Cian O'Connell

Olivia silently observed the Head of the Twilight Council.

As the Head of the Twilight Council, Cian O'Connell naturally possessed extraordinary strength. He was a powerful existence who had become a Destroyer long ago.

In fact, there were many rumors in the outside world suggesting that Cian had already become a Controller.

But clearly, those were merely rumors.

Although Cian had a remarkable background and immense talent, he had indeed not yet become a Controller.

If he were to become a Controller, the Twilight Council would undoubtedly be even more arrogant in the main world.

Of course, even now, the Twilight Council remained the primary enemy of the Radiant Light Church, causing them countless troubles.

Olivia was not surprised that he would challenge her.

She rose unhurriedly and walked toward the center of the arena.

As Olivia approached, Cian also sized her up, his eyes filled with a touch of scrutiny.

He was quite familiar with Olivia. After all, he was also from the main world and had heard her name far too many times.

He knew Olivia would not be easy to deal with; that much was evident from her previous battles.

But no matter how difficult she was, he had to test her strength.

This was not only his own intention but also the will of the Death Sovereign.

It was because the Death Sovereign had subtly signaled him to step forward that he had done so.

Since the two belonged to opposing factions, Olivia didn't waste any words once they both reached the center. she simply raised her hand and struck out with a palm.

Her arm extended rapidly, and her palm expanded at a high speed. In an instant, it reached Cian and slammed down heavily.

In response, Cian offered no resistance at all, allowing the palm to strike his body.

In the next moment, his body exploded on the spot, turning into a scattered mess of flesh and bone across the ground.

“Death is but the beginning of all things,” Cian whispered softly.

Immediately after, the numerous pieces of his corpse emitted a strange ripple that surged outward, enveloping Olivia within it.

When that ripple washed over her, Olivia felt an incredibly powerful and terrifying pressure acting upon her body, as if she had struck herself with her own full-strength palm.

In an instant, Olivia understood Cian's method of attack.

Cian intended to synchronize the damage he sustained onto her.

It was an interesting technique, one that caused her own body to begin cracking apart.

However, under the influence of the Remnant Branch of the Divine Tree, the injuries on her body began to heal as quickly as they appeared.

Olivia realized how troublesome Cian could be.

In truth, every person brought here by the gods was exceptionally difficult to deal with. Even if one could overcome another, it would take a significant amount of time; it was rare for a victory to be decided quickly.

Every battle thus far had proven this point.

Except for the battles where Olivia had taken action.

In her previous fight, she had utilized divine power to secure a victory, which had been the fastest match of the competition.

Now, after a brief test of Cian's strength, Olivia planned to use her divine power again.

She didn't want to waste any time.

Her gaze fell upon the fragmented remains of Cian scattered on the ground. She drove her palm down once more, but this time, threads of divine power coated the surface of her hand.

The amount of divine power was small, but this fundamentally different kind of energy was enough to trigger a massive transformation.

Boom!

With a thunderous roar, Olivia smashed Cian's remains into even finer dust.

After taking damage this time, Cian was unable to reflect the injuries back onto Olivia.

This was because he felt himself truly dying.

As a believer of the Death Sovereign, death should have been a natural state of life.

In fact, the closer he drew to death, the more he should have felt the sublimation of his existence.

But he could not truly die.

For if he truly died, everything would be lost, and he would possess nothing more.

Yet now, he felt as if he were on the verge of actual extinction.

Precisely because he had approached and embraced death countless times, he was more sensitive to his distance from it than anyone else.

It could be said that he had never been this close to death before.

Subconsciously, he wanted to surrender, but with his body reduced to nothing but a pulpy mass, he no longer had the physical means to do so.

Unless the Death Sovereign spoke up and surrendered on his behalf.

But the Death Sovereign did not speak.

The deity simply stood in the distance, silently watching as Olivia ground Cian's body into nothingness.

He felt it—He felt that trace of surging divine power within Olivia.

That was a power Olivia should not have been able to master, yet she had done so anyway.

Even the Death Sovereign did not know why Olivia was able to master the power of death, but He understood that the Radiant Goddess must have done something. This made Him increasingly interested in Olivia.

He wished He could seize Olivia immediately and dissect her to understand the secrets she held.

However, in a setting like this, He clearly could not do such a thing.

He could only endure for now.

Still, since He had seen enough, it was time to save His believer.

Although this believer appeared somewhat incompetent, having been beaten into a state of total helplessness in an instant, he was still the second strongest believer under His command.

He had an even stronger follower who had already become a Controller, but that person was not from the main world. Instead, they had grown up in an alternate space belonging to Him, where they had established an organization similar to the Twilight Council and developed it quite well.

However, the rules of the competition among the gods had been established beforehand: those of the same class rank could only fight those of the same rank. Therefore, it was not convenient for Him to send His Controller to deal with Olivia, as the other gods would not allow it.

“He surrenders. Let him return,” the Death Sovereign spoke.

When the Death Sovereign spoke, even Olivia had to withdraw her hand. It was impossible to defy such an existence.

This left Olivia feeling somewhat regretful; she had been moments away from killing Cian, only to be stopped at the final second.

‘It doesn't matter. As long as we remain enemies and have chances to clash, I will kill you sooner or later,’ Olivia thought to herself.

She pulled back her hand and silently retreated to her own side.

As she stepped down, pair after pair of eyes stared at her, their expressions unreadable.