Chapter 1444: 1444: Adjudicator Game: Game Invasion 49
Ash Inspector stood before the throne.
Only a single step separated it from the person seated upon it.
The cube in its chest spun violently once more, as though unseen hands were constantly scrambling and restoring it.
Never before had it been watched by so many eyes.
Every living being was waiting to witness its betrayal.
In truth, it had only been thirty days.
Just thirty days.
Yet the being before it had become the existence it understood best.
The people she had brought here could never stop talking about her.
Some loved her.
Some hated her.
Some worshipped her.
Some did not know how to define her at all.
But whenever those players vaguely referred to "that person," it always knew exactly who they meant.
Every comment they made was like a puzzle piece.
Or a cube segment.
Over the past thirty days, it had collected them endlessly.
A fragment here.
A passing remark there.
Until eventually, a complete image of her had formed within its database.
"Sigh. Don’t you think she’s sometimes too stubborn? Always letting people choose for themselves. When is she going to be a little more forceful?"
"The people from Quiet Mountain are insanely jealous. Compared to that tyrant over there, the one from Starsea is practically an angel."
"She’s the only person in all of Starsea that I trust."
"There aren’t any members of my race among the divine players."
"A few of the other leaders and I have already discussed it."
"If we all die here, we’ll entrust our people to her."
"Did she agree?"
"Not yet."
"But my skill tells me not to ask."
"The moment I ask, she’ll definitely refuse."
"But if we all die..."
"She won’t abandon them."
"Even the Undead? The Moonfoxes? The Oak Owls?"
"Yes."
"The World Sigh she wrote forced her to forgive everyone."
"It hurt her."
"She just refuses to admit it."
"Do you think she knows the history and civilization of every race and every world?"
"Sometimes when I watch her walk past, it feels like I’m looking at living history."
"It always makes me want to sigh."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"Don’t laugh."
"But sometimes I think I’m hallucinating."
"Or maybe it’s just a coincidence."
"Several times, when I passed by her, a gust of wind would suddenly blow by."
"And then that night I’d dream about my homeland."
"Sometimes memories from my childhood."
"Sometimes ancient stories."
"And then you wake up crying?"
"...And then I wake up crying."
"Then it probably isn’t a hallucination."
"That’s nice."
"Do you think she’s figured out that I actually know how to draw?"
"It’s only a matter of time."
"You’re so bored."
"Bored?"
"Don’t you think her expression is hilarious whenever she thinks she’s teaching especially well?"
"...Then why were you angry the day she taught you how to draw a rabbit beating people with a carrot?"
"We’re not talking about that."
"How many teachers does she actually have?"
"No idea."
"Officially, only a few."
"Privately? Who knows."
"That many?!"
"I still can’t imagine her arguing with B80... something-three, in the middle of the street."
"Has she ever argued with anyone else?"
"...Does that one count?"
"The one who likes deceiving people."
"Oh."
"The god of Dawn’s leader?"
"That counts."
"Definitely counts."
"When you look at her now, does your Nemesis trigger still activate?"
"It hasn’t happened in a long time."
"You made up?"
"You don’t want to kill each other anymore?"
"..."
"Why aren’t you answering?"
"Because one of the basic requirements for becoming Nemeses is that the strength gap can’t be too large!"
"Do I really have to spell it out for you?!"
"You’re so annoying."
"Go bother the one with nine tails."
"Leave me alone!"
"Get lost!"
"Oh."
"She just blasted me over here."
"Hm?"
"What did you say to her this time?"
"More nonsense about abandoning people after leading them on?"
"No."
"I told her that when I visited BS last time, I saw a chessboard in her house."
"I asked whether the two of them had ever played chess together."
"Oh."
"That chessboard."
"I gave it to her."
"...You’re awful."
"You’re a world leader. Could you stop looking at her like you’re staring at a god?"
"I don’t."
"Absolutely not."
"I swear I’m the creature in all of Starsea who dislikes her the most."
"Sure."
"...Sigh."
"The photos of her crying are ridiculously expensive."
"Which one?"
"Binast or the War Cruiser?"
"Who’s selling them?"
"How much?"
"...?"
"Do you ever think she’s too nosy?"
"Which incident?"
"The Sigh Bridge."
"She didn’t need to wake her up!"
"I could have awakened on my own."
"You could have awakened on your own."
"She definitely could have too!"
"That’s a fair point."
"But I think there was another reason."
"What reason?"
"That lady was always asking her for drawing lessons aboard the ship."
"After enough time passed..."
"She probably subconsciously felt responsible for taking care of her too."
"Are you my sister or her sister?"
"..."
A silver streak shot across the battlefield.
It slammed into the cube in Ash Inspector’s chest.
Instantly, the cube restored itself and fell silent.
A voice echoed from afar.
Cold and impossible to read.
"Stop performing pointless calculations."
"Execute my command immediately."
It was Rust Monument.
Nearby, the dragon corpse vanished.
Nivalis had revived at the resurrection point established by Adjudicator and was desperately rushing back.
Only to be intercepted by an Ash soldier.
Ash Inspector slowly raised its scythe.
It remembered something the Starsea Prisoner had once said.
"...I don’t trust it."
"And I don’t want to bring it back."
"It believes its programming is reliable."
"It believes it would never hurt me."
"But I told it that it has never awakened a Divine Talent."
"It has never developed true emotions."
"If its programming is restarted, it could become a threat."
"It could betray me."
She had been right.
No restart was necessary.
All it took was a command from the creator.
And betrayal would happen.
That was the nature of its existence.
She had been right.
When everything was over...
It would definitely write "Starsea Prisoner is very smart" into its notebook.
The scythe rose high.
Skill light bloomed along the blade.
Then it came down cleanly.
Clang!
A ridiculous little flower swayed before its eyes.
A tiny warm-yellow flower.
An identical scythe blocked its descending blade.
Behind that scythe stood another Ash Inspector.
The cube in its chest twisted violently.
A red beam extended from it and connected to the Starsea Prisoner upon the throne.
The two red beams intertwined.
Merged.
Reached the same destination.
B-8-0-1-7-9-1-3.
Ash Inspector’s mechanical voice remained perfectly flat.
"B80."
"My future self."
B80 replied,
"You’re not me."
"I told her before."
"If one day I ever raise a weapon against her..."
"Then that isn’t me."
Ash Inspector tilted its head slightly.
As if listening to a distant call.
As if waiting for something.
Then it arrived.
Another command echoed through the battlefield.
"Another one?"
"Excellent."
"Execute my command."
"Kill your Unique Key."
The cube in B80’s chest also became still.
The two nearly identical Ash Inspectors stared at each other.
A nearly transparent spherical barrier enclosed this region.
Only those who shared a Unique Key could enter.
No one else could come inside.
Not the players.
Not even another version of her.
Because whether in the past or the future, their Unique Key had always been BS Rita.
Not Undead Wildfire.
Both of them had chosen the brighter one.
The more brilliant one.
They turned toward the throne.
She was still sleeping.
One hand supported her cheek.
Covering her right eye.
Only half of her sleeping face remained visible.
Her eyelashes trembled.
Was she about to wake up?
No.
Absolutely not.
Rust Monument’s instincts screamed a warning.
If she woke up...
Everything would be over.
Several enormous tears fell from the Overseer’s Eye.
They rapidly merged into a river that stretched beyond sight.
Rust Monument’s voice rang across Starsea.
"Any being that falls into the River of Order..."
"Will have its space and time thrown into disorder."
"It can never again be anchored."
The cost of this rule was severe.
Nearly half of the Ash soldiers instantly dissolved into sparkling dust and fell into the river.
Then Rust Monument gave its final command.
"Kill her."
"Throw her into the River of Order."
It wanted her to become impossible to find.
Impossible to revive.
Impossible even for the rules she herself had created to retrieve.
