Ella was shocked. She began to process what had just happened, and when she reviewed the contents of the cursed artifact, she was stunned all over again.
"Damn, so that artifact had such a dangerous feature. I didn't notice it earlier because of my situation... But thank goodness Vivi didn't use it on her own."
Having been together since their time on Earth, she had always done things for Olivia, pampering her so much that it felt like Olivia couldn't live without her.
But after witnessing that clever moment where Olivia made her move and turned the Dark Emperor into a rat, Ella realized she had truly underestimated Olivia's intelligence.
She had been the one Olivia relied on for so long, and now, watching her act on her own stirred emotions she couldn't quite explain.
"Ha... Our experience here has really taught us a lot. Maybe facing life and death situations has made us grow," Ella said softly, thinking about how far they had come. Even though their current bodies hadn't existed for a full year, they had already experienced things that could temper even the most seasoned Gods.
Her perspective on this place had shifted. She had become even more cautious, more calculating.
Right now, she began analyzing the situation and asked the system whether there was any possibility that the Dark Emperor could escape the curse. When the system responded, she felt a wave of relief knowing that the curse was truly inescapable.
"It almost feels natural. He's an undying being who constantly comes back to life, so it's not surprising he wouldn't die from that curse even if he was sucked dry," Ella thought.
The system had revealed many possibilities, and her own conclusion aligned with its analysis. The Dark Emperor would not die easily.
Even she had been unable to kill him. But now, he was just a rat. And even if death eventually claimed him, he would resurrect; the curse was carved deeply into his soul. In that form, he was no more dangerous than a helpless animal.
The thought eased her mind. The threat that once loomed over them had finally faded.
She checked the remaining time. Her clone would dissolve in six minutes. With a quiet breath, she turned her gaze toward Olivia, eyes filled with a gentle warmth.
"This battle ends here. Now we need to go back. We've gained a lot here, and it's time to return," she said.
But just as the words settled, a red digital screen suddenly appeared, jolting Ella from her thoughts.
DING!
The system prompt echoed, triggering a flash of fury in Ella. But as her eyes scanned the message, her expression shifted. The anger drained from her face, replaced by a sudden, intense seriousness.
Meanwhile, on Olivia's side, she stared down at the black rat beneath her. Her expression was full of disdain, looking at him as though he were trash. The Dark Emperor couldn't help but shiver. With his rat-like features, small, soft hands, and squeaky rat voice, he was furious.
He also realized he couldn't produce or gather natural energy in his core, which instantly made him understand what had happened to him.
"Fuck. So the artifact's true effect was to reduce me to an inferior creature," he muttered, his voice laced with fury. A crooked, bitter smile twisted across his face.
But then, a surge of power burst from Olivia, raw, overwhelming, and undeniable. It was power he had once dismissed. The air shifted around him, thick with pressure, and in his small, trembling body, an instinct deeper than thought screamed at him to run.
"Huh? Is this fear?" he said, his voice filled with confusion. He suddenly felt scared for some reason. Not fear in the usual sense, but an instinctive terror, like a weak creature subconsciously sensing overwhelming power from Olivia.
"No... this can't be. Did I become even more inferior than those lesser monsters? Fuck!" He couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. He should have ended his life the moment Olivia offered him the artifact. He hadn't expected that underestimating it would reduce him to such a weak creature.
Now, a sinister power gripped his soul, terrifying and inescapable. Trembling, he turned his gaze to Olivia, as if trying to say something.
"Squeak!... Squee!... Skritch!..."
Olivia ignored the rat's desperate cries. Without hesitation, she delivered a kick, wind gathering beneath her heel as she raised it, then slammed it downward. The force split the ground in a line of violent fissures that tore across the earth, ending meters away from him.
For the first time, the Dark Emperor felt something unfamiliar stir inside him.
"Shit… why am I feeling nervous?" he muttered, clutching his tiny chest. As a rat, the overwhelming fear coursing through him was alien. In his prime as a god, he had never known this feeling. He mistook it now for simple nervousness.
He couldn't help but curse, staring at Olivia with a resentful gaze and muttering,"Damn you, girl! You dare—ack!"
Before he could react, Olivia disappeared from her position, striding beside him. She grabbed his neck, choking the rat as she spoke.
"Shut up. You're my pet now, ugly rat. From now on, you will serve me."
She ignored the desperate squeaks of the rat, then lifted him, her gaze cold as she asked, "Do you agree or not?"
Her deep red eyes gleamed with a chilling energy, making the rat instantly quiet and obedient.
"Good, you rotten rat. That's good." Her tone shifted to one of cheerfulness, the cold expression vanishing as if nothing had happened.
The rat, or rather, the Dark Emperor, couldn't help but feel an unfamiliar fear. It was as if his life now depended on Olivia's mood, and that was a terrifying realization. As a former powerhouse, he was unwilling to accept his current situation.
It was unacceptable for someone with strength inferior to his own to command him, to make him a servant. He couldn't accept it.
He was about to squeal, but Olivia half-lidded her eyes, staring at him. The terror he felt intensified.
"Fuck my life," he muttered to himself, frozen in fear. His mouth could no longer produce a squeaky sound. His body instinctively felt threatened, trembling uncontrollably as he experienced a fear tied to mortality, an instinct that belonged only to weaker creatures like humans and animals.
He couldn't do anything. His body was no longer divine, and all the emotions he had never felt before resurfaced in his rat form, intoxicating him with these unfamiliar sensations.
Olivia held the rat in one hand, her gaze lingering on him with quiet satisfaction. His cowering submission pleased her more than she expected. With a light chuckle and a playful mood, she gently patted his trembling head with her left hand.
"Good. Now that I have an obedient pet, it's time we return," she said calmly, turning her eyes toward Ella. A faint warmth rose in her chest—she felt oddly fulfilled, as if she'd helped Ella in some way. She extended her hand, ready to free her, but just as her fingers moved, a sudden system prompt flickered into her vision.
Her expression shifted, surprise flashing across her face as she read the unexpected message.
DING!
[Warning: → An exalted being is approaching at high speed. Immediate consciousness severance from the current clone is required to avoid detection.]
[Warning: → An exalted being is approaching at high speed. Immediate consciousness severance from the current clone is required to avoid detection.]
[Warning: → An exalted being is approaching at high speed. Immediate consciousness severance from the current clone is required to avoid detection.]
Prompt after prompt flashed across Olivia's vision in an urgent cascade. The warning tone, relentless and sharp, sent a chill down her spine. It was the first time she had seen the system behave in such a frantic state, almost as if it were panicking. Something dangerous was approaching, swift and imminent. Her gaze shot to Ella.
"Eri... let's leave," she called out, her voice cutting through the thickening air.
Ella heard her clearly. She too had been bombarded with the same warning prompts. Without hesitation, she nodded.
The suppression around her abruptly lifted, and as Olivia released her, Ella activated her movement technique. In a blink, she appeared beside Olivia, who was still holding the black rat between her hands.
"Let's go," Ella said firmly. The twins met each other's gaze and nodded. Without delay, they severed their consciousness from the human realm, bringing the black rat with them. At Olivia's request, the system severed all cause and effect. Yet the karma accumulated in the human realm remained.
Countless deaths, injuries, and destruction had bound them to that world, and the weight of their actions could not be undone.
Moments later, their consciousness was gone. Their bodies, now empty vessels, crumbled into skeletal remains veiled in a rising blood mist. Within seconds, even that vanished, disintegrating completely without a trace.
Across the battlefield, people collapsed to their knees as the oppressive authority that had kept them subdued vanished. The skill had faded. Confusion rippled through the crowd. Whispers grew into a chorus of stunned voices, echoing in every direction.
"We're free... but what just happened?" one of them asked in confusion.
Various human powerhouses noticing the strange phenomena, flew upward to investigate the situation. To their surprise, when they reached a distance of five miles, they found no trace of the battle. The Dark Emperor had vanished, and the mysterious godlike girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Just what happened? Where are those people?" they muttered, bewildered. Some, however, couldn't recall anything at all.
"What do you mean, battle? There's nothing there. Are you daydreaming?" a middle-aged man responded, completely unaware of the events that had unfolded.
The cause of this confusion was the severing of cause and effect.
While some of them had been affected by this, others, aware of the deep destruction in the area, were beginning to realize what had transpired. Karmic traces lingered in the surroundings, sparking arguments among the onlookers as they debated what had really happened.
As their voices filled the air, none of them noticed the colossal figure hovering within the gap of space. concealed beneath four layers of veils. It was larger than a planet, its presence looming like an ominous shadow.
The figure seemed to be searching for something, its attention drawn to the faint karmic ties left behind by the two geniuses. The sensation of their disappearance lingered in the air, and with a deep, rumbling voice, the colossal figure spoke, its words heavy with dark understanding.
"They are truly dangerous... to notice me ahead of time," it muttered, its gaze sharpening. "The elder was right; they really need to be eliminated... these anomalies."
The weight of its words hung in the air as its massive form shifted. A chilling silence settled over the space, leaving behind only the sense of impending doom, as if the world itself held its breath.