After uttering those words, the Heavenly Demon saw an immense bright light appear - a light so brilliant it even overwhelmed her void sword that devoured all light.
The radiance spread outward like a wave, instantly incinerating the Demon God before her. The creature didn’t even have time to scream before it was reduced to nothing.
The light continued forward, surging through space until it collided with an invisible barrier.
The Heavenly Demon watched as her sword strike shattered a hole through the space barrier surrounding the world.
"I did it," she thought.
But then her eyes focused on the opening.
"But that’s... too small," she thought, looking at the tiny five-inch hole she had made that was already beginning to repair itself. The edges of the tear shimmered and contracted, sealing shut within seconds.
Her eyes closed.
She began falling toward the ground below.
...
Cipher looked above, noticing the immense light that covered everything.
He wondered if the sun was falling.
Then suddenly, the light disappeared and a notification appeared before him.
[Scenario Cleared]
[You will be automatically expelled from this apocalypse world in 30 minutes]
[Leave Now] [Wait]
"What? Scenario cleared?" he wondered in shock.
He remembered. That’s right, the Heavenly Demon.
She actually won? Wasn’t this too soon? It hadn’t even been a full day since they began fighting.
At that moment, he noticed something falling from the sky.
"It’s her," he thought, rushing toward the direction she was falling. Luckily, she seemed to be falling in his direction and not the other side of the world.
The Heavenly Demon crashed into the ground with force.
The impact created a massive shockwave that radiated outward, tearing through the earth. Cipher was knocked back, tumbling across the dirt before slamming into a tree.
He pushed himself up, gasping, and rushed toward the center of the crater.
At the bottom, the Heavenly Demon lay motionless, her body covered in what looked like cracks.
As he approached her, she slowly opened her eyes.
"It’s you," she spoke, her voice weak.
"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked, rushing to her and helping her up.
Then he noticed the cracks on her skin more clearly. "This is..."
She pushed him away after getting up. "It’s nothing," she said.
Dark blood beneath her cracked skin bubbled up, covering the fissures before returning to its usual skin color. The cracks sealed themselves, leaving smooth skin behind.
She extended her hand. A tiny toy-like sword floated above her palm, no bigger than her finger.
"I didn’t think it’d be this strong," she thought. It had almost completely destroyed the Void Sword.
She clutched it in her hand and it disappeared into her body.
She turned her gaze upward, staring at the sky.
But even with all that strength, she wasn’t able to do anything.
"What happened?" Cipher asked.
She finally turned to look at him.
She let out a soft sigh before proceeding to explain to him what had happened...
...
The Heavenly Demon also received a skill from the Time God?
Cipher was in thought.
He then looked up. "Go out with me," he said with a serious expression.
"What?" she questioned, the air around them suddenly growing heavier.
Cipher waved his hands frantically. "No, not like that. I mean, come with me... to my world," he explained.
"This world is already dead..." he began, but she cut him off.
"It’s not," she retorted.
She then calmed down. "The world might be dead, but the people inside are not," she said.
"But you can’t save them as you’ve seen," he explained.
"I can. I just need to get stronger," she said.
"And how are you going to do that?" he asked.
"Hmph, the same way I got this strong," she said. "I’ll train through the loops until I’m strong enough."
Cipher gazed at her. She was quite hard to work with.
"Do you think you can still use that ability?" Cipher asked.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"That power from the Time God? Do you still have it?" he asked.
"Of course I..." she paused. She couldn’t feel it. It wasn’t there.
"It’s just as I thought," Cipher thought. It was just like the ability he got from the Time God in the future. Since the Time God was injured, the abilities also deteriorated. He could only use the regression once, and it looked like it was the same for this one - it was also a remnant of the Time God.
"So what? When the world loops, I’ll have it," she said.
"Are you sure about that?" Cipher asked.
She remained silent.
In the first loop, she had received the items through the meteor. But in the second loop, there was no meteor, yet she still had them. This meant that she was taking them with her to the past.
Since it was gone and the sword was broken, she was going to take them to the past as is.
She looked at her hand. It trembled slightly when she thought of the power she had used.
"It’s just a technique. I am the Heavenly Demon who has mastered all the martial arts in the world and even made my own realms of power. I don’t believe I can’t master something I’ve used," she said.
"I don’t doubt that, but do you have enough time to master it?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"How many loops do you have left in you?" he asked.