At this very moment, Daniel found himself utterly unable to move. His limbs, his breath, even the flow of his own power were bound still. And yet, his mind remained ablaze, racing ceaselessly as he searched for some method—any method—to break free of this frozen instant.
What Aurelia had said was true. This moment belonged to her alone.
And now Daniel understood, with chilling clarity, just how vast the gulf was between mortals and a god. Her speed was close to infinite; her will was enough to stretch a single second into eternity if she so chose. With a mere thought, Aurelia could make this fleeting instant last forever.
So this was the power of a god...
Her voice, languid yet filled with authority, drifted once more into his ears."You guessed correctly. At this moment, I cannot directly touch the Origin Land. And besides... I do not intend to kill you."
"Since you are so unwilling to welcome my descent, then fend for yourselves. I leave you your fate. Good luck."
The surface of the Miracle Gate flared violently with light, a brilliance that swallowed sight and sound. It lasted only a few seconds before the radiance dimmed and dissolved. When it was gone, it was as though nothing had ever happened.
Daniel drew a deep breath. His heart pounded wildly within his chest, each beat like a hammer striking iron. His emotions were tangled—fear, awe, relief, and determination all mixed together.
This had been the first time he had come face-to-face with a god. To be precise, it had not been a conversation in the true sense. Aurelia had spoken, and he had listened. Nothing more. Yet even in that one-sided exchange, Daniel had gleaned a truth: Aurelia could not kill him. Not now.
That knowledge alone was enough. It was a sliver of hope, a foothold in the abyss.
The rest could wait. For now, a far more immediate crisis loomed—the blazing catastrophe descending from above.
The moment Aurelia vanished, a vast rift tore open in the sky directly beneath the falling sun. The black crack stretched across the heavens, immense enough that it could easily contain the entirety of Apollo’s colossal form.
So the interference of the Luck Goddess had not been erased after all.
Daniel stared upward in shock. The appearance of this spatial tear was no accident. Could it be... another move by the Luck Goddess?
Milla gave a small smile, raising one hand to rub the back of her head as though embarrassed by the coincidence. "Well, isn’t this strange? A spatial rift just happened to appear in the sky. Apollo, it seems, is in quite a predicament."
Daniel blinked. So it was indeed her doing.
Before his thoughts could settle, Apollo’s titanic body, crumbling under the corruption of the Filth of God, plunged directly into the abyssal rift.
At that instant, Daniel felt a pulse through the threads of his perception. His avatar stationed within the Abyss raised its head, eyes drawn upward.
"The Sun Apollo... has appeared in the Abyss."
Almost simultaneously, Daniel’s true body invoked Flashback, translocating himself straight into the same dark dimension.
Never had he expected the sun itself to fall into the Abyss.
Milla, too, opened a portal and followed close behind.
The moment Apollo descended into the Abyss, the realm was transformed. What had once been endless darkness was flooded with blazing radiance. The oppressive shadows dissolved beneath the tide of sunlight.
Countless abyssal creatures shrieked in agony as the light touched them. They burned away in moments, reduced to drifting ash.
The Emperor of the Abyss, Malkar, tilted his head skyward and froze in shock. His body locked rigid, his mind unable to comprehend.
Impossible. Utterly impossible.
Why was the sun here? This was the Abyss—the realm of eternal dark. Sunlight had no place here. Reality itself seemed to twist and shatter at the sight.
Then he felt it—Daniel’s presence, appearing near Apollo’s blazing form.
Daniel.
Could it be? Was this insanity his doing?
Malkar’s thoughts spun. He remembered a casual conversation from before. He had once confessed to Daniel that he had never seen sunlight. Daniel’s reply had been lighthearted, a jest: Perhaps one day, I’ll bring you to bask in the sun.
He had thought nothing of it. A joke, a passing remark.
Yet here it was. Daniel had truly brought the sun into the Abyss.
Malkar himself was safe—his HP here was infinite, and distance kept him from the direct burns of Apollo’s rage. But the rest of the Abyss suffered devastation. Creatures by the millions perished instantly in fire. Even the great Abyssal Kings fled desperately into deeper layers, running from the impossible light.
One king was too slow. The fire caught him, and in an instant he was annihilated.
Apollo himself teetered on the brink of madness. His voice roared across the dimension, thunderous and unhinged."Die! All of you, die! I will destroy this place—I will destroy everything! HAHAHAHA!"
The entire Abyss became an inferno.
Time was short for Apollo. He knew it. His power waned, his essence cracked. But before his end, he desired only annihilation. If he could let the Filth of God spread upon the Myriad Races Continent, then his death would not be in vain.
With what strength he had left, Apollo sought to rise, to hurl himself upward. But just then, a voice touched his mind.
"It’s been a long time, Apollo. Why are you running?"
Daniel’s voice. Calm, merciless.
At that same moment, Daniel unleashed a God Rank Skill. Extreme Ice Seal spread outward, freezing the world around Apollo. The fiery titan slowed, movements turning sluggish, locked in crystal chains.
Then, from the sky above, a rain of arrows cascaded downward—Meteor Arrow Rain, fused with other powers. The deluge hammered Apollo’s surface. Within breaths, a shell of ice encased the sun itself, wrapping its burning body in layers of frozen chains.
The sun was bound. Apollo, the Level 800 titan, was immobilized.
Daniel wasted no time. He triggered Mixed Strike, weaving every offensive God Rank Skill at his disposal into a single devastating barrage. The Abyss blazed with light as skills collided, intertwining into a storm of destruction.
His voice echoed, steady and cold."Apollo, it has indeed been a long time. Now... it’s time we settle our debt."
The words drove Apollo into further madness. Rage and despair twisted within him. This accursed human—what right did he have to speak of debts? Had it not been Daniel’s trickery that led him here, that bound him, that ruined all? If not for Daniel, Aurelia herself would not have been so scarred!
All of it, every misfortune, stemmed from this man.
Apollo’s roar shook the dimension. His fury was boundless.
But Daniel ignored him.
Light shimmered around his body, a sacred radiance that made the Abyss tremble. His words rang out like a judgmental decree:"You violated the order of the stars, Apollo. Even now, do you not understand your sin? Persist in this path, and you will suffer the punishment of the very rules you defied."
"Stellar Binding—unleash!"
Ripples of power spread outward, like gravitational waves surging through the void. The rules themselves stirred, drawn to Daniel’s command.
The Abyss, once a place untouched by the order of stars, now quivered beneath the weight of cosmic law.
And before him, the sun—Apollo—struggled desperately, his defiance ringing out even as the rules tightened their grip.