Lilith burst out laughing, waving a hand dismissively. "No, no, I'm just kidding! I'm actually Level 81. Come on, let's go."
Gelli narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. "Even so... I am sitting at Level 90. That puts you below my level, Lilith. If you step into that chaos with me, you're just going to get in my way."
"I don't think so," Haruto muttered, raising an eyebrow.
Lilith shot Haruto a warm, confident smile, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
Gelli let out a defeated sigh, shaking her head. "Fine, whatever. Get in the magic circle with me." She turned to Lilith. "Layer teleportation protocol, right?"
"Yep. Stop stalling and fire it up," Lilith replied smoothly.
With a bright flash of golden and blue light, Gelli activated the transport grid. As the magical energy swirled around them, Gelli and Lilith looked back at Haruto, offering a quick wave and a parting smile. "Bye-bye, Haruto! Take care of yourself while we're gone!"
Before Haruto could even say goodbye, the brilliant pillar of light flared up, and the two of them vanished into thin air, leaving the apartment completely silent.
Haruto stood alone in the quiet hallway for a moment, blinking at the empty space. Then, a slow grin spread across his face as he turned back toward the living room.
Well, he thought, walking over to the couch with a relaxed shrug, Lilith is basically Level 99 anyway. She can definitely handle herself.
He picked up a controller, smiling to himself. Might as well kick back and play some games while they're gone.
As their eyes adjusted to the blinding white light, Lilith and Gelli found themselves standing in the middle of a massive, frozen jungle covered in thick, crystalline snow. The air was biting cold, and the horizon stretched out into an endless expanse of ice.
Lilith shivered slightly, pulling her cloak tighter. "Okay... so now what? Layer 80 is massive. They could be anywhere in this wasteland."
Gelli didn't look worried. She reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out two distinct bundles of hair—one vibrant, mossy green and the other a striking, electric yellow.
Lilith's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I see. You're going to use those to track them? That's some high-level magic concentration... I didn't realize you were a skilled mage, Gelli."
Gelli smirked, her confidence returning. "I'm Level 90, Lilith. It takes more than just a little power to get to where I am."
She carefully plucked a single strand from each bundle. She had clearly prepared for this—she had collected these samples long ago, anticipating exactly this kind of day. With a fluid motion, Gelli traced a complex magic circle into the snow, the ground humming with golden energy. She placed the hairs into the center of the sigil, and instantly, a glowing portal opened up, swirling with the exact magical signatures of their targets.
"Come on," Gelli commanded, stepping into the light. "We're going in."
As the blinding light faded, Lilith and Gelli stepped out of the portal and instantly found themselves in the middle of a chaotic wasteland. The area was littered with massive piles of futuristic debris and scrap, flanked by colossal, glowing blue fire billowing thick clouds of heavy smoke into the freezing air.
Right in front of them lay two heavily armored figures, both battered and bruised from a brutal clash.
Lilith and Gelli gasped, staring at the wreckage.
One of the armored figures pushed herself up slightly, wincing in pain. It was Daisy. She narrowed her eyes at the newcomers, her voice laced with exhaustion and confusion. "What are you guys even doing here? Wait... is that Gelli?!"
Before Daisy could fully catch her breath, Philo dropped down from a towering scrap pile nearby. With a casual flick of her wrist, she dismissed her heavy weapon spirit, letting it dissolve into particles of light. A cold, sardonic smile touched her lips. "Well, look who it is. Gelli. Are you here to watch the two of us finally finish each other off?"
Lilith's eyes darted quickly between the two of them. She noticed immediately that while Daisy was heavily injured and struggling to stand, Philo was completely untouched, standing tall without a single scratch on her armor.
Gelli raised her hands defensively, offering a strained, nervous smile. "Hey, hey... take it easy, friends!"
Philo's expression hardened instantly, her eyes flashing with cold hostility. "Don't call us friends."
Daisy threw her hands up, stepping back defensively. "Gelli, just drop it! And why did you even have to drag Lilith into this mess?!"
Lilith burst out laughing, stepping forward as if she were walking into a casual social club rather than a lethal battleground. "Oh, come on, you two are acting like a couple of bad girls. You shouldn't be fighting like this! Come on, let's all just head home and exchange some proper apologies over tea."
"Wait, Lilith, what on earth are you doing?!" Gelli hissed, waving her arms in panic. "Have you lost your mind?!"
Philo didn't even blink. With a cold, calculated expression, she raised her hand, summoning a razor-sharp, glowing knife out of thin air.
Daisy immediately pushed herself up, throwing her body into a desperate dodge and shouting, "Stop right there!"
"Stay out of this, Gelli. Keep her out of my way," Philo murmured, her eyes locked onto Lilith.
Before anyone could react, a blinding flash of spatial light enveloped Philo and Daisy, instantly teleporting them straight up into the upper atmosphere to continue their brutal duel away from the others.
High above the frozen wasteland, in the biting winds of the upper atmosphere, Philo and Daisy clashed with terrifying ferocity. The sky roared with the deafening shockwaves of their weapons, sword clashing against sword in blinding bursts of light and kinetic energy that tore the surrounding clouds apart and pulverized the floating debris below them.
Down in the snow, Gelli flinched every time a fresh shockwave reverberated through the air, shielding her face with her arms. She turned frantically to Lilith, her voice trembling. "Lilith! Don't just stand there! Stay close to me, I'll protect you—"
Lilith simply smiled, her expression entirely unbothered as she brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. She looked up at the raging battlefield in the sky with casual amusement.
"Relax, Gelli," Lilith said smoothly, a confident glint in her eyes. "Let them blow off some steam and fight it out for a little bit. Once they're totally exhausted, they'll just sit down and quit on their own."
Gelli let out an anxious breath, shaking her head. "Your funeral if you want to wait, but I have to stop them right now!"
She thrust her hands upward, chanting an incantation under her breath. Instantly, a massive, glowing golden magic circle expanded across the landscape, radiating a blinding wave of suppression energy designed to freeze everything in its path.
Before Lilith could react, thick, unnatural layers of permafrost surged upward, encasing the entire area—including Lilith and Gelli themselves—in a dense block of ice.
Lilith blinked, finding her movements completely restricted. But with a casual flick of her wrist, she generated a sharp burst of friction-heat from her fingertips, shattering the heavy ice surrounding her in an instant.
Gelli's eyes went wide with sheer disbelief as she stared at her. "How did you...?" she gasped, stammering. "This isn't ordinary ice! It's a high-tier suppression seal! Breaking out of this requires a raw power output way above Level 90!"
Gelli slapped a hand to her forehead, groaning internally. She thought because she had been so entirely focused on maintaining the complex seal to catch Philo and Daisy, she had completely losen the magic at the lilith side.
Before Gelli could even recover from her shock, Philo shattered the surrounding ice with a single, brutal movement. She glared down at them, her eyes cold as winter. "You're a massive headache," Philo spat, raising her weapon and firing a single, high-velocity gunshot.
The projectile tore straight through Gelli's barrier like it was made of paper. Gelli let out a choked cry as the shot pierced through her midsection, leaving a gaping wound that began to bleed rapidly.
"You're only good for playing shopkeeper," Philo sneered, her voice devoid of empathy. "Gelli, you don't have a single real combat skill, do you?"
Daisy, trapped by the residual ice, couldn't move to help. Gelli collapsed onto the frozen ground, her vision blurring. Suddenly, Lilith was there, kneeling beside her and channeling a soft, warm light into the wound to seal it. Once Gelli was stabilized, Lilith stood back up and began observing the battle with a sharp, analytical gaze.
Gelli looked up, confused by Lilith's sudden calm.
At that moment, Philo launched a devastating strike at the trapped Daisy, who hit the ground with a bone-jarring impact.
"Daisy isn't above Level 90, but Philo is," Lilith explained coldly, her eyes fixed on the combatants. "Your ice seal was designed to suppress everything up to Level 90, which is why Daisy is stuck—she can't break through it. But Philo is stronger than your limit, so she just shattered it. By using that spell, you didn't trap them; you just locked Daisy in place and gave Philo the perfect advantage to finish her off."
Realizing her mistake, Gelli's face paled further. She hurriedly began dispelling her own magic circle, the golden light fading as she rushed to channel her remaining energy into healing Daisy before Philo could land another blow.
Daisy staggered to her feet, wheezing from the impact, but Philo's attention had already shifted. Her cold gaze locked onto Lilith, who was still busy channeling healing energy into Gelli.
"Now, let's deal with this Princess," Philo muttered, her finger tightening on the trigger of her weapon. She fired a lethal energy round directly at Lilith.
"Watch out!" Gelli screamed, throwing her body in front of Lilith just in time. The shot slammed into Gelli instead, sending her sprawling across the frozen ground.
Lilith stared down at Gelli, stunned. "You idiot... why did you jump in front of that?"
Gelli coughed, blood staining her lips, but she managed a weak, pained smile. "I told you... I'm going to protect you."
Lilith felt a strange, rare pang in her chest. How can such a kind soul even exist in a world like this? She shook the thought away, her expression hardening.
"I'm taking over from here," Lilith said, her voice dropping an octave as she stood up.
Gelli grabbed her hand, her voice barely a whisper. "Lilith, don't... you're not even Level 90, how are you going to handle her?!"
Lilith looked back at her with a calm, chilling intensity. "I think it's time I take back what I said earlier." She let out a sharp sigh and turned to face Philo, her aura flaring violently.
Philo narrowed her eyes, leveling her weapon again. "Enough talk. Gelli is going to die today, and you're next!"
Lilith glanced down at Gelli, who was barely managing to stay on her feet after taking two brutal hits, and then at Daisy, who was struggling for breath against the freezing ground.
Philo lowered her weapon slightly, a chilling, cruel smirk twisting her lips. "Don't worry, I'll finish these two off first. Then, once they're gone... I'm coming for you and Haruto. I'll rip his powers right out of him, too."
The moment those words left Philo's mouth, the heavy, frigid atmosphere in the upper atmosphere suddenly plunged into absolute, suffocating silence.
From right beside Philo, her weapon spirit, Zero, materialized out of thin air, its robotic eyes flashing in panic. "Master! What are you saying in your rage?! You just openly admitted to everything—we were supposed to keep that a secret!"
Before Philo could snap back at her weapon spirit, a blinding, overwhelming shockwave of energy sent a tremor through the ice.
Philo's breath caught in her throat as she slowly turned her head.
Radiating from Lilith's body was a dense, terrifying torrent of violent pink aura. It wasn't just a glow—it was a crushing, reality-warping pressure that instantly dyed the entire white wasteland, stretching as far as the eye could see, into a suffocating, blood-tinted pink.
A cold wave of absolute horror washed over Philo. In that single, dreadful second, she finally realized the fatal mistake she had just made.
She had pushed the wrong person too far.
Lilith slowly bowed her head, her bangs casting a heavy shadow over her face. When she lifted her chin again, the expression revealed beneath sent a bone-chilling shiver down everyone's spine—a horrific, unnatural smile, with one of her eyes glowing a sharp, piercing pink.
With a casual flick of her wrist, she raised her hand and brought it down in a slow, sweeping motion.
Instantly, the surrounding air grew dense and suffocating. A massive wave of gravitational pressure slammed into the area, causing Gelli, Daisy, and Philo to gasp aloud, their lungs burning as they clawed desperately for oxygen just to take a single breath.
Gelli dropped to her knees, coughing violently. She stared up at Lilith in pure terror. "Wait... you're only Level 81! How is this even possible?! You aren't just a regular god's reincarnation... your authority completely surpasses them all!"
Beside her, Philo's knees buckled, forcing her down onto the frozen ground.
Lilith raised her palm further, chanting a spell under her breath. The fabric of reality itself began to bend and warp around them, screaming under the immense strain. Philo could feel her mind and body breaking—the atmospheric weight of Layer 80 couldn't even handle Lilith's true power, causing the space around them to fracture and splinter like glass.
Zero materialized beside Philo, desperately trying to hold its form as it slammed into the ground under the crushing gravity.
Gritting her teeth through the excruciating pain, Philo forced herself up onto one hand, casting a furious glare toward Lilith. With a desperate burst of adrenaline, she snatched up her sword to defend herself, frantically layering more than a hundred high-tier barriers in front of her in a last-ditch effort to survive.
In just a single second, Lilith completely vanished from sight.
Before Philo could even blink, Lilith materialized directly behind her. With a mere flick of her finger, all one hundred of Philo's high-tier barriers shattered instantly like fragile glass, and her sword dissolved into fine sand particles, blowing away in the freezing wind.
Panic-stricken, Philo whipped around to retaliate, but the moment she tried to strike, Lilith sent her flying backward across the wasteland with a casual wave of her hand.
As Philo struggled to regain her footing, she looked up and watched in absolute horror as Lilith casually walked forward. Every single step Lilith took caused the very fabric of space behind her to fracture, collapse, and disintegrate into nothingness.
Philo gasped, her eyes widening in despair as she looked down at her hands—they were already shattering into a hundred pieces, and her head was beginning to dissolve.
Realizing she was out of time and facing total erasure, Philo's instincts kicked in. She reached deep into her memories, activating a forbidden temporal power she had stolen long ago.
Time Reversal.
A flash of blinding chronological light engulfed the area, dragging time backward by twenty exact seconds. The shattering space mended itself, Philo's body restored piece by piece as time rewound.
When the temporal shockwave finally faded, Philo found herself jolted back into reality, collapsing hard onto her knees in the snow, gasping desperately for breath as she clawed at the frozen ground.