Wounds split open across Yuuki's body.
Blood poured freely, staining him red.
It didn't stop there.
The silver grimoire floating beside him began to tremble violently, cracks of instability flickering across its surface as if it, too, were on the verge of collapse.
Within his soul—
The ten mana cores embedded in the Kabbalah Tree diagram began to loosen. The once-solid structure flickered, growing faint and unstable.
How?!
Yuuki felt it clearly.
His mana was leaking. His life force was draining. The increasingly violent natural mana was tearing his body apart from the inside.
Everything had been calculated. Every step had gone perfectly.
So why—
Suddenly, he noticed something.
The "ki" radiating from him still felt like ten separate streams.
They had not truly fused into one.
That meant—
Embedding the ten mana cores into the Tree's diagram wasn't enough.
The Twenty-Two Paths.
The Kabbalah Tree of Life was not merely ten spheres—it required the twenty-two connecting paths to become whole.
"World Tree Magic — Connect!"
He roared inwardly.
Using the magic stones as conduits, he redirected the torrential natural mana flooding into him and poured it all into the World Tree core.
Thud.
A deep, drum-like resonance echoed through his soul.
In that instant—
The raging natural mana began to be absorbed and filtered by the World Tree core, refined into a purer form.
Guided by Yuuki's design, twenty-two luminous pathways extended outward, linking the ten spheres together.
The Kabbalah diagram completed.
His body stopped collapsing.
The silver grimoire stabilized.
Inside his soul, the fully realized Tree of Life glowed with radiant clarity.
Yuuki felt—
Elevated.
Natural mana, once imperceptible, was now crystal clear in his awareness.
And the chaotic, multi-layered "ki" he once emitted—
Merged.
Unified.
BOOM—
The natural mana drawn by the ritual surged faster, more violently than before.
Yet now—
It flowed into him and was instantly absorbed by the interconnected ten cores.
Then—
A new power was born.
Pure white.
Sacred.
His wounds healed in an instant.
His seated body atop the Life Tree began to glow faintly with pale radiance.
The sacred mana continued to generate, gradually replacing the vast mana he once possessed.
Did it succeed?
Yuuki had never felt so clear.
So awake.
If he had to describe it—
It was like awakening into a higher state of being.
An almost divine perspective.
He could see his soul and body transforming under the new sacred mana, refining into something closer to perfection.
Rip—
Rip—
Suddenly, the flesh at his shoulder blades split open.
No blood flowed.
Instead—
Two snow-white wings burst forth and unfurled behind him.
Graceful.
Sacred.
"An angel…?"
Yuuki froze.
Was this the final result of the ritual?
It fit the world's theology.
But—
No.
He wasn't a devil host.
Julius Novachrono purified demonic power to create an angelic form—what he called humanity's true evolution.
But Yuuki had no demon inside him.
So why—
The moment doubt surfaced—
The wings halted mid-spread.
The sacred mana conversion stopped.
It felt like suffocation.
Like a breath trapped in his chest.
Not just a feeling.
Through his elevated perception, Yuuki saw it clearly.
His transformation had stalled.
"…So it's influenced by will."
The Kabbalah Tree was tied to God.
God implied angels.
His subconscious had shaped the form.
But that wasn't his path.
"Even if I continued… I wouldn't truly become an angel."
Julius walked the path of demon purification.
Yuuki walked the path of natural mana.
Two entirely different roads.
"I don't need demonic power."
"I seek my own divine form."
Clarity returned.
With a sudden surge—
The angel wings expanded fully—
Then exploded into a storm of white feathers.
They spiraled around him in a brilliant vortex.
Not enough.
The complete Kabbalah Tree required more.
Three pillars.
Ten spheres.
Twenty-two paths.
Four worlds.
The four elements.
Fire. Water. Wind. Earth.
If his soul was a world—
The framework was complete.
Only the elemental foundation remained.
His thoughts sharpened.
From within Key Magic's storage, he retrieved—
Fire core.
Water core.
Wind core.
Earth core.
He placed Fire at his soul's left hand.
Water at the right.
Wind at the left leg.
Earth—
He paused.
Among the elements he had replicated, Fire, Wind, and Water had exceptional sources—
Fana's flames.
Yuno's four-leaf wind.
Noelle's pure water.
But Earth…
There was no truly outstanding earth mage among his copies.
A second regret.
The first had been substituting Dream for Time in the three pillars.
Now—
Imperfect Earth.
But perfection was a god's privilege.
He was not a god.
Perhaps imperfection itself was part of the rule.
He placed Earth at his right leg.
BOOM—
His soul shook violently.
Outside, his body emitted a soft, pure white glow.
It wasn't blinding.
Yet every person in the capital instinctively turned to look at him.
As if drawn by an invisible force.
CRACK—
The colossal Kabbalah sigil in the sky shattered.
The ten ground circles exploded in unison.
The captains, who had acted as filters, collapsed limply to the ground.
"Damn it… can't move…"
Yami forced his head to turn.
Through ki perception, he felt it first.
A presence forming.
Vast.
Overwhelming.
Not human.
It reminded him of the Word Devil.
But where the devil's presence had been cold and malevolent—
This—
Was sacred.
Profound.
Unfathomable.
The blinding ritual light faded.
Only the towering Life Tree remained glowing faintly.
And at its crown—
Yuuki.
White feathers converged upward, lifting him into the air.
His seated posture unfolded as he floated skyward.
The feathers enveloped him, consuming his torn clothing and reshaping into loose, pure white garments.
His black hair shifted to pale silver, flowing in the wind.
Red ring-mark encircled his left wrist.
Blue on the right.
Green at his left ankle.
Brown at his right.
Then—
With a thunderous roar—
The fifty-meter Life Tree tore itself from the ground and ascended toward him.
As it approached—
It shrank.
Rapidly.
By the time it reached him, it was no thicker than a child's arm.
It coiled around his waist—
Forming a belt of ancient wood.
At that moment—
The night ended.
The sun rose.
A golden ray touched his figure.
Time seemed to pause.
Then—
Rustling.
Like wind through an endless forest.
Leaves brushing together.
Though no trees stood nearby, the sound echoed across the capital, spreading beyond.
Natural mana flooded the sky.
For the first time—
Everyone could feel it.
Colored motes of natural mana floated visibly above the city.
It was as if—
Nature celebrated.
Mana rejoiced.
Sally, Fana, the Black Bulls—all stared upward in disbelief.
Fana reached out, grasping a red mana cluster.
Fire element.
"This is impossible…"
"We're not in a grand mana zone… yet natural mana is visible?"
Sally adjusted her glasses, utterly bewildered.
Above—
Yuuki opened his eyes.
Silver pupils gleamed.
Without moving—
An invisible pressure descended.
Breathing grew heavy.
An instinctive reverence seized everyone present.
Heads lowered.
None dared meet his gaze.
"Morning already…"
Yuuki murmured softly, glancing at the brightened sky.
He looked down at his transformed attire in mild curiosity.
But what truly mattered—
His power.
He examined it briefly.
His mana reserves had not increased.
In fact—
They had decreased.
But the quality—
Had transformed completely.
Before, his mana had been mist.
Now—
It was water.
Dense. Tangible.
It reminded him of the Word Devil.
"So that's it…"
"This wasn't truly becoming a god."
"It was evolution."
His eyes shone.
He now existed on a higher tier than ordinary humans.
Like a being beyond devils.
Except—
Without their corruption.
Aside from underworld magic—
Ordinary human spells could no longer harm him.
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