The Spare's Second Chance in Apocalypse
Chapter 309: Ch 308: The Final Gate - Part 1

Chapter 309: Ch 308: The Final Gate - Part 1

The battlefield descended into chaos.

Hunters who were once coordinating attacks on dungeon monsters turned their weapons toward each other.

Ethan’s arrival had unsettled everything. His calm footsteps through the debris and corpses were almost too quiet compared to the thunder of distant explosions and monster roars.

A group of four hunters noticed his approach and immediately raised their weapons.

"Back off, Mr. Ranker. This area’s already cleared. Go find your own prey."

One of them warned.

"I’m not here for your prey. I’m here for your points."

Ethan replied, voice cool and measured.

Silence. Then tension snapped like a wire.

The hunters tightened their grips, uncertain if he was joking or serious. Ethan’s expression told them all they needed to know.

The hesitation cost them. While backing away, they exposed their flanks to a group of fresh monsters pouring in from a newly formed rift.

These weren’t the same mindless beasts as before—these were larger, more coordinated, and twice as fast.

The battle turned bloody in seconds. The four hunters barely managed to hold their ground. Panic set in. It was clear they wouldn’t survive long unless someone intervened.

"Help us!"

One shouted as he fell back, bleeding from a deep gash in his side.

Ethan stood still.

"Your points first."

"What? Are you insane?"

The hunter coughed.

"Decide fast. Your lives or your pride."

Ethan said, drawing his weapon.

In desperation, the hunters transferred their points.

Notifications flickered in Ethan’s vision. He immediately jumped into the fray, cleaving through the monsters with clinical efficiency.

Each swing landed with deadly precision, his movements faster and more brutal than any of the other participants had seen.

Within moments, the monsters were nothing more than steaming corpses.

The hunters, alive but shaken, looked at each other—then at Ethan.

One of them lunged, screaming.

"Give them back!"

Ethan sidestepped. A flick of his wrist, and the attacker was on the ground, unconscious. The others didn’t try again.

Ethan walked away.

He contacted Zara next.

"What’s your status?"

"I’ve got a decent haul. Close to a hundred more just from this sector."

She responded.

"Keep going. We’re almost there."

Ethan said.

But just as he finished speaking, a loud chime echoed across the battlefield, halting everyone in their tracks.

A message from the system appeared before every participant, bold and unmistakable:

[Rule violation detected. Unauthorized point transfer constitutes a breach of tournament protocol. As penalty, the tournament structure has been updated.]

Another message followed:

[New rule: Only the first participant to reach 1000 points will advance to the final round. No exceptions. No transfers. No mercy.]

The impact was immediate. Screams echoed as people realized what this meant. No more teamwork.

No more safety in numbers. From now on, it was every player for themselves.

Frenzied chaos erupted. Hunters scattered in every direction, desperate to find monsters and rack up points before anyone else could. Fights broke out as alliances shattered.

Ethan heard gunfire and explosions erupting across multiple sectors.

This wasn’t a tournament anymore. It was a race.

A deadly one.

Zara let out a low curse through the comms.

"What the hell was that?!"

"The system caught on. We pushed it too far."

Ethan muttered.

"No kidding! We just started a war."

"No. We started the endgame."

Ethan clenched his fists. The sky darkened with smoke as more dungeons erupted, vomiting monsters into the streets.

The final trial wasn’t just about strength anymore. It was about endurance, ruthlessness, and timing.

And only one would reach the finish line.

______

Inside the tower facility, silence clung to the air like mist. The walls, once humming faintly with residual power, now pulsed steadily with an ominous rhythm—like a heartbeat.

Selene sat in the center of the room, knees folded beneath her, her eyes closed. Her breath came in shallow bursts.

Sweat rolled down her temples, soaking into the collar of her shirt. But the real storm wasn’t on the outside.

It was inside her.

The voice—the one that had haunted her every step, whispered into every thought—was no longer a faint whisper. It had become a steady, commanding force.

[Open the gates.]

Selene gritted her teeth, fists clenching against her thighs.

"No. Not right now. It is not the time."

She muttered, shaking her head.

But her body didn’t listen. Her fingers twitched. Then moved.

Her hands rose on their own, pressing against the core regulator embedded in her chest.

With practiced precision—motions she didn’t recognize but her body somehow remembered—she activated the flow system that linked the cores within her.

One by one, the internal energy gates began to creak open.

[You’re doing well. Just a little more, and I’ll be free. You want this, don’t you? To be done fighting?]

The voice purred.

Selene wanted to scream. She wanted to claw the voice out of her skull.

But she couldn’t even speak now. Her muscles locked in place. Her limbs obeyed someone—or something—else.

In her mind, she plummeted. Like a diver cut from their tether, Selene’s consciousness dropped, descending into her own subconscious.

Everything turned white.

Endless, blinding white.

There was no sky, no floor, no walls. Just...nothingness.

"Where am I?"

She whispered. Her voice didn’t echo. It just vanished.

She tried to move, but her legs wouldn’t respond. Her arms remained limp at her sides. It was like being trapped in a dream—except she wasn’t asleep.

No, she was wide awake, but disconnected from the very body she had fought so hard to protect.

Then came the hand.

In her inner vision, it wasn’t her own. This hand, sleek and composed of energy, reached out and grabbed her wrist.

It didn’t squeeze, not yet—but its grip was final. Commanding.

[Just one favor. Give it to me. Your body. Your power. It’s time we fulfilled what was written.]

The voice said, now standing beside her in the form of a featureless silhouette made of crackling light.

Selene shook her head.

"No. It’s mine. My body. My fate."

She whispered.

But the entity didn’t argue.

It simply cast her down—deeper still.

Her mind spiraled inward, sinking into blackness this time, and the last thing she saw before the darkness closed in was her own face, contorted into a cold, unfamiliar smile.

In the physical world, her eyes snapped open.

But they weren’t her eyes anymore.

Cracks of golden light ran down her skin, radiating from her core.

Her hair billowed in an unseen wind. And the pressure—the pressure—in the room became unbearable.

Luke, standing a few feet away, felt it immediately.

He had been leaning against the wall, half-dozing in the lull of chaos. But the sudden wave of energy jolted him to his feet.

"Selene?"

He called out, cautious.

She didn’t respond.

She stood, slow and deliberate, and faced him with a gaze he didn’t recognize. Her irises glowed a molten gold, and her expression was devoid of emotion.

A warning flashed across the system screen beside them.

[SYSTEM WARNING: FINAL GATE ACCESSED. ENTITY STABILIZING.]

[NOTICE: CLASSIFIED BEING IN CONTROL. PREPARING WORLD ALTERATION SEQUENCE.]

Luke’s skin crawled.

"What... what the hell is going on? Selene, talk to me."

He asked, stepping forward.

But when she opened her mouth, the voice that came out wasn’t hers.

It was distorted. Too calm. Too flat.

"It is time."

Luke’s heart dropped.

The figure—Selene’s body now acting as the host for the entity—raised its hands, and the system around them began to flicker, react, adapt.

"The final test for this world is here. And this world... will be born anew."

Luke didn’t move. He couldn’t.

A thousand thoughts raced through his head, but none of them found footing.

He felt something primal telling him that the person before him was no longer Selene. At least, not entirely.

And yet, even knowing that, he couldn’t bring himself to speak. To accuse. To confront.

Because deep down, Luke was afraid.

Afraid that if he asked too many questions... he’d find out the answer he feared most:

That the girl he once saved no longer existed.

That all that was left... was the end.

The air grew thicker by the second, vibrating with energy that didn’t belong to this world.

Dust and particles lifted from the ground, suspended as if gravity had lost its grip.

Luke took a cautious step back, his fingers twitching toward the sword at his side—but he didn’t draw it. Not yet.

Selene—or the thing inside her—turned toward the massive glass window overlooking the ruined city below. Fires burned in the distance. People screamed. Monsters roamed freely.

"This is only the beginning."

The voice said, as if observing a grand painting.

Luke swallowed hard. "What do you mean? What are you trying to do?"

The being tilted its head.

"Restore balance. Reclaim what was lost. Rebuild a world that no longer deserves to stand."

"But you’ll destroy everything! You’ll kill innocent people—""

Luke snapped, his voice louder than he intended.

"Innocent? No one like that is left in this world now."

It repeated, almost amused.

A pulse of light burst from Selene’s chest, shaking the tower.

Luke stumbled but didn’t fall. As he looked up at her glowing form, one truth settled coldly into his chest.

The real Selene might never come back.

And the world... was running out of time.

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