Chapter 273: Will It Be a Happy Ending?

Freya's body was constantly cracking.

Her dress had long been soaked in blood; with every step she took, she left a ghastly bloody footprint behind.

It hurt so much...

Lord Ansu was right; using God-Descent was truly agonizing...

The pain spread from her skin to her bones, and from her bones into her soul, as if every inch of her flesh were being incinerated.

But she still did it, and she did not regret it.

Because she wanted to protect the person she loved most.

The power of holy light condensed around her, growing more and more intense until the radiance shot straight into the clouds, piercing the boundaries of the divine realm—

A massive rift appeared in the sky.

The entire domain trembled as the ground shook and the mountains swayed. The sky and earth changed color, and Gulzan completely panicked.

He looked up at the torn sky, fear surfacing in his eyes for the first time.

"This... how is this possible!"

She... tore open my divine realm?

This was the stage for ascension he had meticulously constructed, spending countless efforts and paying such a heavy price...

But this stage was collapsing.

After hesitating and agonizing for a long time, Gulzan finally made up his mind.

Since things had come to this, he could only use his trump card.

He also possessed divine power!

It was just a pity...

His divine realm was not yet fully formed; he had not completely digested the Talin region, nor had he gathered enough faith...

His path to godhood was being cut short halfway.

But it didn't matter! Gulzan's face became incredibly distorted. He still had a chance!

Leo could be used as a pawn! As long as he was still alive, he could build another Leo... and harvest another batch of believers...

As long as he used this move, he would not lose!

...

Ansu's eyelids felt as heavy as lead.

He forced himself to remain conscious, lying on the ground and watching the battle in the sky.

To the southeast, over the snow mountains, a beam of holy light suddenly flared up, only to vanish in an instant.

Ansu remembered... that was the direction Leo was leading the people during their migration.

He wondered in confusion: what was Gulzan trying to do?

Soon, he understood.

Gulzan's entire body began to glow. Like Freya's power of holy light, it also contained the same powerful divine power.

If his hypothesized theory was true, then...

He had reclaimed Leo?

The rift torn in the sky began to heal slowly, the collapsing divine realm stopped disintegrating, and the crumbling boundaries stabilized once more.

Gulzan hovered high in the air.

That face, which had always been blurred, seemed a bit clearer now. He was expressionless, even carrying a sort of divine indifference.

Ansu saw that it was indeed the face of an old man, but what he noticed more at this moment was not Gulzan's face.

It was the faintly visible... emerald green crystal on Gulzan's body.

It was embedded within Gulzan, emitting a soft glow that penetrated his flesh. When Ansu stared at it, he felt a sense of pure divinity.

At this moment, all of Gulzan's power seemed to originate from there.

Could this be the key that allowed him to absorb the power of faith?

Everything suddenly became clear in Ansu's mind. This was the answer to the question that had puzzled him the most: why could a mortal without a divine spark absorb the power of faith and even attempt to ascend to godhood?

It was likely because of this.

Ansu turned his head with difficulty, looking toward the figure on the other side who was burning her life away, and murmured,

"Freya... well done."

It was only because of her desperate outburst that he was able to glimpse this final scene.

However, Freya's current state was truly tragic...

Because she could not withstand the great power of the God-Descent, her flesh was tearing and blood was constantly spilling, yet she was still desperately healing herself. The power of holy light and destruction were engaged in a frenzied tug-of-war within her body...

But she didn't care. She simply looked up, gazing at Gulzan with the same indifferent eyes.

The battle erupted in the next second.

Freya transformed into a streak of light. The power of holy light and the power of that emerald green crystal collided in the air, exploding with a blinding radiance, as if a second sun had appeared.

And then—

Gulzan fell.

The divine power he had collected was defeated in an instant before Freya.

Because Freya held nothing back; she was fighting with the resolve to die. From the very beginning, Gulzan had already lost.

The holy light fell like rain, relentlessly pursuing Gulzan as he crashed to the ground.

The tables had turned.

Gulzan fled in a sorry state, trying every possible method to block the attack, but he could only barely delay the descent of the holy light. Despair gradually began to fill his eyes.

The god-ascended one who thought he controlled everything was now like a stray dog.

"Save me!"

Gulzan suddenly shouted toward the air, his voice filled with terror and despair.

"Save me quickly! I can't die! I can't die!!"

Ansu frowned. Who was he talking to?

Leo? But did Leo even still exist?

"Save me quickly! I know you've been watching! Stop hiding and help me!"

Gulzan shrieked frantically at the empty air, like a patient suffering from a mental breakdown.

"I'll give it to you! Take it all! None of it matters! I can give you anything!"

"Quickly, help me kill her! Kill them!"

Ansu watched the self-talking Gulzan with suspicion.

Was it for real? Did he actually have powerful backup?

What happened next answered Ansu's question once again.

An ancient and profound aura suddenly descended, and that strange feeling of being watched... was very familiar.

Ansu frowned, desperately searching his memory. Where had he felt such an aura before?

But that entity merely glanced at the battlefield, looked at Ansu, and then at Freya.

And then—

It vanished.

It did not act, did not interfere, and did not even leave a trace behind.

"Huh?" Ansu was stunned. What was the meaning of this?

That was it?

"Damn it!" Gulzan cursed even more loudly. "What are you doing!!"

But no one responded to him.

Gulzan could only continue to flee frantically.

And Freya continued her relentless pursuit.

...

Ansu lay quietly on the ground, looking at the broken battlefield in the sky, unable to help but feel a sense of melancholy.

Sigh, the little Holy Maiden still blackened after all...

He suddenly felt that his so-called great plan to protect the little Holy Maiden's mental health was seemingly useless.

Whether it was Celia or Freya, they were both girls who were obsessive to the extreme.

A distorted and restless monster was hidden within their hearts, usually well-disguised, but as soon as that switch was flipped, it would explode and turn the world upside down, destroying everything.

They simply could not live without him...

After an unknown amount of time, the entire world seemed to have gone quiet. Soft footsteps reached Ansu's ears.

Freya had returned.

"Lord Ansu..." Her voice was very soft and cautious, as if afraid of disturbing something. "Are you... are you still there..."

"Yes," Ansu responded softly.

"Don't... don't open your eyes." She gave a bitter smile. "Right now, I... I'm very terrifying, very ugly."

Ansu opened his eyes.

His vision was still blurred. Sunlight spilled from above, outlining a thin black silhouette. A heavy scent of blood permeated the air, refusing to dissipate.

"It's nothing," Ansu's voice remained calm. "You aren't ugly at all."

Freya helped him up.

Ansu's head was gently lifted, and her cold forehead pressed against his.

The two of them leaned against each other quietly.

"Ansu..." Her breath brushed against his cheek. "That one thing you said you wanted to tell me... what is it?"

Ansu smiled gently.

"It's nothing... I just wanted to say that I won't actually die, so you don't have to be so sad for me."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm not lying to you." He looked at her. Although he couldn't see her face clearly, he could feel the light in those eyes.

"This world is fake. It was created by me for the sake of an investigation. We haven't witnessed the divine realm yet, nor have we met any high priest..."

"All the pain and sorrow will soon come to an end."

He watched the countdown appearing before him, counting along in his heart.

【Time Remaining: 00:00:52】

"So you don't need to be sad, and don't despair." His smile was soft and warm. He wanted to reach out and stroke her hair to comfort her, but he no longer had the strength. "Because soon... we will start over from the beginning."

"In the real world, we haven't even entered that cave yet. We will soon be fine... back in the real world, where we can make up for all our regrets."

Freya was silent for a moment.

Then, she chose to believe Ansu.

She breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her heart.

If it were true... if Lord Ansu wasn't lying to her...

Then this really was a good ending. Neither of them would die, and they would both return to a time long ago... to start over.

It had to be true!

Otherwise...

Freya took a deep breath, trying to suppress the chaotic thoughts in her mind.

She looked deeply at Ansu and suddenly smiled, her tone carrying a hint of long-lost playfulness.

"Then, since it's all fake... let me be a little more bold!"

"Hmm?"

She leaned in and kissed him.

Her cold lips touched his dry ones, carrying a faint taste of blood.

This kiss seemed to use up all of her life.

Freya used the last of her strength to pour all her attachment and love into this kiss.

Will it be a happy ending? she thought.

【Time Remaining: 00:00:00】

Darkness gradually swallowed Ansu's eyes, and everything seemed to freeze.

Time stopped, space solidified, and this moment was forever sealed within the darkness.

As if it had become eternal.