A tempest roared to life.
Kanzaki Rei's eyes shone with sudden clarity—another insight had clicked into place.
In truth, his understanding of Origin Magic had been just one step short of completion. He had always believed that magic could never truly be separated from the elements.
At its core, any interpretation of "origin" must never stray from that fundamental truth.
And now… he understood.
His body dissolved—no, became part of the wind itself, vanishing into the boundless atmosphere.
Wind was air. Airflow was windflow.
It lacked the instantaneous brilliance of light, nor did it carry the explosive ferocity and overwhelming spectacle of lightning.
But when truly wielded—
It was inescapable, penetrating every gap, every crevice.
Light could illuminate all that had form.
But light… was ultimately intangible.
Its nature was fundamentally different from wind.
And now, the storm had fully formed.
A raging maelstrom laced with lightning swallowed the entire battlefield. Kanzaki Rei stood at its center—at the heart of thunder and gale—where violet bolts rained down in relentless bombardment, washing over him like a divine trial.
Yet despite the endless strikes, he did not move an inch.
Instead, he felt it.
The wind.The lightning.
Gradually… a sensation emerged.
The exhilaration of battle.
Kanzaki Rei finally understood why Izparut had willingly endured his ice lances back then.
So this was it.
So intoxicating.
Boom!
Lightning detonated across his body with crackling bursts.
This man…
What was he?
Standing within her storm domain—completely unharmed?
No. Not merely unharmed.
Seeing the faint smile curling at his lips…
Was he actually enjoying this?
"Stop pretending to be calm!"
Boom!
The thunderclouds churned violently. Instead of striking directly, they began to rumble—low, ominous, building.
Kanzaki Rei sensed it immediately.
The lightning in the sky was stacking. Layer upon layer, accumulating power through repeated superposition.
Stacked lightning?
He had always viewed elements through the lens of a mage.
But now, drawing inspiration from these opponents… he was beginning to grasp something closer to the true nature of the elements themselves.
Above him, the violet clouds flickered faster and faster—
Until at last, they merged into a radiant, luminous violet firmament.
Kanzaki Rei stared upward.
With his heightened spiritual perception, he saw straight through its essence.
…So that's how it works.
Lightning could be layered—lightning within lightning, each layer amplifying the next.
This concept… this method…
It was his first time witnessing it.
And just as his understanding crystallized—
The accumulated bolt descended at a speed approaching that of light.
BOOM!
Kanzaki Rei was completely engulfed in violet radiance.
His skin split.His flesh tore apart.
Yet before even bone could be exposed—
His body had already begun regenerating at terrifying speed.
Every wound vanished in the blink of an eye, restored as if nothing had ever happened.
What monstrous recovery…
Could a human even possess such regeneration?
"Do you have anything stronger?"
Bathed in lightning like a man strolling through a hot spring, Kanzaki Rei walked forward leisurely.
At the same time—
At his fingertips, a faint violet spark flickered into existence.
The technique of stacking lightning… learned.
It felt almost like a prototype of fusion magic.
The tiny spark rapidly expanded, layer upon layer stacking upon itself, swelling at an astonishing rate.
「Calamity Lightning (Fifth Tier)」
Zzzzt—
In moments, the sphere of lightning had grown larger than Kanzaki Rei himself. A vast vortex of crackling violet energy spun wildly, forming countless clusters of arc-laced currents—
And it even drew upon the surrounding winds.
Seeing the colossal sphere before her, the one-eyed woman's pupils shrank sharply.
Why?
Why could he do it too?!
Kanzaki Rei's voice turned faint, slightly strained:
"This… is already my limit."
"If you cannot contend with this, I suggest you concede."
Concede?
How could she possibly yield here?!
To surrender now would mean admitting that her understanding of lightning and wind was inferior to his!
Rumble—
Facing the rotating storm of destruction, she raised her right hand. A golden sphere of lightning materialized in her palm—and began to expand.
This…
It resembled something eerily similar to the Un戒 Heart Lightning he had acquired.
Kanzaki Rei infused a fragment of "core" into his own lightning.
「Seismic Domain Golden Lightning」
BOOM—
Though the lightning originated from her hand, Kanzaki Rei—despite the distance between them—felt as though his entire body had already been struck by its shockwaves.
BOOM!
Another pulse.
The massive lightning sphere under Kanzaki Rei's control began to shift toward gold, slipping out of his grasp.
It was as if everything he had created was being turned into a wedding dress for someone else.
"Child, you're far too arrogant."
"To manipulate lightning… in front of the inheritor of the God of Thunder?"
She had seized control of his magic?
No—
She had transformed his lightning into hers.
How fascinating.
And this technique…
It wasn't just application—it was integration. She had fused that special lightning into her own.
Kanzaki Rei carefully felt the phenomenon.
Then—
「Fifth-Tier Origin Magic — Law Follows My Will」
With a slight lift of his hand—
In an instant, the lightning that had begun to slip away returned completely to his control.
This was his magic.
A Fifth-Tier spell.
No matter its elemental nature, it remained magic—and Origin Magic from the Tribulation Pillar could command all non-Origin magic of the same tier or below.
No matter how many layers it stacked, how dense it became—
It still wasn't Origin Magic.
Control was instantly reclaimed.
And almost simultaneously—
A colorless spark appeared in his palm.
「Un戒 Heart Lightning」
"So this is how it works…"
The moment it manifested, the vast violet sphere began to transform—
From the inside out, it shifted into a pure, translucent brilliance.
In a single breath—
It became a white lightning sphere.
"…Seems I was right."
If lightning could be fused like this…
Then wind, water, ice, fire…
They should all be possible as well.
He really had to thank this opponent.
Her name was…
"Rita," right?
The instant that lightning took form—
Rita's mind was flooded with terror.
Fear surged uncontrollably, amplified to its absolute limit.
Impossible…
There was no way she could win.
Something inside her shattered completely.
As the lightning descended, she forgot to dodge—
Forgot to resist—
All she could do was stare in horror at the descending, pure-white thunder.
BOOM!
The outcome had already been decided.
Rita's body was torn apart within the lightning.
Though she had inherited the power of wind and thunder, her body was still flesh—not elemental.
Unlike the Flame Knight who could absorb fire, she could not ignore lightning's destruction.
Kanzaki Rei had won again.
And once more, the rewards were immense.
At the very least, he had gained far deeper insight into wind and lightning.
More importantly—
He had finally learned how to use those rare elemental treasures.
He had acquired many ranked elemental phenomena—flames, flowing water, lightning…
Yet had never known how to properly utilize them.
He had once considered whether there might be a method similar to devouring Heavenly Flames, like Xiao Yan—absorbing them into himself, merging them with his own elements.
But…
That required a specific cultivation method.
Without it, he could only set the idea aside.
Now, however—
Through these inheritors, he had seen the method.
From understanding lightning, he could infer the principles for other elements as well.
Though this fusion wasn't perfect—
It likely allowed only a limited number of such treasures to be integrated, and different elements might not be fully compatible with each other—
Still…
After these battles, his Fourth-Tier Origin Magic was already on the verge of breakthrough.
What he had achieved here…
Was a deeper interpretation of Omni-Transformation.
Everything in the world could manifest as elements.
Elements were not merely expressions of magic—
They were the natural form of all existence.
All things emerged from transformation—
And now, that truth had been proven through the elements.
"So… naturally, I can merge with all things."
"I am inherently in resonance with the world itself."
"I can become a vessel for everything."
As his thoughts reached their conclusion, he unconsciously murmured aloud.
Around him, manifestations appeared—
Water.Flame.Lightning.Ice.Gray earth.A writhing mass of darkness.Condensed, stagnant light.
「Piercing Infiltration Water」「Molten Sanctified Flame」「Dream-Shattering Ice」「Un戒 Heart Lightning」「High-Viscosity Living Earth」「Viscous Darkness」「Ultra-Slow Light」
"And in turn… all things can nourish me."
At that moment, a phrase surfaced in his mind from long ago:
"…A gentleman is not inherently different—he is simply adept at making use of things."
A sense of completion settled in his heart.
These extraordinary substances were no longer drifting outside him, isolated and independent—
They began to flow inward,
Integrating into his body.