The moment I truly understood it… everything changed.
I stood at the center of my castle, eyes closed, hands relaxed at my sides.
Not casting.
Not forcing.
Just… absorbing.
Energy.
Heat from the air.
Faint vibrations in the stone.
Residual mana lingering in the atmosphere.
Even the microscopic friction of movement—
All of it flowed toward me.
"…So this is what it feels like," I whispered.
Not power.
An engine.
The abilities of Touka Satomi weren't just strong—they rewrote the rules of resource management entirely.
I no longer had a "limit."
No reserve to drain.
No exhaustion to fear.
Everything around me…
Was fuel.
I opened my eyes.
Gold. Purple. Black.
Different systems of power layered within my gaze.
"Mana Zone."
The castle breathed.
Energy surged from every direction, drawn into my control.
Not just manipulated—
claimed.
"Conversion."
The mana twisted instantly, refined, reshaped into pure magical output.
No loss.
No inefficiency.
Perfect.
"…Infinite input," I murmured.
"Which means…"
I raised my hand.
"Unlimited output."
A sphere of magic formed above my palm.
It didn't stop growing.
Didn't destabilize.
Didn't collapse.
It simply… continued.
Larger.
Denser.
More powerful.
And yet—
Perfectly controlled.
I smiled slightly.
"Good."
I dismissed it instantly. No explosion. No waste.
Because raw power wasn't the goal anymore.
Control was.
I shifted my focus inward.
The Soul Gem pulsed softly.
Stable.
Unclouded.
"…So even this won't corrupt me anymore," I noted.
That had been a weakness once.
A limit.
A risk.
Now?
Irrelevant.
I turned slightly, shadows stretching behind me.
"Let's integrate."
This was where things became interesting.
I extended my shadow—
And activated Annihilation Maker.
A creature began to form.
But this time—
I fed it.
Not just imagination—
Energy.
Endless energy.
The result…
Was immediate.
The creature stabilized faster.
Stronger.
Denser.
"…So I can reinforce them directly," I said, observing carefully.
I pushed further.
Mana Zone feeding energy.
Conversion refining it.
Annihilation Maker shaping it.
Three systems.
Working as one.
The creature grew larger.
More complex.
Its structure adapted in real time, strengthening under the pressure of the energy I supplied.
"…Adaptive evolution," I murmured.
That was new.
I cut the flow instantly.
The creature held its form.
Perfectly stable.
"…Interesting."
So I could build them stronger from the start.
Not just design—
Enhance.
Empower.
I dismissed it and stepped back.
That was one layer.
Now—
Time magic.
I raised my hand again.
"Acceleration."
The flow of time around me sped up—focused, controlled.
Not on myself—
On the process.
I began forming another creature.
And watched as its development—its adaptation, its structural evolution—
Accelerated.
Seconds became minutes.
Minutes became hours.
The creature refined itself in real time.
"…So I can evolve them instantly," I whispered.
That…
That was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
I stopped the process and dismissed the construct before it could go any further.
Silence returned to the hall.
I stood there for a moment, thinking.
"…This changes everything."
Not just for combat.
Not just for escape.
For strategy.
I could create armies.
Endless ones.
Each tailored.
Each evolving.
Each reinforced with effectively infinite energy.
And when I finally broke free—
Nothing would be able to keep up.
Not Camelot.
Not armies.
Not even Merlin.
I glanced toward the shimmering threads of the seal again.
Still there.
Still absolute.
But now…
I could feel something new.
Not a weakness.
A pressure point.
The seal was still absorbing energy.
Still adapting.
But now I wasn't feeding it uncontrolled bursts.
I was feeding it precision.
Measured inputs.
Calculated flows.
"…Let's see how long you can keep up," I said quietly.
Because for the first time—
I wasn't just growing stronger.
I was becoming efficient.
And in a battle of systems…
Efficiency wins.