Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

An idea popped into her head, and as she got the inspiration for it, she realized that Alice and Celine had the same idea not long ago—she chuckled to herself, putting aside the idea that seemed terrifying but was now becoming more and more realistic—that was not a plan she should get involved in right now, and regardless of whether that unspoken idea was true or not, what she should do now was to carry out Alice's plan.

Alice's plan...

She retrieved the avatar used to execute the previous plan and clearly observed the entire process—exactly as she had anticipated. The human emperor completed the transaction using a series of complex and meticulous contracts and the avatar of 'Tzeentch'. Twenty demigod embryos, loyal to him, possessing his bloodline, and naturally endowed with warp adaptability, fell into his hands after he paid what he perceived as a huge price. Next, the emperor would take these twenty demigod embryos to his private laboratory and, through his own means, modify and control them.

His actions are understandable, since the weak always feel insecure in front of the strong.

But Patchouli wasn't about to let his plans go so smoothly—Patchouli reached out and stirred a wisp of future time.

She saw the future—in the not-too-distant future, the Reincarnators did not interfere much in the real universe. During this time, mortal civilizations in the galaxy fought and killed each other, eventually forming a unified nation under the military might of the Emperor and his twenty sons' legions. The human empire was rebuilt. A massive expedition then began, aimed at expanding the galaxy's frontiers, ultimately making mortal civilization the sole ruler of this galaxy.

A single dominant player.

Patchouli examined the variables that had occurred over the past few centuries. She discovered that without her intervention, the inevitable outcome would be the dominance of mortal civilization—the Eldar would decline, the Orcs would remain insignificant, and the Necromancers would set their sights on the outer reaches of the galaxy. Other miscellaneous, smaller alien races would be of little use whatsoever.

This doesn't fit Alice's plan. Such a future lacks change.

Thus, Patchouli's will shifted—interfering with future timelines. Centuries later, she cast her gaze upon one of the twenty legions under the human emperor's command. And this gaze manifested as whispers in the ears of the emperor's offspring.

"Your father has concealed your origins; I will tell you the truth about your birth."

Her whispers unsettled the demigod's offspring, but that unease quickly transformed into a roar of rejection.

"Get out of my mind, Xenomorph!" The offspring possessed an exceptionally firm will and an excessive thirst for knowledge. It remained loyal to the human emperor, but loyalty was merely a state, a symbol not permanent. "Take your twisted logic and get out!"

He roared and drove all the servants and legion members out of the flagship's command room.

Ah… a steadfast heart, but Patchouli chose him because she saw his inner flaw. Of course, he doesn't have that obvious flaw yet, but Patchouli can create one for him.

Patchouli's voice faded with a low chuckle befitting her status, and she quickly selected several psionic wizards from the demigod's legion—uncertainly revealing the Emperor and Tzeentch's deal to them. She then let them experience firsthand the power of the supreme, immortal warp.

And so they prostrated themselves at Tzeentch's feet... They prayed to Tzeentch, offered sacrifices, and then, through Patchouli's arrangement, traveled back in time—to the 'present' when Patchouli took action—using Tzeentch's supreme divine power. The place they were placed in was none other than the Emperor of Man's private laboratory.

Clearly, the Emperor's caution ultimately led to his downfall. He kept the secret from all his companions. Even his most trusted confidant, Mankondor, was kept in the dark about the deal and the existence of the secret laboratory. Perhaps he was simply waiting for the right moment, but before that moment arrived, this group of wizards from the future stormed into his secret laboratory.

The wizards did only one thing: they banished the twenty demigod embryos by random teleportation. This granted them the experience of being human and broke the security controls the Emperor had implanted in them. They became emotional, developed feelings, and... were no longer merely tools as the Emperor had hoped.

The future was corrected, or rather, the future corrected the present. And when these wizards were sent back to the correct point in time, all of Terra shook under the Emperor's wrath.

Everything was already destined.

Patchouli appeared once again before the demigod who had sternly rejected her. This time, however, she was not rejected from the outset—for this progenitor already possessed his own life, his own beliefs, and his own ideals. And his ideals were not entirely aligned with the Emperor's desires.

He is not, or rather, he does not consider himself a tool.

So Patchouli easily persuaded him, without using the Erosion Phenomenon or directly interfering with him. She made him aware of all the truths he should and shouldn't know. And after that, this demigod's offspring relinquished control of his legion.

He allowed Tzeentch's servants to preach within his legions, and allowed the wizards entrusted with important tasks to once again come into contact with Tzeentch's will, thus closing the logical loop. This was like a small hole in a dam; soon, it would spread, proliferate, and eventually infect many other legions.

The future and destiny of this universe, this stage, are drawing ever closer to the script known as Warhammer Forty Years.

Then, Patchouli opened her eyes once again on the Throne of Wisdom.

She compiled her findings into data and shared it with all the surviving members of Team Central, while warning some overly inquisitive individuals not to even think about going out to watch. After receiving a variety of responses, she discontinued the information sharing.

And after that—

"Next, we need to..."

Her movements suddenly stopped.

Because at that moment, a thought she had been pondering while working finally yielded a definitive result.

After comparing a vast number of message entries, she found the only remaining feasible solution in the 'mending the sky' event.

In the multiverse, someone has mended the sky.

There is one and only one, or two.

That person, the one who completed the mending of the heavens, did so in a world called 'Final Destination 2'. She succeeded, and for the first time created the concept of 'mending the heavens' and put it into practice, even accomplishing the great feat of blocking the progress of a quasi-saint.

And that person's name is—

“…Patchouli Knowledge.” Patchouli clenched her hands, her usually steady voice now tinged with a hint of insecurity.

"Am I the only person in this multiverse who has ever mended the heavens?"

The moment she finished speaking, a conceptual resonance phenomenon originating from the information magic system appeared on her—in this entire finite multiverse of the final war, all concepts related to 'mending the heavens' responded to her at that moment. It was as if this monumental feat was truly something she had accomplished herself!

Section 25: The Arising and Cessation of Destiny

“It seems the fighting outside is incredibly intense.” Patchouli clenched her fist and stepped down from the Throne of Wisdom. As she walked, the energy surges generated by the floating concepts followed her, causing a considerable upheaval throughout the entire warp.

"But this achievement should not fall on my shoulders."

She gazed at the sky within the realm of knowledge, looking towards the edge of the universe, the final battle at the boundaries of diversity, but before turning her gaze beyond the universe, she forcibly stifled her curiosity and desire to explore.

This is not something she should be involved in right now. That is not a battlefield she should be on.

At her current level, attempting to get involved in the events surrounding the fall of the Holy City is somewhat presumptuous. However, even so—

She loosened her clenched fist.

Then the summoned energy tide receded and seeped back into this relatively vast and boundless finite multiverse—she clearly sensed that her legend and story suddenly appeared in many individual universes that she had not previously touched or had only recorded, and in all these universes, her deeds were intertwined with 'mending the heavens'!

In some universes, there are legends that in the 'primordial era', the goddess Patchouli mended the sky.

In some universes, the fairy tale of 'Patchouli the witch patching up the sky' suddenly became popular.

In some cases, her name and deeds appear in famous bestselling novels or annual video games. And in this subtle way, her influence has already seeped into the core of that universe!

This is... a passive expansion of the source world line. It's a sign that the genetic lock has been unlocked to the fourth advanced stage, or even further.

She felt herself passively taking more than one step towards the path of sagehood. Although, as things stand, she was still quite far from the level of a quasi-sage. But the existence of distance and the inability to find the path are two different things. For a life form that transcends the level of a species, once the first step is taken, the millions of steps that follow are essentially the same as none.

Patchouli had a sudden realization.

If I can now sever my own attachments, then, with the supply of resources for "mending the heavens," I can immediately achieve the work of becoming a primordial saint.

The moment this idea surfaced, it was validated deep within her mind. She knew Alice was also at this stage, though perhaps Alice had progressed even further. After all, the so-called "Four Highs" and Quasi-Saints could both be considered within the realm of transcending species, even if a Quasi-Saint's combat power was greater than that of a Primordial Saint or even approached the level of a True Saint. But combat power is combat power, and life level is life level. Long ago, data from Luo Ye, specifically from Aiqidra, proved this point.

But... there's no such thing as a free lunch. A sudden gift naturally comes with an immense burden.

[Concept transfer... Logically speaking, if a sage is killed, their legends and traces should also be swallowed up. If it were simply reduced to nothingness, it could be said that the concept is unstable. But since it has fallen on my shoulders, it means that I at least contributed to the killing of this sage who mended the heavens.]

[Could it be because I fabricated the ritual to mend the sky back then? Tsk, because of this abstract concept, it became the final straw that broke the camel's back in this war? Although I also want to indulge in a daydream of a windfall, information magic doesn't seem to be that omnipotent!]

【So……】

A dark light flickered in Patchouli's eyes.

"Borrowing my body for rebirth, using being resurrected in my body as a fallback plan after failure..."

—This possibility does exist.

—While there are other possibilities, such as him truly becoming a True Saint in the future, retracing the timeline to participate in the war on the outer side, or even the Saint who mended the heavens being crushed by Patchouli due to a series of coincidences— But—

“Even if I weren’t Alice, I wouldn’t take this kind of risk.”

Patchouli took a deep breath and stretched out her hand straight ahead.

The next moment, her large library, located inside Mars, was switched to projection mode, and its essence as the manifestation of Patchouli's power suddenly appeared in front of Patchouli, and once again formed the shape of a grimoire.

You shouldn't touch things that don't belong to you.

The best way to deal with a treasure that has been forced upon you is to recycle it.

As Patchouli's forcibly opened fourth-tier high-level gene lock closed, this conceptual resource, primarily focused on 'mending the heavens,' converged and concentrated in the great library before her. Here, it would be refined and reshaped. When all the resources were exhausted and Patchouli's source world line was completely adjusted, this heavy magic book, which had accompanied Patchouli for countless years, would be upgraded to become a companion spiritual treasure under her control.

[Could this also be part of the changes brought about by Alice?] — Patchouli had this thought for a moment while she was smelting.

But she quickly dismissed this distracting thought and instead focused most of her will on the smelting project. And as she did so, the entire vast world continued to function.

—The planned operation.

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

Xilin opened her eyes.

She stepped down from the corrupt throne and strolled through her own realm of life—a realm of her own aesthetic, even though it had deteriorated in various ways due to the accumulation of negative emotions. But if she so desired, the entire world in her eyes would obediently return to the way she loved it.

It is clean, orderly, stable, and interconnected.

The domain she wields is the most magnificent of the four Chaos Gods, and the one most in line with the beautiful perceptions of mortal life forms in the galaxy. Because of her will, her chosen ones, who should have been corrupted and twisted into monstrous mountains of flesh, now exist here in a remarkably elegant manner—slender limbs, pure white wings, graceful and lithe figures. Undoubtedly, these monsters, which should be terrifying, now walk in her domain as faceless Valkyries.

This caused Nurgle's expansion to lag slightly behind the other three Supreme Gods, but Miss Sirin clearly didn't consider it an unbearable price to pay. On the contrary, because of her will, this forcibly distorted warp even corrected the real world. Especially in the galaxy closest to the warp, many biological catastrophes that would have otherwise erupted were contained by her power.

If this continues, perhaps Nurgle will be regarded as a benevolent god and worshipped in the realms of intelligent life in the galaxy, and even used as a bulwark against the other three gods. However, it is clear that at this moment, at this point in time, the one who holds the power of Nurgle, Sirin, the transcendent being who governs the principle of "connection," is not focused on this side.

—Just now, she sensed that a group of voters in her field had suddenly disappeared.

Without warning, without any prelude, they vanished suddenly, like phantoms. Their deaths were swift and silent. If it weren't for Sirin's control of the 'Connection' and her constant 'connection' to her domain, she might have even forgotten the existence of those who died.

suddenly.

But it was also expected.

Because those chosen ones who suddenly vanished, those great demons, their other identity was that of empty shells left behind by the reincarnators of the East American team—Sirin had long realized that there was something wrong with these guys, so after assimilating and transforming them with 'Nurgle,' she placed them under heavy surveillance in a place where they could not easily access the real world. And sure enough, this secret probe from the outside world, at this moment, revealed the intelligence from the outside world to her.

"It's quite a fight outside," Xilin said softly.

As she reached this conclusion, a warning from Patchouli's side also came into her mind.

And sure enough, when she arrived at the monitoring point, only one of the voters who had been transformed from the New East American reincarnators remained.

Lucia, the captain of the New East America team. She is the last remaining member of the chosen ones who were reincarnated.

Now, she stands alone at the post that Sirin arranged for her, a post that doesn't actually require any duty. Through her distorted and altered memories, she gains a new understanding, believing that she was the only member stationed there from the beginning, and she doesn't feel anything unusual about it.

[As expected.] — Sirin thought to herself.

[If you want to hide a grain of sand, the best way, besides throwing it into the desert, is to place a large rock next to it. This way, all eyes turned towards the sand will be drawn to the rock. Even if the grain of sand is eventually found, people will perceive the rock as more important than the sand.]

The other members of the New East America team are like the grain of sand, while their captain is the rock used as bait. Because I don't bother remembering the names of reincarnators below the level of extraordinary beings. Since I didn't completely eliminate them immediately, my attention was inevitably diverted to this captain.

She came to this conclusion.

Of course, she does not deny that this could very well be another way of creating a smokescreen.

However, that doesn't matter, because she has already obtained the relevant information. Therefore, when dealing with the clutter, she doesn't need to worry about whether the items in front of her are stones or sand.

So, Celine appeared before the last remaining voter.

Her servants immediately bowed respectfully to her.

"My lord, what are your commands?"—The Nurgle chosen one, still named Lucia, spread her wings at Sirin's feet. And perhaps because Sirin was watching, those pure white wings were tinged with a light gray for a moment.

“I have a mission for you,” Sirin replied calmly. “Go to the human empire and find a nation that has not yet been unified by mortals. Find a mechanical body without flesh and blood and hide within it. At the appropriate time, you will receive a special commission.”