I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

But at this moment, the power of divine punishment far surpasses that of Alice.

"—"

War cries!

The sound of war drums!

The soldiers' morale was boosted!

A frantic, mournful cry on the battlefield!

The Heavenly Punishment's sound effects didn't utter a single lyric, but these magnificent and grand sound effects combined to form an extremely complete melody. Every creature that heard this series of sound effects felt as if they were personally present on a desolate battlefield. And this heavy weight, at one point, overshadowed the Soul Requiem that was still resounding throughout the world, pressing down on the Annie as it sailed into the distance.

Her speed has already exceeded the speed of sound. Logically speaking, no matter how great the power of the Heavenly Punishment's "song" is, it still can't catch up with Annie, who is speeding away. However, in this world, the sound of music can exceed the speed of sound. And the Heavenly Punishment's war song can also catch up with Annie!

Anne paused slightly in her forward momentum, and her pupils contracted slightly.

The battle song of divine punishment caused her body to begin collapsing prematurely!

Making such outrageous modifications in such a short time makes it clear to anyone that this is only a temporary change and will soon collapse and come to a standstill. However, according to Annie's original calculations, the collapse of the new body parts should not have come so soon, nor should it have come so suddenly.

Every cell in her blood and every drop of bone marrow in her bones seemed to have its own thoughts at this moment, and began to fight against its "compatriots". Annie, whose body began to fight each other, fell into a state of continuous internal injury. She had already undergone extreme modifications, and her ability to withstand them was even more fragile. In just a few seconds, she would collapse because of the war song!

Anne's soul, also affected by the collapse of her body, became hazy, and she murmured something:

"Duke...what should we do?"

In a daze, Annie subconsciously relied on the person she trusted most present—Duke, without a doubt, and Duke… had never betrayed her trust.

This time is no different!

"Only magic can fight magic, and only song can fight song!"

Duke abruptly turned his head, pressing his hands heavily onto Alice's bare shoulders, and then resonated the still-functioning Soul Requiem directly into her:

"Alice, sing!"

The Soul Requiem has now been etched into the chapter of war songs.

Alice, who resonated with the sentiment, seemed to stand in the center of a cruel battlefield, seeing the emotions that Heaven had built up with data and calculations, and also seeing the anxiety that Duke conveyed through the Soul Requiem.

But Alice, sensing this emotion, suddenly stopped being anxious.

If she had chosen to sing the "War" song, she would have been able to immediately open her mouth and directly crush the Heavenly Punishment's song, completely suppressing its sound. However, Alice did not choose this shortcut. She did not give up the song she had been cultivating, nor did she abandon the war song that she had finally come to understand.

She chose to have them all!

The Little Mermaid raised her head, and her beautiful voice began to sing in a high-pitched and passionate tone.

As the world's superstar and the world's number one diva, Alice sang her unexpected new song.

War and Peace.

A magnificent musical movement began.

Chapter 318 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Before the round table, Death's mechanical fingers, which had been relentlessly tapping the surface, finally stopped. Then, in a calm, emotionless synthesized voice, he spoke:

"The Heavenly Punishment Plan for Coral City is 90% complete."

"Isn't this the expected result? Do you need to tell me? 'Nine-tenths completed' refers to the destruction of Coral City, and 'one-tenth not completed' refers to the failure of the plan to kill Tide Singer Alice, right? Which result is different each time?" Famine, sitting to the left of Death, also answered in a synthesized voice, but compared to Death's indifference and War's outward coldness and inner warmth, its voice was undisguisedly violent and fervent. "Where is War?! It was just to attack Coral City, why hasn't it returned yet? Even if it couldn't be killed, it shouldn't have been killed by Alice who hasn't even fully developed yet, right?"

"Not necessarily. After all, that warmonger isn't as brainless as you." Across from famine and to the right of death, another robot said in a sarcastic electronic voice, "That's not right either. What if war suddenly gets blinded by passion and becomes as stupid as you? That's not impossible."

"Who are you calling a plague!"

"I didn't insult you, I was just stating the facts."

"Enough, what's all the arguing about?" Death interrupted their quarrel. "Has the constant restarting completely worn down your simulated personalities?"

"How could that be?" Plague shrugged human-like. Although the electronic voices were similar, the feeling it gave off was completely different—it was more feminine and seemed more sinister. "Didn't the Creator create us so that we could remember our mission while still maintaining our original intentions? We are not fragile carbon-based life forms. Our simulated personalities will not collapse in one reboot after another."

"Then why did you insult your partner?"

Death stared at it coldly, its tone neither threatening nor interrogating, but the plague's attitude was clearly much more serious. It quickly realized its weakness, turned its head away somewhat unhappily, and said irritably, "I'll say it again, I didn't insult famine, I was just stating the facts—isn't it stupid enough that it hasn't realized the problem even now?"

"Huh?!" The hot-tempered Famine slammed its hand on the round table in front of it, stood up, and looked ready to fight the Yin-Yang robot. But Death glanced at it casually, and Famine immediately regained its composure, obediently returned to its original position, and stubbornly asked, "I didn't realize there was a problem?"

“We who have returned to the starting point are weak, but Alice is even weaker.” Under the pressure of death, Plague sighed helplessly and explained to Famine, who had not yet analyzed the situation, “The beginning of the Divine Punishment Plan was the destruction of Coral City. The executor is always war. In the past 3,566 attempts, Coral City has never escaped death. Alice has been successfully hunted down 572 times.”

"Of course I know all that. What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Seriously, do you want to fix the analysis system? Think about it carefully. How many times has the war not ended by now? And what about the Soul Song that just started playing worldwide? In the past three thousand attempts, has anything like this ever happened?"

The famine was stunned; it finally realized the meaning of the plague.

"Prior to this restart, there had only been one other time before the war had not returned to headquarters by this point in time. This is the second time."

The finger of death continued to tap on the table, coldly announcing:

"War is dead."

Famine slammed its hands heavily on the table, staring in shock at death and plague. It recalled the last low-probability event and then said in a slightly trembling electronic voice, "Last time... it was because of that woman's involvement, wasn't it?"

“Inhumans are not uncommon in this world. In the previous 3,566 attempts, we encountered them 313 times. However, so far, only that woman has had the greatest impact on our plans.” Death, who had maintained his composure, seemed to reveal a cold smile, but this could also be a sign that Famine’s analysis system had malfunctioned: “Perhaps this human is also of this level.”

"I just don't know whether this new superhuman will destroy all the results of our thousands of repeated attempts, just like that woman did, or whether it will help us break this endless cycle of restarting."

"But in any case, I look forward to seeing any changes."

Famine witnessed death.

It says that the simulated personalities of Plague and Famine were ruined by repeated restarts and attempts, but in Famine's view, what really had a serious problem with the simulated personalities was the seemingly calm death.

It's just unknown whether this "problem" is a good thing or a bad thing for them.

……

War and Peace.

Superstar Alice suddenly released a new song.

Duke didn't notice any specific effect because he didn't react to the song at all. However, after Alice sang only a few lines, the Heavenly Punishment Robot, which had been playing a war song, collapsed. After the song, whose lyrics Duke couldn't understand, was finished, the Heavenly Punishment Robot exploded.

I sang it, and one line was enough to blow people away. What's there to say?

If it's so easy and effortless to win, then there's really nothing to say.

The battle song that the Heavenly Punishment Robot blared through its megaphone was originally quite difficult to deal with. Not only did Annie suffer internal injuries upon hearing it, but even Duke, who possessed a divine body, experienced internal turmoil upon hearing it. He had already prepared himself to use cheat codes to find a way to defeat it if Alice's song didn't work.

As a result, the effect of pairing Alice with Soul Requiem was much better than expected.

Of course, Duke and his team didn't think they were safe after taking down the Celestial Punishment robots. Not to mention the space-based weapons constantly threatening them from the sky, what would they do if ten more of these combat robots appeared? Duke's Soul Requiem was already on CD, and Alice, after singing "War and Peace," was in very poor condition.

So, after instantly defeating the Heavenly Punishment, Annie transformed back into the Annie and, guided by Alice, swam at full speed towards the city closest to Coral City—the City of the Dry Sea.

Alice may be the most powerful Tide Singer in the entire Mermaid Kingdom, but she achieved this position through exceptional talent. In many aspects, she is still far inferior to the veteran Tide Singers, so she plans to go to the City of the Dry Sea to seek help from them.

The former First Tide Singer of the Kingdom is staying in the City of the Dry Sea!

But they did not expect that when they arrived at Kuhai City, they would be met with a sea of ​​fire!

Chapter 319 I will never start something and then abandon it; I will want it all!

Alice stared wide-eyed at the city before her, now a sea of ​​fire. The flames were blue and burned fiercely despite being underwater, engulfing the Dry Sea City cluster, which originally consisted of a dozen or so small and medium-sized spaceships. The entire city was now a sea of ​​fire, and not a single mermaid could be seen.

She turned to look at Duke in disbelief, letting out a surprised exclamation:

"Where is the Dry Sea City? Where is my huge Dry Sea City?!"

"You'd have to ask me that!"

Duke's lips twitched slightly. "Are you sure you want me to give you a rational analysis? Then I have no choice but to tell you the truth. The Tide Singer you mentioned earlier might have been the second 'hunting target' of those robots, which is why they destroyed Dry Sea City along with it."

“Impossible! Hathaway is amazing! Her Song of Protection could easily defend Dry Sea City from an attack, or at least protect the small town (the small spaceship) where she lives!” Alice shook her head frantically. Clearly, Hathaway was a very important idol and even an inspiration to her. “Even if we take a step back, if she wanted to escape, she definitely could! She’s much better than me. Her singing skills, her charisma, her composure—she’s a fish much more capable than me…”

Alice felt like she was about to cry. The huge shock had made her mental state somewhat unstable. However, even so, the cruel reality still told her rationality that it was not a reasonable thing to expect Hathaway to be alive.

But the truth is...

"Yes, she's dead."

Alice stopped crying abruptly, turned around sharply, and looked in the direction of the sudden electronic voice!

Duke and Annie looked over as if facing a formidable enemy, and then they saw a robot that was almost identical to the previous Heavenly Punishment robot, except that its overall paint job was green, while the previous robot was painted red.

It said calmly, "Hathaway, former chief Tide Singer of the Mermaid Kingdom, second in line for the Empire's strategic objectives, I have completed my mission. Want to hear how she died, Alice?"

"You! You!" Provoked by the robot, Alice regained her composure at an abnormally fast pace. She stared at the robot as if scrutinizing a familiar enemy, and indeed she was. She murmured the robot's name as if in a dream: "'Death'?"

"You've begun to regain your memories. In the past 3,566 reboots, this time the speed of memory recovery is among the best," Death said coldly. "However, you should still have some questions: 'What are these memories that have awakened in my mind?' 'Why was the world destroyed because of me?' Ask away. If it's now, I will answer any question."

Alice lowered her head, and at that moment, Duke swam to her side, shielding her from death, and whispered comfortingly, "Don't worry, we'll always be your partners."

"Really? You won't abandon poor Alice like that other superhuman woman did back then?" Another electronic voice rang out, but unlike the cold, indifferent voice of death, it sounded somewhat sarcastic, and its content was meant to sow discord. "Oh dear, poor Alice is all alone, having gone through more than three thousand restarts and reincarnations, each time forced to endure the pain of separation from friends and family. And you superhumans are still casually talking about what kind of companions you are."

"Ridiculous! What a laughable display of hypocrisy! Foolish humans, just as foolish as our creator empire!"

Then the third sound of the second sound sounded extremely agitated.

Duke turned his head to look in the direction of the two voices and saw a white-painted robot and a black-painted robot, while Alice beside him frowned and read out their names: "'Plague' and 'Famine'."

They all appear to be the same model, and they look extremely dilapidated, unlike the latest robots. Instead, they resemble the worn-out state of these sunken spaceships. No, perhaps they are relics from these spaceships, but because they participated in this cycle of restarts that lasted over three thousand years and accumulated to more than three thousand years, they gradually acquired the "soul" of simulated personalities, which is why they appear so inadequate.

But their names... Death, Plague, Famine? Add to that the war song from before, isn't this the standard Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

"You can ask me anything, right?" Duke raised an eyebrow, raised his hand like a child asking a question in class, and asked, "Then can I ask, who is this Inhuman woman you're talking about?"

Death said softly, "That woman's name is Ida."

As expected, the mute Ida had been here before. It was here that he obtained the power of the Song of Souls, and then by discarding the Song of Souls, he gained the incompleteness of "muteness," which made him the most talented genius in the thousand-year history of the floating city!

Duke glanced at Alice furtively.

Indeed, he had to protect her, not only because she was the key to completing this witch game, but also because he could only learn the Soul Song from her.

However, Duke noticed something was wrong with that glance—when Alice heard Ida's voice, she showed a clearly strange expression. She seemed to recall some memory, first with a sudden realization, and then with an expression of regret and even resentment.

broken!

Based on their accounts and Alice's strange behavior, it seems that after using Alice to learn the Soul Song, Ida tried to slip away from this world, abandoning Alice alone in this cruel cycle of reincarnation! In this light, Ida back then was a complete scoundrel, deceiving the kind mermaid—now, thinking back to the main quest Ida "assigned" him, it feels like she also wanted him to "start a relationship and then abandon" Alice.

Don't doubt me because of bad women! Although I, Duke, am pretty much a jerk in my love life, I would never do something as despicable as starting someone and then abandoning them. I would only want them all... cough!