"I didn’t expect to get a visit from your esteemed self. Tell me, what brings you to my domain?" Aoi asked as she swallowed her saliva nervously.

  Feeling the mana radiating from Shiro, Aoi knew that fighting meant death. There was a small chance but she hoped that Shiro wouldn’t kill them.

  Plus, she had seen Shiro in action a few times during the events that she participated in. For someone of her calibre, Shiro was akin to a death god.

  Glancing back, she can see that her subordinates were clutching their weapons nervously, hoping that conflict doesn’t occur if possible.

  "Well I only came to visit since I realised that your subordinates had claimed a few book from one of the guild headquarters. I was hoping I could perhaps visit and borrow the books." Shiro smiled as Aoi shivered for a moment.

  "May I ask what kind of books are they? We don’t keep that many books." Aoi asked nervously as her mind was crying.

  ’£u0026^%"u0026£%^u0026^!!!! I BURNED THE BOOKS!!!! HOLY F*CK I BURNED THE BOOKS!!! SH*T!!!! WHY THE HELL DOES SHE WANT THE BOOKS????’ Aoi screamed in her mind as she was trying her best to keep her composure while facing the leader of the Machine Legion.

  Who knows, if she annoys her, Shiro might just let loose her arm and destroy her domain like what she did during the first event. Aoi could still remember the sight of the area losing all mana.

  The world seemed to collapse upon itself as a pillar of light descended from the sky. Those that were unfortunately too close to the source were reduced to ash while those that were lucky had to employ several life saving skills to survive.

  She was one of the ones that were lucky and managed to survive through using all of her life saving skills.

  The reason why she was now the Puppetry Queen was partially due to what had happened during the event. More than half of her body was destroyed and her soul was harmed. In order to survive, she had to perform emergency surgery on herself, changing her body permanently into a doll that could be controlled by mana.

  If she found a way to recover, she would have been fine but since she couldn’t, her had to force herself to change class in order to survive. And now, she was the Puppetry Queen.

  "Hmm, I’m not sure about the books I need since your followers took them before I could read them. Just treat it as me visiting your home." Shiro smiled as Aoi furrowed her brows.

  "Perhaps I can go retrieve the bo-"

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  "Shh~ Perhaps you didn’t hear me clearly. It was not a question. It was an order for you to treat me as someone who’s visiting." Shiro said while placing her finger on Aoi’s lips, stopping her from speaking.

  Waving her hand, Shiro gestured for Nine and Iris to follow her.

  Looking at one another, the two forced a smile and walked into the Queens Domain while Aoi followed behind him.

  "Your highness, what should we do?" Aoi’s subordinate asked as Aoi glanced at them and sighed.

  "Just…… Just try to appease her and keep her happy. Hopefully, she’ll leave without any conflict. But if a fight does break out, try to run away while I keep her busy for as long as I can. If you don’t harm her, I don’t think she’ll attack you." Aoi said with a deep sigh.

  Opening a portal, she quickly rushed back to the base while Shiro was taking her time.

  ’I need to make the proper preparations.’ Aoi thought to herself while arriving at the castle.

  Activating a tier 6 magic circle, Aoi sent a message to all of the people that were currently working.

  "I want all of the books gathered into a spare no, I want all the books to be gathered at my throne room! This is a life or death situation! Especially the books gathered from the last few months, grab them all! Work like your life depends on it, SINCE IT DOES!" Aoi shouted out as she too started to rummage through her own collection with tears threatening to spill out.

  ’I should have kept the books……’ She thought to herself.

  ###

  "I’m pretty sure we can just get there now no? How come we’re walking there?" Nine asked as they could easily reach the castle in about 10 seconds.

  "I figured I’ll give them some time to prepare. I could tell that the Queen panicked so I’ll give them a break. Plus, I’m also interested in seeing how she’s set up her domain." Shiro smiled while looking at the city surrounding the castle.

  Compared to her memory of Misu’s city, Aoi’s city was more run down. Most of the structures were still destroyed while the items on display was lacklustre. If anything, this place looked more like a giant slums rather than a city.

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  While Shiro, Iris and Nine were walking around the city, Aoi was panicking with her subordinates.

  "Is that all the books that we have??" Aoi asked as there was barely enough books to cover the table surface.

  "Well you had burned most of the other ones since they weren’t important." Her subordinate coughed as Aoi slumped on a chair.

  She didn’t even want to sit on her throne right now in case Shiro is unhappy about the warmness.

  "Why did you stop me?"

  "Because you said they were worthless and it was better to burn it for warmth than to keep it around."

  Hearing this, Aoi paused before sighing heavily.

  "Start evacuating people. I’ll try to keep our guest happy."

  ###

  Arriving at the gates of Aoi’s castle, Shiro snapped her finger and opened the large doors using mana.

  Seeing Aoi wait by the side while the throne was empty, Shiro curled her lips up into a grin and teleported onto the seat.

  "Well then, it seems like you have brought quite the collection of books." Shiro raised an eyebrow while seeing the pile on the table.

  "Unfortunately most of our books were lost in a small…… accident. If the book you require is not in this pile then I hope you can forgive me." Aoi apologised as her heart pounded with anxiety.

  "Why are you so scared? It’s not like I’ll eat you. I can already tell that your flesh has long lost its elasticity. It’s not different from a wooden puppet. If you were a monster then I would have thought about it but you’re not so you don’t have to worry." Shiro smiled while picking up one of the books.

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  "Oh right, Nine, Iris, you can do whatever you want while I go through these materials. We shouldn’t be here for long." Shiro called out as Nine and Iris nodded their heads before looking at Aoi with pity in their eyes.

  ’Don’t just look at me with pity! If you’re going to pity me then take this death god away from me!’ Aoi cried out, sensing their gaze.

  While reading the books, Shiro didn’t say anything and Aoi didn’t dare to make a sound.

  All they could hear was the sound of the pages turning.

  Suddenly, Shiro opened her mouth.

  "Do you desire to become the winner of the new age?" Shiro asked without taking her eyes off the book.

  "Answer honestly, I can tell if you’re lying." She added.

  Swallowing her saliva, Aoi sighed.

  "Which Queen doesn’t. We all have our goals and promises to uphold." She smiled bitterly, knowing full well that she wasn’t going to win at all. Not with someone like Shiro around.

  "Mn, indeed. What is your goal?"

  "Mine? Well mine was supposed to be to revive everyone that died during our own age of demons and gods." Aoi shrugged.

  "Supposed to be? I’m guessing that’s no longer the case." Shiro raised an eyebrow.

  Shaking her head, Aoi glanced out of the throne room.

  "Nope. It was what everyone else wanted but not what I wanted. In my pursuit of this impossibility, I found quite a few people who are rather pleasant to be around. I’ll be honest, I barely care about the people of my world since I had no interaction with them. I did nothing for them and they did nothing for me. To put it coldly, I don’t give a crap about them. However, the same can’t be said for the people I know now. I understand that to win the age of demons and gods you have to kill all the other Queens so I beg you to let them live. They’re just bystanders caught up in all of this." Aoi said as she kneel in front of Shiro and grovelled.

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  Closing her book, Shiro looked at the shivering Aoi and placed the book down.

  "That’s not necessarily the case. There’s another way to win the new age without killing the other Queens. Why else do you think I’ve made alliances." Shiro said as she tapped her finger on the throne.

  "I just wanted to see what your desires are and if you were trustworthy or not. Seeing as how your soul is rather pure as well as the fact that you were being honest, I won’t kill you. Keeping your people safe is an easy task. Aoi, what do you think about an alliance? Give up your spot in the new age and I’ll help you fulfil your desires."