Inside the grand hall, Setsuna and Minos faced each other from across dozens of ters.
From his throne, the Master of Synapse gazed down with contempt.
The temple was so vast and empty that even words echoed.
"I forgive you for trespassing into the temple. It's been a long ti since I've seen such bold worms."
"Co forward. I have questions for you."
Minos spoke arrogantly.
Perhaps it was the countless years of boredom that made him curious about this strange group that had intruded upon his domain.
But what irked him was the lack of fear or reverence in Setsuna's eyes—nothing befitting one facing the Master of Synapse.
Setsuna's companions murmured to one another, studying Minos.
"A four-winged angel, but he doesn't seem to have any magic. I can't sense divinity from him."
Tohru whispered.
In her world, angels were powerful and troubleso enemies from the divine side opposed to chaos.
But Minos didn't emit the familiar sacred aura.
"He just seems like an ordinary long-lived species. I can't detect any spiritual energy."
"Even weaker than a magus."
Mio agreed.
"What are you worms whispering about? I told you to co forward!"
Minos grew agitated, slamming his throne with a loud bang that echoed throughout the hall.
"Where did you co from? Why are you here?"
"How did you contact earlier? Answer , worm."
His gaze lingered on Setsuna.
This man was unlike any Synapse native or Earthling he had ever seen.
There was a mysterious quality to him—Minos couldn't read him.
"We're from another Earth. Here to settle a personal grudge."
Setsuna drew the Sword of Promised Victory.
Against Minos, his human form would suffice.
In fact, he doubted he'd even need to fight personally.
"A personal grudge? Hah—hahahaha!"
"Did Daedalus send you? Interesting, interesting. Do you think Ikaros, with her limiters intact, can do much?"
"You and she are both deluded."
Minos snapped his fingers.
"Seize them alive. I want them kneeling before ."
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, the sound of air being torn apart rang out.
Dozens of combat angels swooped in from either side of the temple.
Wielding energy swords, halberds, and other lee weapons, they attacked Setsuna's group at supersonic speed.
"Master!"
Ikaros instinctively spread her wings to shield Setsuna.
But before she could act, a blue barrier enveloped everyone.
BOOM—CRASH!!
The angels slamd into the shield and were thrown back like rag dolls.
Even their mono-molecular and photon blades couldn't penetrate the Klein Field.
Instead, the recoil flung them dozens of ters, plastering them against the walls.
[Klein Field Saturation: 0.0012%]
Setsuna glanced at the report. Against attacks of this level, the shield was effectively immune.
"Huh?"
Minos straightened slightly, narrowing his eyes at Setsuna.
"An energy shield? You're from another planet, then?"
Synapse had encountered aliens before, and energy shielding was part of their tech tree.
The Fleet of Fog series used tech he could recognize at a glance.
"But... you're overestimating yourself."
"Kill them."
In the next mont—
More combat angels poured in from both sides of the temple.
They launched a barrage of ranged attacks—high-energy lasers, missiles, particle cannons—all aid at Setsuna.
Ikaros, Tokisaki Kurumi, and Tohru prepared to engage in their respective combat forms.
Whoosh—!
But soone was faster.
Mio extended a finger forward.
Behind her appeared a tree-shaped angelic form, with a girl-like tree spirit nestled within its parted branches.
[Paradise of Samsara (Ain-Soph)]
In an instant, the entire temple—and even Synapse's main island—turned black and white.
Ti and space froze.
Hundreds of universal angels hung mid-air, weapons frozen in mid-fire.
Missiles were suspended less than ten ters from the shield, their flaming exhaust arrested mid-burn.
Lasers and particle blasts hovered in place like glowing neon rods.
Mio gently pinched her fingers together.
Crack—!
The sound of space being compressed rang out.
The angels instantly lost all combat capability, tumbling helplessly to the ground, scattering across the hall.
"What is this?!"
Minos's pupils dilated in shock.
Synapse once possessed ti-stopping technology, but this... this was sothing far more absurd.
"This is a domain of arbitrary rules. Within it, Mio can rewrite reality as she pleases."
"Just tweak a single physical constant and most technological constructs beco useless. Amazing, right?"
Setsuna smiled.
The Master of Synapse: "??!!"
Changing physical constants?!
Are you telling fairy tales?!
Even for a super-tech civilization, this was unbelievable.
The more advanced the technology, the more precise its structure.
If the fundantal constants changed, the entire system would instantly collapse.
For example, if Mio reduced the speed of light in a vacuum just a little, all the systems in the angels would throw fatal errors and crash.
"Setsuna taught this~ It's really effective against tech-based civilizations."
Mio pouted playfully, like a spoiled girlfriend.
"..."
The Master of Synapse was flabbergasted. He imdiately stood and tried to flee.
He had to activate Synapse's greatest weapon—the Wishing Stone Tablet.
"Astraea, Nymph, stop them!"
"Yes, Master!"
From either side of the throne appeared two angels—one a petite, blue twin-tailed loli; the other, a blonde, red-eyed lee-type angel wielding a lightsaber.
"Too late."
Almost the instant Minos gave the order, both angels were taken down in a single move by Tohru and Mio.
"Useless...!"
Minos didn't have ti to curse.
A dark blur flashed before his eyes.
Urgh—!
With no ti to react, his throat was suddenly seized.
Setsuna lifted him off the ground by the neck.
Just as expected—and as Daedalus had told him—the angels of Synapse possessed no divine power.
Their near-immortality was granted by technology alone.
They might have so genetic enhancents, but against a starship-tier opponent, they were negligible.
Cough—cough—!
Suspended in mid-air, Minos struggled to breathe.
He regretted his arrogance and underestimation.
Would he have won if he had used the Tablet from the start?
No—he doubted he could have made a wish under the watchful eyes of the Spirit of Origin.
From the mont they stood before him, this had been a foregone conclusion.
"You were sent by Daedalus, weren't you? Cough, cough..."
Minos tried to struggle, grasping aimlessly at the air, but against Setsuna's overwhelming strength, he was no more than a chick being held up.
He even instinctively flapped his wings, making him look even more like a helpless bird.
"How pathetic."
Setsuna shook his head, staring at him with thinly veiled disgust.
Knowing what kind of scum Minos was, he had neither affection nor respect for the so-called Master of Synapse.
Smack—!
He casually tossed him to the ground.
Cough, cough, cough—!
Minos struggled to get up, just about to speak.
As he sat up, he found the tip of a golden-engraved sword at his throat—its cold edge making him shudder.
The Sword of Promised Victory. Though its ornate design looked extravagant, it was still undeniably a holy sword.
"It can kill Berserker seven tis in one strike. You only have one life, right?"
Setsuna said coldly.
"You..."
Minos trembled in fear. Even an immortal who had lived countless eons was afraid when staring death in the face.
"What do you want? I can give you anything."
"S-Synapse can grant any wish."
He made one final effort.
"Let's make a deal. Or rather... a treaty."
Setsuna lifted his chin with the sword.
"Speak."
Minos latched onto the chance like a drowning man.
"Three conditions," Setsuna said calmly.
"First, transfer control of Nymph, Astraea, and part of the universal angels to ."
"Second, restore Daedalus to her rightful status and position."
"Third, once that's done, you must enter the dream realm. Daedalus and I will handle the follow-up."
The political system of Synapse resembled ancient Ro's principate.
The angel robots were akin to slaves, performing all non-technical labor—even warfare.
Their behavior resembled that of AI: once their bond (or Master) was changed, they obeyed their new owner unconditionally.
Setsuna intended to take them all and clean out Minos' stash.
"..."
Minos froze.
To him, the demands were strange.
Giving up so angels in exchange for his life? Acceptable.
Restoring Daedalus? Easy. If she followed Setsuna from now on, she'd stop bothering him.
The third condition—to enter a dream—seed more like a reward.
Minos had long since beco ntally unstable due to his inability to dream. He craved it.
"You can let dream? How?"
He looked puzzled.
He had paid a terrible price fighting a berserk Ikaros, which made it impossible for him to enter dreams normally.
Even sleep was difficult.
Had he not been enhanced genetically, he might have died already.
"The conventional dream system won't work. Daedalus said your consciousness can't be projected onto Earth."
Setsuna replied lazily.
"But we can tweak the system. Turn it into a kind of virtual reality engine and upload your consciousness into it. You understand that tech, right?"
"Upload consciousness?"
Minos' eyes lit up. He understood instantly.
Like a neural link ga, upload his mind into a virtual world and start a new life there.
Better than rotting in a temple for another few millennia.
"Deal. I accept."
"As long as I can dream, you can have all those useless angels."
He agreed instantly, then asked casually:
"So... which world are you uploading into?"
"That's... classified."
Setsuna cleared his throat.
"But I promise it'll be... exciting."
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