Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Strictly speaking, a Servant can only be considered 'born' at the moment of their summoning into the mortal world. The moment they are destroyed is equivalent to 'death'. They are tools, copies of original information. When they return to the Throne of Heroes, they are actually only returning with the records. The 'self' that was conceived in the mortal world, or that did not have time to be conceived, will be completely obliterated at the moment of their return.

Everything they possess is illusory.

In other words, this history, this record, this copy of information that gave them birth from nothingness—is in fact the only and most precious thing they can truly possess.

Therefore, when a Master dreams of a Servant's past or a Servant's dream, it signifies the Servant's complete trust and entrustment of the Master.

Flora knew this perfectly well, and was fully aware of it. And it was precisely because of this that when she opened her eyes from Ba's dream and understood the specific meaning of everything that was happening, she immediately used her intellect and divine power, even going so far as to unleash another percentage point of power to go back to the beginning of the dream, so as to witness the beginning and end of this long dream, as well as all the details and changes in between.

—Power Unleashed: 31%

She felt as if she had opened a gate, crossed a threshold, yet she felt no regret whatsoever.

When the dream ended, Flora opened her eyes.

She remained within the central temple of Imanitec, still dealing with countless, intricate affairs. Her legions continued their rapid expansion, now even reaching the gates of the Blood Temple. Beneath the central temple of Imanitec, three war angels, created by divine intelligence, had already been born.

She took a deep breath.

Her fingers trembled slightly, and it took her several seconds to recover. She slowly exhaled the breath she had inhaled, and then gestured for all the priests and witches in the temple who were assisting her with various matters to leave.

Her will was swiftly and completely fulfilled, and the vast temple hall was instantly empty. She sat on her throne, waiting silently for several seconds. When she counted from one to ten and found her heart still beating erratically, she finally decided to move away.

She jumped down from her throne and paced back and forth in the spacious and empty hall. She walked from east to west, from south to north, until she had circled the temple hall three times before she clenched her fist, exhaled, inhaled, and exhaled a long breath.

"Is this the kind of unspoken understanding that Fujimaru Ritsuka used to talk about?" She pursed her lips, speaking a few decibels faster than usual. She tried hard to remain calm and maintain the composure expected of a goddess. "It feels good."

She said softly, then repeated, "Very good."

"I'm finally not fighting alone anymore." She gently pressed her hand to her chest. "But my goal remains the restoration of humanity; I cannot forget that."

She thought to herself, and then she quickly felt that the previous plan that had not included Bar was somewhat of an eyesore.

How can this be? Bako is an important fighting force; how can we just leave him out there?

"The general direction cannot be changed. Even with companions, I must make restoring humanity my primary goal. However, the details still need some fine-tuning."

"...The Serpent Goddess cannot be allowed to live. Summon Ba back...no, wait for her to return, and then launch a full-scale war."

She chanted the name of the serpent god, but her gaze was fixed on the south where Kusa City was located. The next moment, the three war angels, which she had just created and which possessed terrifying combat power, spread their wings at her will.

Chapter 44, First Cycle, The Moon's Indifference

The first cycle is coming to an end... time to wrap things up.

Alice flapped her wings, and as Flora made her decision to release the three war angels, she clearly sensed that the limit of her power projection on this stage had increased significantly. If nothing unexpected happened, the power she could now project without restraint had reached the full fourth limit, the level required to manifest her true form and initiate a planetary war.

This wasn't her limit, but at this moment she had already reached the complete realm she possessed before the battle began, before she severed the causal ties with 'Brahma'. According to the common sense of the reincarnation world, that should be the late stage of the fourth level of unlocking the gene lock, or even the ultimate level of powerful combat strength.

[Let's simulate this. That should be the level Zheng Zha, the true self, held in the predicted world of Perfect Storm, which is just a minor character. My current level should be roughly equivalent to that of the true self Zheng Zha before Perfect Storm ended and the final battle began.]

[And when the next cycle ends, or is about to end, the limit of my power deployment should reach the full strength my body can currently exert. Ah... although there were some minor flaws in the previous plan, it should still be under my control overall. Although three cycles were planned, the third cycle is merely a buffer against overflow. As long as the first cycle ends smoothly and the second cycle begins successfully, the plan can proceed to the next stage.]

[The interference is increasing... Tsk, while it's a huge advantage to not have to worry about the erosion of the Sage's Dao and thus be able to unleash our full power without restraint, we still need to remain patient until the right moment arrives...]

She blinked, watching the various events unfold on the Mesopotamian underworld—all the variables on this small stage were now completely under her control. She knew all the secrets, all the powers, all the relationships and causes on this land, and she was now adjusting their trajectory so that things here could operate according to her own will.

She wrote and crafted, gradually turning the established script into reality.

She knew what would happen, and she knew what wouldn't. She knew when a miracle would occur, and she knew when an accident would happen—

She knew that Ba could annihilate the countless undead on this land, thus gaining a direct confrontation with the Lord of the Underworld. She also knew that Ba had absolutely no chance of catching up with them before Fujimaru successfully reunited with Merlin's group and found King Gilgamesh. She knew that although Fujimaru could no longer turn Ba against his side, he still possessed abilities that made her hesitate slightly. She also knew that when Ba was at a disadvantage, the Trisolaran war angels dispatched by Flora would arrive in time to provide assistance.

Events seemed to be woven in her eyes. Although Tomoe was still wrestling with the Sea of ​​the Dead in the Underworld, and Fujimaru Ritsuka was still undergoing the trials of the Underworld Goddess, she had already accurately woven a detailed future from now until several hours later, down to every breath, every movement, and every molecular change.

First, Ba won't lose, but she will waste thirty-one minutes and fifteen seconds in this endless tidal wave of undead. Because she can't kill the dead souls in the underworld—and she won't—she can only render them powerless. And it is precisely because of this that she was able to successfully reach the court of the god of the underworld and meet its master, Ereshkigal, after completely suppressing the 1,460,707 living undead here.

Meanwhile, Fujimaru Ritsuka will smoothly pass the seven trials of meeting the goddess of the underworld. She will not fail, because Ereshkigal has already transformed into an unnamed goddess to accompany her and holds considerable affection for her. When she arrives at the palace of the goddess of the underworld and faces the final trial as is customary, Merlin and his companion, who have fled there, will enter the battlefield with the tacit approval of the goddess of the underworld and join Fujimaru Ritsuka's camp. The King of Sudden Death, who has been hiding near the palace of the goddess of the underworld, will also appear, thus securing victory in this battle in which the goddess of the underworld is merely putting on a show and may not even be using a tenth of her strength.

The goddess of the underworld will acknowledge her defeat, but she will not join Fujimaru's side. This is because she carries the burden of an alliance with Quetzalcoatl and Gorgon, and betraying it would come at a great cost.

Alice paused for a moment.

She noticed another piece on the chessboard: the Grand Heroic Spirit, the Death Angel Jusudera, who went by the name King Hassan. This leader of assassins had formed a connection with Fujimaru Ritsuka in the Sixth Singularity, and because of this, she had been hiding around Fujimaru Ritsuka ever since she arrived, ready to offer her protection when the time was right.

[I could manipulate fate, having Jusudera sever the pact between the three goddesses here, thus completely siding the goddess of the underworld with Fujimaru Ritsuka—but would it be necessary to do so?]

Alice pondered for a few seconds before giving a negative answer. The connection between Fujimaru Ritsuka and this singularity was still somewhat lacking, and forcibly changing it would be counterproductive; there was no need to force things at this point.

[Therefore, Jusudera won't make a move. The alliance between the three goddesses won't be broken, but since we're going to follow the protagonist's destiny, I naturally need to arrange some suitable events—yes, at this time, Tomoe will break through the spirits' blockade due to the underworld goddess's lenient defeat. And because Mangotrend isn't in the goddess alliance, she'll have an excuse to stand on Fujimaru Ritsuka's side and fight for her without betraying the alliance.]

A myriad of scenarios flickered in her eyes. In her fabricated narrative, Tomoe, wreathed in flames, and Fujimaru Ritsuka, protected by the God of the Underworld, would stand on opposite sides of the plaza in front of the Underworld's palace—Tomoe would demand Merlin hand over the stone tablet, while Merlin would shirk responsibility, his proud nature refusing to yield in this advantageous position. The God of the Underworld, citing Tomoe's offense and overstepping of bounds, would then use the powers of the Underworld to attempt to suppress her.

—But Ereshkigal will not succeed.

The situation in her eyes continued to shift. In her calculations, even if Basara, merely a top-tier Servant, could be exempted from the suppression of the underworld's power through Mangtlund's blessing, she alone would absolutely be no match for the combined forces of the goddess of the underworld, Merlin, the infant Medusa, and Ushiwakamaru. She would fall into a disadvantageous position and be defeated in a maximum of nineteen seconds of combat, and then, the unexpected would occur.

War angels with pure white wings will descend, possessing divine-level combat power, immeasurable battle experience, and an absolutely pure fighting spirit. Ritsuka and the others have no chance of winning, not even with the legendary power of love. But Fujimaru Ritsuka will not lose, for she will step forward to shield the defeated goddess of the underworld from Ereshkigal's defeat. And as she completely wins the goddess's favor, the war angels under Tomoe's command will definitely stop before killing her.

A new vision appeared in Alice's eyes: the war angel, wielding blazing wings, stopped the flaming greatsword that had been slashing down at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who stood with outstretched arms in a protective stance before the goddess of the underworld. The reasons for this, however, would unfold in various ways depending on the random number input—

The most likely explanation is that Ba ordered a halt, while the next most likely is that Flora, who happened to be looking at the area, remotely controlled the angel to stop. Even if neither of these possibilities occur, Mash, who is following Fujimaru Ritsuka, will arrive in time and use the Round Table Shield to block an attack that even a god could not withstand head-on. Beyond that, there are many other reasons, either accidental or coincidental, that kept her unharmed.

Fujimaru Ritsuka will not die; at most, she will be injured. Even if she is injured, the extent will only be a few strands of hair lost and a shallow scar that will heal quickly. This is fate, this is the inevitable trend, and even Alice, who is writing the script, cannot, or rather, does not intend to, change this trend. And the resulting outcome is that the situation, which was originally clear in terms of victory or defeat, will once again become unpredictable.

[Tomo could ignore Fujimaru Ritsuka and simply snatch the stone tablet from Merlin and leave. But that doesn't meet my requirements… I must strengthen the concept of 'destiny' on that stone tablet. Therefore, it must be given greater importance—it must be stained with blood. And that blood… could be the blood of Nakahara Tomoe.]

An abandoned worldline appeared in Alice's calculations—a worldline where Flora never appeared, and the Reincarnators made no interference with the Seventh Singularity. In that worldline, Tomoe Nakahara, or rather, Tomoe Gozen, would die on the battlefield several months before the Chaldeans descended. And that point in time was remarkably close to the time before the loop began when Tomoe Gozen died from the bombardment of the Empress's Noble Phantasm, and the time she would arrive in half an hour…

Tomoe Gozen's reign is coming to an end, and here happens to be the one who will carry out that reign.

Alice's gaze shifted, passing over the layers of black mountains of the underworld, and fixed on the shadow beside Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was hiding in the sixth level of the seven trials and was about to meet the goddess of the underworld. She could clearly see Jusudera hidden in the shadows and knew the Grand Heroic Spirit's style of doing things, as well as her specific tactics and strength.

[Jusudra has a reason to act... Nakahara Tomoe's impending death is one reason, and the threat to Fujimaru Ritsuka's safety is another. So...]

She wove a timeline in which, after ordering the War Angel to cease her actions, Ba ignored Fujimaru Ritsuka's pleas for negotiation. She bypassed Fujimaru Ritsuka, defeated the still-resisting Underworld Goddess and other Servants, seized the stone tablet from Merlin, and left—her only desire was to return to Flora's side and serve her chosen master until the very end. However, as she completely escaped Fujimaru Ritsuka's sight, crossing the edge of the Underworld and the mortal realm, and momentarily relaxed her control over the War Angel, Jusudera, hidden in the shadows, appeared behind her, and then—

— Cut off her head.

Alice blinked, beginning to calculate the subsequent changes in this timeline—Barab will attempt to destroy the stone tablet before his death, but the end result will be sending it into the spacetime turbulence. Upon learning of Barab's death, Flora will maintain her sanity while descending into rage—she won't harm Fujimaru Ritsuka, because of the prevailing circumstances, and because she knows it's not Fujimaru Ritsuka's business. She will still prioritize restoring humanity, but she will abandon the alliance strategy she has previously maintained.

The goddess of the underworld, the Three Goddesses Alliance, and all other gods will be considered her enemies. She will use the most decisive and efficient method—to directly wipe out all the gods and outsiders on this continent, including all those who have descended and those who are not yet dead—thus restoring the singularity to the order of canon history. Except for the Ur region, which has already been severed on the axis of revelation, Gorgon, Ishtar, Ereshkigal, Jusuddra, Tiamat… she will unleash even more power without regard to the cost, until all the gods are annihilated.

Of course, she can't actually do that much. Because the stone tablet will reappear near the battlefield when the Gorgons are annihilated, summoning the princess, this cherry bomb, back into the air and causing her to crash into Enkidu, who is just escaping the battlefield to awaken Tiamat. Then Anastasia's switch will be triggered, and she will subconsciously use all her strength to completely annihilate Enkidu, or rather, Kingu, whom she considers an enemy.

[The Total War will be reignited by this event, and the Chaldeans will recall Fujimaru Ritsuka from this land ahead of schedule, thus starting the second cycle.]

Compilation complete.

Alice tilted her head slightly, examining this script, which, if written as an article, would probably drag on for twenty chapters. She analyzed whether there were any loopholes and quickly arrived at a negative answer. Throughout the entire script, apart from the possibility of being detrimental to the mental and physical health of a certain Miss Ba and a certain Miss Flora, all the changes were in her interest as the architect—she could use this radical script to identify several suspects, increase the limits of her intervention, strengthen the concepts attached to that 'Destiny' tablet, and even replace the original Destiny clay tablet in the next cycle.

That's good, after all, she had originally planned to test Flora to see if she would give anything away. Anyway, the Chaldeans are destined to start the next cycle, so all the sorrow and pain will be restored under the rewind of time.

Alice nodded in satisfaction and incorporated the fabricated timeline into reality.

After finishing her trivial matters, she began to project her influence into the outer reaches of space—the two reincarnators, who had already engaged in a fierce battle, had now pushed the battlefield to the edge of the solar system. And she intended to take advantage of this opportunity.

Section 45. Road Erosion Phenomenon

And so, from the depths of the underworld, in a place teeming with ghosts, the Flame Bird perched on the shoulder of the blood-soaked Tomoe Gozen gazed up at the heavens. Its gaze easily pierced the outer gap between the underworld and the mortal realm, and then casually penetrated even the Earth's atmosphere and the ring of light surrounding it—its viewpoint finally settled on a rock on the moon's surface, and the next moment this lunar rock began to writhe.

The flat parts revealed their outlines, the sharp areas manifested limbs, flesh evolved, and inorganic matter transformed into clusters of cellular structures. Silken clothing, ribbons, and a pair of clean black boots then materialized and fit perfectly onto the girl's slender, fair limbs—in the blink of an eye, this moonstone was reborn, transforming from a rock as tall as a person into a graceful, blonde girl.

The gaze of the true god possesses power—even if it doesn't, the gaze of the true god signifies the rapid evolution of the Dao Erosion. Whether sentient mortals or inanimate inanimate objects are transformed by the gaze, whether they transform into incarnations, avatars, or minions depends on the will of the true god himself.

Alice turned and glanced at the distant land—she had arrived in the correct time and space after leaving the Mesopotamian atmosphere. She was back in the Chaldean timeline, and from the moon's perspective looking down on Earth, all she could see was a pitch-black planet.

The burning of human reason resulted in the chaos of the Earth's surface, rendering most physical rules ineffective. However, because Gaia continued to exist, the true ether that filled the cosmos was unable to touch the Earth's surface, thus failing to bring new rules to this barren land. And for this reason, what can be observed from the Moon is vast expanses of darkness.

Darkness, darkness. Yet, deep within the darkness, faint glimmers of light lingered. Alice could clearly see the Chaldea organization deep in Antarctica, the human observation agency that was practically now part of the Central Plains. She glanced at it quickly, shifting her gaze elsewhere before the erosion phenomenon could form on its own. About a thousand kilometers north of Chaldea, she saw another glimmer of light 'slowly' moving south at a visible speed.

That was Seraphine. A complex organization combining offshore oil fields and Homurahara Academy. Her gaze passed over the lone, bewildered Hinako Akuta and then turned into the depths of the organization, where she greeted the 'Matou siblings' who controlled it.

Shinji Matou is Zhao Zhuikong, and Sakura Matou is Zhao Yingkong. Perhaps making this choice signifies that the tangled relationship between the siblings has finally come to a clean and decisive end? — Alice thought to herself, but quickly dismissed the thought. Even among companions, excessive interference between true gods is an undesirable strategy; it's best to let them resolve their own affairs.

—I wonder what one of the unlucky guys on the Demons team will think.

Alice blinked and stretched on the ground. A subtle smile played on her lips as she felt the sensation at her extremities. After all these years, human form was still the most familiar external interface. She rubbed her forehead, her gaze shifting accordingly.

The observation shifted from the material level to the probabilistic level. The pitch-black Earth in her eyes instantly transformed into a jumble of overlapping, patchwork world lines. The lunar landscape beneath her feet also shifted, revealing multiple destinies from the past to the future clearly within her field of observation.

A single universe encompasses more than just the stars and galaxies of the material realm. Its infinite number of parallel worldlines also fall within its scope. For a mortal being born of nature, unifying all parallel entities within a single universe is the simplest and most effective ritual for transcendence. In many single universes, this is often how the universe itself creates innate extraordinary beings, even true gods.

Because it's simple and convenient. Although gods created this way have virtually no chance of growth, what growth does cannon fodder need?

So-called innate gods are nothing more than servants of the universe—or, to put it more elegantly, children of planes or children of eras. But their essence will not change much. And it is precisely for this reason that when reincarnators become extraordinary, become true gods, the distance between them and their native counterparts will widen.

After all, servants and free people are always different. And as long as one doesn't idly consume the main god's enhancements, the freedom a reincarnator possesses will increase accordingly. Perhaps this is why reincarnators above the fourth rank generally don't care much about the enhancements provided by the main god, but instead acquire knowledge and advance on their own—however, this topic isn't particularly important right now.

Alice reached out and manipulated the world lines before her. Countless world lines where humanity had not been burned, where Chaldea did not exist, and where Servants could not be summoned, were precisely captured in her hand and then discarded. As she examined them, she carefully observed the void beyond the cluster of world lines.

She saw the worldline fragment carrying Lundminiad slowly approaching this 'human reason burned' worldline. She could still see the descent trajectories of the Senzhou and Yinzhou teams in her line of sight—it always takes some effort to descend from outside the universe into the universe, and this is much more troublesome than making spacetime jumps between galaxies.

Alice's fingers stopped.

A suitable worldline, or rather a cluster of worldlines, appeared within her observation range. This cluster of lines corresponded to the moon on a worldline where human reason was not burned away—beneath the moon of this world lay an alien artifact. As she gazed upon it, the essence of this artifact immediately became clear to her.

Mooncell—a giant observation device placed inside the moon by an unknown alien civilization. In some online worlds, it replaces the Holy Grail, thus becoming a true omnipotent wish-granting machine. After all, the computing power it provides is enough to evolve a solar system, at least roughly equivalent to the scale of a runaway fourth-order being that can grow uncontrollably.

This is not surprising. Although extraordinary life forms have not completely solved the energy problem, it is not very difficult for them to expand their size to the level of a 'Star Devourer' or a 'Hell Star' if they wish. After all, extraordinary life forms do not have an upper limit on lifespan. Given enough time and energy, a level 4 being that lives long enough can certainly grow to that extent.

However, such life forms are still relatively rare, as increased size also means a massive increase in the number of cells. For a supernatural life form where each cell possesses its own will, such a massive scale would mean a huge loss of energy and a reduction in control. Therefore, most supernatural life forms at this stage will only develop a combat form at most the size of a mountain, and will not consider it their permanent state.

Alice rubbed her forehead.

She spent about half a month analyzing this pile, or more precisely, the specific messages within 133 world lines. After finishing reading them, she casually shortened and deleted those half-month reading time—and when her perspective shifted back to the material level of observation, she slightly stretched her neck, and the positions of the surrounding stars and the amplitude of the cosmic shockwaves told her that only a few seconds had passed since the point in time when she examined the world lines.

Taking a roundabout approach always has some benefits. The advantage of increasing interference power instead of directly reducing the original body is that interference at the spacetime level doesn't need to be overly feared. Although risks still exist, they are significantly reduced. For example, while Sirin and Ex fought fiercely, neither of them actually used their time powers to interfere with the other's timeline. This is evidence that Alice could judge that although they were fighting fiercely, they were still holding back.

Without interfering with the true god's time or breaking the time loop held by the true god, a purely material struggle to determine a victor would be an extremely lengthy process. And it is precisely for this reason that Ex is not afraid of being surrounded by the Central Continent team even when she is alone—because she knows that such an attack is utterly pointless.

A shield is stronger than a spear, so wasting time is a perfectly reasonable development. Even when the realm of war begins to involve the dimension of time, it remains extremely difficult for true gods to determine a victor.

[Ex must have done something else entirely; perhaps even the one currently fighting Sirin is just a slightly stronger decoy clone. And Sesshouin Kiara… although Zhao Zhuikong detected some traces in Seraphine, I don't believe she'll give herself away so easily.]

She then took a step forward, leaving the moon's low gravity and near-vacuum environment as if it didn't exist—she pierced through the moon's crust and went deep underground in one step, and in the moon's core region, a huge crystal with a diameter of thousands of kilometers was clearly presented before her eyes.

The Mooncell exists like the Holy Grail of the Moon in this worldline, but unlike the Mooncells in other Type-Moon worldlines, it doesn't interfere with Earth. It simply exists here as a purely observable and recording agency, and since it lacks intelligence, it naturally has no objection to Alice's arrival here.

There were no objections, and any objections would be meaningless, because Alice had already obtained the means to crack this giant spiritual calculator through parallel world access and casually generated a key. And when her outstretched finger touched the 'Moon Grail' sleeping deep within the moon's heart, this giant calculator thus gained a new master.

A massive influx of information flooded into Alice's mind, which she then quickly categorized, organized, and analyzed. She wasn't entirely surprised to discover some missing records within the giant spiritual calculator. Then she gently exhaled a long breath.

[Ah... leaving this spirit calculator here and ignoring it did serve a purpose after all? Sesshouin Kiara, you and the Moon World truly have a deep bond.]

Alice withdrew her finger, and the body she controlled instantly transformed back into an ordinary moon rock, rolling onto the surface of the moon's core. She had obtained what she wanted, and there was no need to waste any more time here.

She had long observed the existence of the Moon Grail, but deliberately ignored it, simply placing it here as a trap. She knew that both Ex and Sesshouin Kiara had some connection to the Moon World. Therefore, this Moon Grail, which was prevalent in the Outer World of the Moon, was a convenient medium for their descent.