Confirming that the Royal Guard was simply knocked out and unharmed, Kal'tsit hurried back toward Chernobog once more.
Yet the moment she stepped into the battlefield, Kal'tsit was forced to halt again.
For the biting killing intent had all but pronounced a death sentence upon this world.
Gathering her focus, Kal'tsit looked up and saw that the frosty-cold Savior Cat, who had a sharp blade in her hand out of nowhere, stained with no small amount of blood...
"Amiya...?"
For an instant after seeing the Demon King Rabbit, Kal'tsit lost her composure entirely.
Yet upon calming down, Kal'tsit quickly sensed something was amiss.
Sweeping her peripheral vision and spotting the Doctor and Amiya, Kal'tsit looked back at the Demon King Rabbit once more.
If Amiya was over there... then who was this figure wielding a sharp blade with a black veil across her face?
"You... No... You—"
The Demon King Rabbit had already drifted before the final few people present.
Among them, a white-haired, red-eyed female with two cockroach-antennae-like cowlicks atop her head stubbornly stiffened her neck, gazing at the Demon King Rabbit with a glimmer of hope even though an execution collar had been locked around her throat.
Hearing this, the Demon King Rabbit's diamond-shaped pupils flashed several times, and comprehension dawned.
This woman was W, a devoted little fangirl of Theresia who had been grief-stricken upon Theresia's death, yet upon learning that Theresia had crowned Amiya with the Black Crown before dying, she came to view Amiya as Theresia's successor?
"I am Amiya, not Theresia." Wearing an expressionless face and lacking even the patience to entertain the thought, the Demon King Rabbit replied with a somewhat perfunctory tone: "Theresia is already dead, and in some Worldlines, I killed her with my own hands. Do you understand?"
W: "... ..."
Watching W's eyes gradually lose their light, the Demon King Rabbit did not care, turning directly to go before the final person—
Talulah.
The diamond-shaped pupils within the Demon King Rabbit's eyes flashed once more.
Yet the next second, Talulah, who had previously possessed the demeanor of a queen, suddenly froze.
Then, Talulah revealed a clear yet foolish expression that seemed to say: "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"
"Ran away?"
The Demon King Rabbit understood instantly.
From the very beginning, the Demon King Rabbit had sensed that this person named Talulah harbored two souls, or rather, two wills within her body.
One kind, one evil.
And now, with the Demon King Rabbit bearing down upon her, that evil soul had simply fled.
"But it doesn't matter."
Much like the biting killing intent currently radiating from the Demon King Rabbit's entire body.
She had already sentenced this Worldline to death; running anywhere was useless.
At this, the Demon King Rabbit waved her hand without a shred of lingering attachment, and the sharp blade in her hand dissipated into nothingness.
Meanwhile, the massive Originium spike high above in the sky suddenly accelerated, hurtling straight down toward the ground.
Saying no more, the Demon King Rabbit turned and drifted toward the outstretched palm of Lord God.
She would personally recount the current state of this Worldline to her Lord God, and as for the ending of this Worldline?
That was a matter for Lord God to pronounce; she no longer cared at all.
"Please wait!"
Kal'tsit's voice came from behind, yet the Demon King Rabbit showed no intention of halting her steps.
Until—
"Pardon me... If we wish to worship this Lord God, what must we do?"
Kal'tsit's voice rang out once more.
And this time, it successfully made the Demon King Rabbit stop in her tracks.
For no matter what Kal'tsit said, the Demon King Rabbit's attitude was generally one of utter indifference.
However, the moment it involved her Lord God, the Demon King Rabbit had no choice but to care.
Thus, Amiya turned her head back to look at Kal'tsit, the diamond-shaped pupils in her eyes beginning to flicker.
Kal'tsit knew this was a sign of the Demon King Rabbit reading her mind, yet she neither dodged nor flinched, allowing the expression on the Demon King Rabbit's face to shift from confusion to realization.
"You are clever, Doctor Kal'tsit."
Turning around to face her, the Demon King Rabbit looked at Kal'tsit: "You guessed correctly. There is indeed a Worldline where Kal'tsit successfully attained an audience with Lord God and received a reward from Him."
From the Demon King Rabbit's few scattered words alone, Kal'tsit deduced a great deal.
Coupled with the fact that the Demon King Rabbit's own existence was exceedingly strange, and that she kept speaking of how other Worldlines fared...
Could one therefore presume that the Demon King Rabbit was an Amiya from another Worldline who had successfully been chosen by God to serve as a Divine Messenger?
Since there was more than one Worldline, the Divine Messengers certainly could not be just a single person.
Then... was there any possibility that a Kal'tsit from a certain Worldline had been chosen as a Divine Messenger?
After all, the moment this Demon King Rabbit arrived, she had called Kal'tsit out by name.
What Kal'tsit was gambling on right now was precisely this "possibility."
And as it turned out, Kal'tsit had won her gamble.
Only—
"Yet what price are you willing to pay? Doctor Kal'tsit." The Demon King Rabbit asked thusly.
051. You Cat Successfully Made Lord God Laugh Aloud
A price?
No, in truth, there was no price.
What price could Kal'tsit possibly pay?
Even if she mobilized the full strength of all humanity to gather the treasures of the entire world—truthfully, it would not be as fast as Lord God casually hand-crafting a planet.
Lord God had no use for this impoverished backwater of yours.
Everything you possessed and took pride in was not even worth a small stone by the roadside in the eyes of Lord God.
At least those roadside stones could be transformed in Lord God's hands into a massive meteorite capable of destroying the world.
Could you do that?
You lot would only manage to drive up the price of rice.
Who became a Divine Messenger was decided purely on the whim of Lord God's mood.
If Lord God was in a good mood and found you, this little trinket, rather pleasing to the eye, then even if you were merely Kroos, you could become the wisest military strategist and Divine Messenger.
If Lord God was in a bad mood and thought you, this little trinket, looked too ugly, then even if you claimed the Doctor was actually a white-haired, red-eyed, mature and beautiful wife with a soft, yielding personality and the helpless constitution of a pushover who fell at the slightest push, it would still do no good at all.
That being the case, why did the Demon King Rabbit intentionally ask about Kal'tsit's price?
Because the Demon King Rabbit disliked the look Kal'tsit was giving her right now.
Though the Demon King Rabbit had lived a hard life in the past, to the extent that her figure had hardly developed at all,
standing beside the Amiya of this Worldline still made it clear that the Demon King Rabbit was larger by a circle or so.
Therefore, since the Demon King Rabbit was an Amiya from another Worldline, her timeline was likely a few years in the future.
What on earth had happened in the Demon King Rabbit's Worldline? To make such an obedient and adorable Amiya grow into a persona as cold and merciless as the Demon King Rabbit's?
She must have suffered a great deal, right?
This was Kal'tsit's dereliction of duty, so she absolutely could not let Amiya repeat that same tragic path here.
It was human nature for Kal'tsit to think this way; knowing of a painful future, one naturally wished to make amends and effect salvation.
Kal'tsit's line of thought was beyond reproach—
Yet the problem was that what the Demon King Rabbit cared about was precisely this point.
Kal'tsit appeared to be feeling heartache for the Demon King Rabbit, but in truth, what she was thinking, pondering, and comparing in her heart was still the Amiya of this Worldline.
The Demon King Rabbit desperately wanted to say that she was herself; she was the Demon King Rabbit, neither a substitute for anyone nor the future projection of some other Amiya.
Yet unfortunately, the only one capable of achieving such a feat was her Lord God.
Thus, displeased with Kal'tsit's gaze, the Demon King Rabbit wished to make things difficult for her, though her benevolent nature meant the method of torment would be entirely harmless.
"I am aware that Lord God is so mighty that those rare treasures in our eyes are mere blades of grass by the roadside to Him. Therefore, to use the word 'price' would instead make us appear arrogant and presumptuous."
The Kal'tsit of this Worldline was different from the Savior Kal'tsit of the Sea Creatures Worldline.
The Savior Cat had just finished experiencing a Sea Creatures apocalypse on one foot, only for a God to manifest on the other.
Moreover, viewing Chen Ran as an Evil God no matter how one looked at it, the Savior Cat had been left with no choice but to turn to a desperate physician.
Yet the Kal'tsit of this Worldline was different; she still had room to maneuver.
Therefore, Kal'tsit opened by correcting her own standing: "To be allowed to worship Lord God is already the greatest grace bestowed upon us; as for anything else, we naturally dare not harbor extravagant hopes."
At this point, Kal'tsit abruptly shifted the topic and continued: "It is only because we are ignorant and know not how to spread the gospel of God that we dare not harbor extravagant hopes for an audience, seeking only to learn the divine will. Thus, if there were a Divine Messenger to guide and edify us, we would naturally feel boundless gratitude and indebtedness."
"Ah..." Kal'tsit paused slightly, as if recalling something, before saying to the Demon King Rabbit: "A Divine Messenger of your kind and benevolent nature is naturally what we desire, and any other would certainly be acceptable, only... we earnestly hope they do not come with a pair of cat ears."
Kal'tsit's words seemed arrogant and presumptuous—choosing a Divine Messenger and still picking and choosing?
Yet in reality, Kal'tsit was doing this deliberately.
Kal'tsit was gambling again.
She was gambling on whether there existed a Kal'tsit from some Worldline who had successfully managed to ascend to the position of a Divine Messenger.
She was also gambling on whether, should such a person exist, that Divine Messenger Kal'tsit held a favorable standing in the heart of that Lord God.
After all, while Kal'tsit's entire presentation seemed to be one of self-deprecation and humility, every single word was actually jabbing at the spine of that Divine Messenger Kal'tsit.
Especially that final sentence—"we earnestly hope they do not come with a pair of cat ears"—was practically calling someone out by name.
And what was the result?
"Ha—"
From high above the starry firmament came a soft chuckle from Lord God.
Clearly, Kal'tsit had won her gamble.
Upon hearing it, the Demon King Rabbit, who had originally intended to say something more, first raised her gaze toward her Lord God.
Then, lowering her head, the Demon King Rabbit looked at Kal'tsit and said: "You are clever, and fortunate as well, for you have successfully put Lord God in a good mood. Congratulations, you have earned the qualification to have an audience with Lord God."
With that, the Demon King Rabbit lingered no longer, turning and drifting onto the outstretched palm of her Lord God before being cradled in His grip and ascending into the starry sky.
The very next second after the Demon King Rabbit's figure vanished from sight, another gigantic hand descended from the sky, reaching out to grab the spot where Kal'tsit stood.
Feeling that crushing pressure, Kal'tsit's body stiffened for a fraction of a second.
Yet she stubbornly held her ground to keep from losing her composure, and until that deity scooped her up and gripped her in His palm, Kal'tsit offered no resistance, allowing that deity to carry her away from the surface of this planet.
The Demon King Rabbit was gone, and Kal'tsit had been taken away to have her audience with God.
Leaving everyone present behind in a silence as dead as before.
Even though the gigantic Originium spike that had loomed overhead vanished at some point, even though the execution collars locked around their necks shattered and broke apart,
the crowd still stood in place, not daring to make the slightest move.
For the Demon King Rabbit had left, but the Amiya of this Worldline was still here.
The Demon King Rabbit had made it abundantly clear earlier: she was the future Amiya.
The people of Terra were ignorant, but they were certainly not stupid. Kal'tsit had fought tooth and nail to secure this opportunity, and they were by no means going to act foolishly now.
Consequently, they were actually waiting for the Amiya of this Worldline to make her stance clear.
If the Amiya of this Worldline were to utter even a single line declaring that all of them deserved to die... might the Demon King Rabbit return to slaughter them all over again?
At the center of their gaze, however, the Amiya of this Worldline merely looked with a worried expression at the whisked-away Kal'tsit, before glancing back at Talulah, who wore a clear-eyed expression of, "Though I have no idea what just happened, did we somehow survive?"...
Before you continue