A white light descended without warning, engulfing the battlefield in blinding radiance. King felt the familiar sensation of teleportation, the brief moment where reality ceased to exist.

When the light faded, he stood inside the Victorian estate.

Their original base, before the Second Woe had forced them out into the territories. The polished stone floors gleamed under artificial lighting. The reinforced walls stood intact, untouched by the months of warfare that had ravaged the outside world.

Vi materialized beside him. She blinked, adjusting to the sudden change in environment. Eli appeared next, Maya cradled carefully in his arms. The child looked around with quiet curiosity, seemingly unbothered by the abrupt transition.

The room was silent.

None of them spoke. The weight of what they’d experienced hung heavy in the air between them, an invisible barrier that words couldn’t penetrate. Three months of constant combat, endless death, it had taken a toll on all of them.

But King felt it most severely.

He stood motionless for several seconds, staring at nothing in particular, then turned and walked toward his private quarters without acknowledging the others.

Vi watched him go, concern etched across her face. She opened her mouth to call out to him, to say something that might help, but the words died in her throat. She’d seen that look before, during the darkest moments of the Second Woe.

The hollow expression that suggested King was somewhere else entirely, probably reliving battles and deaths and decisions that couldn’t be unmade.

He wasn’t ready to talk, and she knew that.

Vi closed her mouth and let him go, giving him the space he clearly needed.

Eli noticed her distress immediately. The older man approached quietly, still carrying Maya. He shifted the child’s weight slightly and spoke in a low, reassuring tone.

"Master King will be fine," Eli said. "He simply needs a moment to process everything. The Second Woe was... difficult. For all of us."

Vi nodded slowly, but the worry didn’t leave her expression. "I know, but I can’t help it."

"I understand," Eli said.

He adjusted his grip on Maya, who had begun to doze against his shoulder. "Give him time. He’ll return when he’s ready."

Vi exhaled slowly, trying to release the tension coiled in her chest. "I hope you’re right."

Eli carried Maya toward her designated room, the child’s small form relaxed completely in his arms. Despite everything they’d witnessed, everything they’d participated in, Maya seemed utterly unbothered. She smiled that same cute, innocent smile as Eli settled her onto her bed and pulled a blanket over her.

The child’s resilience was both comforting and deeply unsettling.

Eli left Maya to rest and returned to the common area, where Vi had slumped into a chair. He moved to the kitchen and began preparing tea, falling back on familiar routines to ground himself.

Neither of them spoke for several minutes.

Then the notifications arrived.

Golden text materialized in their vision simultaneously.

[SECOND WOE CONCLUDED]

[CALCULATING REWARDS...]

[BONUS DISTRIBUTED BASED ON ALIGNMENT VICTORY AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION]

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED: 5,000 GOD RUNES]

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED: 5,000 RUNES]

[LEVEL UP AVAILABLE]

Vi stared at the notifications, Eli as well, they were a lot.

But at this time, the rewards felt hollow.

Three months of warfare, thousands of deaths, countless lives destroyed, and this was the compensation? Numbers in a system interface?

Vi closed the notifications without claiming anything and leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling.

Eli finished preparing the tea and brought two cups to the table. He set one in front of Vi and kept the other for himself, settling into the opposite chair.

They sat in silence, drinking tea and not talking about anything that mattered.

In his private quarters, King lay on his bed, staring at his interface.

The same reward notifications hovered in his vision, golden text glowing with system-generated enthusiasm.

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED: 5,000 GOD RUNES]

[YOU HAVE RECEIVED: 5,000 RUNES]

[LEVEL UP AVAILABLE]

[BONUS: CLASS UP AVAILABLE]

Below the standard rewards, another familiar prompt throbbed.

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

[ACTIVATE GOD’S HAND: 100x REWARD SKILL. Y/N]

King could multiply these rewards by one hundred. Turn five thousand God Runes into five hundred thousand. Transform five thousand standard runes into a fortune that would dwarf most players’ entire accumulated wealth. Upgrade the rank advancement as well.

He waved the interface away without selecting anything.

The notifications minimized but didn’t disappear completely, lingering at the edge of his vision like unwelcome reminders. King ignored them and continued staring at the ceiling.

His mind kept replaying moments from the Second Woe. Specific faces, deaths, allies who’d fallen despite his best efforts to protect them, moments he wished he could rewrite.

King closed his eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come. His body was exhausted, but his mind refused to rest.

Another notification appeared, cutting through his thoughts.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT]

[PLAYER RANKINGS UPDATED]

King opened his eyes and stared at the announcement for a long moment. And then closed it without checking the contents.

Somewhere Outside Earth

The VIP room maintained its grandeur, but was quiet, the massive split screens still displaying perspectives from Earth-96 even though the Second Woe had officially concluded.

Several of the All-Gods had already departed, losing interest now that the immediate entertainment had ended. But a few remained, watching the aftermath unfold.

The All-Powerful sat rigidly in his throne, arms crossed over his massive chest. He hadn’t spoken since the final announcement, his expression frozen in something between disbelief and barely-contained fury.

Cain lost to King and never made a comeback even until the end. The All-Gods alignment had collapsed. Every prediction he’d made, every boast he’d issued, had been proven catastrophically wrong.

And the Almighty had been right.

The goddess in question sat in her throne with an unreadable expression, her personalized screen locked onto King’s perspective. She watched him lying motionless in his quarters, staring at nothing.

The All-Knowing leaned forward slightly from her throne, studying the Almighty with open curiosity. "You won your bet. Decisively. I expected more... celebration."

The Almighty didn’t turn away from her screen. "There’s nothing to celebrate."

"Your champion topped both rankings," the All-Knowing continued. "He secured victory for an entire alignment while keeping his allies alive. He defeated Cain in single combat. By every metric, you should be triumphant."

"Look at him," the Almighty said quietly, gesturing toward her screen.

The All-Knowing followed her gaze. King lay completely still on his bed, his interface minimized, his expression hollow.

"He’s broken," the Almighty continued, her voice carrying genuine concern. "He did everything I hoped he would do, proven himself beyond any doubt, and survived impossible odds."

She paused, her features flickered for a moment.

"And it destroyed him."

The All-Wise cackled from his throne, the aged sound grating against the chamber’s acoustics. "What did you expect? Mortals are weak, their minds fracture under prolonged stress. The strong survive, but survival has costs."

"..." the Almighty gave no reply.

The All-Powerful finally spoke, trying to dub down his embarrassment. "You had your victory. Your pet proved himself. Are you satisfied now?"

The Almighty turned slowly to face him, her expression hardening.

"Oh shut up!" she said, then turned back to her screen, watching King’s motionless form.

The chamber fell silent. The All-Powerful tried to respond, but was quickly cut off by the All-Wise.

On the screens, players across Earth-96 celebrated their survival, claimed their rewards, and prepared for whatever came next. Guilds began to reorganize.

The world continued spinning.

But in a private room inside a Victorian estate, King remained alone, staring at nothing, carrying weights that numbers could never measure.

And in the realm of gods, the Almighty watched him with genuine concern.