Obviously, Alice's main purpose was to prevent him from being too seriously injured to be treated in time. She really was doing it for his own good. She had already broken the cycle, she...
She did it on purpose!
Klein angrily glared at Alice.
The tall, tree-like Cynthia in this process collapsed into a mass of flesh covered in brown-green tumor-like growths. The surrounding generals' guards and male attendants all fell to the ground.
Alice was encouraged by this scene. She pointed to the ground and said, "See, I told you, I did it for your own good!"
Her voice was confident and justified, and it resonated with the echo from Cynthia's head in that mass of flesh:
"General, I want to have a child with you…"
Klein suddenly felt immersed in a terrifying situation. In order to prevent Alice and Cynthia from becoming a duo of repeating machines, he decisively changed his appearance, becoming Gehrman Sparrow.
At the same time, he used "Creeping Hunger" to distort Cynthia's desire, turning "General, I want to have a child with you" into "General, I only want to have one child with you."
The branches that were winding toward Klein paused for a second, lost their target, and flailed wildly in all directions, seemingly trying to grab something.
Cynthia's line finally changed:
"General, where did you go…
"General, where did you go…"
A brilliant response—Alice clapped without reservation and successfully interrupted Klein's train of thought.
Klein glared at Alice. Alice silently withdrew her hands, along with the smile on her face, then glanced at Cynthia before saying:
"Purify her."
This was more or less equivalent to sentencing Cynthia to death. Klein had already expected this. He looked at Cynthia's head in the pile of flesh with pity. "Creeping Hunger" took on a pure and radiant light.
Klein spread his arms to the sides, and a pillar of light entwined with sacred flames descended from midair, enveloping the flesh-collapsed monster.
As she watched the light from the "Sun" domain burning Cynthia, Alice suddenly recalled a joke she'd made a long time ago—promoting cremation in this era.
Cremation can effectively prevent plague and various infectious diseases, and also stop corpses from turning into undead... From this angle, purification by the "Sun" domain seems really suitable for opening a crematorium…
It wasn't until Klein's voice pulled her back from her thoughts: "Don't touch strange items or religions again in the future."
Alice hesitated and glanced at him, then at Cynthia on the ground. In the end, she couldn't help but blurt out the line that ruined the mood:
"She has no future, right?"
Cynthia finally realized her situation. Tears suddenly welled up from her head and dripped onto the pile of flesh, successfully causing Alice's movements to pause for half a beat.
So disgusting… No, no, too obvious and she'll feel bad…
That faint softness took the high ground. Alice ultimately did not try to back away, nor did she show a disgusted expression on her face. Instead, she revealed a gentle smile tinged with pity.
—Just learned from Klein.
Cynthia's desperate voice rang out:
"It—it was the Mother Tree of Desire, the Celestial Sect…
"General, General, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!
"Save me! Save me!"
Mother Tree of Desire… Celestial Sect… Alice's expression shifted slightly and looked at Klein. He opened his arms again with a gaze full of pity and spoke in a deep voice:
"Death is not the end. You will receive redemption at the side of the gods."
Alice restrained herself from reminding the two of them that Cynthia had once prayed to the Mother Tree of Desire, watching another clean and pure pillar of light fall.
Under the illumination of the "Sun," Cynthia's body quickly melted. Watching this scene, Alice let out a long breath before saying:
"Celestial Sect… hiss, could this be the legendary… Stargazing Pie Sect?"
The emotions Klein had just built up were once again smashed to pieces by Alice.
The Stargazing Pie Sect, as a well-known dark cuisine in Britain, such a name was not unfamiliar to Klein.
This is a traditional dish originating from Cornwall, famous for its unique appearance and symbolism.
The main feature of this dish is putting multiple types of fish—traditionally seven kinds—into a pie after removing their skin and bones, and exposing the fish heads on the surface of the pie, resembling fish looking up at the starry sky.
Strictly speaking, if the Celestial Sect were renamed to the Stargazing Pie Sect starting today, it wouldn't be that unrea—
"You're sick!" Klein ultimately failed to convince himself and cursed out loud.
Alice lowered her head and sincerely admitted fault:
"I just suddenly thought of it. After all, the Celestial Sect sounds like they study stars...
"But, thinking of it this way, it's fortunate you weren't an astronomer before, and I'm not interested in that field either…
"After all, the 'stars' here are very dangerous, you know…"
After a moment of silence, Klein asked Alice:
"The starry sky and stars you talked about—are they the things you said that can't be known without reaching the level of angel?"
Alice nodded.
Klein looked at Alice for a moment, didn't ask further, and looked around, confirming that those who were dead were truly dead, and those still alive weren't in immediate danger. Then he began to carefully inspect the room.
At this moment, Alice ran forward, picked up a necklace from where Cynthia disappeared, then hesitantly glanced at the torn clothes on the bed and turned her head to ask:
"Do you need Cynthia's clothes?"
"?" A question mark slowly rose above Klein's head.
Alice tilted her head and explained: "I feel like you seem to really like her…"
"Shut up!" Klein quickly interrupted her. "I think with you around, I won't like any blonde-haired, blue-eyed person!"
Alice looked at Klein in surprise and habitually wanted to pretend to cry, but then remembered this trick had already failed several times, so she decisively changed her approach:
"Then you're doomed.
"After I 'restart,' what I look like can be decided by myself…
"Appearance, gender, and if I really want, I can even try being intersex or asexual…
"If I'm really curious, restarting as another creature isn't impossible either—though that's basically the same as seeking death.
"Klein, if that's the case, then when you want to have a child in the future, I guess you'll have to rely on the Mother Tree of Desire…"
Klein closed his eyes in pain.
Having successfully provoked Klein, Alice cheerfully began to examine the necklace in her hand.
It was exactly the one she had seen last time, but the rhino horn pendant on it was no longer smooth and lustrous—it was now full of cracks, the surface extremely dull.
After staring at the necklace for a few seconds, Alice raised her head with a serious expression and said to Klein in an encouraging tone:
"Klein, you can do it! Divine its origin like you divined the blood of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun'!"
(End of this chapter)