Shichen returned to thirty years ago—the point where everything in this world began.
Reine's pleading eyes had left him no way to refuse.
And it was time, too. Time to untangle everything, and settle everything.
Thirty years ago, the world was plain. Civilization was a bit behind—fewer major cities, and buildings that weren't nearly as polished or dazzling as they were now.
But the air was fresh.
The moment Shichen arrived, that freshness hit him sharply—but he didn't have time to appreciate this era's people or scenery.
Because the instant he stepped into this time, he felt something wrong in the air. Something was gathering, the way a storm gathers before it breaks.
It was that pre-tempest hush—heavy, stifling, unnaturally quiet. The kind that makes your nerves itch.
And the source of that pressure was coming from somewhere specific. Something was condensing there.
Shichen flew straight toward it—toward the central region between two continents, the very "root" of the vortex.
On an open stretch of wilderness, three figures stood together: two men and a woman, all young-looking.
They were magi, gathered here for a single purpose.
"…Then we begin. Karen, prepare."
"Yes, Isaac."
The reply came from the young woman—through a communicator, her voice transmitted rather than spoken directly.
The man who seemed to be leading—Isaac—looked ahead. A circular apparatus had been arranged there: a mana furnace.
The furnace activated. A low, rumbling hum reached Isaac's ears, and the heart he'd kept buried for so long began to race.
He had waited for this moment for years—everything for this one instant.
Whoosh—
It felt like wind, but it wasn't wind.
A strange energy began to gather—from the sky, from the earth, from the very air itself—flowing in, converging.
Mana. The magic energy that slept inside all things that made up the world, now revealing itself—glittering, spiraling, swirling in luminous eddies.
This was a ritual. The three of them had given it a name:
The Spirit Formula.
Its effect was to concentrate the world's mana into a single point—so that a new life could be created.
And if they could draw power from the life born of condensed mana… then Isaac and the others—who until now could only manipulate weak traces of mana through books and incantations—would become all-powerful magi, the kind that only existed in fantasy.
They would be able to create a new world.
"Isaac, this…" Elliot spoke in a low voice.
"Yes," Isaac answered, exhilaration shaking through him. "A Spirit will be born—and with it, a new world that will cover this world will arrive!"
Isaac's lips curled upward. He clenched his fist, trembling with excitement.
"A free domain… a universal space that turns what humanity imagines into reality. If our calculations are correct, the space carried by the Spirit about to be born will be large enough to envelop the entire Earth… a scale that can be called another world—the Neighboring World."
Madness gleamed in Isaac's eyes.
"That will be our world. We will use the Neighboring World to replace this world."
Elliot listened, staring at Isaac's profile. Unlike Isaac, he wasn't thrilled—he swallowed hard, tension creeping up his spine.
He didn't know why he felt uneasy.
But at this point, he had no intention of opposing Isaac.
They had burned more than a decade to reach this scene.
Still… was it really right?
Did this world truly deserve to be replaced?
"It's time. There'll be a backlash when the Spirit appears. Elliot, prepare the talismans," Isaac cut through Elliot's thoughts.
"…Okay."
Elliot snapped back, pulled out his talismans, gathered mana, and formed a barrier that covered all three of them.
And in the same instant the girl—Ellen—arrived—
BZZZ—
A violent shock blasted outward. Their vision was flooded with pure white.
They couldn't see anything.
Naturally, the figure that appeared in the sky was invisible to them.
That figure ignored the raging waves of force and hung in the air. He glanced at the center where mana was concentrating—then flicked a thread of mana containing a fragment of all his power into it.
He let it fuse.
That way, the existence that would be born… would carry his ability.
He didn't leave. He simply hovered there, watching the birth.
The shockwave was beyond imagination. Even with the talisman barrier raised, the tremor still transmitted through it, shaking the three of them to the bone.
Their bodies quivered. They could only duck their heads, helpless. Their ears had gone deaf.
It was like a missile had detonated directly overhead—an explosion on a scale that dwarfed anything human.
The earth heaved. The three of them—and their barrier—sank, swallowed by dust and debris.
After a moment, the trembling died away. Elliot released the barrier.
He looked around.
When the dust finally cleared, the sight before him made his eyes go wide—his throat locking as if words had been stolen.
An endless emptiness.
The fields beneath their feet, the distant mountains, even the faint outline of a city they used to be able to see—
Everything was gone.
As if the world contained only the three of them now…
No—there was still one thing left.
A presence that had never existed before was floating before them now, quietly suspended in the void.
"PFF—HAHA! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!"
Isaac laughed—loud, unrestrained, triumphant. His voice echoed across the empty land.
Before the three of them was a girl—beautiful beyond reason—wrapped in a faint radiance.
She had appeared from nothing.
She was the First Spirit.
So beautiful language couldn't capture it—beauty that struck directly at the soul.
Not something that belonged in the human world.
Isaac's possessiveness was naked. Elliot's adoration nearly became tangible. Ellen's envy was obvious at a glance.
"Isn't she beautiful?"
A voice—completely out of place—cut through the air.
"Wha—?!" Isaac reacted first, snapping his head up toward the sky behind them.
His eyes widened.
A man was there.
How could there be anyone besides them?
He hadn't sensed a thing!
And how had this man withstood that shock?
"Who are you?" Elliot stepped forward, placing himself between Isaac and Ellen, staring up with wary intensity.
Shichen looked at the three of them, expression calm.
He was familiar with two of them. The third, he knew by reputation, but hadn't met face-to-face before now.
And yet that "third" had, in another time, still been his sponsor—someone whose help had covered his clothing, food, housing, even job and transfer procedures.
Seeing Elliot instinctively shield his companions, Shichen felt a flicker of approval.
Not bad. He could, grudgingly, forgive that man's admiration for Mio.
"Elliot. Isaac. Ellen," Shichen said, looking down at them. "Leave. I have no interest in you right now."
"What? He knows our names?!"
Isaac stared at Shichen, heart lurching.
At a moment like this—after everything he'd prepared—how could an accident like this happen?
"Me?" Shichen said. "You can call me… Origin."
He remembered how Isaac had addressed him the first time they met. It fit nicely now.
"Origin?!" Isaac repeated, frowning, not understanding.
Was he claiming he'd been born alongside the Spirit?
A yin-and-yang pair?
There had been no such data.
"Summoning a god—Deus—and trying to steal her power," Shichen said coldly. "You've got some nerve."
"Even that… he knows…" Isaac's gaze flickered, uncertain.
He didn't know how strong Shichen was, but someone who could hover in midair like that was already far beyond them.
"Isaac… what do we do?" Elliot asked quietly.
Ellen stayed silent. She didn't know anything beyond following orders.
Isaac clenched his fists. His face twisted through hesitation.
He'd planned for so long. He'd finally succeeded.
How could he give up now?
"Looks like you won't quit until you see a coffin," Shichen said flatly.
He raised a hand. A wind answered.
"What…?"
The wind grew stronger, whipping up pebbles, crushing the air into a howl.
The ground looked as if it had been carved by blades, lines scoring the soil—
Wind blades.
They tore at the ground around the three of them—never touching their bodies, but making the threat unmistakable.
Isaac watched in silence.
This was not something they could handle.
If they resisted, they died.
If they lived, there was still a "maybe."
"We…"
"Forget it. I'll send you myself."
Shichen didn't bother waiting for a decision. The wind surged, wrapped around them, and hurled them into the far distance—until they vanished from sight.
Then he turned and flew toward the girl in the sky.