Chapter 308: Tet's Hidden Trump Card, the God of Doubt?
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Old Twenty-Eight: "..."
The livestream viewers: "..."
Every single user tuned into the broadcast fell into a state of absolute, chaotic bewilderment upon hearing the dialogue between Maple and Iori.
Good grief!
It's one thing to systematically hunt down and execute an ascended deity, but you're seriously contemplating putting a God on the dinner menu?!
"Hehe, I was just joking!" Maple let out a cheerful, energetic giggle.
She wasn't actually foolish enough to consume a divine corpse; after all, there was zero analytical data to confirm whether a deity's physical remains were even biologically compatible with a human digestive system.
Hearing her clarification, the entire player base let out a collective, massive sigh of relief.
Good lord! That was an absolute jump scare!
Iori Kitahara similarly exhaled a heavy breath, his eyes sweeping over Maple as a lingering shiver ran straight down his spine.
An ascended deity... systematically one-shotted by Maple in a fraction of a second.
The sheer, monumental scale of that visual impact was almost too reality-defying to process.
He had witnessed the exact sequence: the God of Giants had suddenly materialized directly ahead of Maple's line, but before the massive entity could even initialize a single line of baseline dialogue, Maple had instantly charged forward, bringing her shield down to cleanly terminate the deity's life parameters in a single blow!
That precise visual signature had left a permanently dense, lingering shadow across Iori Kitahara's psychological mainframe.
"So, what is our next move?" Maple turned her head toward Iori, her voice tilting with curious inquiry.
It wasn't that Maple lacked individual strategic intent. It was simply that she hadn't finalized her personal tracking parameters for the next phase of the campaign, and she preferred to cross-reference the tactical assessments of Iori and the accompanying imperial commanders.
"Let us provide reinforcement to the adjacent Harbinger units," Iori Kitahara reasoned after a brief moment of deliberation.
The suggestion to reinforce the parallel fronts fell perfectly within Maple's initial thoughts. After all, despite their immense power, the Harbingers weren't guaranteed to possess a flawless attribute advantage over every native deity residing on Disboard.
Therefore, minimizing operational timelines and securing definitive victories across all sectors as rapidly as possible was the optimal strategy.
"Let's move!"
Without wasting a single second of uptime, Maple redirected her trajectory, marching straight toward the operational sector controlled by the nearest Harbinger, Liz. The elite vanguard and imperial legions smoothly transitioned into formation, following tightly in her wake.
Meanwhile, high above the atmosphere of Disboard.
Within the chamber of the Divine Roundtable terminal, Tet's brow was furrowed in an incredibly tight, analytical scowl as he panned his divine gaze across the planet's data streams.
He had completely failed to calculate that Seito's faction possessed a powerhouse who had already stabilized at the Mid-stage Deity realm!
This is a massive tactical anomaly...
Under Tet's original strategic blueprint, the hidden counter-measures he had carefully structured should have guaranteed an absolute, ironclad victory for his side. However, the unexpected manifestation of a Mid-stage Deity like Maple completely disrupted the baseline parameters of his models.
As the current simulation stood, the overall outcome of this grand Divine War had truly tilted into the exact 7-to-3 distribution ratio Sora had specified earlier.
Seito held seventy percent of the winning parameters, while Tet was left with a mere thirty!
Observing the profound shift in his expression, Seito and Sora exchanged a knowing, highly amused glance.
"Are you beginning to realize that the hidden trump card you structured has been completely neutralized?" Seito inquired, a calm smile playing on his lips.
"Oh?" Tet stiffened slightly, turning his head to lock his eyes onto Seito. "You are aware of my hidden counter-measure?"
"No," Sora interjected, shaking his head with a relaxed chuckle. "We do not possess exact telemetry regarding the specific nature of your trump card. However, we have implemented absolute, exhaustive preparations to address any potential variable."
"Hmm?" Tet's confusion deepened. Exhaustive preparations? What exactly does that imply within this matrix?
Seito took an elegant sip of his tea, calmly laying out the historical parameters. "During the ancient era of the Great War, Disboard was populated by a vast multitude of native deities. Before your ascension to the throne of the One True God, the concept of Humanity as a recognized species did not even register within the baseline laws of this world. To both the Old Deus and the lower species, humans were categorized as nothing more than transient monkeys."
"During that catastrophic era, the Ex-Machina race suffered a total structural wipeout. Therefore, to ensure a viable defensive baseline for this Divine War, you would naturally utilize the reality-warping authority of the Suniaster along with your system-level permissions to resurrect both the fallen Old Deus and the entire Ex-Machina network."
Hearing Seito flawlessly articulate the precise structural layout of his operations, Tet felt a sudden, intensely cold wave of goosebumps ripple across his divine form.
What exactly is this sensation?
He was a supreme, primordial deity! From the exact moment of his conceptual birth, he had never experienced this specific brand of psychological terror!
Seito's level of systematic familiarity with the historical logs of Disboard had completely bypassed Tet's analytical expectations. It was as though the entity sitting across from him had physically stood within the timeline, watching every single sequence of the ancient Great War unfold with his own eyes!
Before Tet could even stabilize his cognitive processes, Seito's voice resonated once more.
"However, you wouldn't rely on standard, baseline deities to act as your definitive trump card. Our strategic models suggest you would select a single deity possessing an exceptionally high cognitive and analytical capacity, and systematically funnel your resources to amplify her baseline power traits. Therefore, this chosen entity is, with a statistical probability approaching absolute certainty, the creator of the Ex-Machina—the God of Doubt, Holou!"
Tet: "?!!!"
The exact microsecond the name fell, Tet froze completely solid, his eyes widening in absolute, unadulterated shock.
"You... you people..."
He attempted to formulate a counter-argument, but found his cognitive processing entirely locked. It was utterly terrifying! Seito's words had completely laid bare the deepest, most secure layers of his strategic planning!
It was exactly as Seito had deduced. Before the formal initialization of the Divine War, Tet had thoroughly evaluated the aggregate combat values of his home world. Since this entire conflict was being executed under the framework of a "Game," he—as the One True God of Games—inherently possessed zero desire to suffer a definitive defeat.
Thus, utilizing the supreme authority of the Suniaster, he had resurrected the fallen Old Deus and restored the full systemic functionality of the Ex-Machina.
Yet, even with those parameters deployed, he couldn't mathematically guarantee an absolute victory. Therefore, he had deliberately chosen the deity harboring the absolute highest analytical intellect among the Old Deus—Holou, the God of Doubt—and systematically elevated her baseline power configuration! After all, Holou's core behavioral profile was defined by extreme, meticulous caution.
Under Tet's original projections, an extra-dimensional faction that had only recently ascended into the wider Divine Domain shouldn't possess an overly dense roster of high-tier deities. The mere presence of Seito—a powerhouse stabilizing at the absolute Peak-stage Deity realm—was already an absurd anomaly that defied standard progression curves.
But looking at the current battlefield telemetry... Tet realized his initial models had been laced with an unacceptable margin of arrogance. Had he funneled enough resources to force Holou's progression into the Late-stage Deity realm, his current defensive confidence would be exponentially higher!
Falling into a deep, heavy silence, Tet took a slow, measured breath to stabilize his divine aura.
"Even with those parameters clarified, it is entirely too early to declare an absolute victory for your faction."
Although his deployment had suffered a minor miscalculation, Holou's extreme systemic caution provided him with a strong tactical safety net. Currently, the specific commander leading the offensive toward the Ex-Machina domain was none other than the Goddess of Chaos, Shiro.
Tet possessed clear data regarding Shiro's baseline configuration; her power signatures stabilized at the Early-stage Deity realm. Against an elevated Holou, the mathematical advantage remained firmly on his side.
"Heh."
Both Seito and Sora let out a simultaneous, highly synchronized chuckle.
"What exactly do your parameters imply?" Tet's tone dropped, his expression turning intensely somber.
Sensing the immense, abyss-like divine pressure radiating from Tet's form, the three miniature Flugel toddlers at the edge of the table shivered violently, compressing themselves into tiny balls.
"It is nothing," Seito replied, his expression shifting into a deeply enigmatic, highly playful look. "Tell me, Tet... what is your current qualitative assessment of Shiro?"
"Hmm?" The query left Tet completely stalled.
An assessment of Shiro?
He had never engaged in direct psychological cross-reference with the girl, so how could he possibly map her precise behavioral metrics or underlying cognitive architecture?
Seito and Sora simply maintained their knowing smiles. They harbored zero anxiety regarding Shiro's operational sector. After all, if a tactical variable was obvious enough for their minds to isolate, it was mathematically impossible for Shiro to have omitted it from her own calculations!
"Let us dispense with the speculation and allow the telemetry to unfold," Seito murmured, dropping his gaze back down to monitor the planet's data streams.
Sora leaned back, assuming an entirely relaxed, leisurely posture. Only Tet remained completely locked in an internal processing loop, relentlessly analyzing the precise subtext behind Seito's question.
Down within a secluded, fog-shrouded coordinate on Disboard.
Shiro, draped in her magnificent white coat, was calmly leading a massive line of elite Fatui executives and imperial legions through a dense, metallic wasteland, marching steadily toward the coordinate mapped to the Ex-Machina's sovereign base.
"Lady Harbinger, exactly how much distance remains before we reach the primary anchor of the Ex-Machina?" White Wind, the Grand General of the Snezhnaya Empire, stepped forward to inquire, his brow furrowed in mild confusion.
They had advanced across a massive distance without encountering a single trace of hostile units or scouting telemetry. Within an active war zone, an operational vacuum of this scale was profoundly irregular.
Every other tactical squad on the planet had already initialized high-intensity combat, yet their front remained entirely quiet.
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Thank you for reading.