The banquet hall stretched beyond the horizon.
Golden chandeliers floated where clouds should have been. Endless tables covered mountains, valleys, and broken terrain. Thousands of silver plates rested neatly across the battlefield as though some divine celebration had been prepared long before any of them arrived.
Yet nobody was celebrating.
The Dimensional Clan stood cautiously within the transformed world, their eyes fixed on Lady Chõko.
For the first time since the battle began, the advantage had shifted completely.
Raizen slowly tightened his grip on his dimensional sword.
His instincts screamed at him.
This wasn't an illusion.
This wasn't a trick.
This wasn't some simple domain ability.
The entire battlefield had become Chõko's territory.
Her kingdom.
Her dining table.
And everyone inside it had become guests.
Whether they wanted to be or not.
"Everyone stay alert."
Kaizen's voice cut through the silence.
His expression had become noticeably more serious.
Something rare.
Normally he was calm.
Confident.
Analytical.
Now even he looked uneasy.
Ayame glanced toward him.
"You figured something out?"
"Not completely."
Kaizen continued observing the banquet world.
"But we're missing something."
His eyes moved across the endless tables.
The floating plates.
The golden lights.
The strange atmosphere.
Everything seemed wrong.
Too organized.
Too deliberate.
As if the entire world had been built around a single rule.
Then Chõko laughed.
"YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!"
The sound echoed through the feast.
She picked up another piece of food from a nearby plate and took a bite.
Immediately, several wounds across her body disappeared.
The Dimensional Clan noticed.
Again.
Every time she ate.
She recovered.
Every time she consumed something created by the banquet.
Her aura increased.
Raizen's patience finally snapped.
"Tch."
Dimensional energy erupted around him.
"I don't care what this stupid world is."
He raised his sword.
"I'll cut it apart."
Before anyone could stop him, he attacked.
A massive dimensional slash exploded from his blade.
The attack tore through the banquet hall itself.
Tables shattered.
Golden lights exploded.
The slash traveled directly toward Chõko.
Everyone watched.
The attack should have landed.
Instead—
The slash transformed.
The dimensional energy folded inward.
Compressed.
Twisted.
Then suddenly became a beautifully cooked silver fish resting upon a golden plate.
Silence.
The attack was gone.
Completely.
Chõko grabbed the fish.
Took one bite.
Then smiled.
"Delicious."
A powerful wave of energy erupted from her body.
The ground beneath her feet cracked.
The air trembled.
And the wounds she had received moments earlier vanished completely.
Nobody spoke.
Not even Raizen.
For perhaps the first time in the entire battle, he looked genuinely shocked.
His strongest attacks weren't being blocked.
They weren't being dodged.
They weren't being absorbed.
They were being eaten.
The concept itself felt ridiculous.
Yet it was happening right in front of them.
"Impossible..."
Ayame whispered.
Chõko pointed at the six members.
"You attack."
She pointed toward herself.
"I eat."
Then she laughed again.
"YAYAYAYAYA!"
Haruto narrowed his eyes.
Unlike Raizen, he wasn't interested in proving himself.
He wanted information.
Slowly, he raised one hand.
Space distorted.
A small spatial fold appeared beside Chõko.
Not an attack.
A test.
The fold reached her.
Immediately transformed.
A tiny loaf of bread appeared on a plate.
Haruto's expression darkened.
"It affects techniques too."
Kaizen immediately turned toward him.
"What did you use?"
"A spatial distortion."
"And it became food?"
Haruto nodded.
The realization made Kaizen's stomach drop.
Because it confirmed his growing suspicion.
The feast wasn't targeting energy attacks.
It wasn't targeting physical attacks.
It wasn't targeting specific abilities.
It was targeting everything.
The banquet world trembled.
More tables appeared.
More plates.
More food.
The longer they remained inside this world, the larger it became.
As though it were growing.
Feeding.
Expanding.
Chõko slowly walked between the tables.
Her footsteps echoed across the endless hall.
For the first time since activating the world, she wasn't attacking.
She wasn't chasing them.
She wasn't even defending herself.
She was simply waiting.
Waiting for them to make a mistake.
Waiting for them to feed her.
Like a predator sitting beside a trap.
Then Kaizen finally understood something.
His eyes widened.
"No..."
Ayame looked at him.
"What?"
Kaizen slowly scanned the battlefield.
The answer was suddenly everywhere.
The growing tables.
The increasing food.
The expanding banquet.
The recovering Chõko.
Everything connected.
"This world isn't getting stronger because of attacks."
Everyone turned toward him.
Kaizen swallowed.
"It's getting stronger because we're here."
Silence.
Even Chõko stopped walking.
A huge smile appeared on her face.
The kind of smile that confirmed a terrible truth.
Kaizen's expression became grim.
"The moment we entered this world..."
He looked around.
"...we became part of the feast."
The realization hit everyone.
Not just their attacks.
Not just their energy.
Their very presence was feeding the banquet.
Every second they remained inside Endless Feast...
The world consumed more.
Not enough to notice immediately.
But enough.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
Like being eaten alive one bite at a time.
For the first time in the battle, the Dimensional Clan felt trapped.
Attacking strengthened Chõko.
Waiting strengthened Chõko.
Remaining inside the world strengthened Chõko.
The battlefield itself had become the enemy.
And Chõko stood at its center.
Laughing.
Watching.
Hungry.
"YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!"
The banquet hall shook.
Thousands of plates rattled simultaneously.
The golden chandeliers dimmed.
And for a brief moment...
Every member of the Dimensional Clan felt the same thought.
This wasn't a battlefield anymore.
It was a dining table.
And they were the meal.