"I was thinking the same thing." After saying that, I turned around and was about to leave.
Asuka called out, "You can't leave. We have to kill the Lord of Yellow Springs at any cost and save Kirito."
"If you want to save him, go save him yourself. I'm not joining you."
"Exactly. We've already suffered enough just to stay alive," Wuxin said.
Listening to us, Asuka's eyes filled with pain. She said, "Fine. Since that's how you feel, then leave. I'll deal with her alone."
With that, she pushed the door open. But the moment she did—
Everything before us came into view.
"Another cycle? How long has it been? You've finally come." The voice murmured to itself. It was cold and weathered, yet carried an utterly indescribable cruelty.
It was as though it belonged to a god who stood high above all things and had witnessed countless ages rise and fall. The sight left us shaken.
Wuxin and I both froze, staring wide-eyed at what lay before us.
Who—or what—was that enormous existence before us?
It was a colossal throne, so cold that it seemed to have existed since the dawn of time. Seated upon it was a weathered woman. She wore the trench coat of a grim reaper, and a silver mask covered her face. Her eyes flashed with a ghostly green light. Behind her loomed an enormous divine wheel.
Her body was over fifty meters tall. Though she was a gigantic figure, she seemed never to have moved from the throne. Her eyes were filled with indifference, yet there was also a hint of confusion in them. She had apparently lived through countless eras, and her memories had begun to blur.
Gripping the staff in her hand, she said coldly, "Not bad. In all these centuries,