Akagi saw Kanzaki Rei as well, and his heart filled with joy.

Ten years ago—

When Seika and Luluwei first contacted them, the very first piece of information they brought was that Rei... had vanished from the ruins.

The two of them had entered to search for him, but found nothing.

They went in empty-handed.

And came out empty-handed.

Kanzaki Rei had disappeared as though he had evaporated from the face of the world.

After that, they waited in Hollow Vale for more than half a year, but Rei never appeared.

Then the corruption from the Abyssal Descent erupted in Hollow Vale.

Though Seika and Luluwei were powerful, even they found it difficult to extricate themselves after being caught up in that disaster.

And they had an agreement with Rei.

In the end, following the promise they had made with him, they set out for the Land of Moon and then continued on toward the World Center Tree.

...

And throughout the journey that followed,

there was no further news of Rei.

During those ten years,

Kanzaki Rei—who should by all rights have become world-renowned long ago—left behind not a single trace.

He vanished completely.

The only things that remained in circulation were the spells he had created in the past and certain foundational theories that had changed the very fundamentals of magic.

And just moments ago,

when Akagi sensed another warrior entering the Way, he descended to observe that person’s enlightenment.

He had never expected the figure before him to be so familiar.

Kanzaki Rei?

Origin Magic?

Ha! That was exactly his style.

During a warrior’s Entry into the Way, he was actually creating his Origin Magic.

Damn... if Iz found out about this, she would definitely spend days mocking warriors for being inferior to mages.

BOOM!

Rei took a step forward.

He moved like an emperor, with the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger.

At the same time, he seemed like a drifting element, flowing through time itself.

His entire existence became something indescribable.

He resembled everything.

And he was everything.

Yet no one could truly grasp what he was.

And the enlightenment of every warrior along this road flowed toward Rei.

"Hmph."

One warrior sensed what was happening, snorted coldly, and vanished.

Another crossed his arms and watched with great interest.

Others sat cross-legged in contemplation, seemingly drawing their own insights from Rei.

The enlightenment of Entry into the Way was a two-way process.

Rei was not the only one gaining insights.

The other warriors on the road were also obtaining profound revelations from him.

As for what they could learn, that depended entirely on their own talent.

Tap.

At last, Rei arrived before the crimson fruit.

In the distance, Akagi was still waving to him.

Rei lifted a hand in return.

Vaguely, he could make out the gesture Akagi was giving him.

The World Center Tree.

So he was still there.

"Mm. I’ll go."

Rei smiled.

After replying, he reached out and touched the fruit before him.

"I have entered the Way."

"From this moment onward, I will unify all laws and compose a new Way."

Clang—

The entire road shattered.

All the surrounding scenery dissolved.

Before him remained only the dark sea.

Rei opened his eyes and rose to his feet.

At this moment, he was fundamentally different from before.

Previously, countless systems and laws had coexisted within him, and his aura had been ever-changing and impossibly complex.

Now, only one thing remained.

Unity.

Azure Way—First Form: Return to One

All other body-tempering Ways had been integrated.

Life, death, imperial authority, invincibility, wind, fire, lightning...

All had merged into a single law.

Azure Way—Second Form: Dissolution of All Things

Rei slowly crouched and touched the ground with one finger.

Crack—

The entire island instantly collapsed into fragments.

But it was not only the island that disintegrated.

The sea itself also broke apart.

From the shattered ocean, pure azure seawater separated out.

The murky Abyss was extracted directly from the waters.

Even dead souls and physical remains were decomposed.

Mana and vital energy were separated from the bodies in which they flowed.

Azure Way—Third Form: Causal Fate

Tap.

Rei took another step.

The scene before him changed once again.

He had returned to the Land of Moon.

The powerful monsters outside had already been almost entirely exterminated.

In contrast, near the Land of Moon, several Level 7 class-advancers were still locked in fierce battles against Rank 7 monsters.

In Rei’s eyes, however, their fates were instantly laid bare.

The Level 7 archer named Monsur would eventually kill the Rank 7 Devouring Night Demon.

"Then..."

Pfft!

Rei raised his hand slightly.

The arrow fired by Monsur pierced straight through the Devouring Night Demon’s intricate shell.

A shot that should have been blocked instead pierced its heart and detonated from within, reducing the monster to dust.

This was supposed to be the final blow.

There should have been a long and exhausting battle before that ending.

But now, that outcome had been brought forward and directly realized.

God-Tier Talent · Predestined Ending of Death

This technique

had completely transcended the category of combat skills.

Rei himself had not launched any attack.

He had performed no direct action at all.

Azure Way

was no longer a mere Way-transcendent combat art.

It was a brand-new system that unified every law and every method in existence.

"It is not a combat skill. Not magic. Not a talent."

"And yet it surpasses all combat skills, all magic, and can wield every talent."

This was no longer any existing combat system in the world.

It was a new Way created entirely by Kanzaki Rei himself.

A path that no one had ever walked before.

Whoosh!

Rei made no effort to conceal his presence.

The surrounding monsters sensed the lone human standing outside the city and immediately charged toward him.

"Human!"

"You dare come outside the city alone?!"

"You’re courting death!"

"Hahaha! Too bad there’s only one of you—not enough to divide among all of us!"

Rank 5 and Rank 6 monsters surged forward like a tidal wave.

Rei’s eyes were cold as he looked upon the attacks filling the sky.

Poison.

Ice.

Fire.

Slashes.

Psychic assaults.

Countless forms of attack.

Visible and invisible alike.

And yet—

The monsters charging at Rei collided directly with one another.

The sonic blasts, roaring flames, and freezing ice that were aimed at him passed harmlessly through his body.

Then they struck the other monsters instead.

BOOM—

A thunderous explosion erupted where Rei stood.

Corpses rained from the sky.

Rei had not moved so much as a single finger.

Azure Way—Fourth Form: Eternal Void Displacement

It no longer required any maintenance.

It no longer needed activation or deactivation.

The dimensions in which Rei simultaneously existed were no longer compressed merely into a Phase Point.

He now existed in:

the previous second, the Phase Point, the Void, the Sea of Consciousness, and the Soul.

Unless an attack struck every one of those dimensions at the exact same instant—

Kanzaki Rei was completely untouchable.

And it was a one-sided untouchability.

Rei could touch others.

But others could not touch him.

Ordinarily,

combat skills and magic could be countered.

But what Rei now wielded was a self-created Way—

a brand-new law that had never before appeared in the world.

To Cracking it would require creating a new law of one’s own.

Opening an entirely new path.