Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

And this could perhaps be considered a small offense to Sirin?

Zhan Lan shook her head. She suddenly stretched out her hand, and a faint glow that had been escaping outwards since the birth of the vortex was captured in her palm from tens of thousands of light-years away. The glow bounced and jostled between her fingers until it finally quieted down completely when she squeezed it tightly with her clenched fingers.

Then the radiance revealed a material entity resembling a spirit race—a spirit god, a clown symbolizing intrigue and scheming, named Shilego. His power was insignificant; not only had he not been replaced by a reincarnator, but his true form hadn't even reached the level of a true god, merely being an ordinary holder of the Light of the Mind. Furthermore, perhaps because his domain overlapped with Alice's, he was the first to sense the anomaly.

His existence or death is not important. He is not a target for the clone Alice.

When He awoke, terrified by the fall of the gods, He instinctively begged Zhan Lan for mercy—

He didn't have time to utter a single word of pleading. For his pleading gaze met Zhan Lan's indifferent, scrutinizing gaze.

The next moment, His form began to change.

"The fate of the Eldar should not end here. From this day forward, your name is..." Zhan Lan tilted her head, her thoughts suddenly pausing on a scene from not long ago. She recalled another Terra, on which she had gained something.

"...Your name is Angelina. Your function is—to bring laughter."

"You shall be the last remaining god of laughter of the Eldar."

A newly constructed source worldline was created by Zhan Lan. The individual named Anxinyuan Angelina, who had died as an ordinary messenger of natural disasters in the depths of the warp, had a new destiny after shedding her mortal body. She should have naturally dissipated with Zhan Lan's departure, but now, due to Zhan Lan's intervention, after dissipating, she flowed into the present world with the fusion of the universe. And after the long passage of time, the part that was originally 'Anxinyuan Angelina' cleverly and inevitably formed the material composition that gave birth to one of the Eldar gods.

Everything is inevitable, and the fate that those in high positions determine for those in low positions is inevitable.

Thus, the orphaned, born deity, the first clown of the Spirit Race, Xilegao, was directly given a past life that was both father and mother. A few more seconds passed, and this Spirit Race deity, now 'awakened' to his past life, opened his eyes in Zhan Lan's hands.

“Hello, Zhan Lan,” she said to Zhan Lan.

"Hello, Angelina." Zhan Lan nodded slightly, acknowledging her presence.

The transformed divine body stabilized, taking on the form that Zhan Lan had once possessed on another Terra. She then nodded to Zhan Lan, withdrew from his palm, and went to the periphery of the vortex to gather the souls that had not been completely captured in the first impact.

The crippled Eldar now have a new master. Celeste, now Angelina, will act as the sole surviving god of the Eldar and help them through this most difficult time. This will ensure they remain a significant force in the mortal realm during the upcoming wars. Furthermore, they will henceforth act on the will of Zhan Lan, becoming harbingers of doom wandering among the stars.

This could perhaps be called making the best use of resources.

Then, another second passed.

Zhan Lan's form vanished from the vortex and then reappeared at the edge of the Milky Way, outside the star cluster entity called the Jingyuan Federation. She raised her finger and made a sweeping motion in the air, causing the void storm rushing towards the Jingyuan Federation to split apart like waves crashing against rocks.

That's how she saw Celine—she saw Celine before she had executed the entire East American team.

At this point in time, Celine also saw her and, in that instant, knew everything that she would have to do and everything that she would be able to do.

“…I hate using my brain.” Celine pinched her brow hard. “Can’t we just stop with all the unnecessary stuff and let the timeline work naturally? Wouldn’t that be better?”

However, Zhan Lan simply shook her head.

"Letting things take their natural course is indeed fine, but there are still hidden dangers. Since you have already decided to become Nurgle, why not use Nurgle to deal with this hidden danger? In the end, this supreme divine power is just at the level of an ordinary transcendental being. Even if something goes wrong, it will be much easier for us to deal with it."

She glanced at the New East America team members who were fixed in the air.

“They have a problem, that’s obvious. I can’t see how many ‘special reasons’ are hidden behind your plan to exploit that problem. But mercy doesn’t mean risking yourself. Instead of turning them into your avatars, turn them into Nurgle’s avatars. That way, you won’t lose either.”

Celine sighed.

"This means I have to become Nurgle right now. I have to take control of the life realm right now—would you like to help me beat up Luo Hao? I don't really want to waste another minute with her."

“Even if you’re unwilling to use your brain, there should be a limit…” Zhan Lan looked at her helplessly and added, “As far as I know, the Spirit Race has a God of Life, and Her name is Isa. She is the first God of Life in this finite multiverse. Zheng Zha has already quickly proven his supreme divine power by defeating the first ‘war’ here. And I think you can do the same thing.”

"You mean you want me to abduct women?" Sirin conjured the image of a Spirit Race girl—and the face of the Goddess of Life, Isa, immediately appeared in her vision. She was a gentle woman with a stunning figure, a refined demeanor, and an aura of maternal warmth emanating from her entire being.

"You can certainly do that."

Zhan Lan rolled her eyes at her.

"And you can even do what I just did, slightly adjust this worldline that Miss Alice and the others have locked in, so that your little Theresa can directly become the origin of the goddess Isa who was not replaced by the reincarnators!"

"Now you don't have to use your brain, and it can't be considered abduction, Miss Sirin! Because this is called mutual affection!"

Section 18. Balance Strategy

Things have changed—

After that, or rather before that, the timeline of this already chaotic battlefield universe was revised seventeen or eighteen times.

The details aren't complicated. It's simply that before the Eldar gods were conceived, a certain unnamed individual made some modifications to the origins of the Goddess of Life, Isha. This resulted in a rather unique past life for the goddess, and her current existence being one of purity and self-discipline—well, that's a bit difficult, since the overall direction can't go against the will of the clone, Alice, so a slightly roundabout strategy is necessary.

How exactly does it work? It's quite simple. A certain Miss Xi, whose name cannot be revealed, replaces and overwrites all individuals in this decadent Elven mythology who have had affairs with the goddess Isha, making herself, driven by possessiveness, the object of any ambiguous or more than ambiguous relationship with goddess Isha at any point in time, in any legend. In this way, the decadent style of the Elven mythology doesn't need to be altered, and Miss Xi doesn't have to worry about being cuckolded.

Although she is quite law-abiding by nature, that's another matter, and there's no need to elaborate on it here. And after this long, complex, and meticulous preliminary preparation was successfully inserted into the power-grabbing ritual of the clone Alice through repeated timeline insertions, Miss West also completed the final step when Slaanesh was proven.

She proved 'Nurgle'.

During the Eldar's demise, she reached out from the realm of life, rescuing the goddess Isha before the corruption could reach her—a process that might have been complex, but the goddess of life, upon seeing her, instantly understood her past life, or rather, her true form, and the millions of loves she had experienced in this life—the goddess of life, having redefined herself, essentially grabbed her hand and jumped into the warp. This allowed the final step to be completed smoothly.

—Nurgle captured the purest (relatively) life among the Eldar gods. He imprisoned the first goddess of life in this finite multiverse within his own garden. Because he accomplished this great feat, Nurgle governs and transcends the concept of life. And thus, Nurgle became Nurgle.

The four supreme divine powers prove the third point.

When 'Nurgle' was proven, in this finite diversity, everything that could be called land was instantly tinged with a dark green hue.

At the same time, the Lord of Change, who orchestrated the fall of the Spirit Race and the birth of these three supreme divine powers, also achieved the attainment of supreme divine power through the success of this scheme.

—In the finite and multifaceted battlefield, everything that could be called 'light' turned azure at this moment, thanks to the proof of 'Tyrant'.

Thus, the four rules representing the four fundamental elements of the universe—earth (soil and rock structure), water (fluid), fire (high-energy gas), and wind (light and wave radiation)—were redefined. The four supreme divine powers were thus proven, and their power extended into the depths of this finite multiverse, completely anchoring the timeline that created them.

Now, no one, whether human or non-human, god or non-god, can alter the history from the time barrier three billion years ago until the twenty-ninth millennium since the birth of human civilization—this timeline is completely locked, and even the four supreme gods can only make minor corrections to details that do not affect the overall picture. And if any other outsider were to attempt to interfere, they would have to face the combined might of four supreme gods at full power.

The fortress of paradox is complete. The elements of the true God are now complete.

Furthermore, the instant the True Godhood was achieved, the influence of these four supreme deities spontaneously projected onto other universes within the finite multiverse. The legends and histories of the four warp gods were rewritten in those other universes on varying scales. This expansion of the source world line undoubtedly belongs to the characteristics of a transcendent species.

In other words, now anyone who can sit on one of these four thrones symbolizing supreme divine power can ascend to the highest heavens, taking over the position of supreme divine power and mastering this transcendent power.

So, it is now the fourth second after the final battle god's teleportation ended.

Two minutes after the fourth second ended, the New East America team, who had teetered on the brink of death countless times, finally received a definite ending—the life force cast from the realm of 'Nurgle' captured and assimilated them. The part that was a reincarnator thus exited the stage, while the part that was a loser was merged into the life domain and exists in the world as divine servants.

A potential hidden danger was thus quietly eliminated.

And when this ninth reincarnation team left the field, it was exactly 125 seconds after the final battle teleportation ended.

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

The stained world returned to its original state. Or to put it another way, the staining process lasted only a time interval defined by Planck length. Below the level of a true god, no sentient being could capture this instantaneous change. Perhaps all the most precious instruments could record this scene, but even if it were discovered, it wouldn't really matter.

The four supreme divine powers are now complete, and these complete supreme divine powers have already dominated the underlying rules of this universe. The chessboard is set, and beings below the Transcendent level have no chance of fighting back on it—in other words, this universe, which is supposed to be the main battlefield, has become the domain of the Central Continent and the Trinity of Demons.

No, perhaps it can't be called a trinity. After all, there are still many unclaimed concepts in this universe. By dominating and proving them, it's not impossible to create one or two, or even three or four, supreme divine powers. Furthermore, with the stabilization of this finite multiverse battlefield and the extension of the source worldline, this supreme divine power, currently equivalent to transcending species level, may have further potential. Perhaps when the source worldline of a certain supreme divine power covers all universes within this finite multiverse, it will be equivalent to four supreme powers.

"This is an open conspiracy," Alice explained from her throne of wisdom to her teammates, whose whereabouts were now unknown.

"The finite multiverse of the final war is too vast. To dig out and eliminate all our opponents, as well as those disruptive outsiders, would take a long time, perhaps even eternity. Unfortunately, we cannot destroy this finite multiverse—we do not yet have the capability—so we must choose a roundabout approach."

"The principle is simple. We are in the open, and we can create a grand scheme in a legitimate way—by creating supreme divine power in this world, even if this place was not originally the main battlefield, it will become the main battlefield due to the increase in 'mass'. And as the 'mass' gradually increases with the spread of the source world line, those universes with slightly lower specifications in the surrounding area will also be captured by this center, thus approaching our home field."

She shrugged.

"After all, the 'power' we possess is definitely greater than that of the enemy. So, if we can force the other participants out of their hiding places, we've already won more than half the battle. And as our 'home ground' becomes more secure and stronger, those lurking guys will have no choice but to give up hiding if they still hope for victory. And if they can really endure until this point without showing themselves, then when the supreme divine power extending from here covers this entire finite multiverse, no matter how deeply they hide, they are destined to perish."

“One question,” Zheng Zha’s voice came from the war zone. “Why don’t we just do it ourselves and use our own Dao Erosion phenomenon to create the Source World Line? Wouldn’t that be faster and much easier?”

“No.” Alice shook her finger. “Our team does have more than four transcendent beings, even four high-level powerhouses. But our Dao cannot completely cover all the concepts in this finite multiverse. If we want to completely control it without leaving any room for error, then the directions indicated by the supreme divine power should be independent, non-overlapping, and able to evenly cover every place.”

For example, Zheng Zha, your path of pioneering is vastly different from Khorne's path of war, slaughter, and courage; similarly, Sirin's "connection" is not entirely compatible with "life." This supreme divine power, shaped by our hands, can actually be seen as a kind of "converter of the Way." Only in this way can we ensure that all realms of concepts can be covered by us.”

"Simply put, this can be seen as a large-scale weapon crafting?" Saito's voice carried a hint of mockery. "And this so-called supreme divine power is essentially the magical artifacts we've crafted?"

“A postnatal spiritual treasure,” Alice corrected. “Anything that can provide combat power and life level beyond the fourth level is indeed equivalent to a postnatal spiritual treasure. You could even consider it a degraded version of a sainthood. After all, apart from the deficiency of the limited multiverse's specifications, a treasure that can cover the source world line to the entire multiverse inherently means unquestionable saintly power.”

"I see." — Her explanation earned her a satisfied response.

Her teammates, at this moment, fully understood her idea—by shaping and controlling these supreme divine powers, they were, in a sense, controlling this finite multiverse itself. And once all the supreme divine powers were shaped and matured, then by unifying them into one, they could be equivalent to the inner universe power confined to this finite multiverse.

This is the Path of All Things, the winning strategy that Shenqi deciphered for Alice when she gave her special instruction before the battle. While this finite multiverse is far inferior to the infinite multiverse, even if one achieved the 'Path of All Things' here, one would likely only gain the power of a quasi-saint, or something akin to a true saint. Nevertheless, even so, on this final battlefield where the power ceiling is set, it would still be an overwhelming crushing defeat for others.

Therefore, this is an open and aboveboard strategy, a tactic to crush the enemy head-on, leaving them helpless. Fighting out directly is a near-certain death, while hiding is certain death. Even with external assistance, the chance of death is merely reduced from 90% to 80%. The Demon Team clearly saw through this strategy when Alice began her preparations, which is why they sent a clone of Alice to seize control of this force that had a high probability of ending the battle.

One stalk is enough; if a bucket is missing even one vertical stalk, it ceases to be effective at holding liquids. And the Demon Team might also have their own ideas.

—So Alice lowered her eyes.

She sensed the waning of her companions' will, and they were quite satisfied with the answer Alice had provided. In the time that followed, they likely all had goals and spare time to execute their own personal plans and ideas.

They left.

After they left, Alice sensed the rapid consolidation of the realms of War and Life. Clearly, Alice's plan had convinced Sirin, who wasn't particularly enthusiastic about war and didn't intend to waste much time on Life. In the time to come, these two realms, along with the third held by Alice and Patchouli, would experience even more rapid and comprehensive growth.

Then--

“Alice.” She heard a voice beside her. “Aren’t we taking sides anymore?”

Patchouli asked, her pale purple eyes blinking.

“Hmm, I won’t choose.” Alice nodded. “Survival of the fittest. I’ve thought about it for a long time, and in the end, there’s no reason for me to choose to fight for mortals or for all races. After all, I’m neither human nor one of all races, so I don’t need to take sides and make a decision.”

"I've decided to be a scale, an impartial scale that makes no choice whatsoever. I will become the calamity, the test, the trial. The environment. And the side that prospers the most before we wipe out the other reincarnation teams and achieve final victory will be the side I approve of."

"Does Sister Luo Ye think so too?"

Alice did not answer.

She merely shifted her gaze to a distant place beyond the universe—her revelation of her plan was not without reason. After all, schemes like this are most effective when exposed.

“Patchouli.” She didn’t answer Patchouli’s question. “If I continue to execute this plan, even if it was originally flawless, I will create some loopholes and errors. So, can you act as my agent for this plan and wield this supreme divine power for the time being?”

"Yes," Patchouli agreed without hesitation, then asked, "And you?"

"I'll go... handle some execution-level steps."

"I saw traces of the West Sea team."

Section 19 - Springboard

West Sea Team.

After the battle in the Moon World, only the fictional King Arthur and Artoria Pendragon survived from the West Sea team.

She has a unique background and is naturally incapable of trusting reincarnators, or even fellow countrymen from the same origin world.

Therefore, she was destined to be unable to form an alliance with other reincarnation teams, nor did she have the wisdom to see through even the deeper secrets hidden behind this final battle.

—The above is the thought that Alice Margot Lloyd had formed in her mind when she thought of the 'West Sea Team', a reincarnation squad. And when this thought crossed her mind, she had already successfully arrived at the middle of the second arm of the Milky Way, on a planet that had only recently been developed.

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

Human civilization suffered a severe blow.