Chapter 323

It seemed... this dream was not under his control.

Kanzaki Rei remained conscious within the dream. His extraordinarily high spiritual sensitivity allowed him to clearly recognize that he was inside a dreamscape.

If this wasn’t a dream he controlled...

Then it had to be connected to the one before him.

No wonder I felt so drowsy.

I thought I was just exhausted... but from now on, if I feel an unnatural wave of sleepiness, I should stay on guard.

Huu—

Countless souls tugged at Rei’s clothes, drifting backward like a tide. Endless spirits flowed past him.

"Is there anything else you require... honored Shiro, embodiment of Death and Destruction?"

Rei’s tone carried a trace of respect.

The fact that she could reach him—and that she was a Moon Entity—meant showing caution cost him nothing.

What concerned Rei most was the ritual he had used to summon Pure White’s descent.

That ritual required the sacrifice of his own life.

Strictly speaking... he had already fulfilled that condition.

Not long after summoning her, he had died.

And returned to the Moon Sea.

But...

If she were strict about the terms, perhaps that wouldn’t count. There was a possibility—

She had come to claim his life.

At that thought, Rei’s tension rose sharply.

Why was it that even with Unsolvable Enigma fully active, she could still enter his dream?

Still...

Fear was useless.

He could only respond as best as he could.

"You and I have already formed a contract. The contract is complete."

"In this world, you are the only one who can call upon my descent."

Bzz—

The air trembled.

A vast and intricate ritual circle materialized before Rei’s eyes, complex beyond comprehension.

"True White Descent Ritual."

"This ritual no longer requires your life as a sacrifice."

So... she wants to descend as well.

Rei recalled what Ansu had said—after becoming a god, one could only exist within their divine domain. To descend into the world in their complete form required the completion of a grand ritual.

And for Shiro, the embodiment of death and destruction...

That ritual would likely mean annihilating all life in the world—erasing all matter from existence.

However, as a powerful Moon Entity, she would certainly seek ways to reduce the requirements and difficulty of that ritual through special means.

Which meant—

The actual conditions might be somewhat less extreme.

Perhaps... even payable in installments.

The missions of the various churches, the actions each one carried out—

All of it was progress toward their god’s eventual descent.

For divine servants, every small act of devotion, every duty fulfilled each day—

Was another fraction added to the progress bar of divine descent.

No believer existed without purpose.

"Understood."

Rei gave no further response.

Telling her to her face that he wouldn’t use the ritual—provoking a Moon Entity like that—was no different from suicide.

Besides...

He couldn’t guarantee he would never use it.

"And now, tell me your name."

Shiro stood across the stream, gazing at him.

Only now did Rei realize—

The "stream" between them was no stream at all.

It was a river of souls.

Beneath its surface churned an endless torrent of spirits.

Though narrow, its depth was immeasurable.

"My name..."

"You don’t already know it?"

The girl remained silent.

Her expression was calm—neither angry nor smiling.

And yet, Rei felt a chill crawl down his spine.

To be watched by the god of death and destruction—

There was nothing comfortable about it.

"...Kanzaki Rei."

In the end, he spoke his name.

If she wanted to kill him, she had countless ways to do it.

And if Unsolvable Enigma could erase his existence...

Then whether he told her his name or not made little difference.

He had considered giving a false name.

But deception could easily be exposed.

At the root of it all—

He simply wasn’t strong enough.

If I were also a Moon Entity...

Would I need to fear her at all?

"Mm."

"And one more thing—this ritual cannot be performed within the domain of another Moon Entity. In such territories, my call cannot be answered."

Other Moon Entity domains...

Places like the Heavenly Realm.

She said nothing more.

Turning away, Rei caught a glimpse of her pale, flawless back as she stepped into the thickening mist—

And vanished.

The moment she disappeared—

Rei jolted upright!

He woke abruptly from his bed—

Caw—

Caw—

Caw—

The cries of crows echoed outside.

Through the massive floor-to-ceiling window, he could see a dim, gray sky.

It was the boundary between night and dawn.

Yet the light was indistinct—a chaotic blend of hues.

Such was the sky during the Month of Chaos.

Rei checked his condition.

April 2nd.

At last.

He could feel it—

His four future simulations had refreshed.

Finally...

Without them, even a single day had felt unbearable.

This period of time—

Had truly been nothing short of turbulent.

If he had been able to simulate repeatedly, refine his decisions over and over—

He could have handled everything better.

But...

Sigh—

Before reaching this point, he had already run countless simulations. And yet, in chaos, even the most refined plans couldn’t keep up with the ever-changing reality.

She said the contract was complete...

Did that mean she had already dealt with the Secret Sea?

Had she eliminated the Original Sea?

Hopefully "dealt with" meant destroyed...

Not sealed.

Still—

At last, things had returned to normal.

April 1st—the day when the influence of the Moon Entities was strongest—had passed.

Hopefully...

Hopefully, nothing unexpected would drag him back into chaos again.

Rei calmly used spatial movement to arrive on the street. With a few more flickers, he bought some steamed buns and soy milk.

Even as he thought, his gaze drifted toward several mages in Atlante City.

「Divine Grade · Lighthouse of All Laws」

In Rei’s vision, countless clusters of light filled the world—each one representing a spell.

And on the bodies of mages, those clusters overlapped in dense layers.

Back in the Moon Sea, he had seen distant radiance representing forbidden magic—

And deep, complex hues that symbolized origin magic.

His perception swept past the Church of Reincarnation.

These past few days, the atmosphere within the church had been unusually heavy.

Through special methods, they had confirmed—

Saint One was most likely dead.

Killed... by another Reincarnator.

Rei bit into a bun, sipping his soy milk.

"Saint One..."

"Your subordinates are so loyal to you—how am I supposed to take over your church?"

"If I show up now, they’d probably chop me to pieces."

"...Forget it. I’ll just take your inheritance quietly."

Rei slowly closed his eyes—

Then opened them again, simulating the events of the day ahead.

Peaceful.

Thank goodness.

And more importantly—thank himself.

The world still existed.

It hadn’t been destroyed.

But one thing puzzled him deeply.

If the world was so easily destroyed...

Then how had these people managed to live for so long?

According to Ansu—

If he hadn’t summoned Pure White’s descent, not only would the Secret Sea have been destroyed—

Most of the world would have followed.

And the predicted deaths he had seen excluded his own influence.

Which meant—

Even without his intervention, these people could still live for decades... even centuries.

That really was...

Incomprehensible.