Kiana stared blankly at the crowd surrounding Izumi.
At that moment, she came to a horrifying realization.
St. Freya Academy was doomed.
"What is even so great about that guy…?"
One girl falling for him was already bad enough.
But all of them?
It made no sense to her at all.
Meanwhile, Izumi completely ignored Kiana's existence.
After greeting everyone, he casually began touring St. Freya Academy together with the girls.
As for Kiana—
She was still frozen in place, unable to move even a single muscle.
All she could do was helplessly watch as Izumi walked away with Raiden Mei and the others.
The frustration building inside her nearly exploded, yet she couldn't even vent it properly.
At that moment, Kiana genuinely wanted to cry.
Life was simply too cruel.
Even Mei had forgotten about her now.
In the end—
She alone bore all the suffering.
Tears quietly welled up in Kiana's eyes.
Right now…
She really wanted to cry.
Unfortunately for her, nobody paid attention anymore.
Everyone had already followed Izumi away.
Only after finishing his tour of St. Freya Academy and telling Mei and the others to visit whenever they had time did Izumi finally prepare to leave.
And only then—
did he suddenly remember the pitiful Kiana still standing there.
"Oh right."
With a casual snap of his fingers, the restraint binding her vanished.
The moment the pressure disappeared, Kiana collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
Then she burst into loud sobs.
"Uwaaaaaahhh!!"
"That jerk always bullies me!"
"He's the worst!!"
"Waaaaaahhh!!"
She had literally been forced to stand there for an entire day.
Her legs barely even felt like her own anymore.
The nearby students looked at her with complicated expressions.
Honestly…
She really was kind of pitiful.
...
Meanwhile, outside the academy—
Momo glanced back toward the crying Kiana and sighed helplessly.
"Izumi-sama… are you sure treating that girl like this is okay?"
"She's genuinely crying now…"
Beside her, Shiba Miyuki also wore an awkward expression.
Wasn't this a bit too cruel?
Hearing that, Izumi simply chuckled.
"It's just a grasshopper-brained idiot."
"No need to worry about her."
"With Mei around, she'll recover in no time."
"Trust me."
Izumi understood Kiana far too well.
Even if he made her stand there for several days straight, she would still bounce back quickly.
Give it a few minutes.
Once Mei comforted her a little, she would probably return to her usual energetic self.
There was absolutely nothing to worry about.
Momo and Miyuki exchanged speechless glances.
So this was his justification for bullying people?
Still, neither of them dwelled on the matter for long.
Instead, they continued accompanying Izumi as he traveled throughout the world he had created.
...
Over the next half month, more and more people gradually joined Izumi's little sightseeing group.
Katou Megumi came.
Sawamura Eriri came too.
Before long, the group had become unexpectedly lively.
Only after touring nearly every region did Izumi finally return to Dimensional City with Momo.
However, the moment they arrived—
someone approached them directly.
It was Esdeath.
Upon spotting Izumi, she walked over without hesitation.
"Izumi-dono. Greetings."
"I am Esdeath."
Izumi raised an eyebrow slightly.
"I know who you are."
"What do you need?"
He was genuinely curious why Esdeath had specifically come looking for him.
Esdeath smiled faintly before getting straight to the point.
"How can I accelerate the fusion between my world and this one?"
The unexpected question made Izumi laugh softly.
"You're really that impatient?"
Esdeath nodded immediately.
"Of course."
"If possible, I'd stay here every single day."
"But ever since becoming queen…"
"…I barely have any free time anymore."
The current Esdeath had already become the ruler of her world.
Her strength had also increased far beyond what it once was.
After learning that countless worlds were gradually merging into Izumi's universe—and that her own world was also slowly approaching—
she had immediately wanted to know whether the process could be accelerated.
After all, the benefits of world fusion were simply too enormous.
Esdeath found the entire concept incredibly appealing.
If the laws of the two worlds fully merged together, her strength would undoubtedly rise to another level.
That was one of the greatest advantages of fusion.
Each newly integrated world would grant a form of feedback to its inhabitants, strengthening those chosen by fate.
And Esdeath?
She had long since purchased the "original storyline" of her world from Izumi.
Then she immediately killed the supposed protagonist afterward.
Now she was the true protagonist of that world.
Izumi stared at her quietly for a while before finally understanding what she was thinking.
"There is a way to speed things up."
"But I won't do it."
While he could theoretically hand her a World Fusion Card like he had before—
he had no intention of doing so.
The remaining cards still had important uses.
He certainly wasn't going to waste them casually.
Some had to be reserved.
After all, gigantic higher-dimensional worlds like Little Garden would never naturally fuse on their own.
When the time came, those cards would become necessary.
Hearing his answer, Esdeath looked visibly disappointed.
"I see…"
"That's unfortunate."
"Looks like I'll have to find someone else to handle the role of queen."
Despite saying that, she showed absolutely no attachment to her throne whatsoever.
Even though she had conquered the entire world—
she genuinely had no interest in ruling it.
In fact, ever since becoming queen, she felt less happy than before.
What she truly desired now was simple:
Fight stronger opponents.
Grow stronger herself.
That was all.
After confirming there was no shortcut, Esdeath quickly departed.
Once she was gone, Momo blinked curiously.
"But Izumi-sama…"
"Don't you still have those cards that can merge worlds?"
"Why not just give her one?"
Izumi laughed softly and patted her head.
"Silly girl."
"Those things are incredibly valuable."
"There's no way I'd hand them out casually."
"If my father-in-law hadn't personally come here himself, I wouldn't have given him one either."
"And think about it."
"If other people found out about this, what do you think would happen?"
"They'd all come asking for cards too."
"Where exactly am I supposed to get that many World Fusion Cards?"
At this point, Izumi understood the true nature of those cards better than anyone.
They were created from the power of Azathoth itself.
While Izumi technically could produce more—
doing so simply wasn't worth the effort.
Waiting naturally was far more efficient.
Even though he had already reached the level of a Single-Digit being, he was still among the weakest at that rank.
Only by continuously merging more worlds into his universe could his power rapidly grow toward the peak.
Weakening himself just to manufacture fusion cards?
There was no profit in that at all.
That was why Izumi couldn't be bothered.
Let the worlds merge naturally over time.
Besides—
the other Single-Digit beings had already begun using their own powers to accelerate the convergence of countless worlds anyway.
So why waste his own energy?
Wouldn't it be better to simply wait for power to come to him on its own?