Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“Yes,” Zheng Zha reverted to his persona as a reclusive master, cosplaying as Chu Xuan. “We came to this universe to resolve the debate on the path. You can understand it as this: as long as we convey our ideas to any living or inanimate object in this starry sky and amplify them, our life level… our power will rise. And now, all of this has reached a perfect balance.”

He waved his hand, erasing the starry sky on his right, and a complex balancing system appeared before the Chaldeans. It represented the system of checks and balances between multiple powerful otherworldly gods, like Zheng Zha. And at the very center of the system, the land of Mesopotamia floated quietly.

“We have reached a balance, no one moves, no one makes a move, and then I and all my kind can obtain satisfactory benefits from this balance. But if I make a move—” He raised his finger, picking off a major fulcrum in the balance system.

The system then collapsed and pulverized the entire solar system into fragments.

"The balance will be broken, and war will break out. And this place will become our main battlefield—don't try to persuade my kind, because you won't even see their faces. I'm not confident I can save you either, because I'm not your caretaker, and I won't abandon my own companions for your sake. And if I take you to see them, it will be the same as the outbreak of a full-scale war."

Ritsuka opened her mouth, as if to say something, but in the end, only a bitter smile appeared on her lips.

She could only manage a wry smile. Because beyond Zheng Zha's explanation, she had discerned much more. Some of the princesses had hinted at similar things long ago, but she had only just realized them.

"Those starlights in the solar system... if humanity is restored, then they will fall to Earth, right?" she murmured. "Seeking help is death. Restoring humanity is death. All change is death... only by remaining here can one survive for a short while?"

She finally understood why the princess hadn't left after the agreement was made—not because she agreed with her, nor because she was moved by her. It was because she thought the agreement was complete but the matter wasn't truly over, and now the princess's concept of 'stagnation' had delivered a fatal blow to her!

She looked up, her eyes filled with both hope and despair.

"No matter what we choose, we're headed for a dead end. The only difference is whether we choose it actively or passively, right?"

“You can think of it that way,” Zheng Zha replied calmly. “This is the test and trial you sought, this is the truth. And if, knowing the truth, you still dare to request an alliance with me…”

He laughed heartily.

"Then I'll do it, just as you wish, and turn the world upside down!"

Chapter 76 The War in Heaven - Omens

"War is about to begin. A war that will sweep across the galaxy and bring about the extinction of everything. This is not a change that a mortal can influence by choosing 'yes' or 'no'—it was all destined the moment she walked through that door."

On another adjacent stage, Luo Ye stood quietly atop the mountains of what was once Mesopotamia. The struggle between her and the demon team had distorted and warped this land into a bizarre form—Earth no longer existed, the solar system no longer existed, and a raging tide of destruction spread wildly in all directions of the galaxy, yet the seven plus two singularities still remained.

Nine singularities, nine kingdoms. The sun, moon, and stars were all devoured as food, and the size of each kingdom expanded rapidly and constantly. Endless wars and madness filled many corners of these kingdoms. The final result was that the ideas of many true gods were perfected and even strengthened in the flames of war.

Humanity did not become extinct, but was driven to the outskirts of the nine kingdoms. Those beings born from the erosion of the true god fought and slaughtered each other, spreading the true god's doctrines while completely ignoring their existence. However, despite this indifference, the aftershocks of war did not leave mortals—they lived like ants and died like dust.

—This is very similar to the script of No Game No Life Zero. However, it's different from No Game No Life Zero. Here, mortals cannot encounter machine-type beings, nor can they utilize 'spirits' that can shield them from the senses of their familiars. The gods of the Reincarnators ignore them, not because they don't care to watch over them, but because slaughtering them is unnecessary—on the contrary, the Reincarnators of the Demon Squad have been paying close attention to the movements of these mortals, because they know that Luo Ye is the mortals' ally.

This could be considered a small act of revenge by the Demon Team, as Luo Ye's hatred for mortals could not be a secret. After the Demon Team's reincarnators controlled the nine kingdoms formed from the nine singularities, Luo Ye controlled the connections between the kingdoms—her will caused countless anti-familiar legions to emerge from the earth, naturally evolved. Heroes among the mortals were often able to learn and even wield the power of these powerful wild monsters, thus securing a place for themselves.

—The crimson torrent has not yet disappeared. Although it has faded to the point of resembling a thin layer of scarlet gauze, it still exists. And since it exists, the fortune of mortals continues. And since the fortune of mortals continues, they have value to her.

—Although this value will soon be gone.

"Your Majesty, Luo Ye." Aika Satou's slender, petite figure appeared silently beside Luo Ye—she came from the ocean kingdom, which was originally the Third Singularity. Before she set off, a small-scale conflict involving approximately 23 billion Familias had just taken place there.

"The mortals of the Third Singularity have established a solid foothold. Now, with the help of the Argonauts' sea heroes, they have built an ark city capable of housing two million people. Of the six clans in the nearby seas, five have already been dealt with by Aigo. The remaining one is related to another Lady Alice, so Aigo only expelled them, but did not completely annihilate them. Is this acceptable?"

“Miss Satori, you don’t need to hold back next time.” Luo Ye replied calmly, “The most valued family of the clone Alice is her puppet army. It symbolizes her past, the precious things she once possessed, and she would never put them on the chessboard in such a crude game.”

"Aika understands." Ms. Sajo bowed obediently. "Then, Aika, can you handle it this way from now on?"

Luo Ye nodded slightly, offering no objection. And so, several more seconds passed quietly.

They saw silver waves ripple across the boundary of this seventh singularity. It was a sight of some kind of spirit swarm eroding the sea, reshaping the landscape, and devouring and assimilating many alien species born from the earth—it was one of the many familiars of the clone Patchouli, a natural phenomenon caused by her following her own path.

Its scale is enormous; even on a purely physical scale, it stretches from the Earth's core to the Moon's core. Besides the native races of the Earth, trillions of angels, demons, Garudas, and other beings were easily caught in it, and before they could even scream, they were all annihilated.

The demons' kin and Luo Ye's kin fought each other, and the kin of the demons fought among themselves—in reality, neither Luo Ye nor any of the true gods of the demons cared about the loss of their kin. Their survival or destruction had no effect on the true gods' bodies, and as long as the Dao Erosion phenomenon persisted, any number of kin lost could be replenished within a short period.

To the true God, mortal things have never meant anything.

As Luo Ye raised a finger and then swung it down, billions of these mutated creatures, resembling black spheres of light and specifically designed to suppress spirit particle life, hatched from the earth. Their essence was a swarm of conscious spatial collapses, life forms similar to miniature black holes, or, slightly less advanced, miniature neutron stars come to life. The moment they were born, they cheered and pounced on the spirit particle swarm, erasing the boundless silver ocean from the earth as easily as erasing a pencil drawing.

Luo Ye didn't even bother to think of a name for them, so he simply called them Earth Clan A. And this Earth Clan A had barely completed its mission since its birth when, in the next instant, a swarm of second-generation spirit insects, born from the void, coalesced into a mass, constructing approximately several million gravity jammers in a collective life form to launch a counterattack!

Thus, Earth Kin A perished, but soon Earth Kin B, capable of resisting gravity interference and possessing various targeted weapons, emerged from the soil and took over the mission of the previous generation—however, they did not achieve the same effective results as their predecessors. Just as they were driving the second-generation spirit insect swarm into retreat, a spirit race numbering around eight billion and two other energy body kin races ranging in size from one billion to one hundred billion emerged from an unknown corner of the battlefield, and their entry into the battle resulted in the annihilation of Earth Kin B.

But it's alright, because Earth Families C and D have already been created and easily took over the duties of their predecessors, annihilating the opposing Families' army. The reason it was able to do this so smoothly is that the four groups that annihilated Earth Familie B immediately began fighting among themselves after their victory. And then—

—An invisible worm that feeds on time wandered by, devouring this history and restoring everything to the moment before the silver tide rose. This time worm from the earth was then surrounded and devoured by several strangely colored and outlined giant serpents of its kind. The time poison released when it died also poisoned all of its predators.

Thus, the Serpent of the Kinship and the Worm of Time, along with their venom, spilled across that celestial realm, softening the earth, bending the oceans, causing light and darkness to endlessly quarrel and fight, and splicing together mass and space to construct a bizarre and fantastical world beyond the comprehension of mortals—a realm where the sun laughs, the wind dances, and numbers and lengths drink beer arm in arm.

Then Luo Ye pressed down with one finger, and everything on that land faded away like an old photograph that had been washed. In the end, what was once a battlefield was left only as a boundless garden and meadow.

“It’s meaningless,” Luo Ye said calmly. “But this battle itself is of the greatest significance to all the true gods present except for me.”

"Because you've established a new balance?" Aegea asked at just the right moment. "Is that so, Your Majesty?"

“That’s right, because I’ve created a new balance,” Luo Ye replied. “The struggle of the Dao, the struggle of the Dao. It’s not enough to just practice one’s own Dao; the Dao must also contend in order to grow. So, Miss Sha Tiao and I can hold them all back, because they need an object to contend with. And they can never defeat me, so this struggle will continue until everyone’s interests are satisfied.”

“But surely some of you will want more benefits.” Aika tilted her little face up to look at her. “Will they overstep their bounds? Will they hinder our mission?”

"Yes," Luo Ye replied calmly and confidently. "Although the Demon Team is entirely at the fourth level, there are also those who have advanced to the extraordinary level through opportunism, or those who are stuck at the middle level of the fourth level, merely gaining resistance to spacetime without mastering the Paradox Barrier. This is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them, and since they want to devour more Dao Erosion resources, they have to take the risk."

"The Demon Team won't admit this is a breach of contract, because all the powerful true gods will be dragged here by me. As for those who want to take advantage—the winner gets the qualification, the loser gets the food. The final result will be nothing more than this." She sneered, because at that moment, she and Ayaka Sajou, who had used her authority, simultaneously observed several individuals below the standard threat level transforming into colorless meteors, crossing the barrier between the stages. The next moment, Luo Ye suddenly raised his hand and threw a punch out of thin air!

At the same instant, in the center of another singularity-formed kingdom, separated by countless light-years and millennia, the clone of Zheng Zha's head abruptly shifted from left to right!

A thin fist mark appeared on his left cheek, then faded away little by little. He chuckled softly, and saw Lori standing beside him tenderly taking out a handkerchief to wipe his face.

"You big bad guy! I told you to control those people, but you wouldn't listen! Look, you got beaten up!"

“Everyone has to pay the price for their choices. I don’t care about them; this is the price I deserve.” His gaze shifted, past the colorless shooting stars to another stage, the light in his eyes gradually deepening. “And the very act of ignoring them is the price they have to pay.”

Chapter Seventy-Seven: The War of Heaven - Inevitable

—I sensed him. Another version of myself was looking at me. It was a hint, an invitation, an invitation to a battle.

—Ah, he wants to fight me. My clone wants to fight me. He will come; he will make contact with me before the final battle. Because he knows that a battle between him and me is inevitable, and it will definitely happen.

—This is the war in heaven.

Zheng Zha slowly withdrew his gaze, feeling the crystals in his eye sockets constantly collapsing and reforming. He made a rough assessment of the difference in combat power between himself and his clone—he was overwhelmingly weak, but he was weak enough to be considered strong in a comparative way.

What does it mean to be 'weak' in a position to be qualified to compare strengths and weaknesses?

It's quite simple. The difference is only a factor of ten, twenty, or even hundreds of times, but it's still a number that can be counted mathematically. Both are still on the same plane; it's still a comparison between line segments, not a comparison between a line segment and a volume, or a comparison between a shape and a capacity—they're still on the same level, so they still have the right to be compared.

Compared to Aichidra, who was a quasi-saint before ascending to sainthood, Zheng Zha didn't believe he was qualified to be compared to them at all. Even now, he still couldn't understand the power that those two quasi-saints wielded and displayed, nor the meaning it represented. This also meant that if they were in a state of battle, he might not even realize he was already dead.

They are very strong, unreasonably strong. Because they themselves are reason, their strength suppresses everything.

However, the clone Zheng Zha is not that strong yet.

"Entering the fourth level... is the gap between the peak of the fourth level, where there are native holders of the Light of the Mind who don't even know about time loops, and the True God of Reincarnation whose parameters have reached the limits of the universe's tolerance, really that far?" Zheng Zha said softly, speaking only to himself. He had already sent the Chaldeans outside the temple to let them consider it slowly, but he actually already knew the result of their consideration.

Time has no meaning for him unless another true god or similar super-being conflicts with him in time. But there is none here, so he can easily see the future, even ten minutes or half an hour later. And in that future, Fujimaru Ritsuka stands firmly in front of him, extending her hands to him with the posture and tone of a martyr.

"Mr. Zheng Zha, please help me!"

He already knew the ending, and if he wanted, he could even know the process. This utterly bored him, and it gave him a complete understanding of Sirin's feelings when she warned him during their previous adventure—powerful beings cannot comprehend weaker ones. To worry about them is absurd, because when every cell, every gene, every past experience, and every future word of that weaker life is clearly imprinted in the perception of a powerful being, all that remains is boredom.

He knew, of course, that he could eliminate this boredom; after all, 'boredom' was merely a part of emotion, not a natural enemy of immortals. But the question was… why would he do it?

There is no reason, because it doesn't align with his path.

He knew that the path he walked was the path of pioneering, and that the driving force behind all his actions was the evolution of this path—he was here because he wanted to pave a way forward for these vulnerable lives. He had agreed to Fujimaru Ritsuka's request because he wanted to pave a way forward for them. As for whether they could make it through, or whether they would die along the way—he wasn't a nanny who had to take care of everything!

“The true God’s heart contains only the Way and attachment. Margot Royd’s Way is ‘All things change and should change,’ while her attachment is clearly ‘Her love for Patchouli will not change. Patchouli’s Way is ‘To record and know all knowledge,’ while her attachment… I don’t quite understand, but it should be ‘Some knowledge should be forgotten’…”

"Cirin's path should be connection; she wants to be a bond between friends and companions. And her obsession... she probably also has someone or something she doesn't want to connect with."

Zheng Zha shook his head—the true god's Dao and his obstinacy are two sides of the same coin. Neither can be missing. It is because of the existence of obstinacy that the true god can make the path a manifestation of himself, instead of being eroded by his own Dao at the moment of advancement, turning into an embodiment of his own ideas, like those weak-willed gods or rule gods in many worlds.

He was well aware that his path was the path of creation, giving people fish but not teaching them how to fish. He was also clear that his conviction lay with his companions who had risked their lives for him, who were not included in the scope of not teaching them how to fish. Moreover, they were only his companions, not others, not just any humanoid beings in any cycle of reincarnation, who were simply mortals with similar biological structures to him.

Yes, they are not among them.

Fujimaru Ritsuka and her friends were not among them.

The outbreak of this war was inevitable because Zheng was the only one among all the reincarnators who would unconditionally lend a helping hand to Fujimaru Ritsuka. On this basis, she was still able to arrive here with a mortal body, under the gaze of multiple true gods, and possibly even a transcendent being, which means that her arrival was based on the will of everyone.

Everyone desires a war, a war that signifies an even more intense struggle for the Dao. The reason they have entrusted this choice to this place is because of the respect their companions have for the captain's authority and the respect the other reincarnators have for the will of the strong.

Zheng Zha closed his eyes, clearly sensing that he had taken another small step towards a higher level. He found his senses had become sharper, and he could even vaguely perceive the existence of the second stage and the several colorless meteors that had crossed the boundary.

It's only natural that Chu Xuan would try to hold off the Demon Team.

It's still expected that the Demons won't keep their promises.

Ultimately, what determines everything is power. To obtain more resources, one must fight for them. And he knew very well that he would inevitably grant Fujimaru Ritsuka's request, that this battle would inevitably begin, and that he would inevitably fight for them.

Once a war begins, it will be a full-scale outbreak and will not end easily.

Zheng Zha then sighed softly.

“I am ready, I am prepared. The war will begin with my hand, and I know how much blood will be shed because of it, and I am ready to bear that blood.”

"I hope that you will also be prepared and aware of the corresponding situation."

He began to meditate; he began to wait.

He already knew everything, but he still hoped that the miracle that crossed the one infinity might happen—perhaps Fujimaru Ritsuka wouldn't ask him for help, perhaps he wouldn't need to ignite this war that his teammates and other members of the Reincarnation Squad were all looking forward to, representing an even more intense struggle for power and resources.

And if that kind of thing really happened—

So, even if the end of this universe is already predetermined, even if it will simultaneously affect the interests of all my companions, including myself and my team's allies, what does it matter if I stop it all, stop this war, stop this inevitable end?

If I could witness such a miracle...

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

Meanwhile, in the outer hall of the Temple of the Sun.

Fujimaru Ritsuka thought about many things, far more than she had expected.

She thought of her past, her family, her senior classmates, her adventures, her struggles, her companions and confidants, and everything she would ultimately have to bear now.

Should we give up? Should we accept Zheng Zha's kindness without seeking his help?

The restoration of human order is imminent, but the end of the world will follow. Without the help of this one and only otherworldly god, the entire human civilization will be wiped out in an instant when starlight shines on the earth.

Should we make a request? Should we seek help from Mr. Zheng Zha?

The balance would then be disrupted, a war between the otherworldly gods would break out, and humanity and Earth would still face destruction. The only difference would be that even if destruction came and Mr. Zheng Zha was preoccupied with other matters, a portion of human civilization would still be protected by him, thus having a chance to survive the catastrophe.

This isn't a difficult choice, yes, it's like the train dilemma—not difficult at all. Because not seeking help means watching countless people die. Seeking help, on the other hand, means becoming an indirect perpetrator of the deaths of some, or even most, of humanity.

Do nothing and witness destruction. Do something and bear the consequences.

Choosing the right option isn't actually that difficult.

Am I ready? Am I prepared? Can I... bear the weight of so much blood?

No... there is actually another option. That is to not choose, which is 'stagnation'.