After surviving so many divine courses, Rita was no longer the clueless beginner she once was.
She pulled a roll of contract-grade rune parchnt from her gacha machine, along with a brush, and began writing the terms.
The contents were straightforward:
As long as it did not violate ga rules, both sides must give their all, and neither was allowed to betray the other during the ga. Otherwise, BS-Rita would permanently lose one god-given ability, and Y128 would forever lose the chance to ignite soulfire.
Then she passed the parchnt to B8017913, who carefully drew the chanoid-style program-lock symbols along the edges. After that, Rita added golden thunder sigils herself—knowledge she had learned in the gacha-machine courses—creating a barrier that prevented any skill from interfering with the contract.
Y128 examined the runes. It might not fully understand the entire structure, but the symbols for "block," "lock," and "no modification" were clear enough.
"So you’re guarding against L12185511?"
Rita gave an honest nod. "Yes."
Y128 didn’t comnt on that. It simply had more questions—ever since eting BS-Rita, it found itself having many unusual thoughts.
"I still don’t understand. Why invite twice?"
"Because when I asked which chanoid series was the strongest in combat, both 7777 and B80 ntioned the Y-series. And 7777 specifically ntioned you."
Rita reviewed the contract one last ti before handing it back.
"That ans in its calculations, choosing you increases my odds of winning. Otherwise, it could’ve nad any Y-series unit that doesn’t have a grudge against ."
She repeated, "You are the best choice."
"But you still killed !" Y128 fud, pressing a finger crackling with electricity onto the parchnt to sign its ID. "And the worst part is—you killed and then invited !"
"Because only then did I realize you also wanted to team up."
Rita took the contract back, ensured no details had been altered, and signed her na.
She lifted her eyes, smiling. "Otherwise why pretend to be dead until the mont I was about to invite L175246?"
"Maybe." Y128’s gaze followed BS-Rita as she stood. "But what truly convinced was when you said victory matters more than affection. This match is important to . I need a player who won’t drag down."
Rita paused, brushing sand from her sleeves, her eyes lowering slightly.
"Oh. I learned that line from another player."
With the Player Relic recovered, she headed in a particular direction with Y128 jogging beside her.
The chanoid kept looking back and forth between the two pets on her shoulders before asking another question.
"Why didn’t you ask whether I would still team with you if you had killed L175246?"
"No need to ask," she said. "Because that would never happen."
"Why not?"
"You’re the best option. But L175246 is my fallback."
Whether a player could continue in the ga did not truly depend on the Player Relic. Even with limited materials and ti, any player could produce a crude version if needed.
The real gatekeepers were the chanoids.
Almost every rule so far included one clause:
The player must agree to one request from a chanoid.
Even this zone required fulfilling a chanoid’s demand before reclaiming the Player Relic.
The initiative of the Divine Ga sat entirely in their hands.
There was no universe in which she would give up L175246 for Y128.
On her shoulder, B80 muttered, "Can you add a little polish when you say things like that?"
Nivalis quickly added, "Yeah, give the outside children so hope."
Rita: ...
Even though it barely knew BS-Rita, Y128 understood perfectly what her two pets ant. It nodded solemnly.
"Then I should tell you," it said, "if you had killed L175246, I would’ve admired you greatly."
Rita stared at it with an expression of helpless disbelief.
"But killing so cleanly wasn’t bad either," Y128 added generously. "Only a player like that is qualified to work with ."
Rita realized Y128’s personality was unlike any chanoid she had t before.
"...Thanks," she said dryly.
She suspected the chanoids knew more about the final stage of the tournant than they were allowed to reveal. Otherwise why keep ntioning "cooperation"? Weren’t the chanoids supposed to fight on behalf of players? Did players also have to fight?
She didn’t ask. Clearly, there were rules restricting what they could disclose.
"Where are we going?" Y128 asked.
"To find L175246. See if it needs help."
Because if one of the random chanoids died, she wouldn’t care much—but if L175246 died here...
She didn’t want to finish that thought.
The mont she rounded the corner, she found L175246 sitting on the ground, crying—big tears of blue electric current splashing onto the sand.
Rita stepped into a golden rain curtain. Her form dissolved into the falling gold and reford beside the sobbing chanoid.
She crouched down and poked it gently. "Why are you crying so hard?"
Seeing her, L175246 burst into even louder sobs.
"Dawn-Spring Guest... Dawn-Spring Guest pulled out my antenna!!"
Only then did Rita notice—L175246’s head was bald. The antenna was gone.
B80 and Nivalis, who had fallen off Rita’s shoulders when she transford into rain, rushed over. They climbed up her back like mountain goats, stepping deliberately hard to express their annoyance at being tossed off earlier.
At the sa ti, a chill crept up from her right side—sothing ominous staring at her.
Ah. Ghostly Curse 3.0 again.
Rita didn’t dare turn her head. She scratched her chin awkwardly and tried to comfort him.
"Well... okay, that is a little excessive. Did he say what he needed it for? Maybe it was urgent?"
She admitted—she was making excuses for the offender. She couldn’t help it.
Y128’s eerie whisper ca from beside her ear. "Yes. What exactly did he use it for?"
L175246 angrily said, "He used it to tie down Vine! Vinespawn are so annoying!"
Rita said, "Too much."
B80 said, "Way too much."
Nivalis said, "Absolutely too much."
As the topic drifted further, Y128 shoved itself aggressively between Rita and L175246, blue lights flashing rapidly across its cube-like face—clearly furious.
It demanded again, "Where is my antenna? What did you do with it?"
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