[Divine Chat Group – Gods and Demons]

"Why is Captain like this."

"Yeah, why is Captain like this."

"Does he want to end up like Deceitful Bloom and Foolishness, both killed by BS-Rita?"

"No way. Captain's not into that kind of thing. Every time he descends as an event reward, he avoids showing up near Lania Kaia Maple Syrup."

"He wanted to once, but Toothache the idiot went first, told Maple Syrup he was Captain, and—well, got turned into a cookie."

"After that, Captain completely gave up the idea."

"Exactly. The only reason he's daring to taunt Maple Syrup and BS-Rita now is because the game houses forbid attacking the moderators."

"Cunning bastard."

"Call it careful."

"Does Toothache still like Maple Syrup?"

"More than ever. Totally obsessed."

"He should join the demon faction."

"He should join the demon faction."

"He should join the demon faction."

"??? We're not recruiting masochists."

"Why not? Out of slots?"

"..."

—— [All answers can only be one of the players at your table.]

Rita still remembered that line from the rules. When she'd first read it, she had wondered if it was even possible to point at someone as obviously divine as the game moderator himself.

Apparently, yes.

Because Maple Syrup had already given her the answer.

Resting one elbow on the table, chin tilted down against her hand, Maple Syrup leaned forward toward Rita. Rita could almost hear the rhythm of her pleased breathing.

Then Maple Syrup raised her other hand, index finger pointed straight up—and with deliberate force, slashed it downward like a blade toward the figure at the table's head.

"I pick him."

Rita followed the motion to Captain. His smile didn't falter, but behind that expression was something complicated—expectation? Satisfaction?

Her pulse began to pound, heat surging through her veins. Every physical symptom of anger flared to life.

For someone as cautious and self-preserving as Rita, the fact that she had once chosen to stay and fight alongside BlueStar—to die beside strangers—proved how deeply that war had marked her. The shock, the awe, the guilt of that day still clung to her.

She had thought the war happened simply because Lania Kaia could no longer tolerate her growth. But if a god had intervened, deliberately accelerating the conflict…

A thought clicked into place.

Was that why Maple Syrup despised Captain so much?

If Captain had played a hand in the destruction of Forest Sea too…

Had he done it because he hated them—or because he admired them and wanted to temper them? Or maybe this was just entertainment for him, a way to pass eternity?

Countless possibilities flashed through her mind, but Rita shut her eyes, smothering the fury beneath her ribs. Her breathing slowed, deepened.

For once, she and Maple Syrup were thinking the same thing.

Don't let the puppeteer see emotion. That was exactly what he wanted.

Even with the seahorse's manic personality tugging at her soul, she forced every reckless impulse down.

In silence, she raised her hand and pointed at Captain before the timer hit zero.

Correct.

Maple Syrup straightened her posture again, face blank, as though nothing had happened.

Only Quex and Frenzied Shark kept glancing between them, sensing tension they couldn't quite name.

Captain's smile didn't waver. He spread his hands and summoned the next card.

Eleventh card: "She is both traitor and child of time."

Maple Syrup and Frenzied Shark both chose Quex—their reasoning simple. Her original form had a famous passive ability that allowed her to move freely during time-stop or acceleration states.

But Rita, at the very last second, chose herself.

She had been reborn, after all. That alone made her a traitor to time.

And she held three temporal skills: the time-reversal [Dragon Thief], the time-stop [Waste Guide], and the time-travel [Temporal Stroll].

If that wasn't the mark of time's favorite, what was?

Correct.

The others turned to stare at her again.

Twelfth card: "She once made dozens of gods fight on her behalf."

Quex muttered, "Whose legendary life is this supposed to be?"

When the timer was down to one second, Rita lifted her finger toward herself. "Aba." Just another day in paradise.

Every other face at the table contorted for a split second.

Thirteenth card: "She always kicks the iron plate."

Rita, Maple Syrup, and Quex spent a few seconds thinking it over, all coming to the same conclusion: if they were the iron plates, then the one doing the kicking was Frenzied Shark.

They all pointed at him in perfect sync.

Frenzied Shark: "..."

Who designed this match? Three immovable walls and one punching bag.

Fourteenth card: "She has betrayed countless beings, yet any who betray her will see their own race uprooted."

Rita stared at Maple Syrup with the expression of an old man reading scandalous news. "Aba?" Wouldn't that be you?

Maple Syrup shook her head, her tone sharp. "I'm not that kind of creature."

But when the countdown reached its final second, she quickly pointed to herself.

Rita: …

Fifteenth card: "Her race rose because of her, and fell into decline after her departure."

Quex or Winter Sea, Frenzied Shark? Both fit.

Most Divine Game players were the strongest of their kind; their rise could lift an entire race.

Quex had left her world; Frenzied Shark had severed ties with his own. Both were "departures."

Rita chose Quex in the end.

If the Sharkfin Clan truly fell, it was probably because Frenzied Shark had personally driven them to ruin.

Correct.

Sixteenth card: "She once obtained a divine relic but, not recognizing it, sold it to another player."

All four players straightened at once, eyes wide, scanning one another.

Now this was the kind of question where even the culprit might not know the answer.

In the end, everyone turned toward Rita. Her absurd luck had become notorious, and Maple Syrup had been copying her picks the entire time.

Rita sneered, pulling her school jacket sleeve over her hand and discreetly making her selection beneath the fabric.

The answer appeared: Winter Sea, Frenzied Shark.

He stared blankly, soul visibly leaving his body.

Seventeenth card: "She once owned an S-rank divine relic that tried to tame its master. Using the Divine Game's own rules, she downgraded it to rank E and now uses it as a table wedge."

Downgrading a divine relic within the Game?

That couldn't be done through any contract or pact—the relic's allure was too powerful. There was only one way.

Brutality.

You let yourself die to its wielder, then in the next round, find and kill them back, over and over, until the relic degraded—then reclaim it yourself.

It was reckless. Insane.

Rita guessed purely on instinct.

Maple Syrup.

Who else could it possibly be?

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