The Aeon Sphere, created to seal the Void, was a rather ambiguous artifact, hardly fitting the name of proper equipment.

[Aeon Sphere]

[Tier: Aspirant] [Quality: Excellent]

[A device created to seal ■■.

Containing the powers of both the Emperor of Ascension and Lee Se-Hoon, it endlessly cycles the spacetime of the ■■ sealed within to imprison it for eternity.

Only ‘Ludwig Schubert’ and ‘Lee Se-Hoon’, the two who were the origin of this Seal, can release whatever is within.

*Impossible to be destroyed when sealed]

Despite being granted the Aspirant tier, the Aeon Sphere had not manifested a synesthetic mindscape and possessed no function beyond sealing. By itself, the Aeon Sphere was not something that could be used in battle. In other words, if one were to make use of the Void sealed within...

“Are you insane—”

The moment the Void emerged into the world, it began twisting everything around it. Having been compressed into a single sphere, it swallowed Tuner’s scream-like shout in the blink of an eye.

It was like ink spilled upon a painting; everything was stained pitch-black. The very world created by the Golden Ring was pushed to the point of collapse in an instant.

Crack!

Space crumbled, then time tore, until finally, fissures spread across the Ring that encircled the world. Should those fissures widen—and be connected to the world beyond the Golden Ring—the Void that lay beyond would surge inwards. At that moment, what would happen?

So this is the Void.

Hovering in the air, Se-Hoon observed below him with a look of marvel as he realized why Ludwig had tried to seal it even at the cost of his own life.

Meanwhile, Tuner was struggling for his life. He felt as though he were dying.

Does that bastard really intend to leave it like this?!

Although the Netherworld was separated from reality, it was ultimately still a law and a part of the Golden Ring. Surely Se-Hoon knew there could be untold consequences by striking the Golden Ring itself. Yet Se-Hoon unleashed the Void without a countermeasure?

Is this just a bluff? Or... does he actually have a way to protect the Netherworld?

If it was merely a bluff to test his hand, then it didn’t matter because Se-Hoon would simply regress and restore everything. Still... what if it wasn’t? What if Se-Hoon had adapted the method used to seal the Void to protect solely the Netherworld? If so, then only he would be swept away.

Both were possibilities. Tuner was stuck at a crossroads, making him hesitate.

Crack-

“...Damn it.”

The sound of something rupturing behind him—he had to make a choice now.

Distorted Law: Universal Harmonization

A clear incantation rang in all directions. Once more, the technique that had made Puppeteer transcend unfolded. Simultaneously, the fissures created by the Void started undergoing self-repair.

Snap!

With a snap of golden lightning, the Void in the area was incinerated to allow the cracks to mend. It was a familiar sight to Se-Hoon, who glanced down at Tuner before tracing the golden radiance coming from him to Hiranyagarbha.

I had my suspicions... but to think he can truly wield the Golden Ring’s power.

When Se-Hoon found out Tuner had interfered with the Towers’ system, his first thought went to indirect interference through Terra. It had seemed most plausible, given that Terra had once been interfered with during the Silent Volcano campaign and Tuner had studied the corpse of the Seeker.

Of course, he immediately discarded that thought since it was no longer possible. Terra, once the Seeker’s avatar, had established her own synesthetic mindscape through the Planetary Reinforcement Plan to become the Administrator of the Towers—someone virtually equivalent to a Perfect One. Even Tuner wouldn’t be able to control her that easily.

Thus, Se-Hoon considered another possibility.

Did Tuner also gain some kind of power to interfere with the Golden Ring through the Abyss of Demons?

The Golden Ring, the root of the world, possessed omnipotent power. However, it lacked a will of its own, making it a machine-like existence. Just as Terra had exploited that flaw to become the Towers’ Administrator, it was not impossible that Tuner had done the same.

After all, both the Towers of Heroes and the Abyss of Demons were systems derived from the same root: the Golden Ring.

Rumble-

Golden lightning burst violently against the Void’s resistance, reinforced by massive magic arrays that appeared throughout the area, gradually stabilizing the surroundings.

Oh...?

It was clearly a sealing spell as powerful as—perhaps even surpassing—the one Ludwig had created from the Whitespace. And to think it was devised on the spot at that.

Finding it difficult to believe, Se-Hoon observed with interest—

“How long are you going to just watch?”

Tuner’s irritated voice interrupted him.

“You think this will end with just one planet destroyed? If the Golden Ring is shattered—”

“The void outside its confines will react to this one and pour in. The world will, of course, be destroyed.”

“...You knew that and still threw it?” Tuner questioned in disbelief, faltering at Se-Hoon’s calm.

“Well, it had to be at least this much for you to use Hiranyagarbha’s power properly.”

“...”

Tuner was speechless, unable to do anything but let out a hollow laugh. Se-Hoon had unleashed the Void... merely to pressure him?

“So the regressor does as he pleases. If the world perishes, you’ll just turn back time, is that it? Last time you pretended to hesitate—”

“No. What I trusted wasn’t regression,” Se-Hoon interjected again, cutting him off. “More precisely, I trusted you.”

“...What?”

“Because you have no intention of destroying the world.”

Tuner stiffened.

“Before I regressed, you never became a Harbinger of Destruction.”

“...”

“Even in a situation where humanity and the Abyss of Demons had practically annihilated each other, sending the world into collapse, you turned an experimental subject into a Harbinger of Destruction instead of becoming one yourself—by choice.”

Recalling the Destroyer of Seas, the last to appear among the Six Harbingers of Destruction, Se-Hoon looked at Tuner.

“At the time, I thought you simply couldn’t become one. Now that I know your goal, though, another possibility came to mind.”

Whether then or now, Tuner could become a Harbinger of Destruction if he so wished. Yet he never did.

Why? It was simple: because his wish was not something that could be fulfilled in that way. The Perfect Ones become part of the world to realize their wishes; Harbingers devoured the world to achieve theirs. Different paths, same reliance on the world.

And that was exactly why Tuner had not chosen that path.

A wish that cannot be fulfilled while bound to the world. Then what must one become to achieve it?

If the Demon King was merely a prototype of the transcended being Tuner had been pursuing all his life, what would the completed form be? They would be a transcendent existence that could shape the world with its own laws, free from the Golden Ring.

If one were to define such an absolute concept in a single word...

“Whew...”

Before Se-Hoon could finish his thought, Tuner let out a weary breath.

“This. This is why regression is cheating.”

Crack-

The golden magic array sealing the Void shattered, and as the pieces fell apart, a hidden formula revealed itself among the interlocked pieces and erupted with light.

Boom!

The Void that had been suppressed shot toward Se-Hoon, while multicolored magic arrays surfaced across Hiranyagarbha’s surface and began absorbing the golden radiance in the surroundings.

He’s forcing the spell through with the Golden Ring’s power...!

Seeing Tuner’s final struggle begin, Se-Hoon quickly caught the Void with the Aeon Sphere.

“Terra!”

Rumble-

With a violent shake, dozens of white towers rose from beneath the Abyss of Demons to encircle Tuner and Hiranyagarbha.

“What—”

If Tuner could interfere with the Towers of Heroes through the Abyss of Demons, then Terra could interfere with the Abyss through the Towers. While Se-Hoon and Tuner clashed, Terra had been working towards that very method to intervene. And now, with it, she immediately poured her power into Hiranyagarbha.

“Try enduring this yourself!!!”

Woong!

Dozens of towers glowed gold, seizing control of the surrounding region as the Golden Ring’s radiance, which was being absorbed into Hiranyagarbha, started dispersing in all directions instead. At the rate it was dispersing, not only would the spell fail, Hiranyagarbha itself would disintegrate.

“Ah...”

Understanding in that desperate moment, Tuner looked straight ahead. Se-Hoon had already resealed the returned void and was launching a counterattack. Terra was rapidly stripping away his authority and stealing his power.

...It’s over.

He could no longer win. No matter what he did—even if he forced Se-Hoon to regress—the same outcome would follow.

Thus, with nothing left, Tuner released the spell sustaining Hiranyagarbha.

“Nothing ever goes according to plan.”

Crack!

With a brilliant flash, something slumbering within the golden egg awakened.

***

Whoosh-

The familiar yet detestable sound rang in his ears. His body felt heavy with fatigue, but that persistent noise forced Se-Hoon to open his eyes.

“...”

He slowly rose and looked around, looking up at the cloudless blue sky.

“Where is this...?”

Whoosh-

He was on a beach of white sand, rolling with blue waves. It was an ordinary seaside one might see anywhere...?

Se-Hoon’s eyes widened. The people he had sent to the Netherworld strolling the shore and admiring the sea?

Did I end up in the Netherworld? No... the sea would be black.

Moreover, none of the Netherworld’s mana was present.

So Tuner did something then.

Getting his bearings, Se-Hoon stood to investigate and frowned at the strange sensation in his body.

My body feels dull. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

His reactions were slower, and his movements were heavy. Thankfully, the reason he felt like he was underwater became clear almost instantly.

There’s no mana in the atmosphere?

It wasn’t his body. Mana had completely vanished from the beach, from the air, from everywhere in sight.

Did he create a new law like the Demon King?

What kind of law could produce a place devoid of mana, though? First checking that his mana circuits and powers still functioned, Se-Hoon then brushed the sand thoughtfully.

Something feels wrong.

It felt as though he alone was out of place. To someone who had always lived in a world filled with mana, a world without it felt utterly alien. From the waves to the sand, and even the distant people, everything felt like a convincing fake molded from clay.

This doesn’t seem like an illusion... but I can’t tell what law governs this.

At a loss, Se-Hoon decided he could learn nothing standing still, so he rose into the—

“Administrator!!”

Dropping back down, he turned to see Terra running toward him with awkward steps.

“Terra?”

Her true body had not been on the battlefield, so why was she here?

“Administrator. Are you all right?” Terra asked, stopping in front of him.

“I’m fine. But why are you here?”

“I... I’m not sure. I remember taking control of Hiranyagarbha. After that, when I came to, I was here.”

So we were both swept up in the spell.

It seemed Tuner had activated the spell prematurely before Terra could dismantle it.

“Did we fail?”

“No. It couldn’t have been activated properly under those conditions.”

If it had, Tuner would already have appeared as a Perfect One.

“Let’s further investigate this. Find the boundary of the area he controls.”

“Yes!”

Leaving the beach below them, they flew straight ahead in search of the world’s edge for nearly an hour.

How can it be so vast?

They were still flying despite having crossed a distance many times larger than the Forest of Repetition, yet there was still no end. With narrowed eyes, Se-Hoon continued flying alongside Terra toward the horizon.

“...”

They had traveled from noon until sunset.

“...Let’s go up.”

“What? Wha—!”

Not wanting to waste more time, Se-Hoon grasped Terra’s hand and leapt through space, passing the atmosphere. Then he looked down at the Earth beneath his feet...?

“Huh?”

Below him was the blue planet as it had existed before the emergence of the Towers of Heroes—a sight he had only ever seen in photographs.