This unprecedented anomaly made the Destruction Goddess, Valkyrie, frown deeply as she immediately turned around.
The Valhalla Gate was her proudest and most brutal technique—anyone devoured by it had never escaped. But now, the gate itself was showing signs of fear? What kind of joke was this?
Though she didn't want to believe it, the reality was right before her eyes—the Valhalla Gate was instantly covered in cracks. Especially that plaster statue of a goddess—it let out a scream as though it were being defiled.
It wailed halfway before the entire gate shattered like porcelain. The figure trapped inside reappeared, just as he finished tightening his helmet once more.
At that moment, all the gods witnessing this scene froze in shock. It would've been one thing if the gate had merely failed to contain its target, but it was actually destroyed? Was this some kind of sick joke?
Meanwhile, the Destruction Goddess Valkyrie's face turned even more serious, mixed with confusion.
When the helmet was secured, she did sense the aura from within—it felt pathetically weak, unmistakably human.
So, this person with such a feeble human aura had managed to withstand her attacks twice? The only logical explanation was that the equipment he wore was excessively powerful—divine armament-class gear.
But even divine armament couldn't resist the devouring power of the Valhalla Gate.
It might have temporarily protected the body, but the gate's assault targeted the soul. Even regular gods would have been instantly annihilated, returning to their origin.
In simple terms—was there something strange about this person's soul?
In the next moment, the intruder raised a massive sword, which roared with a violent storm as it revealed its true form—shining with brilliance even more dazzling than sunlight.
Countless light particles converged into a massive, blinding beam that then fell directly toward her.
But before the beam struck—
"Ugh—!"
Valkyrie let out a muffled grunt and gasped heavily, her expression twisted in agony.
A moment later, red liquid spurted from her right shoulder—no, not just her shoulder—her arms, legs, abdomen, and nearly every part of her body were cut as though by blades, spraying blood everywhere.
This was the price of invoking the Valhalla Gate—it used the caster's life force as the medium.
She quickly used her power to analyze her own stats.
HP: 50,000,000 / 99,999,999
Half of it was gone. But Valkyrie wasn't concerned about the health loss—it wasn't the worst she'd faced; she'd survived even worse.
What disturbed her was that the price wasn't fully taken. The Valhalla Gate had been destroyed halfway through the transaction by this intruder.
It didn't make sense—the gate clearly shattered before her body suffered the backlash.
But in reality, the moment she activated the gate and devoured the enemy, it began consuming her life force.
She only felt the toll thirty seconds later.
Which meant—had the gate continued its devouring and crushed the intruder's soul, the price might've been all her HP. It would've drained her life in one gulp.
Thankfully, she had the passive skill [Death Resistance], so she wouldn't die outright. Even if she did, only her physical form would be destroyed; gods don't perish just from losing their bodies.
But precisely because she was writhing in pain and unable to act freely, the massive beam descended fiercely—would it cleave her in two?
However, after the torrent of light vanished, Valkyrie stood nearly unharmed.
This was because the enemy's weapon was a divine armament, typically effective only against Demon Kings or Evil Gods. Moreover, this was the Unified Divine Realm, and the divine weapon wasn't forged here.
Due to the differing world laws, its power was severely diminished.
Normally, one would have to adjust the divine armament to the world's laws first. Evidently, the intruder had not done so.
Conversely, if the weapon were adapted to this realm, her destructive magic would be able to bypass its defenses entirely.
"Click."
The intruder's tongue click came with delayed realization.
"Valkyrie? How interesting."
The intruder's curious tone made Valkyrie frown—it wasn't the tone of someone who had heard of her, but rather someone who hadn't seen her in a long time.
"Interesting? Heh... I find you far more interesting. This time, I will definitely—"
Will what? Valkyrie's expression turned grave.
The opponent had just stowed away his previous divine armament sword and replaced it with a massive gray-white greatsword, shrouded in black-red mist.
In that instant, Valkyrie felt a powerful threat to her very soul—that sword was a Soul-Destroying Armament, capable of killing the soul of a god.
In fact... that weapon looked kind of familiar.
"Good... very good. Then I—"
Valkyrie prepared to break past her stat limits, unleashing her full power.
"Calm down, Valkyrie!"
A stern voice rang out as a figure stepped in front of her—it was Ishtar.
Valkyrie clicked her tongue in frustration.
"May I ask what business you have in the Unified Divine Realm?"
Of course, Ishtar had already checked with Earth's deities—the visitor was clearly not one of theirs.
She was baffled by the intruder's presence and suspected some god here may have caused this incident.
The political structure of this divine realm was complex, after all.
"Simple. Just a moment ago, you performed a summoning ritual targeting Earth, didn't you?"
This made Ishtar's heart sink slightly.
Though the intruder might not be affiliated with Earth's divine factions, he could still be a human from Earth—someone who'd been summoned to another world and gained tremendous power. Upon sensing an illegal summoning from this realm, he followed the trail out of anger.
"In that case, hand over both the summoner and the summoned."
It wasn't a request. It was a command.
"Hand over everyone? It's one thing to take your own, but you're suggesting executing our gods too? You're getting ahead of yourself! I should've just killed you with the Valhalla Gate earlier!"
Valkyrie interjected, furious.
If a god from this realm made a mistake, they should be judged by this realm's laws. This outsider dared to overreach?
She cracked her neck, clearly ready to fight. Her red eyes gleamed with murderous intent. Her words weren't just bluster—she had gone easy with the Valhalla Gate earlier.
She hadn't planned to kill, just to violently humiliate the intruder and toss him into the void like trash.
This time, she would exceed her limits. The next Valhalla Gate would be on a whole different level.
It might truly kill him.
The intruder sensed her intense hostility from beneath his mask.
At the same time, the soul-destroying armament in his hand flared up—the black-red mist now turned into blazing black-red flames.
The air instantly filled with suffocating tension, as if the entire divine realm was about to explode. A war was about to erupt?
But in the next second, for reasons unknown, the intruder forcefully tore open a rift in the divine realm's space and stepped into the void beyond.