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Chapter 760: Couronne Trade! Save Imanity!
No Game No Life Alternative timeline
Couronne sat on a rickety wooden chair, her eyes fixed on the groupchat interface that only she could see.
On the screen Akame was sharing assassination skills, Frieren was describing the marvels of magic, and SaekoBusujima was exchanging combat insights yet to Couronne it all felt like soap bubblesbeautiful and useless.
She had asked the group over and over how to save the human race, but every reply was feeble.
In this cruel world the Imanity were simply too weakso weak that even with a thousand techniques they could hardly change their oppressed fate.
Just as Couronne kept refreshing the chat in desperate hope of a miracle, a sudden clamor of running feet and frantic shouts broke out outside.
Startled, she sprang up and flung open the dooronly to see Riku, covered in blood, dashing into the village.
Riku's face was white as a sheet and his eyes were filled with panic. He forced himself upright and yelled, "Quick! Everyone grab your thingswe have to run!"
Couronne rushed to him, voice shaking. "Riku, what happened?"
Panting heavily, he answered in a low, helpless tone, "The Demonia found usthey've followed me here!"
The words had barely left his mouth when the bright sky was suddenly swallowed by darkness.
People looked up in terror: the heavens were packed with Demonia, dense as storm clouds, their ghastly roars freezing the blood.
Despair washed over the villagerssome burst into tears, some collapsed where they stood.
They knew that against such overpowering foes they had almost no chance to survive.
"Someone please help us" Couronne sank to the ground in hopelessness.
At the shrine
Rei Ao was holding the exhausted Tsuruyama Shirahi in a gentle embrace; the room was filled with a warm, faintly suggestive atmosphere.
Stroking her long hair, he whispered, "Shirahi, trust meI'll make you my wife and give you a happy future."
She lifted her head, worry and doubt in her eyes. "Then what about Mahirunee?"
Rei Ao's lips curled with confident ease. "Mahiru as well. All of you will be mine. I'm not like ordinary men; those worldly rules don't apply to me."
With that he raised a finger and tapped the air.
A mysterious gleam flashed; Shirahi felt a strange energy surge into her body.
[Ding! You have chosen to grant a chatgroup subchannel to target: Tsuruyama Shirahi!]
All the information about the transaction chat group flooded into her mind like a tide.
Eyes wide, she stared at Rei Ao in shockshe could scarcely believe such a miracle existed.
Just then a new message popped up:
Couronne: "Please, everyonehelp me!"
[Ding! Couronne has started a live broadcast!]
Rei Ao and Shirahi turned to the streaming window.
On screen a handful of humans huddled inside a crumbling house; cracks ran through the walls, ready to give way. Outside, ferocious demons had the place surrounded, their roars shaking the soul.
The chat exploded:
Yomogawa Ayame: "What on earth is happening?"
MaiSakurajima: "Those monsters aren't friendlyCouronne's village is under attack."
Stella: "I remember Couronne describing these Demonia. Has her village been found?"
Frieren: "Looks like she's calling for help. @Rei Ao, hero's turn againgo save the damsel."
Rei Ao's expression sharpened.
Rei Ao: "@Couronnestart the trade, I'll help."
Couronne: "Understood!"
She hesitated no longer; she accepted his terms without even reading them.
[Ding! Transaction initiated!]
[Target:Couronne]
[Objective:See the Imanity safely through this crisis.]
[Price:"One Bodyusage Rights"]
Rei Ao leaned down and kissed Shirahi's forehead. "Wait for me, Shirahi. I'll settle things there and be right back."
"Rei Aokun" She was anxious, but she knew his task was vital. She nodded firmly. "Come back safeI'll be waiting."
Rei Ao smiled, and his figure dissolved in light.
Couronne's village
An instant later he appeared amid the chaos. The Demonia, apparently bored with toying with their prey, had begun their real assault; houses collapsed one after another, villagers' screams echoing through the night.
"Damn it!" Riku clenched his fists, rage and despair mixing in his eyes. Was this really the end?
"TchDemonia, and ugly to boot." Rei Ao's gaze was icy; an overwhelming aura radiated from him.
He raised a hand, a blinding beam flared, and every attacking demon was hurled back by an invisible force.
Hope blazed in Couronne's eyes. She dashed to him. "Rei Ao-sama!"
He nodded, scanning the horde. "Easy. While I'm here none of you will die. Butyou're sure you won't regret the deal?"
Couronne bit her lip. "If it saves the Imanity, I'll pay any price!"
Rei Ao smiled. "Very welllet's end this."
He opened his hand; countless golden lances of light shot forth, piercing the demons. The monsters that had seemed invincible screamed as their bodies were riddled with light, dissolving into black smoke.
Wave after wave of Demonia poured in, yet before Rei Ao they were no more than ants.
His eyes narrowed. "Freeze."
A vast domain spread out from him, locking the entire village in stasis; every demon froze in midair.
Crack!
With a shattering roar the skyfull of monsters crumbled to dust and drifted down like ashes. The domain faded.
The villagers stared, speechless. The calamity that had plunged them into despair had been wiped awayjust like thatby this mysterious man.
~~~
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Chapter 761: Ex-Machina Girl
The ruined village was thick with smoke and dust.
Riku gripped the nicked sword in his hand, watching the mysterious man who had appeared out of nowhere.
Rei Ao's black hair was tousled, prismatic irises flickering with unfathomable light; an aura impossible to gauge radiated from him.
Everyone had just watched this man annihilate all the Demonia in an instant.
To Riku, a being that strong could not possibly be an Imanity.
"Who are you? What race do you belong to?"
His voice carried tension and wariness.
Behind him, the villagers tightened their grips on makeshift weapons, on full alert.
In this brutal world they had learned to distrust anything powerful and unknownone misstep could spell extinction, as the last attack had shown.
The standoff grew taut until Couronne pushed through the crowd and hurried up to Rei Ao, her sootstained face lit with gratitude.
"Master Thank you so much! Without you we'd all have died to the Demonia today!"
The villagers erupted. They stared at Couronne, then at Rei Ao, unable to fathom how an ordinary Imanity girl could know someone this terrifyingly strong.
Riku's frown only deepened; suspicion gnawed harder than before.
"I came for exactly that," Rei Ao said with a casual wave, motioning Couronne not to fuss.
Turning to Riku he added, "You're the leader here, right? You're wary of mehow about we talk somewhere private?"
After a moment's hesitation Riku nodded. He knew that someone who had erased the Demonia so easily left him no room to refuse.
The three moved into one of the few intact houses.
Rei Ao sat wherever he liked, perfectly at ease; Riku remained standing, gaze fixed on him.
"I still want to know who you are," Riku began, "and why you suddenly helped us."
Rei Ao smiled lightly. "What you really want to know is my race, isn't it?"
Riku fell silent, then gave a small nod.
"I can't see traits of any known species on you," he said at last. "The only possibility I can think of is the OldDeus."
No Elf ears, no Flugel wings, no Werebeast featuresRei Ao looked most like an Imanity, yet Riku dismissed that at once: Imanity simply couldn't be this strong.
Rei Ao read the thought in his eyes. "I'm human."
The plain words drew a shocked, almost reflexive denial from Riku. "Impossible."
Rei Ao only shrugged. "Believe it or not. Couronne is my friendask her if you still doubt me."
Riku turned to Couronne, questions crowding his gaze.
"I" She wrung her hands, unsure how to explain.
Ignoring their silent exchange, Rei Ao stepped outside.
With a sweep of both hands, gentle light spilled over the wrecked village. Time itself seemed to flow backward across the buildings: shattered walls knit together, fallen houses slowly reerected.
And as a final touch he laid an invisible barrier around the settlement.
Just then something caught his attention. Glancing into the distance, he told the two, "I have an errandtalk things over while I'm gone."
Before the words had faded, he vanished, leaving the pair staring after him in stunned silence.
After a long pause Riku faced Couronne again.
"Who is he really? Why help usand what does he want in return?"
Couronne bit her lip. Weighing her options, she decided to reveal part of the truth.
"Rei Aokun is a human from another world, wielding power beyond imagination. He helped because I asked him"
"Another world?" Riku echoed blankly.
Couronne nodded. "I met him by chancehe's extraordinary."
Riku tried to digest it, instincts as Imanity's leader warning him it could not be that simple.
"Then what's the price for his help?"
Color rushed to Couronne's cheeks. She lowered her head, twisting her fingers. "The price is me."
"What?!" Riku's eyes flew wide, too astonished to speak. Not angermerely disbelief at how light the cost seemed. If offering himself could save the Imanity, he would do it without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Rei Ao had teleported to a desolate wasteland.
The silence was eerie; wind moaned through broken walls and toppled pillars.
"Looks like a battlefield," he muttered, scanning the ruins until his gaze settled on the central pavilion.
Someoneor somethingwas still "alive" there.
A girl.
She sat quietly, body shattered in many places to reveal silverwhite machinery beneath. Crimson eyes glowed coldly in the duskan ExMachina girl, waiting.
~~~
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Chapter 762: A Doable Electric Cup?
Among the Exceedthe sixteen sentient racesthe ExMachina ranks tenth.
They are a race both intimately tied to reality and yet far ahead of it, somewhat akin to a distributed superA.I. made up of many connected units.
Because every individual mind links into a cybernetic whole, they can be regarded as a single entity: data perceived by one unit is instantly relayed to a command node.
ExMachina individuals fall into five main categories
Analysis Units process all incoming data
Combat Units engage in battle
Design Units invent new armaments
Command Units coordinate the network
Observation Units watch and gather intelligence
The girl before him was an Analysis Unit.
Analysis types are not built primarily for combat; they possess only about 32% of a Combat Unit's firepowerthough even that is formidable.
ExMachina also have no personal names; they identify themselves with complex strings of numbers and letters.
This girl's serial would be something like c207Pr4f57t9.
Yet she was unusual among her kind, for she had begun to thinkto ponder life, emotion, desire, and other phenomena the ExMachina lack.
"What is a heart?"
Hearing her question, Rei Ao smiled.
He seemed to know this girl alreadyShuvi, one of this world's key figures.
But at this point in time she had not met Riku and therefore had no such name.
Sensing Rei Ao's approach, Shuvi instantly booted defensive protocols; an energy shield sprang up in front of her, and a synthesized voice warned:
"Warning! Unknown lifeform detected. Halt immediately!"
Rei Ao merely flicked his hand.
The shield, which had looked so solid, shattered like fragile glass. Unscathed, he walked up to Shuvi.
Red light flashed inside her eyes as she ran full situational analysis.
"Unable to parse
Threat level: unknown.
Choosing selfdestruct protocol."
Realizing she could not win, Shuvi triggered her detonation sequence.
But Rei Ao had foreseen this; a beam of light from his hand froze the program at once.
"ExMachina-chan," he said with a smile, "you've been trying to understand the human heart. Wouldn't blowing yourself up be a waste?"
Shuvi looked up, puzzlement flickering in her crimson pupils.
"How do you know my objective? Why the human heart?"
Rei Ao's eyes held a hint of mystery. "You can't grasp the heart just by thinking about it. You have to see it."
He tapped the air; a gentle radiance enveloped Shuvi.
Miraculously her damaged body began to mend: sundered components knit together, severed circuits relinked. Moments later she was as good as new.
A rapid selfdiagnostic confirmed full recoveryand assigned Rei Ao a lower threat rating.
Attempting to express gratitude with the best humanemotion algorithm she had, she asked:
"Detected benevolent action. Initiate reciprocation behavior?"
It still sounded very robotic.
Rei Ao chuckled. "If you like, come with me. I can show you the real human heart."
Shuvi's eyes flickered as she ran complex calculations. After a moment she replied:
"Data suggest this action may further the goal of understanding the human heart. Proposal accepted."
Rei Ao nodded in satisfactionshe was, in truth, easy to convince, provided she had no way to resist.
"Since you want to be more like a person, you'll need a human name. From now on, you'll be called Shuvi."
"Shuvi" She repeated the word, light dancing in her eyes. "Shuvi. Acknowledged. Name accepted."
Meanwhile, in the group chat
Hiiragi Shinoa: "You guys seeing this? Rei Ao just found a fascinating onea robot girl who wants to understand the human heart!"
Megumi Kat: "A robot trying to understand emotions? What exactly does she plan to do?"
Shiba Miyuki: "It's certainly novel. Can an AI grasp something as complex as human feelings?"
Yotsuya Miko: "Whoa, an ulterior motive, maybe? Robots studying our hearts sounds shady!"
Kasuga Hijiri: "Human emotions are messy. Can a robot really figure them out?"
Akiyama Mio: "II've watched loads of scifiwhen robots awaken they end up fighting humans and the world goes postapocalyptic Is this ExMachina going to do that? Sscary!"
Sakurajima Mai: "Stop scaring yourself. If Rei Ao took an interest, this 'Shuvi' must be special."
