Ethan could tell that the Crimson Queen had meticulously orchestrated a boss battle for him—there's nothing more visually impactful in a confrontation than the summoner, as a Believer of Argos, directly summoning Argos himself.

He saw a dark fissure appearing in the sky above the Divine Tree, and moments later, a giant hand pushed open the fissure. Pale blue energy surged from the space on the other side of the rift, transforming into a blue rain in the blink of an eye. All creatures touched by the rain mutated instantly, changing from the inside out under Argos's energy influence.

Metal and machinery became their bodies, even the Divine Tree, standing for millennia in this world, was not spared. Corrosion spread from the branches until it assimilated the trunk; its surface was no longer rough bark, replaced by smooth, cold black iron. Then those writhing tubes began to spawn.

Even Ethan, who had seen much, felt his sanity plummet during the mutation of the Divine Tree.

However, the grandiose boss battle he expected never materialized.

The reason was a quarrel between the summoner and her partner.

At that moment, the red-haired girl stood in front of the treehouse, looking down at him as he rode Miss Keroy straight to the top of the Divine Tree. Above her was the torn rift and the mutated entities invading this world through it.

Ethan couldn't discern whether those writhing tubes were Argos's creations or part of His body; he just prepared himself to face the challenge as a Summoner, with the cat and the little purple bat on his shoulder ready to strike, and the big black dog carrying the Little Octopus and black hatchling upwards.

The sky turned pale blue, with rifts covering the entire sky.

This apocalypse-like scene matched Ethan's complete imagination of a boss battle. In every Pokémon story he knew, players would face the region's legendary beings with six reliable partners, beings akin to deities in human eyes, controlling the world's laws.

Then, the unexpected happened.

The swinging tubes approached the red-haired girl and stabbed her in the back.

The ancient treehouse was demolished in the process. The red-haired girl seemed unprepared for Argos's betrayal and couldn't dodge in time. The sharp tubes, full of rage, pierced straight through her chest. When the tubes withdrew from her body, she lost support and fell.

The coming of the Old Gods and the torn sky.

The Divine Tree, which bore the faith of the whole world, suffered corruption, and the Crimson Queen, who existed to guard the Divine Tree, perished as the apocalypse arrived.

Ethan never thought he'd witness the apocalypse predicted by the True Gods in a plane utterly unrelated to the Empire.

Coming to his senses, Ethan immediately directed Miss Keroy to turn and pursue the falling red-haired girl.

Yet an invisible force blocked Miss Keroy, keeping them moving nearly at the same speed. An uncrossable distance remained between them, perhaps due to a Divine Artifact held by the Crimson Queen or a power granted by the Goddess.

Because of this, Ethan witnessed the entire process of the Crimson Queen's demise.

The hole pierced in her chest didn't bleed; her body gradually transformed into dissipating white lights, resembling the scene of "players" killed in countless virtual game comics.

This process lasted over ten seconds, yet felt interminable to Ethan's eyes.

The concepts of time and space were distorted, slowing human senses. After a dozen seconds, their distance was finally bridged. With the energy source exhausted, the "Divine Artifact" was losing its effect. But before Ethan could grasp the falling red-haired girl, another more insurmountable distance separated them.

The concept of "death" returned to this world.

What he caught were dissipating white lights, devoid of sensation, slipping through his fingers and vanishing into the air in an instant.

This was a death entirely different from that of the King of Gold.

The latter, filled with confusion and anger before dying, had the Golden Pool stirring and bubbling as if questioning the Goddess. Yet he saw relief from the Crimson Queen's face, smiling from start to finish until she fully became scattered lights.

Even the pace of the apocalypse's arrival paused momentarily due to the Crimson Queen's passing.

Returning to the top of the Divine Tree, Argos fell into deep confusion,

The Crimson Queen was dead?

That sinister, deceptive woman who once deceived Him and sealed Him in the mirror world for thousands of years was dead just like that?

No, how could it be?

This must be another trick, an illusion meant to deceive fate!

Yes, it must be like that, now she must be hiding in the shadows.

As Argos's emotions fluctuated, the sky corroded by the blue rifts crackled with thunder, with blue energy turning into a torrential rain, inundating this world on the verge of collapse.

"She is already dead,"

Ethan said.

"How is that possible? You don't understand that woman at all!"

The thunder grew ever stronger, "For her own survival, she could sacrifice anyone. Do you remember the little human girl who came to the Royal Capital with you? Charlotte is the incarnation of that woman's energy... she foresaw your arrival, knew her fate, and wanted to escape death this way!"