Samarth scanned the ruined auction hall.
Half the floor was stained a deep, violent red—blood splashed so thickly it glowed in the light. The other half remained eerily untouched, pristine white marble shining peacefully. The contrast was horrifying.
Corpses lay everywhere, mangled and scattered like garbage tossed aside in the mansion of a careless billionaire—limbs, organs, smashed skulls thrown without regard. The brutality of it was enough to make any ordinary person faint on the spot.
And the reason for all of it stood only a short distance away.
Aeren.
Even he no longer looked whole. One arm missing, blood dripping steadily from the torn stump, his torso slashed and wrapped in makeshift cloth. Yet he stood rooted like an unshakeable pillar—quiet, unbroken, terrifying.
Samarth let out a slow breath.
If anyone unfamiliar walked into this scene, they would misunderstand everything. They would see a wounded boy drenched in blood… and instinctively try to protect him.
That was how dangerous Aeren's existence truly was.
Samarth met Aeren's eyes.
"Tell me, Aeren," Samarth said, voice low and unwavering. "What do you gain from all this?" He didn't blink. Didn't look away.
"And even if you achieve whatever you think you're chasing… you will end up in the same emptiness. Destroying worlds. Killing humans. Erasing cosmic threads."
He stepped forward.
"You won't find anything you haven't already failed to find before." Samarth's tone softened ever so slightly.
"I'm suggesting something simple… if you insist on reincarnating again and again into new worlds—why not stay in this one instead?"
He gestured around them.
"We can resolve this. All of it. Through conversation, not slaughter." His eyes flicked briefly toward Nil.
"And you have Nil," Samarth added. "A woman who has loved you more than her own life. Why search for meaning in places you don't understand… when you could stay here, with people who actually care about you?"
His voice echoed in the broken hall. For the first time since the battle began… Samarth spoke not as an enemy. But as someone trying to save Aeren—from the world, and from himself.
Aeren's eye twitched at Samarth's words.
Reincarnate?
Stay?
Choose this world freely?
What nonsense.
I have never once wished to reincarnate, Aeren thought coldly. This cursed heart—this "Heart of Loneliness"—is what reincarnated me. Not me. I always escape from all that humans desired, but my heart wanted to live in the world of humans. If not for it, I would have been born directly into existence, something beyond the human body, without ever touching a mortal world. I would never have lived among humans or tasted their fragile desires.
Every memory, every lifetime… none had ever been his choice.
"Hmm," Aeren said, his voice lacking warmth. "I'm not here to explain anything to you. And if I were forced to stay here..." He stepped forward slowly. "I would rather accept death. Staying means I would have to remember every life I've lived and all the lives I will live in the future. I won't forget a single memory from any of them."
No more words. No more patience. Aeren had heard enough of Samarth's delusions. He began walking, closing the distance with lethal intent.
Samarth let out a slow, disappointed sigh.
"…A pity," he murmured. "I truly expected you would understand." He lifted his gaze, sadness flickering in his eyes. "But I never imagined you would be this foolish—unable to distinguish reality from your own illusion."
Samarth shook his head, not out of anger, but out of regret.
He understood Aeren's pain. He truly did. In some twisted way, he even shared it. But unlike Aeren—Samarth wasn't lost in it.
He turned toward his companions—Seraphina, Emily, the kings, everyone standing behind him, weapons raised.
"Stay with Jane," Samarth ordered, his voice hardening. "Do not interfere. If you get involved…" He looked them each in the eye. "…you will die. And I won't be able to protect you."
The decision was made. No more diplomacy. No more pleas. It would be Aeren versus Samarth. And only one of them would leave the hall alive.
"But Master, I want to teach him a lesson!" Emily shouted, her voice shaking as she stood behind Samarth. She stared at him with disbelief—hurt flickering in her eyes.
To hear her own master say she would only be a burden… it cut her deeper than any wound.
Emily clenched her fists. She wasn't fragile. She wasn't weak. She wanted to prove she could fight—prove she wasn't just someone who needed protection. The more she looked at Aeren, the more her pride screamed for her to step forward.
But something inside her whispered danger. Something told her this was not the moment to argue with Samarth. Still, she refused to bow to fear.
Before Samarth could respond, Jane spoke sharply: "No, Emily. If you go… you won't come back."
Emily snapped her gaze toward Jane, startled. Jane looked back with serious, steady eyes.
"Look," Jane said, motioning toward the unconscious body beside her. "This is Jarek. He only took one punch from Aeren—and he's already at death's door. I still can't heal him."
Emily's breath caught in her throat.
"And more importantly," Jane continued, her voice growing heavier, "Aeren isn't affected by mana. Or magic. Or aura. That means everything you do—your spells, your sword techniques—are useless."
Emily's eyes widened.
"Only divinity can harm him," Jane said. "Maybe—maybe—our anti-magic abilities might work… but even that isn't certain. And before you even try—before you even raise your sword—he would kill you."
Jane swallowed, remembering everything she witnessed earlier.
"I watched the fight," she whispered. "I saw what he did to everyone in that hall. That's why I call him a monster."
Emily froze. Her confidence cracked. Her anger died in her throat. Aeren wasn't someone she could challenge. He wasn't someone she could "teach a lesson." He was something else entirely.
Jane's explanation silenced everyone.
Her voice had cut straight through their bravado, pride, and imagined courage. As soon as she finished speaking, the entire group—Seraphina, Emily, the two kings, and the knights—fell silent, stunned into stillness.
They all intended to express the same reckless resolve as Emily. They all believed they could help Samarth fight. But Jane's words shattered that hope instantly. Cold sweat slid down their backs as they turned their eyes toward Aeren.
He was walking toward them.
Slowly. Calmly. Almost lazily.
As if he could kill them anytime he wished. Their hearts seized with terror.
Even King Baltazar—Aeren's own father—couldn't hide his fear. His hands shook as he stared at his son, the child he raised, the boy he taught and nurtured. He had never imagined Aeren would become something like this.
A reincarnated being. A force beyond human comprehension. A danger greater than any king could ever prepare for. And Baltazar thought a frightening thought:
If this is what just one reincarnated person becomes… What if there are more? What if they know about him?
His stomach twisted. His worldview shattered. Everyone stood frozen, breath tight, the air suffocating around them.
Then Samarth spoke. His voice broke the silence like a calm breeze in a storm.
"Don't worry. I'll return in an instant." They all turned to him—their last hope.
Samarth continued, eyes focused on Aeren: "He is only half a being in my sight. A delusional soul chasing an illusion that never existed."
He exhaled calmly. "I'll clean up this little mess. A reincarnation like him shouldn't exist here."
Samarth glanced back at them, offering a confident smile. "I'll finish this quickly. Just stay calm… and wait." His expression was solid, unwavering—a promise to them that he would win. A promise that they would survive. For their sake, he had to make that promise real.
Samarth stepped forward, leaving the others behind.
It was now his responsibility to face Aeren—
and to "clean up" the catastrophic mistake of allowing someone like Aeren to exist in this world.
Emily watched his retreating figure, frozen between fear and disbelief. Then a sudden realization struck her, making her breath hitch.
"How is Master going to fight Aeren?
If mana, magic, and aura don't work on him… if nothing affects him except divinity… how will Master fight?" She whispered enough to be heard by all the people around her.
Her eyes widened as Jane's earlier explanation echoed in her mind. Before panic could spread again, Jane answered calmly, without even looking back:
"Hmm. Of course… with divinity. Master can use divinity." Every head snapped toward her.
Shock. Awe. Relief. Surprise.
It rippled through the group like lightning.
Samarth—a man who wielded divinity.
A force powerful enough to harm Aeren. A force that wasn't bound by magic, mana, aura, or mortal laws.
Emily felt her trembling ease, just a little. Seraphina exhaled sharply, tension draining. Even the two kings stared with new hope in their eyes. Because now they understood:
Samarth wasn't walking toward Aeren blindly. He wasn't facing a monster unprepared. He had the one power that could kill him.