In truth, while Seraphine (True Body) was devouring the six races of the old Milky Way's core, ascending to the Fifth Dimension, and heading into deep space, the God of Wrath and Hatred (Seraphine's clone) hadn't been idle.
Inheriting the full power of Leviathan and Abaddon, the clone quickly created a vast number of Hell Practitioners and Raging Demons.
Immediately after, these two brutal, non-human groups were formed into two terrifying Hell armies, launching a massive invasion into the millions of Mortal Realms.
The invasion process was simple: a blend of slaughter and arson, a combination of blood and fire.
As for the resistance from human civilizations... ha.
Whether it was the cold weapon armies of classical eras, the tanks, planes, and hydrogen bombs of industrial ages, the enhanced Cyborgs and electromagnetic or laser weapons of Cyber eras, or even the weather and antimatter weapons of sub-interstellar ages, against these two massive, exceptionally powerful Hell armies, they were useless except for killing a few weak individuals.
Thus, alongside the deaths of countless intelligent beings, Seraphine (Clone), having thoroughly scoured all information from those millions of Mortal Realms, successfully found traces of the Sinful Land of Midian.
Following those traces, she silently pushed open the Door and entered, dragging out the soundly sleeping Great Goat, Baphomet, and giving him a brutal beating.
That's right, no conversation, just a beating upon arrival.
Subsequently, after Seraphine had used various parts of his body to prepare dozens of main courses, including boiled mutton, stir-fried mutton, braised mutton, cumin-grilled mutton, mutton meatball soup, and stewed lamb shank, the screaming Baphomet dug out every memory from his soul and offered them up with his mangled, trembling body while kneeling on the ground.
Moved by Baphomet's sincerity, Seraphine turned him into a whole roasted goat and ate every last bit.
Within Baphomet's memories, she was surprised to discover that the legendary Heaven... actually shared a Narrow Path that occasionally linked with the Sinful Land of Midian.
Consequently, Seraphine entered the Narrow Path and sped along it, passing through thousands of desolate, shattered lands trillions of miles in diameter before stepping into the territory of Heaven.
Upon entering, Seraphine discovered that this Ideal State of countless believers... was completely abandoned.
Through the eons of time, this Heaven had lain dormant, desolate, and decaying, having transformed into a gargantuan ruin shrouded in boundless silence and bleakness.
Stepping into this ancient ruin that stretched for quintillions of miles, Seraphine saw the architecture suspended in the air. It was intricately interwoven, resembling billions of white clouds or countless strands of a biological gene sequence, spiraling and intertwining across the infinite sky.
As far as the eye could see, these continuous, rising and falling structures, each dozens of times more towering and majestic than Mount Olympus, were all bathed in brilliant holy light, appearing incredibly mystical and noble.
But when Seraphine focused her gaze, she saw that the surfaces of these soaring buildings were riddled with billions of jagged cracks. Every moment, piercing cold winds whistled out from these fissures.
WHOOSH!
A series of mournful howls swept through the sky, sounding like the sharp cries of the starving.
On the walls of these palaces that spanned the heavens like great dragons, there remained murals depicting sacred, solemn, or bizarre scenes. However, these murals had long been weathered by time, their blurred forms refracting shimmering shadows under the sky's light, as tragic as the tears of angels.
On the ground below the structures lay vast plains of hundreds of quintillions of withered flora husks. The faint, musty fragrance emanating from these remains seemed to remind Seraphine of how beautiful and vibrant these flowers and trees had been in ancient times.
Once the most beautiful blossoms in Heaven, they were now entirely withered and dead, silently recounting a bygone glory.
Beneath these infinite floral remains lay dried, mottled riverbeds, where bubbling springs must have flowed long ago.
Following these paths to their end revealed massive fields of collapsed stone pillars and shattered statues.
Under the silent sunlight, these stony husks were shrouded in wisps of dust and gravel.
It felt profoundly desolate and lonely.
Throughout this vast expanse of land and sky, countless angels drifted and levitated aimlessly.
The forms of these angels were bizarre in the extreme, seemingly cobbled together from shattered eyes, spinning wheels, and tangled wings, defying any accurate human description.
They looked eroded by the winds of infinite time, radiating an aura of stagnation, confusion, and melancholy. Like ethereal phantoms, they wandered this abandoned Heaven with nowhere to belong.
Interestingly, even the lowest of these angels possessed Shining Sun level combat power. The larger, more robust ones reached the False God rank, and a rare few even stepped into the Mythic domain.
However, the famous high-ranking angels, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Suriel, were nowhere to be found.
"Even so..."
Seraphine let out a chilling laugh. "It's enough for a decent meal."
She tapped the crystal-diamond invitation in her hand, turning her head toward Mox, who remained kneeling respectfully beside her. "Interesting. This Brilliant Games invitation actually appeared inside the mission scenario of "Civu 2: Space Ludo". Tell me, what other scenarios have you gone through during this time?"
Mox slowly raised his head.
A blurred, cryptic sound vibrated faintly in the surrounding air:
"..."Jack Jones 4"..."Internal 4"... and "Underworld 4"..."
"All 4s... 4, the number of death."
Seraphine laughed in amusement. "Is that Divine God trying to curse you to death?"
Mox said nothing, simply keeping his head bowed in silence.
"Hmm~ Three movies. It seems the time dilation in the Divine Space is much faster than in Prime space-time."
Seraphine looked around. "By the way, you've leaked so much info; how many points did that Divine God fine you?"
"...5,000 points..."
"Not bad, that's quite cheap."
Seraphine nodded. "Alright, get back to the Divine Space."
Upon receiving the order, Mox nodded respectfully. Without warning, a sudden tributary of the Creeping Sea swept him away, vanishing from the spot instantly.
Afterward, Seraphine opened a Real Number Channel and teleported the crystal-diamond invitation to her true body, located at an infinite distance.
Then, her form abruptly expanded trillion-fold. Transforming into a gray-mist giant, she strode toward the distant swarms of drifting angels.
...
The Physical Universe
In the boundless expanse of space, Seraphine slowly opened her palm, which was as vast as a galaxy.
BUZZ!
In her palm, a thin, transparent, crystal-clear invitation instantly appeared.
"Brilliant Games... what could it be?"
The moment the invitation appeared, she analyzed it several times, from the inside out.
"Mixed with a large amount of Ether-Crystalline dark matter, Ether-Crystalline protons, along with vast amounts of four-dimensional pure energy and a small amount of five-dimensional pure energy. There are also overly complex unknown micro-space-time frameworks and some unidentified matter.
Ah, this structural model is incredibly complex. It feels... quite similar to the multiple overlapping lattice structure of the Creeping Sea tributaries that construct and connect the [Three Hells + Millions of Mortal Realms] giant ecosystem. Could it be..."
A divine light flashed within Seraphine's Eye of Transcendence. "Could the so-called Brilliant Games and that giant ecosystem... originate from the same being?"
The question flashed through her mind and vanished.
Seraphine immediately employed the 'Candlelight in the Mirror' technique, splitting off a wisp of a Spirituality projection.
BUZZ!
In a blur, a faint, flickering shadow emerged, hovering beside the crystal-diamond invitation, the Brilliant Games invite, held in Seraphine's massive palm.
Indeed, Seraphine intended to enter and explore this so-called Brilliant Games.
Through a clone.
Immediately, threads of world-destroying energy began to appear, wrapping themselves around the shadow in layers.
An instant later, the shadow transformed into a young girl wearing a classic black dress.
She looked exactly like Seraphine in her Facade state.
However, this newly created clone was clearly much weaker. Her aura was roughly at the level of a Milky Way Overlord, just enough to barely destroy a planet like Earth.
"Overlord level... still too weak. Since it's a completely unknown space, it's better to prepare some trump cards."
With that thought, Seraphine immediately utilized her Authority of [Change] to envelop the new clone.
"The combat level remains the same, but her vitality and mental power at the conceptual level will never be exhausted... that should be enough."
"That's more than enough," Seraphine (Clone) said, opening her eyes and sharing a smile with her true body.
She then reached out and opened the transparent, diamond-like invitation, pressing her slender index finger onto the [Yes] option.
BUZZ!
In a flash, the invitation expanded into an extremely complex geometric space-time structural entity, abruptly swallowing the Seraphine clone.
Afterward, it vanished into the misty void.
"Now, let us continue the journey."
Seraphine (True Body) slowly stood up in the infinite universe, taking a massive stride that instantly crossed a hundred million light-years.
...
"Please enter your character ID."
"Note: Prohibited words are not allowed."
Hearing a sweet female voice coming from an unknown direction, Seraphine, standing in the darkness, felt a bit puzzled.
She spoke calmly: "Sera."
BEEP!
"Name already taken. Please enter a new name."
"Great Demon King."
BEEP!
"Name already taken. Please enter a new name."
"Ah~"
Seraphine thought for a moment, then raised her head and spoke loudly: "Great Demon King Seraphine."
"Naming successful. Wishing you a pleasant journey in "Brilliant Games"."
"And so... the game begins."
The gentle female voice faded, and the heavy darkness surrounding her quickly dissipated.
Seraphine suddenly found herself in a pure white square.
"Hmm? The space-time coordinates of this place... cannot be detected? Interesting."
Seraphine looked around curiously. She found that the edges of this square were enclosed by light-screens as tall as city walls, completely obscuring the outside world.
In the distance, many cute children around seven or eight years old, dressed in various outfits, were running around.
Children...
Seraphine narrowed her eyes and slowly raised her two tender hands...
She had turned into a child too?
"What's going on?"
Seraphine looked down and realized her height had shrunk to less than a meter. Feeling the pockets of her dress, she found a wooden slingshot tucked inside.
Ignoring that for a moment, she took a few quick steps and grabbed a bouncy brat nearby. "Hey, kid, what is this place?"
"You're the kid! Your whole family are brats! Psycho! Get lost!"
To her surprise, the brat turned around and cursed at her before running away.
"Heh, you little brat."
Seraphine gave a brilliant smile. Just as she was about to pull the kid back to reason with him, a majestic angel, a thousand meters tall and radiating iridescent light, suddenly appeared in the sky above the square.
The angel looked down at the dazed children in the square and smiled, speaking in an operatic tone:
"Everyone, congratulations! You have become the latest group of novice players to escape the shackles of the physical universe and enter the 375th server of the "Brilliant World", meticulously crafted by the great Dimensional Artist, Mr. Coo.
This game features 100% perfect simulation graphics; every building, terrain, and item is fully interactable.
They can be cut, dismantled, modified, assembled, stacked, burned, damaged, or destroyed.
Furthermore, this server possesses a massive spatial map, 10 billion light-years in length, width, and height, with a volume of one nonillion cubic light-years, containing twenty billion galaxies. It can simultaneously host up to a hundred nonillion players online.
Here, you can pilot spaceships to roam space as a free-spirited interstellar adventurer;
Or you can wield laser guns and laser swords, chasing wealth and treasure across the vast firmament as a reckless interstellar rogue;
Or you can organize countless warships, ambitiously conquering thousands of races and seizing billions of planets to become an interstellar warlord whose fame echoes through the boundless void;
You can even travel alone into the deep universe to modify planets and sow the seeds of life as a cosmic creator.
Here, there are Nebula city-states, interstellar towns, and Meteor villages.
There are metal deserts, frozen oceans, and high-temperature jungles.
There are also ancient temples, ruins of old civilizations, deserts, and dimensional labyrinths...
All of them are scattered throughout the vast, misty universe, waiting for you to discover, explore, and conquer!
You can do whatever you want;
No one can constrain you.
You can go wherever you want;
No one can stop you.
Players, please roam and experience to your heart's content!"
The angel slowly faded, leaving only a lingering echo.
"So..."
Seraphine slowly raised her head, looking at the ID name hanging above her, 『Great Demon King Seraphine』.
Along with the red bar and blue bar beneath the name, she couldn't help but mutter, "I've entered... a virtual game?
Brilliant Games, it really is a game."
Looking at the dense array of status bars filling her vision, Seraphine felt it was utterly absurd.
"How surreal."
Amidst her realization, she noticed the constantly flashing system messages in the bottom-left corner of her vision. She reached out and clicked them open.
"Beep... Attention, 『Great Demon King Seraphine』. Players must reach Level 1 before they can leave the Novice Square.
Friendly Reminder: Mutual attacks are allowed within the Novice Square. Please protect yourself."
SWOOSH!
Just as she finished reading, a stone struck Seraphine heavily in the chest.
SMACK!
Instantly, a red "-10" flashed over the long crimson health bar above her head.
SWOOSH!
Another stone flew toward her. Seraphine reached out to catch it.
HUH?!
She actually missed. She was struck again.
Health -10.
Seraphine's eyebrows twitched as she turned her head.
Unsurprisingly, it was that foul-mouthed brat from earlier attacking her.
Wait, no.
The child-like appearance of the opponent might just be because they were still in the novice stage; God only knew what kind of monster was hidden behind that cute image.
It was strange, after plugging into this bizarre Brilliant Games, her physical strength, which was clearly capable of destroying planets... couldn't be utilized.
Or rather, Seraphine's power couldn't normally interact with the matter in this world? Her Physical Strength couldn't manifest in this place?
Everything seemed suppressed.
That tiny stone, which she should have easily caught, slipped through her fingers.
She shook her head and smiled. "Doesn't matter. If I can't catch them, surely I can dodge them?"
Take that!
"Haven't played with this in a long time."
With a nostalgic tone, Seraphine's cute little face suddenly turned fierce. She quickly pulled the slingshot from her pocket, hooked the leather pouch with her fingers, aimed, and released.
A round stone automatically appeared in the pouch, and with a WHIZ, it struck the brat in the forehead.
THUD!
"Ouch! Even with pain adjusted to 30%, why does it still hurt so much?!"
『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』 was startled and quickly dialed his pain setting to the minimum before continuing the slingshot duel with 『Great Demon King Seraphine』.
Why the duel when there was no grudge?
Nonsense.
As a veteran PK player, isn't it normal to look for someone to PK when entering a game?
Even though this game required a precious crystal invitation for the first login and relied on a strangely appearing tattoo thereafter—and lacked a keyboard or controller—it didn't change its fundamental nature as an online game.
And what is the essence of an online game?
Others might not know, but for 『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』, online games were the best way to bully honest kids, vent negative emotions, and show off through pay-to-win mechanics.
Maps, plots, guild wars, he didn't care about any of that. He could just hire boosters for those.
Low level? Weak skills? Poor gear?
Small issues. Just pay. Paying solves everything.
As a top-tier "rich second generation," 『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』 feared nothing.
He only wondered if this mysterious black-technology online game, which he had heard about and craved for years, had a way to pay-to-win.
SWOOSH
SWOOSH
SWOOSH
"Damn it!"
Stones flew one after another, striking 『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』's head with continuous THUDS.
The numbers -10, -10, -10, -10 flashed rapidly above his head as his HP plummeted toward zero.
"We're both newbies! Why are you so damn good?!"
『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』 glared at the distant, zig-zagging 『Great Demon King Seraphine』 in impotent rage.
Yes, in this Brilliant Games, they were both just "cute newbies."
But how could a physical weakling, someone who gasped for air before walking two hundred steps in reality, ever compare to a high-dimensional monster like Seraphine in terms of combat awareness?
Even if this clone could only exert mortal strength for now, if Seraphine truly wanted to cause trouble, the amount of raw power was irrelevant.
Of course, 『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』 had no idea.
After his repeated counterattacks failed, he had no choice but to take off on his short little legs, scurrying around the square like a rat.
Seeing this, Seraphine laughed and shifted her movement, trailing closely behind him. Her hands never stopped as she pelted the back of his head with stones.
-10, -10, -10, -10...
"AAAAAARGH!!"
After a series of "-10" messages, 『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』 finally let out a mournful wail as his HP hit zero, and he "died" near the edge of the Novice Square.
"Hmm..."
Walking slowly over, Seraphine looked at her attribute panel, lost in thought.
Name: Great Demon King Seraphine
HP: 9999999999999999
MP: 9999999999999999
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Constitution: 10
Spirit: 10
Level: 0
Experience: 10/50
Class: None
Damage: 10
Defense: 10
Speed: 10
Weight Capacity: 10
Evasion: 1.0%
Critical Hit: 1.0%
Free Attribute Points: 0
Skill Points: 0
Equipment: Toy Slingshot (Crude)
Items: None
Currency: None
Class Skills: None
Extra Skills: None
Mystic Skills: None
"..."
"What's with this absurdly long health and mana bar? It's almost at 10 quintillion. I've never heard of a game where a newbie's stats are this exaggerated. Is it a bug? And I clearly lost some health, so why did it jump back up? Could it be..."
Seraphine narrowed her eyes and gave a thoughtful smile. "Could it be... that while my Physical Strength and external interaction are severely affected, my vitality and mental power... still remain in a state of eternal inexhaustibility?
If this world truly is a virtual game, it must have a stable underlying operational mechanism. Even if that mechanism can interfere with my power and physical state, it cannot limit the conceptual immortality I gained through the Authority."
"So... I'm basically a bug."
The corners of Seraphine's mouth curled up. "A bug that causes server data overflow."
...
"The last time was a fluke!"
SMACK
"Just you wait!"
SMACK
"I'm going to camp your spawn and kill you a hundred times!"
SMACK
"AAAAARGH, I QUIT!"
Having died countless times, 『I'm Proud, What Can You Do』 howled in grief. He lay heavily in a corner of the square, near the respawn point, before quickly transforming into wisps of white smoke and vanishing.
DING!
Level Up.
Seraphine, who instantly grew from a child into a youth, casually lowered her slingshot and looked at the game interface.
The panel showed that each of her attributes had automatically increased by 1, and she had gained 10 Free Attribute Points.
Without hesitation, Seraphine flicked her finger and dumped all 10 points into Strength.
Consequently, the Damage and Defense attributes listed on the panel both increased by 5.
She pondered: "It seems Strength directly impacts Damage and Defense. However, with my infinite HP, I have absolutely no use for Defense. It's better to stack everything into Damage."
"This world is interesting, but I lack clues. I need to travel and see more."
After finishing her thoughts, Seraphine suddenly turned to look at the deep blue ring of light not far away, the respawn point.
Her eyes flickered. She raised her slingshot and fired a stone, hitting the blue ring directly.
SMACK
No reaction.
"Didn't they say everything could be attacked? What a scam."
Seraphine chuckled. "And that guy still hasn't respawned. Did he really quit?"
SWOOSH
A stone shot toward her instantly.
Seraphine easily dodged it. Glancing over, she saw it was a group of brats in a fierce melee.
Hmm... wait.
It was a few newbie players ganging up with slingshots on a player named 『Everything Within Three Meters is a Dog』.
SWOOSH
SWOOSH
SWOOSH
Effortlessly evading the storm of stones, Seraphine stepped toward the light-screen at the edge of the square and walked through.
BUZZ
In an instant, her figure vanished from the square.
...
BANG!!
The dense, brilliant lights slowly faded from her body, and Seraphine suddenly found herself standing beside a massive mechanical city gate. It was thousands of meters high, like a mountain cliff, its surface covered in dense patterns of red and blue lightning, radiating a heavy aura of antiquity.
Looking inside, she saw thousands, no, tens of thousands, of players of all shapes and sizes, moving in and out at various speeds.
Coming and going.
The crowd was a surging ocean, shoulder to shoulder.
Some players wore shimmering, organic composite light armor, carrying exquisite greatbows adorned with dozens of golden electronic eyeballs.
Others rode three-headed giant bears, beasts covered in thick, vibrant fur, equipped with rows of light-cannon boxes on their sides and heavy tank treads beneath their feet, swaggering through the streets.
There were players in heavy mechanical power armor, one hand clutching a massive chainsword while the other dragged a thick blunderbolt gun that crackled with starlight and lightning, their heavy steps creating a loud CLANG-BANG as they advanced.
Some even dressed in ancient styles, yet their faces or limbs were replaced with sophisticated mechanical parts, as they glided through the air, trailing wisps of invisible energy.
The cacophony of sounds was both overwhelming and vibrantly alive.
"So this is the 'hustle and bustle' of life."
Seraphine laughed, feeling nostalgic as she stepped into the city.
Walking along a broad, exquisite boulevard that acted as a giant electronic screen continuously playing commercial advertisements, she noticed that several thousand meters above, mountain-sized anti-gravity skyscrapers were slowly patrolling the sky, casting large, rectangular shadows.
These shadows weren't simple.
The moment someone was caught within one, a humanoid light-projection would appear around them, incessantly introducing various goods.
Seraphine was no exception.
To escape the projections, one had to either walk quickly or pay for some kind of ad-free membership.
Hurrying past the annoying advertisements, Seraphine walked over a thousand meters before noticing a hunched middle-aged man sitting beneath a floating holographic billboard. He was weeping, his voice blurred and filled with sorrow.
"An NPC mission?"
Seraphine thought as she slowly approached.
Getting closer, she finally made out the content of his cries:
"Will some kind soul please save my daughter? She needs a Radiant Ganoderma from the depths of the Kestrel Oasis to save her life. I beg of you!"
"Do you need help?"
Seraphine stepped forward.
"Uh..."
The grieving man's movements paused. He looked at Seraphine and said hesitantly, "Miss... perhaps you should come back when your skills are more refined, after you reach Level 15."
Seraphine tilted her head and laughed. "Ah, not high enough level, huh? Well, bye then."
She continued deeper into the city.
After another thousand meters, Seraphine spotted another likely quest NPC on the side of the road.
She looked toward the edge of the boulevard, where a short, incredibly haughty-looking fat man with a metallic face and mechanical arms stood.
Seeing someone watching him, the metallic fatty gave a proud smirk.
"I am the disciple of the universe's number one superpower weapon blacksmith, Lord Taigu. If you can retrieve thirty power alloy swords from the Mechanical Bandit camp seventeen hundred kilometers east of this city, I will forge a Kathulli alloy high-frequency electromagnetic battleaxe for you for free."
Finished with his speech, the fat man squinted at Seraphine. "Hmm... come back when you're Level 20."
Seraphine looked up at the 'Level 1' floating above her head, shook her head, and left.
...
"I want to assemble a desert cargo transport fleet, but I don't have enough nuclear engines. If you can retrieve thirty nuclear engines from the Mad Town two hundred kilometers west of here, I will pay you handsomely."
Beside a lightly floating heavy truck, a tall, thin man with three electronic prosthetic eyes said with a smile, "However, you must be Level 15 to help me."
"Mad Town, two hundred kilometers west. Fine, I'll go there."
Seraphine waved her hand and turned to head quickly out of the city.
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
She covered several kilometers in a flash, returning to the mechanical gate where she had first arrived.
WHOOSH
The moment she stepped through the faint light-screen of the gates, she felt a dry, scorching wave of heat hit her face.
Raising a hand to brush away the dust stinging her eyes, she was met with a golden desert that stretched to infinity. Stubborn cacti and scrub brush dotted the landscape of rolling dunes, filling Seraphine's vision.
She frowned slightly; the outside temperature was incredibly high.
Looking up...
Indeed, the sunlight was intense, with almost no clouds in the sky for cover.
"It seems I 'spawned' on a scorching desert planet."
Since it was daytime, billions of rays of blazing sunlight made the entire desert as far as she could see both blistering and dazzling. The infinite tiny grains of sand glittered under the heat, as if the world were dusted with shimmering gold powder, like a golden ocean.
"Everyone, this is the famous Passionate Great Desert of the planet Azure Flame..."
Suddenly, a loud, rowdy voice drifted over from nearby.
Hearing the sound, Seraphine scanned the area. She saw five or six differently dressed players beneath the towering metal city walls, noisily fighting several mutated giant rats.
The leader, a slightly pudgy middle-aged man, was speaking joyfully to a floating screen before him:
"Thanks to Brachiosaur for the rocket! Much appreciated!"
As he spoke, the man widened his eyes and pressed his palms together, bowing repeatedly toward the screen.
"Thanks to the family! Thanks for the likes! If you like the content, give your host a follow! Please follow 『Uncle Client』, love you!"
Having finished his spiel, 『Uncle Client』 made a heart sign with his hands toward the screen, smiling broadly.
"Uh... there are streamers too?"
Seraphine laughed and shook her head, then set off toward the rolling dunes to the west of the city.
Destination: Mad Town.