Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Bloodshed" signifies trampling upon a sea of ​​blood. It implies struggle, slaughter, and one-sided carnage. The divine power supplied by the goddess is far greater in quantity and purity than the magical power that the King of Uruk can provide. The result is the Servants' overwhelming slaughter of the magical beasts.

The magical power derived from the goddess's divine power is limitless. Simply considering quantity without considering function, her energy reserves might be equivalent to multiple Holy Grails. With such a vast energy supply, the white-haired Servant can maintain a constant output of fire-attribute magical power even with simple slashes, and even slightly more refined techniques can reach a level close to Noble Phantasm unleashing. And if we go further…

No, there's no need to go any higher.

She could sense the abnormalities in the feel of the attacks during combat, and she could discern that these magical beasts possessed specialized defenses against lightning and fire. However…

"Drink—" A streak of light flashed past, and the blood and scorching heat in the air intensified several times over. The enormous demonic beast's body crashed down in front of her, and the unused flames even tore through the air, igniting and burning several corpses hundreds of meters away.

Of the hundreds of magical beasts, only a few dozen are currently active.

The naginata, imbued with glare, easily sliced ​​through the crocodile-like carapace of Uritim. With only half its usual strength in slashes and sweeps, it was enough to cut Ugal, who normally required considerable effort to defeat, into several pieces. If we were to translate this into a handheld game setting—which might seem a bit out of place here—she would currently possess nearly ten thousand points of fixed damage and over two hundred percent color card enhancement. Perhaps still insignificant compared to a true god, but for a monster of this level, it was a test far beyond the scope of the syllabus.

The goddess's thoughts suddenly came from the newly created link.

"Archer, try not to attack the brains of those monsters. Leave them alive, and bring back the living bodies and any corpses that are still largely intact."

The naginata paused, its blade, which was meant to sever the brow bone of Ugal and cut off half the head of this lion-like behemoth, abruptly reversed and slashed downwards. Surging flames spread in all directions, instantly charring the entire monster into a solid block of charcoal while severing its legs!

A flawed tactic will inevitably create weaknesses.

A powerful ethereal barrage struck, the unstable, dark golden energy beams completely severed by the sudden surge of flames as they hit the Servant's shoulder armor. This barrage, which had drained her mana on the northern Uruk defenses, couldn't even penetrate her protective battle aura. She sprang to her knees, charging straight to the attacker's side!

Naginata—slash!

With a mournful cry from the monster, the limbs of the giant Ugal that had unleashed the ethereal barrage were severed by her single circular slash. With a slight adjustment of her breathing, a burst of flames repelled the remaining monsters attempting to pounce from the side.

That's really simple.

It's so simple, it's like mowing the lawn.

Even the emotionless monsters seemed to feel fear and adopt a roundabout strategy, but the moment they showed signs of retreat, Nakahara Tomoe, or rather, the Servant Tomoe Gozen, took a longbow from her back and fired a materialized fire arrow that pierced through the thick skin and scales of several retreating creatures and detonated inside.

Several dark purple fireworks exploded, intensifying the scorching and bloody stench in the air. The bow and arrow in the servant's hand disintegrated into spiritual matter and reformed on her back.

She let out a soft breath before picking up her naginata again. While cleaning up the mess, she focused her attention on the orders of her new 'lord'.

Unfortunately, when the new lord issued the order, there weren't many surviving magical beasts left. The woman's gaze casually swept across the battlefield. At that moment, the number of beasts with intact brains, and those clinging to life in crippled condition after receiving the order, totaled only about twenty. As for the others…

Well, what can you do? Warcrafts are incredibly resilient, and their heads are their most vulnerable spot.

She strolled across the battlefield ruins, casually finishing off the remaining magical beasts among the corpses who still had the strength to fight and were trying to feign death and launch a sneak attack. At the same time, she leisurely and calmly pondered the instructions that had come from the goddess.

"Archer, try not to attack the brains of those monsters. Leave them alive, and bring back the living bodies and the corpses that are still largely intact." — She repeated the goddess's words. A smile, whether mocking or sighing, quietly appeared on her lips.

Bringing back the corpses and live specimens of magical beasts was presumably for research purposes—nothing particularly remarkable, given that as a warrior and a servant, she had already personally dissected these beasts' corpses and live specimens countless times in previous battles, analyzing their anatomy to develop countermeasures. She had likely killed two or three thousand magical beasts, and even if the 'samples' she brought back were insufficient, she felt the experience she could provide should be enough to satisfy her new lord.

In that case, what harm is there in killing a few more?

A sharp roar came from behind her. She nimbly turned around, took a step, and immediately followed with a powerful, devastating punch that slammed directly into the nose of the Ulitim that was trying to sneak up on her! The next moment, the monster that looked like a giant crocodile with a spiky tail expanded like an inflated balloon, its bones cracking and bursting, and large clumps of purple flesh exploded outwards with a loud cracking sound!

The monster's blood was purple, splattering all over the white-haired female servant. She stuck out her tongue and gently wiped away a trace of bitter blood from her lips. As flames suddenly ignited around her, burning away the purple filthy blood, a hint of satisfaction appeared in her wine-red eyes.

She didn't actually have any particular ill will towards this new master—except for the inexplicable sense of disgust that welled up within her upon first seeing his face, which subconsciously stirred a murderous intent within her. She didn't really have much of a problem with this goddess who called herself 'Mangotlund'.

Yes, the malice was only temporary. It appeared and disappeared in a flash, for reasons she herself didn't even know—she couldn't remember where she had seen that face before. Nor did she think she should feel hostility towards a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. In her subsequent judgment, this goddess must be burdened with some kind of curse, just like a certain male knight hailed as having a radiant appearance, and she was merely someone who happened to be there.

Since the malice had no source, the fault naturally lay with them—showing hostility towards the gods in the temple was essentially no different from drawing a sword against the emperor in court, and thus, being punished for it was only right. After this brief meeting, when the goddess presented her conditions, and when King Gilgamesh's offerings happened to contain a secret artifact that could transfer the contractual relationship, she was not surprised.

“If I leave, the deployment on the northern front will actually be more convenient.” The white-haired servant slashed down with her naginata, slaying the last of the magical beasts before turning her gaze away. She prepared to cut down some timber to build a trailer large enough to carry the twenty dead or dying magical beasts, which wouldn’t take her much time.

She wasn't actually used to working with Ushiwakamaru... or rather, Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Although she had come at the call of heaven, she naturally had to obey the summoner's orders and uphold the greater good of humanity. But that didn't mean she could be completely at ease when she was in the same room with her enemy who had killed her husband and child.

Yes, she could endure it. She could bear the hatred etched into her bones and fight alongside that renowned Minamoto general on the same battlefield. After all, during the Genpei War, the positions of enemies and friends could change rapidly; it wasn't uncommon for them to be fighting each other in the morning and drinking and laughing together by evening. For the greater good, it wasn't impossible to cooperate with a former enemy to fight the enemy. However, this didn't mean she could sit at the same table drinking and laughing with Ushiwakamaru and his retainer Musashibo!

Ah, that's right, she couldn't do it. Imagine, when Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who greatly admired his elder brother, was drunk and loudly praising how brilliant and powerful his brother Minamoto no Yoritomo was, and when his accomplice followed up by praising her brilliant military strategies during her lifetime, what kind of expression should he have on his face and what should he have said while sitting at the same table?

Is it, "Your brother was truly meticulous in his actions; killing my child and severing the Kiso family bloodline was a righteous and decisive act, truly befitting a hero of his time?" or "Your strategy was perfect; it's quite dignified that my husband was defeated by a general as renowned as you?"

This kind of thing, just thinking about it, makes it obvious it's impossible. And since even he knows it's impossible, how could Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who has been immersed in bloody battlefields and intrigues since childhood, possibly understand this principle? Servants aren't living people; living people change, but even if a servant is given flesh, it's difficult for them to sway their original heart. And since that's the case, then separation is worse than staying together.

not to mention……

King Gilgamesh's burden was already quite heavy.

She pondered for a moment, then tossed the selected complete magical beasts onto the trailer. The wood from the Age of Gods was sturdy, and the ropes, simply woven from the fur of Ugal, the so-called 'Sun Lion,' were sufficient to support the vehicle's structure. She then chose a spot, pulled hard, and the trailer, with a load capacity of approximately a hundred tons, began to move at a speed of nearly a hundred kilometers per hour.

She wasn't oblivious; she could easily see that Gilgamesh and Merlin had other plans behind the scenes, and that the current battlefield wasn't even a warm-up. Her Servants might be considered powerful in a normal Holy Grail War, but on this stage of the Age of Gods, the truly useful ones were actually the goddesses who descended in a chain with the Beast Goddess!

Whether it was himself, Ushiwakamaru and Musashibo, Amakusa Shirou, Leonidas, or even the six Servants including Ibaraki-Douji who left early, they were all useless to King Gilgamesh. The only help he truly needed was Merlin, and the only allies he truly wanted to win over were the goddesses who had descended to earth. This was because there was a hierarchy among Servants; no matter how hard they tried, the six of them were merely mortals. Unless they were blessed by destiny, they were destined for defeat and death when facing the power of the gods!

But destiny only ever falls upon mortals who are still alive!

King Gilgamesh doesn't actually need us Servants. The so-called northern defense line, and the future northern defensive wall, wouldn't be able to stop even a single goddess's full power. All he wants is Merlin, and we are merely freebies that came with summoning Merlin… I can see the immense power and burden he carries. If he were to release the contracts of all Servants except Merlin, he could easily defend the northern defense line once he regained some mobility. Ibaraki-doji's departure was probably partly due to this; after all, she's a purer oni than I am, and naturally sees things more clearly.

According to her calculations, King Gilgamesh was unable to leave the temple while simultaneously maintaining contracts with seven Servants and the concealed secret. Only after Ibaraki-Douji left was the king able to barely gain the freedom to move within Uruk. And if he wanted to leave Uruk while still maintaining his fighting ability, then the number of his current six Servants would need to be reduced to at least four.

He knew he was not needed, or rather, that choosing to leave voluntarily was more in line with Gilgamesh's needs than remaining on the northern frontier. Therefore, as a Servant, serving his lord was his natural duty. He had made his decision, and Amakusa Shirou, who had likely also sensed something amiss, would probably make a move soon.

She shook her head, unable to resist laughing at the jumbled thoughts in her mind—all these reasons, all these excuses, were merely to make herself feel better about switching sides. Perhaps King Gilgamesh didn't care about this little bit of magic at all, perhaps the northern defense line had other important values, perhaps… there could be many 'perhaps,' but none of them really mattered. After all, it was ultimately her who made the decision, and it was also her who had to bear the consequences.

"Perhaps, I just want to kill a few more monsters to avenge the innocent victims and vent my anger along the way," she muttered to herself. And in the midst of her wandering thoughts, the walls of Imanitic City, which might become another source of hope for humanity, came into view at the edge of her vision.

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

Flora frowned.

She wasn't surprised that Tomoe Gozen took almost half an hour to return to Imanitic. After all, even Servants have varying strengths. Even if she infused her with divine power up to the limit of her Spirit Origin's capacity, she could at most unleash top-tier combat power among Servants. Unleashing her Noble Phantasm might be enough to destroy the city in one blow, but that should be her limit.

The reason she frowned was that the number of monster carcasses that Tomoe Gozen brought back, including those with intact brains, was only twenty in total!

What the hell?! Weren't there hundreds of magical beasts fighting on the battlefield?! How come there are only a handful left in the blink of an eye?

She let out a soft breath. While the current situation was somewhat unexpected, it was understandable that newly captured Servants couldn't perfectly execute her commands—even in online games, newly captured pets needed to be bonded before they could unleash their full combat potential. How could they be perfectly intimate from the start?

[Don't get angry, don't get angry. She's still very useful to me. There's no need to scold her here...]

She glanced at the trailer carrying the magical beasts brought before the temple and then fell silent, the white-haired servant as taciturn as if pretending to be a puppet. A jumble of chaotic thoughts churned in her mind like a raging tide, which she then struggled to suppress. Several seconds passed before she finally managed to regain her composure. Then—

“Archer, move these bodies to the plaza.” After saying this, she turned her gaze across the temple wall to the high priest, who was busy at work but always waiting for her instructions.

"Gather the people, everyone, no matter what you're doing, assemble in the square."

"Hurry up."

Section Fourteen: The Goddess's Mercy

To die and be brought back to life.

In the Age of Gods, resurrection was not a complex concept. Because the underworld was not yet sealed off, and the celestial realm was not yet distant, before the era of severing ties between heaven and earth arrived, the souls of the dead could relatively easily travel between the two realms. Under such circumstances, as long as the physical body in the mortal realm could still function, resurrection was not difficult.

It's not difficult, but this "not difficult" only applies to those of divine lineage and heroes whose destiny hasn't yet ended. For the vast majority of mortals, death remains a permanent and inescapable slumber, and even more complete than death in later generations.

Of course, this is the situation that the indigenous people have to face.

For reincarnators, resurrecting the dead in this era is actually more complicated than in later times. Because in later times, with the universe closed, most people who die don't go to the underworld or hell; instead, they either dissipate or become wandering spirits. In such cases, reincarnators like Alice can use various methods to summon the remaining souls from the universe and use powerful magic to reunite and reconstruct the dissipated souls. Once the soul is repaired, the reincarnator only needs to inject it into a cloned body to complete the great feat of bringing the dead back to life.

For those at the transcendent level or above who are reincarnated, this operation is actually not complicated—as long as the appropriate ritual is prepared, spellcasters like Alice can even recreate nearly 10 billion dead people on an entire Death Star in a short period of time. They erase their memories of death and fabricate false histories, making them believe they have always been alive. Such technology first appeared in the Resident Evil vacation world, and in the world of The Wandering Earth, it can be considered a mature system.

Therefore, after the Resident Evil vacation world ended, the kind-hearted members of the team, such as Zheng Zha, no longer needed to deliberately suppress their power in battle to avoid harming innocents—because they knew that even if innocent people were harmed, their teammates would recreate those unfortunate victims from eternal death after everything settled down, and give them some degree of compensation. And if the memories, losses, and even that timeline at the time of death were completely erased, then these dead could naturally be regarded as never having been injured.

If history and memory cease to exist, then the 'past' itself naturally becomes nothingness.

The reincarnators of the Central Continent Team no longer cared as much about the casualties of mortals as before, because in the eyes and understanding of the true gods, damage amounting to mere physical annihilation and soul obliteration was hardly considered injury. As long as the timeline remained stable, the past and future could naturally be overturned. And naturally, as the leader of the spellcasters in the Central Continent Team, Alice was quite experienced in resurrecting mortals who had merely died without leaving a trace on a physical level.

Therefore, Flora easily extracted a method for resurrecting the dead without harm from the divine wisdom within her shoulder. The reason she chose magical beasts whose brains were still active as raw materials was that, whether in this age of gods or the modern world, as long as the brain hadn't been destroyed, it could be considered as not being dead—unable to control one's limbs and the bestial instincts bursting forth from the cells, thus transforming into a beast, was another matter; at least the soul was still bound within a body that wasn't completely dead.

Ah, that's right. After all this beating around the bush, there's really only one thing to emphasize. That is, resurrecting a dead person in the Age of Gods is far more complicated than resurrecting one in the modern world. This is because the Age of Gods had a Underworld, and the Underworld would collect the souls of intelligent life forms after they died and involve them in a new cycle of matter—

—If the Lord of the Underworld were like the Ten Kings of Hell in Journey to the West, with no powerful background and not particularly strong, that would be one thing. However, the goddess of the underworld within the Mesopotamian civilization was not a weak being—perhaps she didn't have much fighting power after descending to the mortal world, but if the battlefield were set within the underworld, Flora would not be able to defeat her without unleashing a large amount of divine power.

After all, from the information provided by her unseen messengers and her own deductions, there were only two pieces of information: 'Ereshkigal' had descended into the world and there were signs of the undead spreading in Kusa. As for the specific temperament of this goddess of death and her methods of action, she personally knew very little.

In Sumerian mythology, Ereshkigal is not a benevolent god. Her imprisonment of Ishtar in the myths nearly eradicated the mortal concept of procreation, potentially causing a cataclysmic event. Approaching her rashly before gathering more information would be unwise…

Flora pondered, turning her attention back to the plaza before her. All the inhabitants of Imanitec had gathered at her command before the city square at the temple's front. The twenty half-dead magical beasts, at her order, were stacked on the central platform marked with a pre-drawn ritual circle—she stood before the pile of corpses, while everyone watched her silently from at least fifty meters away. Even her high priest and servant, Tomoe Gozen, retreated to a corner of the plaza, and when she raised her hands, only faint breathing and the crackling of flames remained within Imanitec.

Why, despite issuing the order beforehand and the unseen messenger informing her that there were at least a hundred living beings present, did Tomoe Gozen ultimately bring back only twenty remains of magical beasts with living brains? She no longer wanted to dwell on this matter. She simply took a deep breath, extracting the resurrection ritual flowing from the wisdom of Mangtlund into her mind. Her next step was to infuse it with immeasurable divine power!

[The ritual begins... Biological matter is decomposed and reconstructed... Latent Imamite bloodline is implanted...]

At the same instant, accompanied by the divine power of fire and lightning that suddenly descended from the sky, the material structure of those twenty living bodies collapsed and disintegrated in an instant, turning into the most basic life essence—an orange liquid composed of carbohydrates, saline solution, metal salts, calcium, and dozens of amino acids!

A collective gasp of astonishment rippled through the square, then abruptly ceased as if pressed down on someone's throat.

Because in the next instant, twenty brain structures identical to human brains silently emerged from the orange liquid. Then, the orange liquid, as if alive, converged towards the brains, instantly enveloping them layer by layer, differentiating into a large amount of connective tissue, organ parts, and even revealing the human skeleton just by looking at the outline!

[Soul structure...captured, genetic structure...restored...now adjusting memories, blurring the experience of being a monster in the brain. Repeatedly erasing images of hunting and cannibalizing humans...]

The limbs emerged from the liquid, followed by newly generated skin and hair. After extracting the corresponding cellular memories, even the scars and the density of the hair were completely reproduced. The next moment, the pillar of lightning formed from divine power dissipated, followed by latent lightning erupting from the depths of these regenerated brain regions—enough to activate their Imanitian bloodline and stimulate the awakening of their brains!

The next moment, a total of twenty Sumerian men and women who had been resurrected from the dead stood naked and bewildered in the square in front of the temple!

The atmosphere in the entire city instantly became even more somber than before the ceremony began. Several figures who appeared to be widows and orphans rose timidly and incredulously from the crowd. An invisible force of information then surged forth under the goddess's will, bolstering their courage.

Finally, one of the twenty regenerators, a male, jolted awake under the influence of nerve stimulation. Still groggy, he reached out to touch his face.

"Am I still alive?" the Sumerian man asked uncertainly.

The next moment, a small, thin figure rushed out from the crowd on the outside and, with the intervention and tacit consent of a certain goddess, fell into his arms!

"Papa!"—a shrill, tearful child's voice suddenly burst forth, and in the next instant, the entire square, with the tacit approval of a certain goddess, descended into a massive, frenzied chaos. The resurrection of the dead was taboo, but if it came through the hands of a deity, it was an absolute blessing and miracle! In a mere instant, several wives found their husbands, and orphans found their parents. They embraced each other in disbelief, crying and laughing, while many more Imanitic citizens cast gazes upon Flora with a mixture of adoration and anticipation, filled with extreme joy!

The prayers of over four thousand people in the entire city were now clearly visible to Flora. She was now certain that everyone in the city had become her fanatical followers. This power was sufficient to serve as a secondary energy source to replace divine power, and it allowed her to instantly discover more directions for developing her technological tree!

For mortals, the immortality of the soul is eternal life. Therefore, she could easily mark all the believers who cast prayers upon her, allowing them, upon death, to be drawn to this city through the resonance of their messages and undergo a physical reconstruction. And if such an effect could be achieved, even the most cowardly person would become extremely fanatical and fearless!

Such warriors could be deployed in large numbers as reusable, disposable supplies. She could even surpass the prolific goddess of magical beasts in terms of army size! Because, based on her current intelligence, unless faced with a god-level powerhouse employing a soul-erasing attack, she could restore even shattered souls through these prayers!

"Those who believe in me will have eternal life"—when this phrase appears in a chaotic world, and is not merely empty words, it will unleash unparalleled power. As Flora refined her thoughts and crafted her words, attempting to steer the atmosphere in the square in the direction she desired, she clearly perceived Tomoe Gozen's figure turning and running towards the city gates.

"—What are you going to do, Archer?" Flora's voice suddenly rang in the mind of the Servant Tomoe Gozen.

"I will go and bring back the remaining monster corpses for you, my lord," the white-haired female servant said without hesitation, her feet already stepping across the gates of Imanithic.

"It's no use; the resurrection ritual isn't mature enough. Right now, I need to either restore those who have been turned into monsters to their original forms before their brains are intact or their souls are sent to the underworld. Giving me a pile of charred remains is useless at this point." — Flora replied calmly.

"But you can..."

"I can't, Tomoe Gozen." Flora's voice was tinged with cold indifference. "When I gave you the order, there were at least a hundred living demonic beasts remaining on the battlefield. And you ultimately only brought back twenty containers containing living brains. So only twenty people were resurrected. I certainly bear some responsibility for the lenient nature of my orders, but the responsibility for making the choice is yours, and the responsibility for failing to fully execute the order also lies with you."

"But that's because I didn't know that monsters were made by humans—"

Flora cut off the communication.

She could clearly sense her Servant stopping at the gates of Imanithyc. She could also clearly sense the simmering melancholy within her—this was just the beginning. When Tomoe Gozen realized that all the demonic beasts she had slain beneath the walls of Uruk were actually ordinary citizens, this would become an even heavier burden. And this burden would become her shackles, forcing her to carefully consider the next time she considered disobeying her Master's orders.

[She'll probably be more obedient after that... Just to be on the safe side, I should go and comfort her properly later. Tsk, if we could be friends, who would want to use such oppressive methods to hurt a Servant's feelings? I wish I could be like Fujimaru Ritsuka, not hated by anyone...]