Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The wind was blowing, and a bright moon rose silently above the night sky.

This is normal. The conflict between the moon goddesses doesn't mean the moon shouldn't appear in the night sky as it normally would. Physically speaking, this world isn't much different from other worlds. Except for the fact that the 'moon goddesses' never appear, everything here is no different from an ordinary anomaly moon world.

Of course, what remains unchanged is the internal situation; the external battlefields of Dao struggle are not included in the changes. Apart from this, the representatives of the sages are not much different from ordinary people—their only characteristic is that they are immortal.

Based on this theory, Alice has already eliminated many, many suspicious targets on this land—because she cannot be certain that the spokesperson of a saint is necessarily a powerful figure who can stir up the winds of change. After all, this is a struggle over the Way, a struggle over the Way, not force. And assuming immortality, an old farmer in the fields may well be able to achieve victory on the level of the Way's philosophy.

This is troublesome, but not insurmountable—Flora's massive antics in each singularity weren't entirely pointless. And while there's been no immediate gain, at least it confirms that the other saint's representative doesn't exist in the other six singularities.

If not there, then the only options are 'Chaldea' and 'Mesopotamia'. Oh... and perhaps we should also consider the Temple of Time hidden in the void—that thing can evade Chaldea's detection, but it's nowhere to hide from Alice's gaze. After all, the difference in their levels is too great.

Choosing one of three options isn't a difficult question. There's no need to worry too much about Chaldea; the Temple of Time has other plans in place. And judging from what Alice is currently doing, Mesopotamia should soon see some progress as well.

Are there any vulnerabilities? Perhaps.

Is there a flaw? Perhaps.

Alice never believed that her plans would be perfect, so she was always ready to check for any shortcomings.

She suddenly felt that something was wrong.

It seems I've forgotten something very important?

Section 35 - First Cycle - Lunar Eclipse

On this stage of the world, everyone is a pawn. And among these many pawns, only one person possesses a unique privilege.

Who held the privilege was obvious. And once she fully deciphered a message that had arrived from afar and entered her consciousness in some interesting way, she took appropriate action immediately.

She was, after all, a member of the Zhongzhou team. Although she wasn't strictly controlled, she was still part of the team. And when necessary responsibilities arose, she had a duty to fulfill them.

—She was happy to fulfill that promise.

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

"Checking the restoration status of other singularities... Interesting. Has Alice made some special discovery on those lands? Or are there some loopholes that I need to fill in?"

Sirin pressed her forehead, trying to decipher the meaning behind the encrypted message in her mind. Just moments ago, as the time loop began in the Seventh Singularity and the first night had just started, she received a direct message from Alice—

The message was simple: Alice wanted her to travel to areas other than the Seventh Singularity. To examine the restoration of history after the Grail's removal, to observe whether the distorted past had truly returned to its original course. If not, then how were they now operating?

very funny.

And that's exactly what she's doing.

While the reincarnators were either sitting idly on the ring table or working behind the scenes in the Seventh Singularity or Chaldea, Miss Sirin, who had also chosen to descend from the ring table and head to any random singularity, was leisurely sightseeing on the ground.

[The path, the erosion of the path... Ah, my path isn't really that clear yet. I don't think I can surpass the limits of this life form in this short time and reach that spiritual level where even the universe itself could escape. So, compared to other people who are eager to advance, I personally prefer to stay at this level a little longer.]

Sirin casually thought that she was actually in the First Singularity, on the French mainland as the Hundred Years' War was drawing to a close. As her thoughts raced, all the living and dead, spells and machines around her subconsciously ignored her unusual attire and ethereal aura. Whether living or dead, servants or magical beasts, in their eyes, Sirin was simply an ordinary, unremarkable village girl, not worth paying attention to.

This was easy, because she had already unlocked the genetic lock at the mid-stage of the fourth tier. Although, due to the favor she received, Aichidra was given a special opportunity, merging her past and future selves to directly prove her path and unlock the Light of the Mind, thus making her own path still unclear, this did not prevent her from possessing numerous abilities at the fourth tier.

She has arrived at No. 4 High School and has become a true god. Although the authority over time cannot be used arbitrarily due to the limitations of the location, it is not difficult for her to separate the originally unified spacetime and operate the power at the spatial level.

[It was just a side check during my sightseeing trip; essentially, it was just a slight alteration to my itinerary.]

Therefore, the first step should be to go to...

"Orleans." — She teleported the entire world to the location she desired, a spatial manipulation technique she had learned from a blue-skinned man who didn't particularly like wearing clothes in the DC universe. The next moment, the war-torn city of Orleans appeared in her field of vision, and she examined it carefully from every angle, like a child looking at a model.

—The repair of this singularity went smoothly. She didn't see anything unusual or distorted. The wyverns summoned by the fake Joan of Arc were naturally corrected after the world line reset, becoming ferocious beasts in the forest and various natural disasters on the land. What came into her view was a sorrowful city, but that was all.

In the war of the First Singularity, the fake Joan of Arc was only resurrected for less than a month before the Chaldeans intervened. During this time, she destroyed several cities on the French mainland and allowed swarms of dragons to wreak havoc and slaughter approximately twenty villages. Among them, Orleans was completely destroyed, and the direct loss of life was estimated at around 100,000.

One hundred thousand people—that's not a large number. Sirin blinked, scanning the vast amount of information on the surface of the world while simultaneously listening intently to the whispers and conversations of the people across the land. Then, she summarized, compiled, and organized it into a book.

After the Chaldeans left and history was re-anchored, this event was revised to a plague that swept across France and subsequently led to a famine. The dead still died, but their cause of death was changed to 'contracting some unknown infectious disease' and dying in quick succession within days. The outbreak point was set in Orléans, and in the eyes and memories of the survivors, their relatives, neighbors, and friends simply died in a sudden plague, followed by the tragedy of a beast attack on the city.

She floated lightly to the side of an orphan whose entire family had perished, reaching out to touch his memories beyond the child's comprehension—she knew very well that before the correction, this child's entire family had died under the claws of a wyvern. Yet now, at the child's feet, she saw a corpse wrapped in a bamboo mat, with only the pale feet showing.

The surface of the remains showed no signs of gnaws, but the interior contained remnants of pathogens. In the orphan's memory, the entire process of his family's illness, weakness, coughing up blood, and death was vividly clear, with remarkably detailed information and virtually no deliberately obscured areas. His own efforts to save his family, as depicted in his memory, were also clearly visible, without any deliberately blurred parts.

She examined the composition of the bacteria—it was plague, a variant of plague. The emergence of plague in this era was not an unusual occurrence. And perhaps at the same time, a detailed record of this 'small-scale plague' would appear online in the future.

Something that wouldn't have happened before has occurred, but it won't actually have a significant impact on the future. The course of history often depends on the will of a few key figures. But even without these individuals, history might still continue to flow in its predetermined direction.

"Human restoration... what a clumsy method. The dead cannot be resurrected; this is more like merging timelines than reversing the past," Sirin said softly, her words echoing through the streets, but unheard by any living or dead creature.

Humans cannot, machines cannot, no medium can.

Her gaze shifted to the orphan who was still lost in his grief—the orphan was unaware of her arrival, unaware that she knew everything about this place, and unaware that if she so desired, everything could be reversed.

[I can bring everyone in this city back to life. I can even bring back to life everyone, every animal, and even every microorganism, who died across all of France because of the disaster caused by the fake Joan of Arc. I can fix everything as if nothing had ever happened... Should I do it?]

She reached out and gently clenched her fist.

Her long, pale purple hair gently swayed at her ankles. The temporal structure, spatial distribution, and causal relationships of the singularity before her were all clearly visible in her eyes. She knew she could do this, easily and effortlessly, without interfering with time or controlling space; she could simply move all the molecules and atoms back a month in time. And this might also mean the complete calming of this singularity, returning it to an absolutely stable state that even spirit particle transfer couldn't achieve.

She can do it. She's capable of it. The only problem is...

Why would I do that?

Why would I want to do this?

Her will expanded outwards, and an indescribable collapse of spacetime pulverized the entire city of Orleans into dust in a fraction of a second, leaving not even a molecule behind. Then, a fraction of a second later, the city was restored to its state before she acted. Within Chaldea, the instruments monitoring history pulsed sharply due to her will, and then, through her methods, this part of history was abruptly erased before the alarm signal could be triggered.

Sitting in front of the instrument, 'Dr. Xiao' glanced at the data on the screen that had a blank line, a subtle smile playing on his lips. He casually operated the computer to upload the abnormal data, and watched as the data was predictably regarded as a system error by the senior executive in charge of review and directly placed into the scrap area.

—The Chaldea Masters are currently busy descending from the Netherworld entrance in Kusa City via a secret ritual. Everyone is too busy to deal with this seemingly harmless 'system error'. This outcome was entirely within 'Dr. Xiao's' judgment. And his gaze shifted slightly…

He could see the spirit of the follower Lanling King, and he knew that the other party was unaware that he could see it. He knew that the other party was monitoring him, and he also knew that the other party was unaware that he was pretending to know nothing.

He picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

Meanwhile, Sirin, who was located at the first singularity, let out a soft breath.

Her thoughts raced, and in the blink of an eye, she shifted the world again, placing the earth a thousand kilometers beneath her feet—the entire planet appeared to her like a massive, uneven rock. She knew that with just one punch, she could turn this celestial body into a pancake.

however……

[In my heart, there remains a desire to save the victims of this land, and to restore the lives lost due to the clumsy merging of world lines in the restoration of humanity to their original destinies.]

"This is compassion," she asserted.

"I shouldn't have any pity." — She was so certain.

There is only one world worthy of my pity, and that is the one I was born into, shrouded in chaos and war, which brought me endless pain, but also a glimmer of warmth. There is only one group of mortals worthy of my salvation, and that is those from my past, from my weakness, and from my memories.

"Those who once helped me, those who once cursed me, those who once loved me, those who once hated me, those who once fought alongside me, those who once turned their swords against me, those who once opened their hearts to me, those who once schemed against me and trapped me—Theresa, Cecilia, Mei, Kiana, Fu Hua, Otto—my friends, my enemies, friends who considered me enemies, enemies whom I considered friends… Only they are worthy of my saving, only they deserve my saving." —She said with such unwavering resolve.

“I… shouldn’t feel pity for a group of humanoid life forms that I’ve never interacted with before, who simply share a similar physical structure with my past self. Because of them, they shouldn’t be able to evoke any empathy in me. I should be able to examine their value from an absolutely neutral and objective perspective.”

She quickly and urgently searched her memories, her thoughts, her logical judgments and behaviors, and finally concluded that everything was normal.

The spirit was not interfered with, and no foreign objects appeared within the body or soul. No strange beliefs or thoughts entangled the mind. And the celestial bodies and collective consciousness of this land, Gaia and Alaya, were all as calm as a stagnant pool.

This thought arose entirely from the deepest recesses of her heart, emerging from the surface of her mind after being processed by her subconscious. Even though it was extremely faint and subtle, it was still her own thought—but she knew she shouldn't have it. She also didn't acknowledge that she had such a thought.

[...Is it Dao Shi? Zheng Zha?]

No, his rank is equal to mine, his growth rate is equal to mine... He might be able to defeat me, but he cannot inflict Dao Corruption on me.

【So…】She raised her head and looked at the distant sky in the far distance, and her gaze continued upward after passing through the sky, until it touched the unknown place beyond the extreme heavens.

Is this what you want me to do, Theresa... or is it what your enemy expects me to do?

The Theresa she knew was an avatar of Echidra. Even if Echidra severed the connection between them, the essence of an avatar remained that of an avatar. If Echidra were to die completely and fall into eternal slumber, then this avatar, whose connection had been severed, would also be free and become an independent being.

However, Aichidra did not die. Not only did she survive, but she also expanded the Dao Erosion phenomenon during the Dao Conflict to a level affecting a vast multiverse. Therefore, under this premise…

Now that Theresa has gained her freedom, that petite crimson girl... is she still Theresa?

Celine didn't know, and didn't want to know.

Then, she calmed down.

“...I want to thank you, Alice. You reminded me, you told me, that I am the only life that cannot stand aside in this war.”

She lowered her head and surveyed the earth. That faint sense of compassion still lingered deep within her heart.

First Singularity... Review complete. The historical restoration is excellent, despite some flaws, it's very good overall.

It's time to head to the next destination.

Section Thirty-Six: The Moon Wheel

Not long after, at Chaldea...

Dr. Xiao looked at the data on the screen, his eyebrows twitching. Something unexpected had happened, but after some thought, he realized it made perfect sense.

"Director, the reaction at the first singularity, Orleans, is disappearing!" He uploaded the observed data to the mainframe and announced his discovery aloud. "Sheba will no longer be able to observe Orleans! We will soon lose our coordinates, and the zero-point transfer path to Orleans is fading!"

"What's going on!?" Olga Marie was startled at first, but quickly forced herself to maintain a composed demeanor. "Show me the data."

She raised her hand and gestured for the others to continue their work—on the monitor, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu had just descended to the Underworld through a special ritual. A royal servant named Ushiwakamaru accompanied them, providing temporary protection. After entering the Underworld, another mysterious servant, whose identity was unknown but whose power was immense, lent them assistance.

Ritsuka's journey to the Underworld went smoothly. Although she hadn't found King Gilgamesh of Uruk yet, her trip was going well. The Underworld's automatic defense mechanisms along the way seemed to be completely untriggered for some reason, and the scattered undead were unable to break through the defenses formed by Mash and Ushiwakamaru.

The situation was excellent, but only excellent. Excellent, not a victory. So she had to remain calm and composed—and when she picked up the pile of data and started browsing it with an attitude of 'this is nothing,' everyone else breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their respective work stations to finish their tasks.

Her browsing lasted only a few minutes.

"Don't worry, everyone. This is a good thing." She paused, a slightly deliberate hint of joy in her voice. "The elimination of the singularity means that all our previous efforts have finally yielded some results. The disrupted history is fading, and the Magic King's influence on the past is diminishing. Our 'Grand Order Journey' has been the right one."

"Gentlemen, now only the Seventh Singularity remains as the final hurdle in our path. Although it is more complex than the other Singularities, we have already conquered six, and this seventh will surely fall as well. Soon, the Magic King's last reliance will vanish. We are about to achieve final victory."

"Hang in there a little longer, my friends. The first singularity has subsided, and the remaining singularities will likely disappear soon as well. This is good news to be thankful for, but now is not the time for us to celebrate—Ritsuka is still working hard down there. She is not far from success. As long as she helps King Gilgamesh return, she will surely obtain permission to build a summoning circle on the ley lines... She is very likely to complete the mission in the first cycle of the continuous spirit transfer, and this will definitely require our assistance at Chaldea."

"Friends, although victory is within reach, at least for now, do not let your guard down!"

Her tone was generous and impassioned, radiating an enthusiasm she didn't usually display. Roman and Da Vinci chimed in at just the right moment. This helped the Chaldea operators, who had been somewhat taken aback by the sudden news, regain their composure and refocus their attention on the Seventh Singularity, the Underworld section.

Olga Marie let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief. Her gaze met that of Dr. Roman and Leonardo da Vinci, and a subtle emotional exchange was conveyed between the three... or rather, the three seemingly human beings.

Some things cannot be publicized, and some situations must be kept secret for the time being. The disappearance of the First Singularity does not simply mean the end of this period of history. It also signifies other things, other special things, other important things. For example—

Olga Marie's gaze swept almost imperceptibly across the surveillance images of the Spirit Origin Chart. The markings of the digital Servants within had already faded and disappeared.

[Servants are bound to Chaldea because of the existence of the Singularity, allowing them to appear in Chaldea as Spirit Origin Shadows and offer assistance when necessary... However, if the Singularity itself ceases to exist, and that bond, that connection, ceases to exist, then...]

No, it shouldn't be like this... The restoration of humanity shouldn't be this way. Ritsuka, Akuta, and that person... their arrival, their acts of restoration, are themselves 'anchors' created by Chaldea. We merely distorted the distorted past a second time, restoring it to a state where it can be naturally repaired by history itself. The traces of Ritsuka and the others' visits will remain in the past, which is why we can visit singularities multiple times. We simply cannot completely erase the effects that have already occurred without leaving a trace!

[...Someone, something is interfering with history. Is it a restraining force? Or something else entirely?]

Olga Marie was filled with confusion, but she knew now was not the time to dwell on such matters. She continued to direct the Chaldea agents in handling various matters in the Underworld, helping Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was trapped there, to solve various mysteries. Soon, the busy affairs distracted the Chaldea people, causing them to forget the little incident that had just occurred.

At least on the surface, they seem to have put the matter behind them.