Izumi unleashed every ounce of power at his disposal.
His Simulated Star Creation Charts manifested one after another.
The Star Beasts answered his summons and emerged across the dimensional void.
The overwhelming army of celestial powers surged toward Rika from every direction.
Yet Rika remained completely composed.
One spell after another flowed effortlessly from her staff.
A Simulated Star Creation Chart?
She sealed it immediately.
A Star Beast?
Gone the next moment.
Even when Izumi attempted to use abilities that weakened his opponent or imposed restrictions, Rika countered them with incomprehensible magical formulas.
The effects were redirected, neutralized, or simply erased.
It was absurd.
Terrifyingly absurd.
At this point, Izumi could only admit one thing.
The woman before him truly deserved her title as the Origin of Magic.
There was no one else capable of manipulating magical laws to such an outrageous degree.
Even the Star Beasts he summoned could be sealed almost instantly.
Finally, Izumi stopped his assault.
Floating within the dimensional void, he stared at the vigilant Rika and couldn't help complaining.
"Alright, that's enough."
"Everything I use gets sealed the moment it appears."
"Are you seriously going to play like this?"
Rika snorted.
"Your attacks don't work on me either."
"So naturally I have to find another approach."
She pointed her staff at him.
"If you're tired of fighting, surrender."
"You can't do anything to me."
"And I can't do anything to you."
"That makes this my victory."
That was her conclusion.
As long as she could prevent Izumi from winning, she considered herself successful.
However—
What she didn't say aloud was that she was feeling increasingly pressured herself.
Izumi was simply too troublesome.
Every time she thought she understood his abilities, he would reveal something entirely new.
One after another.
Without end.
And the worst part?
Her attacks weren't truly effective against him either.
Right from the start, she had used one of her strongest spells.
The technique that summoned countless worlds and hurled them at her enemy.
Yet Izumi had shattered them all with a single punch.
One punch.
That was enough.
Even now, she found it difficult to believe.
That attack was among her greatest trump cards.
And it had been destroyed so effortlessly.
If her sealing magic weren't powerful enough to continuously restrict him, things might have already ended badly for her.
The thought made her increasingly determined.
Even if she had to drag this battle on forever, she would stop Izumi here.
A draw was acceptable.
As long as she didn't lose.
Surely he wouldn't force the issue afterward.
That was Rika's calculation.
Unfortunately for her—
Izumi merely sighed.
"You really think I have no way to deal with you?"
Rika frowned.
A bad feeling suddenly appeared in her chest.
The next instant—
A brilliant radiance erupted from Izumi's body.
It was a light unlike any other.
A primordial light.
The first light born at the beginning of creation itself.
The dimensional void was illuminated by its brilliance.
Then—
A pitch-black power emerged as well.
Boundless darkness.
Ancient darkness.
The two opposing forces intertwined.
Light and darkness merged.
Creation and destruction fused together.
The result was—
Chaos.
An indescribable force spread across the dimensional void.
Reality began to distort.
Space trembled.
Concepts collapsed.
Negative emotions surfaced uncontrollably.
Madness.
Despair.
Fear.
Confusion.
All of them surged toward Rika at once.
The expression on her face immediately changed.
"Wait—!"
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"That's..."
"The power of Azathoth?!"
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Izumi had actually used that power.
At the same moment—
Within Izumi's world, countless people sensed the terrifying fluctuation.
Nyaruko froze.
Then she immediately looked toward the sky.
"Izumi?"
"What is he doing now?"
Without hesitation, she grabbed her transformation belt and rushed toward the outer boundary of the world.
Others reacted just as quickly.
Katsuko.
Several powerful troublemakers.
Many of Izumi's closest companions.
They all thought the same thing.
Had Izumi encountered an enemy powerful enough to force him into using Azathoth's authority?
The thought alone was alarming.
One after another, they rushed toward the edge of the world.
However, upon arriving, they discovered something unexpected.
At some point, Izumi's entire world had already been enclosed within a massive golden barrier.
The barrier completely isolated the interior and exterior.
No one could enter.
No one could leave.
Yet they could still see what was happening beyond it.
And what they witnessed left them speechless.
Outside the barrier—
Izumi and Rika stood facing one another amidst the dimensional void.
While the power of primordial chaos spread endlessly between them.
The spectators could only stare in stunned silence.
"..."
They had expected a crisis.
Instead—
It looked like their world's ruler was in the middle of a full-scale battle with the Origin of Magic herself.