CHAPTER 281: UNKNOWN AND UNEXPECTED WOMAN

The world lost its color, and suddenly the sky split apart.

The gazes of the most powerful beings in existence, including the demigods, all turned to this single point. Even Kaelos, for the first time, felt a massive sense of danger and turned around to look behind him.

What he saw shattered his understanding of reality itself — cracks spread across the sky and space, as though they revealed the border between existence and nothingness.

"What... is happening?" he muttered to himself. Even the Devouring Darkness stopped in its tracks.

From beyond the split sky, a blurred figure seemed to step forward.

With every step it took, the world beneath its feet seemed to tremble. The blood-red sky drained of color entirely, and everything turned white.

It didn’t take long for the figure to emerge fully from the rift. Its face was veiled, with only a pair of golden eyes and long silver hair visible.

It wore a magnificent robe that looked as if it had been crafted from the skin of phoenixes.

Its mere presence caused the entire world to shake. Time, space, and reality bent around it, as if a supreme existence had appeared.

Its golden eyes, devoid of any trace of human emotion, swept briefly over this small, withering world, before settling on Daniel.

"So even the Fallen suffer." If the veil didn’t hide its face, the figure’s smile would have been visible — a smile that could be considered the most beautiful sight across both worlds.

But anyone who actually knew this woman — if they realized she had smiled — would rather kill themselves than believe it.

In their eyes, it was impossible for this deranged, demonic being to smile. Simply because she had no emotions.

Kaelos stared at her in horror, his entire body trembling. Every fragment of his soul screamed at him to run.

Yet he didn’t even dare to breathe in her presence... This was the purest embodiment of what mortals called fear.

Who was this woman? Why was she here? What was she doing in this place?

He tried to glance at the Devouring Darkness, but even the phantom was trembling in terror, as if desperate to retreat back into the ring.

Those emotionless golden eyes suddenly locked onto him. Just that one look was enough to make him feel death approaching.

"W-Who are you?" He forced out the words, mustering every ounce of power he had left just to speak.

The woman didn’t answer. Instead, she merely flicked her finger. Instantly, it felt as though the heavens and earth were collapsing.

A terrifying roar echoed across the entire world as a force beyond anything this reality had ever known surged toward Kaelos.

He felt true terror at the sensation of such a force — one even he and his kind couldn’t comprehend. He summoned every ounce of his strength to defend himself.

He even sacrificed the Apocalypse Ring, burning his bloodline and life essence in a desperate attempt to block what was, for her, a casual strike.

His power grew, burning brighter and brighter, but it was useless. The beam of energy unleashed from the woman’s finger devoured everything in its path.

It spared neither existence nor nonexistence. Even conceptual powers that tried to interfere were torn apart. The very pillars of creation trembled violently.

The world itself began to buckle, clearly unable to withstand such an incomprehensible force.

The beam reached Kaelos and, in an instant, completely consumed him. It devoured every drop of his life essence, every fragment within his shell.

From the lowest to the highest points of his being, nothing was spared — everything withered and was devoured.

Even his soul and existence were consumed.

When it was over, nothing remained but an empty husk, a lifeless shell that had once been Kaelos. It crumpled to the ground.

His existence was utterly erased. It was as though he had never existed, doomed to fade into forgotten history.

With time, even the memories of him would vanish from everyone’s mind.

"Boring." The woman’s beautiful voice, like a celestial melody, echoed softly.

The Apocalypse Ring, still intact, floated toward her. She took it, inspecting it briefly to confirm it was what she sought.

"This kind of power should never be in mortal hands." After that, she waved her hand, and a crown materialized in her grasp.

A crown that radiated an aura so intense it even made her pause.

The Fallen Crown.

"Another relic of the gods," she murmured, her golden eyes flashing with some unreadable emotion.

However, feeling several immensely powerful wills racing toward her position, she concealed both artifacts.

The sky split apart once again, and several ancient wills descended.

"You violated the pact! Entering this world is forbidden!" one of the ancient wills boomed.

"This wasn’t just a simple arrival! You clearly interfered in this event. Are you looking down on all of us?"

"Hmph. We suggest you leave immediately, or we’ll be forced to act."

The woman stared at the wills. If she still had emotions, she might have laughed.

These fools didn’t even dare descend themselves, yet they had the nerve to threaten her?

A layer of space beside her split open, and half of a sword emerged.

The ancient wills fell silent at the sight of that blade, exchanging uneasy glances.

But then, above the world, a pair of colossal black eyes appeared, locking onto her.

"There’s no need for conflict. You broke the forbidden pact, and now you must pay the price." A voice resonated across heaven and earth.

Everyone knew that voice belonged to the owner of those massive eyes, which blanketed the sky.

The woman nodded, and the spatial layer closed, though neither the ancient wills nor the enormous eyes withdrew.

She ignored them and descended to the ground, her gaze falling on Daniel, who lay unconscious and weak.

She placed her hand on his head, gently stroking his hair. A mysterious, eternal energy flowed from her hand, closing all of his wounds.

Then she glanced at the cage. With a wave of her hand, all three figures inside appeared beside Daniel, still unconscious, as the cage itself disintegrated into ash.

A sheet of paper materialized before her. Every word she thought was written upon it, and then she tucked it into Daniel’s pocket.

"I hope we meet again, but under better circumstances." She rose to her feet and ascended toward the sky.

For the final time, her gaze swept over the ancient wills and the colossal eyes. Before she left for her own realm, she looked into the distance.

Her vision pierced countless dimensions and distances, settling on a specific individual — a young man sitting cross-legged in an unknown space.

The moment he felt her foreign gaze, he smirked, as if he had already foreseen all of this.

The woman withdrew her gaze and stepped back through the rift in the sky, returning to her world.