After sending Gaia and Alaya off to make their preparations, Izumi remained standing atop the Sephiroth Tree.
His gaze rested on the vast world slowly drawing closer.
Little Garden.
It had finally entered the range of his perception.
A thought crossed his mind.
The next moment, his consciousness expanded outward.
An immense wave of perception swept through the entirety of Little Garden.
Countless landscapes, cities, divine realms, and celestial domains instantly appeared within his awareness.
Nothing escaped his sight.
Naturally, beings of sufficient power immediately noticed the probing presence.
Many of the gods who had met Izumi before quickly recognized the familiar aura.
Several of them smiled.
Some even raised a hand toward the void in greeting.
Faced with their reactions, Izumi merely smiled back.
After all, they would soon be part of the same world.
As his perception continued sweeping across Little Garden, he suddenly paused.
"Hm?"
A trace of surprise flashed across his face.
"Hongjun is here too?"
"Interesting."
Far away, within a secluded realm, Hongjun slowly opened his eyes.
He had naturally sensed Izumi's observation.
Their gazes met across immeasurable distances.
The ancient sage smiled.
"It seems the dimensional worlds have nearly completed their integration."
"It is about time for us to join as well."
Then he added calmly,
"Rias should already be there."
Hearing those words, Izumi nodded.
"She is."
"In that case, welcome."
He had no objections whatsoever.
On the contrary, he genuinely welcomed Hongjun's arrival.
The old sage laughed softly.
"Then I shall trouble you in the future, fellow Daoist."
Their brief exchange ended there.
Izumi withdrew his perception.
Then he snapped his fingers.
A moment later—
A figure suddenly appeared beside him.
It was Rias.
Unfortunately, she seemed completely unprepared for being summoned.
She was wearing casual pajamas and holding a handheld game console.
The screen was still running.
Izumi instinctively glanced at it.
Then blinked.
"..."
His expression became strange.
Rias noticed his gaze.
For a moment, the two stared at each other in silence.
Then realization struck.
A flash of light erupted around her.
In an instant, the pajamas disappeared.
They were replaced by an elegant and dignified dress.
The game console also vanished without a trace.
As though it had never existed.
Rias crossed her arms.
Her face remained perfectly calm.
Only a faint blush betrayed her embarrassment.
"Izumi-kun."
"You do realize that was incredibly rude, right?"
She pointed at him.
"You saw nothing."
"Understood?"
The threat in her voice was unmistakable.
Izumi, however, looked thoroughly amused.
"I didn't expect you to have hobbies like that."
His smile widened.
"You could've just told me."
Rias immediately sensed danger.
Sure enough, the next sentence nearly shattered her composure.
"I would've happily recommended some better games."
Several magic circles instantly appeared around her.
The atmosphere became dangerous.
Very dangerous.
A vein twitched on her forehead.
"You..."
"You really want to fight, don't you?"
Izumi wasn't intimidated in the slightest.
Instead, he casually shrugged.
"Fight?"
"Wouldn't that be pointless?"
"Neither of us can really die anyway."
At their level, the concept of death had long since lost most of its meaning.
Rias's eye twitched.
Unfortunately, she couldn't argue with that.
Seeing her increasingly dark expression, Izumi wisely decided not to continue teasing her.
At least not too much.
The moment he seemed ready to continue, Rias took a step backward.
A teleportation magic circle formed beneath her feet.
"That's enough."
"If you dragged me here just to make fun of me, I'm leaving."
At this point, she genuinely sounded annoyed.
As a Single-Digit existence, the rules of ordinary worlds held little authority over her.
Leaving was as simple as taking a step.
However, just as she was about to activate the spell—
Izumi raised a hand.
"Wait."
The amusement vanished from his face.
His expression became serious.
Immediately, Rias stopped.
The fact that Izumi had dropped his teasing tone meant that something important was finally about to be discussed.
And considering the timing—
There was only one possibility.
Little Garden's long-awaited integration had begun.