Now Is the Time of Judgment! / Round Two

Could it be that only bootlegs have Chinese?

Am I also a victim of the legitimate game?

Section 33: Chapter Thirty-Three—Now Is the Time of Judgment!

"Talk about being impatient. They've already started pushing the frontline forward."

The outskirts—the very front line of Operation Snow Removal.

It was already night, yet the countless beams of Originium Arts lit up the entire land as brightly as day.

Did these people have any idea how conspicuous they were right now?

Looking at the positions lighting up all around her, as well as the offensive spells flying rapidly toward her and the enormous iron forks fired from Siege Cannons, Chlorine Sodium was indeed moving toward the direction that appeared to have fewer people, dodging the incoming spell attacks as much as possible along the way.

Of course, it wasn't that she couldn't defeat them or defend against them. It was just that...

Only by doing this could she draw everyone over. It would save time when killing them.

Her entire field of vision was filled with the fluctuations of life. Even those hiding in the snow were visible to her, let alone an ambush using the night and camouflage as cover.

But humans were like this. When weak, they were absurdly cautious; once they became strong, they grew reckless.

They had even abandoned their initial height advantage and begun lowering their altitude, as if dodging a barrage. They had no choice but to search for cover at low altitude to avoid being locked onto by the artillery.

Tighten the encirclement.

The infantry formations had begun advancing.

The mass of people, black as ink, was like fear itself staining the white snow as it charged toward Chlorine Sodium.

However, everything—every sign that seemed to indicate they were approaching victory—was a false illusion granted by their opponent.

Ursus was not about to achieve another victory.

Rather, God had lost interest in continuing to play.

The artillery fire filling the sky changed from direct fire to indirect fire. It first flew toward the heavens, then began falling under the control of gravity, finally raining down on its targets from above.

Each shell carried the equivalent of an aerial bomb. They descended in clusters from the horizon, like meteors. Their dazzling light formed a torrent, and rain composed of meteors came crashing down over their heads.

Even she would probably be injured if subjected to such a saturated barrage...

However, that was only an if.

But in this world, there was no such thing as "if."

With a crisp snap.

It was a faint sound, so light and brittle that it was swallowed by the howling wind and snow the instant it rang out.

No one but Chlorine Sodium would hear it.

It was the crisp snap of fingers.

The next moment, a purple ring suddenly opened in midair!

A web composed of countless rings abruptly spread across the sky, resembling a divine miracle.

"What is that...?!"

No one had ever seen such a scene. Humans were such tiny existences; when an immense miracle suddenly appeared in the sky, they could not help but feel their own insignificance.

Humans were like this. Unless they saw an existence without boundaries, they could never realize how small they were.

So, did they see it now?

The countless rings in midair were not defensive spells. Instead, they were like black holes, swallowing all the artillery shells falling through the sky.

"How is that possible?!"

At the same time, in Central Command, the Grand Duke stared dumbfounded at everything displayed on the screen. He could not believe his eyes. No—no one could easily believe what they were seeing.

This was an age in which the legends of gods had long since become myths, and no one had ever witnessed a true miracle.

Yet today, at this very moment, a divine miracle had appeared before their eyes, rendering countless attacks completely ineffective.

All the attacks that had filled the sky vanished! It was as if the attacks in the sky had never existed at all!!

The sight was so astonishing that the man even forgot to breathe, casting the order to "continue the attack" completely out of his mind.

However, Chlorine Sodium had no idea what mercy was.

How could she forgive those who had bared their fangs at her?

They said that killing was the valor of a common man, while granting mercy was the might of an emperor. But Chlorine Sodium was merely an ordinary villain.

She was not an emperor, but a villain.

Humans were like beasts that could not sing praises of death without experiencing it.

Then, be destroyed.

Energy reversed. Just as the soldiers in the formation watched the artillery filling the sky disappear in bewilderment, the purple rings that had opened in midair suddenly vanished and reappeared behind the army formation.

"Could it be..."

The Grand Duke stared blankly at the succession of bizarre phenomena. He seemed to have thought of something and suddenly stood up, trying to shout something to his messenger.

But the next moment, the artillery fire and offensive Originium Arts that had vanished flew out from those rings.

A rainstorm flowing backward, effortlessly reversing the attack.

The Herrscher of the Void's authority was control over space itself.

The balance between offense and defense had shifted.

"Checkmate."

The girl watched this grand spectacle of destruction with delight and spoke slowly.

In an instant, when the first Siege Cannon shell landed in the Artillery Position, the disaster began.

The positions all around instantly became seas of fire. Against densely packed positions, a saturated bombardment was absolutely destructive.

This was the power of a god—destruction, accomplished in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the scenes of burning destruction, it truly was laughable.

......

The chair that had been sitting steadily in the Central Command room was knocked over when the Grand Duke hurriedly rose to his feet.

Grand Duke Ivanov Kim Yuspov stared incredulously at the final screen still displaying normally. All the others had turned into fields of static, accompanied by the words "signal interrupted."

He stood there dumbfounded—or rather, unable to believe it—and could not utter a single word for quite some time.

Before he could finish the only word he had begun to say, half the screens lost their signals, indicating that the machines at the receiving ends had already been destroyed.

And the word he had wanted to say to the messenger was only one word, yet even the time needed to say it had not been granted.

Run.

Before he could finish speaking, everything had become reality. The frontline had turned into a sea of fire. The result of a saturated bombardment exploding amid the central formation was obvious.

The Grand Duke's legs went weak. If his guards had not caught him, he might have collapsed straight onto the floor.

He could not believe what he was seeing.

Was this some kind of nightmare?!!

Yet before Grand Duke Ivanov Kim Yuspov could steady himself, a shock wave carrying snow swept directly from the frontline to this place!

After the earth shook and the mountains trembled, all the snowflakes filling the sky were blown away.

The entire Central Command was left in disarray by the blast of wind.

By the time the Grand Duke saw everything clearly and understood nothing of what had happened, the figure of an uninvited guest had already appeared inside the command room.

"Human, were you the one looking for me?"

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

P.S. Staying up all night is killing me. I feel like I'm severely sleep-deprived. I've been sleeping on American time, so it's inconvenient to go out and buy food here in China. It's terribly cold, and whenever I eat at home, I still have to rush to make mealtimes. It feels awful. I forced myself to get up, but I had no appetite at all.

Being human is so exhausting. It's a pity I don't have a Stone Mask, or I'd be the first to stop being human. Dio, too—why conquer a sense of security for no reason? Artists and writers really do work themselves to death. I took one look at Araki, that old monster whose appearance never changes, and realized he must be drawing his autobiography. In that case, never mind. Collapses.

By the way, I've been wondering whether I should put any future spicy scenes in the group chat. Sideways glance, grin. Though I feel like the group would die if I did that.

Section 34: Chapter Thirty-Four—Round Two

"How does it feel?"

Far from the disputes of the battlefield, Yaga stood atop a cliff, watching the blazing fires burning in the distant mountains and wilderness. The scorching red light was reflected in the woman's black eyes.

"It certainly has the power to overturn the board..."

The woman withdrew her eyes, which had unfolded into a bizarre shape, and restored them to rounded pupils resembling those of a human before speaking.

"But it is still far from being a so-called god."

"So that means it's a rare high score? Oh, don't tell me. Let me guess."

Koschei seemed to be in an excellent mood as he watched the distant land burning with satisfaction.

"My guess is nine points. Am I right? A very rare nine points."

"Tch. Close."

The woman did not seem especially interested. She was apparently always like this, lacking interest in anything.

"Hmm? Then the full score is ten?"

"...Hmph. More or less."

Yaga folded her arms and snorted disdainfully without confirming or denying it.

But to Koschei, who understood her, that was equivalent to an affirmation.

Indeed, Yaga rarely gave other beings high scores. In her eyes, the Bearskin Man was a seven, while Koschei was a five.

It was a highly subjective evaluation. In some respects, Yaga was rather similar to Snow Demon: she liked dealing with problems simply and violently. Thus, her subjective impression of Koschei was that he was an old schemer hiding behind the scenes. How much combat power could an old schemer have?

Not much. If he really had enough strength, he could simply overturn the board and beat his opponent senseless. Why would he need schemes and intrigues?

All tragedy and helplessness came from personal powerlessness.

Yaga, who judged everything by combat power, naturally considered Snow Demon worthy of a fight.

Perhaps she would be a good opponent. Nothing more.

As for the actions of the Ursus military...

A perfect ten.

That was Koschei's subjective evaluation, and it perfectly matched his thoughts. The cooperation had been flawless—simply incapable of being any better.

As for the innocent people who had died because of his schemes, Koschei felt extremely regretful and would sincerely thank them.

After all, their deaths had meaning. They had contributed bricks and tiles to Koschei's ideals. How could he not thank them?

Their lives had been meaningless to begin with. Koschei had found them a good purpose. Was that not the best thing of all?

After all, he loved this land and the people living upon it.

With a cold-blooded method of evaluation, he assigned scores to the soldiers fighting and dying on the battlefield, delighting in watching this slaughter brought about by his own hand, as if none of it had anything to do with them.

Yet this was reality. Those standing at the highest points would never have their hands stained with blood. The struggles upon the earth were like ants slaughtering one another—spectacular, yet lacking a better, more detailed point of entry.

Great, yet cold.

"Still, the military may have thrown a stone at its own feet this time. It won't be easy to clean up."

"An unnecessary worry. There will always be humans to clean up the mess, just as in nature. When something dies, scavengers will naturally come to deal with the leftovers."

"You're truly harsh, Miss Yaga."

"Likewise. Hmph."