Awakening: Reincarnating With the SSS-Level Extraction Talent-Chapter 495: A Death has Occured, No Hope Left

Fwish! SLASH!

The battlefield trembled as the scythe of the [Grim Reaper] descended with a terrifying, deathly grace.

It cleaved through the air like a promise of oblivion, and in that single moment, everything shifted.

A pure, suffocating aura of death had begun to spread, thick, cold, and unnatural.

It coiled around the battlefield like a venomous mist, making even Kaelios and Alex instinctively brace themselves.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Go," Alex ordered, his voice low but sharp as he extended an arm toward his summoned ally.

His eyes didn't waver.

"I'll manage."

The [Undead Lord] glanced at Alex, its empty sockets oddly expressive for something made of bones and cursed energy.

Then, it gave a small, silent nod.

Its own hand lifted as it activated one of its most powerful skills, [Undead Sword].

[Undead Sword]

[Description: The Undead Lord uses its own aura to summon a massive sword from the depths of the underworld.]

Forged from bone and ancient hatred, it is infused with raw destructive energy.

The ground beneath cracked open, and a colossal blade erupted from it, white and jagged, pulsing with dark power.

The Undead Lord gripped it without hesitation and dashed forward at a speed that would shame even the wind, charging directly toward Lich and his own summoned [Undead Lord].

"Ah, so it's going to be an undead showdown," Lich chuckled, raising his hand lazily before summoning a weapon of his own.

A sword of pure black bone, veined with red, appeared in his grasp.

Their minions collided.

Bone clashed with bone, magic with magic.

Each swing shook the ground as the two undead titans fought like warlords of the underworld.

But even as their swords screamed against each other, Alex felt something shift again.

A cold weight began to settle in his chest. He froze.

It wasn't the battle between the Undead Lords that drew his attention, no, it was something else.

A deep, pulsing dread.

His heart began to beat faster, not with fear, but with warning.

Every instinct he had, every fiber of his being screamed that something terrible was about to happen.

He looked toward the scythe descending from above, but oddly enough, he knew that wasn't it.

The real danger, was somewhere else.

Turning his gaze sharply, Alex looked toward Kaelios.

And in that instant, the feeling only intensified.

Even now, after evolving into the [God of Determination], after unlocking devastating abilities like [Void Blasters], after enhancing his sight into the cursed [Eyes of Cursed Void], Alex felt his nerves twitch and tighten like a stretched wire.

The moment he saw Kaelios facing Nocteron, he moved.

"You are about to die. Can't you feel it?" Nocteron's voice carried through the battlefield, light and amused.

Kaelios didn't respond at first.

His face was calm, but Alex saw the tension in his eyes, the same ominous dread that Alex felt.

"…Fuck you," Kaelios finally muttered, low and sharp.

Alex didn't hesitate.

He spread his six wings and prepared to shoot forward, but,

Fwip! CLAMP!

A skeletal hand erupted from the ground and latched onto his leg.

"What?"

He turned sharply.

Lich grinned from across the battlefield.

While Alex had been distracted, Lich had taken full advantage of the opening.

His own [Undead Lord] had launched an unexpected counterattack.

Meanwhile, Lich had activated a skill he'd been saving until now, [Necrotic Orbs].

Ten eerie orbs, green and purple, each one covered in grinning skull faces, hovered around Alex's [Undead Lord], forcing it on the defensive.

While the summoned undead struggled, Lich's own minion used its powers toward Alex, blocking his path.

And in addition to that, he had summoned two more skeletal arms, punching the [Void Blasters] and thus resetting them as they seeped back into the ground.

Snarling, Alex cut through the skeletal arm holding his leg in less than a second, but that second had been enough.

Fwish! SLASH!

The [Grim Reaper]'s scythe finally came down, and though Alex tried to dodge, the blade still managed to graze him.

That was all it took.

Ding!

[You have died.]

Just like that, his body collapsed, and the world went black.

Unlike Nocteron's ultimate skill [Death], this wasn't an absolute end, Alex still had the means to revive, but the timing couldn't have been worse.

Even in the brief moments before resurrection, Alex's eyes locked onto Kaelios and Nocteron once more.

And in that brief window, he saw it.

Destiny Shift!

[Undoing death...]

As light surged into his core, Alex pulled himself back into the living world.

But even though he returned, the moment he'd lost was all Nocteron had needed.

Kaelios had acted fast, activating [Threads of Fate] to predict Nocteron's movements.

Golden strands surrounded the death god, ready to restrict his flow of battle,

But they vanished instantly.

[Your skill "Threads of Fate" has been killed.]

A cold realization swept across Kaelios' face.

Nothing was working. He knew what this meant. He had only a few options left.

One of them, [World Cleaver].

Another, simply hold out long enough for Alex to help.

But this world, these games, they weren't fair.

Nocteron moved. One step. That was all it took.

He closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

Kaelios summoned his [Destiny Blades], but as Nocteron brushed them, they disappeared.

He tried again, conjuring his [Light Dummies], they vanished before they even reached Nocteron's hand.

Everything Kaelios threw was nullified.

He backed away, moving as fast as he could, but it didn't matter.

Nocteron kept advancing.

[Destiny Points: 17/300]

Too low to risk another serious attack.

And all of this, every failed attempt, every reaction, had occurred in just seconds.

Alex had revived and was already preparing to intervene when he heard Lich's mocking laugh behind him.

"Too bad," he sneered.

"You've already lost."

Alex turned quickly, then snapped his gaze back toward Kaelios.

His heart stopped.

Nocteron had reached him.

The death god's dark, pulsing hand was pressed against Kaelios' face like a predator silencing its prey.

Subconsciously, Alex activated [Focus].

The world turned black and white, time slowing to a crawl.

'Why…?' he thought.

His fingers trembled.

Kaelios had one revive left.

Alex had the speed to reach them. The distance wasn't far.

So why, why did it feel like everything was slipping away?

Looking closer at Nocteron's hand, Alex finally understood.

That aura, the death aura, was stronger than anything else on this battlefield.

And Kaelios was in direct contact.

When [Focus] faded, Alex flared his wings and surged forward.

But it was already too late.

"This game is now over," Nocteron said, loud and clear.

His voice echoed, as if delivering judgment to the entire world.

"And with that..."

The hand on Kaelios' face began to glow with crimson light.

"...You are dead."

Alex screamed inside his head as he dashed, but it didn't matter.

The ability activated.

[Skill: Death]

[Effect: Instantly kills target with no chance of revival. Cooldown: 1 hour.]

Nocteron's final ability, the one he'd used on the [Primordial Goddess], was now aimed at Kaelios.

Dark mist swirled around Kaelios' body like a storm of oblivion.

In a second, his radiant glow faded. His wings vanished. The light in his eyes, gone.

Alex stopped. Everything inside him recoiled at once.

A gut-deep, soul-wrenching pain surged through his core as Kaelios' body dropped like a marionette with its strings cut.

"Goodbye, Chosen One of Destiny," Lich and Nocteron turned their gaze to Alex next, a wide smile appearing on their faces.

But even after five seconds, Kaelios didn't move.

Destiny Shift didn't activate. Because it couldn't.

Kaelios, was dead. For real. Forever.

Ding!

["Kaelios, The God of Destiny" has been killed. Due to his bond with him, FateBreaker will now face annihilation.]

Another chime followed.

[The "God of Death" and "Chosen One of Death" have won.]

The battlefield grew still. It was over.