Cloney finished drawing the magic circle on the floor and stepped into the center. She closed her eyes.
A bluish light emanated softly from the magic circle.
“…No reaction.”
Cloney sighed deeply.
If the magic she had just activated interacted properly, there should have been a reaction from the mana heart swirling around her heart, and blue light should be flickering around her body.
Because that’s how that spell works.
[Mana Source Search].
It was rare for the caster’s mana heart and the magic circle not to interact after casting [Mana Source Search].
The only exceptions were falling into illusions, confusion, hypnosis, or similar curses.
Cloney pressed her temple firmly and slumped into her chair.
Ever since she had cast the spell, one certainty had already formed in her mind.
“…This isn’t reality.”
With that thought, Cloney opened her eyes wide and scanned her research lab.
In the case of illusion or hallucination-type magic, there would usually be subtle cracks and distortions that might provide a hint.
But in this mysterious world, those cracks were nowhere to be seen.
Still, Cloney didn’t question her initial doubt. This place was undoubtedly a wrong space. Cloney was sure of it.
“I need to find the contradictions.”
Cloney cleared away all the papers and materials related to her research on [Time Reversal] and placed a blank sheet of white paper neatly on her desk.
She began to write on that paper.
“I need to reverse-engineer this.”
Where does the ‘twisted part’ begin?
She had to grasp clear evidence that this world was fake.
In Cloney’s mind, her thoughts raced forward quickly.
She needed to abandon the shortsighted view that only focused on the present situation.
Cloney listed not only the current circumstances but also the past situations.
“I need to focus on the point where the contradictions are most evident.”
Clear errors.
Or something close to errors.
There was one part that she suspected might be an error.
Square…
Cloney wrote a sentence in the center of the blank page.
[Duke Yuma's Death]
“This is… a blatant error.”
She had become so absorbed in the fact that Yuma was dead that she had missed the point she should have questioned.
Cloney circled that sentence and began jotting down branches beside it.
Those branches filled the empty spaces with numerous sentences.
Is it really true that Yuma is dead?
Is this really the case?
That’s where the question had to begin.
Cloney was finally able to delve deeper into her own memories.
There were no clear memories.
Just remnants of a scene where the God Barbatos pierced Duke Yuma’s upper body with his fist.
Not a single piece of information about the precise circumstances leading to death remained.
Cloney thought deeply.
Very deeply.
“If this world is a curse in the form of a nightmare….”
Lost in deep contemplation, Cloney unintentionally approached the truth quickly.
“There must be something that acts as a key to break the curse.”
Cloney reached that conclusion.
If it’s an illusion magic, there must be a point to shatter that illusion.
If it’s a spell, there will be some peculiar points belonging to `<解除>`.
I knew that just ‘recognizing’ this world as fake also implies the existence of magic or spells that can cause a解除.
However, the fact that she realized this world was real but did not collapse meant that there existed a key point capable of dismantling this world.
Cloney first blew away any thoughts of `
If this is a curse and a nightmare, regression would be poison.
And upon clearing her head, she realized that just having thought of ‘regression’ was itself too contradictory.
“… Regression is just a delusional escape.”
A mage.
To think that someone like her, known as a being that infinitely explores knowledge, could get lost in such a delusional circuit—her pride had been crushed beyond recognition.
Cloney pressed down on the paper with her fountain pen.
“Barbatos.”
If this world itself is false, then the author of killing Yuma could very well be an illusion.
Cloney murmured softly.
“First, I need to kill this guy and then think about it.”
Her gaze, once dark like a dead person’s, sharpened with light.
*
The God of [Nullity] looked upon the deities shouting in anger at him.
“What exactly are we supposed to do, Nullity?”
The white-haired god, Eltnis, sitting on a gigantic throne, spoke to the gods looking at him with faces filled with horror.
“They said.”
“I just want to help you all do something useful.”
Eltnis looked at the gods, specifically the seven, who were under control by his own powers.
They were all gods of the 2nd or 3rd tier.
Eltnis glanced at a goddess beside him.
“It’s your turn to work. Infinite.”
The woman with black hair nodded with an indifferent expression.
“But Eltnis.”
One of the [Eight Evil Gods], and the second strongest among them, Karafenel spoke to Eltnis.
“Do you really think cramming the souls of gods into such a guy will turn him into a god strong enough to defeat that God of War?”
Eltnis grimaced at Karafenel’s blunt statement.
“That’s a concern for me as well, but it’s better to do something than nothing at all.”
“Aha, I see. If it’s not a clear objective, then it’s definitely worth a shot…”
Understanding the explanation, Karafenel looked at the gods bound by Eltnis’s binding magic, one of his many powers.
Even though those gods were on an entirely different hierarchical level, the ability to restrain several gods at once demonstrated the greatness of Eltnis, the god of [Void].
“Hey, you better get it right.”
Karafenel looked at the god to his right, the [God of Souls], Seiven. The elder god, appearing in the form of an old man, broke a sweat and spoke.
“…Understood.”
“I’ve widened the scope of godly storage so that the enhancement of the [God of Steel and War], Duke, can proceed without a hitch, so you just need to shove those gods’ souls in there.”
Karafenel’s demeanor, as if it were just a simple task, left Seiven scratching his head.
‘Seriously… these two are completely out of their minds.’
Seiven gritted his teeth internally.
This situation was literally insane.
Cramming the souls of gods into one god.
It was, quite literally, what the words described.
Countless white currents stretched out from Eltnis as if they were tentacles, binding the seven gods tightly.
Binding the physical bodies of gods was a pointless act. Even if the caster was a god, they could run away by abandoning their physical forms.
So, the ‘Void Chains’ of Eltnis not only bound the physical bodies of the gods but also their souls. So they couldn’t even think of abandoning their bodies.
The flesh of the gods was not only bound, but their souls as well. They couldn’t even abandon their bodies.
Eltnis’s right hand rose up, glowing gold.
The seven gods looked down at the massive circular magic formation beneath them.
The gods, still struggling to grasp this sudden situation, looked at Eltnis and began to shout.
“…W-What the hell is this? Even if you are the chief deity of this divine realm…!”
“Do you think other gods would allow such wickedness!”
Among the seven gods, the Master of Blades and the God of Violence and Madness shouted in succession at Eltnis.
All the gods currently constrained in this place, whose souls and bodies were bound, were related, directly or indirectly, to combat.
Through the magic formation on the ground, the god of Steel and War, Duke, who was the target of the artificial modification, was also a god related to ‘combat.’
The reason all the offerings belonged to the combat category was to maximize the success rate.
It was also to achieve the clearest enhancement effect.
Eltnis looked at the fifty or so other gods gathered in his area, the Library, and then looked back at the seven gods whose souls he was constraining.
“Anyway, even if you all rush at me, you won’t be able to defeat Yuma, who bears the name of the God of War. You’re just trying to combine your strength for once.”
Eltnis thrust the golden spear held in his right hand toward the god on the far left, Kahon, the God of Violence and Madness.
“Uuugh…!”
The spear pierced the abdomen of Kahon, the female god with red hair.
Eltnis, staring into the red pupil at the edge of his bulging eyes, said, “Considering your status, this is the most glorious death.”
Crack…!
Golden fissures began to appear from the center of the wound where the spear had pierced.
The flesh shattered like a vessel.
—Kiaaaah!
In an instant, the gray soul that floated in the air was drawn into the interior of the magic formation.
*
Crash!
In a place far beyond what could be measured in mere distance in the divine realm—
Duke, the God of Steel and War, stood on the land of the ‘Skyland Continent’ in the Intermediate World, trembling as changes began to occur in his body and soul.
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