Chapter 5: The World’s Most Dangerous Woman
Rain began falling from the broken sky.
Black rain.
Cold drops landed across the burning city while silence consumed the entire battlefield. No one moved. No one breathed. Because every living creature present understood one thing clearly.
The woman holding Ren in her arms was far more terrifying than the apocalypse itself.
The Queen gently brushed blood away from Ren’s lips with trembling fingers.
"Stay awake..."
Her voice shook slightly. Ren forced his blurry eyes open. Pain burned throughout his entire body and every breath felt like knives stabbing into his chest. Yet strangely, the Queen looked more broken than him.
The sight felt completely unreal. A being capable of destroying monsters with a single glance was panicking over one injured person.
[Ding!]
[Critical Injury Detected.]
[Host survival probability decreasing...]
[32%...]
[26%...]
[19%...]
Ren cursed weakly inside his head. Great. He was actually dying. Again.
The Queen suddenly looked upward with cold eyes.
"Fix him."
The System remained silent.
A dangerous smile slowly appeared on her face.
"I know you’re watching."
The air distorted violently around them.
[Ding!]
[Emergency Override Activated.]
[Special Recovery Reward Granted.]
Warm energy exploded throughout Ren’s body instantly. His broken ribs slowly repaired themselves. The bleeding stopped. Even the unbearable pain faded rapidly like smoke clearing after a fire.
Ren’s eyes widened slightly.
She forced the System to obey her. What exactly was she?
Several awakened humans nearby stepped backward in fear. One male hunter whispered shakily to the person beside him.
"She controlled the System..."
"That’s impossible..."
"No human can do that..."
The Queen ignored all of them completely. To her nothing else existed. Only Ren.
She gently helped him stand.
"You’re hurt."
Ren stared at her with an expression caught somewhere between disbelief and exhaustion.
"You almost destroyed the city."
The Queen blinked once.
"And?"
Ren nearly lost his mind.
"And?! Thousands of people are here!"
The Queen’s crimson eyes quietly scanned the terrified humans standing frozen nearby. Then she softly answered.
"They’re alive."
Her tone sounded almost confused, as if she genuinely believed she had shown mercy by not killing everyone present. That answer scared Ren far more than rage would have. Because it proved something horrifying without her even trying to hide it.
The Queen no longer viewed human lives the way normal people did. Only his life held any real value to her.
Then from behind the destroyed academy gate came a sound that cut through everything.
CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.
Slow. Deliberate. Completely unhurried.
Everyone turned instantly.
A tall man walked calmly through the smoke. White hair. Golden eyes. Black military coat. Not a single monster moved toward him as he passed.
The moment the Queen saw him her expression darkened immediately.
"Kaiser."
The man smiled lightly.
"It’s been a long time, Your Majesty."
Ren frowned quietly. They knew each other?
Kaiser’s golden eyes shifted toward Ren with open curiosity.
"So this is the one."
The Queen stepped in front of Ren instantly. Killing intent flooded the surrounding area like ice water spreading across the ground.
"Don’t look at him."
Kaiser raised both hands casually.
"Relax. I’m not here to fight."
Despite the calm tone, every instinct in Ren’s body screamed danger. This man was strong. Very strong. The kind of strong that didn’t need to announce itself.
Kaiser looked around at the destroyed city slowly before sighing.
"You really haven’t changed."
His golden eyes returned to the Queen.
"One injury and you almost reset the world again."
Ren froze.
Reset? Again?
The Queen’s expression became colder by several degrees.
"Leave."
Kaiser ignored her completely and looked directly at Ren.
"You don’t remember anything, do you?"
Ren’s heart skipped.
"What are you talking about?"
The Queen’s aura exploded violently outward.
"KAISER."
The nearby ground cracked apart in every direction. But the man simply smiled faintly, entirely unbothered.
"See? This is why every timeline collapses."
Timeline. Again that word carrying far too much weight behind it.
Ren clenched his fists.
"What happened before?"
For the first time Kaiser’s smile disappeared completely. His expression became serious in a way that made the rain feel heavier.
"In every timeline..."
He slowly pointed toward the Queen.
"She falls in love with you."
The Queen remained silent. Rain continued pouring around them both without stopping.
"And in every timeline..."
"You die."
Ren’s breathing stopped entirely.
"After that..."
Kaiser’s golden eyes darkened slightly.
"She destroys the world."
Silence. Heavy, terrifying silence that the rain couldn’t fill.
Ren slowly looked toward the Queen. But she didn’t deny it. Not once. Not even slightly.
Kaiser continued with a bitter edge in his voice.
"Cities burned. Kingdoms collapsed. Humanity ended. All because she couldn’t accept your death."
The Queen quietly lowered her eyes. Almost guilty. But only slightly, as if guilt was a language she had mostly forgotten how to speak.
Ren’s mind spiraled violently trying to process all of it at once.
"So this world..."
Kaiser nodded slowly.
"Is simply another attempt."
The rain intensified around them. Far away monsters roared across the ruined city. But Ren barely heard any of it anymore. Because suddenly everything made sense. Her obsession. Her fear. Her possessiveness. The way she reacted whenever he got hurt even slightly.
She had already lost him before. Many times. Too many times.
The Queen finally spoke softly.
"I tried to save you."
Kaiser laughed coldly.
"And destroyed billions while trying."
The Queen’s crimson eyes sharpened instantly.
"Careful."
Kaiser smirked.
"Or what? You’ll erase existence again?"
The tension between them became completely unbearable. Ren stepped between them immediately.
"STOP!"
Both turned toward him at the same moment.
Ren took a deep breath and steadied himself.
"So you’re saying she keeps resetting timelines because I die?"
Kaiser nodded.
"Yes."
Ren slowly looked at the Queen.
"Is it true?"
The Queen stayed silent for several long moments. The rain fell between them quietly. Then finally she answered.
"Yes."
No excuses. No explanations. Just honesty delivered without flinching.
Rain dripped quietly from her black hair while those crimson eyes remained fixed only on him. When she spoke again her voice sounded painfully broken underneath its calm surface.
"I failed to protect you."
Ren clenched his fists.
"How many times?"
Silence fell again. The Queen looked away slightly, the smallest crack appearing in her composure.
Kaiser answered instead.
"We stopped counting after timeline 317."
Ren’s mind went completely blank.
Three hundred and seventeen.
That meant she had watched him die hundreds of times. Had held his body hundreds of times. Had rebuilt the world from nothing hundreds of times just to find him again.
The thought felt horrifying. And strangely, unbearably sad.
The Queen stepped closer carefully, as if afraid he would hate her now that he knew. Her movements were slow and almost tentative in a way that didn’t match anything else about her.
"I can keep you alive this time."
Her voice carried something almost like a plea underneath its surface.
"I’ll kill anything that tries to take you away from me."
Kaiser sighed tiredly beside them.
"And that right there is the problem."
[Ding!]
[Hidden Main Quest Activated.]
[Objective: Survive The Crimson Queen.]
[Warning: Failure results in timeline collapse.]
Ren stared at the notification silently for a long moment.
Then slowly looked back at the woman standing before him in the black rain. The woman who destroyed worlds for him. The woman who remembered every single one of his deaths when he remembered none of them. The woman who would probably burn heaven itself if he disappeared again.
For the first time Ren understood the terrifying truth that the System had been trying to warn him about since the moment he woke up in that classroom.
The apocalypse wasn’t the real danger.
She was.
The Queen gently touched his face again and whispered against the silence.
"This time..."
Her crimson eyes glowed softly in the darkness around them.
"I won’t let anyone kill you."
A small smile formed slowly on her lips. Beautiful and completely devastating at the same time.
"No matter what I have to become."
