Within frozen time, Kanzaki Rei saw the magic circle spread across the sky—and the torrent of dead souls rising into the heavens.
There was no possibility of thinking during a battle between those two.
Once they truly began fighting,
there was no way he could keep up with their speed.
In just a few seconds, he might witness Ansu's defeat...
From Ansu's attitude, it was obvious he was no match for Iz.
The only remaining question was how long he could hold out.
And...
Even if Iz could not kill Ansu, if he chose to kill Rei alone, Ansu might not be able to protect him.
No... that shouldn't be possible!
Ansu had said that time could not be reversed, and that what had already happened in the past could not be changed.
So how could Iz kill the Rei of the past?
Wouldn't that alter history?
Wouldn't that change the past?
This was not an illusion.
This place was real.
Was this... the real future?
No. Something about it felt deeply suspicious.
Even though his heart was not beating within frozen time, facing life and death made his mind calmer than ever.
This was the World of Secret Knowledge.
Iz's magic was Time Magic.
He had dragged Rei into this world through magic.
If he truly wanted to kill him,
the safest and most effective method would have been to kill him the instant he appeared...
Rei would not even have had time to react.
And up until now,
his Final Perception had not given him the slightest warning of danger.
No magic was about to descend upon him.
Was it because Iz knew how to conceal killing intent, preventing Rei from sensing the threat?
Or...
had he never intended to attack him at all?
Think.
With the intellect of a Level 6 Cryptology Scholar, Rei sensed there was a deeper mystery hidden beneath the surface.
If this were a matter that endangered the entire world,
then if it were him, he would never give his enemy any chance to speak.
If he had already resolved himself to act—
even if he had to kill Iz Palut,
even if he had to kill his own family...
If such a day truly came,
he likely would not give them much opportunity either.
Yet Iz had given him far too many chances.
And with Iz's speed, if he wanted to cast a spell instantly, then with the mastery of a Level 9 mage, Rei might not even have time to call Ansu's name...
If Iz truly could summon someone from the past and kill them,
then why summon Rei?
Why not summon some other enemy?
Hypotheses flashed through Rei's mind one after another. Some were rejected, others confirmed.
But in the end,
all of the countless clues pointed to a single conclusion.
Iz did not truly intend to kill him.
"The past cannot be changed."
"The past is not necessarily the past. It may also be the future."
These two sentences surfaced in Rei's mind.
One was Ansu's teaching.
The other was knowledge he had learned from Future Studies.
Damn it—
I'm betting everything!
Rei gritted his teeth.
Time began to flow once more—
Pfft!
In an instant, everything before his eyes became impossible to discern.
Space, time, all concepts collapsed in a single moment.
The only thing he could still feel was that he was alive.
Blackness and dazzling brilliance intertwined in a blurred maelstrom.
A battle between Level 9 transcendents.
He could not even see it clearly...
He did not even possess the qualifications to understand or observe it.
Their speed was too great.
His reactions could not keep up.
Even the laws they wielded were beyond his comprehension.
But...
none of that mattered.
What mattered was...
Kanzaki Rei looked toward that infinitely radiant cluster of light and reached out his "hand" toward it.
Only when he made the gesture did he realize he no longer had hands.
At this very moment, his physical body was being endlessly divided, cut into tiny microscopic fragments.
Only the existence of his God-Tier talent, Absolute Body of Ten Thousand Battles, allowed him to remain alive in such a state.
At the same time, wisps of faint black mist wrapped around each of his tiny particles.
Ansu was protecting him.
At the very least, he was keeping Rei from dying.
This was nearly the absolute limit of what Ansu could do.
However...
Rei stared at the countless spells contained within those innumerable clusters of light.
So many spells.
If he could keep using Iz Palut as a living spell repository, he could comprehend hundreds of millions of spells.
But...
just thinking about it, he knew that was impossible right now.
"The Seventh Forbidden Magic—Element."
"The Third Forbidden Magic—Space."
"The Second Forbidden Magic—Time."
"The Ninth Forbidden Magic—Mind."
"The Fifth Forbidden Magic—Illusion."
Five Forbidden Magics.
Rei clenched his teeth.
If he could extract Iz's magic, he could instantly master five of the original Forbidden Magics.
But survival came first!
No matter what, he had to escape this place.
If he continued being greedy...
he would truly die.
Pfft—
The black mist exploded outward.
The surrounding space instantly returned to a dazzling display of brilliant colors.
Iz Palut's figure floated high in the sky.
Both arms spread wide.
Behind him, endless radiant colors unfolded.
Like a majestic god towering above all creation.
Below him, Ansu's body was riddled with countless holes, pierced through completely as he plummeted toward the earth.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another burst of blinding flashes.
Black mist sprayed through the sky like blood, staining the heavens with alternating swaths of darkness and color.
Although Rei could not clearly see the battle between Level 9 beings,
it was painfully obvious that this was a one-sided beating.
If he did not act now, Ansu would truly be beaten to death.
"God-Tier Talent: Lighthouse of Ten Thousand Spells."
"Extract Magic—Ninth-Tier Time Magic: Historical Extraction."
At that moment,
Kanzaki Rei finally found the spell he had been searching for.
Even with what was essentially an infinite sea of magic, locating the specific spell he wanted was no easy task.
Who could have imagined that directly extracting magic from a person would take so much time?
Usually, when examining others, a single glance was enough.
Now, he ripped it away in one decisive motion!
Rei ignored whether he would be discovered or anything else.
He simply extracted it at that instant.
Bzz—
Almost simultaneously, Rei felt black and multicolored brilliance collide before him.
Boom!
In that very moment, Iz had attempted to attack him.
But the heavily wounded Ansu blocked the strike.
Whoosh—
A hazy sensation washed over Rei's body.
His form gradually became translucent.
Iz Palut lowered his hands and silently looked at Rei, whose body had already regenerated completely.
He said nothing.
Because the spell had already been taken from him.
Iz had forgotten the spell.
And a forgotten spell could not be cast.
As a result, Rei was being returned to his original era.
So this really was how it worked.
Iz... I guessed correctly.
As Kanzaki Rei prepared to depart, Iz raised his hand once more.
His staff began to glow.
"God-Tier Talent: Lighthouse of Ten Thousand Spells" remained active, allowing Rei to see what spell Iz was using.
"The Seventh Forbidden Magic—Element."
It seemed...
there was still a little time left.
Rei raised his hand toward Iz once again.
A brilliant beam of light flowed smoothly back into his body.
The spell Iz had just cast was dispelled as well, stolen by Rei in the same instant.
Whoosh—
In the next moment,
Kanzaki Rei and Ansu both vanished from this world.
Fifth update...
Looks like it'll be past midnight.