It was true—Kanzaki Rei wasn't like Izan.
He couldn't dismantle someone else's magic at a glance.
Even now, he hadn't mastered that level of perception.
But—
That didn't prevent him from countering all mages in his current state.
[God-Tier · Beacon of All Magic]
Combined with [Time Cage]—
Originally, the spell-stealing effect of Beacon of All Magic had a noticeable casting delay.
A vulnerability.
But now, paired with Time Cage—
That weakness was almost negligible.
Of course…
Under ten-thousandfold time acceleration, any attack was already incredibly difficult to defend against.
But facing an eighth-tier mage—
Kanzaki Rei chose the most reliable method.
An Zheng felt it—
An emptiness within.
The magic filling the sky had completely extinguished.
A mage without magic—
Had only one possible ending.
"You…"
Moments ago, An Zheng had been ready to fight to the death.
But now—
With all his magic gone—
His presence gradually collapsed.
"An Zheng."
"It's over."
There was a trace of regret in Kanzaki Rei's voice.
His strength remained—
But items didn't return when time was reversed.
Everything he had obtained in the Ascended Realm was no longer in his possession.
The life-extending materials—
Were also gone.
Of course…
Even if he still had them—
He wouldn't have given them to An Zheng.
This was where An Zheng's fate ended.
And Kanzaki Rei now had more than one way to kill him.
His time had already run out.
At his current strength, Kanzaki Rei could easily reduce the remaining lifespan of an eighth-tier class holder.
He couldn't instantly erase centuries or millennia—
But for someone like An Zheng, who only had a few hours left—
That difference meant nothing.
An Zheng's voice grew hollow.
"…Yeah. It's over."
"Perhaps…"
"My disciple was right all along… Maybe I underestimated him. Messe…"
He slowly closed his eyes.
And fully accepted his fate.
His body withered into decay.
There was no intense battle—
Even Izan and the others never needed to act.
"You really are strong now, Kanzaki Rei."
Izan's praise was completely unreserved.
Kanzaki Rei turned back, a faint smile on his lips—yet carrying a deeper maturity.
At dual-class level 5—
His combat power was typically not far from that of a standard level 6.
In terms of level equivalence—
Kanzaki Rei was already on the same tier as Akagi and the others.
In fact—
Because he possessed more classes—
In pure level metrics, he might even slightly surpass them.
After defeating An Zheng—
Kanzaki Rei cleaned up the body and checked his storage pouch.
…Sigh.
What a waste.
Another regret—
Was Saint One.
But in previous resets, knowing that time would loop again—
Kanzaki Rei hadn't been fixated on killing him.
Instead, he had learned quite a few things from him.
Not long after An Zheng's death—
They were originally supposed to ambush Samu, the Executor of the Death Church—
A figure wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
But because of Kanzaki Rei—
Kumironi learned the truth about Sophia.
Sophia had always been raising her—
As a vessel for possession.
It seemed the gods held Kumironi in extremely high regard.
She was, by nature—
A perfect vessel for descent.
After learning she had been manipulated—
Kumironi ultimately abandoned the plan to intercept Samu.
The Death Church was the sworn enemy of the Life Church.
And yet—
The Life Church had intended to harm her.
Kumironi wasn't a blind believer.
Once she understood the truth—
The Life Church gradually lost its place in her trust.
Even if her past experiences there hadn't been bad—
The higher-ups—
And the gods behind them—
Were no longer worthy of reverence.
Since they didn't fully understand the forces at play—
It was best not to recklessly pursue Samu.
After An Zheng's death—
Under Izan's random teleportation—
The group departed the Secret Sea.
As chaos and dazzling light faded—
When they opened their eyes—
They stood amidst towering mountain ranges.
This place—
Was the Boundless Mountains.
Completely different from the Moon Sea.
Endless mountain chains stretched to the horizon—
Green peaks, barren ridges—
Countless towns scattered across the ranges—
And roaring rivers carving paths through valleys.
There was no sea.
The Secret Sea, the Turbid Sea, the Moon Sea—
For so long, Kanzaki Rei had been dealing with oceans.
This was his first time arriving on pure land.
"Kanzaki Rei, do you have any plans for what comes next?" Izan asked calmly.
"Plans…"
"My main goal is still to find a way to stop the loop."
Although he already had a fallback method to escape the reset cycle—
The cost was too great.
Reincarnation was a last resort.
To abandon all the talents he currently possessed—
And start over from nothing—
Was not something he could accept.
He hadn't reached the resolve to discard everything—
To sever himself and claim that an ordinary body was the best path.
And in this world—
There was no such doctrine anyway.
"Then for now—stay with me and study this magic."
"Master Izan… you mean the second Forbidden Magic?"
Izan nodded.
"Yes. Time."
Kanzaki Rei nodded in return.
"…Alright."
The only person he truly trusted in magic—
Was Izan.
Compared to him—
Every other mage Kanzaki Rei knew existed on an entirely different level.
…
After arriving in the Boundless Mountains—
They settled in a town.
Master and disciple directly purchased a palace—
Within which countless arrays and symbols were constructed.
Kanzaki Rei spoke:
"Forbidden Magic is called the origin of all magic."
"I've read in ancient texts that all magic in the world evolved from the Primordial Forbidden Magic."
Over the years—
He had read extensively.
Studied countless records.
Some knowledge—
He had even heard directly from Ansu.
"It's said that in the beginning, the Source itself possessed consciousness."
"But that consciousness was rejected by the world—and split into ten Forbidden Magics."
"Each Forbidden Magic represented a different phenomenon of the Source."
"These Forbidden Magics developed self-awareness and became living beings—the first mages in the world."
"But because such powerful magic couldn't constantly manifest in reality…"
"These original mages created lower-tier magic based on their respective Forbidden Magic."
"And those spells—became the magic used by modern mages."
As Izan listened—
He used this historical framework to deduce the nature of Forbidden Magic.
History was not meaningless.
Origins were not empty stories.
Only by understanding where magic came from—
Could one truly grasp its evolution—
And its essence.
…
Several more days passed.
Izan stood within Kanzaki Rei's [Time Cage]—
Carefully sensing its intricate transformations.
"The principle behind accelerating matter's time… should be something like this."
Throughout the room—
Symbols shifted in ordered sequences.
In Izan's palm—
Hundreds of disc-like phantasms appeared.
[Sixth-Tier Time Magic: Temporal Offset Field]
Click—
Centered on Izan—
Time rippled outward like waves.
The flow of time around him became unstable—
Randomly speeding up—
Or slowing down.
Izan—
Had created the first Time Magic.
A type of magic—
That had never before existed in this era.