"What are you saying… Mai-nee has the Golden Fruit?" Mitsuzane reacted, asking in disbelief.
"Exactly. She must be this world's Woman of the Beginning." Redyue was quite familiar with the concept. He immediately walked over to Mai and knocked her unconscious.
"Hey, what are you doing!" Mitsuzane was extremely displeased.
"Why, I'm helping her take the Golden Fruit out of her body, of course. Once she merges with the fruit, she'll cease to be human. You wouldn't want that, would you?" Redyue said mockingly to Mitsuzane.
Hearing this, Mitsuzane's emotions settled. He told Redyue: "Then you better remember your promise."
Redyue guaranteed it instantly: "Naturally." He then placed the unconscious Mai on a platform and began preparations to extract the Golden Fruit.
"How are you going to take it out now?" Mitsuzane suddenly asked.
"Why, like this!" Redyue located the right spot and, without hesitation, reached in, slicing her abdomen open and pulling the fruit out.
He ended Mai's life!
Mitsuzane's eyes widened… Before he could even react, Redyue had already grabbed the Golden Fruit glowing with golden light.
"No—!" Mitsuzane cried out in heartbreak.
However, Redyue completely ignored him, his entire attention focused on the Golden Fruit in his hand. "Hahaha… Now no one can steal it from me!" he said, his voice trembling with excitement.
"Golden Fruit, the power to manipulate all things in the world! Make me a god!" Redyue opened his mouth wide, intending to swallow it.
In that very instant, the fruit suddenly vanished.
The next second, a figure appeared before him. It was Mai, with white hair, the very form of the Woman of the Beginning. At the moment of her death, she had completely merged with the fruit and become the Woman of the Beginning.
"M-Mai-nee!" Mitsuzane, utterly devastated, was completely at a loss when he saw this. The Mai who had been lying on the platform, gutted open, had vanished, replaced by this incomparably holy figure before him.
"No, the Golden Fruit was in my hand just now!" Redyue couldn't accept it. He immediately tried to attack the Woman of the Beginning. However, the current Mai was beyond his comprehension; his attacks were useless.
"Why is this happening! That damned snake!" Redyue was forced to accept the reality: he could never obtain the Golden Fruit from the Woman of the Beginning because he was not human and could not participate in the battle for the fruit.
The Woman of the Beginning, Mai Takatsukasa, calmly glanced at Redyue and the distraught Mitsuzane on the ground, then her figure vanished. She had her own destiny to fulfill: waiting for the final winner to appear, to whom she would present both the Golden Fruit and herself.
Just after the Woman of the Beginning, Mai Takatsukasa, disappeared, another figure appeared before Redyue. It was Raven.
"It seems I arrived a step too late." Raven noticed the disappearance of Mai's presence. He looked at the blood-soaked platform. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Mitsuzane Kureshima, this is your doing."
He had originally intended to prevent Mai from becoming the Woman of the Beginning; it would have been better for her to be a peaceful ordinary person fulfilling her dream of dancing. However, the self-correcting nature of the timeline proved too strong. Some things were simply destined to happen.
Raven raised his hand and, from a distance, grabbed Mitsuzane. He casually tossed him, pinning him to a distant wall for later disposal.
Redyue was now terrified by the immense power Raven displayed. He asked nervously, "Have you already… obtained the Golden Fruit?"
"You're not wrong." Raven answered casually.
"If that is the case, then you are the new ruler of all Helheim. Please allow me to offer you my most sincere respect." Knowing he was no match, Redyue immediately dropped his halberd, knelt on one knee, and swore allegiance.
"Hahaha… Are you kidding me?" Raven looked at Redyue with amusement.
"While I should thank you for helping me gain the Golden Fruit's power so easily," Raven continued, his voice gradually turning cold, "that doesn't mean I'll forgive you." This guy almost killed me.
"W-What do you intend to do?" Redyue asked, sweating profusely.
A powerful force swept over him, immobilizing his body.
"L-Let me go!" Redyue struggled and shouted.
"I'm sending you to a nice place." The next second, a spatial Crack appeared, revealing a gigantic star, the Sun, on the other side.
"No! I don't want to die!" Redyue was paralyzed with terror.
Raven was expressionless. With a casual wave of his hand, Redyue was sucked in. Mitsuzane, who was pinned to the wall, was dragged in with him.
"A-Ah, no… NO!" Mitsuzane was inherently cowardly. Seeing this sight, he was so terrified he lost control of his bladder.
"Can the crimes you committed be washed away just by saying 'no'?" Raven was unmoved. "Next life, don't be a traitor."
Raven sent Mitsuzane and Redyue crashing onto the Sun together. These two kindred traitors were ripped apart by the Sun's gravitational pull the moment they entered space. Their bodies were then melted into ash by the searing heat.
Thus, the two traitors were personally erased by Raven.
Raven gave a slight smile, then vanished.
The next second, he appeared back inside the Amazon café. Kouta had already left the shop and gone to regroup with the people at the Team Gaim base. Raven's women were still together.
"Raven… you just…" Akira rushed up to him first, her voice filled with awe. She had also witnessed the missile interception and everything she knew had been completely overturned. How could her man possess such power?
"Well, it's like this. Let me explain it to you slowly…" Raven thought for a moment and decided to tell Akira and the others some of the truth.
After his explanation, Akira and the other women were all deeply shaken.
Raven had become a God?