"Aaaaaaa!"

  I'm FALLING — that damn geezer kicked me straight into the path and now it's dragging me like a vacuum, my whole body stretching and twisting, every nerve flipping upside down and inside out at warp speed—

  Bam.

  I hit the ground hard. Didn't hurt. Still annoyed.

  "I'll kill that geezer when I get back…!"

  I pushed myself up and looked around.

  Wait. What the hell is this place?

  A corridor. Massive — pillars stretching up so high they disappeared into the ceiling, forming a hallway that felt like it reached the heavens. The stone was polished, almost untouched. Not a crack in it.

  And there was no miasma.

  The air was completely clear. Didn't Almodey send me toward the source of the tear? The ground was steady, not a rumble, not a shake. No creatures. No shadows moving at the edges.

  Like the whole place had been frozen in time.

  There was still a faint leak of miasma further ahead — I could feel it — the real mess was deeper in. But here? Clean. Silent. Still.

  Which was exactly why every instinct I had was screaming.

  It wasn't a skill or a technique. It was that bone-deep alarm that both Josephine and I had been honing in different ways for our entire lives — the kind that goes off when something is very, very wrong even though nothing looks wrong. The same feeling from Cassian. The mage even demons refused to provoke. The pinnacle of magic itself.

  Just the memory of his aura made Josephine's knees wobble.

  But here I couldn't sense anything.

  I brushed the dirt off my sleeve and—

  Cold sweat. Down the back of my neck.

  I saw him before I understood what I was seeing.

  No — I felt him.

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  Golden hair. Sword at his side. Eyes unfocused, staring at the ground with the blank expression of someone who stopped being present a very long time ago. Standing perfectly still in the center of the corridor like a statue that had been waiting here since the world was younger.

  The Hero Ashkart.

  The man who'd led humanity through the Demonic War a thousand years ago. Who'd struck down the Demon King. Who'd given his life to seal the tear — and apparently hadn't stopped working even after.

  I could feel the weight of him from across the corridor.

  [Quest Updated!]

  [Defeat Ashkart!]

  The Hero who sealed the dimensional tear a thousand years ago still guards it — mindless, undying, and completely in the way. Free him from his endless vigil. Whether he thanks you for it is another matter.

  [Reward: ???]

  [Failure: The tear cracks open again. Divinity decreased.]

  Isn't this way too convenient.

  Also — absolutely not. That thing was a monster. One hit from him would flatten me and I knew it the same way you know not to touch something that's on fire.

  I don't have to beat him, right? I'll just slip past.

  I shuffled along the edge of the corridor. It was wide enough. As long as I stayed out of his direct line of sight—

  Schwing.

  My head was on the ground.

  My body was still moving forward.

  Eh…?

  AHHHHHH—

  I snapped back. Standing at the entrance of the path. Drenched in cold sweat.

  What the hell just happened.

  No mistake. I'd died. He'd taken my head off and I hadn't even seen him move. Hadn't sensed him. Hadn't caught so much as a flicker of intent before the sword connected.

  Hahahaha…

  Maybe I don't want to do this anymore.

  I turned around and tried to step back onto the sages' path.

  Blocked.

  I pushed with every ounce of divine power and mana I had.

  Nothing.

  God dammit.

  Fine. I'd destroy the wall instead.

  "Serious punch!"

  The wall deflected it. Didn't even scratch.

  "Reality slash!"

  Nothing. Not a dent.

  "Fuck, fuck, FUCK — I can't die here! Not after everything! Not for a MASK!"

  Okay. Different approach. I'd just blow past him at full speed. Once I was past him and at the tear, it would be fine.

  I dashed. Sound barrier — broken. Past him—

  Schwing.

  Back at the checkpoint.

  AHHH!

  He'd reacted to that speed? The body that tanked Cassian's full barrage and walked out of an explosion field? He'd kept up with that?

  [Conceal.] Every concealment spell I knew, stacked on top of each other. I flew past.

  Schwing.

  Checkpoint. Again.

  AHHH!

  I was naming this spot Home Base at this point.

  Even Sans wasn't this bad.

  I sat with that for a second. Then started stacking every support and defense spell in the Akashic Records. [Protect]. [Barrier]. [Guard]. [Steel Skin]. Like Subaru in that one anime, I thought grimly, gritting my teeth through the discomfort of forcing that much magic into my body at once.

  I'd survived the Philosopher's Stone burning through me. I could survive this.

  Reinforced to the absolute limit, I lined up, took a breath, and launched forward at something that should have been past light speed.

  Just as I cleared him—

  Schwing.

  Checkpoint.

  AHHH!

  "DAMN THIS SHIT! IT'S FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!"