Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

—Fujimaru Ritsuka once encountered an attack by a herd of beasts. She concealed herself and quietly watched as this Chaldean girl racked her brains, using torches, magic, and bluffing to save her own life and her cow.

—When Fujimaru Ritsuka was crossing a valley, she encountered a landslide and was almost buried under the mud and rocks, and she did not offer any help. It wasn't until the poor wretch scrambled out of the mud with the help of his ox that she quietly appeared on the rocky cliff a hundred meters away and continued her observation.

She really wouldn't help, not even a little bit. After that, Fujimaru Ritsuka faced several more life-or-death crises. Sometimes she was chased by vengeful spirits who had escaped the underworld, sometimes she was ambushed by elusive monsters like the Sun Lion. Besides these, sudden frost and torrential rain, and out-of-control hordes of beasts often targeted this girl who had almost never suffered such hardship in previous singularities. This caused her immense suffering.

That was truly agonizing, a real life-or-death crisis. Many times, Ritsuka felt she was only centimeters away from dying, which added to her injuries, some minor, some severe. Most of these injuries were treated skillfully with magic, while the remaining few were almost impossible to heal and severely hampered her mobility.

Only then would the princess subtly reveal her presence—she wouldn't act when Ritsuka felt he was about to die. Instead, she would come to Ritsuka's side after he had barely escaped those terrible crises, using her frost magic to heal the wounds on Fujimaru Ritsuka's body that she couldn't suppress.

“You may hate me all you want, because you were indeed in a life-threatening situation just now. And I did choose not to help... Yes, I did choose not to help. You can stand on your moral high ground and vent your contempt and hatred.”

"You don't need to thank me, because I didn't heal your injuries. I just put your injuries at a 'suspension' level. So that you won't die on the way to rescue your friend because you're missing half a liver or a small piece of your heart. Your internal organs are still a quarter of the way inoperable, and you do have eleven shattered bones that can't be repaired."

That's what the princess said, as she held the little doll named 'Pa' and stood on flat ground, rocky outcrops, or low in the air, about eighty to one hundred meters away from Ritsuka. Large patches of frost floated beneath her feet, and a square stone slab about one meter in size floated behind her—the slab looked like a foundation stone in a temple, with traces of blood on its surface.

Ritsuka felt as if she had seen that stone tablet before… Yes, that’s right, she remembered, she had seen it before. It was something she witnessed when she encountered Merlin in the underworld beneath Kusa City. Merlin possessed this stone tablet, and Tomoe Gozen wanted to take it from him—though she didn’t know what the tablet was for. But she felt that the blood flowing on that tablet might be her own, and that this was probably the reason she had become connected with this Russian princess.

Ritsuka also told Anastasia about this, but Anastasia did not give her any feedback.

No, perhaps it wasn't truly without any feedback. Because after that, until she reached the foot of Uruk's walls, Ritsuka encountered nothing or any event that would cause her trouble—she felt a noticeable temperature difference when passing through areas that should have given her goosebumps. Perhaps, not long ago, these areas, which had once harbored threats, had been hit by a localized blizzard.

Anastasia said nothing, simply following quietly about a hundred meters behind Ritsuka, just as she had for the previous hours. Since she had made this statement, Ritsuka naturally wouldn't say anything unnecessary or presumptuously utter any meaningless nonsense.

She simply made her way towards Uruk in silence. The pure white winter maiden followed quietly in the distance. And when the sky was filled with countless stars, and the lights of the city were clearly visible under the night sky, the girl from Chaldea finally arrived once again at Uruk, the city where she had resided for so long in the previous cycle.

Unlike last time, Uruk City at night possessed an unprecedented relaxed and bustling atmosphere. Even upon reaching the outer edge of the city gate, Fujimaru Ritsuka could clearly hear the continuous cheers and celebrations from within the city—ah, this was not surprising. After all, a day had passed, and on this land of the gods, the destruction of the Blood Temple and the banishment of the Beast Goddess were clearly not news that would lag behind.

This is a cause for celebration, as the imminent disaster has been averted. Therefore, a banquet should naturally be held to celebrate. However, this banquet and the resulting relaxation are not good news for Ritsuka, because it signifies something—something Ritsuka had a premonition about but couldn't confirm.

"After all, King Gilgamesh is dead again." A slightly frivolous voice rang out from Ritsuka's side. She turned her head sharply, and a white-haired youth with an air of eccentricity appeared at the foot of Uruk's city walls, right beside her!

"Merlin!"

Chapter Sixty-Three - Alice

The bird flapped its wings, leisurely passing through the outer protective layer of Uruk. It looked down at the bustling, vibrant fortress city under the night sky, taking in the exchange between Merlin and Fujimaru Ritsuka at the city gate, and the princess's concealment—every word, every action, every overt or covert exchange of information between them over the next twenty-four hours was clearly etched into the bird's mind. And this only added to its utter boredom.

It gently landed atop the temple at the very top of the city, and Alice's form materialized instantly. She clearly sensed the administrative system beneath her, temporarily taken over by the priestly order due to the king's sudden death, operating smoothly. With a flick of her fingers, a walnut high chair appeared beneath her—she sat down, gazing up at the sky, where the magnificent band of light still covered the heavens, protecting the land under the gaze of the stars.

She could hear the sounds of celebration and cheers echoing throughout the city, and sense the joy and elation reverberating in the minds of the Sumerians. She could hear and see everything; if she so desired, she could even conjure up an identical Uruk from scratch, with no difference between the creatures within and those in the city at that moment.

She is the true God, and in a sense, the true God is omnipotent. Of course, those topics involving logical paradoxes still pose some challenges for her. But those are probably the only things that can perplex her; everything else is a drama of the gods, a chessboard in their hands.

The result of exhausting all changes is no change, even though she forcibly ascended to heaven through the Dragon Break Ritual, overcoming the logical dilemma of 'the Light of the Mind is unsolvable'. She herself remains the master of all changes, exploring all transformations. She yearns for change, yearns for development, and dislikes any stagnation.

Stagnation—she saw the princess's stagnation—the entire process of Anastasia's thought forming in her mind had actually been under her surveillance. She knew why the princess had this psychological shift, why she had taken such an action, and she even knew the ultimate conclusion that such an action would bring, a conclusion that had brought her here, leaving her sitting so listlessly atop the temple, gazing at the sky.

Patchouli's reminder was one thing, but her own decision was another. When she realized that she neither needed nor could possibly pursue the victory of annihilating the true god, she discovered that her previous arrangements had long exceeded what was necessary to achieve a stage victory, and the result of this development was that she fell into 'stagnation'.

Stagnation… She herself didn't care at all about her accidental 'stagnation'. After all, she had long passed the stage of struggling with her inner demons. And if Luo Ye really could jump out and compete with her, she would be overjoyed—at worst, she would find a way to lower her own realm and let that suicidal Luo Ye ascend to heaven, giving Luo Ye the gift of 'freedom'. Having already become a true god, it wouldn't be too difficult for her to cross the transcendent threshold again. Perhaps before this Saint Hunting Ceremony was even over, she would be able to return to the peak of power in a flawless state.

However, the problem is that Luo Ye refuses.

That suicidal guy would never agree. Although Alice vaguely guessed that what Luo Ye was pursuing wasn't simply death, but rather some meaning that death itself represented, some purpose derived from it, her knowledge only went this far. And as long as Luo Ye didn't speak or communicate, everything would be in vain.

Is it all for nothing...?

Alice stretched out her hand and constructed a Go board beside her—she wasn't very good at Go and didn't really want to learn it. But she knew Luo Ye would definitely play.

She stretched out her hand and casually scattered the white and black pieces onto the chessboard.

Anastasia's stagnation is certainly reasonable, but the phenomenon of Dao erosion can always arise naturally and logically, in a way that perfectly aligns with common sense. Her change... perhaps its essence is that I, with whom she has a connection, have also begun to stagnate. But it's also possible that this is a decoy set up by Luo Ye... Luo Ye might not yet know that I've seen through Flora's identity.

[But did Luo Ye really not see through it? It was such a glaring flaw, such an obvious test. The fact that Flora could unlock her genetic lock means she wasn't a natural product of this Dao Erosion Platform—that's beyond doubt. But I can't be sure if her existence itself was bait designed by Luo Ye, her true form hidden in some secret place I don't know?]

She casually played with the black and white pieces, and although her moves were haphazard, the chessboard, in turn, evolved into an extremely intricate and bizarre game. It was a masterpiece of incomplete chess, capable of driving legendary chess masters and champions to despair, forcing them to return home to relearn the game or even insane from mental overload. And if a martial artist or cultivator of immortality were to see this game, they would undoubtedly be able to comprehend a unique skill powerful enough to suppress an entire era, barring any madness.

Because she was just randomly placing stones, without deciding which side should win. And while she was not deciding who would win or lose, the light, the breeze, and even the tremors of the earth in this world were all working in tandem with her hand, ensuring that the stones she randomly placed would maintain an absolutely equal chance of winning, regardless of the number on either side—even though Go was not yet an object of play in this world at this point in time.

After all, she is a true god, and true gods gain the world's cooperation and thus possess privileges. As long as she conceives of Go, Go and its rules, perfectly aligned with her ideas, will appear in this world. As long as she doesn't decide which side wins or loses, the game will evolve to unimaginably bizarre degrees under the world's influence.

The true god was destined to be so powerful from the moment of his descent, yet even so, the true god still has troubles.

Alice gets annoyed too. And she gets so annoyed she feels like her head is about to explode.

"Ugh...headache. I've really had enough of this stupid woman...Anyway, I don't intend to use Flora to her full potential. I originally planned to wait until the power she possessed reached the limit of the Dao Erosion, and her essence transformed into my familiar, then directly erode her into my clone, and then use the status and deeds she possessed as casting material, but for now, I'll spare her life for now..."

...While it's impossible to be certain, if she really is Luo Ye's representative, or even possesses Luo Ye's essence...if that's the case, I'd have nowhere to cry after I devour her. But if that's the case, my best option is to avoid touching a single member of the familiar in this battle...Damn it! Luo Ye, you indecisive and slippery bastard, can't you just let me go?!

She pressed a white stone firmly onto the center point of the board, and the outcome was decided in the next moment!

White wins, Black loses. The defeated pieces are instantly reduced to dust by various wondrous natural phenomena, such as directional radiation or high-energy particle winds—a perfectly timed breeze blows, and the dust from the pieces on the board disappears along with the lines of the board. The only things remaining are the white piece at the center point (Tengen) and the point itself where that piece was placed!

Only one white piece will emerge victorious; the rest will be eliminated. This is the inevitable outcome of a battle between true gods, even if both sides are the same true god himself.

I can't help but want to beat you up, you bastard!

Alice was exasperated, then let out a heavy sigh. Okay, Gan Luoye and all that was just talk. She… didn't dare.

Even a true god, in certain situations, can only be powerless and furious—she glanced again at Fujimaru Ritsuka and her entourage at the gates of Uruk. Under her observation, Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly gained Merlin's trust and told him everything about the tragic fate of the Pale King and the Knights of the Round Table. And just as she had prepared, Merlin only asked her one question before ending her sorrow and confusion.

'Where is Fou?'—that's what Merlin asked.

When she said, "Fou has always been by Mashu's side," Fujimaru Ritsuka saw a clear relaxation on Merlin's face. Although much of this relaxation was for Ritsuka's benefit, to reassure her, the sense of relief Merlin felt was clearly visible in Alice's eyes.

What is Fou? Fou is the small white beast that has always followed Mash and experienced several singularities with Fujimaru Ritsuka. Its true nature is actually the calamity beast that Merlin raised during the reign of King Arthur, a fourth beast named Keshpolug, whose status is equivalent to Tiamat, the mother of all beasts, and Goetia, the Demon King. Mash Kyrielight gained Fou's acceptance through her pure nature, which means that as long as Fou is by her side, she will at most suffer minor injuries, but will never die.

And indeed, that was the case. Under Alice's gaze, the Knights of the Round Table, trapped in the domain ruled by the Pale King… or rather, by the Holy Lance spirit that housed the broken soul of Artoria, a reincarnator from the West Blue Team, had already perished when Ritsuka left the domain. Only Mash Kyrielight survived. And just as this artificial girl was about to suffer the same fate as the Knights of the Round Table, Fou, perched on her shoulder, displayed her power at the crucial moment, pulling her into a rift in time and space.

She didn't die, nor was she seriously injured. Through Alice's script, she escaped from a spacetime rift, ultimately arriving at the very bottom of Kusa City, the underworld—she barged directly into Ereshkigal's underworld court, stumbling upon King Gilgamesh, who was about to die suddenly and was attempting to escape the underworld using his exceptional stealth skills!

That's a coincidence. But the true God can control such coincidences.

And under the orchestration of Alice, the true god, while Fujimaru Ritsuka was struggling for her life on the desolate land, teetering on the brink of death several times, Mashu was being warmly received in the palace of the goddess of the underworld, and was sharing all the information she knew about the First Cycle with these two gods and kings who were never supposed to fight.

It was only natural for her to do this, because she also wanted to rescue Ritsuka, whose fate was unknown. Therefore, she would naturally tell the details to the goddess of the underworld and King Uruk, who had already proven their trustworthiness in the previous cycle, in order to obtain their assistance.

But she cannot leave the Underworld. Because the goddess of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, will not allow them to leave. This goddess of the Underworld is a god of her covenants. She will uphold her duty and, unless she herself fails, will never allow any mortal who has trespassed into the Underworld and been discovered by her to leave.

The Underworld is her domain; she is incredibly powerful there, so powerful that even if she held back, Mash and Gilgamesh alone would have a virtually no chance of defeating her. The information Mash reveals will inevitably pique her curiosity about Fujimaru Ritsuka, and given the changing situation and Gilgamesh's wisdom, he will surely deduce that Fujimaru Ritsuka will seek help in the Underworld. The final result is that Mash will be left in the Underworld's palace to receive a warm welcome, while the entire group awaits Fujimaru Ritsuka's arrival.

This phenomenon is actually the reason why Alice wrote the script.

"The limit of my interference is already enough. Even without activating the third cycle, I can use my full strength here at will without worrying about any consequences... although it's unlikely that there will be any consequences anyway. But only Patchi and I have verified this level of power... or maybe Chu Xuan along with him. The other teams' true gods are destined not to be able to interfere with spacetime as recklessly as I am, because they have some reservations in their hearts."

“They don’t know the lines, but I do. That’s a huge advantage. And on that basis, all the scripts I write are for acquiring the right positions to use as material for spellcasting, and… to give the trials to these protagonists whose true identities I can’t determine.”

Alice picked up the white stone on the center point and gazed at it. As she did so, strange changes began to occur within it. The simple material structure transformed into a rapidly expanding space bubble, and from within the space bubble, light and darkness, primordial land and sea, were generated.

—Long ago, she had used this method to establish her foundation.

The bubble world formed by Daoji was abandoned by her past self during the Dragon Breaking Ritual, and her extraordinary physical body was given to Luo Ye as a gift so that she could leave quickly.

What a pity.

Her gaze shifted, then became scattered, before finally locking onto several locations within this singularity.

She saw Fujimaru Ritsuka, who, despite her injuries, was trying her best, accompanied by Merlin, to persuade the High Priest to allow her to retrieve the soul of King Gilgamesh. At the same time, she was also trying to mediate the relationship between the princess and the Servants such as Ushiwakamaru, preventing them from fighting and racking her brains to prevent Merlin from becoming interested in the princess's tablet.

She saw Mash Kyrielight sitting awkwardly at the banquet of the god of the underworld, receiving all kinds of hospitality while anxiously waiting for her master to arrive.

She saw Flora, the Queen Mother of the Baron, commanding a large army, pursuing the traces of the Gorgons and Kingu, and determined to completely control them. She also saw the vast army of the Imanitecs.

She even saw the Demon King and the Celestials trapped in the magic circle. She also saw Chaldea in chaos, its communications disrupted due to the attack by the Corrupted Abyss from Ex.

She saw it all, and it was all under her control. Because the way things had unfolded was entirely her own carefully orchestrated plan. She intended to use the world as a test, exhaustively searching to find the protagonist who might be favored by a sage.

Those with great fortune will encounter countless hardships and pains, just like Fujimaru Ritsuka, who will suffer many hardships but gain nothing.

A person with a pure heart will suffer many hardships, just like Mashu. All the hospitality she received in the underworld and the time she wasted will turn into sharp blades when she witnesses Ritsuka's tragic state, tormenting her pure heart.

Those who live in comfort, like the staff of Chaldea, will be attacked and devoured by the erosion of the Dao, causing them to be filled with fear and terror, and making them unable to trust even their closest companions under the influence of the Dao erosion phenomenon.

Those with lofty ambitions, like Flora, and like Goetia who will later become the King of Men, will have their achievements destroyed. They will watch helplessly as their accomplishments are annihilated. Goetia shows no mercy to anyone, for all will be twisted and mutated into monsters. Flora will be the force that drives this phenomenon, for she will successfully restore humanity to its former order, and at the moment of restoration, the starlight born from the erosion of the True God will pierce through the vanishing band of light and spread across the earth.

All those worthy of being protagonists will undergo rigorous trials, and all living things on this land will be considered as test subjects. War will sweep across this land, and all faces that once laughed will be covered by tears and blood. And amidst countless hardships, the true protagonists will be selected.

Saints might turn their attention to this, so Mangotlund's status as an ancient god and the interference power accumulated by Alice through two cycles were prepared as a substitute for this purpose. She knew that the saints in the midst of the struggle for power could not kill her, who was protected by the main god in the source world's timeline, so she knew that as long as she did this, she would have a high chance of winning.

Now she has everything prepared, and all she needs to do is do nothing. Everything will then proceed according to her will. A storm of pain and suffering will sweep across the world in a few hours, and the true protagonist will be chosen from this harsh test. Even if she herself leaves prematurely, the arrangements she leaves behind will be enough for her companions to reap the rewards of victory.

Yes, as long as she... does nothing else.

Alice stared at the white chess piece on her fingertip, watching the bubble world inside the piece gradually take shape.

“Long ago, I fought alongside heroes. I marveled at the wonderful qualities of mortals, assisted them, and did everything in my power to help them save the world.” — In her eyes appeared the massive starship, the Retribution. She saw the sparks rising from the depths of the earth.

“Long ago, I led the people of the earth to face natural disasters, to resist the apocalyptic hammer hurled by an entity equivalent to ‘God.’ And I defeated it, defeated them all, bringing peace and hope to that world.” — In her eyes appeared the steel fortress, ravaged by the apocalyptic catastrophe yet unmoved. She saw the winged people surging in like a storm.

“Long ago, I guided civilizations trapped between existence and non-existence out of illusion, freeing them and bringing them back to the real world.” — In her eyes emerged a vast starry sea. She saw the lonely starship floating in the depths of space, and within it, the countless souls sealed within the fragments of the Tower of Babel.

“A long time ago, I…”… She closed her eyes.

"When did I become like this? When did I, who once loathed humanity yet cared for them, who was dissatisfied with the wickedness of mortals yet lamented their inhumanity, become like this..."

"Such cold-blooded indifference, such arrogant cruelty, so much like a... born god?"

She opened her eyes, and a world exactly like the bubble world she had originally created appeared at her fingertips.

"Did it begin at this moment? Was it when I first came into contact with the protagonist rules of humanity as a creator, or was it the moment Luo Ye first emerged from my body and appeared before me? Is it because this is my true nature, which was only revealed after I separated from Luo Ye? Or is it because I hate her so much that I also hate the 'humanity' she represented when she first appeared?"

"Is this the kind of development I want for the future...?"

"Let me try... one last time. What kind of world do I really want?"

She spoke softly, and in the next moment, her will entered the bubble world that was about to gain access to time. No living beings had yet been born within that bubble. No mortals had yet set foot in that world.

Deep down, she knew she was doing something very important. Something that concerned the past and future of the multiverse, something that concerned the life, death, and annihilation of billions of beings—she didn't know what it was, and she quickly forgot this 'premonition' completely. But before she forgot all of this, she seemed to see a chessboard.

She didn't know what it was because she had forgotten about it.

Before she left, she casually waved her hand, and the distorted information spread out, shortening the countless tragic futures she had fabricated that should have arrived soon.

She hasn't made a decision yet.

But before she made her decision, she realized... she still didn't want to become a cold-blooded god.

Section 64. Luoye

"She's finally come to this, this duty she was born to fulfill, this path of choice she was destined to walk. Ah... stubborn fool. She should be very smart, but she always likes to do these thankless things... just as stupid as me."

"...stupider than me."

In some unknown secret place, Luo Ye opened her eyes the instant the bubble world formed by the white chess piece at Alice's fingertip took shape. She reached out and picked up a black chess piece from the chessboard in front of her. With a slight movement of her eyes, a nascent world also began to emerge within the chess piece.

Alice is right, she does know how to play Go.

Unbeknownst to Alice, while she was playing Go in the observatory at the top of Uruk, a Go board also appeared in front of Luo Ye.