Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

When she saw that number, for a fleeting moment she almost thought she was going to suffocate. But she quickly recovered, and a chilling possibility suddenly surfaced in the depths of her mind. The next moment, she channeled her will into the underground, into the secret workshop prepared by the war angel from the depths of divine wisdom—the one she planned to use to create the decisive weapon!

Then she found that her doubts had been answered.

Flora on the temple closed her eyes, while another Flora beneath the temple opened them. Inside that heavily guarded secret workshop, where even she herself needed to go through complicated procedures to enter, she saw several faceless humanoid figures with enormous wings of light waiting silently.

There are three War Angels, and they await her arrival.

Flora stared at them for several seconds, noticing the signs of war on their bodies and the divine blood stained on their blades.

There are at least six divine pillars on the land of Mesopotamia, three manifest and three hidden, and in her perception, the swords of these war angels are stained with the blood of at least four divine pillars!

She opened her mouth, and then several seconds passed.

“I have no memory of you being created,” Flora murmured, her face blank, but she had already anticipated it: “I can also be certain that, at least for now, the gods on this continent are still alive… The war of the gods is just brewing, not yet unfolding. But the blood on your hands is genuine… perhaps it is genuine blood that 'I' deliberately left for me.”

She reached out and touched the blood droplet on the blade of one of the war angels—as she touched it, a fragment of information traveled along the blood carrier and entered her mind.

She saw the sky crumble, and saw an overwhelming number of Imanitian war beasts covering the heavens, clashing with another, unidentified, yet supernatural species that possessed a life force far surpassing that of mortals. Their battlefield covered a significant portion of Mesopotamia, and crimson and dark purple blood rained down on the land, corroding all that struggled to survive into charred remains.

A graceful goddess riding a golden bow stormed onto the battlefield, overwhelmed by the tides of war, but quickly summoned the radiance of Venus to disperse the horde of alien creatures. She seemed to shout something, manipulating the ether with incantations to attempt to negotiate with a cold, aloof deity perched atop the clouds. However, the next moment, a spear of lightning and fire fell from the heavens, striking her down, and enormous crimson wings unfurled, as several war angels descended from the clouds.

“Ishtar…” Flora murmured the name. She saw the legendary divine beast, the Heavenly Bull Grangana, powerful enough to overwhelm even the gods, summoned, only to be immediately surrounded by over a million Imanitian war beasts—a mere drop in the ocean compared to the total number of war beasts in the heavens. But the bull was still held back, and then the war angels bypassed it, rushing straight towards the goddess rider hiding behind the bull.

—She saw the gleaming blade pierce through Ishtar's chest.

The next moment, her consciousness returned to the real world, and the outline of the radiant sword was roughly the same as the one she was touching!

“Gods’ War…” Flora said softly, “Parallel world records, or…time reversal?”

She closed her eyes, and in the next moment, the mental power she had fully released immediately covered every corner of the three war angels in front of her!

Seconds later, everything flooded her mind. She saw the war that engulfed the land, and the primordial mother goddess—forcibly awakened, retaining her rationality yet determined to annihilate her, Flora—the mother of all things, but the Immanite were no longer her offspring. She fought and battled Flora with all her might for the right to raise the remaining humans on earth. However, the myriad phenomena of cause and effect abruptly ceased just as Flora was about to unleash even greater power to determine the victor!

Someone, or perhaps a god, interfered with time. Flora immediately identified Chaldea and the Magic King as the primary suspects. They possessed the ability and had a reason to do so, and considering the absence of the Demon Pillars, Flora believed Chaldea's interference was more likely.

She knew, but she didn't care. What mattered more to her at that moment was why 'Flora' had done this.

She read the will of 'Flora' in the message; 'Flora' was filled with determination and rage, and within these complex and profound emotions, the desire to restore humanity remained. However, this desire led 'Flora' to carry it out by annihilating all the gods of Mesopotamia.

If all the gods on the land of the Age of Gods are killed, everything that could be an 'anchor' is thoroughly searched, and all external variables are eliminated, then the Age of Gods will naturally end, and history will naturally return to its original state under the effect of self-correction.

For the restoration of humanity, this is the simplest and quickest method, but Flora knows that she will not make such a choice easily, because she still has a pact with the god Mangotrund, and this brutal approach is very likely to cause another catastrophe on the scale of the burning of humanity.

No, it might be even more serious than that. The true power of the god Mangotrund... might be even greater than I anticipated.

Flora blinked, searching deeper into the memories within the records. Her perspective followed the three war angels, tracing back from the end of the war to its outbreak.

[The ultimate solution I envisioned was to annihilate the gods and outsiders of Mesopotamia, ultimately destroying the Imamite people and restoring history to its proper course. However, my premise for doing so was that I determined there was no longer any need for negotiation with the gods of this land—that is, the outbreak of a divine war.]

In other words, a divine war could never have been triggered by me. At most, I would have resorted to slow, gradual appeasement, like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, before an irreversible, all-out war broke out. However, some god or person other than myself detonated this powder keg that had been scattered everywhere.

What could be the reason?

She pondered, searching through every detail of the war. Then... it stopped abruptly.

She saw herself in a rage forcibly tear through space and time to reach the edge of the underworld and kill Jusudera. As time flowed forward again, the message extended all the way to the secret workshop of Imanitik, until she saw a dream that did not belong to her.

She knew exactly what had happened.

So, Flora in the secret workshop closed her eyes, while Flora in the temple opened her eyes.

“I see,” Flora said softly, extending her five fingers, gently clenching them, and then releasing them.

"So Ba was my ally... No wonder I did something so irrational as to kill Jusudera. Was it because I judged that Jusudera could not be a partner for me? Yes, it had to follow fate, but fate was not in my hands. So it really had to die."

Flora nodded, pressing her hand to her neck, trying to control her emotions and prevent herself from making any irrational decisions. Even so, she remained steadfast in her convictions.

Jusudra must die; it is not something to be won over. Even if it represents death itself, Flora will push it into a deeper destruction. And Flora is certain that no resentment or displaced anger was involved in making this decision.

Besides that...

“I have to figure out the reason that triggered the war of the gods… If all else fails, I’ll have to race against time. Remove all the anchoring Grails before the war breaks out and banish Tiamat before she’s resurrected… But how should I do that?”

Flora was certain that the Holy Grail in Gilgamesh's hand was most likely not the anchor point placed by the Magic King. However, she couldn't pinpoint the true location of the anchor point. Through the records of the War Angel, she only knew that something important had happened in the vicinity of the Temple of Blood when she slew Jusudera. And this might be the origin of the divine war.

This filled her with determination.

Section 50, Second Cycle, Limitations

Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Flora was figuring out what had happened to her, she heard footsteps coming from the temple entrance.

Ba is back, but at this point, Ba probably doesn't fully trust her yet.

“Archer, I have been summoned.” Her servant appeared at the temple entrance, entered the temple, and bowed to her. “What are your orders?”

"There are some things."

Flora returned to her seat. She had carefully adjusted her facial expression and inner turmoil to a flawless state. She gazed at her servant, and then realized that this was truly the first time she had ever looked so intently at this hero who had stepped out of history.

The records on the War Angels are incomplete; I don't know why Ba appeared on the Kusa border.

[But that doesn't mean I'm completely unaware of the whole story... Looking at the timeline, Tomoe's trip to that area happened within the last couple of days. The war angels surrounding her were dispatched by me, which means her trip to Kusa was also on my orders. Yes, it's about Fujimaru Ritsuka; I must have sent Tomoe to take care of my orange-haired junior. And then she encountered that damned Jusudera...]

Did I implicate her? Or did she discover some major secret?

It doesn't matter anymore. I won't let that happen again. A like-minded ally is far more important to me than mere intelligence superiority. Even if she doesn't consider me an ally yet... even if I could choose to hide near her, protecting her so she could repeat her fate without getting hurt. But beyond that, I won't let my only confidante be in danger.

Her thoughts raced, though this actually took her less than a second to think.

She wasn't a fool who hesitated and looked back. Now that she was certain that Tomoe could become her ally, instead of the previous Servants who wanted to kill her at first sight, she would naturally share her vision and secrets with Tomoe so that she could understand her more quickly and join her side. In that brief moment, she had already sorted out the order of her words and cleared her throat as she did so.

“There are some things I think you should know.” Flora raised her hand, and the entire temple was immediately isolated from the outside world. Countless powerful isolation spells were cast, shielding the temple from any leaks of information. Then, she stepped down from her seat, went to Ba's side, and took his hand.

Her actions were so contrary to her usual goddess persona that Ba instinctively tried to pull her hand away. But this movement was interrupted by the unwavering determination in Flora's eyes—she stared intently at Ba, at those scarlet eyes that were somewhat flustered by this sudden change.

"Your Majesty, Goddess?"—Ba's tone was somewhat flustered.

But Flora's resolve ignored her panic. Flora decided to reveal some important secrets to her followers, including some of the cards she held as trump cards.

“Bar, actually Mangotlund…” She stopped mid-sentence.

Just as she uttered the name of the god Mangtlund, intending to reveal the secret of her acting as the proxy for divine authority, she noticed a faint tinge of light appear in Bana's crimson eyes. And the ends of her long, pure white hair silently began to shimmer with gold!

--What's this!?

She instinctively shut her mouth.

"Master?"—A look of confusion appeared on the face of the woman in front of her. As Flora's words trailed off, the strange feature that had suddenly appeared on her body also faded and disappeared.

Flora released her grip, took a small step back, and instinctively covered her lips with her loosened fingers.

"Is that so? Is that so?" she murmured to herself, her eyes filled with sudden realization and understanding. She took a deep breath and waved to Ba. "Um... sorry, Ba. Wait for me a moment, I have some important things to take care of... wait here for me, I'll be right back."

She backed away, her body fading as she did so. At the same time, she waved her hand towards Ba.

"Wait for me here, don't leave the temple," she emphasized again.

"Okay, okay?" Her servant was confused by her seemingly incomprehensible actions.

Seconds later, Flora's form vanished from the temple. She transformed into a gust of wind and disappeared through the temple's various conduits, leaving no trace in the temple hall. Only a bewildered Ba remained, standing obediently in the center of the temple as Flora had commanded, staring blankly at his hand that Flora had just gripped tightly.

She felt very strange.

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

Flora opened her eyes once more in the secret underground workshop. She glanced around the tranquil factory, her gaze sweeping over the three silent war angels. She knew these war angels were different from her, for they were truly imbued with divine power, or were simply artifacts constructed with a portion of divine power at their core—they could, in fact, be considered part of Mangtlund. And she, Flora, was merely an agent of divine power.

She knew this a long time ago; she knew and understood it.

Therefore, she wasn't too surprised that these war angels could exist outside of time reversal, but she, as their agent, only had a vague recollection of the time reversal.

“Yes, not much of a surprise. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few doubts in my heart… I have many questions for you, Mangtlund. The matter of Ba was just a trigger, but I think you would be willing to give me an answer, Your Majesty the Voice.” Flora said softly, reaching out her hand, and the flame-shaped bird she called 'Love' gently landed on her fingertips.

She gazed at the bird, which simply tilted its head, responding to her gaze with an innocent gesture.

But she persisted.

“Mangotlund, I want to see you,” Flora said earnestly, gazing at 'love'.

Then the flame bird flapped its wings.

The next moment, everything in her vision except for the flamebird blurred. She felt herself rising, transforming, every cell and nerve in her body screaming and singing. And when this strange feeling reached a limit and broke through that limit, she lost her form.

Her body crumbled and then reformed. When she opened her eyes again, the vast circular table from her memory was already before her—once again she saw that towering behemoth that occupied one of the sixteen seats. That unparalleled level of life oppressed her, almost suffocating her.

But the suffocating feeling vanished in an instant; the figures of the table and the giant disappeared, replaced by an endless, pale plain. A set of exquisite chairs appeared before her, and then the figure of a young girl materialized in the seat opposite her.

The girl looked almost exactly like her now, with long, flowing golden hair, light blue eyes, slender limbs, and a pretty face. When she spoke, Flora even thought she was the one speaking, because her voice was almost identical to Flora's own.

No, that's not accurate. It's not that she's the same as Flora, but rather that Flora's voice is the same as hers. There might have been some differences in the past, but now the two are almost indistinguishable.

"Sit," the girl in the opposite seat said calmly, and Flora's body involuntarily moved. When she realized what was happening, she was already sitting comfortably in her seat, her hands unconsciously holding a cup of dark, cold 'tea'.

She subconsciously took a small sip, and the coolness and oxidation upon tasting it invigorated her.

"This is... cola?"—She tasted the flavor of this 'tea,' and a hint of surprise quickly vanished. Before her stood an ancient god of unimaginable power; time held no sway over her, and she had every reason to control this popular beverage from the future... or rather, the present.

Flora just couldn't understand why it had to be cola.

"I thought you'd like it, so I prepared this." The girl sitting opposite her smiled faintly, a smile that almost made the surrounding pale earth bloom with flowers. "If you like, you can take some back. But you didn't come here just to mooch tea from me, did you?"

“…I have a question that I need your answer,” Flora said earnestly, looking at her.

“Speak freely.” The girl’s response was swift.

"I want to know if the time reversal at the Seventh Singularity was at your behest?"

"Why do you say that?" The girl tilted her head slightly.

“Because you can do it, because you are capable of doing it.” Flora’s tone was firm and certain. “Although I cannot guess what it means to you. But I think that the blueprint for the War Angel and the means of using information magic were not given to me without reason—they are the keys to understanding this time reversal phenomenon, and that’s why I judge that this reversal phenomenon is related to you.”

“An interesting deduction.” The girl sitting opposite her smiled and nodded slightly. “While not entirely correct, it’s quite interesting. You guessed part of it right. The time reversal in the Seventh Singularity is indeed related to me, but the actual executors were not me, but your former colleagues. The Chaldeans devised a ‘continuous spirit transfer,’ which was their means of avoiding a terrible outcome.”

The girl snapped her fingers, and a video recording of Chaldea's decision to initiate the Continuous Spirit Transfer Project appeared in Flora's field of vision. She could clearly see the changes in everyone's expressions and hear every word they uttered.

“I see,” Flora said, her brows slightly lowered. “If the war of the gods leads to a terrible outcome, then they will indeed try to avoid such a future… So, may I tell them what’s going on here, so they won’t waste their limited resources on pointless things?”

The video disappeared silently.

“I remember you made a promise to me, Flora.” The girl toyed with a small ball in her hand, the outline of which vaguely revealed the former appearance of the Earth. “I lent you my power, and you paid me with the answer to the question of what meaning mortals have for gods, and what meaning gods have for mortals. I have not denied this promise, so outside of that promise, whatever you want to do and how you want to do it is entirely your freedom.”

"Even if I tell other people about our agreement, it will be the same?" Flora continued to ask.

The girl in front of her was slightly taken aback at first, then burst into laughter.

“So that’s what you’re worried about, Flora. Beating around the bush when talking to God isn’t exactly polite. Perhaps I should congratulate you on finding your companion, but I also want to tell you that I’m not restricting you from doing anything.” She smiled, the little ball spinning between her fingers.

"You can tell anyone about me, it's up to you. But I'll only give you a small reminder: apart from you, whom I've chosen, there are very few mortals in this world who can withstand my power, or bear the price of knowing my name."