Doll

What... was going on?

Daphne's pupils contracted slightly.

Shouldn't this person have been dead?

Her heart had clearly stopped beating!

"Miss! Danger! Get back!"

One of the players shouted urgently at Daphne.

Danger?

Where was the danger?

Daphne did not react in time, but the player beside her had already sensed something. He immediately pulled Daphne two steps back. Almost at the same moment, several Magic Chains burst from the snow, twisting toward where she had just been standing like giant pythons.

Had the attendant not reacted quickly enough, Daphne would already have been tangled in those chains.

But how was this possible?!

Daphne's face was filled with shock.

Leaving aside how He Wei Ni Ya had suddenly come back to life, her body was still under their control. Her staff had been thrown aside long ago, and most of the Notes and Scores on her had been stripped away. In her current damaged state, she clearly should not have been able to use them.

So how had she cast a spell without Notes, Scores, or a staff?!

Before Daphne could figure it out, the four players she had brought had already acted. They raised their staffs at the same time, silver notes flickering across their skin.

Five Sounds · Magic Cube!

Amid the frenzied accompaniment, several beams of magic shot from the four players' staffs. The beams connected with one another, forming a third-order cube centered on "He Wei Ni Ya."

Daphne came back to her senses then. Looking at "He Wei Ni Ya" trapped within the cube, she was filled with intense confusion. She had no idea how He Wei Ni Ya had revived and cast a spell, but alongside that confusion was an equally intense unease. It made her decide without hesitation. "Do it! Kill her first!"

The four players activated their staffs again.

The third-order cube began to rotate, each layer turning in a different direction.

Thus, every part of He Wei Ni Ya's body trapped inside the cube was twisted along with those layers in different directions.

Amid another string of bone-crunching cracks, "He Wei Ni Ya's" body warped into a grotesque shape.

Five Sounds · Magic Cube was the spell they had originally intended to use to ambush Ariana. To ensure Ariana's death, Daphne's family had even sent four of their core players to assist.

But they had not expected that Ariana, their imagined enemy, would fail to emerge from the church.

Instead, they had to use a Five Sounds spell like this on someone who had only been a player for one year.

And yet...

Looking at the body inside the cube, already twisted beyond recognition and supposedly incapable of surviving, Daphne's unease remained as strong as ever.

After all, He Wei Ni Ya's sudden awakening had just dealt her an enormous shock.

What exactly was wrong with this person?

Although Gold Score possessed recovery abilities far beyond ordinary people, it should not have been able to bring someone back from the dead...

Before any further thoughts could form, another series of cracking sounds came from within the cube.

They saw "He Wei Ni Ya's" body, twisted by the cube, returning to its original shape at an astonishing speed!

And that was not all. The wounds pierced through by silver threads rapidly healed as well. The bloody threads snapped apart inch by inch, allowing her to slowly descend from the air where she had been bound.

As she descended, her body restored and her wounds healed. Those black eyes, once filled with despair and unwillingness, returned to their elegance and refinement. Her blood-red hair now resembled blazing flames.

How was this possible?!

Even the four well-trained accompanying players could not help revealing expressions of horror.

It was like finding a broken, filthy doll in a trash bin, one that had been damaged for so many years that its original appearance could no longer be recognized, only for it to shed its ruin and grime after restoration and be remade by an invisible pair of hands into the beautiful form it had possessed fresh from the factory.

It was even... better than before.

At least, Daphne had never thought that this person she had watched for a year—whether in her disguise or her true form—had ever been as dazzling as she was now... or as terrifying.

Yes, she was afraid.

Even more afraid than when she had faced the real He Wei Ni Ya back then.

"What exactly..." Daphne had lost all her earlier composure. Her voice trembled uncontrollably. "What are you?"

"He Wei Ni Ya" did not answer. Instead, she examined her own body with interest, murmuring to herself as though the people before her did not exist.

"This body is even more exceptional than I imagined. It truly deserves to be called the Gold Score everyone desires." "He Wei Ni Ya" slowly clenched her fist, then smiled. "Good. It's mine now."

The four players Daphne had brought exchanged glances.

Though they did not know what had happened, He Wei Ni Ya was obviously no longer the same person as before. Their instincts told them that the current He Wei Ni Ya... was dangerous.

Precisely because of that, they could not delay.

She had not picked up her staff yet!

After silently exchanging looks, the four players moved at once. Two stood before Daphne, while the other two charged toward "He Wei Ni Ya."

The two standing before Daphne were not merely there to protect her. They were also preparing to use their ultimate trump card.

Yes, the Five Sounds Magic Cube was not their most powerful spell. They could also cast a Six Sounds spell, but that spell had a flaw—it required a long preparation time.

They had not originally intended to use that spell, but the current "He Wei Ni Ya" gave them an overwhelming sense of danger. They decisively chose to go all out.

Two players were responsible for holding "He Wei Ni Ya" back and preventing her from retrieving her staff. Although she had already cast a spell without relying on a staff earlier, that should have been a special circumstance. As long as she was still a player, she had to follow the rule that neither Notes nor staff could be absent.

Of course, holding her back did not mean passively stalling for time. They coordinated their actions and quickly arranged themselves one in front and one behind.

The player in the rear cast a spell called "Growth" on the player in front. The front player's body rapidly swelled like a balloon being inflated.

Then the front player cast a spell called "Protection" on himself. A spell barrier half a meter in diameter enveloped him.

Within the barrier, he was highly immune to spell damage and control.

The only thing that could still affect him was a fist.

So he threw his fist at "He Wei Ni Ya."

He did not believe that a doll-like body could withstand such a direct physical attack... normal players could not.

But then—

With a pop.

"He Wei Ni Ya's" delicate hand effortlessly stopped his enhanced fist.

His eyes widened. Before he could understand what had happened, he heard what seemed like a roar beside his ear.

Like machinery roaring.

The next second, the right arm with which he had thrown that punch was casually "plucked" off.

With such ease.

As if he were the doll.

Yet in stark contrast to that casual motion was the far bloodier sight: gushing blood dyed half of "He Wei Ni Ya's" body crimson.

"Aaaaaah!"

The player's hysterical scream was the best proof of it. All four people present involuntarily stopped what they were doing, fear rippling through every pair of eyes. Daphne especially felt an urge to flee this place at all costs.

"He Wei Ni Ya" elegantly tossed the ruined player aside. What happened next only doubled the fear in everyone's hearts.

Because that player's staff had already fallen into her hand.

"Then..." She smiled, holding the staff before herself with interest. "Let me experience it as well—the movement that belongs to players."

Posted it first. I'll revise it tomorrow.