Aetherna looked down at the blood-stained field, her heart shattering completely. Tears finally spilled over as she gripped her chest.
"If Haruto dies... then I won't survive this either. I'll fade away right here."
Rutherford quickly stepped closer, his voice urgent but low.
"Queen, come over here to me, quickly."
Aetherna wiped her eyes, confused. "What is it, Rutherford?"
"Look at the arena," Rutherford whispered, pointing toward the open track.
"The invisible magic wall that was blocking us is completely gone now. If we act right now, we can ambush Kallen, eliminate him, and save everyone before he can fully take control."
Aetherna shook her head, her face pale.
"It's no use. You know the absolute law of this world—if the master dies, the servants linked to him perish instantly. If Haruto is fading, we are already doomed."
Down on the ground, a strange, silent tragedy was unfolding within the rigid line of the enslaved girls. Ivory, using her sensory magic, felt a sudden, freezing emptiness in her soul. The deep, glowing thread of spiritual energy that had firmly connected them to Haruto all this time was starting to fray and snap, piece by piece.
The last remaining bond holding them together was tearing apart.
They looked over at the center of the track. Haruto's body was in such a horrific, mutilated state from Kallen's brutal attacks that he didn't even look human anymore. He was completely unrecognizable. Tears streamed down Lustra's face, and even the stoic Bellona felt a crushing weight in her chest. They realized that these intense, agonizing emotions—this deep grief and care—were things they had only learned to feel because Haruto had treated them like real people, not just tools. Toya stood completely paralyzed in the line, his mind racing in absolute denial. Why is it ending like this? How could our journey stop here?
But high up in the royal pavilion, Rutherford's eyes suddenly widened as he looked at Aetherna's hands.
"Wait, Queen! Look at yourself!" Rutherford gasped, a sudden burst of excitement breaking through his panic.
"You haven't faded! Your spiritual energy is still completely stable and alive! If Haruto were truly dead, your spirit body should have dissolved into dust the exact same second. But you are still standing right here next to me!"
A spark of sudden hope ignited in Aetherna's tear-filled eyes. She snapped her head up to look at the giant display in the sky.
Haruto's life tracker wasn't blank. It hadn't hit zero. It was holding stubbornly at exactly 1 HP.
He was alive. He was barely hanging on by a literal thread, but his heart was still beating. Because of this, the arena system itself hadn't flashed a final victory sign for Kallen yet. The match was technically still running in the background.
Realizing the stakes, Aetherna immediately suppressed her aura, shrinking back down into her compact sword-spirit form. She quietly hopped right back into Princess Lilith's lap, perfectly pretending to be a completely powerless, ordinary weapon again.
"Don't make a sound," Aetherna whispered through their private link, her hope completely renewed.
"Haruto hasn't given up. He's still alive in that mess. The game isn't over yet."
Kallen turned toward the rigid line of the enslaved companions, his face twisting into a disgusting, remorseless grin. He pointed his finger at Haruto's motionless body, issuing his first official command under the system's absolute authority.
"Hey, slaves," Kallen ordered, his voice echoing loudly across the field.
"Take that garbage on the ground and tear it into small, broken pieces. Scatter his remains across the entire arena floor. Let everyone see what happens to a glitch who tries to oppose me."
Toya, Ivory, Bellona, and Lustra froze, their eyes widening in absolute horror. The stadium itself gasped, a wave of sickness washing over the commoner stands. This wasn't a victory anymore—it was pure, unadulterated malice.
Up in the highest seats of the royal pavilion, the King himself couldn't handle the cruelty. He slammed his fists onto his throne, his face red with outrage as he started to stand up to intervene. But before he could take a step, Fredrick quickly reached out and blocked him, his voice tense but firm.
"Your Majesty, stop," Fredrick whispered, forcing his own expression to remain neutral. "This is a sanctioned Wizard Quest. Under the ancient laws of this ground, the absolute winner has complete power over the loser and his assets. If you interfere now, you violate the core foundation of our kingdom's laws. Please, you must remain quiet and let it resolve."
Right beside them, Seraphine sat in complete silence. Though her face remained masked, her hands tightly gripped the edges of her seat, feeling a deep, suffocating disgust at Kallen's actions.
Down on the track, the purple branding marks on the companions' skin flared to life, trying to force their muscles to execute the command. The girls' legs began to move forward against their will, their boots dragging heavily across the marble. Tears streamed down Ivory and Lustra's faces.
"No... please," Lustra sobbed, trying to anchor her weight to the floor.
"Just delete us instead! Kill us right now, but don't force us to do this!"
"We won't do it!" Bellona roared, her jaw clenching so hard her teeth bled as she fought against the system's absolute control string.
As their bodies were forcefully dragged closer to Haruto, memories began to flash through their minds in rapid succession. They remembered the moments they spent at the mansion, the training sessions, the quiet confidence Haruto always held, and the fact that he had treated them as real individuals rather than disposable tools. Every single frame of their journey with him was being torn apart by this forced command.
But while their physical forms were trembling on the brink of despair, deep inside the core data of the match, a completely different process was initializing.
While his physical body lay completely shattered in the real world, Haruto's eyes suddenly snapped open.
He wasn't on the blood-stained marble floor anymore, and the agonizing pain had vanished. Instead, he found himself standing in a vast, endless white space—the quiet sanctuary of his own mind world. This was the exact place where the enigmatic entity, Aetheris, always appeared to him.
As if stepping out from the empty air, Aetheris materialized a few steps away, looking down at Haruto. His voice was completely calm, devoid of any anger or pity.
"Can you even move, Haruto?"
Haruto tried to shift his weight, but his limbs felt like lead. He let out a heavy, exhausted sigh.
"I don't think so. I can't feel my own body anymore."
Aetheris took a step closer, his expression unreadable.
"The journey ends here, my friend. It's time for you to pack your things and return to your old, ordinary world.."
Hearing those words, something fierce flared up inside Haruto's chest. Even pinned to the ground in the real world, his spirit refused to back down. He glared at the entity.
"Lying down and giving up like this... it just isn't right. If you try to force me out, I swear I will kill you, Aetheris. I am not some disposable toy you can just throw away when things get tough."
Aetheris didn't flinch. He simply looked at Haruto with a cold, piercing gaze.
"And yet, you couldn't handle the pressure. It's time for you to leave this world. You are simply too weak for it. If you can't even handle a single human opponent, how do you expect to stand against gods in the future?"
The insult pierced through Haruto's remaining exhaustion, replaced by an absolute, unyielding fury. He forced himself to stand straight in the mind world, his voice dropping into a lethal, dead-serious tone as he stared directly into Aetheris's eyes.
"I don't care what the rules say, and I don't care about your warnings," Haruto whispered, every syllable dripping with pure conviction.
"If you try to take this away from me, I will find a way to tear you apart. I will kill you, Aetheris. I mean it."
The moment those fierce words left Haruto's mouth, the serene white space of his mind world violently fractured. Thick, jet-black stripes tore through the empty horizon like a spreading virus, corrupting the sanctuary.
Suddenly, Haruto gasped, clutching his head as a massive, secondary wave of pressure slammed into his consciousness. It felt as if a second mind was forcing its way into his thoughts, doubling the weight inside his brain.
BZZZZZT!
Right behind him, a brilliant, piercing light erupted, illuminating the newly darkened space. Out of the glow stepped a second light-emitting entity. Unlike the deep, heavy resonance of Aetheris, this new being spoke with a slightly thinner, sharper voice that vibrated with immense authority.
Aetheris snapped his head around, his calm demeanor shattering into absolute shock.
"No... this is impossible. How are you here?"
The new radiant entity stepped forward, the light around its silhouette rippling like water.
"Hello, Aetheris. It has been a very long time since we last met."
Aetheris's voice grew incredibly tense. "What do you want?"
"Unfortunately for you, you cannot send this boy back to his old world," the new entity replied, its voice smooth and unbothered by Aetheris's hostility.
"And why not?" Aetheris demanded, stepping forward defensively.
"This is my domain. This is none of your business."
The new being of light gestured toward Haruto, its radiance expanding to shield him from the black stripes.
"It is my business now. Because as of this very moment, I am officially choosing him to be my reincarnation."
"No! You can't do that!" Aetheris shouted, his usual calm completely vanishing as he stepped forward.
"You have no right to interfere!"
The glowing entity didn't back down. "I absolutely can, and I just did."
Realizing he was losing control of the situation, Aetheris tried to bargain.
"Fine! If that's how it is, I won't send him back to his old world either. He will stay right here. He can be my reincarnation instead!"
The new radiant being let out a soft, mocking chuckle.
"Unfortunately for you, it's already too late. I have already funneled my divine energy directly into his soul. He's likely feeling it right now—that heavy, crushing pressure building up inside his mind."
Aetheris's face twisted in pure desperation.
"No, stop it! Pull your energy out of him right now!"
"Sorry, but that's impossible," the light-emitting entity replied smoothly.
"A true reincarnation protocol cannot be reversed. Besides, it is incredibly rare to find a soul of this specific caliber."
Haruto, who had been standing there forced to listen to them argue back and forth like he was a prize to be won, finally snapped. He rubbed his temples, glaring at the two cosmic beings. "Hey! Who the hell is this talking over my head?" He thinks.
"If this new guy is actually offering me a way out, then Aetheris, I am officially cutting ties with you."
The new being of light turned toward Haruto, its brilliance softening. "My name is Sirehtea."
The moment that name echoed through the dark stripes of his mind world, Haruto froze in absolute shock. Sirehtea... the God of Nothingness?! His mind raced as the pieces started clicking together. He knew the ancient lore—this was a legendary deity associated with the void, an entity of absolute erasure. But why is he here? And if he's choosing me, that means he's going to let me stay in this world. Not only that, he's handing me his raw, unadulterated power—the exact same heavy, infinite energy I feel expanding inside my veins right now.
A dark, dangerous grin slowly returned to Haruto's face in the mind world. The heavy pressure inside his head didn't feel like a burden anymore; it felt like ammunition.
Awesome, Haruto thought, his confidence returning at full volume. I don't need the God of Creation or his restrictive rules anymore. With the power of the void on my side, I have exactly what I need to delete Kallen's entire reality.
"No! I am absolutely not pulling my presence back!" Aetheris yelled, his voice echoing fiercely through the dark space.
"He is my candidate! I am making him my reincarnation right here, right now!"
Sirehtea let out a smooth, exasperated sigh.
"Oh, come on. A second ago you were literally trying to pack his bags and delete him back to his old world. Just hand him over to me."
"Never!" Aetheris barked, his pride completely wounded. "I will never give him to you!"
Haruto rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he watched the two supreme entities bicker over him. "Hey, Aetheris. I already told you, I am completely done with you and your garbage restrictions. I'm choosing the new guy."
Hearing Haruto reject him so casually was a massive slap in the face for Aetheris. But as he stared at Sirehtea, a dark, calculating panic began to take over his thoughts. If the God of Nothingness secures a perfect reincarnation match before the baseline world code resets, it's going to create a catastrophic imbalance in the upper realms. I can't let him have an exclusive monopoly over this soul.
Sirehtea turned away from Aetheris, the soft light around her shifting gently toward Haruto. "Well, Haruto, the choice is entirely yours. Who are you locking in?"
"I already decided," Haruto said, his voice deadly serious. "I'm going with nothingness."
"Wait!" Aetheris interrupted, pointing a desperate finger at Sirehtea. "You just said it yourself—once a reincarnation flow initializes, the divine energy cannot be extracted or taken back! That means my current connection code is still embedded in his soul too! I'm not pulling out either!"
Sirehtea let out a sharp, deeply sarcastic laugh. "Oh, wow. Is that how it works? Thank you so much for explaining the absolute laws of divinity to me, Aetheris. I had absolutely no idea."
Aetheris's face flushed with anger at the blatant mockery. "If you already knew the transfer rules, then why the hell did you inject your energy while my system link was still active?!"
Sirehtea's expression shifted, a dangerous, unpredictable gleam flashing within her radiant light.
"To run a little experiment, of course," Sirehtea replied, her voice dropping into a chillingly calm purr.
"I wanted to see what happens when a single human vessel holds the absolute, dual-core output of two primordial gods simultaneously... The Power of Creation and the Power of Nothingness. Let's see if his frame can handle the overload."
Haruto's mind raced as the terrifying reality of his situation sunk in. Was this all part of their plan from the very beginning? he thought, a cold sweat breaking out across his consciousness. An experiment? They're treating me like a lab rat!
"Wait, hold on a second!" Haruto shouted, raising his hands to back them off.
"This isn't right. I am not your science project! Aetheris, what the hell is happening here?"
Instead of backing down, Aetheris's tone shifted, filled with a sudden, dark curiosity. "An experiment, you say? Fine. I'm actually on board with this. Let's see what happens when we force a single human to hold both of our powers."
Sirehtea let out a soft laugh.
"Perfect. But first, we need to figure out how to clean up the absolute disaster happening in the outside world."
"Listen to me! I'm not done talking!" Haruto yelled, but his protests were completely falling on deaf ears.
"An eye for an eye, Haruto," Aetheris said coldly, completely brushing him off.
"We aren't asking for your permission anymore."
As the dark, corrupting stripes continued to warp his sanctuary, a sudden, jarring realization hit Haruto. He stared at the two primordial entities, completely bewildered despite his rising panic.
Wait a minute... this makes absolutely no sense, Haruto thought, his mind struggling to process their dynamic. Creation and Nothingness are supposed to be natural, bitter enemies. One builds reality, and the other completely erases it. They should be at each other's throats trying to destroy one another! So why the hell are they acting like two old friends casually planning a weekend project? They're cooperating way too easily.
Before he could voice his confusion, Sirehtea stepped closer, her brilliant light cutting through his thoughts.
"We don't have time for a Q&A session right now, Haruto," Sirehtea said, completely dismissing his bewildered expression.
"From what I've observed from inside your subconscious, your physical vessel and your friends are in an absolute, total mess out there. If we don't intervene this very second, there won't be a body left for either of us to inhabit."
Sirehtea stepped closer, her brilliant light washing over his mind.
"Just hand over the control of your physical body to me, Haruto. Only for a moment."
Haruto hesitated. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he forced his awareness back to the real world for a split second. What he saw was sickening. His physical form was a mutilated, bloody mess of torn flesh pinned to the floor, and his friends—the three goddesses and Toya—were standing in a rigid line, completely stripped of their freedom, being forced to act as slaves. The sheer unfairness of it burned through his soul. Why did it have to end like this?
"Let me take care of this mess," Sirehtea whispered gently, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Go ahead," Aetheris agreed, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "Fix it."
Haruto opened his eyes in the mind world and gave them a slow, resolute nod. He let go of his grip on his own consciousness, allowing the dual-core presence of Creation and Nothingness to completely take the wheel.
Back in the real world, the tragic scene suddenly came to an absolute halt.
Toya and the three goddesses, whose bodies were being forced by the system to tear Haruto apart, stopped in their tracks. Their eyes widened as a brilliant, pure white aura began to erupt from Haruto's mutilated form. It looked strikingly similar to Toya's native energy, but with one massive difference—Toya's aura never emitted its own light. This new energy was blindingly radiant, casting a celestial glow across the entire stadium.
Before anyone could process what was happening, the heavy iron spears and steel swords deeply embedded in Haruto's flesh began to glow red-hot. Within a fraction of a second, they turned to ash, completely vaporized by the sheer heat of the energy.
FLASH!
A blinding explosion of light detonated at the center of the track, forcing everyone in the audience to shield their eyes. When the glare finally subsided, Haruto was standing tall on his own two feet.
The digital golden crown that had fallen onto the blood-stained marble rose into the air on its own, snapping right back into his asset slot. But Haruto looked completely transformed. His short dark hair had grown long, shifting into a striking, snowy white color. His eyes burned with a piercing, crimson-red gaze. Surrounding his entire body was a majestic, swirling flame of red, blue, and green aura—a colorful, roaring fire of pure divine energy.
The entire colosseum fell into a stunned, breathless silence. Tens of thousands of spectators sat with their mouths wide open, utterly paralyzed by the immense pressure radiating from the field. Kallen stumbled backward, his arrogant smile completely wiping off his face.
Haruto slowly raised his hands, examining his fingers. But when he spoke, the voice that came out wasn't his usual bored tone. It was a sharp, slightly thin, and incredibly smooth voice—the unmistakable voice of Sirehtea.
"Wow," Haruto remarked, stretching his shoulders with a playful sigh. "Why are human male bodies always so weird and stiff? Oh well... What's with the silence, everyone? Aren't you going to welcome me back to the game?"