"I’m not saying I don’t trust you..."

Akase folded his arms, sighing as he looked at Kanzaki Rei with a troubled expression.

"It’s just... coming back from a future timeline? That’s a bit too absurd."

He turned his head slightly.

"Iz, have you ever heard of something like that?"

Iz shrugged. "Of course not."

"But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible."

"And he also said he came back with his original strength intact. The him standing here now... isn’t the same Kanzaki Rei we knew, right?"

Akase was sharper than he let on—he immediately grasped the core issue.

At the end of the day...

what had happened to the original Kanzaki Rei?

From Kanzaki Rei’s own perspective, everything was straightforward.

Time had reset, so he had simply arrived in this timeline.

But for Iz Palt, Akase, and the others—those who had always existed within this timeline...

where had the original Kanzaki Rei gone?

Akase sat cross-legged, arms folded in front of his chest, his expression tangled with confusion.

This wasn’t something that could just be brushed aside.

It implied that the original Kanzaki Rei had disappeared.

"Iz, what do you think?" Akase asked again.

Iz scratched his head and let out a quiet sigh.

"I’ve already thought about that."

"The answer probably lies within a certain spell."

"But I haven’t deciphered it yet."

Akase nodded. "So... is that a problem?"

Iz shook his head.

"If you’re asking about the original Kanzaki Rei... I might be able to explain where he went in the near future."

"But as for whether he can come back..."

"I’ll need more research before I can say."

His tone was serious.

After the exchange, both of them turned to look at Kanzaki Rei.

A faint, indescribable guilt stirred within him.

Iz and the others...

were still worried about the original him.

They hadn’t simply accepted his presence as a replacement.

Akase spoke again:

"...Kanzaki Rei, you’re planning to go to the Boundless Mountain with us, right?"

"It’s already confirmed that we’ll be teleported there?"

Kanzaki Rei nodded. "Yeah. That’s how it happened before—you all went to the Boundless Mountain, and we followed the continent to the Moon Sea."

Akase stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Well... as for Ainz, Iz should be able to handle him."

"It’s just that his destructive power might be a bit hard to rein in."

As he spoke, Akase extended one hand, fingers curling slightly as if gripping something invisible.

"Tell me—do you think your strength is already on par with ours?"

Kanzaki Rei maintained a calm smile.

"More or less."

Akase hopped down from his seat.

"Then... how about it?"

"Let’s spar."

Kanzaki Rei nodded. "Sure. A match shouldn’t be a problem."

Having reset back to this point in time, he was also curious—

how large was the gap between his current strength and theirs?

Or had he already caught up?

A Level 5 Warrior. A Level 5 Mage.

And years—years—of accumulated experience across countless resets.

In terms of foundation, Kanzaki Rei was no longer inferior.

The only limitation...

was that within these repeating timelines, he couldn’t continue leveling.

For now, he had no choice but to accept that.

But his accumulation was already more than enough.

Once he escaped this cycle and returned to a normal flow of time—

he would likely be able to gain multiple levels in rapid succession.

[Combat Arena]

It had been a while.

The last time he used the arena was about five resets ago.

From a subjective standpoint...

it had been nearly two years.

Inside the arena—

Akase loosened his body, warming up with fluid, instinctive movements.

Akase grinned.

"This time, I’ll be a bit more serious."

"Kanzaki Rei—show me just how far you’ve come."

The map was a frozen wasteland.

Ice and snow blanketed the terrain. Multi-layered ice platforms stretched in all directions, with reflective surfaces floating in midair.

A highly technical battlefield—

normally requiring constant repositioning across multiple layers.

But the moment Kanzaki Rei and Akase entered—

BOOM!

The surrounding ice shattered instantly.

Kanzaki Rei held a spear in one hand—

a weapon swirling with countless elemental hues.

Akase raised an eyebrow.

"That weapon... doesn’t look ordinary."

"How’d you get it?"

Kanzaki Rei replied calmly:

"Akase, this is magic."

Each element had been condensed into its corresponding material—

then forged directly into a weapon.

Compared to spells like "Spear Creation," "Sword Creation," or "Battle Axe Summon,"

this technique was on an entirely higher level.

Strictly speaking—

it wasn’t purely magic.

It was a fusion of magic and forging.

A form of instant forging, completed through temporary crafting techniques.

And that technique...

originated from the satyr who worshipped the God of Forging in the Agmessa Trial.

Akase laughed.

"Hah... now that’s interesting."

"Alright then..."

"Let’s begin."

Akase lowered his upper body slightly.

As he leaned forward—

the pressure in the surrounding space seemed to sink with him.

Like explosives being primed—

danger coiled in the air.

BOOM!

In the next instant—

Akase moved.

So fast!

But—

no longer beyond perception.

Kanzaki Rei still remembered—

when he had first advanced to a Level 4 Warrior, Akase had casually sent him flying.

Back then, he couldn’t even see the movement.

But now—

"Seventh Forbidden Magic — Elemental Genesis."

—Shhh!

Centered on Kanzaki Rei—

a burst of multicolored brilliance erupted outward!

It spread instantly—

as though completed within a frozen moment of time.

The elements—

were reduced to their primordial state!

BOOM—!

Everything—except Akase himself—

collapsed.

All elements disintegrated.

And at that moment, Kanzaki Rei saw it—

an ever-present force field surrounding Akase.

It was that force—

that had resisted Elemental Genesis.

And at the exact instant Kanzaki Rei unleashed his magic—

—Shhh!

Akase had already appeared above him.

Greatsword in hand—

he cleaved downward!

"Second Forbidden Magic — Time Prison."

—Hummm—

The blindingly fast Akase—

slowed to near stillness.

His movements reduced by a factor of ten thousand.

And in that instant—

Kanzaki Rei vanished—

reappearing behind him!

The spear came down in a vertical strike!

"Skybreaker Style — Second Form: Rend!"

BOOM!

The strike exploded upon impact!

Akase was blasted downward like a falling beam of light—

crashing straight through the ice layers!

...That was easier than expected.

Akase—

once an unreachable goal—

now didn’t feel so overwhelming.

—Hummm—

Suddenly—

even though he could still see Akase trapped beneath the ice, slowed within the Time Prison—

a sense of danger surged through him.

His perception sharpened.

Through the fusion of Final Perception, Chronology, Precognition, and Level 6 Scholar mastery—

he could trace the origin of his intuition.

After prolonged study—

he could now see the immediate future through instinct alone.

Akase’s face—

shifted.

Just like the masked image Kanzaki Rei had once glimpsed deep underground—

a pale, expressionless mask formed over it.

At the same time—

the constraints of all laws weakened around him.

Masked Akase—

burst upward from the ice like a bullet.

A bullet that felt slow—

only because it was moving within a time dilation of thousands of times.

Even now, the Time Prison’s effect on him had already weakened—from ten thousandfold to mere thousands.

And yet—

it was still terrifying.

Kanzaki Rei swung his spear!

BOOM!

The strike landed—

but Akase blocked it head-on!

Their forces collided—

and an overwhelming power surged back through Kanzaki Rei’s body!

—SPLAT!

The arm gripping the spear exploded instantly—

then regenerated in the same moment.

A direct clash...

and he lost?

Even though Ascension State hadn’t had time to stack for more than a few seconds—

to be suppressed in a frontal exchange against a Level 6 Warrior...

Since reaching Level 5—

this was the first time it had happened.