Baiya would never forget what happened that night—it was really a close call, almost beyond saving.
The dark creature shrouded in black mist felt its heart quiver under Baiya’s icy gaze. Reluctantly, it raised the silver Scales of Life and Death high. On either side, the pans burned with flames—pale green symbolizing life, and deep purple representing death.
“Judgment of the soul, begin immediately!”
At Lunhui Tianqi’s command, the Scales of Salvation and Banishment activated. A faint blue flame floated from within Baiya—part of her soul. When her soul fire was placed at the center pan of the scales, both flames for life and death blazed furiously—the weighing began at once!
“Wait, let’s add Uncle, that annoying guy, the lion, and anyone else who could count as my companion. Do it all at once, everyone needs to be healed.” Baiya suddenly spoke up, seriously addressing the dark creature holding the scales.
“No! Absolutely not!” Lunhui Tianqi lost her composure at this moment, shouting, “The chance of both sides of the Scales of Salvation and Banishment activating changes with the number of souls weighed! Weigh one soul, the odds of death are three out of four, revival is one out of four! Weigh two souls, death odds remain three out of four, but revival drops to one out of sixteen! Do you understand?”
“I see, so it multiplies? That really is awful. And the death side stays the same—this is forcing people down a dead end.”
After Lunhui Tianqi’s warning, Baiya pondered silently for a moment, coming to her own decision.
“But please, weigh all our souls at once. Doing it one by one is too much trouble, and time is of the essence for me.”
Are you rushing to die?! Lunhui Tianqi wanted to yell at Baiya, but when she received Liu Mion’s command to “do as she says,” she took a deep breath, regaining her usual icy calm. She activated her racial ability, changing the target range of the Scales of Salvation and Banishment to include all the grievously wounded present.
“Seven people in total… one in sixteen thousand three hundred sixty-four chance of revival…” Lunhui Tianqi bit her lip. She found she still couldn’t remain calm—Baiya was really courting death!
“Don’t worry,” Baiya seemed to see through her anxiety and comforted her with a sound transmission spell, “I believe in my luck!”
Relying on a one-in-sixteen-thousand-three-hundred-sixty-four chance… Lunhui Tianqi felt like she’d just heard the funniest joke.
Maybe it was because she never understood Baiya—she truly didn’t know what Baiya was thinking. All she could be sure of was that sometimes, doubting Baiya’s possibilities was a very foolish thing to do. Could it be Baiya had some kind of plan?
Baiya watched as a tiny, pure white flame drifted past her. At the same time, five other flames of various colors floated out from a tunnel nearby—everyone’s souls!
When seven flames were placed on the center pan of the scales, the flame of death surged thirty feet high, its wild tongues of fire lashing the sky, while the flame of life shrank to the size of a grain of rice, so faint it seemed it could be blown out at any moment.
“Judge now!” Lunhui Tianqi commanded loudly. She no longer cared about anything else—if Baiya had a scheme, it would be revealed in the next moment!
The scales’ balance restraints were lifted, and they began to measure the weight of fate. But from the start, the flames on either side were extremely mismatched—the scales were lopsided from the beginning!
As logic dictated, the scales tipped to the heavier side—toward the fate of death. The flames of death burned madly, the wails of souls faintly audible!
Souls placed at the center would be burned to ash by the fire of death! The flames would even scorch the root of the soul, causing the weighed ones to scatter, dying a true death!
Lunhui Tianqi watched Baiya closely—but Baiya didn’t move at all, as expected. She had lost all strength to act due to her wounds.
Could it be she’s completely unprepared?! Is she really going to bet on that one-in-sixteen-thousand chance?! This is too foolish! Too ridiculous!
Was Baiya about to meet her end like this? Lunhui Tianqi couldn’t help recalling that night, the first time the Scales of Salvation and Banishment saved someone.
Back then, too, the scales had tilted toward the abyss of death—Baiya’s life hung by a thread. She and Liu Mion could only stand by helplessly, the pan holding the fire of death nearly at its lowest point, the result irreversible.
How did that irreversible result change in the end? Lunhui Tianqi remembered—that unfathomable miracle.
The phantom she’d summoned belonged to an Underworld Creature, a mysterious being from the land of death. It had pressed down on the pan, interfering with the weighing, guiding the scales to the result of death—intent on killing Baiya. But then, suddenly, it had looked terrified and used all its might to pull the pan upward, letting the fire of life reach the bottom, becoming the result and reviving Baiya.
What the Underworld Creature was doing now was exactly the same as back then.
Even as its palm was charred to black, it desperately stopped the descent of the fire of death, inch by inch pushing it upward, forcing the fire of life to drop downward bit by bit!
“What is going on?! What is it doing? Is it Baiya Ifiel Chlorom’s lapdog?!” Arthur couldn’t believe his eyes. It wasn’t his first time seeing Lunhui Tianqi use the Scales of Salvation and Banishment, nor the first time seeing an Underworld Creature interfere with the scales. But every time, it dragged others to their doom—he’d never seen it save someone on its own accord!
Liu Mion was surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered, a smile forming on his lips. Sure enough, the anomaly that night wasn’t just a fluke.
“Hey, hey, hey, don’t be so shocked! Cheating’s more reliable than trusting luck, isn’t it?”
When Baiya’s voice, brimming with confidence, rang in his mind, Liu Mion was sure—Baiya Ifiel Chlorom truly was an incredible person!
“I’ve got excellent luck—I could roll triple sixes on dice. For a player, luck is part of strength. But what I do isn’t just strong luck, it’s an unbeatable strategy!”
Baiya felt her strength gradually return, her pain lessening, and her gaping wounds scabbing over rapidly. Even her more serious injuries were being partially repaired.
The others experienced the same. They all marveled at the miraculous changes in their bodies. When Tab rose from the ground, he stared in disbelief at his own hands. He knew just how grave his wounds were—saying he had only one breath left would be an understatement. No physician could help, advanced healing spells were useless, and only a bishop of the Holy Light Church might have given him a slim chance!
But now, he felt no different from his normal self—not a trace of his grave wounds remained. If not for the chunk of flesh missing from his shoulder and the layer of new tissue covering the hole in his abdomen, he might have thought the bloody battle was just a nightmare and that he’d been safe all along.
What a miracle this was. Tab marveled in his heart. He then stood, excited, and wordlessly took his place at Baiya’s side, expressing his loyalty. He knew—this chance to cheat death was something she had fought for on his behalf!
He would devote his life to serving Baiya. He was her guard already—now his reverence for her was only stronger.
“Savior!”
From atop the lionman Renxin’s back, Luo Shi shouted to Baiya with excitement. Lionman Renxin carried Luo Shi, and together with the other four warriors, ran to Baiya’s side, quickly regrouping. All the surviving warriors except Luo Shi could move freely now—the gravely wounded were fully revived!
“So stingy, Savior, I’m wounded too! Can’t you at least heal my leg?” Luo Shi slid down from Renxin’s back, limping over to Baiya to complain.
“……” Because Baiya disliked Luo Shi, and using the power to revive near-dead folks just for ordinary injuries felt wasteful, and honestly, she’d just forgotten about it—Luo Shi’s lame leg was probably just fate.
“Luo Shi, show some respect to the Savior! And you ought to be grateful—your injury will heal in a few months and you’ll be bouncing around again. At least you still have your leg. My claws aren’t growing back.” Lionman Renxin stretched out his two bare arms, looking rather troubled.
“Ah, that’s true, you won’t grow them back. Even with revival, what’s lost is lost. The ability only repairs to the extent of sustaining life.”
Baiya flexed her mechanical prosthetic in front of Renxin, giving him a gentle, unconcerned smile.
“Defying heaven’s order is never perfect—there must be limits, like maintaining balance. No need to be too down, just get a prosthetic like me!”
“Yes! I have no regrets! For the Savior—even losing both hands is an honor! Honor above life itself!” Lionman Renxin wanted to pound his chest, but finding himself unable, burst out laughing instead.
Baiya also laughed, and the warriors around her wore faces free of gloom, filled with joy and hope. They wholeheartedly believed in Baiya, in this girl who had saved them, certain she would lead them into the future!
“You! Who exactly are you?!”
Accompanied by the Shadow Spider and Curse Doll, Arthur descended from the stands and entered the arena. He detested the laughter of those wretched survivors, but he wanted to know why the Underworld Creature would help Baiya.
“Me? Ahem, ahem, listen up! My name is Baiya! I’m the strongest player!”
Baiya gave a thumbs up, pointing to herself, her face burning with passion and excitement, her voice brimming with confidence and pride.
“I am my own savior! And theirs, too! In the future, I’ll save even more people! No matter who the enemy is, no matter how difficult—my strategies are unbeatable!”
Her declaration stirred the souls of the warriors—she was dazzling, like a true hero!
“Now, everyone! Run with me!”
Baiya shouted, then immediately turned and dashed into the tunnel. The warriors, just recovering from their excitement, quickly followed. The sound of metal crashing rang out—it could be guessed that the iron bars had been smashed open, and Baiya and the others had escaped from the arena.
As they fled, Baiya thought, Why would the Underworld Creature help me? Even she didn’t really know the answer.
She only had a guess: it wasn’t that the demon wanted to save her, but that it couldn’t bear the sin of killing her.
But there’s no time for such annoying thoughts now! That slave girl! The Evil Dragon Emperor of the Abyss is not someone to mess with! She must not cross paths with her!