Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"This is the intelligence and corresponding application plan I can provide you. You are a monarch, and you should understand better than I how to utilize military opportunities. So, am I qualified to form an alliance with you and cooperate with you?"

The Golden King didn't answer her immediately, but instead turned his head to glance at Merlin, who was being beaten up by Fou. The latter simply shrugged and gave a helpless smile.

“I was outmatched, so I lost.” Merlin shook his head helplessly. “I never imagined I’d be outmaneuvered by a serious opponent in the art of deception—because I couldn’t awaken them through conventional means, so I resorted to empathy to kill them first. This tactic would be ridiculously absurd on anyone else, but it works wonders on an immortal being like Tiamat…”

“My lord, Ritsuka’s prediction is likely correct. The Holy Grail should be with Enkidu. And the Beast Goddess borrowed Tiamat’s power, using it to establish a bridge of empathy.” He gripped his staff tightly. “If we cannot defeat the Beast Goddess, the war of attrition with the Beasts will eventually wear us down. But if we defeat her, the true Tiamat will be awakened. And at that time, the Holy Grail will become the initial driving force for the resurrection of that Mother Goddess.”

"Is that so..." Gilgamesh pondered for a few moments, a resolute glint in his eyes. "Fujimaru Ritsuka, while I have yet to witness your talents as a Master, your abilities as a scout and strategist are certainly not lacking. I know the nature of warfare in your future generations; a single piece of useful intelligence is more valuable than a thousand troops."

"Your alliance proposal has been granted. Uruk will allocate a piece of land for you Chaldeans to use as an embassy. Furthermore, the ley lines and summoning arrays of Uruk will be open to you; you can use them to summon the forces you require. I now have only one question: what do you intend to do?"

"I will go to Imanitic as an envoy. I will persuade that goddess that with her help, even if we cannot seal Tiamat away in advance and end the crisis of this era, we can at least control the development of the war and prevent the war of the gods from escalating into total destruction. As for that Knight King in the mist, no, the Lion King... after I summon the Knights of the Round Table again, I will try to settle things with her."

“Mangoltend, huh… Hmph, you certainly have a sense of responsibility.” Gilgamesh snorted lightly, but then his tone shifted. “However, I do not recommend that you go directly to her. Because that woman poses a very strong uncertainty for you and for Chaldea. Before the time is right, even I cannot predict what will happen if you go to see her.”

A rare look of seriousness appeared in his eyes.

“That land has been distorted because of that woman. Even I, the king, find it difficult to understand what the so-called Imanitic is or what it is meant to become—no, there is one more thing I can understand on that land. And that thing is everywhere there.”

“That is—” he held up a finger and uttered a single word.

"change."

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Second Cycle - A Turning Point in Fate

"I suggest you head south to Ur and meet the Forest Goddess, who has always kept her identity a secret, from the Three Goddess Alliance. I know her identity. Before my clairvoyance was disabled by Mangotrend's divine descent, I knew she was the chief god from South America, the feathered serpent god, Kukulkan, or perhaps Quetzal Koyatell."

"She is the sun goddess, the sun of the dense forest. Logically, there should be a conflict between her and Mangotlund, who also represents the sun in the divine authority. But strangely, she has been in a state of dormancy since Mangotlund's descent. There is no conflict, no communication. If it weren't for the fact that the covenant between the three goddesses still exists, I would suspect that she has been defeated and banished by Mangotlund. This matter is full of mystery."

"But that's not the strangest part—after I came into contact with you Chaldeans, I learned from your complete ignorance of her that Quetzalcoatl hadn't even appeared in the War of the Gods. So the meaning behind this is rather peculiar... Something must have happened in Ur, something that you Chaldeans hadn't foreseen, but that's very important."

"I suspect that the Ur region may no longer be under the control of Quetzalcoatl. The one who actually controls that region now is another unknown ancient god, like Mangtlund. And His will should be able to have a significant impact on the future of this land—have you thought of that, Fujimaru? Judging from your expression, I can tell that in the 'future' you are looking at, even after the start of the divine war, the dense forests of Ur have not been involved in the war, have you?"

"It seems I was right. There are far more gods in this land of Mesopotamia than I expected. Therefore, I suggest you hold off on going to Immanitic for now—it doesn't matter whether you go there sooner or later. You should head south to Uruk to summon your Chaldean servants using the ley lines. Go to the dense forests of Ur to meet the feathered serpent god, or that unknown ancient god after the feathered serpent, to gain its approval and covenant. Then, you can go to Immanitic."

"You ask where I'm going? Ha, as my ally, you're entitled to know. I've decided to heed your advice and patrol Uruk to find Enkidu and that Beast Goddess. The situation has changed. I know the key. With Merlin, my servant, and that Miss Anna Merlin brought back—catching two stray dogs on my territory shouldn't be a problem. Be proud, Fujimaru Ritsuka, because your words have influenced the actions of a king."

"You ask how to leave the Underworld? Ah... I'd like to take back my praise. Fool, do you think Ereshkigal is such an easily embarrassed goddess, and one who would be embarrassed for so long? While she might be, didn't you see that this was an opportunity she deliberately gave us? The goddess of the Underworld has the duty to keep the living and the dead in the right place. It's her nature, her divine authority, a rule she herself cannot defy. But as long as she can't see it, then it's a different story."

"Alright, you fool, hurry up! I'm about to open the passage to the outside world. You only have one chance. If you fall behind, I won't turn around and pull you out!"

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

Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked and shuddered. Her memories were still swirling in the underworld for the past few hours, and only then did she realize that she had arrived in Uruk, had handed over King Gilgamesh's token to High Priestess Siduri, and had successfully obtained permission to use the ley lines.

Instead of returning to Uruk with her, King Gilgamesh went directly to another city with the magician Merlin. This city was said to be called Eldu. King Gilgamesh suspected that Enkidu was likely hiding in that area.

The king did not force her to go to Ur; he simply shared his analysis with her and left the choice to her. Whether to go to Imanithyc or Ur was ultimately her decision, and she was well aware that this choice had to be made by herself.

Choices are not something a girl named Fujimaru Ritsuka actually enjoys making.

Because when a choice needs to be made, it means that if you don't choose, you have no other way to go.

"Hoo..." she exhaled softly.

She and Mash are currently inside the Great Temple of Uruk, preparing to use the Servant Summoning Circle that King Gilgamesh once used to recall the fallen Knights of the Round Table. It is precisely because of her hesitation in making a choice that, a few minutes before the recall is to begin, she subconsciously recalls the king's words.

"Senior, senior?" Mashu's concerned voice rang in her ears. She turned around and saw her junior with a worried expression.

"Senior, shall we begin the ritual now?" Mash asked, her shield already placed in the center of the ritual circle as a summoning medium. The various materials, gems, and magical catalysts placed around the summoning circle were all activated. All that was needed was to input magic power; the ritual itself would perform the tasks she was required to complete, without even needing to chant any incantations.

It's a very simple thing, an easy thing, but before that thing can be done, there is an important prerequisite.

"Mash, Chaldea's communication is still..."

The girl in front of her visibly lowered her spirits, and Mashu lowered her head and shook it gently.

"I'm sorry, senior. I can't get in touch with you either..."

"Is that so?" Ritsuka sighed and patted Mashu on the shoulder. "It's alright. This isn't the first time we've encountered something like this. We can handle it. The director and the doctor can handle it too. Don't forget we still have the all-powerful Da Vinci. I guess it's just a communication system malfunction."

"But……"

"No buts, Mashu!" Ritsuka suddenly grabbed Mashu's shoulders, her expression serious and earnest. "Trust the director and the others, and trust me. I can do it, just like Flora-senpai did. I can do it!"

“Hmm…” Mashu nodded gently, looking up at her. The panic and unease in her eyes gradually faded and disappeared, until she finally returned to her confident self. “I believe in you, senpai. Just as you believe in me, I also believe in Director Olga Marie, Dr. Roman, and Da Vinci.”

Fou, who was at her feet, also made two "fu-fu" sounds, and then gently rubbed against Mashu's ankle.

Trust is essential; without it, you can't even take the next step. This means trusting not only your companions but also yourself. Trust your companions' abilities, but also your own judgment.

Ah, that's right. The disruption of Chaldea's communication also means one thing: Chaldea cannot provide enough mana and technical support to share the burden that Fujimaru needs to bear when summoning Servants. Yes, the mana required by Servants can indeed be provided by the ley lines themselves. But as a summoner, once the contract is established, the mana in the ley lines must pass through Fujimaru, the summoner, before reaching the Servant's body.

[I'm not Akuta-senpai, nor Flora-senpai. Unlike them, I'm an immature Master to begin with. Normally, with Chaldea's support, it wouldn't be a problem, but right now, given the current state of my body... even just the magical energy flow from one Servant would be enough to push my body to its limits.]

Ritsuka stretched out her hand, and a bottle of crystalline elixir appeared in her palm. This was the elixir King Gilgamesh had given her before his departure. Its effect was simple: drinking it would heal any injury—any one, even one with half a head blown off, as long as she could complete the act of 'pouring the elixir down her throat' before that, she would be completely healed.

Fujimaru Ritsuka could still feel the cold flowing through her body, and she could see the ice-crystal-like biological structures beneath her skin. She knew this was Anastasia's 'stagnation' in action. She also knew that her promise to Anastasia had long since ended.

"This frost magic will sustain your physical condition until you rescue your companions. I have no obligation to you, and you are free to heal your injuries as you see fit. But once you are healed, it will mean that there will be no longer any connection between us."

Although the princess didn't say it that way, that was indeed the meaning. Now that Mashu has been found and the agreement has theoretically been lifted, the 'stagnant' power of frost still persists.

"Mash." She put away the secret medicine and took a deep breath. "I'll activate the summoning circle later. I need to... go outside for some fresh air."

"Yes, senior, go and come back quickly." Mashu nodded obediently. She knew what Ritsuka was going out to do, and she knew that Ritsuka had to do it. She took two steps back, controlling the slightly fluctuating light on the magic circle to make it smooth.

Ritsuka then left the temple.

She left the hall where the summoning circle was located and walked outwards according to her intuition—walking out of the hall, walking up the stairs, the priestesses and guards in the temple bowed slightly and made way for her when they saw her, and she thus arrived unimpeded at the very top of the Uruk Great Temple, where the platform used for stargazing was located.

—The moment she stepped onto the observatory, she seemed to see a blonde girl with shoulder-length hair sitting in front of a chessboard, gazing at the night sky. However, this image vanished in an instant, leaving her confused like a hallucination.

She rubbed her eyes. Then—

She saw the princess of the northern kingdom sitting on the edge of the observatory, hugging her knees, holding the exquisite cloth doll named 'Pa' in her arms, gazing up at the dark starry sky under the night sky.

—Okay, it's an illusion.

She shook her head inwardly, sat down next to Anastasia, and looked up at her, just like Anastasia.

However, her vision blurred, and all she saw was the princess's beautiful face.

"Don't look at the stars, especially not at night. Because when you see their scattered light, they will also see your silhouette."

The princess's voice was as gentle, calm, and aloof as ever, mirroring her face, which resembled the cold moon. She gazed silently at Fujimaru Ritsuka, and this cool gaze even made Ritsuka momentarily forget how to respond. However, when Ritsuka finally came to her senses, she pushed herself back and stopped at the edge of the observatory.

“I know why you’ve come, Fujimaru Ritsuka. There’s no contract between us. You’re free to do whatever you want—just drink that medicine. There’s no need to ask me.”

“Anastasia…” Ritsuka looked at the aloof, winter-like girl, and all the words she had prepared stuck in her throat—in the end, she couldn’t say anything meaningful, but just shook her head sadly and whispered three words.

"……Thank you."

“There’s no need. You don’t owe me anything.” Anastasia didn’t shake her head, but simply said, “There is no agreement between us. I just kept you alive for my own sake, or rather, I may have had a way to completely heal your injuries, but I made you drag this wounded body across this land because of my own will.”

“You don’t owe me anything, and I certainly don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything. If you really want to do something to make up for some kind of ‘indebtedness’ in your heart, then I hope you can offer ‘forgetting this thought’ as compensation—don’t mention gratitude or repayment to me. That will only make me think you’re hypocritical and have ulterior motives…”

“It’s not about what happened before!” Ritsuka suddenly interrupted her. “Miss Anastasia, I thank you for telling me not to look at the stars. That’s all. Nothing else.”

Her words caused Anastasia's usually aloof face to falter slightly, almost causing her to lose her composure. She turned her head and stared at Ritsuka for several seconds.

A smile suddenly appeared on her lips, seemingly a mix of self-deprecation and admiration. She slowly turned her head, continuing to gaze at the distant night sky. Her gaze pierced through the ring of light that obscured most of the night, then shifted to an even more distant corner.

"I was too arrogant. I'm sorry to have made you see such an unseemly Romanov-like state. As compensation, I'll tell you something extra."

"Give yourself a hint, Fujimaru Ritsuka: Don't look up at the sky when you can see the stars. And don't think about any planet in the solar system beyond Earth when you look at the sky. Don't write, don't speak, don't think. I can't tell you why, but you'd better do this. Because this starry sky is not the same as before."

She said calmly, "This is a disaster worse than the burning of humanity, or rather, the burning of humanity has become a barrier preventing its arrival—that's all I can say. Even if you guess the rest yourself, don't say it…no, perhaps it's better not to think about it at all in the first place. After all…"

She paused for a moment.

"...To be able to drown in one's ideals might also be a kind of happiness."

Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Salted Fish Turns Over

Nothing should look directly at the starry sky, for those who look directly at the starry sky will also be looked at by the starry sky.

As Fujimaru Ritsuka, seemingly enlightened, withdrew from the observatory, took the healing potion, and, with Mash's help, initiated the Heroic Spirit Recall Ritual, a chaotic starry sky, hidden beneath the surface order, was reflected in Anastasia's icy blue eyes.

The number of stars in the sky now far exceeds that of any other part of the night sky in recorded history. This has nothing to do with the Milky Way galaxy as a whole, but is simply an anomaly occurring in and around the outer ring of the solar system. If someone were to stand one light-year directly above the solar system at this moment and look down, they would undoubtedly discover that, bounded by the orbit of Mars and the asteroid belt beyond Mars' orbit, the outer ring of the solar system has been completely transformed.

There should originally have been only nine planets in our solar system, or perhaps eight if we raise the bar a bit higher. This is because there are specific standards for defining a planet; you can't just take any floating rock and define it as a planet—generally, only celestial bodies with a diameter of more than 800 kilometers and a mass of more than 500 trillion tons can be called planets.

Only in this way can we overcome the gravity of solids and become a rotating sphere instead of some oddly shaped rock, thus enabling life to obtain the most basic prerequisite for survival and reproduction—a relatively stable environment.

This is why there are only nine planets in the vast solar system.

However, now, in the outer reaches of the solar system, beyond the asteroid belt, there are over one hundred million planets that qualify as stars and have harbored life.

It might be difficult for the average person to grasp what it means to cram a hundred million planets into a celestial system like our solar system, which doesn't seem that large to begin with. In fact, if it weren't for the constant dynamic balance maintained by the competition in the asteroid belt, the very existence of these hundreds of millions of planets could trigger gravitational tides that could shatter the solar system or even cause the sun to disintegrate. This is because among these hundreds of millions of planets, there are around three million small stars in operation, each of which constantly releases enormous amounts of light and heat!

The war between Sirin and Ex has been going on for a long time.

Both of them tacitly refrained from using time-related powers, but the four dimensions of the universe inherently possess the characteristic of mutual interference and influence. Mass accumulates energy, energy stirs space, spacetime is unified, and the countless spatial disturbances caused by gravitational tides naturally cause fluctuations in the time scale. Perhaps in the self-perception of mortals on Earth, less than a week has passed. However, in the eyes of the two warring true gods, this war has already lasted for thousands, even tens of thousands of years.

Ten thousand years? Twenty thousand years? Or more?

Ah… that’s not important. Because time doesn’t mean much to a true god. Even without using their powers to jump through timelines, a true god, whose lifespan has no limit, can live effortlessly until the end of the universe. And in this long entanglement of time, the battlefield stretched outward from the outer edge of the solar system for about ten light-years.

Alpha Centauri, the three stars closest to our solar system, was the first battleground to be destroyed—Axe arrived there first and assimilated these three stars as her base. However, in the ensuing protracted battle, Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system, was destroyed by Sirin. The slightly more distant Alpha Centauri was torn into two inhomogeneous pieces of stellar matter and then disintegrated. Finally, Alpha Centauri was assimilated by Sirin's erosion, transforming from an active star into a cluster of space bubbles with approximately 20,000 sub-stellar bodies.

Today, this star system has become Sirin's stronghold. Millions of space bubbles of varying sizes float in space, constantly drawing resources from the energy ocean to build Sirin's army. On average, one Benares, a demonic dragon with attribute authority equivalent to a powerful supernatural being, is born from it every minute. Meanwhile, faceless Valkyries, whose combat power exceeds the third-tier limit and can be approximated as fully formed winged beings, are produced in large numbers, at a rate of one hundred per second.

This is just one insignificant stronghold among Sirin's countless locations. She has achieved victories in many star systems and suffered defeats in many others. The Barnard system, six light-years from Earth, the Wolf 359 system, seven.8 light-years from Earth, and the UV Cetus system, eight.4 light-years from Earth, are now all shrouded in the domain of Ex and her Order Galaxy. Further out, the Sirius system is ruled by Sirin's sovereignty. They are like two intertwined vines, desperately expanding their scale and extending their roots, plundering each other's resources and sustenance while being plundered themselves, and the line between victory and defeat remains unclear.

The war will continue, and continue, until the entire galaxy is stained with color.

Those more than one hundred million stars and millions of stars are actually all Ex, her siblings, her will, and the manifestation of her form and path. Because Ex's path is the path of order, star systems govern stars, stars govern planets, planets govern satellites and asteroids, and asteroids are further subdivided into numerous subordinate units.

This is her Dao, and her Dao is also the source of the myriad stars in the cosmos. In her battle with Sirin, every moment countless matter stars are born from the primordial chaos and energy tides of the cosmos and become part of her. At the same time these stars are born, a considerable number of them begin to bubble up from the surface, detaching from the domain she controls, and then becoming part of Sirin's composition.

Of course, this erosion phenomenon is bidirectional. When many celestial bodies exhibit space bubble formation, the number of space bubble clusters in space that are beginning to stellarize or have already transformed into new celestial bodies will only increase, not decrease. The Legions act as catalysts; celestial bodies or space bubbles destroyed by Sirin's mixed Legions or by Ex's Force swarms can always complete the erosion process in an instant. And in this kind of celestial destruction-level battle, every minute of the war will mark a new beginning and an end to the old.

The battle lines were locked in a stalemate; the faceless Valkyries were killing the Force swarm almost as fast as they were being devoured. The erosion phenomena from both sides intertwined in space, creating clusters of semi-stellar bubbles or various semi-bubble-like celestial bodies throughout this ten-light-year radius region. They were like piles of festering sores, oozing deadly eroded starlight and corrupted stellar matter from within, regardless of whether they were touched or not.

The war will continue, for a very long time. Countless vastly different civilizations have been born silently in this war, only to vanish, some with great fanfare, others in quiet despair, until they are annihilated. The rise and fall of each of them could fill an epic poem that would leave countless poets and artists in awe. Yet, in the battlefield of the true god, all of them are meaningless, merely simple numbers, records that leave no trace anywhere except in the memory of the true god.

"After all, compared to the will of higher life forms, mortal things are far too insignificant."

"...Are we like that too?"

In a large cluster of spatial bubbles, far removed from the intense battlefields, one of Sirin's avatars sat leisurely alone inside an abandoned Gothic castle. She had altered the appearance of the native civilization born within this spatial bubble, or rather, this small world, to resemble ordinary mortals. And she had positioned this avatar here as a demon lord, a character often found in legendary tales.

It was just a normal rest and recuperation activity, much like how Alice and Patchouli would often be so busy with experiments and plans that they'd lose their bearings, that they'd create an avatar and send it off to some random world for a vacation. Although true gods don't have the concept of lifespan, don't experience fatigue or boredom, and can completely control every single one of their emotional fluctuations, a little relaxation is always necessary at appropriate times.

After all, everything that works will have flaws. For a true god, winning against an opponent of the same level on a physical level is basically as difficult as losing to them.

Therefore, mental wavering is the most likely factor to influence the outcome of a match.