A soft step echoed.
In an instant, the collapse of the entire sea of consciousness ca to a halt.
Kanzaki Rei’s eyes snapped out of their haze, clarity returning for a fleeting mont.
What... am I doing?
"Are you planning to deny your own decision, Kanzaki Rei...?"
"You finally made up your mind, and now you’re going to regret it? How long are you going to keep wavering?"
The questions reverberated throughout the sea of consciousness.
But the presence beside him rely lifted its gaze toward the sky of that inner world...
"I see now."
"The mind... truly is a fragile place."
Kanzaki Rei looked at the figure next to him. Even within his still-clouded thoughts, a trace of confusion surfaced.
"Iz...?"
"How are you... here?"
Izparut replied calmly, "You’re asking how I entered your sea of consciousness?"
"You are undoubtedly guilty of unforgivable acts. But the magic you wield... it interests greatly."
"And just now, you weren’t fighting at all."
"Even if I’m to judge you, I should at least understand the truth first."
"And... it seems you know ."
At this point in ti, Izparut had never t Kanzaki Rei.
Their actual encounter should only happen a year later.
Yet even so, Kanzaki Rei could feel a faint, intangible bond connecting them...
A bond unique to mages.
Even without ever eting, the magic they wielded spoke volus about who they were.
The spells Kanzaki Rei used had already told Izparut one thing clearly—
This was not a man driven by wanton cruelty.
So why would soone like him abduct a young girl?
Why would he destroy an entire continent?
It didn’t add up.
And now...
Izparut felt as though he had grasped a fragnt of the truth.
Even though he could only see the fissure before him, his comprehension alone allowed him to pierce through deeper layers.
The Duality of Void and Reality.
This was originally Izparut’s own Fourth-Tier Origin Magic.
Soone who understood the relationship between the void realm and the material realm would naturally not struggle to interpret the crack that appeared between them.
"Izparut..."
Pff—
A figure manifested before him once more—
Luluwi.
"You do realize," she said with a teasing tone, "that intruding into soone else’s sea of consciousness is incredibly rude."
"For sothing that’s rely been simulated, you’re stepping far out of line."
Standing within Kanzaki Rei’s consciousness, Izparut glanced down at his own hands.
"You’re saying... I’m a simulation?"
Luluwi’s smile grew more playful.
"Of course. You’re nothing more than a projection within my domain."
"A domain, you say?"
"...Ah. Now that you ntion it, it does feel that way."
Izparut’s tone remained calm and unshaken.
Whether he was real or fabricated didn’t seem to disturb him in the slightest.
His re presence alone steadied Kanzaki Rei’s mind.
"From the looks of it," Izparut suddenly said, "you haven’t seriously studied ntal magic, have you?"
Kanzaki Rei replied, "I’ve learned so..."
"So?"
"...Yeah."
There was simply too much to learn.
Even with far greater efficiency than most, Kanzaki Rei couldn’t master everything.
Especially magic.
Ever since acquiring the ability to steal spells through the Tower of All Magic, his motivation to deeply study magic had waned.
His innate comprehension was already exceptional.
Creating spells ca easily.
And he could obtain countless spells directly from others.
Because of that, he had never needed to ticulously study every branch of magic.
Otherwise... even just a few major schools would have taken an enormous amount of ti.
Izparut let out a faint chuckle.
"Heh... a weak foundation leads to a collapsing structure."
"You are my disciple, aren’t you?"
"...Yeah."
Despite never having t, Izparut had already deduced Kanzaki Rei’s identity.
"The mind is the most vulnerable point," Izparut continued. "No matter how strong your body is, no matter how masterfully you wield the elents—if your mind is unstable, there will always be an opening to exploit."
"Are you done?" Luluwi cut in.
Izparut turned to look at her.
"If you truly had complete control over , you wouldn’t be asking that."
"I assu your domain still has to follow certain rules you’ve set, doesn’t it?"
At that mont—
The long-silent Ansu finally spoke.
"Kanzaki Rei."
"I’ve figured out the rules of this domain."
As more voices broke into the chaos, Kanzaki Rei’s awareness gradually sharpened.
Though his sea of consciousness remained fractured and unstable, he could at least think coherently again.
"Ansu... why didn’t you wake earlier?"
Ansu let out a dry laugh.
"Heh. If I woke you too soon, how would I observe the enemy’s behavior?"
"And without understanding their logic, how could we break this domain?"
Buzz—
Just as Kanzaki Rei was about to respond, his consciousness trembled violently again.
"Look carefully!" Ansu suddenly barked.
Kanzaki Rei focused.
Following Ansu’s guidance, he locked his gaze onto the fissure—
And this ti...
He saw sothing he hadn’t noticed before.
A mist-like substance within his sea of consciousness was continuously being drawn into the crack.
That mist—
It was his spiritual essence.
Damn it!
So that’s what it was!
This thing was draining his spirit!
No wonder his thinking had beco sluggish!
"Control your spiritual essence! Don’t let it keep flowing in!"
Kanzaki Rei snapped fully awake.
Once seen, it could be sensed.
He imdiately exerted conscious control over the flow of his essence—
And the mist streaming into the fissure abruptly stopped.
Rumble—
The next instant, his sea of consciousness shook violently once more!
The sky split open—
And a massive eye descended, gazing down upon everything.
That eye.
The one with the door within its pupil.
"Awakening?"
"Why cling to awareness?"
"Why resist?"
BOOM—
The entire sea of consciousness convulsed!
Spell formations ignited, weaving together into a massive ntal barrier that covered everything!
But—
CRACK!
A deafening impact resounded!
Fractures spread rapidly across the barrier!
Yet in the next mont—
They were instantly repaired.
Kanzaki Rei wielded the Origin Magic of Restoration, allowing him to rapidly recover any damage dealt to magic itself. As long as it wasn’t completely destroyed, it would be restored in an instant.
BOOM!
But then—
The door within the eye opened once more.
In that instant—
Hundreds of new cracks spread across the barrier!
He had already layered hundreds of ntal defense spells over it—
And still, it wasn’t enough?
But at least one thing was now certain.
This entity...
Its attacks were entirely focused on the mind.
Watching Kanzaki Rei reinforce his defenses with magic, Izparut shook his head.
"These ntal defense spells of yours... are far too crude."
"You really haven’t studied ntal magic at all."
"...Are you seriously my disciple?"
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