Haruto's students launched the instant he gave the word.
Kuroko was last to react—after all, it was her first real sparring session.
"Teacheeer!" Takumi shouted, a little louder this time. "This time—I'll land a blow!"
Haruto's gaze snapped to him.
"Try your luck," he said calmly. "Not like it's going to save you."
Takumi's speed exploded.
So fast that afterimages followed every subtle motion, flickering like lightning frozen in place.
(What's this…?) Haruto thought, eyes narrowing.
Takumi's left arm rose, winding for a punch—every afterimage mimicking the motion with perfect precision.
Impossible for a normal person to track.
But Haruto wasn't normal.
He moved his lower arm, leaving afterimages of his own.
One hand intercepted every one of Takumi's countless punches.
The ground beneath them groaned under the force.
Cracks spread. Chunks of stone shattered.
Haruto glanced to the side.
Ayame leaned forward, sword drawn, ready to strike.
Her blade arced toward his neck.
Haruto caught Takumi's wrist mid-motion, dragging him straight into Ayame's strike.
"Huh…!" Takumi gasped, eyes wide.
He stumbled as Haruto used him as a human shield—sidestepping Ayame's blade.
Ayame's eyes widened, realization flashing too late.
She slammed the sword into the ground to stop the strike.
Haruto leapt.
Up, higher—toward the sky.
Ayame flipped.
Feet over head, one hand still gripping her sword.
Landing on Takumi's shoulder to boost herself, she launched herself upward, sword aimed straight at Haruto again.
Haruto looked down, calculating.
Ayame's attack was precise.
Deadly.
He raised a hand mid-air and stopped.
An invisible barrier halted him—Aya had created it.
(Better than last time… but not enough to hold someone like me.) Haruto thought.
He planted his leg against her sword to block, spinning, moving fluidly.
Then—a sharp, clean kick to Ayame.
She blocked it with her blade, as expected.
"I knew you'd do that," she said, calm, focused.
"Yes," Haruto replied, eyes narrowing.
"But it doesn't matter."
He funneled his full power into the kick.
The one she blocked.
Ayame tried to hold her ground—but the force was unstoppable.
She was flung backward, landing hard on the ground.
Dust exploded around her, scattering in the wind.
Before she could recover, Amara attacked from the side.
A punch—fast, sharp.
Haruto leaned back slightly, casual.
"Huh…"
Then his knee shot forward.
It collided with Amara's stomach.
Blood spurted from her mouth.
Her eyes widened.
Pain coursed through her body.
She staggered—but before she could retaliate, a devastating punch slammed into her side.
It sent her flying like thunder, crashing into the ground far below.
The training grounds fell silent for a heartbeat.
Then dust and debris settled.
Haruto hovered in the air, calm, eyes scanning.
The students—shocked, exhilarated, and slightly terrified—stared at him.
Kuroko's eyes narrowed.
Her first lesson had begun.
And she already knew: she was up against a teacher who would not hold back.
Aya clapped her hands together.
The barrier surrounding them shrank instantly—compressing inward, tightening around Haruto like invisible pressure.
"Hey," she said sharply, eyes locked on the barrier, palms trembling slightly. "Renji. Are you done? The others bought as much time as they could."
She didn't look away.
If she lost focus even for a moment, the barrier would collapse.
Renji didn't answer.
His eyes were closed.
Mana surged through every vein in his body—wild, violent, barely contained.
Then—
His eyes snapped open.
"I'm done," Renji said.
White–black flames erupted around him, twisting violently, licking the air like living things.
(So this is what you've been working on…) Haruto thought.
A faint, unintentional smile tugged at his lips.
Pride.
Unseen.
They had grown.
Strong enough to stand on their own.
Weak only because the one before them was stronger.
Renji raised his hand.
The flames condensed—then fired.
A beam of white–black light tore through the air at light-speed.
"Mana Beam"
It struck Haruto—
And vanished.
Nullified.
Erased by his very existence.
Renji didn't hesitate.
He closed the distance instantly, driving a straight punch toward Haruto's face.
Haruto raised one finger.
Blocked.
The shockwave detonated outward.
The clouds behind Haruto were carved clean apart—split, erased, scattered.
(Mana reinforcement… pushing my body beyond superhuman limits.) Renji thought, teeth clenched.
He jumped back.
Golden chains burst from the ground, wrapping tightly around Haruto's limbs and torso.
(Why is it always chains?) Haruto thought dryly.
Then—
His eyes widened slightly.
Something was being pulled out of him.
"Did you notice?" Kaito said, voice sharp, focused. "Those aren't ordinary chains."
The chains pulsed.
"They absorb the mana of whoever they bind."
Kaito smiled—confident.
"And I can redistribute it."
The siphoned mana surged outward.
Shared.
Fed into the others.
Colored auras flared around the students as their power spiked.
Haruto felt it clearly.
The drain.
But it didn't matter.
He had infinite mana.
For anyone else, dropping below average meant unconsciousness.
Or death.
(That's enough.)
Haruto's gaze sharpened.
He rolled his shoulders—just slightly.
The chains shattered.
Gold fragments exploded outward like brittle glass.
Kaito's eyes widened.
"…You've got to be kidding me," he muttered, disbelief sinking in.
Too late.
Haruto was already there.
He appeared directly in front of Kaito—no wind, no sound.
Renji's reaction speed couldn't even register it.
Light-speed meant nothing.
Kaito tried to jump back.
Panic bled through his face.
He didn't make it halfway.
Haruto's hand snapped up—grabbing the back of Kaito's head mid-air—and drove him straight down.
Face first.
The ground detonated.
Stone fractured outward in a violent ring.
There was no recovery from that.
Amara swung immediately—no hesitation.
Haruto leaned aside.
Her punch missed by centimeters.
He countered.
A straight punch.
She ducked—just in time—
Only to take a knee straight to the face.
Bone cracked.
Blood sprayed from her nose as her body snapped backward.
Haruto caught her by the collar.
Lifted her—only a few feet.
Not mercy.
Control.
As she dropped—
His backhand connected with her cheek.
Clean.
Sharp.
Amara spun sideways, hit the ground hard, and rolled until she stopped—groaning, unmoving.
A massive shadow descended.
A giant ice golem slammed its fist down.
The impact exploded dust and ice shards skyward.
(Did I get him?) Shizuku thought desperately.
The dust shifted.
A silhouette stood inside it.
When the cloud cleared—
Haruto was there.
One hand raised.
Blocking the golem's punch from above.
Effortless.
He looked down.
"Of course it didn't work," Shizuku muttered, lips tight—no surprise left in her voice.
She lifted her hand sharply.
"Again."
The golem obeyed.
It pulled back its arm—
And Haruto was gone.
The golem paused.
Turned slowly—
Haruto was already behind it.
Walking away.
Back turned.
The golem tried to rotate—
Too late.
Blows landed from every direction.
Not visible.
Only impact.
Delay punches—stacked, layered, precise.
Cracks spider-webbed across the ice body.
Cold vapor hissed from the fractures.
Then—
The golem exploded from the inside.
Shizuku clenched her fists.
"Come on…" she sobbed, frustrated. "I spent so long creating that… just for it to be destroyed in under a minute."
Her eyes hardened.
Haruto was approaching.
Every step silent.
Every step closer—without movement.
She blinked—
Haruto vanished.
A kick slammed into her side.
The shockwave tore the air apart.
Shizuku reacted instantly—
Ice formed.
A physical barrier snapped into existence at the point of impact.
It shattered—
But absorbed enough force to save her.
Haruto pressed forward.
Punch.
Kick.
Elbow.
Every strike met ice.
Not a dome.
Not a wall.
Perfect placement.
Instant casting.
Her reflexes were absurd.
Her casting speed even more so.
She was reacting to Haruto moving faster than light—
And not even at his peak.
For a moment—
It felt like she had a chance.
Then she locked eyes with him.
The world shattered.
She was dragged into an illusion.
Too real.
Flesh tearing.
Limbs ripped apart.
Giant hunger wolves tearing her body piece by piece.
Pain flooded everything.
She couldn't scream.
She couldn't breathe.
Only agony.
Outside—
Her body collapsed forward.
Unconscious.
Her fingers twitched faintly.
To everyone else—
It looked like she simply passed out.
Haruto turned.
Five students remained.
His gaze swept over them—cold, measured, absolute.
"Next," Haruto said quietly.
Aya snapped her hands together.
Barriers flared into existence around the remaining five—layered, overlapping, desperate.
They shattered instantly.
Aya gasped.
Her focus snapped.
Pain surged through her body as she dropped to her knees, breath knocked out of her.
Haruto didn't hesitate.
Her vision went white.
She was dragged into the same illusion as Shizuku—
Only worse.
Blades pierced her body from within and without.
Impaling.
Twisting.
Endless.
She never screamed.
Her body collapsed forward—lifeless, trembling faintly.
No one else had time to react.
In front of Haruto—
Any lapse in guard was absolute defeat.
"It's just us now," Renji said, voice low, steady.
"Yes… seems Teach is getting serious," Takumi muttered.
Ayame rolled her shoulders.
Sword in one hand.
The other gripping her shoulder—loosening tension.
"Let's fight for the others too," Ayame said calmly.
Kuroko remained silent.
She stood apart.
Watching.
Measuring Haruto with unreadable eyes.
Renji and Ayame moved.
Not instantly.
Acceleration first.
Then—
They vanished.
Black and blue lightning tore across the battlefield.
They struck together.
Renji unleashed a storm of punches and kicks—mana compressed, body reinforced beyond superhuman limits.
Haruto evaded without effort.
Minimal movement.
Perfect angles.
Ayame's blade followed—clean arcs, lethal precision.
Steel screamed through the air.
The fight scattered across the sky and ground.
Up.
Down.
Across.
Three streaks of light colliding again and again.
Renji lunged—
Haruto countered—
And Renji vanished.
"Exchange"
Takumi appeared in his place.
Haruto's eyes widened—just a fraction.
Too late.
Takumi's fist connected.
A clean hit.
Haruto's face snapped to the side.
Silence crashed down.
Shock froze every one of them.
"I…" Takumi whispered, staring at his fist.
"I landed a blow."
Joy and disbelief trembled in his voice.
(I got hit… in the face. Me, of all people.)
(Unacceptable.)
Haruto's fingers curled slowly.
Takumi was still staring—
Still frozen in awe—
Haruto turned.
The punch came like judgment.
Ayame moved instantly.
She stepped in.
Sword raised.
Steel met fist—
And shattered.
Fragments burst outward.
Ayame's eyes widened—just before the shockwave slammed into her body and hurled her back, skidding across the ground in a violent roll.
Haruto's fist didn't stop.
It continued forward—
Straight toward Takumi.
Haruto's fist sank fully into Takumi's face.
Bone crushed.
Skin split.
Takumi was launched backward—
Straight to the edge of the mountain.
Blood burst from his eyes.
His ears.
His mouth.
His nose.
He skidded across stone, momentum dying only when his body collapsed on hands and knees—
Then went limp.
Unconscious.
Haruto rose into the sky once more.
"What a pain…" he muttered softly.
He stopped midair.
Looked up.
A burning meteor screamed down toward him.
(Ronóva's little sister really is something else.)
The meteor was enormous.
Massive.
Moon-class.
""Abyssal Assimilation"," Haruto said calmly.
The instant the meteor touched his range—
Pure black mist erupted outward.
It swallowed the meteor whole.
Not shattered.
Not deflected.
Consumed.
Less than a second later—
The meteor's physical mass vanished entirely.
Gone.
The black mist thickened—
Then reversed.
Pulled inward.
Dragged into Haruto's body like gravity collapsing on itself.
Stored cleanly inside his "Pocket Realm".
Renji froze.
His fist tightened at his side.
Kuroko stared upward.
Eyes narrowed.
She raised both hands.
Palms open.
The ground trembled.
Rocks rattled.
Cracks spread.
(Takumi's down…)
(Who's next.)
Haruto's gaze settled on Renji.
Decision made.
"Let's use something else then… "True World of Illusions"," Haruto whispered.
He paused.
"…Nah."
Haruto didn't cast it.
He decided.
Only Renji would fall.
And reality complied.
Renji blinked—
And the battlefield vanished.
He stood in a vast desert.
Endless sand.
No wind.
A merciless sun burned overhead.
Sweat poured down his face instantly.
Figures surrounded him.
Men in modern military uniforms.
Earth-style.
AK-47s raised.
Gunfire erupted.
Deafening.
Relentless.
Bullets tore through Renji's body.
Arms shredded.
Chest perforated.
Legs reduced to pulp.
His form collapsed—
Unrecognizable.
Not man.
Not corpse.
Outside—
Renji's eyes rolled white.
He dropped to his knees.
Then forward.
Face hitting the ground.
Zero time had passed.
The moment Kuroko closed her palm—
Renji fell.
The earth split apart.
Massive slabs of stone tore free.
Rose.
Spiraled.
They slammed together around Haruto—
Layer after layer—
A colossal stone prison.
Moon-like.
"Got you," Kuroko said.
She believed it.
A hand burst through her chest from behind.
Kuroko's eyes widened.
Blood spilled from her lips.
She looked down—
Her heart was in Haruto's hand.
Still beating.
She collapsed forward.
The heart slipped free from her chest.
Haruto stood behind her—
Expression calm.
But it wasn't real.
None of it was.
Just the effect of "True World of Illusions".
Ayame stared as Kuroko suddenly collapsed without warning.
No wounds.
No impact.
Just—down.
"…What's happening?" Ayame whispered, confusion creeping into her voice.
The giant stone mass Kuroko had created detonated in the sky.
Chunks of rock burst outward—
Spinning.
Whistling.
Ayame raised her broken sword hilt and struck aside a slab flying straight at her.
Stone shattered.
Fragments scattered past her shoulders.
Haruto stepped forward between the raining debris.
"It's amazing," he said calmly, "that I don't need to see them."
A pause.
"Knowing they exist is enough."
Ayame looked up.
Eyes sharp.
Haruto met her gaze.
"You're still standing," he said.
"And you still have the will to fight—after watching what happened to your friends."
Ayame smirked.
"Huh… weren't you supposed to say my presence is like an ant in your eyes?" she shot back as Haruto descended to the ground.
"That's true," Haruto said.
Ayame stiffened—she had meant it as a joke.
"But," Haruto continued, voice steady, "you all have potential."
"One day, you'll each stand at a level of your own."
Ayame's smirk softened.
Dropped.
"As your teacher," Haruto said, eyes sharpening, "don't let power corrupt you."
"Take that to heart."
"When it happens—there's no going back."
Ayame nodded.
She launched at him.
Halfway—
Everything went black.
Ayame collapsed to the ground.
"I envy you all," Haruto said quietly.
(If only I could live normally too.)
(Why was that life never mine?)
(Even wealth couldn't fill that hollow.)
Envy.
The ugliest human emotion.
And even gods carried it in their hearts.
No one wanted to admit it.
But he did.
Haruto lifted his gaze to the sky.
A peaceful smile formed.
"Maybe," he murmured, "I'll find that vision… with Ronóva."
The calm shattered instantly.
Something rippled across infinite space.
A pressure.
A presence.
Axiom's fleet had entered Haruto's second universe.
Haruto wasn't the only one who sensed it.
Chatzkel did too—on a red planet, seated atop a mountain of corpses.
Every Royal Party member felt it.
Even Lilith—far away, in another universe entirely.
(…Why did that universe cross my mind?)
(I don't want to go back there.)
Haruto's expression didn't change.
(Everyone is alone.)
(Everyone is empty.)
(We no longer need each other.)
(Anything can be replaced—)
(Talent.)
(Items.)
(Knowledge.)
(Relationships.)
(One search.)
(One click.)
(I grew bored of a world like that.)
The wind passed over the silent mountain.
Haruto stood alone—
Already turning toward a war that had begun long before the first blow.
Liorn immediately summoned Haruto's Leader-Class Subroutines at his command.
Lunch.
Chloe.
Fuyume—never truly a Leader-Class subroutine, more a freeloader by design, yet still the second strongest among Haruto's subordinates.
Veper.
Nyx.
Zephyr.
They sat around a long strategic table, high-backed chairs aligned with military precision.
Only the one seats at the center remained empty.
Silence pressed down on the room.
Dense.
Heavy enough that even a steady heart would feel itself sink.
No one spoke.
No one shifted.
The giant double doors behind the vacant chairs began to open—slowly, deliberately.
Every Leader-Class subroutine turned in unison.
Eyes sharp.
Postures straightening by instinct rather than command.
Haruto entered first.
The room's soft darkness swallowed him for a moment before yielding, as if recognizing its master.
His steps were unhurried.
Measured.
Liora followed half a step behind.
Not by weakness.
By choice.
Her gaze stayed forward, calm and refined, yet her position acknowledged a truth she never questioned—she did not stand on equal ground with Haruto.
Haruto stopped at the head of the table.
He smiled.
A small thing.
Warm.
Entirely out of place.
"Good afternoon, my dear subroutines," Haruto said, his tone light, almost amused.
Several eyes narrowed.
Haruto's gaze swept across the table, slow and assessing, before he continued.
"It seems," he added calmly, "that we are under attack."