If it were a spar against an equal-ranked opponent—

and that opponent was Izparut—

Rei would have felt excitement.

If Iz were only one level above him,

his battle intent would have surged without end.

But the Izparut before him—

was unfathomable.

Death Term: 5 years, 32 days

Five years remaining.

The last time he had checked Iz’s lifespan,

it had been around nine hundred years.

He said Ninth-Tier Magic.

Could it be...

the current Iz had already stepped into Level 9?

Rei shifted his vision,

staring directly at Izparut.

What he saw—

was infinite radiance.

Through God-Tier · Lighthouse of All Laws,

he no longer appeared as a blazing sun—

but endless light.

The amount of magic he controlled

could no longer be measured numerically.

His magic was infinite.

Boundless.

He was—

a Level 9 Mage.

Time stopped.

The instant the conversation began,

Rei had already entered combat state.

Ascension Apex State was already stacking.

But no matter how much he stacked—

with his current power as a Level 5 Mage and Level 5 Warrior,

against Level 9 Izparut—

the result was obvious.

Even if he stacked for three hours.

Five hours.

It would likely be the same.

And if real battle started—

would Iz even give him time to stack?

Within frozen spacetime,

Rei thought.

Calculated.

Searching for any possibility of victory.

His eyes fixed on the infinitely layered burning brilliance around Iz—

and he felt not even the faintest chance to win.

Use magic against Iz...

That path could be discarded immediately.

Using magic now

would only make death come faster.

And fight Iz while sealing his own magic,

unable even to use death spells—

relying only on battle techniques...

No.

There was no point asking whether he could win.

I still have Wishes unfinished.

If I die here...

those Wishes will never be fulfilled.

Crack—

Time resumed. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Iz merely raised one hand slightly—

and incomprehensible runes already swirled from all directions.

"Master Iz."

"As you can see..."

"I’ve done nothing yet."

"If you kill me like this—

does that align with your principles?"

Izparut simply replied,

"No.

The current you

has already destroyed the Secret Sea."

Rei froze.

Speechless.

"You don’t know the truth?"

"The Primordial Sea was about to descend."

"I had no choice but to call down the Pure White."

"If the Primordial Sea had fully descended—

would only the Secret Sea have suffered?"

"I reduced the catastrophe to the smallest possible scale."

Iz slowly shook his head.

"You sacrificed an entire sea domain to White."

"And brought Her complete descent one step closer."

"Now White is about to fully reappear."

"To bring death and destruction upon the whole world."

Rei paused, then looked up.

"Even if I made a mistake..."

"does that mean I should be killed by my own master?"

"It wasn’t my descent."

"I’m not the one trying to destroy the world!"

Suddenly Iz smiled.

But there was helpless bitterness in it.

"Rei..."

"If it were only White,

I would deal with Her."

"But..."

"It is not only White that descends."

"The one truly destined to descend..."

"...is you."

"It’s already too late."

"The one at fault is not you—

it is the contamination itself."

"But..."

"there is no way to save you anymore."

"Akasei tried to call you back."

"And you still killed him."

"Erased forever."

"Unable even to re-enter reincarnation."

"So I have to do this."

"If even I cannot stop you..."

"then no one in this world can."

"I remember..."

"You once asked me about the question of a Prophet."

"If you know someone will bring catastrophe in the future..."

"but right now he has done nothing."

"He is innocent."

"Should you kill him to prevent disaster?"

"Or let things unfold..."

"and try to remedy the catastrophe when it arrives?"

Izparut gave a helpless shrug—

a gesture Akasei often used.

"Sorry."

A long black staff appeared in Iz’s right hand.

Nine black celestial bodies revolved around it.

"ANSU!"

Rei roared into his Sea of Consciousness.

From the very beginning,

Ansu’s divine sense had been taut,

silent.

The being before them—

"Kid, what the hell do you mean!?"

"You want me to fight that?"

Ansu felt it then—

Hundreds of quadrillions of exalted souls

pouring madly into his spirit body.

"By our contract—

you fight with everything for me!"

BOOM—

Souls exploded in every direction.

In an instant,

countless deathly energies erupted around Rei.

Ghostly soul-light flooded the world,

staining the once-green grasslands pitch black.

"If I die—

you die with me!"

Rei roared again.

Whoosh—

A withered black figure condensed beside him.

Ansu’s spirit descended into reality.

Since the day they first met,

Ansu had remained inside Rei’s Sea of Consciousness.

Never emerging once.

This...

was the first time.

Ansu had always thought—

sooner or later this brat would face some impossible danger,

sacrifice souls,

and force him to intervene.

But he had never imagined—

the first battle he fought for him

would be against a monster like this.

This mage—

was unlike any mage he had ever encountered.

Even some gods he had seen before

had never radiated pressure this terrifying.

And meanwhile—

Ansu was stunned by Rei’s soul reserves.

He has that many souls!?

Ansu had imagined billions.

Trillions.

But never—

hundreds of quadrillions of exalted souls.

With that many souls...

it really was enough to restore him to full power.

After all—

he wasn’t rebuilding from scratch like a class changer.

His strength had merely been unrecovered.

Given enough time—

he could even return to his peak.

"Oh..."

"You really do hide many secrets, Rei."

SHHHK—

In the sky—

trillions upon trillions of magic arrays ignited in an instant.

Ansu violently raised a hand.

And from the earth—

billions of black death souls surged upward.

Dead spirits shot into the heavens.

Black miasma covered the entire sky.

"Kid!"

"I don’t know if I can protect you too!"

"If you can really create miracles—

find a way out while you still can!"

Thrown into this by Rei—

even if Ansu claimed he wasn’t on Rei’s side,

Iz would likely strike him down anyway.

The only path to survival now—

was protecting Rei.

Letting this absurd boy,

who somehow always created miracles,

find some way to escape.

Running together—

that was their only road.

Because fighting head-on like this...

Ansu once more felt,

from the mage before him,

the same terror as when he had led an entire dynasty

to face White itself.

No chance of victory.

None at all.