Leo had already examined the staff many times, turning it in his hands as his eyes followed the countless runes carved across its surface. Each symbol pulsed faintly with power, whispering its own rhythm. It wasn't just an artifact, it was a maze of laws and meanings woven together.
The staff was engraved with nearly a hundred words of power. Each one demanded mana in a precise order, and the number of possible combinations made his head ache. A single mistake could shatter the flow or worse, destroy the staff.
He tried focusing on the runes, hoping their meaning would reveal a clue. But the more he looked, the less sense they made. The patterns blurred, shifting under his gaze like they were mocking him. Minutes passed in silence, broken only by the faint hum of the staff.
He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "This is impossible."
Still, his eyes stayed fixed on the engravings. His mana pulsed faintly, tracing over the symbols, and then something clicked.
His heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't about finding the right order.
His eyes widened slightly, the tension in his shoulders fading as realization began to form slowly, cautiously, like a flame catching dry wood. The runes weren't meant to be solved; they were meant to be read. There was a pattern hidden in their rhythm, something that had been there all along, waiting for him to notice.
A faint smile tugged at his lips as his fingers brushed the carvings again.
Leo exhaled. "So that's it…" he whispered under his breath.
…
Nemesis felt a sharp pain tear through her head. She blinked once and the battlefield vanished.
Now, she stood in a vast emptiness filled with swirling gray and red fog. The air shimmered faintly, heavy with mana and echoes of thought. In front of her stood Leo, his expression calm, focused.
She looked down at herself and froze. Her body wasn't Leo's anymore. It was her old body, the one she had before her death four centuries ago. Mature, powerful, complete. The realization pulled a smirk to her lips.
"It's time for you to give me back my body," Leo said, his voice firm but not angry.
"You already had your chance, kid," Nemesis replied, her tone dripping with amusement. "And you lost. This body doesn't belong to you anymore."
Leo sighed quietly, his hand brushing his hair back. "Then I'll just have to take it by force."
Nemesis laughed, a deep, mocking sound that echoed through the empty world. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"
Leo stepped forward. The moment his foot touched the ground, the place trembled. Massive stone pillars erupted from the nothingness around them, forming rows like a colossal corridor. The ground paved itself beneath their feet, and the red mist condensed into a crimson sky.
Nemesis staggered slightly, the terrain shifting under her.
"We're inside my mind now," Leo said, his voice calm but resonant. "Here, whatever I imagine becomes reality. So tell me, Nemesis, what do you think an illusionist can do in a place where his power has no limit?"
Nemesis's grin widened. She raised her hand, and Thorn materialized in her grip, pulsing with faint mana. "I can do the same."
Leo's lips curved into a knowing smile. "Then let me show you the difference."
Nemesis lunged forward, but the space between them warped. Each step she took stretched the distance farther, until it felt infinite. No matter how fast she moved, Leo remained impossibly far away.
Then Leo raised his hand. The air above rippled, and an enormous metallic object appeared in the sky, an impossible structure of silver and black, rotating with ominous hums of power.
Nemesis looked up, her brow furrowing. "What the hell is that?"
Leo's smile turned sharp. "Something I saw once, in a movie. I've seen a lot of those. Played a lot of games too. And in here… I'm a god."
The satellite began to glow. Energy gathered at its core, condensing into a single point of white-hot light before firing downward in a beam that split the air with thunder.
Nemesis reacted instantly. She thrust Thorn upward, channeling her mana. A massive orb of blood formed above her, swirling into a barrier. The laser hit, screaming against the crimson dome. For a moment, it held, but when the light faded, the shield was gone.
Nemesis exhaled and smiled, unshaken. "I don't know what that was, but it wasn't enough. You'll need more imagination than that to defeat me."
Leo's smile returned, wider this time. "You're right."
The satellite shifted. Its shape twisted and expanded until it became an enormous sphere, as big as the moon itself. A titanic weapon with a hollow eye at its center, aimed directly at her.
"That," Leo said quietly, "is called the Death Star. The beauty of this place is, I don't need to understand how it works. I just need to remember it." His eyes softened for a brief second. "It's a shame I can't use it in the real world. I could destroy even the void itself."
Nemesis narrowed her eyes. "Don't get cocky, kid."
Leo looked back at her, tilting his head slightly. "You know, I'm nineteen. But I guess for an old woman like you… I'll always be a kid."
Her face twisted with fury. She moved to charge but the Death Star fired.
A beam of pure annihilation descended from above, swallowing the world in red light.
Leo teleported himself thousands of meters back, the world stretching in an instant. Around him, countless layers of translucent shields materialized, each one humming with the resonance of his will. Though this was a world born of imagination, the pressure was still real. He could feel the force vibrating through his bones, the air burning in his lungs. Here, even pain obeyed thought.
Across the vast expanse, Nemesis raised her sword again. Her hand trembled slightly, but her eyes were filled with defiance. With a roar, she summoned another shield, larger, stronger, denser than before. Once, she had used a similar barrier to withstand the combined assault of the Dimont family. This one was even more intricate, its blood-colored surface lined with countless sigils of power.
But against a weapon meant to erase worlds, even that was not enough.
The beam struck.
The explosion of light swallowed everything.
For a heartbeat, it was silent. Then Nemesis's scream tore through the fog.
"You won't die here," Leo said quietly, his voice calm but cold, echoing across the empty void, "but you will feel pain."
The laser burned for a full minute before finally fading. The world, slowly, began to return to its gray-red haze. The energy dissipated. The air settled.
Where Nemesis had stood, there was nothing but drifting ash, until it started to gather. Her body began to reform, piece by piece, like molten metal hardening into shape. When she finally became whole again, she dropped to one knee, trembling, her breath ragged.
Then she lifted her head, glaring up at Leo floating high above. "For every minute you waste here," she hissed, "Lucius gets another chance to destroy your body."
Leo smiled faintly. "Don't worry about that. I made time slower here."
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"Here," he said simply, "a second can last an eternity."
Nemesis gritted her teeth, forcing herself upright despite the pain. "Even so… I'll resist long enough for you to give up. You can't keep me caged forever."
"Are you sure?" Leo's tone shifted, no anger, no mockery, just quiet finality.
Before Nemesis could answer, a large orb surrounded her. She looked around sharply. The world outside vanished. Air thinned instantly.
The pressure crushed inward.
Her lungs convulsed as she coughed blood, crimson droplets and bubbles floating around her in slow motion. A second later, frost began crawling up her arms, her skin cracking under the sudden cold. She tried to move, tried to breathe, but her body no longer responded.
"You're in vacuum," Leo's voice echoed through the silence, distant yet everywhere at once. "Even for an S-rank, this pain is beyond anything you've ever felt. And since you can't die… it will never end."
He hovered above the void, watching her struggle as his expression hardened. "You've done your duty, Nemesis. You fought when I couldn't. You protected what I couldn't protect." His tone softened, almost regretful. "But now it's my turn. I don't want to see you suffer anymore."
Fog began to swirl around him, curling upward like divine mist. From the ground beneath his feet, a black-and-silver throne rose slowly, carved from thought itself. He sat upon it, the shadows forming a crown behind his head.
"Out there, in the real world, I could never defeat you," he said quietly. "But here…" His eyes glowed with calm certainty. "Here, I am the god of this world."
He knew, however, that even this wouldn't truly kill her. Even inside his mind, an S-rank soul like hers was adapting, adjusting, slowly learning to breathe the vacuum he'd imagined. She was too strong to erase completely.
So he didn't try to destroy her. He waited. He spoke. He reached.
"Nemesis," he called softly, his voice echoing through the empty gray. "You've carried this burden for too long. Four hundred years of hatred and loneliness in Thorn… I can feel all of it now. Every scar, every scream that built you."
Her trembling hand reached for nothing in particular. Her lips moved, but no sound came.
"You became what the world needed, a weapon. You gave up everything for that role. And now… now it's over." He stepped closer, his form shimmering against the emptiness. "You don't have to keep fighting me. You don't have to keep fighting anyone."
The light in her eyes flickered between rage and confusion. Her voice finally broke through, hoarse and bitter. "You think you can defeat the enemy that once defeated me? I gave my life for this!"
"I know," Leo said gently. "And I will defeat that enemy. It's time to rest now. Please… let go."
For a long moment, she said nothing. Then her eyes softened. The fury that had burned in them for centuries wavered, flickered, then dimmed like the last breath of a dying flame.
A single tear slid down her cheek.
Her form began to blur, her body dissolving into shimmering light until only the red mist remained.
…
Lucius stared at Nemesis, no, at Leo's body, his instincts screaming as he saw her form freeze. For a single second, everything was still. Then his expression hardened.
Without hesitation, he raised his hand and drew the blood around him. It spiraled upward, condensing into a massive sword that pulsed like a living organ. With a flick of his wrist, the blade shot forward, cutting through the air with the speed of a cannon blast.
But before it could reach her, her eyes flickered, and Leo moved. His body twisted, his feet flashing with energy as he leapt high into the air. The sword of blood tore through the ground beneath him, exploding in a spray of crimson mist.
Lucius gaze followed Leo's rising figure. "Just like before," he said, his tone cold and measured, "you'll lose again."
Leo hovered in the air above, his breathing calm and his eyes steady. "She's gone," he said, voice clear, almost quiet. "And you lost your chance of winning."
For a moment, Lucius just looked at him, silent, unreadable. Then, slowly, his lips curled into a grin. A heartbeat later, he began to laugh. The sound echoed through the ruined city, sharp and wild.
"You destroyed the only chance you had to win!" he said between fits of laughter. "And you erased that chance yourself!"
Leo didn't react to the mockery. He simply lowered his gaze slightly, the faint glow of mana gathering around his right hand. "You weren't using your full power, Lucius." His eyes lifted again, meeting Lucius without a hint of fear. "So I think her chances were never that high anyway."
Lucius's laughter slowed, curiosity flickering in his eyes.
Then Leo opened his hand.
The staff, the ancient relic he'd taken from the City of the God of Knowledge, slid out of his bag and floated before him.
Leo extended his palm, fingers brushing the air just above the staff's surface. His voice dropped to a whisper. "But now," he said, "I'm going to make those chances better."
Lucius and Nikolaus both tensed, their auras flaring in response. They could feel the surge before the word even left his lips.
Leo's hand stopped. His eyes glowed faintly as he spoke a single command.
"Obscurae."
The word rippled through the air, soft, but impossibly heavy. The sky itself seemed to flicker, colors dimming, light bending inward.
Something ancient awoke inside Leo.