Chapter 261: Operator, Chess Player, Assistant

Having broken through layers of barriers, Miss White Fox appeared in a special silver space.

—God Fox Void Trace, the divine realm of the Nine-Tails.

Although the divine realm was boundless and inaccessible at will, she followed the guidance of Miss Xiao Kong and naturally appeared near the fierce battle, witnessing the bizarre entity entangled with the resplendent Nine-Tailed Divine Fox.

A towering figure, resembling a person made of decaying wood, stood a hundred feet tall.

Vilyric wasn’t clear about how Miss Xiao Kong had battled this opponent before, but since the divine realm had descended, it meant that the God Fox was serious and had unleashed its full power.

On the other hand, she could probably guess the purpose behind Miss Nine-Tails’ actions.

Previously, while performing “Blood on the Other Shore, Yin and Yang Reversed,” Vilyric’s divine sense saw many strange trees crazily growing outward from Mirror Valley, causing indiscriminate horrific casualties in the Ancient Spirit Realm.

And those were clearly not evil demons, but a power different from “Destruction.”

The source was right before her.

The battle between gods was akin to natural disasters for ordinary beings, and as the guardian deity of this world, Miss Xiao Kong would surely try to minimize harm to the innocent.

In the past, Vilyric might have been curious about the opponent’s identity and origin, but having inherited most of the past and powers of the Spiritual Fox Priestess, she could instantly see through the essence of the opponent.

A concept granted by “The End,” a harbinger of death to the world, a being that, though not a god, wielded divine power—like the Taotie representing “Destruction,” though the specifics remained unclear for now.

This was a form she had never encountered before; perhaps it was a new entity born from the fusion of some local creatures in the Ancient Spirit Realm.

The black-and-white light of “Reincarnation” flickered, and the Spiritual Fox Priestess pierced through the bizarre and terrifying facade, glimpsing its twisted essence within.

“Pharmacist… it’s actually this guy?”

Vilyric was somewhat surprised.

To be candid, this fellow, one of the Seven-Day Demon Lords known as the “Immovable Pharmacist,” was a bit odd, but Miss Priestess hadn’t taken him too seriously.

If she truly wanted to target him, having learned from Hen about why he could never be killed—through drugs and bloodlines continuously assimilating others and replicating himself—Vilyric could easily find one of his bodies and get rid of him.

While this “splitting” was nearly insurmountable for ordinary people, in the eyes of deities who could manipulate causality, it still left traces, and the powers of the Spiritual Fox Priestess practically countered his existence. As long as Vilyric intended it, thoroughly eliminating the “Pharmacist” was not impossible.

However, she hadn’t expected him to charge into the core of the world-restricting formation, becoming the new vessel of this foreign causality…

Hmm? Wait…

Could it be that he alone withstood the causality coming from the divine concept? Wasn’t that perfectly in line with that plan?

Was it again a situation pushed behind the scenes by Hen…?

The divine realm’s amplification of gods was terrifying, and combined with the true divine rank of the God Fox, this divine battle could almost be said to be Nine-tails overwhelming the opponent. Yet even in the omnipotent realm of divinity, Miss Xiao Kong couldn’t thoroughly kill the bizarre decaying wood formed by the Pharmacist.

Vilyric observed closely: forget about ordinary injuries; even if the God Fox ripped him to shreds with supreme divine power, turning him into nothing but air, that towering decayed wood would recover in the next moment and launch a counterattack.

In the mere moments since Miss White Fox entered, the two battling entities exchanged blows at a speed far beyond human comprehension, with the decayed wood suffering heavy damage, being destroyed, and then reborn—like an everlasting nightmare, showing no sign of fatigue.

The concept of… immortality?

If this decayed wood truly was immortal and endless, the God Fox couldn’t maintain its divine realm’s arrival forever; it would either have to retreat or seal it away like dealing with the Taotie in the Chaotic Secret Realm.

But clearly, neither option was an easy task; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been entangled without a resolution until now.

Even though she realized this, Vilyric didn’t feel a headache; rather, a chill ran down her back.

Truly, a plan intricately linked and detailed, Hen… if she weren’t a facet of the God Fox, if she hadn’t been a former close friend, Vilyric might have already been scared of her seemingly all-knowing wisdom.

This stage of the final battle was also meticulously designed by her.

【…Xī?!】

Noticing the arrival of Miss White Fox breaking through space to assist, Miss Xiao Kong was slightly startled, unhesitatingly interrupting the battle to fly back. Her massive beast form quickly shrank, ultimately transforming into a semi-human form with nine tails behind her and longer silver pointed ears.

That face, identical to Hen’s, shimmered with silver light from vast divine power, and her vertical pupils trembled, staring intently at the Priestess without blinking, temporarily pushing the distant strong enemy out of her mind.

She wanted to reach out and touch the other’s mask but hesitated.

“You’ve succeeded? Have you remembered…?”

Vilyric actively pushed the mask aside, tilting it at an angle, revealing her unchanged appearance below, yet maliciously smiled.

“If I said I didn’t remember, would you get so mad that you’d faint?~”

Miss Xiao Kong was slightly taken aback but suddenly covered her mouth, bright tear tracks glimmering at the corners of her eyes.

“It’s you, it’s really you! Xī! You remember me, right!!!”

“Ugh!”

Without hesitation, she hugged the girl in front of her fiercely, wrapping her nine soft, long tails around her in one go. The strong pressure from her full and soft chest made Vilyric gasp for air, accompanied by a series of crisp bone cracking sounds and someone’s strange cries.

After all… with the backing of a deity in the divine realm, when unleashing full physical power, even the hardest metal in the world would be squished into dough, right?

Feeling the rapid drop in her HP values, Vilyric couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions, along with a bizarre thought taking form.

Since her crossing, it seemed it was her first time losing so much blood.

Even so, Miss White Fox merely accepted it without resistance until Miss Xiao Kong finally released her and distanced herself, awkwardly shaking her ears with a barely-there apologetic sound, smiling as she reached out to pet the Nine-Tails’ head with a gentle expression.

“I should be the one to apologize. I had promised not to leave without reason again; it must have been lonely… right?”

Only now did Vilyric truly understand where Miss Xiao Kong’s inexplicable resentment stemmed from.

It wasn’t because of taking on a pile of messy problems that nearly led to her downfall in battle against the Taotie, nor was it because she had been deceived by some unscrupulous fake fox before leaving, equipping herself with that charming but identity-hiding cat costume…

But pure loneliness.

Perhaps fearing solitude, she adopted the pet White Cat Miao Miao, but evidently, that couldn’t completely fill the void left by someone important leaving.

Divinities do not fear death, nor do they harbor resentment due to shame; the only thing that eternal beings fear most is loneliness.

…Just like when Ming Xi first left.

The Nine-Tailed girl instinctively squinted, enjoying the long-awaited affection and warmth, yet quickly reacted, puffing her cheeks in annoyance.

“Don’t think this means I forgive you! I’m still mad!”

“Okay, okay~”

Soothing the faux-angry yet adorably silly fox girl, Vilyric secretly sighed, realizing that despite being split from the same entity, their personalities and natures had diverged significantly.

With a smile, she turned her gaze forward.

“But it seems a friend is even angrier than you ~”

   

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