---- 278.


    PAINFUL PRESENT NARRATOR It hurt so much to have witnessed the catastrophe her actions had caused.


    She had been the first to look away, to go live her life without caring about anything else, intoxicated by the power the Goddess had ced in her hands, feeling superior.


    She had begun manipting that dark, ck magic over theke, experimenting and ying with it.


    She had believed she was doing good, had only wanted to eradicate it from the world.


    Not only had she failed in her endeavor, but she had also created a method thatter fell into the wrong hands and was used for all the atrocities the witchesmitted.


    Ss had been infected by it, had fed on his resentmentsshe herself had indirectly created the monster called Umbros.


    "Find him, Sigrid, wake him from his hatred, and give him all the Jove he deserves, the love that was stolen from his life.


    No one deserves happiness more than he does..." As Junos words fell, the silver light grew intense, like a supernova on the verge of exploding.


    "SIGRID!" Amidst the overwhelming light, as she felt her consciousness ---- slipping away from this world, she heard himhis desperate, chaotic roar.


    Juno thrust her hand into Electras chest and pulled out Sigrids spirit.


    Her silhouette, her magic in its incorporeal, translucent form, shone so brightly, so pure.


    "NOOO, NOOO, SIGRID, SIGRID, LET HER GO, YOU DAMN WITCH, LET HER GO! ILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES, SIGRID!" Ss roared like a demon, everything exploding as if the world had suddenly been swallowed by darkness.


    The moonlight shed against the shadowssilver and ck, light and darkness.


    "I will get you back.


    You will return to me, I swear it, and I will return to you." It was Sigrids final thought as she watched him lunge toward the barge, unleashing all his power, looking at her as if he would die the next second without her.


    Juno raised her hand and hurled Sigrids energyher primordial spirittoward the moon, where it was consumed by the blinding light, the only glow illuminating the darkness above them.


    Around them, the waters of theke surged like ocean waves, wild and raging.


    "We will meet again, Umbros.


    I only hope that this cycle of hatred and death ends with her, with your light, with your Sigrid," Juno murmured, closing her eyes as she summoned all her power at ---- once, immting herself as she had done once before.


    The energylike a ck cloud rushing toward hersuddenly collided with another force, golden and radiant.


    The world trembled, and the forest was devastated by the shockwave.


    A roar from the underworld, from what seemed to be a beast consumed by agony and grief, echoed to the ends of thend.