I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Duke paused slightly, instinctively placing his hand on his heart, where three lines of musical score were engraved. With a mere thought, the Soul Song, capable of plundering the core of the world, would begin to play. This was one of his trump cards, an ability he had acquired through the Insect Arrow. To this day, Duke still didn't know how it worked, only able to group it with other mysterious aspects of the system, considering it an inexplicable cheat code.

Could it be that he can finally get the answer to his question now?

"Mmm...cough cough!" Alice nodded, cleared her throat, and under the expectant gazes of Duke, Anne, and Stephanie, began to sing with deep emotion: "Intimate..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Duke, Annie, and Stephanie simultaneously covered their ears with their hands and shouted in unison, "What are you singing?! It's awful!"

"Huh?"

Alice paused for a moment, tilting her head, seemingly completely unaware of the true level of her singing... But to be honest, even Duke and the others were baffled by her voice. Before, when she sang while talking, she sang incredibly well, but how come her singing in a proper voice was like that of a heavyweight?!

At that moment, Gian, Dragon Girl, and Conan were all with her, and the newly crowned Rookie King (who was banned from the list because Duke was wanted) Joseph was no match for her!

What's going on? Is this mermaid's singing also a quantum superposition? Before she opens her mouth, no one can predict whether she will sing beautifully or terribly.

"Wait a minute, I should be a great singer. In the entire Coral City, I'm the best Tide Singer, how could I not sing well?" Seeing the subtle expressions on everyone's faces, Alice stood up defiantly, took a deep breath, and then belted out, "My dearest, my dearest love..."

For a moment, Duke even thought Joseph's singing was alright—after all, he could beat Mr. Mad Song, and at worst he could beat him so badly he would never dare to sing again. But the mermaid in front of him might be a key character in the Witch Game, so he dared not act recklessly, lest he fail to trigger any crucial plot points.

Stephanie, standing nearby, was so overwhelmed by Alice's singing that she fainted. The soft, pale blue light in the captain's cabin turned a glaring red under Alice's voice, demonstrating that even the Coral's onboard AI found Alice's singing extremely unpleasant.

Duke even keenly sensed that there were some tremors and fluctuations in space, and that time itself seemed somewhat chaotic and stagnant.

As space and time shifted amidst Alice's singing, Duke suddenly had a strange feeling. It was as if he had vaguely heard Alice's singing somewhere before—the singing in his memory was completely different from the mermaid love song Alice was singing now. The content, the emotions, and the melody were different, but the essence seemed somewhat similar.

They're all... songs of world destruction?!

Just as Duke was waking up, Annie, who was next to him, suddenly reached out and poked him. She lowered her hands from her ears, frowned, and asked, "Duke, do you feel like you've heard this kind of singing before?"

"You think so too?" Duke asked quickly. "I feel like I've heard it before, but I just can't remember where I heard a similar song."

“Of course you can’t remember, you were still inside Talia’s belly back then.” Annie held up a finger and shook it slightly: “Jasmine’s signature spell, Song of Destruction.”

In the game Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine witnessed the collapse and apocalypse of the dream world and heard Duke's soul-soothing requiem that resounded throughout the world. She then combined these two elements to create her own unique spell, Song of Destruction. It was precisely her Song of Destruction that gave the Sleeping Beauty game world the final straw, directly leading to Talia's destruction and failure.

From this perspective, Jasmine is also one of Duke's saviors.

"Alice's song and Jasmine's song of destruction are two completely different tunes, but they are essentially the same. They are both songs of destruction that cause abnormal fluctuations in the world."

Anne said with a serious expression. She looked at Alice, who was still immersed in her singing world, as if she was wondering whether to stop her from continuing to sing. But at this moment, her singing suddenly became melodious. The original harshness, noise and off-key singing disappeared all at once. Alice's singing reached a climax. The huge infectiousness hit Duke and the others, making them feel the burning love.

Annie blushed slightly as she looked at Duke, who looked back at her, his mind filled with thoughts of Amber and Cecil. As for Stephanie, she looked at her hands with deep affection, then raised them and began to kiss her fingertips tenderly.

Chapter 312 The Song of Aphrodisiacs

Alice's singing voice is strange.

When it sounds awful, it's like a song of destruction leading the world to ruin; when it sounds pleasant, it's like a lover's gentle caress that touches the heartstrings.

The contrast was so stark that Duke even suspected that Alice sometimes suffered from split personality, and that the songs she had just sung were from her two different personalities, which was why she could create such a contrasting effect of ice and fire.

Duke, Anne, and Stephanie were all so engrossed in Alice's singing that they became drowsy and unable to wake up.

A blush, like the sunset, rose on Anne's face. She reached out and grabbed Duke's clothes, licking her lips as if she wanted to defile Duke's lips... and even more parts of his body with her lips.

Anne was not a restrained person; on the contrary, she was a possessive person to the point of being pathological.

During this period, she had to "share" Duke with Amber and Cecil, which almost drove her crazy.

But it was precisely this morbid possessiveness that kept her calm. Her hands, clutching Duke's clothes, trembled slightly, but she restrained her impulse—she couldn't be here; there were only a few people in the way.

It wasn't that she minded or felt shy about making intimate gestures with Duke in front of others; rather, she didn't want to expose Duke's intimate behavior to outsiders like Stephanie and Ellie!

After forcibly kissing Duke, will he show a confused and wistful expression? If you forced yourself on Duke, will he become like a young girl?

Damn it, how could I possibly show them this kind of scene?!

Anne managed to maintain a semblance of clarity. If Duke, who was also affected by the Song of Souls, had taken the initiative to kiss her at that moment, her composure would have crumbled on the spot. Anne didn't know whether to say it was fortunate or regrettable. In any case, Duke also suppressed the love and impulse that was budding in his heart.

Anne stared at Duke's inhumanly beautiful face, her drowsy mind beginning to race: Why was he able to suppress his impulse? Was it because he was reminiscing about Amber and Cecil? Was he worried about the influence of the divine body on me? Or did he simply dislike me...? No, he was restraining himself, I could tell he was restraining himself.

That's great, Duke really does have a place for me.

Heh, the next step is to "get rid of" the other women who are in the way, making him a good man who only looks at me. But I also really like Amber, so maybe I should find a way to make her a good woman who only looks at me too, and then I'll become a staunch supporter of monogamy. As for that stupid woman Cecil, once I can beat her, I'll kick her out of Duke's life and let her fend for herself…

Duke, of course, had no idea what Anne was thinking.

As Alice's love song resonated with their emotions, Duke did indeed recall Amber and Cecil. He also turned his gaze to Anne in front of him. Only then did he realize that, without realizing it, this yandere had become one of the women he cared about—after all, she had saved him so many times, always treated him with wholehearted devotion, and never spared any effort in showing her love.

No man could withstand such an offensive.

Duke wasn't a heartless person; in fact, he had to admit that his self-control wasn't particularly strong when it came to emotions. Otherwise, even with the help of the Witch's Conquest System, he wouldn't have ended up in this state. Therefore, the Love Song had a huge impact on Duke, so much so that he even started considering how to kiss Annie to give her a good first kiss experience—after all, he was an experienced person and naturally wanted to provide guidance.

However, at that crucial moment when Duke was confused, a voice suddenly popped into his mind, jolting him back to reality:

"You scumbag, stop messing around and get down to business."

Duke paused for a moment, then looked at the little Ida hiding inside him and asked somewhat guiltily in his mind, "What important matter?"

“Didn’t you and Annie already guess?” In Duke’s soul perspective, Ida appeared to be older than before. “The first step on the myth of becoming a mute is to acquire the disability of ‘muteness’.”

Ida smiled slightly, and at the same time, her voice echoed in Duke's mind:

"You don't necessarily need to become a mute. After all, I (humanity) haven't had my fill of being a god yet, and I don't intend to be replaced by you right now. But if you're really prepared to become stronger, acquiring the incomplete state of 'muteness' in this world is still quite necessary."

"why?"

"You will gain as much as you lose. Now, because of the little mermaid over there, you have been transformed into the mermaid, a unique race in this world, and this race possesses a unique talent—the Song of the Soul. If you can become a Tide Singer, and then find a way to lose your voice and enter a state of 'aphasia,' you will receive a great deal of reward!"

"Did you intentionally lose your voice and become mute back then?"

"It cannot be spoken of."

Ida held up a finger, gesturing for Duke to be quiet, then waved her hand: "Alright, you should wake up now. Alice is indeed the strongest Tide Singer in this world, and the key to your victory in the Witch Game lies with her, but it's definitely not about staying in Coral City to listen to her sing."

"Do you know something? No, have you been to this witch game world before?!"

"I can't say... Anyway, I've assigned you the main quest." Ida put her hands on her hips and said arrogantly, "Before you can beat this witch game, you at least have to learn the mermaid's soul song!"

Before she could finish speaking, her conversation with Duke vanished like a bubble.

Duke suddenly snapped out of his daze. Alice's singing no longer affected his emotions and mind. He looked up at Annie, who had a conflicted expression, and his lips twitched slightly. He pushed her away, who was about to press against him, and then looked at Stephanie, who was giving his fingertips a long, passionate kiss. A few question marks popped into his head.

I see now, this fingertip witch is actually a Stand of the same type as Yoshikage Kira?

When you see Mona Lisa's hand, do you get phantom limbs like Boki?

Duke subtly shifted his gaze, pretending he hadn't seen anything, then looked at Alice, who was singing wildly in front of the captain's control center. Ida hadn't told him how to learn the Soul Song, but it seemed there was only one way.

He placed his hand on his heart, on the three lines of the Soul Requiem, and listened calmly and rationally to Alice's love song.

Soon, a faint singing voice emanated from around him. It was almost identical to Alice's singing voice, only much softer, so it blended into Alice's voice and was difficult to distinguish.

Until Alice stopped singing.

Chapter 313 Divine Gift and Divine Punishment

As Alice stopped singing, Duke somewhat regretfully stopped singing Soul Requiem.

His talent for the Song of Souls was far less than that of a Trickster. He had learned the two top-tier trickster skills, Omnipotent Trickster and Spell Thief, after just one glance, but he hadn't yet learned how to sing the Song of Souls. However, he had learned how to record songs using the Soul Requiem Recorder and, incidentally, recorded Alice's Love Song.

He could vaguely sense that the recording he made could only be used once, so he planned to save it as a trump card to use at the crucial moment.

This is much better than mixed berry cake.JPG.

Unfortunately, Duke only recorded the second half of the Love Song and failed to record the Destruction Song.

"Hey?"

Stephanie looked up somewhat blankly. After the love song stopped, she looked down at her ten fingers, which were covered in saliva, and fell into deep thought. Anne, on the other hand, showed no signs of waking up and was still staring blankly at Duke.

"Duke, stick it out!"

Duke's lips twitched slightly. He reached out and easily lifted Annie up with one hand, raising her as she danced around.

"Alright, stop acting. You woke up when the song was almost over, right?"

"Waaah, you won't stick close to me, Duke, you're so mean." Annie pouted, stopping her animated gestures, then glanced longingly at Duke's lips, "What a pity..."

While she was still under the influence of the Love Song, she managed to remain rational and not give him a kiss. However, once the Love Song's effect wore off, Annie started to notice Duke's lips. She had personally witnessed Amber being kissed unconscious by Duke (in his divine form), and now that she had calmed down and thought about it, she suddenly became curious.

What's it like to be kissed unconscious? Is it an experience of passing out from pleasure?

Tsk, either go back and ask Amber, or... I'll find a chance to be alone with Duke and try to force a kiss on him?

Anne's eyes darted around, but on the surface she stood obediently in place, giving Duke room to move around.

Duke, lacking mind-reading abilities, naturally couldn't fathom what Annie was thinking. Instead, he approached Alice, who had finished her passionate singing, and asked with some concern, "Alice, was that singing just now... the power of the Tidal Singer?"

“Yes,” Alice nodded, in a very good mood, “This is the power of the Tide Singer, isn’t I amazing?”

"That was beautiful! Could you sing it again, Alice?"

This time, Duke will definitely use a Soul Requiem tape recorder to record all the soul songs with huge contrasts before and after.

Alice blinked, looked at Duke, her face slightly flushed, and nodded immediately, already very happy: "Of course, no problem!"

"Of course not!"

But Anne and Stephanie, who were standing nearby, almost unanimously voted against it!

Stephanie had already recalled why her hands were covered in saliva, while Annie, who was eager to find an opportunity to be alone with Duke, also didn't want the love song to repeat itself! Their rejection startled Alice. Not only did she not have much contact with outsiders, but she also seemed to have little contact with the other mermaids in Coral City. She was very shy (except for Duke), and when they yelled at her, she shrank back in fear.

At the same time, a loud alarm suddenly sounded from the control center in the captain's cabin!

"Alert! Alert! Alert!"

"W-what's wrong?" Alice was startled and instinctively jumped off her chair, almost hiding under the captain's seat. She looked at the control center in confusion: "Coral, what's wrong?"

"Commander, a high-energy reaction has suddenly appeared directly above our ship."

A synthesized female voice from the Coral's control center coldly delivered the incredible information. Everyone present first looked at her virtual avatar, then subconsciously looked up at the ceiling of the captain's cabin.

High-energy reaction?

But they didn't feel anything.

The next moment, the spaceship city covered in coral was hit by an attack from above.

"Boom—"

A tremendous roar, violent tremors, the mournful cries of the mermaids, and the agonizing pleas for help from their souls.