Whoosh!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
At first, Kanzaki Rei assumed the opponent was using something like a teleportation skill.
But after observing several times, he realized—
The opponent's movement didn't seem to follow the spatial rules of the physical world at all.
Free Void?
However, Rei expanded his shields outward around himself. The creature was unable to break through them to approach.
It seemed it couldn't directly pass through solid matter.
Whoosh!
Tunye appeared beside Rei once again.
But the moment it manifested, it was immediately greeted by the double combo of Instant Thunder Break and Instant White Flash.
Immediately after that came Wind Burst and an eruption of various repulsion spells!
It couldn't get close.
It couldn't even launch an attack…
What kind of mage can simultaneously unleash nine types—thirty-six repulsion spells—in a single instant?
Once someone was struck by his repulsion magic, they practically felt like they were being blasted all the way to the horizon in one breath.
Rei spoke.
"Why can you keep blinking around like that?"
Tunye replied,
"What are those spells you're casting? Why can you release so many at the same time?"
Rei had no intention of answering an enemy's questions.
Especially not an alien race. Who knew what it might do if it learned his trump cards?
Rei said calmly,
"You answer first."
Tunye sneered.
"Heh. Don't even know about the Void…? No comment."
So it was related to the Void.
Since it refused to explain, Rei had no way to press further.
It kept blinking around.
The battle arena was roughly a circular space about five kilometers in diameter.
Instant White Flash had already hit it many times, but the effect didn't seem particularly strong…
Rare to encounter an enemy of the same level who can take so many of my spells and still live.
Alien races really are strange.
Yet in Tunye's eyes—
Rei was far more bizarre.
Every single spell he cast was something Tunye had never seen or even heard of.
Hundreds of spells released simultaneously.
And all of them completely unfamiliar.
Is my knowledge of magic really that lacking? I can't recognize a single one?
Shock-Resonance Thunderfield (Tier 4) (LV:301)
BOOM!
Suddenly, Tunye's body convulsed violently!
Its mouth opened as it spat out a mouthful of black blood.
A fourth-tier spell?
What is going on? Aren't we fighting in a Level 3 bracket?!
The difference between Tier 3 and Tier 4 magic was enormous.
Spell structure, mana fluctuations—everything was fundamentally different.
The distinction was obvious.
Like basic addition and subtraction—no matter how complicated, it still belonged to elementary math.
But once quadratic equations appeared, you knew immediately it wasn't elementary anymore.
That was the gap between Tier 3 and Tier 4 magic.
Rei's Tier-3 spells were different from ordinary ones, but they were still essentially massive chains of addition.
Complex—but still within Tier 3.
Yet suddenly—
Rei threw out a Tier-4 spell.
And not just any Tier-4 spell.
An extremely complex version of it.
How could Tunye not be shocked?
And immediately after the Thunderfield—
Rei cast another Tier-4 spell.
Dayfall Zenith (Tier 4) (LV:301)—Burn Darkness—Deny Darkness—Light Element Abundance—Light Damage Amplification—Darkness Weakening—Purification—Grandeur—Persistence—Blazing Radiance—Illumination Across Multiple Spatial Layers—Sacred Flame
Whoosh!
In an instant, the entire arena brightened like broad daylight.
A radiant sphere ascended into the sky—hanging high like a miniature sun.
The evolved form of Daylight Spell.
Another Tier-4 spell?!
Fwoosh!
White flames ignited across Tunye's body almost instantly.
Whoosh—
Four streaks of light pierced through its body again.
Pain!
Tunye tumbled through the air.
Its body flickered through space like a corrupted film reel—jumping and stuttering between positions.
Rei had never once seen it take a complete step.
Even its rolling movements were strangely fragmented.
Whoosh!
Shing shing shing shing shing—
While it rolled through space, Instant White Flash struck dozens more times.
Each beam pierced its body.
Especially its eye.
That looked like the most obvious weak point.
As for why Rei had cast Dayfall Zenith—
He simply thought:
The guy's completely black. Maybe light magic counters it.
So he cast it.
Spells were essentially free anyway.
He might as well cast them one by one and familiarize himself with their properties.
Dumping everything out at once in real combat wasn't a good way to learn them.
And apparently—
The spell worked surprisingly well.
Tunye struggled to survive, but under this one-sided assault it couldn't last long.
After the chain of Instant White Flash attacks, its internal structure was already completely wrecked—riddled with holes.
Its injuries seemed to regenerate continuously.
Unfortunately, the regeneration speed was nowhere near as fast as Rei's attack speed.
But the feedback from hitting it was minimal.
Rei couldn't even tell how badly it was injured or what kind of damage it had taken.
So he simply kept attacking.
Until it died.
At the same time, he used the opportunity to familiarize himself with his other newly learned Tier-4 spells.
Before he could even determine its condition—
A system notification appeared in his mind.
[Victor: Kanzaki Rei]
"…Huh?"
"Dead already?"
The corpse lay collapsed in the distance.
Before dying, it had taken 185 hits of Instant White Flash.
And several Tier-4 spells as well.
Most of his other spells simply weren't fast enough.
It moved too quickly.
Only instant-cast spells could reliably chase it down.
Otherwise, with all its dodging and weaving, slower spells couldn't catch it.
Right now, his spells still couldn't blanket the entire battlefield.
But Tier-4 spells—
Those were already arena-scale.
It couldn't escape them.
They simply covered massive portions of the field.
Both of those Tier-4 spells had been learned just moments ago.
In truth, chanting wasn't required to learn spells.
Reading a few pages of a magic book carefully was enough to master them without casting.
He hadn't even used Origin Magic during the fight.
It had practically been a game.
"I thought I'd finally met a real opponent."
This was the first time Rei had faced someone with a title.
Yet that opponent hadn't even touched him once.
A faint sense of loneliness crept in.
After more than 300 battles, he still hadn't had a single satisfying fight.
Is invincibility really this lonely?
"…Next match."
[Match Found]
[Opponent: Abikyu]
A small yellow rodent crackling with electricity appeared in front of him.
It had no title.
"Pika pika—"
Oh.
It couldn't even speak human language.
[Countdown — 1]
Instant White Flash
Crackle—
Four beams of light pierced straight through it.
Instant kill.
Hmm.
Looks like Instant White Flash failing to kill someone was just an exception.
Rei had almost thought his magic had become weak after fighting Tunye.
After all, it was Tier 3 LV:301 magic.
Apparently that creature just had some bizarre resistance.
[Match Found]
The next opponent was a muscular humanoid creature with a boar's head, wielding two serrated long blades.
…
After more than thirty consecutive battles, only one opponent had been human.
The other twenty-nine had all been alien races.
Which made Rei realize something.
There were an incredible number of races in this world.
In the City Within the Circle, nearly everyone he saw was human.
So where were all these alien races living?
And they all had access to combat arenas.
They could speak, clearly possessed intelligence, and could communicate.
The more he thought about it—
The larger this world seemed.
Terrifyingly large.
Out of the thirty opponents, three had titles.
But none of them were his match.
All of them had been completely dominated.
Apparently titles also varied in strength.
If that were the case—
Rei was probably among the strongest title-holders, while those three belonged to the weaker tier.
His confidence gradually grew.
Perhaps even a little too much.
Rei had to deliberately remind himself to stay humble.
There might always be someone stronger beyond the horizon.
He was only slightly invincible, after all.
Even though—
He hadn't used the Death Priest's trump card yet.
He hadn't obtained the strongest staff on the continent yet.
He hadn't practiced the new mana amplification technique yet.
He had only recently reached Level 3.
And he had already beaten these titled alien elites flat.
Still.
Humility was important.
Fighting these alien races had given him quite a few new ideas.
During the process—
Rei casually created two new spells.
Magma Rising Earth Dragon (Tier 4) (LV:301)Shadowweave Net (Tier 4) (LV:301)
The spells were originally designed as Tier-3 magic.
But once completed—
They automatically became Tier-4.
Right.
God-Tier: Ascension applied even to newly created spells.
…
Normally speaking—
A Level-3 mage casting Tier-4 magic was already a dimensionality-breaking advantage.
Let alone casting Transcendent Tier-4 magic.
Or even Origin-Transcendent Magic.
340 consecutive victories…
350 consecutive victories…
His ranking soared upward.
After fifty matches—
He had already become Rank #2 among Level-3 competitors in the City Within the Circle.
Upon reaching Level 3, his points had been reset.
But the multiplier coefficient had not.
And the points earned from each win were still calculated based on his current win streak.
"These alien spells are pretty interesting…"
"Too bad I can't learn them."
The alien mages matched against him were already using chantless casting or abbreviated incantations.
There was no way to steal their spells.
If he could hear a full incantation—
He might be able to learn them.
Rei suddenly remembered the technique used by Iz.
Could I learn that kind of spell-copying trick too?
But he had never asked.
It felt like a private secret.
Just like how Iz and the others never asked about his multiple God-Tier talents.
Everyone involved was already a famous powerhouse.
Having personal secrets was normal.
An unspoken understanding.
When fighting humans before, he rarely saw new or interesting spells.
But fighting these alien races—
He constantly found himself wondering:
What spell is that?
What about that one?
Those spells look so useful.
If I could learn them and then ascend them… how strong would they become?
The idea of learning spells simply by observing them made Rei's fingers itch.
399 consecutive victories…
[Match Found]
The opponent that appeared looked almost identical to Tunye.
[Origin Mage: Xuzhou]
Origin Mage?
This was the first time Rei had encountered a third Origin Mage, besides himself and Iz.
Xuzhou looked up at the opponent's name.
[Origin Mage: Kanzaki Rei]
[Countdown — 3]
"So I finally ran into you."
"Tunye just lost to you, didn't it?"
Rei could tell they were likely from the same race.
But to him the difference was minimal—
One had purple-veined eyes, the other blue-veined eyes.
Hair slightly longer or shorter.
That was about it.
"Yes."
"Heh. It said it encountered a very powerful human Origin Mage."
"And that even if it were me, I probably wouldn't beat you."
"Tunye is the most talented genius of our tribe. It's second only to me."
"And yet you made it give you such praise."
Second only to me.
That line sounded oddly familiar.
And if it's second to you—
Why call it the most outstanding genius?
Isn't it still second?
[Countdown — 2]
Rei asked,
"Are you the strongest Level-3 in your race?"
"Probably not. But I'm not far from it."
"Alright."
[Countdown — 1]
Whoosh!
The first thing Rei did—
Was deploy fifty-six layers of shields.
After all these battles, he had learned all the Tier-3 defensive spells.
More shields had naturally been added.
At the same moment—
Xuzhou raised its hand.
A dark shield enveloped its body.
But before the shield fully formed—
White light pierced straight through it.
Whoosh—
So fast!
Tunye had already warned it about the flashes.
Xuzhou had prepared itself carefully.
But the speed was still terrifying.
No-Chant: Void Spike (Tier 3) (LV:50)
Whoosh!
Rei suddenly sensed black crystalline spikes erupting inside his shields.
Clang!
Origin · True Protection Barrier instantly sealed around his body!
Clang clang clang clang—
The spikes shattered upon striking the new barrier.
What a strange spell.
It attacks from inside the shield.
At the same time as that attack—
The sky itself became tangled with countless black webs.
Rei unfolded his own spell.
Shadowweave Net (Tier 4) (LV:301)
Whoosh!
Xuzhou could also blink around.
But clearly—
Not nearly as freely as Tunye.
BOOM!
Rei's hundreds of spells crashed down like a tsunami.
Damn…
Xuzhou looked up at the sky full of magic.
And the blazing artificial sun above.
Shock flooded its mind.
Right now—
The most it could do was cast three spells simultaneously.
That alone had required tremendous training.
So how—
How was this human unleashing an entire storm of magic?
"Impressive…" it murmured in awe.
"But so what?!"
It raised its hand toward the incoming spells.
POP!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
In that instant—
More than a dozen extremely fast spells pierced through its body.
Unlike Tunye, Xuzhou wasn't fast enough to dodge all of Rei's attacks.
Against Tunye, only Instant White Flash could reliably hit.
Against Xuzhou—
Many more spells could keep up.
Yet its body merely trembled slightly.
Origin · Void Devour (Tier 3)
Whoosh!
A spinning hollow suddenly appeared in midair.
The void swept across the battlefield—
And instantly swallowed massive numbers of Rei's spells.
Nothing came back out.
And after devouring the spells—
The void grew larger.
Origin Magic.
No wonder it was powerful.
Rei, who had personally conceived Origin Magic himself, understood better than anyone how difficult it was.
Breaking the rules of reality.
Rewriting the laws of the world.
An Origin Magic that devours spells…
Its core concept must be an all-consuming void.
Witnessing someone's Origin Magic was like witnessing their very thoughts.
Can't let it devour them.
Rei immediately canceled the spells flying toward it.
Then—
A speck of multicolored light formed at the tip of his finger.
Origin · Ten Thousand Spells
Whoosh!
The tiny light split into four spinning prismatic voids.
Originized · Void Devour
Xuzhou's pupils shrank.
What is that?!
This human—
Had copied its Origin Magic!
Origin Magic could not be learned by others.
That was common knowledge among all mages.
So how was someone else using it?!
Rei gazed calmly at the floating Xuzhou.
Origin · Ten Thousand Spells allowed him to replicate any same-tier spell currently being cast.
A Tier-3 Origin · Ten Thousand Spells could replicate other Tier-3 Origin Magic.
And compared to the Tier-2 version—
This Tier-3 version could permanently memorize two spells it had copied.
Xuzhou's Origin Magic had already been recorded.
And under quadruple casting—
Rei could produce up to sixteen Originized Void Devours.
However—
He didn't send the four copies toward the enemy.
Instead, he made them orbit around himself.
Fighting mages always brought him pleasant surprises.
Rei wanted to learn more from this opponent.
Ending the fight too quickly would be a waste.
Unfortunately, imitation wasn't the same as mastery.
If only he could convert it into a spell he could freely use.
Xuzhou's expression was filled with shock.
What kind of Origin has this human comprehended?
But Rei ignored its reaction.
He pointed his staff forward.
Shock-Resonance Thunderfield (Tier 4) (LV:301)
BOOM!
Soundwaves rippled outward, wrapped in lightning.
At the moment the shockwave struck—
Thunder detonated directly inside Xuzhou's body!
And immediately afterward—
A powerful mental attack followed.
Mind Sever (Tier 4) (LV:301)
BANG—
Xuzhou's pupils constricted violently.
Its mind exploded with shock.
When it regained awareness—
Its expanding void had already dissipated.
Mental magic?!
I got hit? With my mental resistance?
No… this is Tier-4 mental magic!
And once again—
Not an ordinary Tier-4 spell.
This human…
Were those hundreds of spells earlier just probing attacks?
Tunye hadn't been exaggerating.
This human truly could wield multiple Tier-4 spells at Level 3.
Unfathomable.
Shock after shock rolled through Xuzhou's mind.
Meanwhile—
Rei's own thoughts were filled with admiration.
Soundwave attacks are useful.
Mental attacks are really useful.
Origin Magic is amazing.
New spells are fascinating!
Rei also layered four Tier-4 mental shields over himself to prevent a surprise psychic attack.
Amid constant dodging, Xuzhou attempted counterattacks.
Black chains manifested from thin air in all directions, piercing toward Rei.
No-Chant: Bone-Piercing Black Chains (Tier 3) (LV:22)
Yet the chains couldn't even approach Rei.
Before touching him—
They were repelled by the outermost water shield.
Meanwhile—
Xuzhou in the sky was battered from all directions by spells appearing around it.
Its body jerked violently as black fluid sprayed outward.
This race was surprisingly hard to kill.