There was no exchange of words.

The moment they faced each other, both sides went all out.

The aura of the elements descended like a collapsing sky.

Within this primordial domain, what took shape was every elemental spell that had ever existed in this world.

Past and present alike.

Lost magic long erased by time, and newly created spells unknown to anyone else.

In an instant, the Sea Abyss exploded into a kaleidoscope of color.

A riot of infinite brilliance.

And within that endless spectrum, Lomar was swallowed by chaos itself.

Countless elements flooded into its body at once as Ninth-Tier magic fully materialized.

Fwoosh!

It desperately tried to expand its domain and resist the onslaught of spells.

But Ninth-Tier magic was far too violent.

Within the storm of colors, a single blazing fireball condensed into existence. In the next moment, it erupted explosively!

Instantly, something akin to a newborn sun formed within the entire Sea Abyss!

Ninth-Tier Fire Magic — Newborn Solar Flare

The scorching waves released by that blazing sun spread outward, turning every planet within a radius of hundreds of millions of kilometers into molten fire cores.

The worlds melted into seething magma spheres before rapidly vaporizing into blazing gas.

At this point, merely surviving already required Lomar to struggle with everything it had.

"Who are you?! When did I ever offend you?!"

"Stop! There must be some misunderstanding between us!"

The exchange lasted only between two bursts of divine intent.

Yet more than half of Lomar’s soul had already been burned away, while its physical body froze into crystalline ice.

It became pure frost—

—and shattered apart.

"There’s no misunderstanding."

"You should just die."

Extracting information from its mouth was nothing new to him.

Whether during the April 1st simulation within the Secret Sea—

—or the simulation from moments ago—

He had already interrogated and tortured it countless times. There was truly no need to keep questioning it further.

The reason Kanzaki Rei did this—

Was simply because it was convenient.

Even if nothing could be changed, and everything happening here had nothing to do with his real world—

At the very least...

He could kill this irritating bastard.

Killing it was enough.

"No! There must still be room for negotiation!"

"Great Existence!"

"Whatever you want to know, I can tell you! I still have countless treasures and collections!"

"Please, don’t—!"

Bzzzt—

Within the domain where the colors had become so chaotic they were impossible to distinguish, Kanzaki Rei stood silently.

Like a cold, emotionless statue.

Meanwhile, Lomar’s aura weakened at terrifying speed.

It struggled.

It begged for mercy.

It tried every possible method to escape.

But in truth, not a single thing worked.

Everything was futile.

Ninth-Tier magic.

Normally, only Level 9 mages could wield such power—mages who had already proven their connection to the Root Origin itself.

Level 9 beings were existences equal to gods.

And Ninth-Tier magic was, in essence, divine magic.

It was practically equivalent to using Moon-Star Rank power against Lomar.

Lomar was certainly powerful.

An Eighth-Tier monster.

But no matter how powerful it was, it was still nowhere near the level of gods or Moon-Star entities.

In just a little over ten seconds—

Kanzaki Rei’s mana reserves gradually ran dry.

Even with his current mana capacity, he still could not maintain the state of Elemental Kaleidoscope for long.

However, sustaining it for over ten seconds was already enough to unleash every elemental spell within it.

There were a total of eighty-six Ninth-Tier elemental spells.

That was the current upper limit Kanzaki Rei had learned through this magic.

In truth, there were no records in this world confirming whether Level 9 mages had ever truly existed.

There were only vague legends stating that, in the beginning—

The original Forbidden Magic had transformed into living beings.

Those entities were believed to have once been powerful mages.

Perhaps even Level 9 mages.

But aside from that, no other mage had ever been heard of reaching Level 9.

So discovering that so many Ninth-Tier elemental spells existed was something Kanzaki Rei had never expected.

Lomar died.

A plain, unremarkable death through sheer overwhelming force.

Truthfully, it possessed many life-saving abilities.

Its transformations and survival methods were extraordinarily complex. In a battle against opponents of the same tier, if it became determined to flee, most people would have no way to stop it.

But unfortunately...

Kanzaki Rei was not fighting it on the same level.

"You’re really amazing."

"Doesn’t casting primordial Forbidden Magic require a price?"

"Mmm... although, in this timeline, even if you paid the price, everything should return to normal after the reset."

"But somehow, it looks like you didn’t pay any price at all."

Kanzaki Rei could clearly sense that Echkatel’s tone was becoming more lively.

She was gradually adapting to the outside world. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

And surprisingly quickly, too.

"My own condition doesn’t change after the reset."

"Do you have any ideas why?"

Kanzaki Rei clapped his hands lightly, as though dusting dirt from them.

Everything around them gradually cooled.

The apocalyptic scene of endless destruction and swirling colors slowly faded away.

Only the destruction itself remained behind.

Or rather...

It would be more accurate to say most things had simply vanished entirely.

"Doesn’t change after the reset?"

"Mmm..." Echkatel lowered her head in thought.

"To be honest, I don’t fully understand your exact condition. But if what you said is true, then something must be helping you remain unchanged."

"A law that preserves your existence."

Hearing her explanation, Kanzaki Rei instantly recalled Ansei.

The direction of Ansei’s research into Root-Origin Magic had been focused on exactly this concept.

But at the same time, it didn’t quite seem possible for it to be related to Ansei.

It was also possible that the future Izparut had done something.

Kanzaki Rei shook his head.

"Let’s go."

"I want to return as soon as possible..."

For every day spent here, another day passed in the real world as well. And the more he learned about the hidden truths buried in the past timeline—

The more uneasy he became about the real world.

The most troublesome part was—

Within this endlessly resetting timeline, there was no way to level up.

If he didn’t return soon—

Kanzaki Rei feared that before he even had time to develop further—

An even greater danger would descend upon him.

If he returned earlier, he could at least gain a few more levels first.

"Sigh... honestly, this is practically a blessing."

"Someone like you, who’s been granted near-eternal life yet still wants to rush back home... you really don’t appreciate what you have."

"Whatever. It’s your freedom."

"And besides, you’re the one who brought me out here."

"As long as you want to go back, I’ll help you."

"You’re ready, right?"

Kanzaki Rei nodded.

"Yeah."

Most of the doubts in his mind had already begun linking together into a coherent chain of clues. Although there were still some finer details he wanted to verify—

It no longer felt necessary to investigate further.

At that moment, while standing upon the Forgotten Moon—

Kanzaki Rei did not feel as though he had forgotten anything at all.

Snap—

After receiving his confirmation, Echkatel snapped her fingers.

In that instant, he once again felt time stretch infinitely outward.

And when that sensation finally disappeared—

Boom—

Kanzaki Rei saw a colossal radiant tree, its entire form seemingly woven from streams of flowing light.