In the yellow void, the zither that set events into play was about to strike the second strum. The mysteriousness surrounding the woman had increased by a notch.

The woman watched everything occurring across an entire section of the multiverse.

However, she focused on the two effects that her first strum had caused – Alice and Elizabeth leaving their current Universe, and Gabriella and Aurora fighting against each other.

Still, it was not enough… this was not enough to truly rattle the feathers of the Homo-Superior who imprisoned her in a rusted dimension.

Once more the woman spoke with her magnetic voice.

"Three Strums…

Three precious things lost…

What is the cost?

What is the cost?"

The woman snapped her head to the left as if peering through the infinite expanse of one Universe into another and then another until she laid her eyes on an entire section of the Multiverse.

"The second strum – The strum of Love Lost," The woman said as her eyes flashed with blinding golden radiance.

The strings of her zither sent golden energy propagating outwards, and into the Multiversal currents.

The golden radiance turned fainter and fainter the further along the Multiversal Currents it drifted, but the energy still traveled through many Universes – known and unknown.

∞∞

Within the Hell Plane, a battle of epic proportions was about to reach the peak.

Aurora's many wings spanned several meters from her body, making her appear more magnificent than any angel ever could.

Aurora's beauty was still as pristine as the moment the battle began, but it was obvious that she was somewhat tired from her hurried breathing.

Gabriella's condition was much worse in comparison. Several lacerations loitered her body, but the crazy transparent energy in her eyes only grew more intense.

Since the start of the battle, Gabriella had never once released the figurine of Zeel she clutched within her hands.

Within Gabriella's mind, a different conversation was taking place.

'We should kill her!'

'No! She is Zeel's lover too! We are sisters… hehehe,'

'That's why we should thin the herd to get more attention,'

'I am the Queen of his heart, why do I need to fear competition?'

'Let's eat her,'

'Shut up! We can't eat her… Apollonian wings are too hard to chew idiot!'

'Why am I talking to myself during battle?'

Shaking her head, Gabriella quickly regained control of the many warps in the air that had begun to fade due to her lack of concentration.

Aurora watched Gabriella's plight with a bit of sympathy.

'Such is the effect he has on the mind of women,' Aurora lamented.

Gabriella had many warps active in the air, each warp acting as a gate to a different dimension of Fire and Heat.

Aurora's Apollonian gifts allowed her absolute control of all Ice variants in the Multiverse, so Gabriella was forced to access all Fire-Based Dimensions in her repertoire.

"We are the same," Gabriella stated, hoping to negotiate her way out "I can give you some memories of Zeel bathing and two stuff Zeel-dolls!"

Gabriella's face appeared pained at offering such a price to curve this life and death battle.

Aurora shook her head in disagreement "We are not the same… you had love, even if it was fake. I lost something infinitely more precious, and now I seek retribution,"

"Three Zeel-Dolls!" Gabriella stated with conviction in her voice as if the offer was too good for Aurora to refuse.

Truthfully, Aurora was more disgusted at fighting Gabriella than anything.

It was obvious that Gabriella had several screws loose in the mental and spiritual departments. Aurora could feel the soul fractures that plagued the woman in front of her.

It was already a miracle that Gabriella survived, but love had miraculous powers after all… maybe obsession was a better word for it.

"Do you even know who I am?" Aurora asked.

Truly, Gabriella was aware of Aurora's story since Aurolana had mentioned it in passing. After all, Aurolana and Aurora were both sisters who fell in love with the same toxic Homo-Superior.

Before Gabriella could smooth talk her way out of the situation, something unexpected happened.

Suddenly, the snowflake around Aurora's neck shimmered with a golden luster as another coordinate was laid bare before her eyes by her mysterious benefactor.

Obviously, she was caught up in the schemes of someone who wanted to hurt Zeel.

However, she was not concerned because she could sense that the person sending the coordinates was bounded by the Principles of Fate.

That meant that whoever wanted to hurt Zeel had to bear the price of all the damage Aurora caused as well.

"What is that?" Gabriella asked, but already knew the answer.

How could she not recognize the coordinates that rippled from the necklace around Aurora's neck?

It was the location of a Dimension awfully familiar to her.

Gabriella smiled bitterly and immediately connected her mind to that of her familiar that was away on a mission.

'I may die in a moment, but something is coming for all those associated with Zeel… rush to his side and make sure he jumps Universe immediately, even at the cost of your life!' Gabriella ordered her familiar.

It took a couple of seconds, but a message replied 'Understood Abyss Lord!'

Reading the coordinate she received, there was a cold smile on Aurora's face the next moment.

"To think that after all these years I would be able to find her!" Aurora whispered.

"You should know that there is no going back if you touch her," Gabriella warned.

"Why should I care?" Aurora replied.

"Then I can't allow you to leave here alive!" Gabriella answered, the craziness in her eyes washed away as she had full-concentration for the first time since the battle started.

Thousands of warps opened in the air…

Some warps showed planets of Lava, some showed golden kingdoms of advanced technology, some showed planets consumed by darkness…

Some showed Beings of antiquity that were abruptly awoken…. Others were difficult to describe because Aurora had never witnessed such worlds before.

The warps in the air twisted and collided, threatening to destroy the worlds to which the gate belonged.

Gabriella bled from her eyes and airs but a crazy smile never left her face.

She was not simply opening gates to different planets and dimensions, she was also causing them to fissure, collide, and merge.

This was the deadliness of those born in Universe Zero, the power to move unhindered in the Multiverse and sacrifice thousands of planets at their whims.

Gabriella's move was clear to the Beings in the warps. Either they fight for her right now, or she would collide their gates, creating an explosion so grand that even she wouldn't be able to escape.

"If they fight for you, they will die. If they don't fight and you collide so many dimensions, we will both die," Aurora said with a tone of surprise and praise.

"They should be honored to die for our Crawford Family!" Gabriella replied with an innocent smile gracing her face.

The moment she opened the warps in the air, those countless civilizations were doomed anyway. They might as well spend their last moment for her benefit.

Aurora's eyes twitched at the mere absurdity of Gabriella's actions.

Still, Aurora remained calm even when a thousand more worlds were opened by Gabriella. This was the limit of Gabriella's prowess outside of Universe Zero.

"If this is what a MACOSO Human can do… what do you think a Royal Apollonian can do?" Aurora asked dismissively like the thousands of worlds were no threat to her.

Aurora's eyes frosted over and the next moment, time seemed to freeze as all the warps Gabriella created shattered and drifted away like snow in the wind.

The ruthlessness of Aurora's actions caused Gabriella to smile. If Aurora wanted, she could have used a bit more effort to close the warps and save those civilizations, but she didn't.

Aurora simply destroyed the gates and caused a rippling effect that would kill those civilizations regardless.

However, where Aurora expected to witness despair on Gabriella's face, who instead, showed a beaming smile like she had won the battle already.

A fanatical light danced in Gabriella's eyes as she said "I sacrifice these thousands of worlds and souls of billions of species condemned by this Apollonian to call on intervention from the Highest Dimension!"

The snow that Aurora caused, suddenly paused in the air, turned blood red, and then disappeared entirely.

Aurora's eyes widened when she realized what Gabriella planned to do.

However, before she could kill Gabriella, she felt an intense pressure descend onto the planet of their battle.

There was a faint crack in the void that slowly widened to reveal an enormous gate that spanned thousands of miles in height.

The gate was carved with intricate runes, drawings, and arts that screamed compassion and love. The gate drove away all negative feelings just by simply appearing.

This was no ordinary gate… this was something that should have been impossible for a human to summon, even if it was a human of Universe Zero.

"Do you know what you have done?!?" Aurora asked angrily.

Gabriella shrugged unconcernedly "I know I can't beat you in a zillion years and nobody can kill an Apollonian without killing their own souls as well…

I heard that you have a problem with your own kind, so I thought 'Why not summon the Gates of Heaven so they deal with their own kind?'… brilliant right?"

Aurora slammed her head against the ground and cursed her own stupidity for not even considering the possibility that one of Zeel's lovers could be so stupid.

Had she known that Gabriella was this stupid, she would have killed the girl without even saying a word in the first place.

Aurora took a deep breath and calmed her nerves to prepare for what was to come.

Either way, she knew that Gabriella would die today along with as many angels and arch-angels that dare to come for her head.