[Ashveil]: I don't really understand her.

[Ashveil]: She clearly knows that even if she couldn't revive, her two teachers would still kill her at the end of the game.

If she can understand Lightchaser and Ash Cinders killing her for Isolated Isle, why can't she understand Deceitful Bloom needing her for Vineborne?

The question was too direct, too real, and far too difficult to answer.

The group chat—which had been lively a moment ago thanks to BS-Rita scribbling silly lines in the sand—fell silent. Only a few messages appeared, and then nothing.

Foolishness closed the chat window with a flick of her wrist and turned toward Deceitful Bloom, who was walking through the treasure vault selecting materials for a new Vine.

She repeated Ashveil's question aloud.

Deceitful Bloom's hand paused above a gemstone. Her long sleeve slid down, revealing the Vine coiled around her arm. Her red eyes shifted toward Foolishness—an indifferent glance that easily saw through the latter's desire to watch a good show.

Without answering, Deceitful Bloom picked up the gem and continued deeper into the vault. Only the trailing hem of her dark divine robe remained visible.

Of course she knew the answer.

Because BS-Rita could accept any necessary betrayal.

She could understand anyone abandoning her for their own goals, survival, or ideals.

But she could not accept someone approaching her with hidden motives.

She could not accept someone being good to her because they wanted something.

Deceitful Bloom knew this.

But she didn't speak the answer aloud.

Foolishness eventually left. Only then did Deceitful Bloom open the group chat again.

She saw Ashveil's follow-up messages:

[Ashveil]: Actually… I think I get it now.

[Ashveil]: Whether inside Card Swap or outside of it, BS-Rita always responds to Lightchaser with so much genuine warmth…

[Ashveil]: But Deceitful Bloom has given her no less—she's literally been teaching her for years in the divine space!

Respond?

The divine gaze drifted downward, landing on the shifting desert sand—

on those shaky, stubborn lines written over and over again.

…

Lightchaser skimmed across the desert with scarcely a sound, calculating the remaining time in her mind.

Seven minutes left…

Her eyes narrowed when she noticed a small figure perched on top of a cactus—

the little Lightchaser sprite.

She'd complained countless times to Wail and Ash Cinders that the sprite was an idiot, yet on the day the Moon Delivery Game ended, she and Ash Cinders had run straight to Valena asking her to draw Rita's portrait.

They thought they'd have to beg.

But Valena remembered Rita vividly—apparently being a "mysterious girl who cried in the art room" was memorable enough.

Under the threatening stares of two dangerous lunatics, Valena drew Rita perfectly.

Then Lightchaser and Ash Cinders used the portrait to commission four Lightchaser-style plush dolls.

One for Wail.

One for Valena as payment.

Two for themselves.

The dolls were never delivered.

The war began first.

Lightchaser glared at the sprite.

But the sprite only waved at her enthusiastically.

Lightchaser sighed inwardly and approached. Maybe the sprite had information.

As she neared, the sprite pointed toward a patch of sand.

She didn't need the gesture—she'd already seen it.

A line carved messily into the ground.

Uneven. Crooked.

Her student had never been trained to write with her left hand.

Wind had blurred the text, yet the strokes were pressed deep enough to remain legible.

—Teacher, I can revive. (?ˉ?ˉ?)

For the first time since the game began, Lightchaser stopped moving.

She stared at those words for a full five seconds before running on.

…

Two numbers appeared in the sky:

[05:00] — [52]

The moment the digits shifted, every player understood—

a countdown and the remaining number of players.

No one knew whether the count included both maps or only the current one.

But regardless, Isolated Isle faced an impossible task.

Five minutes to clear everyone?

Fifty-two wasn't many, but the ones still alive were impossible to kill quickly.

Rita had her survival methods.

Others had their own tricks and hiding skills.

The Isolated Isle hunters were fast—but not fast enough.

As the game dragged on, players became harder to find.

Or hunters simply lacked the specific abilities needed to kill certain targets.

Take Rita as an example.

She'd run into hunters multiple times.

Each time, after discovering only the first hit registered, those hunters withdrew instantly, not wasting precious time.

They left her to specialists who could counter her state.

She hid carefully to avoid such matchups.

Passing a collapsed Isolated Isle player who was barely breathing, Rita unconsciously grabbed her collar—

that damned collar.

The wager had saved BS-

but it had also trapped BS-.

Because of the abnormal BS- state, she couldn't even change her invasion world—not truly.

Even if she killed a hunter, she guessed the game might still refuse to let her switch.

And even if she could switch, the contract mentioned Lania Kaia descending upon BS- anyway. Regardless of win or loss, she might end up fighting a new world and Lania Kaia simultaneously.

And the new world might be worse.

Of course, that was the worst-case scenario.

Best case?

She could kill a hunter, switch to a friendly world, and never see Lania Kaia or Dawn again.

But the more important the outcome, the less Rita gambled.

She opened the battlefield chat as she ran.

[BS-Rita]: Anyone from Lania Kaia in the desert map? There's a wounded hunter here you can finish off.

[Lania Kaia Mute]: All of you get lost! Little sister, I'm in the desert map.

Rita: ???

It was the first time she'd ever seen Lania Kaia Mute speak.

And this is her personality?

[Lania Kaia Maple Syrup]: "Little sister"? She's younger than you! She could call you grandma.

[BS-Rita]: It's Mountfuse.

[Lania Kaia Maple Syrup]: Little sister, I'm also in the desert map.

Rita: …

She quietly ran farther away.

Over a minute later, she finally sent the location:

[BS-Rita]: Grandma, I'm between the small yellow cactus and the big blue cactus near a tiny oasis.

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