Blood stained the hem of Rita's robe. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the wounds carved across Nivalis's scales; one patch of ice-blue armor had been scraped clean off, exposing raw flesh beneath. Nivalis could have healed it instantly, of course. She simply chose not to. She liked keeping the scars left behind by war.

Was Dawn SmokeTune's philosophy naïve?

Absolutely.

Living joyfully every day? Without Dawn-Cicada, Vineborne struggled to survive at all. How were they supposed to be happy?

Right or wrong wasn't what Rita cared about. Standing where she now stood as BS Adjudicator, she asked only two questions: Was this person useful? Was she dangerous?

Rita continued questioning Y128. "If she believes war will never end, why join the Divine Game at all?"

"Dawn SmokeTune only enters the Divine Game to collect games or knowledge from it," Y128 said. "You don't have to worry. No Vineborne will follow her to BS."

"How skilled is she really?"

"Two-star fishing, three-star cooking, five-star music, four-star engineering, three-star forging, five-star construction, one-star archaeology. And that's from three years ago."

Rita stared. "..."

Just like that, all assumptions of Dawn SmokeTune being foolish evaporated.

Anyone who had mastered that many disciplines couldn't possibly be simple-minded.

Perhaps she wasn't naïve at all. Perhaps she understood perfectly well that Dawn and the Vineborne needed no one but Dawn-Cicada to lead them. Maybe that was why she wished her people could experience something gentler, something lighter than endless bloodshed.

Rita suddenly caught something she'd overlooked.

"You're allowed to talk about a player's private information?"

Y128 explained, "That's public data. All of it comes from a Divine Game where she demonstrated those skills. And there's one thing you might want to know. Dawn-Cicada passed a law in Dawn forbidding anyone from speaking ill of Dawn SmokeTune. If they do, they lose attributes."

Rita stared into the void. "......"

So Dawn-Cicada had basically created a fan club rule to protect her older sister?

Wouldn't that just make her sister's life harder?

Rita had only met Dawn-Cicada a few times, but she knew one thing: Dawn-Cicada wasn't the type to use elaborate schemes or manipulations to make someone suffer emotionally. Her love and her hatred were both blunt, unfiltered, impossible to miss.

Judging from this alone, during Dawn's war all those years ago, Dawn SmokeTune likely didn't act foolishly or try to stop her sister at the wrong time. She may have stayed back, but she didn't sabotage anything.

No one capable of mastering seven disciplines would fail to understand something as basic as timing.

Thoughts swirling, Rita suddenly burst into hearty laughter.

Good. Very good.

At least for now, she had gained a peaceful, gentle, clever research-oriented hostage. And at Level 14, Dawn SmokeTune's combat ability was manageable.

Dawn-Cicada, your sister is in my hands. Try moving against me now.

B80 cast a long, gloomy look at BS Rita… and then at Y128, who was glued to Rita's side and tugging on her sleeve. It had a bad feeling. BS Rita was about to drag home even more strays.

Nivalis clearly sensed it too.

Rita was still laughing when a chill crawled up her spine. She turned slightly—only to find B80 and Nivalis staring at her with cold, knowing eyes.

Y128 inched closer to Rita, grasped her hand, tugged it, and looked up with its round eyes.

"Can I live in BS?"

Lightchaser's sprite had already completed 512 kills earlier. That meant BS's level cap had increased by 51—and more importantly, Y128 had earned its freedom and could choose what world to settle in.

Rita could feel those cold stares drilling holes into her back.

But what could she do? BS needed another council member…

Shadow.Q alone wasn't enough. It wasn't just about workload. Rita needed someone completely neutral to counterbalance Shadow.Q's power.

Not only that—Y128 was from the Y-series. Exceptional in combat, yes, but perhaps not ideal at management. So she might as well drag B80, who had been freeloading at home for ages, into real work too.

Avoiding eye contact, Rita lowered her gaze to Y128.

"If you'd like, I can appoint you as a council member of BS. You'll receive pay, and I can offer you limited freedom. That means when you wish to leave, I will let you. But while you serve as a council member, BS will make a contract with your core chip to ensure you can't betray us."

Lights flickered across Y128's eyes as it processed the information. "You really are like the rumors say. But… I think I want to try."

Below them, players and hunters noticed their presence and began charging toward them. Nivalis immediately activated a skill and accelerated.

Wind roared around them, forcing Rita to raise her voice. "What rumors?!"

"I know that during the BS War, when you thought you were going to die, you gave B80 freedom."

"Then hear this." Rita's voice was steady even through the rushing wind. "If one day BS is about to fall, I promise I'll set you free before the end."

The sunflower on Y128's head bobbed wildly. The petals were all facing Rita. It shouted, "Okay!"

…

Rita used Nebula Bubble again and again, pulling more and more enemies behind her like a kiting master. Once she had built up a massive train of pursuers, she unleashed a devastating combo.

Family Bucket and Mysterious Fellow.

Everything went silent.

And when the moon rose, Rita ignored the punishment from the exclusive game rules and once again cast Who Cuts the Moonlight at the sky.

Her eyes were still stinging when the world shattered around her.

She had been kicked out of the game.

[Divine Game No. 23662 has ended]

[Player BS Rita ranked first in Divine Game No. 23662: Player Relic]

Rita didn't even hear the rest.

A far louder, more horrifying message drowned it out.

It wasn't a notification.

It was BS screaming.

[BS]: Honored BS Adjudicator, BS Mistblade, BS Pine Bloom, BS Crab, and BS Smoke Tune are waiting for you outside the BS world!!

Rita vaulted onto Nivalis's back and immediately got to work.

She changed into her official Adjudicator uniform—despite Shadow.Q constantly criticizing it for being "insufficiently formal."

Then she opened the Honor Shop.

Chaotic Blocks.

Card Swap.

Player Relic.

Three first-place finishes in the Divine Game, each awarding one million honor points. Add the BS War reward, plus the Adjudicator reward. Her balance exceeded ten million.

Plenty to buy whatever she needed.

Meanwhile, high above the planet of BS, four players hovered just beyond the atmosphere, looking down toward their new home.

BS Crab crushed a passing piece of engineering debris between its massive claws.

BS Mistblade and BS Pine Bloom were both scowling. The moment they left the game, they had been dropped here.

Their cities, followers, and forcibly transferred races were under Divine Game protection, waiting for them to land.

But before they even had time to breathe, they heard a series of messages.

[Due to the current level cap of BS being 91, your level has been reduced to 91. Your allocated attribute points will remain unchanged.]

It was hard to overstate how crushing that message felt.

Mistblade and Pine Bloom both felt like they had been exiled from civilization.

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