Chapter 354

Splash—

His sea of consciousness rippled like waves, gradually being stained with a faint shade of black.

Kanzaki Rei, his emotions utterly unmoved, received Akasei’s frontal greatsword strike head-on. His body drifted backward like a fluttering butterfly—

He could hear Akasei’s roaring and shouting.

But the sound felt... distant.

At the same time, even as he was sent flying, he could see that crimson figure pursuing him like a relentless specter.

This should have been a battle filled with exhilaration.

So why... did his heart feel as still as stagnant water?

His damaged body was repairing itself—

Yet Kanzaki Rei could also feel a sense of stripping away... of annihilation.

His recovery speed had slowed.

The surrounding reality was being peeled away layer by layer, like threads being unwound from a cocoon.

His mind still calculated responses to the battle.

His body still moved on instinct.

And yet—

Everything felt impossibly far away.

Boom—

The crimson slash collided with the battle spear he had formed.

But Kanzaki Rei felt weightless.

As though he had lost all sensation—unable to feel anything real.

Clang—clang clang clang clang—

Pff!

His limbs were torn apart by overwhelming force.

Under normal circumstances, perhaps he would have felt shock... awe... disbelief.

But within this suspended moment—

Kanzaki Rei watched as Akasei, who had been in front of him an instant ago, now appeared behind him in the next.

And within his heart—

There was barely a ripple.

Even toward the distant Iz—

There was no reaction.

"What’s wrong?"

"Not satisfied?"

Time resumed its flow.

Kanzaki Rei responded mechanically to Akasei’s attacks, while in the distance, four-colored light rose around Iz!

Yet within his mind—

Luluwei’s voice echoed once more.

"Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?"

"Fight, grow stronger. Fight, grow stronger."

"Are you finding it meaningless now?"

...

"Die!"

Boom!

At some point, Akasei’s face had blurred into something monstrous—a red-faced demon.

Each strike carried a sense of unleashed, unrestrained power!

Kanzaki Rei’s chest was blasted through by a single blow!

Of course—

It regenerated instantly.

Somewhere in the unseen, he could feel a law of destruction suppressing his regeneration.

But...

With the sheer toughness of his current body—

Even if he wanted to die, it would no longer be easy.

Learn Akasei’s combat style.

Understand why he is so strong.

Kanzaki Rei thought this.

But soon, a wave of exhaustion rose within him—

Completely different from the clarity he felt when resisting contamination.

This was the exact opposite.

"What’s the point?"

"If I had stayed on Earth... if I had never stepped into this vast world... would that really make me a failure?"

"Becoming stronger is only to avoid danger—to live freely as I wish."

"But... if I already had a way to obtain true happiness..."

It sounded like someone whispering in his ear—

And yet, also like his own inner voice.

Akasei’s fury was right in front of him.

Yet it felt infinitely distant.

In the distance, Iz still held his staff aloft.

He had originally condensed countless offensive spells—

But for some reason, he had stopped.

He simply watched as Akasei continued attacking.

Gurgle—

It felt as though his consciousness were sinking into the deep sea.

So annoying... another mental attack.

Kanzaki Rei knew he was under mental assault.

He crushed several pills in his mouth, letting their effects flow into his body.

His mind cleared slightly—

But there was no real improvement.

"Do you still think this is an attack?"

"I’ve never attacked you at all."

"It’s you... attacking yourself."

Luluwei’s voice continued to echo.

Under Akasei’s relentless assault, Kanzaki Rei’s body hovered between destruction and full restoration.

Boom!

A burst of crimson light exploded around him!

Akasei was growing stronger.

Every second, his power increased.

Kanzaki Rei could feel it clearly—it was as though Akasei possessed endlessly scaling strength.

But now—

Kanzaki Rei couldn’t even bring himself to care.

Was it a talent?

A hidden trump card?

He didn’t feel like thinking about it.

Whoosh—

As his body was blasted through and sent flying again, his gaze drifted upward into the pitch-black night sky.

Within his vision—

It was as if he saw countless versions of himself.

"I’m so tired of living like this."

"No matter where I go, danger follows me. There’s no peace in my fate."

"My home world is already gone."

"My parents... I don’t even know if they can ever return to normal."

...

"Maybe... entering the Deep Realm wouldn’t be such a bad choice."

It sounded like his own thoughts—

And yet also like Luluwei’s voice.

The two overlapped.

"What you think is an attack... is actually just the voices of countless versions of yourself."

"They’re watching you from worlds where they found happiness."

"They’re calling out to you... telling you to stop exhausting yourself like this."

Suddenly, another voice echoed in his mind—

Ansu’s.

"What’s the point of becoming stronger?"

"No matter how strong you are, there will always be things you can’t do."

"The past cannot be changed. No matter how many times you simulate it, what has happened will never be undone."

"If something is impossible, then even infinite strength won’t make it possible."

"There are things in this world that simply cannot be done."

Whoosh—

Kanzaki Rei’s eyes grew hollow.

Almost entirely on instinct, he continued to block Akasei’s attacks.

"I may have strong talent... but that’s just luck."

"I was fortunate enough to gain something like a cheat ability from a web novel... but at my core, I’m still just an ordinary person."

"I can’t even compare to a true genius like Iz."

And this still isn’t a mental attack?

It’s making me think all of this negativity...

Kanzaki Rei could clearly perceive his own thoughts—

Yet he couldn’t control them.

It felt as though another version of himself was speaking within his mind.

He turned his awareness inward, into his sea of consciousness.

It was filled with chaotic, multicolored distortions—

Every misfortune he had experienced, and every possible misfortune—

Was being manifested.

"If I hadn’t been so cautious... walking on thin ice at every step... I would have died countless times already."

"If I hadn’t met Iz... if I hadn’t been just a little lucky..."

"My life would have been unbearably difficult."

"Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Or next year?"

"Do I really want to keep gambling on luck, living in constant fear?"

Kanzaki Rei had never consciously thought these things—

Yet they echoed relentlessly within him.

It was as if something inside him had replaced his own thoughts.

Crackle—

The figure striking at him—

Half Akasei, half Aoyama Kiyomi—

flickered into view.

A massive, bleeding hole gaped in her chest.

Blood spilled from her lips.

Her dagger slashed across his skin—

And his once-immovable body was cut as easily as paper.

"If you keep clinging to this path... you’ll only lose more."

"Yuna is already gone. Luluwei was corrupted—killed by your own hand. Aoyama Kiyomi has severed ties with you."

"One day... you may even hear of Iz’s death."

"What are you still fighting for in this world?"

"Wouldn’t simple happiness be enough?"

"This is the greatest ritual."

"A ritual that can bring perfect happiness to everyone in the world."

"You only have one chance to enter the Deep Realm."

"Not only will you gain happiness—you’ll achieve a different kind of immortality within it."

"If you give up this opportunity... you’ll never be allowed to enter again."

"Are you really going to abandon the one and only chance in your life?"

Whoosh—

The creature before him—half Akasei, half Aoyama Kiyomi—

suddenly stopped.

And the entire world—

Froze, as if the pause button had been pressed.