NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1023: 1023 Divine Game: Player Relic 26
[player Lania Kaia Fat Goose eliminated player Wormhole Bonsai. Detecting "Lania Kaia" current invasion sequence as "Dawn" — "Lania Kaia" — "BS-"... anomaly detected in "BS-," "Dawn" invasion of "Lania Kaia" progress -0.1%]
[player Oddity·Amber Mark BBK eliminated player Balldrop Timely, detecting "Oddity·Amber Mark" current invasion sequence as "Fury" — "Oddity·Amber Mark" — "Ridge Tea"... detecting "Oddity·Amber Mark" invasion of "Ridge Tea" already exceeds 70%, "Fury" invasion of "Oddity·Amber Mark" progress -0.1%]
[hunter Berxien eliminated player Tingo Cold Peach, detecting "Tingo" current invasion sequence as "Tingo" — "Black Spring," "Tingo" invasion of "Black Spring" progress -0.1%]
[player MarmangCrab eliminated player Cup Word Pasture, detecting "Marmang" current invasion sequence as "Nuclear Flash" — "Marmang" — "Cup Word," "Marmang" invasion of "Cup Word" progress +2%]
After the one-Bamboo and another-Bamboo announcements, every player quickly pieced together the rules behind these kills.
As long as a player made the kill, the system would prioritize increasing their world's invasion progress according to its invasion sequence.
If special situations were involved—such as being part of BS-'s wager, or if the invasion progress of their own world already exceeded 70 percent—then the kill would instead reduce the world's invasion progress as the invaded party.
If a player's world was not being invaded by any other world, then their world's active invasion progress would be reduced instead.
If the target killed happened to belong to a world currently invading yours, the invasion progress would instantly increase by 2 percent.
And if the kill was done by a hunter, the effect mirrored the first rule: the victim's world's invasion progress increased by 2 percent. Hunters were essentially wildcards—anyone dying to a hunter received the maximum penalty.
To simplify: this was a miniature world war.
Every death directly impacted the player's home world.
Either that world's "being invaded" progress rose, or its "actively invading" progress fell.
There might be more hidden rules, but just these alone were enough to terrify everyone.
Rita laughed quietly for a few seconds, then her expression hardened as she kept running.
Y128 stared at her in confusion at first, until its processors caught up and it realized exactly what BS-Rita had noticed.
Within the invasion sequence "Dawn" — "Lania Kaia" — "BS-," the once-aggressor Lania Kaia had somehow become BS-'s shield. It was the city wall standing between BS- and destruction. If Lania Kaia shattered, it would benefit BS- in no way at all.
In truth, back when B80 confirmed that once Dawn shattered Lania Kaia, Dawn would inherit its entire invasion sequence and continue the invasion toward BS-, Rita had felt true despair.
Her wager with the gods had always been between "BS-" and "Lania Kaia." "Dawn" was a variable completely free to bypass that wager.
But people often preferred to trick themselves, to pretend they still had room to move forward.
But when Dawn-Cicada said that chilling sentence—"after Lania Kaia shatters, I can stop invading BS-"—and now that the invasion sequences were laid bare, she could no longer deceive herself.
Even if she won her divine wager, the best she could hope for was a delayed execution for BS-.
And the length of that delay depended entirely on how long it would take Dawn to shatter Lania Kaia.
She had wagered nearly everything, and in return she might only buy BS- a single breath at the surface of the ocean.
No... she hadn't even secured that breath yet.
She couldn't help wondering, from time to time, whether the gods truly liked her at all. Was the wager merely a divine prank? Did they rewrite the rules of invasion after the fact just to give her hope, only to crush it again…
Y128's voice came from beside her. "BS-Rita, get ready. I'm going to hunt down other players."
"Okay…" Rita matched Y128's direction and movement, adjusting her mood. "Do you get rewards for killing players?"
Judging by the announcements so far, only players benefitted. And the rules did say The Mechanoids fought for players, but she didn't believe The Mechanoids fought without incentive.
Y128 answered, "At 200 kills, I gain freedom. At 500, I can choose the world where I settle. At 1000, the gods will ignite my soulfire personally."
Its tone grew more animated as it spoke. The last time it had been this excited was when Rita called it "baby." After a few seconds, it forced itself to calm down and added, "I admit, I sought you out deliberately. The main reason wasn't that you're exceptionally good. I ran the calculations for the strongest Player Relics in this match, and yours, 'Aria of the Setting Sun,' was among them."
As it spoke, Y128 used a skill—[Lightchaser Moment].
The instant the little Lightchaser sprite appeared above them, Rita felt her chest tighten. She had not called upon this skill since returning, and she had no idea how to face Lightchaser.
Worse, she felt a flicker of fear.
If the "Isolated Isle" hunters were descending into this Divine Game, Lightchaser might be one of them. What mission would she have? If the sprite synchronised with the hunter's senses, would Lightchaser find her here?
These thoughts surged in Rita's mind like a storm.
Still, even with all her unease, she did not stop Y128. This was, without question, the strongest offensive skill she possessed for this match.
Just as the crown of moonlight condensed into the Lightchaser sprite, Rita whispered rapidly in BS- speech, "The player summoned by this skill and the hunters come from the same world. There's a very high chance she's one of the hunters."
Y128 instantly processed this concern and replied in the same language, "Senses will not sync, but the summoned version will possess memories up to the last point before the real body's timeline."
But everything Rita feared… didn't happen.
Because the Lightchaser sprite didn't look at her at all.
To be precise, she couldn't see her.
Lightchaser couldn't see her!
Rita was certain that Lightchaser couldn't perceive her presence. If she could, with the acute instincts she possessed, she would never have missed Rita's very obvious breathing.
The moment she appeared, Lightchaser frowned at Y128 standing atop the cube. "Who are you? Where is she?"
Y128 had no idea what history existed between the real Lightchaser and the sprite. But the skill description, especially the line "your name is carved into a moment of time, and so it was given the name Lightchaser Moment; the me within Arisentna, too, held my own Lightchaser moment," was revealing enough.
Not to mention, its database contained the newly spread fairy tale known as "The Moonlight Courier."
Combined with the high probability that Lightchaser's real body was one of this match's hunters…
Every calculation pointed toward the same answer.
"I am BS-Rita's proxy. I will fight for her in this match.
"She cannot battle. But she told me that, among the more than three hundred skills she possesses, only this one can aid me. The longer I survive, and the more players I eliminate, the safer she—and her world—will be."