Sitting on the bench of Tianxin Church, you can look up and see the compassionate and merciful icon of the goddess. It seems that she has never left, and is still within reach, watching the thousands of creatures in the world.
Life. When He saw mortals using the power given by Him, but only for fighting and destruction, in that kind heart, did he ever have an emotion called regret for a moment? Or was it something that only belonged to mortals?
throbbing, but it doesn't matter to God?
Recently, Xino couldn't help but think about such problems, especially when she learned that she would be excluded from this battle and could only sit in the audience and act as a spectator. Staying away from the fight and preserving yourself is
The nature of living beings may also be a shackle set by the goddess in their destiny. But I am so eager to step on it.
Going to the battlefield, so eager to fight a powerful enemy, so eager to feel the freedom of the moment when wielding the gun blade, does this mean that she has unknowingly deviated from the goddess's original intention? Regardless of whether it is her own desire.
Isn't it an arrogant idea to think that only one can protect his companions?
She felt this way more and more, so she began to pray to the goddess, not only for her companions on the battlefield, but also for herself in the church. But were the prayers heard? Even this, Xino was doubtful.
.At this time, she suddenly found that the church had become extremely quiet, the roaring gunfire disappeared, and the ground under her feet no longer shook. These signs seemed to prove that the war had ushered in a short rest, at least before it started again.
It is one's own victory.
She deeply realized that even without herself, her companions could still fight.
The girl will not feel disappointed by this, but similarly, she does not have any sense of accomplishment. After all, a spectator does not need to be too involved; someone who is obviously just standing by but is complacent after winning sounds even more shameless. Although
This was never her choice, but this upright and honest knight cannot deceive her heart, so she will not celebrate it.
There was another person who should be celebrating, and with Xino's understanding of her, he knew that she would definitely do that - but there was no movement.
She couldn't help but turn around and cast her gaze at a corner of the church. In front of an old game console, Alice was holding a handle and staring blankly at the picture projected on the electronic screen, looking a little distracted.
When the battle started, in order to show her contempt for the enemy and trust in her companions, she turned on one of the game consoles, and claimed that she would compete with Ringer and the others to see who could defeat the enemies in the game first.
It's better for Ringer and his friends to deal with the real enemies first.
This does sound a bit arrogant and does not conform to Xino's chivalry spirit, but to Alice, it is just one of her countless strange behaviors that make people confused, so the girl knight just laughed at that time
She laughed, neither agreeing nor objecting. But now she discovered that the game
The screen of the machine seems to have been frozen in the same interface. Based on her meager game knowledge, it is probably the interface where the game starts. So after all, Alice has fulfilled her promise and ended the battle outside before it ends.
She started her own battle; or did she never start it at all?
The faint electronic blue light hit the girl's face, which was so cold that she looked a little pale. To put it bluntly, this bloodless face often reminded people of death, eternal sleep, or the resurrected undead in literary and artistic works. Hope
Nuo shouted several times before calling her back from her meditation, as if her mind had also sunk into the abyss of the dead, almost disappearing in a place far, far away from reality.
"ah."
Alice opened her mouth, and the game interface reflected in her eyes made her wake up slightly. She subconsciously pressed the handle in her hand, and then the picture on the screen flickered for a moment, and the game officially started.
Xino didn't ask too deeply about Alice's absent-minded reaction, because through some kind of spirituality other than intuition, she miraculously understood the other person's thoughts at the moment, and knew that those were thoughts she had also had. She just
He smiled and said: "It seems to be over."
These words seemed to stimulate Alice far more than the monsters that kept coming in the game. She didn't care that the protagonist she was operating was about to be submerged by the sea of monsters. She turned her head and stared at Xino with a keen eye: "It's over.
Already!?"
"Um."
"Who's winning?"
"Well." Xino was speechless for a moment, then smiled and shook his head: "I thought this was something that was obvious at a glance.
Alice was stunned for a moment before reacting, and then scratched her hair a little embarrassedly: "That's right, hehe."
If the enemy had won, how could the Tianxin Church remain so peaceful? It would be impossible for Xino to continue sitting here. He should have picked up his gun and mounted his horse, using his royal power to reverse the defeat for his companions.
Fortunately, they won. Thanks to them, she just sat here and made a harmless little joke with Alice.
After turning her head around, Alice suddenly cheered up and returned to her usual free-spirited appearance. She said proudly: "Although Ringer and the others won, the speed is still too slow. I have already completed one level of the game."
Round, but they have just defeated the enemy. In terms of speed, they are obviously not comparable to me, a genius player at the universe level. Wow, what's going on, why am I dead?"
After bragging, she discovered that the game character she controlled had been overwhelmed by monsters at some point. Alice hit the handle desperately, trying to save the defeat, but the game character's meager health bar could not withstand such a high-intensity attack and she could not persist.
It died suddenly within a few seconds, and a GameOver prompt appeared on the screen.
"Ah, damn it!" She was so angry that she hammered the game console in front of her, making a dull sound.
That is the sacred object of the goddess.
Xino smiled awkwardly and said: "Because you are the ace, Alice. The ace always comes last. This is what you said yourself, isn't it?"
If it were normal Alice, she would be very excited to hear this sentence, because she likes to be called by others with titles such as "ace", "core" or "soul figure", which is undoubtedly a huge feeling.
Agreed. But Alice is very calm today, probably because she suddenly realized that Xino's words were not flattery, but fact.
She is indeed the ace who appears at the last moment and is about to face the most powerful enemy.
For Ringer and others, they have done their best to bring the first curtain to this war; but for talented players, this battle is far from over.
When she thought of this, Alice's mood suddenly became a little low. She stared at the prompt on the screen asking "Do you want to start a new game" for a long time, then turned around and asked cautiously: "Are you still blaming me?
Xino?"
Xino was startled for a moment, and couldn't help but laugh when she realized it. She didn't expect that Alice had been struggling with this problem all the time, even though she didn't seem to care about it on the surface. Can this be said to be the delicate side unique to genius players? It's a big deal.
She shouldn't talk about this kind of mourning now
If she is angry, Xino wants to see her confident side more than anything else. This is also the impression Alice always gives people: although she doesn't know where her confidence comes from, she just has an inexplicable confidence and that kind of pride.
Flamboyant, an aura that can even be described as arrogant.
People who come into contact with her for the first time may be confused by this unreasonable self-confidence, and even wonder if there is something wrong with her brain structure, but for those who have experienced a long journey with her, such a talented player is the best.
It's reassuring.
"Do you want me to blame you, Alice?"
Xino tapped her lips with a finger, trying to recall the emotional novels that the female classmates around her were enthusiastically pursuing in her distant college days, and said in a joking tone: "Let me guess what you are going to do next.
Line: If it makes you feel better to put all the blame on me, then I am willing to be blamed by you - like this?"
Alice was startled and shook her head in denial: "How is it possible? I wouldn't say such a disgusting line!"
It’s not the kind of sentimental literature about love and love.
She hesitated and said: "I just think that if you really feel uncomfortable, it might be better to say it directly. If you hold it in all the time, it will be uncomfortable, right?"
"But I really don't blame you, Alice. To be precise, I have not blamed anyone. If I have to find someone to blame, it can only be the curse on me and my overly strong sense of pride.
Yes." Xino shook his head slightly, and what he was thinking about was another conversation that took place in Tianxin Church that night seven days ago.
"Mr. Ringer has made me realize that the feeling of guilt about one's own inability to fulfill responsibilities, and the resulting sense of expectations imposed on others, are essentially unreasonable behaviors." She looked directly at Alice's eyes.
With vaguely confused eyes, he said word by word with great seriousness: "So, no one can blame you for anything, and you don't need to respond to their expectations, as long as you live up to your original intention."
"Original intention?"
Alice looked down at the game controller in her hand, thoughtfully.
Her original intention is nothing more than to defeat all enemies, protect all companions, and let everyone happily welcome the final happy ending.
Genius players have never doubted whether they can achieve this goal.
"I seem to understand a little bit, Xino."
She said softly that she used "somewhat" because there were still some things she didn't understand, but those were details. Alice believed that as long as she kept walking along this path, she would eventually understand it.
Thinking of this, she cheered up again: "Thank you!"
"I'm really surprised that you would honestly say thank you." Xino teased casually, and then said with a smile: "Of course, what I said I don't blame you is limited to the current situation, Alice. If what happens next
If you lose the battle, don’t blame me for being ruthless, okay?”
"Then don't worry!"
The genius player patted his chest and said carelessly: "I can never find the word failure in my dictionary!"
Then your dictionary version may be different from what I know.
Xino wanted to chat a few more words to relieve Alice's nervousness before the battle. Saying that talented players would be nervous sounded like a bad joke, but Xino could understand her current mood, because she was fighting with the synthetic beasts.
The night before the Chimera battle, she had a similar feeling. The established victory could not alleviate the pain in her heart at all, because sometimes what people really care about is not the victory or defeat of the battle, but what comes next.
But she couldn't do that because she suddenly felt an extraordinarily powerful aura.
Rather than being powerful, it is better to say that it is deep, quiet and void, as hard to touch as darkness. This is why people are afraid, fearing that they will be submerged in it, as if they were drowned in a vast ocean.
The owner of that power is waiting quietly on the road ahead of Yunjing Kongdao, maintaining a lukewarm and distant attitude, as if this is not the prelude to a fierce battle, but is just welcoming an invited person.
Just guests.
Xino's expression suddenly changed. She subconsciously stretched out her hand and groped to the side, but came up empty. The unique gentle touch of the Holy Spear White Thorn, which was between metal and natural material, was not felt on her fingertips.
Only the dust and air quietly slipped away from her fingers. Only then did the girl knight suddenly realize that the protagonist of this battle was not herself, but the girl in front of her.
When Alice saw her abnormal behavior, she didn't understand what was going on at first, but she soon realized what was going on. Her eyes widened immediately, her throat felt a little dry, and she felt a huge sense of tension for no reason, as if
All the jokes that Xino made when she was trying to ease her mood were thrown out of her mind.
"That's—"
She licked her dry lips and asked cautiously: "Dark Witch?"
Xino didn't speak, but nodded solemnly.
All of a sudden, just like the prisoner in the court finally heard the verdict bell, or the hero in the story finally waited for the moment to go to war, these two supposedly contradictory emotions were perfectly unified in her. In short, it was
, Alice breathed a sigh of relief, put down the controller in her hand without saying a word, got up and walked outside Tianxin Church——
"So that means," her tone was pretending to be relaxed, "it's the genius player's turn."
"Alice."
Xino called her, and the genius player didn't look back, so he couldn't see the worried expression on her face. But after a long silence, he heard her deep voice: "Be careful."
Alice nodded and walked out of the church, her back quickly disappearing from Xino's sight.
The young knight stared deeply in the direction she left without saying a word. After a while, she sighed quietly, turned back and fixed her gaze on the icon of the goddess. Those deep and wise eyes
Under the gaze of her eyes, she slowly lowered her head, clasped her hands in front of her chest, and offered her most devout prayer to the greatest god who shaped this world and this body.