"AAHHHHHH!!! YOU BITCH! I SEE YOU GOT ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THESE GATEWAYS!!! YOU WILL DIE ONE DAY!!!!" the Dragon Sentinel yelled. His voice was a mixture of absolute agony and lingering arrogance as Mirabella violently plunged her hand into his chest, forcefully extracting a pulsing, crimson crystal from his core.

​"Useless," she said coldly.

​The moment the crystal left his body, the corrupted draconic flesh crumbled, shattering into a cascade of lifeless gray ashes that scattered into the toxic thermosphere.

​{Congratulations, Host Killed a Mid-Great Celestial Stage Realm Boss.}

{Gained 20,000,000 Exp.}

{Host’s current level is maxed.}

{Storing EXP.}

{EXP stored.}

​"Oh??? So I can store all my new experience points, and once I advanced to the Third World, I can use everything at once... Not bad," she muttered, casually tossing the heavy, blood-red crystal in her hand. The system’s flexibility was a welcome surprise; it meant her slaughter here wouldn’t be wasted potential.

​She analyzed the strange item, piecing together the mechanics of the planetary lockdown. "I can’t destroy this gateway. I will have to get five of these crystals then destroy it together, that’s the only way to close all the five gateways," she muttered, storing the crystal away into her spatial inventory.

​"Before I return, I need to get stronger."

​She snapped her fingers. The space before her rippled, and the two unused, God -class skill scrolls materialized. They hummed with an ancient, terrifying resonance that pushed back the surrounding ash.

​"I can finally use them." She stretched her hand towards the first parchment and activated one.

​BOOOOM!!

​The first skill scroll ascended into the air and violently exploded into a vortex of sickly green energy. The spectral light shot towards Mirabella, piercing directly into her forehead.

​{Congratulations, Master gained a new god level skill: Infinite Curse.}

{Infinite Curse description: User can place any curse debuff on any target. Curse lasts for one week, and it’s incurable. Unlimited use.}

{Skill can’t be maxed.}

​Mirabella thought about the skill, slowly nodding her head as the tactical possibilities expanded in her mind. "Not bad, this skill doesn’t specify the curse... A very useful skill," she thought with a dark smile. The sheer versatility of an open-ended, incurable debuff was staggering. She turned her head to the second scroll.

​"I wonder what I will gain here." She stretched her hand towards the final skill and snapped her fingers, triggering the activation sequence.

​BOOOOM!

​The scroll instantly detonated into a blinding array of golden light. It didn’t just strike her; it wrapped around her, forming a majestic, ethereal golden armor that seamlessly merged with every fiber of her being.

​{Congratulations!! Host gained a new skill: Sun Divine Body.}

{Sun Divine Body Description: All Damage taken from Any Target whose level or rank is lower than or the same with User will be ineffective, (Skill also applies to the Celestial Guardians). Passive skills.}

{Skill can’t be maxed.}

​"Hahaha!! With this Sun Divine Body!! I am immune to all Lv500 and anyone below attacks... I am now 100% invincible in the second world!!" she laughed aloud. The residual fear from witnessing the Fourth World entities in the Dragon’s memories was entirely forgotten, washed away by the intoxicating rush of absolute, untouchable power.

​"Now with these two skills! I am not scared of anyone again!"

​Four magnificent, dark wings burst out from her back, right on the fabric of her clothing. Without a moment’s hesitation, she folded them tight and dived back down, tearing through the atmosphere as she headed back to Manhattan.

___

​While Mirabella was on her way back, New York was descending into absolute chaos. All the students and the hardened military veterans were universally horrified, staring blankly as mountains of flesh—monsters of all sizes and grotesque forms—fell from the sky like catastrophic hail, crashing into and destroying the already ruined cityscape.

​The sheer residual strength radiating from the dead monsters made both the elite students and the battle-weary military swallow hard.

​The Dragon Team knew Mirabella’s strength intimately, but seeing these gargantuan beasts tower over the city blocks, with some inside the university grounds, left them utterly horrified.

​"There are all King and Emperor level monsters," Captain Justin said in disbelief, his eyes wide as a skeletal wyvern the size of a dreadnought smashed into a skyscraper miles away.

​The Dragon Team members looked at one another, eventually smiling softly at the ridiculous scale of the killing. Their Captain was truly in a league of her own.

​’She killed so many monsters in minutes, she is truly Humanity’s last ray of light... I must let her help us,’ Commander Reed thought, her mind already shifting to secure Mirabella’s alliance at any cost.

​Meanwhile, Eve simply stared at the carnage, a look of profound exhaustion crossing her features.

​’Okay, I gave up,’ Eve thought, shaking her head softly. ’What is the use continuing this Competition when we already know who would win. Gosh, if this is a novel, I would surely slap the Author who gave her this many powers, which he or she could have transferred to countless people!!’ she thought with gritted teeth, her meta-awareness breaking under the sheer absurdity of Mirabella’s scaling.

__

​Outside the perimeter of the University, standing atop the massive, decapitated corpse of the twenty-meter-tall Flying Goblin, was Jessica. A deep, troubled frown marred her face.

​"This is a Realm Boss. How did Mirabella kill a realm Boss without us even feeling or hearing a single battle?" she asked, her golden Mythic Eyes scanning the colossal, headless stump.

​Her team around her looked at one another in grim silence. There was only one terrifying explanation behind this phenomenon: Mirabella had killed the Realm Boss in a single, instantaneous move, without the creature even having the chance to retaliate or unleash its aura.

​But killing a Realm Boss in one move? Even if the three Master Teachers of the Academies came together and synchronized their ultimate attacks, they couldn’t accomplish such a god-like feat.

​"Is this still Mirabella?" Angela, Mirabella’s ex-best friend, asked in shock, her eyes filled with a swirling vortex of fear and profound confusion.

​"Everything is just getting out of hand. First Mirabella, and now Ethan... Those two just ignored us like we don’t even exist," Miranda said with folded arms, her gaze turning cold and defensive. "Yes, I understand Mirabella’s attitude towards me, I was her enemy when in school, but I don’t know about Ethan, why he suddenly turned cold towards us."

​’Yes... I am 100% sure I didn’t offend Mirabella, she is my best friend after all, but the moment we entered Galaxy Fall, she turned cold and even destroyed our friendship... If only I knew what I did wrong,’ Angela thought, her heart aching with unresolved guilt. She then looked up at Ethan, who was standing slightly apart from the group.

​’As for Ethan, he now sees us as students of the Sword Academy, he doesn’t even take us as friends anymore... Miranda is right, everything is just crazy,’ she thought.

​"Something or someone is coming," Honky suddenly announced, raising his head to the sky.

​His words drew everyone’s attention upward. Tearing through the dark, ashen clouds was a streak of blinding golden light, shooting down toward the earth with an insane, physics-defying speed.

​"Is that?!" They were all dumbfounded, bracing for the impact of whatever—or whoever—was about to land.