"How is he so powerful?" Gabriel's eyes gleamed with chilling coldness as he looked at the giant looming before him. The giant wielded a massive double-bladed axe, and his gaze flashed like lightning under the dark sky.
Above them, a terrifying storm threatened, and black clouds covered the blue sky. A tremendous feeling of unease swept through every single person present, causing cold sweat to trickle down their foreheads and their grips on their weapons to tighten.
The battlefield was burning, with structures and shattered stone amidst swirling purple dark energies billowing out from the towering giant. Countless armored warriors who had fought valiantly lay sprawled, dead on the ground.
Standing just a few meters from the God of Destruction that had descended on Earth, Gabriel could sense the hopeful gazes of his subordinates piercing his back like arrows. He, along with the others, had learned about the God of Destruction's arrival, and they had been preparing for over two years—making several simulations and strategizing. However, even with all their preparations, they couldn't defeat this terrifying giant that had destroyed millions of worlds.
"Damn it, we trusted him…" Gabriel muttered under his breath, jaw clenched. But now wasn't the time to think about the traitor.
"I must applaud your efforts, Humans." Surtr's voice boomed like the sound of thunder. It was indifferent and devoid of any emotion that every living being possessed. Those glowing, orb-like fiery eyes were as sharp as the blades of his axe.
And now those same terrifying eyes stared down at Gabriel, and instantly, the warrior felt an unstoppable tremble in his knees. Gabriel didn't know if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he saw a trace of acknowledgment in those fiery orbs.
"But in the end, you all are still ants. And all struggles shall turn to ash in the embrace of my Divine Flames! Begone, mortals!"
Surtr's voice echoed across the clearing again—but this time with finality, like a Divine Judge proclaiming his final verdict on all mortals—as he swung his massive axe down.
The eyes of everyone present shrank, but before they could act…
FWISH! BOOM!
A powerful explosion occurred at the moment of impact, and a blinding light seared the whole world the following second, almost as though a flashbang the size of a star had been detonated point-blank. The shockwave from that single attack expanded in all directions, obliterating everything in the whole world, consuming everything in its path! Mountains were flattened, oceans split down to the last atom, and cities evaporated in an instant!
—89,999,999! —60,345,000! —999,999 (Critical)!
Even in the bitter end, Gabriel—his body's defenses holding on through sheer force of will—never released his grasp on his sword. His gaze drifted to the beautiful dark-skinned woman at his side. She looked back at him with a bitter smile before slowly disintegrating into specks of golden light.
A single tear dropped from Gabriel's eyes—it too disintegrating in microseconds due to the surrounding heat. "Mother, Father, Leon… I'm sorry."
As darkness gradually consumed him, Gabriel thought back to how everything had started.
"There was no announcement. No loud alarm... It just happened."
Several decades ago, the Game Realm of Ascendency had launched—a game where humans were given the opportunity to live their deepest fantasies: fighting monsters, taking on interesting quests, and exploring and conquering myriad races in the vast universe.
"It was meant to be just that—a game. Played through VR pods and helmets. A safe escape from reality. But no one could have foreseen what came next. We didn't expect it to bleed into our world, to shatter the boundaries between reality and fiction. We never imagined it would broadcast our location across the galaxies… to all sentient beings."
"To him. The God of Destruction."
A deep sigh filled with regret escaped Gabriel's lips. "If only I could undo it all. If only I could go back and rewrite my mistakes… maybe, just maybe..."
Several thoughts flashed through Gabriel's mind like lightning as he envisioned different outcomes. But eventually, his mind went still, and his heart stopped beating, his grip on his sword loosening as darkness consumed him.
But just before the void claimed him, a voice—soft yet commanding—echoed in the emptiness.
"Is this how you wish to end, Gabriel? Do you truly accept defeat?"
Gabriel's dying thoughts flickered like flames, and his eyes flashed open in an instant!
Somewhere in the silence, something began to stir.
And then…
[Congratulations! Latent Soul Talent Unlocked!]
Hidden Prerequisites: ??? —> Withstand Surtr, The God of Destruction's Divine Flames for 2 minutes. — Complete!
Talent Unlocked!
Talent: God-Tier Extraction
"What the fu—" Before Gabriel could complete his sentence, his defensive skills finally shattered under the onslaught of the scorching heat of Surtr's Divine Flame, incinerating his body in milliseconds, not even leaving behind ash.
Elsewhere, at the same time, a young man appeared in a large building that resembled an ancient temple surrounded by nothing but clouds—meaning that the temple was located in the sky.
"Is this the afterlife?" Gabriel asked no one in particular as his gaze swept through the surroundings, noting that there was only one visible path—a long hallway that led to another room.
However, in the room, he could see a figure that looked like a human, kneeling.
Gabriel frowned when he noticed that this person was too big to be human, even from where he stood. Furthermore, the arms and fists of this figure seemed to be bound by heavy, thick chains, their head held down.
Gabriel began approaching the person on the other side. As he drew closer, he realized his eyes hadn't been deceiving him. The figure was indeed restricted by radiant chains that shimmered slightly.
As he walked halfway through the hall, it became clear that the figure was a woman—a towering giantess, easily ten times the size of an ordinary human.
Her presence was overwhelming. She wore a flowing emerald-green gown that hugged her curvaceous figure yet still gave an air of elegance.
Her skin had a warm bronze glow, and her fiery red hair cascaded down her back in thick, wild waves—giving her a fierce yet alluring aura.
Gabriel drew in a sharp breath. He couldn't take his eyes off her—she was unlike any woman he had ever seen, both captivating and intimidating. Not even the succubi in the Realm of Ascendency came close to this woman in terms of beauty.
As if sensing his presence, the woman raised her head and looked up at him. The beautiful woman, capable of turning men to heat with a single glance, had a pair of unique eyes, which were shrouded by thick, long eyelashes. One of her eyes was sapphire, while the other was crimson.
"For you to answer my call, it seems your will to live is really powerful." The woman spoke in a clear and somewhat weak voice.
"Y-you were that voice?" Gabriel asked. Despite the powerful aura pouring out of this woman—powerful enough to force all humans to bow—he was relatively calm and clear-headed.
"Yes, it belongs to me." The woman emitted a soft, beautiful smile. "I was the one that called you here."
"Why?" Gabriel quickly asked.
The woman didn't respond immediately, and after a while, she said in a low voice, "Because your will to survive has drawn me here, and I offer you another chance at life."
Gabriel's expression lit up in an instant. The woman before him exuded a similar aura to Surtr, and because of her unusual height, he had already realized long ago that she was a Divine being—which meant she could actually do what she said.
However, before Gabriel could say anything, the beautiful giant woman said in a heavy tone, "But there is a price. Are you willing to pay this price?"