Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Flora suddenly opened her eyes.

She felt like she was having a dream, a terrible dream. In the dream, her meticulously planned scheme suffered a devastating blow just one step away from completion. No, it wasn't herself who was devastated, but the entire human world outside of herself. For some unknown reason, all of Mesopotamia had fallen into a cataclysmic calamity. Except for the Imanitic people she was protecting and the tens of thousands of inhabitants of the city, the entire human world was utterly wiped out in the aftermath of the divine war.

The dream was blurry, and the memory faded rapidly with the passage of time. She could no longer remember the origin of the calamity, nor the relevant details. Soon, even her encounters in the dream and the records of her enemies faded away silently. In the end, all that remained was the slightly rapid heartbeat in her chest.

Is it an illusion? Or a revelation?

Flora tilted her head and glanced at the flamethrower beside her—the flamethrower she called 'Love' just innocently shook its feathers and then made a 'coo' sound.

Mangottlund...

She lowered her eyes, her self-awareness, bestowed upon her by divine wisdom, rapidly commencing operation. She felt no loss of power within her, nor detected any external interference or curse… no, she felt her current state was excellent, exceptionally good. Her computational abilities were stronger, her strength more profound, as if…

It's like...

—Power Unleashed: 30%

The armrest of her seat turned to dust in an instant. Then, as the material structure collapsed, she forcefully bound it back to its original form with overwhelming willpower, reforming and restoring its molecular bonds. Yet, even in that fleeting moment, her aura and will expanded outward with her thoughts, sweeping across the entire newly built, vast city-state like an invisible filter. Tens of thousands of torches throughout the city lit up simultaneously, burning fiercely.

This is a revelation, a prophecy—something I was unaware of is happening or about to happen, and it will have a profound impact on my career.

A pair of dark flames ignited in her eyes, and the temple gates, sealed during her brief rest, roared open to the sides. An invisible yet tangible divine power emanated outwards, detecting every possible anomaly in the city. As the temple gates opened, several stars falling from the night sky caught her gaze.

Someone is coming, many people are coming. They come from outer realms, from the future, from the unknowable interstellar ocean, and their destination is this not-so-vast Mesopotamia—she blinked, and most of the stars in the night sky disappeared, leaving only two dim twin stars that accompanied each other in her field of vision.

She knew what it was; it was a meteor from Chaldea, a star she, 'Flora,' could see through her own power—whether it was herself, the King of Uruk, or the goddesses whose wills she had clashed with or against. In reality, at this moment, they could only see the twin stars of Chaldea. As for the falling stars that disappeared after shifting their perspective, only the power and status of the goddess Mangotrund could reveal them.

[They are beings more powerful than me, beings that terrify me. Even if I unleash thirty percent of my power, I am still not worthy to meet their gaze—is the source of this revelation them? Or is there something else?]

This cannot be ignored...

She let out a soft breath. She knew very well that there were quite a few powerful beings on this continent who could detect the Chaldeans. But she might be the only life form with such a dangerous revelation. And although she didn't know what had happened now or in the future that had caused her power release to reach thirty percent without her realizing it, she still had to take action.

A reasonable and cautious response.

My goal is to restore humanity... Thankfully, at least I still remember that. It seems that releasing 30% of my power is still within my tolerance. So, what I should do is...

Flora's thoughts raced for a moment; the rapid inspection of Imanitic had yielded results. The first phase of the Ruhr-like industrial zone transformation project had been completed ahead of schedule. The entire city had now become an iron-smelting capital built upon mines and furnaces. All 46,333 city-state residents were safely in their assigned positions as she had calculated. Not one more, not one less, and the 1,900 high-capacity automated robots, forged with divine wisdom, were all in their proper places, none damaged, none malfunctioning.

The problem wasn't currently on her side, but she couldn't rule out the possibility that the real issue was deeply hidden. She thought for a few more seconds, then raised her hand.

The high priestess, who had been waiting for her command at any moment, appeared silently in the shadows of the temple. She placed her hand deeply on her chest, awaiting her instructions.

"Issue the decree." Flora regained her goddess-like majesty and said calmly, "First, abolish the temporary city-state resident system. All new entrants awaiting assessment will be counted as Immanite citizens. The 'Inspiration' plan is canceled. Gather all foreigners in the central square. I will preside over their bloodline conversion in half an hour, turning them all into Immanites."

"Second, open all backup robot production lines. The newly added population will be responsible for daily maintenance, and all new robots will be used to develop the second phase of the Imanitic transformation project. Food, energy, and other related supplies will be handled by me. Ensure that the second phase of the project can be completed in a timely manner."

"Third, increase the intensity of the offensive against the Goddess of Monsters by 200%. Forget about all other miscellaneous things; plunder as many monsters as possible and I will restore them to human population. At the same time, equip the warrior teams with Type IV hybrid magic power enhancement armor and prototype Gauss cannons. The corresponding permissions have been transferred; proceed now."

She spoke quickly and lightly, and her high priest listened attentively and remembered every word she said. With her closing command, her high priest vanished into the shadows as silently as she had arrived. And seconds later, the entire city began to spin rapidly in accordance with her will.

A war between the gods cannot begin. Even if the offensive against the Goddess of Warcraft is intensified, as long as she herself does not intervene, both sides will continue to maintain a tacit understanding of fighting as soldiers. In the minds of these native goddesses, as a member of the old order, she has the freedom to remain dignified and neutral without participating in the Three Goddess Alliance—unless her own legion conquers the Blood Temple.

[This can be considered a test, a test to see if the other goddesses besides myself have the same premonition. Although I think they are probably inferior to Mangtlund, I can't rule out the possibility of unexpected factors...]

Or perhaps one of them was the 'accident'.

[This greatly reduces the likelihood that the problem lies with me... but that's not enough. Uruk, the other goddesses, and my comrades who are descending... Damn it, if I could pinpoint the location of the anchor point Grail right now, I'd take any risks to eliminate it beforehand. But where is that thing?]

The young woman pondered deeply, but her actions were swift and decisive—she snapped her fingers, and invisible messengers, created through information magic, were sent in all directions at her command. These would become her eyes and ears, allowing her to monitor the subtle changes throughout Mesopotamia as closely as possible. As for the Chaldeans who were about to descend…

Flora's triangular emblem on the back of her hand gleamed slightly.

"Ba, come to me."

A shimmering light appeared, and the white-haired servant, accompanied by the teleportation array within the temple, transported her from a distant place to Flora's presence. Compared to her uncooperative attitude almost a month ago, Tomoe Gozen was now much more familiar with Flora and held her in higher esteem. After all, the dramatic changes that had taken place in Imanitec over the past month were clearly reflected in her vision, and compared to her precarious position in Uruk, she could obviously be of real use in this city.

“Servant, Archer, I have come as summoned.” She bowed slightly before Flora, awaiting the goddess’s instructions.

“The Chaldean stargazers are coming, Ba,” Flora said calmly. “They have come to repair the singularity, but they cannot reach the correct location. Many cities in Mesopotamia are now covered by the authority and power of gods and kings, so they are destined to land only in the deserted wilderness.”

“This is bad, very bad. The monsters of this era are far too ferocious for them. And according to my calculations, they should descend from a location forty kilometers north of Gilsu City at dawn. And I am not the only deity who has noticed this.”

“Go and protect them, Ba. Protect them as they descend, and lead them to the first city they desire to reach. If any monsters stand in your way, kill them. If any goddesses obstruct your path, defeat them. When this task is completed, I will have other matters to assign you.”

"My lord, should we bring the Chaldean stargazers to Imanithyc?" Tomoe Gozen asked.

“No need. It’s their freedom to go wherever they want. And if they ask you about the various intelligence and secrets of this era, you are free to tell them. There’s no need to keep anything you think you can talk about a secret.” Flora answered calmly. She seemed to consider for a couple of seconds, then slightly raised her shoulder, and the Flame Bird beside her gently exhaled a breath of fire. A slightly smaller Flame Bird appeared out of thin air, flapped its wings, and slowly flew to Tomoe Gozen’s head.

"The child's name is 'Love.' It will follow you and lend a helping hand when you encounter obstacles you cannot overcome. Use it well and treat it kindly. And if there are no other questions, then set off."

The goddess's will was clear and unambiguous, and naturally, her servants had no need or inclination to refute it. And after Tomoe Gozen's form completely disappeared from Flora's sight, the substitute goddess, who had implemented a multitude of emergency laws and acquired a correspondingly enormous workload, lowered her eyes.

Contact between the Servant and Fujimaru is inevitable, and it's also inevitable that the Servant will directly confront Fujimaru's overwhelming affinity. I will inevitably have contact with the people of Chaldea. The only difference is when.

She drew upon a portion of her computational power, and a complex and intricate design blueprint flowing from the intelligence of the god Mangtlund immediately came into her view—it was said to be a synthesis of three technologies from the Old Era. These were respectively formed by combining the essence of three technologies whose physical forms she did not know—'Time Hounds,' 'Death Angels,' and 'Fairy Species'—but which were believed to be extremely mysterious and powerful. Its completed form currently had no name, but it was said that this weapon was qualified to intervene in the battlefields of the transcendent, even the true gods.

She did not understand the significance of concepts such as the extraordinary and the true god in relation to the god Mangotrend.

But this did not prevent her from preparing in advance to deal with potential shortages of her subordinates' combat strength.

【Ba, will you turn your back on me and abandon me?】

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

Tomoe Gozen, or rather, Nakahara Tomoe, was unaware of Flora's thoughts—of course she didn't, because she had never even considered that possibility. Although she hadn't yet shared memories with her Master, she was quite impressed by the goddess's actions over the past month. After all…

Throughout Mesopotamia, people were dying every day in every city. Yet, only one city remained untouched by death, and in fact, the dead returned. Here, for the first time, she experienced the chances of survival for ordinary people in this era, unlike Uruk, where morale was high, but ultimately, destruction was inevitable.

She didn't harbor such thoughts without reason; she had evidence and grounds for it. The evidence was the colossal city that appeared before her eyes, a tapestry woven from divine power and steel—Flora had compared this level of transformation to the Ruhr industrial region of the early 20th century. However, in Tomoe Gozen's eyes, even a modern 21st-century metropolis couldn't compare to this ever-expanding steel city.

A steel-clad ground, a torrent of metal, towering factory chains, and colossal heavy-duty robots. This ancient goddess practically crammed a technologically advanced civilization, far ahead of its time, into the lives of these ancient humans from 2700 BC. And in the eyes of each of her subjects, Tomoe Gozen saw something entirely different from what the inhabitants of Uruk saw.

That was desire, a desire for life. They wanted to, and believed they could, survive. So they donned work suits that, after a month of development, had transformed from simple frames into divinely powered exoskeletons, and threw themselves into every task assigned to them by the goddess. Unlike in Uruk, where everyone, though equally hardworking, had eyes filled with a resolute acceptance of death.

To live for the sake of living, to live for the sake of dying—Tomoe Gozen didn't want to judge which of the two philosophies was superior. But she felt that perhaps she was needed more here, and that she could play a greater role here. And…

"Hmm?" She stopped in her tracks.

At the city gate, she saw a group of recalled foreigners, guided by priests, heading towards the central square chosen by the goddess. The crowd included men and women, young and old, couples and even three brothers born of different parents. Their spirits were high, for they could finally become the Immanetians, who were said to be immortal—this was not surprising, and in fact, it wasn't these things that had caught Tomoe Gozen's attention.

Upon hearing the decree, the foreigners discarded their belongings, which were then piled up in a corner of the city gate. At the latest, within five minutes, personnel would arrive to clean and recycle them for reuse. What caught Tomoe Gozen's attention was precisely among that pile of miscellaneous items!

That was a floor tile from a temple.

She instinctively walked towards the paving stones and reached out her hand towards them.

Section 25, First Cycle, Dawn

—Nothing happened.

The stone slab was just a stone slab, and the floor tile was just a floor tile. It did not change in any way because of the Servant's contact, nor did it show any abnormality or distortion. At the moment of contact with the stone slab, Tomoe Gozen could only perceive a slight divine power reaction inside the stone slab, and such a weak reaction was quite common in Emmanueltyk at present.

The little flame-shaped bird on the shoulder shook its feathers.

[This thing gives me a strange feeling... I'd better not leave it in Imanithyc.] The Servant thought to herself—perhaps it stemmed from some kind of intuition she had as a princess warrior, which made her subconsciously aware that something was wrong with this floor tile, but she couldn't directly perceive its essential abnormality.

Should we just destroy it right here?

No, this is not good. This is Emmanueltyk after all, and as a servant of the goddess, casually displaying power in this city might bring some bad consequences. In the past, she might have destroyed this floor tile that gave her a strange feeling without hesitation, but now, she has developed a little bit of goodwill towards this city and the goddess who controls it.

—But in other words, if she hasn't yet accepted this city, then she'll probably ignore this strange paving stone, letting it drift away naturally as circumstances change.

Her contemplation ended. In reality, she only paused for a barely perceptible, extremely brief moment at the city gate of Imanitis. And once she reached a conclusion, the paving stone vanished from the gate's location, and her form immediately reappeared on the outside of this steel city.

A scorching, roaring wind swept behind her, the incessant sounds of gears turning and steel rubbing against each other. She heard the mechanical limbs hitting the ground, and turning her head slightly, she saw a dozen enormous, spider-like war machines, several stories high, carrying a squadron of soldiers being equipped with new weapons, rushing to the front lines of the battle against the Beast Goddess. She could clearly sense the immense energy contained within the machines, like a small volcano, and knew that even she would have a hard time directly confronting the rays and high-speed projectiles projectiles fired from the main cannons on the heads of these mechanical spiders.

The Imanitecs call this a 'Divine Engine'. It is said to be created by modifying and sealing multiple unusable superior magical beasts within machinery and runic magic, granting them semi-intelligence and powerful self-healing abilities. Typically, on the battlefield, the damage inflicted by a single 'Divine Engine' can exceed the combined combat record of several times the magical beast that created it. In Tomoe Gozen's memory, at least as of yesterday, the number of 'Divine Engines' deployed to the main battlefield could be counted on one hand.

[The Master is about to make a big move. Could this be the prelude to the end of this war?]

She pondered, but her subordinates did not hesitate. After leaving the gates of Imanitism, she released an ethereal message in a special way. Within seconds, the ground beneath her feet began to tremble, and a spider-like machine, slightly smaller than the 'divine engines' that carried warriors, burst forth from the earth. The dozen or so pairs of scarlet electronic compound eyes on its head turned azure blue after detecting her parameters.

This is her vehicle, completed only three days ago and likely to be replaced in about three days. But it's still her favorite. After all, even with the fastest Servant speed, continuously traveling hundreds of kilometers per hour while maintaining peak combat power is still quite challenging.

—Besides, military generals are supposed to ride horses.

She casually tossed the stone slab into the rear storage area of ​​the 'horse'. With a swift turn, she landed precisely on the semi-open cockpit. The dust and dirt in the cockpit had already been cleaned away by a self-cleaning spell, and a vague mechanical consciousness immediately connected with her. A three-dimensional map of Mesopotamia and the coordinates given to her by the goddess were then accurately marked on the surface of her retina.

She really likes this.

With this clever and agile 'horse', even an Archer-class Servant without the inherent skill of riding could smoothly steer this swift and convenient war machine. And the instant her command was input, flames shot out from the tips of all eight segments of the Divine Engine!

With a whoosh, the air was torn apart. In an instant, the invisible barrier formed by the dense air of the Age of Gods was easily shattered by the divinely created machine. The speed exceeding 600 kilometers per hour made everything around them blurry and indistinct, while the spider-like machine's limbs swayed rapidly, easily leaping over what might have been obstacles like mountains and rivers. At a height of approximately thirty meters above the ground, it initiated a series of jump maneuvers.

It was fast, but still within Tomoe Gozen's dynamic visual perception range. She glanced at the pair of stars falling from the sky, and the corresponding data was immediately extracted from her brain and sent to the networked cloud computing engine. Then, half a second later, precise data was provided.

— [The Chaldean visitors are approximately two hours and six minutes away from reaching the designated crash site.]

— [One hour and thirty minutes remaining until reaching the designated crash site.]

The Flamebird at her shoulder chirped softly twice—she knew what it meant. The so-called computational engine was actually closely related to this Flamebird. However, she didn't care much about these trivial details.

She was a warrior, not a scholar. A warrior only needs to know how to handle a weapon, just as the goddess in the city only needs her people to know how to handle weapons.

She took a deep breath. The extra half hour allowed her to forgo using methods that depleted her mechanical lifespan for forced marches. She methodically adjusted the various data, checking the operational status of her weapons and equipment. Occasionally, she would raise her flaming longbow to deliver devastating sniper shots at any lone or group of monsters detected along her route.

The location of Imanitik is north of Uruk, north of Gilsu.

The Blood Temple is located in the western part of Imanitik, northwest of the city of Gilsu.

The most powerful magical beasts were engaged in a stalemate with Imanitec on the front lines. The area south of Imanitec had always been populated only by a handful of discarded creatures. They were scrap, cannon fodder, and also transport vehicles for plundering people from the Uruk direction. To Imanitec, these outdated, early-generation magical beasts didn't even deserve heavy firepower for annihilation. However, on the northern defenses of Uruk, these small groups of beasts still managed to inflict a certain amount of damage daily.

The Immanitek were constantly changing, but Uruk was not. Their kings may have been wise and diligent, but they did not possess the knowledge, wisdom, and energy of the Immanitek goddesses, which transcended the divine age and encompassed human times.

Humans can die suddenly, but gods cannot.

Humans and gods are ultimately different, a fact known to every sentient being on this continent. However, the goddess of Immanetics had made a pact with the king of Uruk: unless invited, the Immanetic army and its followers would not appear in the territory of Uruk.

Servants are an exception, because a Servant is merely an individual. Furthermore, Servants sometimes act as envoys. While the city of Gilsu, isolated outside Uruk's northern defenses, can in a sense be considered abandoned by Uruk, the king's claim and sovereignty remain, and the goddess naturally will not break her promise.

Perhaps that king had other considerations. But compared to the overall continuation of the tribe, is the dignity of the individual really that important?

Tomoe Gozen pondered, then examined a group of about thirty lower-level magical beasts. They were spread out, making it difficult to defeat them all with only magic-enhanced arrows. After a moment's thought, she pressed a small red button. A split-type rocket pod detached from the spider-like machine's abdomen, disintegrated in mid-air, and launched a magic-sensing rocket—which nimbly traversed the forest and valleys, accurately hitting its designated target half a second later.

A small cloud of fire suddenly rose from the valley she had tossed behind her. According to the goddess, these little things should be called "divine phosphorescent fireballs"—Tomoe Gozen didn't quite understand the concept, but she felt it should differ from her understanding of 20th-century industrial technology. However, on second thought, the so-called 20th century wasn't the era of goddesses and the inhabitants of the divine age, so some differences weren't surprising.

Well, not particularly surprising. But it's more than enough to deal with mere magical beasts. Even without turning around, she could sense the auras of those earlier magical beasts and know that they had been burned to a crisp. And once the corresponding coordinates were uploaded, the subsequent recovery teams would likely arrive at the area she had marked soon, and then Imanitis would probably see an even larger population increase.

[It's unclear when the king of Uruk will allow the news that 'monsters can be transformed back into humans' to spread throughout the kingdoms under Uruk's rule—but it seems unlikely. After all, this is the creative power of the goddess Mangotlund, an authority comparable to that of Tiamat. Even in the king's treasury, there probably aren't any treasures with equivalent effects—perhaps there are, but certainly not many. And if that's the case, once this news spreads, Uruk's rule will likely be unstable.]

It's a pity that the king's vision may be in vain. He created the divine emblem to defeat the gods with the power of mortals. But everyone knows that people in this era are incapable of defeating the gods—his actions only demonstrate the will of mortals, but cannot offer them a way to survive. But is living by kneeling before the gods truly better than dying by turning away from them? Hmm… this question has troubled me for a very, very long time.

She pondered, moving forward as she thought. As always, she couldn't find a final answer. Along her path of contemplation, she further weakened the mobility of numerous scattered magical beasts. And she drew ever closer to her destination.

A muffled 'click' followed by a flash of golden light!

Mythical Engine - Emergency Braking!