The sea of fire and the mushroom cloud became Rutosa's dramatic backdrop. The once-green mountains had been reduced to ashes, their peaks crumbling under the devastation. The sky had turned a deep, bloody red, filled with thick clouds of dust.
At that moment, a single sentence flashed through Satoru's mind.
"(I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.)"
It wasn't exactly wrong. Rutosa was a true planet destroyer. Even without getting serious, he could destroy the very planet beneath his feet at any time.
However, the Gods of the Warp were still far beyond his level. They were genuine multiversal beings capable of destroying entire universes.
Even the infinite cursed energy Rutosa used originated from them.
That was why he felt so helpless against such opponents.
"Is this… something that a carbon-based human can really do…?"
Staring at the apocalyptic scene, Satoru swallowed thickly. Cold sweat rolled down her forehead as she struggled to believe what she was seeing.
Special Grade Sorcerer was the rank given to those powerful enough to overwhelm entire countries. However, Satoru believed there should be another rank above Special Grade — for those whose power could threaten all of humanity.
Her gaze slowly turned toward Rutosa.
Yet, along with this terrifying display of power came an unparalleled yearning for that same firepower.
Humans were simple creatures who worshipped strength and power above all else.
She began to replay the scene of Rutosa holding the gravity bow and light arrow just moments ago. A clear picture formed in her mind.
"(The most important thing is the gravity bow.)"
The light arrow was nothing more than ammunition. With her Six Eyes, she instantly understood that Blue itself wasn't particularly important for the arrow. She could use almost anything as ammunition — rocks, bricks, or even stars if she had the power to do so.
Cursed tool arrows were also possible, though they would be far too expensive and less practical than ordinary objects or cursed techniques.
"(No. The important thing isn't the bow… it's the gravity itself!)"
Most people might not have seen anything special from that single demonstration. But her Six Eyes gave her a massive advantage, allowing her to clearly see the underlying mechanics.
"(The gravity isn't just being used for a warp drive that contracts space in front and expands it behind.)"
In physics, causality is the rule that a cause must always come before its effect. For example, when a person trips, the effect of falling follows.
However, the universe is not fixed. Many different effects could potentially occur.
For example, when a person trips on the sidewalk, the most obvious effect is that they fall forward. But many other outcomes are possible: they might catch themselves in time, grab onto a nearby railing, get caught by a passing stranger, or even fall and hit their head on the pavement, resulting in injury.
Each of these possibilities represents a different "effect" branching out from the same initial cause.
But what Satoru saw was completely different.
The moment the light arrow was nocked on the gravity bow, she could see that all possibilities of the arrow missing its target had been completely erased.
"(So the gravity warped spacetime so severely that every possible path led only to the target? Is this the true reason behind the causality distortion?)"
Black holes worked in a similar way. Once something crossed the event horizon, the black hole's gravity warped spacetime so extremely that all paths led inward toward the singularity. That allowed path was known as the light cone — the only possible path one could take.
The gravity created by the gravity bow functioned the same way. That was why the effect of "always hitting the target" was fixed. The target would inevitably be struck.
"(This is only for arrows at or below the speed of light.)"
For faster-than-light arrows, the effect would precede the cause, completely breaking causality. That meant even before the arrow was fired, before Rutosa released the bowstring or even nocked the arrow, the result of being hit was already determined.
The light arrow would arrive in the past, present, and future simultaneously.
"(This is completely deadlocked…)"
Except for sorcerers with extremely special cursed techniques, Satoru couldn't imagine any way to break this deadlock. Even then, surviving an attack that struck from the past, present, and future at the same time would be nothing short of a miracle.
"(Other than a Limitless user, I can't imagine anyone being able to defend against or even avoid this attack.)"
Perhaps users of other fundamental forces could manage it. But who in this world could actually control the fundamental forces of the universe?
From her knowledge, even Special Grade cursed spirits that could control electromagnetic force were limited to shooting lightning and similar attacks.
Living sorcerers were even worse off. In this era, almost no one had an innate technique related to lightning, and none of them had reached Grade 1 — which required slaying a Special Grade cursed spirit.
"(Are there any other ways?)"
Satoru had heard of someone whose cursed technique could increase weight or mass, but she knew almost nothing beyond that. They probably couldn't defend against this kind of attack either.
Therefore, in this current era, only two people could both use and defend against this technique.
It might sound arrogant, but she didn't feel there was anything wrong with thinking this way.
After all, she was the strongest.