CHAPTER 804: 804: DIVINE GAME - CARD SWAP 53

GodDraw77 wasn’t feeling great either.

At some point, a unicorn’s head had appeared beside hers, glaring at her with murderous intent.

Its voice was ethereal and melodic as it leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Who’s her mentor again?"

GodDraw77 leaned forward, peering around the unicorn’s head to look at Wail. "Who’s her mentor again?"

Every wrinkle on Wail’s face radiated confusion. Her voice was old and helpless. "Huh?"

GodDraw77: "..."

...

The moment the other player saw Rita’s wealth value suddenly match her own, she froze. Hearing Rita’s words, she instinctively glanced down, catching her own reflection in the filthy water—and the number above her head.

In that instant, Rita lunged forward. In the blink of an eye, the gap closed to a single meter.

With a flick of her sleeve, a brilliant spring blossom flew forth.

The opponent raised her head, as if guiding her forehead right into the path of that drifting flower.

[Brief Hibernation]!

Game timer: 4 minutes 37 seconds.

Rita caught the now-slumbering player, hauling her over a shoulder and flying straight toward the nearest manhole. She burst out into the open.

Police vehicles roared past on almost every street. Rita planted herself at an intersection, short sword pressed to the sleeping player’s throat, and shouted, "I caught the criminal! Fifty thousand Alliance Crystals and a formal citizenship card! Crystals go in a transparent box, citizenship card on top! You have three minutes! If I don’t have them in three minutes, I kill her on the spot!"

Game timer: 4 minutes 16 seconds.

Rita and her hostage were quickly surrounded. She didn’t press herself against a wall—she hovered in the air instead, keeping the entire scene below her in view.

A transparent bubble shimmered around her, ready to absorb all damage for the next eight minutes.

The lead trainer, cloaked and composed, tried to negotiate.

"These things require proper procedure, we—"

Rita stabbed the sleeping player in the abdomen, then pulled the blade free and set its tip against the player’s heart. "From this moment, if you say one more useless word, I drive this blade straight into her heart. You have two minutes and thirty seconds left. I know the rules—if she dies by my hand, the Alliance Crystals vanish instantly."

"We can agree, but—"

Without hesitation, Rita drove the short sword into the hostage’s chest.

Now she truly looked like the most ruthless criminal on the field.

Every native in the crowd went silent.

Rita glanced at the hostage’s steadily dropping health from blood loss. Her voice was soft. "Looks like you’ve got less than two minutes."

In a world with Pokémon, transport was never a problem.

In under a minute, a glass case brimming with crystals was brought forward.

The lead trainer held a metal card and said firmly, "I’ll give you this first. You hand over the criminal, then I’ll give you your payment."

At the sight of it, Rita’s tone lightened. "Fine. I’ll only take what’s mine. Keep the case off the ground—hover it. Move it over there, right above the fountain. And keep strangers away from our trade."

She began to descend with the sleeping player in tow.

The shift in attitude eased about half the faces in the crowd.

The metal card was tossed toward her. Rita tilted her head aside, letting it fall to the ground. She cast \[Evidence Sorting] on it.

\[Demon’s Pass]: A required credential for living and traveling in the Demon City.

Once certain it was genuine and trap-free, she stepped on it, storing it in her pack.

Game timer: 2 minutes 28 seconds.

No more risks.

While her spring blossom skill induced three minutes of hibernation, that was only the base duration—players with resistance skills could cut that time down, just as her \[Legendary Prologue] had reduced previous mental control effects.

This opponent, with all four primary attributes above hers, could likely resist for long enough that without the blossom, Rita might not even get a full minute.

She pulled out an autumn leaf and restored the hostage’s health to full.

Then came... \[School Rule No. 801]!

All skills reduced to 1 mana cost and 1-second cooldown.

A glowing sigil appeared on her brow—white light edged in gold. Every Moonlight Marsh student knew its meaning: "Ambition."

\[Moment of Reversal]!

Wealth values swapped instantly!

At the same time, Rita yanked her short sword from Voss’s chest, spun the deep-sea helm into being before her, and vanished.

She reappeared above the fountain, beneath the hovering crystal case. Rising slightly, the sound of crashing waves filled the air as she and the case vanished together.

\[Box of Miscellany]: 49,999 crystals and a signal beacon.

Something was wrong—but she couldn’t pass it up.

...

In the sewers, fresh from [Absolute Freedom] at the bottom of a manhole, Rita was sprinting flat out. Her wealth had already broken 150,000.

But the moment she took that case, a pillar of red light shot from her pack straight into the sky.

The crystals had something hidden inside—and now she was marked.

It reeked of a player’s trap.

Game timer: 2 minutes 17 seconds.

On the great river, the largest screen shattered once more. A new one blasted forward from the far end, expanding until it filled the front.

Its subject—a figure fleeing with an enormous fortune—bore a new tag above her head:

[Moonlight Marsh — Rita]

Mistblade, Maple Syrup, and Fat Goose straightened their spines once again.

GodDraw77 turned to the unicorn, now back in its seat, and gave a small, knowing smile. She didn’t say a word—but she didn’t have to.

Wail’s wrinkles eased as she sipped from a juice she’d just stolen from GodDraw77.

The game on screen wasn’t over.

From the moment Rita made her move, not only the natives but every player still chasing the championship had been alerted.

And the time she’d spent trading with the natives was more than enough for the strongest contestants to converge on her location.

[School Rule No. 801] had 13 seconds left.

Rita could feel killing intent from every direction.

Run?

No—she needed to see the others’ wealth, to judge whether she already had enough to secure first place. If someone in the shadows still had more, she would have to keep killing until they came for her.

Use [Mystic Force]?

Not yet. She wasn’t desperate enough to reveal her greatest trump card.

Rita stayed where she was, waiting for the players to close in.

In the final two seconds of \[School Rule No. 801], she dismissed \[Nebula Bubble] and activated [School Rule No. 805].

Another glowing sigil bloomed over the lone one on her brow—still white with a golden outline.

But this time, it wasn’t "Ambition." It was "Defiance."

Before [School Rule No. 801] had even fully faded, [School Rule No. 805] had taken hold.

The two sigils crossed like weapons, forming the emblem of Moonlight Marsh.