Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

So, let's begin.

The two parted ways, quickly completing their tasks according to their pre-arranged plan—Sirin finished collecting the money and recruiting mercenaries within half an hour. She had found at least four groups, assigning them unrelated tasks that had nothing to do with the Temple of Nightfall or the Museum of Morning Star. They would explore the surrounding areas of these two locations indirectly, and, when conditions were right, share information with Sirin in a special way.

Her actions were swift and her plans comprehensive. While dealing with the mercenaries, she also planted numerous hidden agents throughout Morningstar City. These included, but were not limited to, spells powerful enough to destroy the entire city, and a sealed memetic virus even more potent than a plague. Once she had accomplished everything, she returned to the agreed-upon meeting point.

— Zheng Zha, who had already purchased a carriage and prepared everything, was waiting for her there.

Section 40: Once a move is made, there is no going back; for the sake of chess, there is no turning back.

"I have to admit, neither you nor those two little girls playing with the puppets are the type to follow other people's rules and strategies. You are always so bold, so reckless. You seem cautious, yet you trample on all rules and cover them with your own order. Do you really understand what you are doing?"

The woman had long, thin eyebrows, dark brown with a hint of blue. Beneath them lay a face of breathtaking beauty beyond description. It was a beauty no mortal could possess, but rather an almost supernatural, divine power. If any sentient being who had not yet entered the realm of the extraordinary existed here, they would likely be instantly captivated by her charm, becoming her eternal servant.

This is a powerful ability possessed only by extraordinary beings who specialize in the art of 'beauty,' yet to her, it is merely a tiny, insignificant wisp of divine power, not even a fraction of her own strength. Essentially, it is a crown offered to her by a planet or world to accommodate her existence, to prevent her from being angered by the arrogance of the insignificant and thus subject to calamity. And she has never cared about it.

She didn't care, and her conversation partner ignored it as well. He was perhaps one of the few beings in the entire multiverse who, while not reaching the transcendent level, could disregard this filtering power. Faced with the woman's question, the young man, who outwardly possessed adult male characteristics, merely pushed up his glasses indifferently.

"This is a necessary decision. Taking bold steps for the expected gains is something that ordinary people should do and are used to doing."

“Ah, mortal.” The woman lifted her chin, her gaze towards the person she was speaking to seem to say, ‘You dare call yourself a mortal?’

She looked at him, and he knew there was no power in that gaze—his voice was calm, indifferent, and almost devoid of emotion. Even if he could discern something, it was likely a trap or a decoy used to lure her.

He is Chu Xuan, and he shouldn't be here at this time.

He should be with Patchouli and the others at this time, assisting in the management of the Great Hollow Underground Base and summarizing and reusing all intelligence at the base's information hub. Instead, at this time and in this place, he's meeting this woman... who doesn't even look human.

Where is this point on the timeline? — This is the time when Chang'e, the moon goddess of the primordial world, fell into the mortal prison; the representatives of the Demon Team and the Central Continent Team are about to meet in a dream; Zheng Zha's eyes are fixed on the painting that the artist has just finished; and Alice has just drunk the Fairy Queen's poisoned red tea.

Which point on the spatial axis is this? — This is the Virgo Supernebula in the *Wandering Earth* universe. This is the dream representing 'Cain Hearst' in the *Bloodborne* universe. This is King's Landing in the *A Song of Ice and Fire* universe, transformed from 'Cain Hearst', where an artist paints. This is the interior of the painting, depicting the sacred site of the demon race in *No Game No Life Zero*, the main lair of the progenitor, the Mother of Beasts!

This is the chessboard of the gods, the very center of 'Disbote'. And the woman who appears here is undoubtedly the true ruler of the demon race. The Mother of All Demons of the Fantasy Race, who drives the world's workings from the shadows, a true powerhouse with an origin in Greek mythology—Aichidra!

But her identity is not just that. Although no more than a handful of people in the world know this, her future, her original body at the point in time when the Central Continent Team arrived at "The Wandering Earth", did indeed accomplish the great feat of achieving sainthood and redeeming thousands of independent universes before her death.

She should have died, perishing simultaneously in the past and the future. Yet, for some reason, a sliver of life still lingers in the deepest recesses of this world.

She looked at Chu Xuan, at the silver serpent shadow floating behind the self-proclaimed 'mortal'—a terrifying spectacle visible only to her and beings of her level. She awaited the words Chu Xuan was about to utter.

"I'm here to fulfill the covenant," Chu Xuan said calmly. "The covenant we made in the world of Ju-on."

"Covenant." The woman slowly and deliberately savored the word. She reclined languidly on the seat of unknown material, her gaze sweeping over the entire 'Disbot' world in an instant—

Her gaze swept across the crystal-like Court of Time and Space, where the solitary player atop the silver chariot did not anticipate her move. Her gaze then passed over the War Throne high within the rift in time and space, where the War Lord, missing a wing, gave her a defiant smile. Her gaze shifted again, passing over the pale dragon in the dragon's lair, but the dragon merely returned her a cold glance, showing no intention of responding.

Her gaze shifted downwards, quickly sweeping across the surface of Disbod. The forest elves and goblins weren't worth her even the slightest attention. The rest of the trash weren't even worth mentioning. And on top of that, the true master of the machine race hadn't even arrived. The fairy garden was now useless, and the struggle for revenge in the rift was far from over.

The reincarnators thought they were hiding well, but in reality, they were hiding very poorly. Sirin thought her assessment of Long Po was correct and accurate. But reality often doesn't live up to her expectations.

No god cares if someone travels back in time through retrograde flow. Just as the conflict between Ismir and Aichidra never existed in the first place.

Her gaze continued downwards, downwards, through the magma, and across the mantle. After pinpointing the location of the massive underground cavity, she saw the ever-expanding mortal base within it. And at the base's information exchange center, another Chu Xuan, like an ordinary wise man, was fulfilling his advisory duties.

When her gaze fell upon him, the other Chu Xuan also looked up, pushed up his glasses, and saw the woman's reflection in the smooth lenses.

Two Chu Xuans, two identical individuals. The only difference lies in the fact that one Chu Xuan's enhancements are still quite weak, merely at the limit of the ordinary third tier. The other Chu Xuan, however, has repeatedly knocked himself down from the fourth tier, and behind him floats a silver serpent shadow that, once fully revealed, could devour galaxies.

They are all Chu Xuan, Chu Xuan from the Central Continent Team.

There shouldn't be two Chu Xuans from the Central Continent Team in one world. Therefore, the one here and the one there must be the same person. This world is merely a box within a box. Clearly, Patchouli, disguised as the Fairy Queen, wasn't the only one who descended from the upper box through some means.

So the woman looked away.

"Ah, that's right. We have an alliance. You provide the status of reincarnators to help me break the laws of civilization. In return, I provide assistance in that world so that you can gain the greatest possible benefit... This agreement does exist. And I remember it. But..."

She lightly touched the ground with her toes.

"Although the timing is wrong, my future self should have already completed the transactions in the covenant. Look around here. A box inside a box, and many layers inside. Your audacity is beyond my imagination, actually pulling down and desecrating the sacred standing at the top of the multiverse at such an insignificant level as insects. And you almost succeeded."

She said coldly.

"In the first box, you sealed His power. In the second box, you excluded His legions. In the third box, you excluded your competitors, those reincarnators sent by your main god. And in the fourth box, you even discarded your own shortcomings—though I can't discern the source of the external force. But a goal is a goal, and once achieved, there's nothing more to say. And just now, you created a fifth box, one that is undisturbed by any external forces, and soon one of your members, or even several, will experience a spiritual advancement within it."

"You have done more than enough. And the fact that you have been able to do this is all thanks to the help you received from the future me who is already dead. I really don't understand what you want by coming here to find this half-dead guy like me. Do you intend to bring down a second saint? Or do you want to eliminate all competitors in this world?"

However, Chu Xuan merely adjusted his glasses. His expression remained cold and indifferent.

"I have come here to fulfill the covenant."

"...Pfft." The woman glanced at him, then suddenly unfurled a folding fan from her sleeve, covering her face. A series of frivolous laughs followed from behind the fan. "Alright, alright," she said softly, "then let me see what this half-dead fellow can do for you. Tell me your request."

“You’ve got it wrong, Aichidra,” Chu Xuan said calmly. “I’m here to do what we need to do, not to seek your help.”

The laughter behind the folding fan stopped abruptly.

"You've planned so much, for so long, for only one purpose," Chu Xuan continued. "It's not about granting those worlds freedom as you claimed in your declaration of sainthood—though you have already done so, that's merely a means to achieve your true goal. What you truly want to do is..."

He paused for a moment: "Actually, it's just about going to die."

"To die without leaving a trace, without leaving any room for retreat, to die completely and utterly. For this, you did not hesitate to use external forces to forcibly elevate your essence to sainthood. Then you took on burdens that you could not possibly bear, allowing the backlash from the multiverse to completely erase you at the level of spiritual light... You were even afraid that you had not died cleanly enough, so in the end you did not leave yourself with any power, but instead let me complete the Saint Hunting Ritual. However, you did not expect that even after doing so much, there would still be some embers that could not be extinguished."

"Are you so eager for death, Aichidra? Or is death merely one of the means to achieve your goals?"

With a snap, the folding fan closed abruptly, and Aichidra's face was devoid of any emotion. Her tone was low and soft as she narrated, as if reciting a short, elegant poem.

"I am Nirvana, born to die."

“I know.” Chu Xuan nodded. “That’s why I’m here to fulfill the alliance we made back then. I have a way to grant your wish, and you know I can do it.”

"It's all so convoluted... but in the end, you still need me to do something for you, right?" Aichidra replied, "However, your proposal is indeed very appealing to me. So, tell me your strategy. I will cooperate with you as much as possible."

Thus, the transaction was completed.

"This game has been going on for far too long. Long enough that someone could see through our plans at any moment and interfere—my adversaries, the resources of the other part of the Demon Team are simply too vast. Even with the Hunting Saint Ritual as a trump card, I must avoid direct contact with them as much as possible until the Central Continent Team produces a true holder of the Light of the Mind."

"So you want to speed up this process...you can't wait any longer, can you?"

“Yes,” Chu Xuan replied, extending his hand. The image of Zheng Zha wandering alone in the wasteland appeared in their field of vision. His conversation partner, the Mother of All Demons of this world, immediately understood his intention.

Time is meaningless in this world. At the point in time Chu Xuan showed, Zheng Zha should have just parted ways with Alice. He was determined to hunt down the demons, while Alice would spend five days and four nights in the area where the vampires were located. However, in reality, while the two were talking, Alice had already left Alucard's fortress, met another Patchouli in the Fairy Realm who had transformed into Arisa and was clearly from a higher level box, and drank the poison.

So, did Aichidra, having agreed to the deal, jump to the point in time when Zheng Zha went missing and guide him into the demon race's sacrificial ritual? Or did the two, having completed the deal, jump to the point in time when Alice died on this level?

That's not important. What's important is that something has already happened, and it's being accelerated.

Importantly, when Zheng Zha fell into the time-space reversal caused by the demon seed, a meteor anchored to Zheng Zha's form in the time reversal also fell from the courtyard of the Lord of Time.

Everything was predetermined; the changes and struggles along the timeline often lie in many inconspicuous details.

Now is the time for settlement.

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

When the agreement was reached, in the fifth-level box, at another point in time unrelated to this, the queen on the chessboard opened her eyes.

She is Alice.

Alice currently has four months of memories remaining in this world.

Many of the past events seemed like a dream to her. She remembered killing two dragons in Whiterun and Loristard. Then, in Morthal, she seemed to have killed another dragon and a bunch of troublesome vampires. She remembered having a servant named Lydia, but that servant had left her. There seemed to be a dark side within her that wanted to replace her, yet would relinquish its victory just as the other side was about to win, allowing her to become the ultimate victor.

The past was chaotic and messy, like a hazy dream with indistinct details. If she had ever played a game called The Elder Scrolls V, she would have found that a large part of her four-month journey involved some unconventional main storyline gameplay. But that doesn't matter... such things never matter.

Ever since he awoke in a daze at the execution ground in Helgen, he had been in a constant state of confusion. He didn't know what he needed, or what he should do. From beginning to end, he had been nothing more than a machine, repeatedly fulfilling the requests others had made of him. And now, even that inexplicable feeling, that sense of darkness in the entire world, had subsided. There was no longer any reaction.

Did that dark side of myself ever really exist in this world? Or was it all just the delusion of a mentally ill person going mad?

I don't understand, I don't comprehend, and it's meaningless.

When she snapped out of her reverie, what came into view was a completely burned-out Watcher outpost—the vampires had attacked the Watcher outpost near Morning Star and were plotting a major operation. And it seemed she had been sent here on someone's orders, tracking the vampires' movements.

"Is that so...? My past, my purpose?" The girl looked up at the sky. Under the starry night sky, the stars shone exceptionally brightly—she felt she shouldn't be alone; there seemed to be another companion closely connected to her, imbued with the scent of patchouli and stars. She felt she should be holding a cane, not a sword, and her lips should be uttering incantations, not some nonsensical dragon roar. However, this strange feeling vanished in an instant, leaving only the ever-silent night sky.

Above the heavens, the stars representing the gods of this world, the nine holy spirits, twinkled silently.

As she looked away, the trail left by the vampires clearly appeared before her eyes, ultimately pointing to a dark, distant mountain standing silently in the night.

Ah… it’s time to do what I was asked to do. Find those vampires, kill them all, and that will complete my task. Now I can do something else.

But what exactly is it that I want to do?

The girl shook her head, no longer bothering with these unrealistic concerns. Ever since she could remember, she had been adrift in a state of aimless confusion. So, even if she remained even more lost… it didn't matter.

With these feelings in mind, she took her first steps towards the distant mountains.

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

The first box blocked the power of the fallen saint.

The second box blocked the saint's counterattack and her army.

The third box blocked interference and influence from other reincarnation teams.

The fourth box prevented the members of the Zhongzhou team from having any unrecoverable shortcomings.

So, when only one or two people have fallen to the fifth floor, what exactly is being blocked by the box?

Section 41. Acquaintances are no longer seen, and strangers are no longer recognized.

Alice found the mountain without much difficulty, and she named the dark mountain range 'The Dark Sky'. Then, the traces of blood on the grass and rocks guided her forward.

The path was well hidden, but she could spot it at a glance. Most of the time, she didn't see any traces at all, but after taking a few steps unconsciously, she found another marker in front of her—she felt as if she were playing an RPG game that she had played many times before, and even without opening the map, she could navigate the familiar maze with her eyes closed.

—But what is an RPG? And what's with opening a map?

—Ah, that's not important. My head keeps getting all sorts of random thoughts; right now, I should focus on the task at hand.

Scattered thoughts swirled in the girl's mind. She suddenly remembered that the reason she had been pursuing these vampires was because of a request from Mosar regarding the ghost of a little girl whose entire family had been killed by vampires. And that guy, whose body and soul had long since vanished, was now unable to even utter a word of thanks as a form of repayment.

But that's alright, a commission is a commission. Since you've already promised, you should fulfill it.

She pondered, then casually drew the long, narrow sword slung over her back and cleaved the weeds and bushes in two. The sword was called the Ebony Blade, a demonic artifact said to have been forged by Mephara the Webweaver, one of the sixteen demon gods. All who wielded it had been driven mad after gaining its strange power—

She had once seen one, and then killed the one who could heal rapidly, gain immense strength and agility, and unleash numerous magical techniques simply by wielding an ebony blade. But when the blade landed in her hands, she felt nothing. No seductive whispers, no surge of power; it was as if it were merely a slightly more sturdy ebony sword.

This was actually quite good, because she didn't really need any of those fancy things. For her, the most important uses of a weapon were its sturdiness and sharpness. She could handle the rest herself—except for one thing: she felt this ebony blade should actually be called a dagger, a single-edged blade suitable for slashing and thrusting. But on this continent of Tamriel, the word 'dagger' didn't seem to exist; there were only swords and curved swords. So, this sudden thought had to be abandoned for now.

Well, it's not a big deal anyway. Whatever happens, happens—and just as she dismissed these fleeting thoughts, she found herself at the entrance of an ancient cave. The ebony blade in her hand was piercing the throats of two vampire guards.

Ah... no wonder I suddenly thought of the Ebony Blade. So I was using it...

With a thought, the slain vampire collapsed silently to the ground the instant the blade left his body. Since leaving Morsal, this kind of effortless wiping out of enemies had become commonplace. This was precisely why she chose to act alone; she never knew when she might inadvertently turn her own companions into enemies as well.

An ordinary person would probably go crazy quickly if they encountered something like this. But for her, this kind of inexplicable development was something she was already used to—she always felt that everything in front of her was unreal, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.

[Yes, focus on your work, focus on your work.]

With a flick of her sword, she plucked a simple, hand-drawn map from the vampire's corpse, which hadn't uttered a single line of dialogue. Clearly, the vampires had only just begun exploring this hidden mountain ruin. As her gaze shifted to the surrounding environment, she easily discovered numerous traces of excavation, both new and old, all likely the work of ordinary human laborers.