Chapter 556

But the current situation was completely different...

Those laws, twisted like serpents, had manifested from nothing and were originally supposed to erase Kanzaki Rei directly.

Yet every single one of them collided with an absolutely insurmountable boundary and was blocked outside Kanzaki Rei’s body.

Not a single one could make any contact with Kanzaki Rei whatsoever.

Instead, on its own chest, a golden wound had already appeared.

The Emperor’s Sword had pierced through its body, which was composed of pure soul.

It gazed at Kanzaki Rei.

Within its heart, thoughts of submission and groveling had already begun to emerge.

[Soul Porter]

That was its name.

Perception enveloped it. The Absolute Magic Sea had already covered this entire region. This whole forbidden zone had also fallen completely under Kanzaki Rei’s dominion.

"Quite a lot of souls, indeed..."

Kanzaki Rei’s left eye watched the Porter before him, while his right eye reflected visions of the future. What he saw in his right eye was the future thirty days from now.

Kanzaki Rei saw it leave the forbidden zone. He saw it inside the [Nest of Aberration] .

The masters of the forbidden zones in attendance were not limited to just this one alone.

Besides it, there were five other forbidden zone masters, all originating from the Boundless Mountains.

Every single one...

Was his enemy.

July 3, 5036.

The Expeditionary Force formally assaulted the Nest of Aberration, assembling a total of thirty-nine Tier 8职业者.

That was almost the entirety of the current Expeditionary Force’s members.

How utterly ridiculous, when you thought about it.

Just within the Moon Sea, surrounding the Land of the Crescent Moon, the Eighth-Order magic beasts stretched across that vast ocean like an endless tide—over a thousand of them.

And the Expeditionary Force seeking to end this apocalypse?

By the most generous count, it only had thirty-nine people.

Looking purely at numbers, it was like a mayfly trying to topple a giant tree.

However...

Every single person in this organization truly burned with unwavering conviction.

And that made sense.

Without unwavering conviction, no one could ever have stepped into Tier 8 to begin with.

That was something those mass-produced template magic beasts, born already at Eighth-Order, could never hope to match.

And the Porter before him?

Thirty days from now, it would obtain a set of 「Divine Vessel Remains」 from the Nest of Aberration—one of the Nest of Aberration’s greatest aberrations.

A vessel mutated using Earth’s "humans" as a template.

If the first type of vessel was like Kanzaki Rei—purely containing spirituality.

If the second type of vessel was like Minami Koshi—containing spirituality while also possessing a magic beast’s innate combat power.

Then now, the Nest of Aberration had already produced a third type of vessel.

A divine vessel.

It would walk the world in a magic beast’s shell, able to leave its own divine kingdom and even wield divine authority, its combat power reaching roughly sixty to seventy percent of the divine realm’s full potential.

Though it still couldn’t exert its complete, full strength.

But once a god descended to the mortal world?

It would crush every non-divine being without exception.

Even with only one-thousandth of its power, it could kill a Tier 8职业者 with ease.

This was the future.

"The Emperor’s Sword..."

"How... can it be... in your... hands."

The Porter gripped the Emperor’s Sword tightly with both hands, its pitch-black, smoke-like eyeballs bulging as they locked onto Kanzaki Rei’s gaze.

"Your question—I don’t really want to answer it."

Zing—

Before the words had fully faded, the smoke that had scattered during its earlier roar suddenly shuddered violently!

Clang!

The entire space rang out with a deep, heavy echo.

"Trying to escape?"

Kanzaki Rei didn’t turn around, but his perception had already locked onto a wisp of smoke behind him.

And this place had now become a world-sized prison.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

The mass of black fog before him instantly exploded into souls scattering in all directions. Every single soul was its true form. Every single soul was its main body.

If a single wisp of soul escaped, then its entire self would have escaped.

Yet within this range...

Not a single soul managed to get away.

After all the souls crashed against the barrier’s walls several times, they immediately realized the situation and turned, swimming back toward Kanzaki Rei!

"Oh, I probably didn’t mention this to you either... I also have some authority over souls."

Kanzaki Rei held one hand behind his back, the other gripping the Emperor’s Sword.

With an utterly calm expression, he said, "Stop."

Click—

In an instant, every single soul came to a complete halt.

The Porter realized with horror.

Its body no longer obeyed its commands at all.

By "body" here, it meant every form it possessed—whether soul or the flesh that had long lain motionless, submerged in the darkness below.

None of them responded.

"Actually, I have more enemies than just you. But do you know why I came to find you first?"

Kanzaki Rei paced through the sky.

And within this space, every particle of soul hung motionless, as if time itself had frozen.

"The answer is very simple."

"You’re the softest persimmon to squeeze."

Decree of Fate, and God-Tier · Soul Sovereign.

One Primeval Forbidden Magic, one God-Tier talent. They had crushed the opponent completely.

The Porter strained with all its might, desperate to move.

But it realized that the only thing that could still move, seemingly, was its will.

And even its will was being assimilated by a golden radiance.

In its heart, thoughts of submitting to Kanzaki Rei began to emerge, inevitable and unstoppable.

The Porter recognized the Emperor’s Sword. It knew the Emperor’s Sword was taking effect.

"Do you truly have to make an enemy of me?"

"What benefit do you gain from opposing me? What do you get by killing me?"

"I already have almost nothing left."

"Rather than killing me, why don’t we have a proper discussion?"

"You also wield fate magic, don’t you? If you understand fate, you should be able to feel that we are both puppets of fate."

"This world does not allow us to have the final say."

"You are strong. Yes, I admit you are absurdly strong."

"But do you truly believe you can be stronger than Moon Chen? Stronger than the Origin Source? If those madmen truly descend, almost everything in this world will cease to exist—take that ’Shiro’ for example!"

"Can you, alone, stand against them?"

"Let’s join forces! Consider today’s fight—no battle, no friendship!"

These thoughts crashed into Kanzaki Rei’s mind like a compressed file, its intent urgent.

It feared that if its plea for mercy came even half a second too late, Kanzaki Rei would execute it on the spot.

Kanzaki Rei’s gaze was cold.

"You have quite a strong will to survive."

Then he shook his head faintly: "What you’re saying is quite reasonable."

"But... I refuse."

"Bye-bye."

"Your fate is to be killed by me. But you find the humiliation unbearable and decide to maintain your final dignity. Therefore, you choose to take your own life."

As Kanzaki Rei spoke, rune-like characters flowed from his lips into the air.

After the final word fell, each character he had spoken lit up with golden light.

"This is your fate."

Thud!

From somewhere unseen, the sound of a heavy hammer striking a desk echoed softly.

Pff~

Then, the countless souls drifting through the sky burst apart like dandelion seeds, dispersing into the vast heavens.

[Sōdō — Path Three: Causal Fate · Death Sentence]

The fusion of fate and death.

Kanzaki Rei had directly pronounced its death.

And after its death, a faint black shadow gradually began to coalesce behind Kanzaki Rei.

Divinity. Divine power. Divine authority.

Whoosh!

The three intertwined upon this existing being. It was a death spirit—walking forth from Kanzaki Rei’s own shadow.