September 9, less than a week remained until the rules ended.
On the outskirts of Antu City, after Upper Garden Purple smashed the last vine—now a petrified water bucket—she sat down heavily, breathing hard.
Since she decided to lead the Serpent Hair Society in organizing defenses, she hadn’t had a proper rest. Day after day she’d been fighting mutated plants extending out from the rainforest.
Even with the super-strong defense granted by her full-body scales, her formidable strength, and her petrification power to destroy plants, her mind power and physical stamina were not limitless.
After days of continuous fighting, her mind power could not fully recover, often hovering around thirty percent, and after the fiercest battles it sometimes fell below ten percent.
Her physical strength was likewise drained. Even after advancing to the Second Stage of Ascension, her constitution had improved, but she was still human—not an immortal or god—still needing to eat and sleep.
Even if she could push herself for three to five days without food or rest, continuing much longer would make her falter, and lack of rest would begin to undermine her combat effectiveness.
"President, we’ve completed another round of plant clearing inside the city!"
A Serpent Hair Society member came forward to report.
Earlier Upper Garden Purple had made a decision: she, as the president, would operate separately from her subordinates.
She took responsibility for dealing with the powerful mutated plants crawling out of the rainforest, while her subordinates led other Sakura Prayer Ascendants to clear naturally growing plants inside the city.
Comparatively, her front was much tougher, because almost everything burrowing out of the rainforest was strongly mutated and highly aggressive.
"President... please rest as soon as you can!"
Seeing Upper Garden Purple seated on the ground, the subordinate was shocked. She had never seen the president this exhausted; if not for being utterly drained, she would not have sat on the earth.
Upper Garden Purple shook her head slightly. "The plants coming from the rainforest are getting stronger. If I rest now, they might take advantage of the gap."
"But your body..."
"Don't worry about me. Just finish your own assignment."
"Yes."
The subordinate finished her report and was about to leave, but hesitated as if she had more to say.
Upper Garden Purple asked, "Anything else?"
"President... it's not just me. Everyone in the Serpent Hair Society is curious. Your reason for organizing defenses in Antu City is to protect ordinary Sakura Prayer people, but you didn’t have to take that risk."
All the Serpent Hair Society members knew that with Upper Garden Purple’s strength, she could have evacuated immediately to places like the desert and been essentially safe for the duration of this rule.
Many powerful people chose that route. They wouldn’t confront the Doomsday Rules head-on; instead, they tried to avoid them.
That sort of game had started long ago. The Doomsday Rule issued in the first year after the Fire Thief’s arrival—Snow in June—had taught many people a lesson.
Rather than fighting to clear snow, maintain heat, and keep power at great cost, it was often better to move immediately to a place with less snow and fewer people. Those who adopted this non-confrontational survival strategy had higher chances of living through the rule.
Although special people sometimes had limited choices and had to follow the flow, many weaker ones lost the chance to respond the next time a similar rule struck.
Upper Garden Purple, as someone who deserved the label of a weak person in that context, chose to take the risk and stay to organize defenses, which naturally made others question her.
"You’re protecting your clients," Upper Garden Purple said calmly. "There are already so few Sakura Prayer people left. If even these last pockets die outside that rule, then the Serpent Hair Society loses its reason to exist."
"But..."
That reason made sense, yet the subordinate still felt the risk and reward were proportional.
"Don't debate it. Carry out the order."
"Yes!"
After the subordinate left, Upper Garden Purple silently stared in the direction of the rainforest.
Earlier she had told Guan Tong the same thing—protecting clients—but in truth she simply did not want the last two cities of Sakura Prayer to fall, did not want the name Sakura Prayer to join the more than three hundred nations already gone, becoming quickly forgotten dust in history.
She used to be indifferent to such matters; she didn’t care if a country was destroyed, or even if the whole world or the entire universe collapsed. For someone who felt a void inside, these things seemed irrelevant.
But after investigating her parents' affairs with Guan Tong’s help, defeating Yuzawa Jun and joining the Trace Origin Travel Troupe, meeting certain people, she gradually realized not everything was meaningless.
Some people and some things were worth protecting.
Those who would do anything for themselves, treating others as mere food to strengthen themselves—like former Sakura Prayer ruler Divine Child Yuzawa Jun—were worthy of contempt.
Rustle, rustle, rustle...
Hearing the sound of things being dragged across the ground, Upper Garden Purple snapped back to attention; she knew another wave of assault from the rainforest had arrived.
She braced her hands on her knees, stood, and threw herself back into the defensive battle.
...
At night, in a luxurious villa in the New Covenant, Andrew sat on the sofa watching a news report about the Hanlis Nation on the television, feeling an inexplicable irritation.
That irritation did not stem from the news itself so much as from the red-haired woman beside him.
When she burst into laughter at another short video, he finally lost patience. He pressed the TV remote pause button and glared at her.
"Can you either wear headphones when you look at your phone or go to another room? You're so loud I can't even watch the news!"
The red-haired woman shot him a disdainful glance and paid him no mind, continuing to scroll.
Andrew stood up in anger and pointed at her. "Did you hear me? I’m sick of you. Leave right now. I'm telling Joiessen I don't need your protection!"
Since Joiessen had sent this woman—who called herself Black Widow—Andrew had not felt comfortable for a day.
What irritated him most about the Black Widow was that she didn’t take him seriously at all. Her attitude wasn't even dislike, it was pure indifference.
He made as if to call Joiessen, and the Black Widow finally looked up from her phone. "Go ahead. See what Joiessen says."
"You—"
Andrew was too furious to speak.
He knew even if he called, Joiessen would not remove the Black Widow.
It was quite possible that the higher-ups had ordered the Black Widow to protect him rather than Joiessen’s independent decision.
But the woman was infuriating, and the worst part was that he couldn't beat her—Andrew didn’t need to test that. He figured no one would assign him a bodyguard weaker than himself.
Frustrated, Andrew strode to the floor-to-ceiling window to get some air.
Maybe it was his imagination, but tonight the darkness outside seemed thicker than usual, almost pitch black.
There had been starlight before—was it covered by clouds?
"Come here!"
A sudden bark from the Black Widow made Andrew jump.
He spun and snapped, "You lunatic! What—"
He didn't finish the sentence before something grabbed his arm and yanked him over. Then the Black Widow slapped him, knocking him to the ground.
She scanned the surroundings warily, bit her lip, and quickly put on a coquettish smile.
"Handsome man’s here, why not show yourself so I can see you~"
Andrew, flattened on the floor and ready to explode in anger, choked out, "Someone's here?"
The Black Widow ignored him and peered into the darkness outside. She squinted. "I’m not like that stupid dog who’d stay unmoved by the arrival of the legendary Shadow God~"
Shadow!
Andrew trembled when he heard the name, and suddenly realized why the night outside looked so black without a single star.
It wasn't clouds blocking the sky. It was... Shadow!
Crack!
The floor-to-ceiling glass shattered and a silhouette strode through the darkness.
"Your senses are sharp."
Guan Tong stepped across the broken glass into the living room, his eyes studying the Black Widow through the dark armor of the Shadow Battle Suit.
There had been no mention of this woman in Ye Dang's intelligence; she seemed sent by Suroma specifically to protect Andrew.
The Black Widow watched the figure wrapped in flowing black shadows with wary eyes, but forced a little smile. "Darker than darkness itself, it must be Shadow God's domain. Has he already wrapped the whole villa inside? Naturally that prevents us from using teleportation items to escape."
"If you were smarter, you would hand him over to me," Guan Tong said.
"No, don't listen to him!"
Once Andrew realized the person opposite was Shadow and here specifically for him, a fear like a bottomless well rose in his chest.
He knew being in Shadow’s hands would mean a bad end. He scrabbled behind the Black Widow. The woman he had previously loathed had become his lifeline.
"Black Widow, you were sent to protect me! You mustn't let Shadow take me. I... listen! Cough, cough!"
Before he could finish, Andrew clutched his throat and began to cough.
Guan Tong was slightly startled. He'd just seen the Black Widow move a finger, and a long green needle had pierced Andrew's throat.
The needle was half embedded; Andrew’s face went pale and his lips turned purple.
Poison!
As Guan Tong put that together, the Black Widow laughed.
She kicked the struggling Andrew away from his throat. "My mission isn't to protect you, stupid dog."
"You... you..."
Andrew found it increasingly hard to breathe; his heart struggled, and pain wracked his body.
Guan Tong had already figured out what was happening. "So your real mission isn't to protect Andrew but to kill him at the crucial moment, ensuring he can't leak secrets."
"Ringing, ringing—Shadow God is far smarter than this stupid dog. God, why not remove the covering shadow so I can look up—"
She spoke only half a sentence before raising both hands. Dozens of silver lights sliced through the air—each one a long needle laced with potent poison, aimed at vital points around Guan Tong's body!