"Only this skill can help me. The longer I survive, the more players I take down, the safer she and her world will be."

From the moment Y128 started speaking, Rita's brows had already drawn together. When it finally finished, she simply shut her eyes.

Y128 had said the wrong thing. Lightchaser would never accept that.

Sure enough, the Lightchaser sprite—who was now about the same height as Rita—had originally been scanning the surroundings for something. But after hearing that sentence, her gaze snapped toward Y128 like a blade. She stared at it for several seconds, voice cutting cold and sharp.

"You don't know her at all."

With that, she vanished.

She left.

Y128 looked at BS-Rita, bewildered. "Why? My answer wasn't wrong."

Rita replied, "I would never say something like that."

Y128's confusion deepened. "But that's exactly who you are. Someone who coaxes others with pleasant truths to achieve her goal."

Rita didn't bristle at the evaluation. Instead, she calmly clarified:

"First, my words are not actually 'pleasant.' They only sound pleasant to you—and to your kind.

"Second, in the last half of your sentence, you mixed in weakness, supplication, and our current mission. You made it sound like those words came from my mouth, even tying me and my world to your request as leverage. And that—" she looked straight ahead, her tone steady—"is something I would never say.

"I don't beg her. I don't beg anyone. Even when I really do need her help.

"In fact, I'm shocked she didn't kill you on the spot."

A resource box dropped from the sky. One happened to land at their two o'clock position.

Y128 immediately pulled Rita to move toward it, though it kept glancing back at her, as if her expression had raised a dozen more questions in its program. "Then what would you say? If you could talk to her directly?"

The moment it asked that question, BS-Rita's usual poise vanished. She suddenly busied herself checking the surroundings, alert, tense, scanning for approaching threats.

Y128 urged her impatiently.

Rita finally cleared her throat and muttered rapidly, "I'd say, 'Teacher, I look forward to fighting alongside you.'"

Y128 stared in stunned silence.

There wasn't a single word that could be called a plea. Yet somehow, every word was a plea.

For the first time, it understood the terrifying craftsmanship of language.

Was this the difference between mechanical constructs and living beings?

…

With Rita's strongest attack skill now "gone," she and Y128 were forced to rely on basic close-quarters combat to fight for resource boxes. They were often reduced to tumbling across the dirt with other Mechanoids, locked in desperate scrambles.

Thankfully, the two were becoming more coordinated, and since the Mechanoid they controlled inherited Y128's stats, they at least had an advantage in raw attributes. A lifetime of interstellar freight work had left Y128 with stat values that sat firmly in the upper bracket of the Y series.

After finally securing a resource box, Y128 complained while Rita triumphantly waved the dagger she'd obtained.

"Why didn't you choose an active attack skill? You're not nearly as thorough as 7777 claims!"

Rita admired the blade with satisfaction. "I picked this skill precisely because I was thinking ahead. If the Mechanoid I picked betrayed me, I'd still have Lightchaser. With her instincts, she'd figure out the game mechanics. And once she understood the goal of the Battle Royale, she would help me.

"…I just didn't expect the opposing side to be players from Isolated Isle."

Isolated Isle—supposed to be sealed off from all worlds—was suddenly participating in Divine Game?

She couldn't stop her mind from connecting this to the moment that world's timeline dock had opened.

Emotion screamed at her to stop thinking. But something cold and relentless in her mind began linking all the pieces together, all pointing directly toward the invasion sequence.

If Isolated Isle had also entered an invasion cycle…

If Isolated Isle was also going to war…

Lightchaser… Lightchaser…

Rita kept replaying the Lightchaser sprite's expression in her mind. Was there blame? Resentment? Misplaced anger?

Her rational mind told her Lightchaser wasn't that kind of person. But what if?

If Isolated Isle burned because of this… would she become Lightchaser's greatest mistake?

A mistake far worse than missing GodDraw77 in their youth.

The battlefield alerts continued firing every minute, one kill after another. And the number of hunters had already climbed beyond five.

Another round of announcements suddenly cut through Rita's spiraling thoughts.

[Player BS-Rita has slain player Layered Peaks. "BS-" status abnormal. Reward converted to +0.1 BS- max player level.]

[Player BS-Rita has slain player Lonelight Divide. "BS-" status abnormal. Reward converted to +0.1 BS- max player level.]

She and Y128 had indeed taken down a few players before—but right now, they were running for their lives. These kills were impossible.

Which left only one explanation—

The Lightchaser sprite that fled earlier.

She was completing her world's mission—and her kills were being credited to Rita.

After freezing for a moment, Rita clicked her tongue.

"See? This is my grand strategy. My apologies. I almost feel bad for being this good."

For a few seconds, Y128 genuinely had the urge to punch BS-Rita.

As the kill feed continued, both reached the same conclusion.

Lightchaser didn't care about world relations or Y128's survival. Her only goal was eliminating players as fast as possible.

Which, of course, was Isolated Isle's mission.

The world battlefield chat exploded.

[MarmangCrab]: BS-Rita is already that strong??

[TingoJE]: Are we even playing the same game?

[Yet OrangePomango]: I saw it! It was her teacher sprite doing the killing!

[Winter Sea·Frenzied Shark]: You can hire substitutes?!

[Lania KaiaFat Goose]: Ban substitutes! Save Lania Kaia!

[Lania KaiaMistblade]: Ban substitutes! Save Lania Kaia!

[Lania KaiaFlowering Edge]: Ban substitutes! Save Lania Kaia!

[BS-Rita]: Dawn's already at your front door and you're still thinking about me? Lania Kaia's done—pack it up.

[FuryGear]: haha

[Lania KaiaWither Monarch]: haha

[Lania KaiaMaple Syrup]: Laugh? You can still laugh?

[Lania KaiaPine Bloom]: Undead really do think differently.

[Lania KaiaPeach Crown]: Undead really do think differently.

[Lania KaiaWither Monarch]: ...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.