worst of which was when she even stuffed magic books filled with magic into ordinary books together. And that night, she had to listen to Patchouli's lecture for a full hour before she could barely escape.

"As a result, because I ran away at night, Patchouli was even angrier, and she gave me a cold shoulder for the entire next morning." Alice smiled, her fingertips tracing the surface of a slightly rough bookshelf, pausing briefly on a noticeable dent in the middle partition—she remembered that when she made this bookshelf, she had carelessly used wood that hadn't been properly corrected. As a result, fifty years later, the partition was warped, and Patchouli, after mocking her for fifteen minutes, had even specially placed a protective barrier around the bookshelf, saying it would become a pillar of eternal shame.

“That was a terrible memory. Luckily, I got my revenge quickly.” Alice’s gaze passed over the shelf with the dent in the central partition, and next to it, on another bookshelf that was far more exquisite in both workmanship and decoration, she unsurprisingly saw a dent in the central partition that was nine-tenths similar to the previous shelf.

That was Patsy's woodworking, and the reason it had such a flaw was because Alice, after being ridiculed, angrily pinned her down on the shelf... and then half an hour later, the purple bean sprout who had been showing off her sharp tongue was left only begging for mercy.

"Unfortunately, after that, I ended up doing all the carpentry work in the large library. Although it didn't actually take much effort, I always felt that doing things alone... lacked a bit of fun."

She shook her head, quickened her pace, and stopped lingering. Her goal was the room located at the deepest, most central part of the great library, and as her heart began to stir, her next step led her to the doorway of that room.

She heard the sound of pages turning.

Just as a smile was about to appear on her face, she saw someone in her eyes who shouldn't be there!

—Luoye!

"To be honest, I didn't plan to meet you here at this time. But I didn't expect you to fall from the outside like this, which is very distressing." In the very center of the library, Luo Ye, still wearing her black suit, was sitting in the large rocking chair that Patchouli or Alice often sat in. She pushed up her black-rimmed glasses and closed the book she was reading.

"We meet again, my inner demon, the one who has abandoned the past and changed her initial path." She looked at Alice, without firing a magic cannon or raising her hand to unleash a dimensional slash. Instead, she gave a slightly shy smile, like a college student who had just stepped out of the ivory tower. She raised her hand, and a chair exactly like the rocking chair she was leaning against materialized behind Alice—she then made an inviting gesture.

"—If you don't mind?"

“You said last time that when we met again, it would be the day the battle would end.” Alice’s fingers lightly touched the edge of the rocking chair. “It seems you can’t wait?”

"No way, I'm practically powerless right now. And you're just as weak, unable to even conjure a magic cannon. Fighting in this situation would be a waste of time and a disgrace. Of course, if you're interested in a shrewish brawl involving hair-pulling and eye-poking, then I'm not unwilling to oblige." Luo Ye glanced at her. "The Light of the Soul hasn't gathered yet, so even if I defeated you, it wouldn't make much difference. And even if you defeated me here, it would be useless, because I can no longer fall any deeper."

"...You've been here all along?"

"Then where do you think I would be?" A faint smile appeared on Luo Ye's lips. "After all, this is the abyss of the heart, the deepest part of the soul, the very bottom of the mind. If you hadn't exhausted yourself to the point of near-depletion of your immortal physical strength and soul, you wouldn't have been able to get here. The reason I'm here is because from the beginning... or rather, from the moment I realized I had lost control of my soul, I've always been as weak as you are now."

Alice gently bit the corner of her lip.

She pushed aside the rocking chair that Luo Ye had conjured, and instead used her own imagination to create a simple stool opposite Luo Ye's desk. She sat down slowly, a faint sharpness flashing in her eyes as she stared intently at Luo Ye.

That sharp edge eventually faded.

“...Why did you do this?” Alice asked softly. “Everything.”

“I think you should know very well why.” Luo Ye shrugged slightly. “If you want to hold me accountable for the lives lost because of the history I sculpted, then I have nothing to say. What I did is what I did, and I don’t make excuses. If you want to thank me for the body-binding technology that was used on you when you descended in the Fifth Era, allowing you to easily reduce those gods to saints when compiling the Outer Canon of Revelation, then I accept that too. In any case, whether you or I win in the end, someone has to activate the Revelation and bring down the Saintly Catastrophe.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.” Alice shook her head. “What I want to know is—neither Luo Ye nor Alice could ever become so-called human supremacists. Because for the twenty years before I arrived in Gensokyo, I lived almost like a reptile. No one cared about my life, and no one cared about my death. The only reason I was able to live until that trampling accident was because of my own hands and blood and sweat. And someone like me would never believe in any human supremacy that is basically a modified version of bloodline theory.”

"Or perhaps you'd rather wipe out all those born nobles, right?" Luo Ye shook her head, picked up a cup of coffee from the table beside her, and took a small sip. "To be honest, that's what I think too."

“I don’t care about the lives or deaths of those mortals, whether they are powerful or declining. Their hegemony is meaningless to me, and their downfall is not worth my pity. The only reason I choose to stand on the side of mortals is because I don’t want to stand on the side of the gods.”

She put the coffee aside.

"My name is Luo Ye, Luo as in Luoshui River and Ye as in leaf. The reason I have this name is because my mother's surname is Luo, and when she had a difficult childbirth, a leaf happened to fall on my father's shoulder. I know very well where I came from, and I also know very well what my father, who raised me to the age of ten, had, and then disappeared without leaving behind a sum of money, had, and what his face was like. Even after my soul transmigrated, I still remember the names of my second father and mother, and I cherish the time I spent with them."

“I am Luo Ye, not Alice Margot Lloyd. I have no mother who is not related to me by blood and who raised me for even a second, whose name is Shen Qi. As long as I exist in this world, I will never compromise with her. Because I myself represent the unchanging, the past, and never compromise.”

“…If it weren’t for Shinki.” Alice pressed one eye to her cheek. “Patch and I wouldn’t have been able to enter the Main God Space at all; we could only wait to die with her in Gensokyo. This is a great favor, and we must repay it.”

“That’s why we’ve completely broken apart,” Luo Ye said softly. “The unchanging me will never compromise, even if I’m destined to die and disappear, I will still be Luo Ye. But the changed you became Alice Margot Lloyd. Using gratitude as an excuse to convince yourself, you allowed yourself to become Shinki’s tool and puppet, so that you and Patchouli could gain protection.”

“…I would do anything for Patchouli,” Alice replied resolutely.

“I’m willing too.” Luo Ye shook her head slightly. “But I need to make sure that the ‘me’ who is willing is me.”

"There's no way you could surpass me when it comes to gathering the light of the soul."

"So what if my body and soul are destroyed?" Luo Ye replied, "I am still me. Even if I disappear from this multiverse forever, Luo Ye will still be Luo Ye. Alice, on the other hand, can live on with her lover, complete her mission, and perhaps even gain freedom in the end... Don't you think it's wonderful that it's the best of both worlds?"

Alice remained silent.

She found herself with nothing to say and nothing to do. Luo Ye's choice, though seemingly foolish, was not something she could change her mind about. And she had to defeat Luo Ye, for only then could she ascend to a higher level and better protect those she loved.

All she could do was remain silent.

In the silence, she noticed her own form beginning to thin.