Buzz, buzz, buzz!
The stars filled the sky, and within the twelve constellations of the Zodiac, Ophiuchus suddenly blazed to life between Scorpio and Sagittarius.
Its light spread across nearly the entire sky, brighter than every other constellation around it.
The image of a healer holding a serpent staff revealed the nature of its power.
The symbol of the God of Medicine.
Marco closed his eyes and focused on the changes taking place inside him.
As the Ophiuchus Gold Cloth awakened, another strange power flowed into his Cosmo, strengthening its ability to heal until it reached a level that could restore ruined flesh and even call the dead back to life.
"Ophiuchus is completely broken."
Even after unlocking ten Gold Cloths and gaining countless abilities, Marco was still stunned by the sheer power of Ophiuchus.
Ever since awakening Cosmo and reaching the Seventh Sense, he had already possessed impressive healing abilities.
A Gold Saint could repair illness and injury at the atomic level, and as long as someone had not died instantly, there was a good chance they could still be saved.
Ophiuchus went far beyond that.
Even someone who had truly died could be brought back.
That was why Ophiuchus had eventually been cast out of the Zodiac. Its power threatened the gods themselves.
In their eyes, no human should have been able to control life and death so freely—not even a Gold Saint who had already become a god among mortals.
And once someone gained the power to reverse death itself, it was hardly surprising that greater ambitions would follow.
"Cancer in one hand and Ophiuchus in the other. One lets me destroy the soul, while the other can restore the body and reverse death."
For the first time, Marco truly felt invincible—not merely powerful, but protected by layer after layer of safeguards.
Even if someone close to him were killed, he could bring them back.
And if he arrived too late, after their soul had already left the body and entered the Underworld, he could simply travel there and retrieve it himself.
"If Master Mavis wants to return to life and reenter her body, that may no longer be a problem. I should take a proper look at her body once I get back."
The moment he thought about resurrection, Mavis naturally came to mind.
She was, after all, the only dead person who regularly stayed by his side.
As for Lumen Histoire and Fairy Heart, Marco no longer cared much about them.
Infinite magic might have once sounded extraordinary, but compared with his Cosmo, it was no longer particularly impressive.
His power had advanced again as well.
His Cosmo had now reached the middle stage of the Seventh Sense, making him a solid, fully established fighter even among Gold Saints.
Click.
The Ophiuchus Cloth Box appeared before him.
At Marco's command, it opened and revealed the Gold Cloth within.
Its object form consisted of two distinct sections.
The lower half resembled a seated humanoid suit of armor, while a massive golden serpent rose above its head, leaning forward as though ready to strike.
Buzz.
The Ophiuchus Gold Cloth separated and wrapped itself around Marco.
It was one of the most ornate of all thirteen Gold Cloths, with an armored piece resembling a serpent's tail extending behind him.
The most striking part, however, was the staff that appeared in his hand.
The same golden serpent that had formed the upper half of the Cloth's object form now coiled around the staff.
"The Rod of Asclepius."
Marco recognized it immediately.
Although it was part of the Ophiuchus Gold Cloth, it carried the unmistakable mark of the God of Medicine.
Also known simply as the serpent staff, the Rod of Asclepius had a single snake wrapped around its length, with the serpent's fierce head forming its tip.
It had become a symbol of medicine across countless cultures and institutions, proof of how far the God of Medicine's influence had spread.
"The only man in Sanctuary ever called a god... No wonder his Gold Cloth is this absurd."
Marco gave the staff a few experimental swings.
As a physical weapon, it was not especially practical.
It was too long and awkward, and near the serpent's head was a pair of bright golden wings that made it even less suited to smashing someone over the head.
It clearly had not been designed for close combat.
Its true value lay in the abilities it enhanced: healing, poison, and even control over time and space.
Ophiuchus was also exceptionally skilled in spatial and temporal abilities.
It could ignore disturbances in space-time and cross freely between worlds, even moving through warped dimensions or entering the Underworld without difficulty.
Buzz!
Marco swept the Rod of Asclepius through the air, tearing open a passage through space. He stepped through and returned to Elentear in a single stride.
"That was much easier."
He had barely used any effort. One casual movement had opened a direct path to Elentear, far more smoothly than using Another Dimension.
"Now I should deal with Elentear's problem."
Marco released his Cosmo.
In a single instant, his awareness swept across the entire world—not as a vague glance, but as a complete and detailed scan of every corner of Elentear.
"Found it."
Once he withdrew his senses, he already knew where to go.
The source was not difficult to identify.
The moment he saw it, there was no mistaking the place where all that magic was leaking into the world.
Buzz.
Marco vanished and appeared at the location he had discovered.
Magic churned violently through the area, forming enormous spiraling currents. It resembled the eye of a storm, except the storm was made entirely of raw magic.
At its center lay something that could barely be called a living creature.
The mass had become horribly twisted.
Countless magical arms clawed their way out of the ground, while enormous warped faces appeared across the surface before sinking away again.
"Well... this is bad."
The place was far more dangerous than he had expected.
The vast concentration of magic sealed away by Whiteout Village—the power accumulated by countless generations of White Mages—had apparently warped into something almost alive.
It had not been fully released yet and remained partly trapped within the seal, but Selene had not been bluffing.
If the people of Elentear refused to submit to her, she truly had been willing to unleash this thing and destroy the entire world.