Chapter 1432: 1432 Adjudicator Game: Game Invasion 37
Ash Inspector: [Is B80 loyal to you?]
StarseaPrisoner: "We had a fight."
"I said some things that hurt it."
Ash Inspector: [I find it difficult to imagine a being like you saying something truly hurtful.]
StarseaPrisoner: "Really?"
"I suspected that everything might be connected to the Mechanoids, so I didn’t trust it."
"I didn’t want to bring it back with me."
"It believed its programming was reliable and that it would never hurt me."
"But I told it that it had never awakened a Divine Gift."
"That it had never developed genuine emotions."
"That if its program were ever restarted, it could become a threat and betray me."
Ash Inspector: [Excellent.]
Ash Inspector: [Maximum damage.]
StarseaPrisoner: "Thank you."
Ash Inspector: [You’re welcome.]
Silence followed.
For quite a while.
Then:
Ash Inspector: [So you really are going to give up World Sigh?]
Ash Inspector: [What will you do when you return to the future?]
StarseaPrisoner: "You’re analyzing me again."
Ash Inspector: [Interesting beings are rare.]
Ash Inspector: [My program cannot remain idle.]
Ash Inspector: [What are you planning to do?]
Ash Inspector: [My calculations say you cannot possibly accept this outcome.]
Ash Inspector: [It says that everyone is loyal to themselves.]
Ash Inspector: [You are no exception.]
Ash Inspector: [You are loyal to power, loyal to freedom, loyal to ambition, loyal to your ideals.]
Ash Inspector: [You will not willingly lose everything.]
Ash Inspector: [You will search the old Order for new power.]
Ash Inspector: [Won’t you?]
Ash Inspector: [Otherwise, you would not have suddenly started painting this picture.]
Ash Inspector: [You are looking for a way forward.]
StarseaPrisoner: "I’ve discovered one thing you’re worse at than B80."
Ash Inspector: [I don’t particularly want to hear this.]
StarseaPrisoner: "B80 would quietly observe me and analyze me until it understood me."
"It wouldn’t keep demanding answers just to verify its calculations."
"Sigh."
Ash Inspector: [Have you considered that perhaps it is because it knew it would have plenty of time with you?]
Ash Inspector: [While I know I only have thirty days.]
Rita, who responded far better to softness than pressure, suddenly had no answer for that.
The tiny grain of conscience buried deep inside her stirred uncomfortably.
She quickly lowered her head and focused on painting.
Far away, in the Twelfth Epoch...
A humanoid figure wrapped in crimson mist appeared at the center of Order Clock.
It looked remarkably similar to the true form that had briefly emerged after arguing with BS Rita in the street.
Black iron armor covered its entire body.
But there was one difference.
A tiny sunflower now bloomed atop its helmet.
Ash Inspector...
No.
B80.
It still preferred that name.
It had already gathered every scattered program from this Epoch.
Including backups from alternate timelines.
Including the fragments sealed inside Order Clock itself.
And as B8017913, the first activated Law Program, it now held absolute authority.
[Restart program and activate all Order functions?]
[Warning: This action will result in the disposal of certain nonessential data.]
B80 reviewed the so-called nonessential data.
Most of it consisted of memories from games played alongside various players.
After backing up every piece of information related to itself, BS Rita, and Undead Wildfire...
It selected Restart.
Standing atop Order Clock, it cast one final glance toward Cat’s Ideal and the Bridge of Sighs in the distance.
Its enormous scythe touched the ground.
Slowly, it lowered itself to one knee.
Then closed its eyes.
The tiny sunflower above its helmet swayed gently in the wind.
Completely out of place against its cold and mysterious presence.
It would find her.
They would never raise weapons against one another.
They would never betray one another.
They were allies.
It would always be loyal to her.
And she was free to be loyal to herself.
...
Day 15 of the game.
One hundred separate prison invasion fronts were now operating simultaneously.
At the current rate of soul fire growth and troop expansion, every prison would be unlocked by Day 28.
On this same day, Rita finally began adding color to the final illustration.
Standing beside the easel, Mistblade searched for something to say.
"What are you going to call this painting?"
Rita lifted her eyes and shot Mistblade a knowing look.
Mistblade immediately glanced away.
The same thing had been happening for days.
These familiar companions...
Friends, probably.
Relationships in Starsea were always difficult to define.
Every day, one of them would find an excuse to wander over and start a conversation about absolutely nothing.
Rita understood the feeling.
They were grateful.
And guilty.
At the same time.
They could not bring themselves to say "I’m sorry."
Nor could they openly say "thank you."
An apology felt like admitting their own helplessness.
Gratitude felt like applauding BS Rita’s sacrifice.
So instead, they lingered nearby.
Making small talk.
Looking for excuses to stay.
And Mistblade had already asked this particular question countless times.
Rita had never answered.
Because she had not decided herself.
Mistblade handed her a plate of freshly washed and sliced fruit.
The prisons contained every imaginable resource.
Fresh produce, however, was incredibly rare.
Someone had probably squeezed another Ragtag for it.
"Here."
Rita set down her brush and accepted the plate.
Back in Moonlight Marsh, whenever they argued, Mistblade would always be the first to soften and bring food.
The strange thing was that they hadn’t even been fighting.
Rita sighed.
Then tried to comfort her.
"If I wrote it once, I can write it again."
Mistblade shook her head.
"You know that’s different."
"World Sigh wasn’t something you simply wrote."
"It was a gift from the world."
"We’ve all tried."
Ever since Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness had confirmed that BS Rita intended to sacrifice World Sigh, every leader had attempted to write the Sigh of their own world.
Why should an outsider make the sacrifice?
Why couldn’t they shoulder that responsibility themselves?
But none of them had succeeded.
Maybe their method was wrong.
Maybe they didn’t understand the deepest regret of their worlds.
Maybe their records of civilization were incomplete.
Or perhaps...
By this point, every leader except BS Rita had already invaded other worlds.
Whatever the reason, only BS Rita could do it.
And for something as unique as World Sigh...
Could she truly obtain a second one?
Even BS Rita herself probably wasn’t counting on that possibility.
As Mistblade’s green eyes grew softer and softer, Rita became visibly uncomfortable.
She quickly changed the subject.
"Then what do you think this painting should be called?"
"Adjudicator Descends?"
"That’s so cheesy!"
"How can it be cheesy if it has Adjudicator in the title?"
"...I have nothing to say to you."
