The Spare's Second Chance in Apocalypse
Chapter 314: Ch 313: Against a God- Part 4

Chapter 314: Ch 313: Against a God- Part 4

The storm of light dimmed just enough to reveal the battlefield.

Selene stood with her fists clenched at her sides, breath shallow, her eyes regaining clarity.

Ethan stood beside her, the two other versions of himself flanking them like mirrored shadows.

Across from them, the entity screeched, its form no longer fluid. It looked unstable now—corrupted.

Black tendrils lashed out from its form, fracturing the ground wherever they landed. Its eyes, once filled with cold confidence, now burned with panic.

"You don’t belong here. This world belongs to me. She chose me. You’re all nothing.|

It spat.

"No. You forced yourself into me. But this ends now."

Selene said.

The first Ethan—the one from the real world—nodded.

"You ready?"

Selene gave a half-smile.

"Not even close. But let’s go."

The three Ethans charged first.

The entity roared, launching a wave of corrupt energy that distorted the space around it.

Selene followed behind, her core flaring with power. The battle was chaos—raging energy, clashing wills, and the ground itself tearing apart.

The entity was fast—faster than anything they had ever fought. It adapted with every strike, its power warping to match theirs.

And worse—it still held a piece of Selene’s energy. That made it dangerous.

"I can’t keep holding back! If I let go, I’ll destroy everything!"

Selene shouted, trying to control the tremors in her body.

"Then we won’t let you fall."

Ethan shouted back.

The third Ethan—the one who had fused with the other version in the fake dungeon—grabbed Selene’s shoulder.

"I have an idea. But it’s going to cost me.""

He said.

"What do you mean?"

The first Ethan asked.

The third Ethan smiled.

"I’ve always been the borrowed part. The power that wasn’t supposed to last. I merged with you to help once, but now... this is where I go."

Selene’s eyes widened.

"You don’t have to do this—"

"Yes, I do. You need one Ethan. One who knows who he is. If I stay, you’ll fracture again. So let me make this count.""

He interrupted.

Before anyone could stop him, the third Ethan launched himself forward, slamming into the entity mid-charge. He exploded with radiant energy, dragging the entity down with him.

"No!"

Selene cried, starting forward.

But the light wasn’t destruction—it was focus. The sacrifice created a brief stillness, a window of clarity. The remaining Ethan felt it instantly.

The third Ethan’s power, his memories, his part of the self—all of it poured into the first.

Ethan gasped as a golden line burned across his chest.

Selene caught him as he stumbled.

"Are you... okay?"

He looked up.

"I think I’m whole now."

Selene stared into his eyes. And she saw it—every version of Ethan, every path, every regret—all unified into one. The confusion was gone. The hesitation was gone.

He was himself.

Together, they turned to face the entity again.

It was staggering, smoking, shrieking in pain.

Selene stepped forward.

"This is your last chance. Let go. Return to wherever you came from."

The entity snarled.

"I was born of this world’s hatred. Its fears. Its disappointments. I am what this world deserves."

Ethan’s aura crackled.

"Then you’ll fade with it."

Selene and Ethan moved as one.

She summoned her energy—every core she had absorbed, every ounce of control she had fought to keep.

The power surged through her body, not wild this time, but focused. Ethan mirrored her with his own, light wrapping around him like armor.

The entity launched its final strike—an avalanche of black tendrils meant to crush them.

They cut through it.

One blow from Selene, searing and burning through the corruption.

One strike from Ethan, carving light into the void.

The entity screamed.

Then—nothing.

Just silence.

Its form shattered, like glass, disappearing into sparks.

The battlefield quieted.

The dungeon cracked.

Light returned.

And for the first time in what felt like an eternity—Selene was free.

She collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. Ethan knelt beside her, placing a steady hand on her shoulder.

"It’s over."

He whispered.

"No. Not yet. The world—"

She said.

"We’ll save it too. One step at a time."

He said.

Above them, the dungeon ceiling began to fall away.

Below, the corrupted earth trembled.

But something else stirred in the air.

The system pinged.

[Entity eliminated. Initiating global stabilization.

Purification paused.

Candidate Selene has reawakened. Ethan has unified.

Rewriting—initiated.]

Selene looked up.

The sky was changing.

And the new world... was just beginning.

The dungeon collapsed in silence.

A wave of light pulsed outward, slow and steady, washing over the land like the tide pulling back from a violent storm.

The twisted structures of the dungeon melted away into particles, dispersing into the air like ash. The cracks in the sky began to seal.

The lava pits cooled into black stone. The monsters, halfway through their next rampage, crumbled where they stood.

And the system announced it clearly:

Final Dungeon Cleared.

Purification Cycle Halted.

Manual Override: Active.

New World Stabilizing...]

Selene opened her eyes slowly. Her head ached. Her chest burned. But she was alive.

Beside her, Ethan stood — no longer splintered into versions, no longer weighed down by fragmented identities. Just Ethan. Whole. Steady.

He offered her a hand.

"You with me?"

She nodded, gripping his palm tightly as he pulled her to her feet.

The battlefield that had once been the dungeon’s core was now an open sky.

Around them, the fractured land trembled, reshaping itself, responding to the energy of the entity’s defeat.

"I didn’t think we’d make it."

Selene admitted.

"You did. That’s what matters."

Ethan said.

Outside the dungeon, chaos had quieted. The sky had turned from crimson to a pale morning blue. The mutated earth pulsed once, then stilled.

Noah sat slumped against a scorched boulder, his hand over his chest. The ice on his arm had stopped spreading. For the moment, he was in control.

Nora crouched beside him, watching him closely.

"You okay?"

She asked for the third time.

Noah gave a weak smile.

Still me. Mostly. I think."

"You’re not allowed to go monster on me."

"I’ll try not to."

He muttered.

The system had gone quiet, its rapid-fire messages gone.

What remained was a lingering hum in the air—like the planet was breathing again after being suffocated for too long.

Farther off, Zara stood at the edge of a makeshift encampment, her arms crossed as she oversaw the cleanup.

The surviving hunters were bandaging wounds, helping civilians, and trying to find what remained of their homes.

She had barked orders for hours, but now she simply watched.

Solomon approached, blood staining the edge of his coat.

"It’s over?"

Zara didn’t answer right away. Her gaze drifted to the horizon, where the last traces of the dungeon’s light faded.

"Not over. But it’s beginning again"

She said softly.

Selene and Ethan emerged from the collapsing dungeon hours later, their figures outlined by the soft glow of a world in recovery.

When the hunters saw her — truly saw her, no longer possessed, no longer a threat — silence spread like wildfire.

Noah was the first to move. He approached her without a word, face unreadable. Then, he stepped forward and hugged her tightly.

Selene blinked, startled, before slowly hugging him back.

"Don’t ever scare me like that again,"

He muttered into her shoulder.

"I’ll try. But I can’t make promises."

She whispered.

Behind them, Nora and Ethan exchanged a quiet nod.

Zara arrived next, walking up slowly. Her eyes narrowed as if searching Selene’s face for signs of danger. When she found none, she simply said.

"We’ll need to talk. Soon."

"I know. But not yet."

Selene replied.

Later that night, they stood atop a hill that overlooked the remains of the battlefield. Fires still burned in the distance, but they were smaller now. Contained. Survivable.

The stars above seemed brighter.

"So... what now?"

Ethan asked, hands in his pockets.

Selene exhaled slowly.

"Now we rebuild. Fix what we broke. And figure out what this ’manual override’ means."

"You think the system’s still watching us?"

"I think it never stopped."

Ethan turned to look at her.

"You think we can really make this world better?"

Selene didn’t answer right away. The wind brushed her face. The scent of ash was fading, replaced by earth and sky.

"I don’t know if we can. But I think we have to try."

She said.

In the days that followed, the world shifted.

The mutated areas began to recede.

The sky remained fractured in places, but the ground was stabilizing. The purification process—whatever it had been meant to do—had halted.

But its mark remained on many people. Some bore strange powers.

Others, strange scars.

Noah’s arm remained partially frozen in color and texture, though he claimed he could still feel everything.

The hunters became emergency leaders.

Zara helped organize reconstruction. Solomon, Heera, and Alexander guided what remained of the governments. The world was united now—but not in peace. In survival.

But for the first time in years... there was hope.

Selene stood alone in the field one morning, watching the sun rise.

Ethan joined her, quiet. He handed her a cup of steaming tea.

She took it with a nod.

"Thanks."

They stood in silence for a while.

Then Ethan said.

"Do you think the entity’s really gone?"

"No. But it’s sealed. And next time..."

she said.

Ethan smiled faintly.

"We’ll be ready."