In the chamber of cold stone and taller shadows, Ronóva stood unmoving.
Beatrice leaned against a frost-bitten pillar, one boot propped casually against it.
Momo rested her shoulder against another, arms folded.
Takane stood near the archway, watchful.
Nothing had happened for a while.
The silence had grown comfortable.
Danger felt distant.
Beatrice, usually incapable of holding her tongue, said nothing.
She did not dare disturb Ronóva's stillness.
Then—
A black beam edged in thin white light tore across the chamber.
It passed Momo.
She did not see it.
Not because she was slow.
She could perceive attacks that crossed infinite distance in zero time—Skills like "Instant Teleportation" were nothing to her.
This was different.
The beam was not moving through space.
It was moving through time.
There was no trajectory to trace.
No motion to follow.
No moment to intercept.
And yet—
("Shit— it's heading for Lady Ronóva,") Beatrice breathed internally, her pupils shrinking, fingers tightening around the hilt of her massive longsword.
She saw it.
Somehow, she saw it.
With a sharp exhale, Beatrice lunged, blade sweeping forward to block the black–white streak just before it could reach Ronóva—
It vanished.
Her blade cut empty air.
"It vanished?!" Beatrice gasped aloud, voice cracking. "Where— did it gone?"
She remained frozen in her finishing stance, chest rising sharply.
Slowly, she turned her head toward Ronóva, hope flickering desperately across her face.
Maybe it had dissipated.
Maybe it failed.
That was the only possibility her mind allowed.
A wet sound answered her.
The beam had skipped.
Skipped to a point before Beatrice ever moved.
It erupted from behind—
And pierced straight through Ronóva's chest.
Ronóva's eyes widened slightly.
Just slightly.
Pain flooded her body in a single violent surge.
("…What… is this…?" )she murmured to herself, voice steady only by force.
Her skill "Omniscient Viewpoint" should have shown it.
She saw all actions in the present.
Every motion. Every intention.
But it did not grant past or future.
And if there were no eyes in a place—
There was nothing to see.
The beam pulsed once.
Then faded.
A gaping hole remained in her chest.
Silence swallowed the chamber.
Ronóva's body swayed.
She fell.
Her eyes remained half-open, their color draining into dull emptiness.
Takane was at her side in the next heartbeat.
"Princess Ronóva!" Takane cried, voice breaking as she dropped to her knees.
Her hands shook violently as she gripped Ronóva's shoulders.
"Princess— wake up— please—!"
No response.
Takane shook her again, more desperate now.
"Ronóva!"
Nothing.
Her voice cracked further with every call.
The realization came slowly.
Then all at once.
Ronóva was dead.
Her Ultimate Skill had been the strongest in the universe.
But it had never strengthened her body.
Never hardened her flesh.
Beatrice stumbled backward.
Her shoulders hit the pillar behind her with a dull thud.
She shook her head slowly, lips parting in disbelief.
"Momo… we failed," she whispered, voice trembling despite her attempt to steady it.
Momo stood frozen, horror clear in her eyes.
They had failed their mission.
A direct order.
Given personally by Lord Haruto.
Momo inhaled sharply.
She had to report this.
Even if the thought alone made her blood run cold.
Activating "Through Communication", she reached out.
("U-uh… my Lord…") Momo spoke internally, her voice tight.
Before she could continue—
"Say no more."
The voice was cold.
Final.
It stiffened her spine instantly.
Momo's eyes widened.
Haruto was already walking past her.
He had appeared without distortion.
Without sound.
Without warning.
Beatrice and Momo dropped to one knee immediately the moment they saw him, heads lowered in instinctive submission.
Haruto's face was swallowed in shadow.
Only his eyes showed.
Narrowed.
Deadly.
Cold enough to freeze breath mid-air.
Momo and Beatrice did not dare speak.
Did not dare greet him.
They barely dared to breathe.
He walked past them without a glance.
Straight toward Ronóva.
Takane rose slowly from beside the fallen princess, her fists tightening at her sides.
"Yo— you…" Takane's voice trembled, anger breaking through the grief as she looked at him.
Her hatred was not baseless.
Because of him, she had failed to protect her king—Auremund Aurelius.
And now—
Ronóva.
Takane drew breath to continue.
Haruto did not let her.
He understood the tone before the words formed.
A slight wave of his arm.
No effort.
No expression.
Takane was hurled across the chamber.
Her body slammed into the stone wall with catastrophic force.
The entire room shook.
Stone fractured outward in a violent crater.
She fell from the shattered wall moments later, armor broken, body limp.
Unconscious.
Haruto did not look at her.
He was already angry.
Hearing her voice would have only deepened it.
And in this state—
He would not hesitate.
Not even slightly.
(I did this.)
The thought cut cleanly through his mind.
(If I had killed Axiom then… this would not have happened to you, Ronóva.)
He reached her.
Then—
He dropped to his knees.
Slowly.
Carefully.
He lifted her into his arms, pulling her close.
Her head rested against his chest.
Her skin was pale.
Cold.
Her eyes closed.
For once—
Haruto looked fragile.
A crimson dome expanded outward from them, smooth and absolute.
"Barrier Creation"
It isolated Space–Time itself.
Separated inside from outside.
Then—
The Unique Skill activated.
"Chrono Domination"
Within the barrier, time obeyed him.
Outside it, time continued.
Inside—
He reversed it.
Not broadly.
Not recklessly.
Only her.
Only the chosen point.
Reversal.
Absolute control over temporal flow.
Not mere time manipulation.
Authority.
A single tear slipped from Haruto's eye.
It fell onto Ronóva's cheek.
"Forgive me, Ronóva," he said quietly, voice stripped of pride, stripped of command. "It took me too long to understand what I should have done from the beginning."
Time bent.
The hole in her chest began to close.
Flesh rewove.
Bone reformed.
Blood reversed its spill, lifting from the floor and flowing back into her body.
Color returned to her skin.
Warmth followed.
Her breathing resumed—faint at first.
Then steady.
Ronóva's chest rose.
Fell.
Rose again.
A steady rhythm.
Life had returned.
A thin black mist spiraled upward around Haruto and Ronóva, coiling like a silent vortex.
It thickened—
Then burst apart in a muted ripple.
Ronóva vanished from his arms.
Transferred.
His pocket realm.
The safest place in existence.
Haruto stood slowly as the crimson barrier fractured around him, shattering into fading shards of light.
"You two…" he said, voice level. Cold. Controlled. "Proceed to the battlefield."
Momo lowered her head instantly, eyes sharp despite the tension in her jaw.
"We shall depart immediately," she replied.
She blurred upward—gone.
Beatrice followed without a word.
Silence returned.
Haruto turned his gaze toward Takane.
She still lay in the crater, unconscious.
Armor shattered.
Breathing shallow.
He watched her for one second.
No expression.
Then—
He vanished.
—
The battlefield was already ablaze.
Elven soldiers stood in flawless formation.
Rows aligned.
Golden bows raised in perfect symmetry.
"Loose!"
The sky darkened.
Arrows launched upward—
Then multiplied.
A storm descended upon the Angel soldiers.
Wings were pierced mid-flight.
Bodies fell from the heavens.
Armor shattered under relentless impact.
Angels crashed into the earth, their forms riddled with shafts.
The Beastmen charged next.
Savage.
Unrestrained.
They tore through the Angel ranks like predators unleashed.
Claws ripped wings from backs.
Fangs sank into throats.
Blood sprayed.
Some Beastmen fell in return—
Hearts crushed in enemy hands.
Bodies impaled.
Limbs severed mid-charge.
Without Ronóva watching from the shadows, many had already died.
Still—
Felicia's soldiers stood at the rear.
The Tenebryn.
Masters of support.
Layers of magic pulsed outward from them in synchronized waves—
Speed amplified.
Strength heightened.
Endurance reinforced.
Cognition sharpened.
They were the backbone.
The unseen foundation.
Haruto's humanoid spiders moved across the battlefield with eerie coordination.
Perfect teamwork.
Their Intrinsic Skill: "Silk Thread" activated—
Threads flashed invisibly through the air.
Angel soldiers were sliced apart as if carved by invisible blades.
Armor, flesh, bone—
All parted like butter.
Other units blitzed forward, daggers gleaming.
Heads rolled.
Bodies collapsed.
No hesitation.
Above—
The remaining three members of the Royal Party—now renamed The Council by Haruto—rose into the sky.
Without words.
Without delay.
They flew toward another planet alongside their designated opponents.
The real battle—
On the same planet—
Haruto floated in the sky.
Axiom hovered opposite him.
No greetings.
No threats.
They moved.
Blue and gold light detonated as they launched at each other—
Haruto's aura burning cobalt.
Axiom's radiating divine gold.
Their clash shattered the atmosphere.
They rose higher.
Past orbit.
Past stellar fields.
Into the outer galaxy—
Where infinite galaxies shimmered like scattered embers, and the universe stretched open in silent abyss.
Axiom extended his hand.
Palm open.
Fingers slightly parted.
"Black Testament."
The black–white beam erupted from his palm.
It did not fly.
It skipped.
It appeared behind Haruto.
Haruto twisted sharply, changing vectors in impossible angles—
But Black Testament did not abandon its target.
It did not chase through space.
It corrected through time.
Haruto understood instantly.
Seraphina's calculations.
Of course.
Axiom's eyes widened slightly.
Black Testament failed to anchor.
Failed to attach to any point in Haruto's timeline.
"What…?" Axiom muttered internally. "It can't latch onto him?"
Haruto turned calmly to face the incoming beam.
He did not move.
Black Testament did not exist in the present.
It skipped to prior points in a target's personal chronology.
It embedded itself before a reaction could ever occur.
But Haruto's time flow—
Was isolated.
Self-governing.
Untouchable.
Nothing external could overwrite his personal chronology.
The beam reached him.
Haruto raised his hand—
And casually slapped it aside.
The distortion rippled outward.
Even Axiom staggered slightly from the backlash.
Haruto's eyes narrowed.
"Did you truly believe," he said coldly, "that a time-based ability could affect me?"
He lifted his chin slightly.
"I am the one who decides how time itself behaves."
Axiom clicked his tongue internally.
(For fuck's sake… What is wrong with this bastard? Why does he always have a counter for everything?)
Haruto's thoughts shifted inward.
(Seraphina. Can you replicate that ability?)
『No need. Black Testament is already part of Master's arsenal.』
(Huh… how?)
『I observed it. I copied it. I improved it.』
Haruto almost smiled.
(Explain—)
『Now is not the time. You are in the middle of battle. Focus.』
He exhaled softly.
"…Fair enough."
A blade manifested in his right hand.
Deep blue steel.
The tip pointed directly at Axiom.
"I am going to kill you now," Haruto stated evenly, "for attacking my wife."
He vanished.
Axiom sensed it instantly—
Haruto appeared behind him, blade descending in a clean vertical arc.
Axiom turned and blocked.
The shockwave tore through nearby star systems.
Axiom countered, fist driving forward—
It pierced through Haruto's stomach.
But the body dissolved.
A clone.
A second later—
A punch struck Axiom across the cheek.
It did nothing.
Haruto observed calmly.
Physical damage was meaningless.
Just like him—
Axiom possessed Tolerance: "Physical Attack Nullification".
Haruto leapt backward, distancing himself into the open void of outer-galactic space.
He raised both hands.
One above.
One below.
A gap formed between them—
A small black sphere formed between Haruto's fingers.
Dense.
Silent.
It pulsed once—
Then twisted into a spiraling red sphere.
Violent.
Compressed annihilation.
Across from him—
Axiom lifted a single finger.
Energy condensed at the tip.
Subtle.
Precise.
They fired.
The two attacks collided—
No explosion.
Just collapse.
Then—
Everything ruptured.
A wave burst outward, devouring galaxies in every direction.
Stars vanished.
Clusters erased.
When it ended—
Only black space remained.
Empty.
Haruto and Axiom were already moving.
They clashed inside the fading emerald shockwave.
Haruto's fists tore through space, each strike wrapped in "Demonic Dark Flames".
Physical damage was irrelevant at this level—
Conceptual burn was not.
Yet—
Every punch missed.
Barely.
Infinitesimally.
But missed.
(Why can't I connect?) Haruto thought, irritation flickering for the first time.
He did not miss.
He never missed.
Axiom smirked.
(Physically, I couldn't avoid him,) Axiom admitted internally.
(But with "Probability Manipulation"… avoidance becomes certainty.)
Each time Haruto's strike neared—
Axiom adjusted the probability to 100% that it would miss.
Not evasion.
Not speed.
Outcome alteration.
Haruto's eyes narrowed.
Something was wrong.
To miss even once was abnormal.
To miss repeatedly—
Impossible.
(Seraphina. I'm not imagining this, right?) Haruto asked internally.
(My attacks being denied like this is absurd.)
『Affirmative. Since Axiom has advanced to Phase II of the fusion, the probability that he possesses Probability or Fate Manipulation is 100 percent.』
(Fate manipulation?) Haruto asked while taking a direct blow to the chest.
Axiom had set the probability of impact to absolute.
He felt ribs crack.
『Probability Manipulation detected.
The likelihood of Fate altering or influencing Master is zero. Absolute immunity confirmed.』
(That makes more sense,) Haruto thought, wiping blood from his lip.
(Then how do I counter it?)
Axiom raised his hand again.
He altered the probability—
100% chance Haruto dies from the next strike.
『To counter Probability Manipulation, the optimal ability to deploy is the Ultimate Skill: Deus Penumbra.』
Haruto inhaled slowly.
First time.
No hesitation.
"Ultimate Skill: Deus Penumbra"
Reality paused—
Not physically.
Logically.
Haruto rewrote the clause:
"Probability Manipulation cannot affect Haruto."
Axiom's eyes widened.
"What—"
His ability failed.
For the first time since Phase II—
Probability did not bend.
Haruto vanished.
Reappeared inside Axiom's guard.
His blade, coated in Demonic Dark Flames, carved across Axiom's chest—
Beyond sight—
that wasn't all Haruto did.
He activated "Chrono Domination".
Three absolute authorities.
Stasis.
Surge.
Reversal.
Fundamental temporal sovereignty.
With Stasis, Haruto froze time itself—
selectively.
Movement.
Energy.
Causality.
All halted.
Axiom stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
The advanced form of "Demonic Dark Flames" coiled around him—
consuming without burning.
Erasing without ash.
Axiom resisted.
He forced speed beyond calculation.
Twisted probability.
Bent potential futures.
All useless.
Stasis did not care.
(How…?)
Axiom's thoughts fractured.
(I… lost? Lost to a mere spider?)
Rage ignited.
Too late.
His body began fading from the toes upward—
not disintegration.
Deletion.
His soul had already been destroyed.
The body was simply catching up.
"This is the end," Haruto said calmly.
He stepped forward.
"Oh—before you go."
Axiom's vision flickered.
"I'm going to erase your entire species from existence."
Axiom's fading hand clenched.
A roar tore from him—
Movement returned.
Haruto had lifted Stasis.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU DO THAT!" Axiom thundered.
"I'LL DRAG YOU TO HELL WITH ME!"
White light erupted from his body.
Blinding.
Unstable.
He had already entered Phase II.
With that power—
He could abandon his original plan.
He could destroy something far greater.
In a place without location—
A golden sphere hovered in darkness.
It pulsed softly.
Ancient.
Untouchable.
The Universe Core.
The metaphysical heart of Universe 006.
Origin of its laws.
Anchor of space-time.
The governing framework of existence itself.
Destroy it—
And the universe would not explode.
It would not burn.
It would not shatter.
It would simply—
Cease.
A crack formed.