Dark stone walls.
Ancient. Silent.
A great tree stood at the heart of the chamber.
Its trunk pale.
Its leaves glowing faintly—
drifting.
Slow.
Weightless.
A circular platform lay beneath it.
Four pillars.
Perfect symmetry.
Ronóva knelt at the center.
Knees pressed to the stone.
Back straight.
Head slightly bowed.
Her hands were folded together.
Not in prayer.
In focus.
Takane stood guard beside one of the pillars.
Arms crossed.
Sword resting against her hip.
Her eyes never closed.
A subtle shift.
Footsteps.
Takane pushed off the pillar and moved toward the entrance.
Two figures stood within the dark doorway as it sealed behind them.
One tall.
Sword resting casually across her shoulders—long enough to nearly scrape the floor.
Another beside her.
Still.
Sharp-eyed.
Light washed over them.
Beatrice.
And Momo.
Takane's fingers slid toward her hilt.
"Who are you," Takane said, voice flat.
Beatrice grinned and raised both hands—
one still gripping her sword.
"Easy, easy," Beatrice said lightly. "We come in peace."
Momo stepped forward half a pace, posture straight.
"My lord sent us," Momo said calmly. "To protect Empress Ronóva."
A pause.
Then, quieter—
"Not that you are incapable."
Takane studied them for a long second.
Her hand left the hilt.
She turned without a word and returned to her pillar, resuming her guard.
Silence.
Beatrice blinked.
"…I'll take that as a yes," she muttered, lowering her arms.
Ronóva never opened her eyes.
She didn't need to.
Her vision stretched outward—
fractured.
Infinite.
Through the Sub-Skill"Omniscient Viewpoint" of Thanotós Sovereignty, she saw everything.
Battlefields.
Skies splitting.
Cities burning.
Lives ending.
She saw through allies.
Through enemies.
Across Universe 060.
Time did not desync.
Everything happened at once.
And when she chose—
They died.
No motion.
No distance.
No resistance.
With Ultimate Skill"Thanotós Sovereignty", death required no presence.
A glance was enough.
Still—
Ronóva was careful.
She did not kill indiscriminately.
Only those moments before a fatal blow.
Only those with no path left.
Only unavoidable ends.
Five hundred thousand lives.
Stopped.
Entire ecosystems spared.
Entire regions stabilized.
Universe 060 still breathed—
because she allowed it to.
A voice echoed softly within Momo's mind.
"Through Communication"
Did you make it, Haruto asked.
(Yes, my lord,) Momo replied instantly.
Protect her, Haruto said. No matter the cost.
A fraction of hesitation.
(I understand.)
The link severed.
Beatrice glanced sideways.
"You'd really die for that?" Beatrice asked quietly.
Momo nodded without hesitation.
"If I fall, Lord Haruto can return me," she said.
Beatrice snorted softly.
"You don't actually know that."
Momo's expression didn't change.
"That does not mean he cannot."
She looked forward.
Eyes steady.
Faith absolute.
"All things are possible through my lord."
Beatrice watched her for a moment.
Then smiled—slow.
Almost fond.
"Your faith's terrifying," Beatrice said.
Momo smiled back.
Proud.
Unshaken.
"I have chosen my god," Momo said softly.
Somewhere else—
Endless space.
Cold.
Silent.
Infinite galaxies stretched in every direction.
Spirals of light.
Dying stars.
New ones being born.
Haruto floated at the center.
Still.
(My plan is falling into place—just as I foresaw,) Haruto thought, eyes narrowing slightly.
(The enemy's forces are suspended.)
Ahead—
The Axiom main battleship advanced.
Colossal.
Unhurried.
Countless auxiliary vessels surrounded it—
layered.
Interlocking.
A living shield.
"They're here," Fuyume said, standing beside Haruto.
Her gaze sharp.
She had already calculated the trajectory.
"The main ship will pass through this sector."
Haruto nodded once.
"Let me handle the insects," Fuyume said, lifting her arm.
Fingers tightening.
Nails sharpening into black talons.
Haruto extended his arm across her path.
A silent command.
The surrounding fleet collapsed inward.
"Divine Hands of the Emperor"
Space warped.
Pressure inverted.
The escort ships crushed together as if squeezed by an invisible fist—
metal screaming—
cores rupturing—
Crimson fire bloomed across the void.
One after another.
Chain explosions.
Nothing escaped.
When the fire cleared—
The main battleship remained.
Untouched.
Unslowed.
Still advancing.
"…That was faster," Fuyume said quietly, genuine surprise slipping through.
Haruto didn't respond.
The hull of the main ship opened inward.
A figure emerged first—
Axiom.
Behind him—
Valecien.
Eidrya.
Three presences.
Heavy.
Absolute.
"Three of them," Fuyume said.
Her lips curved slightly.
"I'll take the two in white."
"I'd prefer all three," Haruto replied, eyes locked onto Axiom.
Then—
"Whatever."
"Greedy," Fuyume muttered.
"That's what makes a man," Haruto said calmly.
Axiom raised his hand.
Valecien and Eidrya vanished.
They reappeared a meter from Haruto—
movement folded.
Distance erased.
Haruto didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Gravity collapsed.
Not doubled.
Not multiplied.
Rewritten.
A million times Earth's pull snapped into existence around Valecien and Eidrya.
Their bodies slammed downward—
Straight into a nearby galaxy.
They tore through stars.
Through planets.
Through atmospheres and cores.
Worlds shattered in their descent.
Fuyume's eyes gleamed.
"Gravity Magic"
Fuyume vanished.
She launched downward at faster-than-light speed, leaving Haruto behind with the strongest one.
Axiom.
They drifted toward each other—
one rising,
one descending.
"State your name," Axiom said, voice carrying absolute authority.
Haruto didn't slow.
"I don't take orders," he replied coldly.
"I give them."
Axiom's eyes narrowed.
They stopped inches apart.
Staring.
"Then you'll die nameless," Axiom said.
"The only one dying today is you," Haruto answered.
They stepped back—
once—
And struck.
Their fists collided.
The impact detonated reality.
A shockwave erupted outward, ripping through space and erasing multiple galaxies on contact.
"Witness the power of an Angel," Axiom declared, pride flooding his presence.
"You're not even in the same league as an Arachnid," Haruto said flatly.
Axiom's eyes widened.
From them erupted a crushing force—
a direct manifestation of will—
It slammed into Haruto, hurling him backward, spinning through the void.
Haruto stabilized mid-space.
He looked up.
Axiom was gone.
(From the side—) Haruto thought.
Too late.
The blow had already landed.
Haruto was launched through multiple galaxies, his body streaking like a beam of light.
Yet—
It meant nothing.
"Physical Attack Nullification"
No matter how powerful—
No matter the scale—
If it was physical, it was meaningless.
Axiom hovered, breathing heavily.
He looked down.
Half his abdomen was gone.
Golden organs exposed.
Divine ichor drifting into space.
Before he could react—
A kick slammed into his face.
The impact launched Axiom backward.
As his head snapped upward, the galaxies behind him warped, reshaping into spiraling spears of condensed cosmic mass.
Axiom fired them.
They closed in from every direction.
No gaps.
No escape.
From Haruto's perspective—
They moved slowly.
He flicked his wrist.
The galaxy spears shattered, bursting apart into cosmic dust.
In that instant—
Axiom's abdomen regenerated.
They launched at each other.
From galaxy to galaxy.
Passing through starfields.
Leaving annihilation behind them.
They moved so fast that faster-than-light lost meaning.
No travel.
Only arrival.
Axiom's strikes erased galaxies outright.
A kick—extinction.
A punch—void.
Haruto's blows were different.
A fist landed.
Space folded.
A newborn galaxy bloomed in its wake—
stars igniting, matter organizing, life taking root in the aftershock.
Creation.
Not destruction.
Axiom twisted mid-air, barely avoiding a spinning kick.
The pressure still shaved a spiral through the cosmos behind him.
He drifted back.
For the first time, his expression shifted.
"I'll give you this, nameless," Axiom said.
He meant it.
White light seeped from his outline.
Not explosive.
Controlled.
Edged.
"But you're not strong enough to defeat me."
The aura detonated upward.
Light roared.
Space bowed.
His hair bleached to pure white.
His eyes turned blank—
golden, depthless, absolute.
This was the Heavenly Realm.
Stage Three.
A concept born in his universe.
Each stage a qualitative ascent.
No ceiling.
Only continuation.
The radiance receded.
Leaving a thin, flawless glow hugging his form.
"This is my perfect state," Axiom said calmly.
"All senses complete."
His gaze locked onto Haruto.
"This is the stage where you die."
Before Haruto could answer—
Everything stopped.
Time froze.
Across countless galaxies.
Motion ceased.
Energy halted.
Even causality held its breath.
The laws of physics went silent.
Only Axiom moved.
He walked forward, unhurried, steps soundless across frozen space.
(In this zone… no one can oppose me.)
(Except Father.)
(The Father of Angels.)
His arm reshaped itself.
Bone flowed into gold.
Gold sharpened into a flawless blade—
a weapon that functioned even where laws did not.
He raised it.
Brought it down.
The blade struck Haruto's neck.
Nothing happened.
No cut.
No resistance.
No reaction at all.
Axiom's eyes widened—just slightly.
(…What?)
(Impossible.)
A smile cut across Haruto's face.
Sharp.
Cold.
"Boo."
Axiom recoiled instantly—
pure shock ripping through his composure.
Haruto was moving.
Time was frozen.
The laws of physics were suspended.
And Haruto stood unaffected.
"What's wrong?" Haruto said calmly.
"Didn't expect someone else to function while the laws of physics were stopped?"
Axiom's eyes narrowed.
His fist tightened.
Time remained halted.
Causality silent.
Yet Haruto stood free.
As a spiritual life-form, he naturally transcended physical law.
And with his Unique Skill—
"Chrono Domination"—
Time stop held no authority over him.
"Time," Haruto said softly.
The command wasn't a request.
The flow resumed.
Motion returned.
Causality re-engaged.
Physics snapped back into place.
It wasn't that time ended.
Haruto simply exercised absolute authority over its flow.
Axiom launched forward.
His punch tore through Haruto's arm—
ripping it clean off—
even suppressed.
But the moment it happened—
The limb reformed.
Instantly.
"Instant Regeneration".
An intrinsic skill.
The soul's autonomous survival mechanism—
reacting before conscious intent.
That single strike didn't just damage Haruto.
It distorted the laws of physics themselves.
(I can't waste time.)
(I must finish this.)
(Become one with the universe—its living will.)
Axiom smiled—
just as his head was sliced sideways.
Clean.
Precise.
He reached up, pushed it back into place—
and it healed.
Haruto stood behind him.
Sword in hand.
The blade gifted by Old Man Thargrim.
Afterimage still hanging in space from the swing.
Golden blood traced the edge.
Axiom tried to move.
Too late.
Gravity collapsed inward.
He found himself crushed into a planetary mountain—
a jungle world—
stone screaming as it gave way.
Axiom coughed.
Looked up.
Haruto floated above him.
Silent.
Axiom's clothes were shredded.
Blood streaked his body.
Breathing ragged.
Haruto flicked his sword to the side.
Axiom's body detonated.
Flesh.
Bone.
Blood.
The crater was painted red—
chunks smeared across stone—
white fragments jutting from torn muscle.
Axiom died.
(Troublesome.)
(As long as the source of hope remains, he'll simply revive.)
Haruto lowered the blade.
"Nihil Severance" can fix that.
He said it casually.
Within a minute—
Axiom's body fully regenerated.
Flesh restored.
Bones reformed.
Golden blood withdrawn.
He revived.
He tried to stand—
Haruto moved his wrist.
A clean slash.
Axiom's legs separated from his body.
The cut ignored distance.
Ignored space itself.
Axiom attempted to rise—
Another flick.
His arms fell beside him.
No scream.
Just heavy breathing.
He tried to move.
To crawl.
To regenerate.
Each attempt—
Severed.
The scene was pitiful.
An angel reduced to fragments.
Haruto raised his sword again—
Then paused mid-swing.
A decision.
He lowered the blade slightly.
"Give up," Haruto said calmly.
"Nothing good will come from this. You already lost."
Axiom shook his head.
Denial burned in his eyes.
"Never—"
The word faltered.
A familiar voice echoed through his mind.
(My son.)
Deep.
Calm.
Absolute.
"...Father?" Axiom responded internally, shaken.
(The situation has reached its inevitable conclusion.)
"Please," Axiom pleaded silently.
"Just a little more time."
(There is no time left.)
A pause.
(I shall grant you the power—whether you welcome it or not—to forcibly unite with the core of the universe.)
Axiom's breathing steadied.
"…Okay."
His eyes ignited—
pure white.
Arcanum Synchronization: 100%.
The air shifted.
He was no longer an external existence within the universe.
He became a structural function.
A component.
Axiom began merging with the universe's core itself.
The fusion was forced—
Unstable.
Dangerous.
But it was progressing.
Phase One—complete.
Phase Two—complete.
Only one stage remained.
And the universe was beginning to respond.