''...''

''...Cosmos.''

Turning around, Kierra spotted a woman whose hair and eyes were as dark as ink. It was a good thing she had told Cosmos the coordinates beforehand; otherwise, she would have been in big trouble.

''Did you find out what it is?''

This question was, of course, referring to Eon. The archwizard had asked Cosmos to investigate the origin of a god's presence in this world, and today, through a direct encounter with the entity, Kierra thought her companion would have comprehended all of it.

In response, the woman calmly walked toward Kierra; her expression did little to express her answers.

''The god is born naturally. However, the contamination appears to be coming from another reality.''

''Is it the Central Divine Realm?''

''I am not sure.''

''That's... fine. At least we know what it is.''

And since she knew what it was, she could now razor-focus on tackling it—that was one of her specialties.

One of the new problems that had popped up was a god's power to effectively ban mana usage altogether inside their domain. Aside from the usual melee struggle, this would perhaps be the most fatal weakness for a wizard like Kierra.

'I have to find a way around that.'

She didn't have a god as her practice mate, but fortunately, she was still stalking the fanatics. She could quite easily get her hand on one of the statues soon.

'Let's give it a few days.'

----------------------------------------

As predicted, the spiders' population exploded after a few dozen hours or so. Alarmingly, Kierra had found bases of Eon's supporters all over the continent. Still, there was no sign of a 'higher-up' appearing, which was bizarre.

'How are they communicating...?'

Regardless of that, the archwizard chose a random base and collapsed it, not forgetting to bring back a sample of divinity—a fragment of the stone statue. It was held inside a special jar, much like how the waves of the deity she defeated were.

''Hm...''

The faint energy emitted from the shard was undoubtedly what Kierra was looking for, bearing the same marks as Eon's. However, divine power was just that—divine power. Without input from the user, it was wholly useless as study material.

What was the mechanism with which Eon disabled Kierra's mana?

The most important question was still unanswered. So, the archwizard sought wisdom from books instead. She huddled inside her private library, skimming through books after books relating to divinity. She even went out of her way to travel to other places for seemingly useless pieces, namely fairy tales and myths.

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In the end, all leads pointed to one explanation, which Kierra had vaguely suspected.

—the power of imagination manifestation.

Click, click.

The archwizard lightly tapped the table, eyes glued on the fragment inside the jar.

Assuming this was how Eon erased her mana... it would be wise to think that there was virtually no way to get past that using ordinary means.

'But then, how?'

'How can I possibly get through that?'

'No, there has to be a way.'

A seemingly impeccable power, one that turned every ideal into reality, ignoring all principles and rules. There had to be a weakness somewhere.

Branching out.

Everything relates to everything to some extent, and nothing is truly perfect, so if one looks at it closely enough...

''A flaw.''

Will appear.

Right.

The power itself was perfect, but how about the user?

As far as Kierra could see, Eon's brain wasn't the smartest thing in the world. Or at least not smart enough. If Kierra held that kind of power, she would first make herself infinitely more intelligent, and that would grant her everything she wanted.

So... she just needed to trick Eon.

'Whew... this will be interesting.'

----------------------------------------

''Say, Au, how many people in our administration do you think have been converted?''

''Around seven percent, based on the preliminary survey.''

''That's an awfully big number...''

''Exactly. And it's almost all the brains that are swayed. Idiots like us—wizards and knights—have strong beliefs in ourselves, so we're not really affected.''

''Did you just call me an idiot?''

''...Sorry.''

Normally, the conversation would take on a more light-hearted turn at this stage, with Kierra and August playfully launching jabs at each other, yet both of them decided not to. After all, they were still in a stressful discussion about the end of the world—one of them.

And the others could really, really feel it.

They talked about plans to push the idea of the world being built by its own inhabitants through propaganda, education, advertisement, etc. Plans to steal entire governments overnight if it meant they could reduce the cult's influence.

All with furrowed brows.

These days, Kierra had never been spotted smiling once. It was as if she had reverted to her old self.

The women from the Central Divine Realm, who were initially thrilled as they imagined going on dates with Kierra in her world, now could hardly approach their own girlfriend.

They knew how complicated things had been, and instead of bothering Kierra, they considerately bothered Diamante instead.

For a while, Diamante was responsible for these chicks' entertainment.

''Sorry, I haven't been able to accompany you guys lately.''

After the meeting, Kierra spoke to the women, bearing an apologetic smile.

''Oh, no, no, you've been busy, so...''

''We're the ones who should be apologizing. We couldn't help at all...''

''Right, right.''

At the sensible answers, the archwizard meticulously and romantically kissed each of them, turning a few heads tomato-red.

''Muh...! Where's my kiss, Kierra?!''

Of course, the caretaker also got one.

''...Good luck.'' Kierra uttered.

At that moment, perhaps everybody would have realized what they needed to do—gazing into Kierra's heavy eyes and understanding their crises.

For the six women of the Central Divine Realm longing to support their lover and save their world.

For Shen and Lan, who wouldn't long for another encounter with death.

For Cosmos, whose love for her hometown easily matched her thirst for knowledge.

For August, who had vowed to protect her and her lover's hometown until her last breath.

For Diamante, who didn't want to lose the things she held dear one more time.

And for Kierra, the true protagonist standing in the very center of the spiral of fate, her only way was forward. Merely walking wasn't an option, and running wasn't enough.

It was a race toward the end.

The beginning of the race was unremarkable.

Some absentmindedly started training; others simply spent time finding ways to break through. Some were already busy with their work; others trying to make themselves so.

Some distanced themselves from the others; some sought out companionships.

Yet, with all of them, the goal was only one–for a blissful, happy ending they well deserved. For whatever reason, it was cemented in their hearts that after this hurdle, things would finally settle.

Perhaps, once and for all.