Amidst the ruined city and piles of rubbles, the battlefield became eerily silent for the sed time.

  It wasn’t a plicated reason. The appearance of such a bizarre strong man was enough to turn their flito a standstill.

  Hum.

  An imperceptible sound rang throughout their surroundings. The man himself did not have any ges.

  ‘It’s… he be struck?’

  A fusing idea arose in the girl’s mind. She, the Mei of this world, had a vague hunch that their attacks did not touch the man. Due to some ges, the ability that blocked their two attacks disappeared.

  It wasn’t just her.

  Bam-!

  The giant magma giant made up of sticky fluid stomped its feet. The cracks it produced caused crimsoo arise from the ground. The high temperature it emitted turhe ground into a magma zone.

  For a while, the man’s position was covered with nothing but blood red fire.

  Click-!

  Click-!

  Surprisingly… or not, Aleph withstood its casual attack. Burn marks appeared all over his pale white arms. His kimono was burnt by the fmes, only for it to fix itself a moment ter.

  A-pointed wheel unknowingly appeared atop his head. The wheel spun twice before stopping.

  Snap-!

  Bam-!

  Rumble-!

  The snap of his fingers geed a strong impact. It swiftly cleared a path from the sea of fmes. The ground trembled as the impact crept towards the Fmebringer.

  Boom-!

  Under Mei’s surprised looks, the impact pushed it back by a few steps.

  “Tsk, tsk. It seems like the seventh is your turning point, too.”

  His voice spread loudly throughout their radius.

  “..?”

  ‘Too..?’

  She was having more doubts regarding him… and so did Aleph.

  ‘Danger..?’

  Aleph po switch to honkai energy to duct his hypotheses. The modifications he made tur into the only energy to be able to substitute ‘psions’.

  It wasn’t evident at first, but the more he thought of it, the strohe prig sensation on his neck became. Something bad would definitely happen once he utilizes it here.

  ‘It’s like a dead end…’ He thought. ‘I only work on my cursed teiques for now.’

  His lethality with Ratio, Yamato, and other teiques were tried aed. His other two cursed teiques, oher hand, weren’t fortuo find a worthy foe.

  A spherical metal ball appeared on his palm. Its surface was smooth and cold to touch. It was just that—a metal ball made up of synthesized materials that made it tough. Its weight did not exceed one kilogram.

  Click.

  A sense of e popped up in his subscious.

  {Annou: The bound item to the cursed teique [Star Rage] has beeed.]

  Just then, its weight began to increase.

  Ten kilograms.

  One hundred kilograms.

  Ohousand kilograms.

  When it reached a ton, Aleph stopped for a while. He did not feel the gravitational force ag upon such a rge mass.

  ‘I’m really lucky…’

  Star Rage inally had an apanying shikigami. However, it was used for close-quarter bat. Aleph’s Star Rage allowed him to sele item to bind for the teique. Only when the said item was destroyed would he be able to select a new one.

  To that, he decided on using these spherical metal balls. The most important thing was their weight limit.

  Star Rage imbues imaginary mass to a certain object. Below a certain threshold, the imaginary mass would not affect the target—the mass exists but their effects do not.

  Only when that threshold assed would gravity start ag upoarget. It depends oallic ball or Aleph himself. For the tter, it was one huimes its inal weight.

  Swoosh–!

  The ball was thrown high up into the air. Its small size made it unremarkable for the giant.

  But then…

  Buzz-!

  BAM-!

  RUMBLE-!

  The same object crashed down to its position. Its weight increased drastically, prompting gravity to act upon it. The force it created was more than enough to cause a strohquake on the ruined city.

  The winds caused by the impact swept Mei’s face. They were sharp enough to cut several wounds on her pristine skin. She was able to hold her ground, however.

  ‘Where is he… He’s not affected by it.’

  Her eyes sed the surroundings and found Aleph who remaiill. The kimono he wore fluttered, but his body did not move an inch.

  Then…

  There was no then.

  Right in front of her sight, he disappeared… literally.

  ‘Who am I thinking..?’

  For a moment, Mei’s mind turned into a bnk state. It was as if Aleph’s existence was erased from her memories.

  Fortunately, she was woken up by a huge rumble.

  ‘It’s that guy..! How did I fet..?!’

  She saw his figure reappear atop the kneeling giant’s shoulder. His feet directly touched its bck sticky fluids. His geta and tabi was stained with its pu smell and nasty texture.

  Click-!

  Click-!

  Click-!

  The wheel atop his head began turning at a rapid pace. It did not even take twenty seds before aire cycle was pleted.

  Hum-!

  “I see, I see…”

  Aleph looked at his feet that were being corroded by bck lines. His physique was strong enough to be able to ig. The best it could do was to corrupt the barest surface of his body.

  Now, his Adaptation emitted a transparent flow throughout his entire body. Instantly, the corruption receded.

  ‘One phenomenon, one adaptation. It follows rules just as much as Star Rage.’

  With his experiment do was time to settle things.

  His body disappeared before reappearing a few dozeers away from the kneeling giant.

  Its arm was shredded by the huge weight—which also tained his destru factor—dropped at it. The silver orb caused a huge damage.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  It didn’t take long until his geta and tabi were restored to their prior state. The sheathed Yamato appeared in his grasp.

  In Mei’s eyes, his existence became vague once again before returning to normal. She then saw him take out aer of nowhere. Finally, he walked towards her dire, with the sword disappearing from her sight.

  Just as she wondered about the sn’s fate, her body went still.

  Rumble-!

  Bam-!

  Spsh-!

  The foe, which they found hard to defeat, fell to the ground in a liquefied state. Its body formed a huge ke of bck matter all over the city. Space itself was broken like a shattered mirror. Streamlines bck cracks and translut fragments fell to the ground before dissipating.

  From a ghe ey's sky was affected by it.

  A burning red crystal floated on the ter of the bck ke. The crater produced by Aleph's heavy metal sphere created such a sight.

  “Who… are you?”

  “It’s better to talk about this over a cup of coffee, Me—Miss Mei.”

  Just like that, Takamagahara’s seventh dest ended.

  *****

  A/N: There isn't really much stuff revealed on Izumo. Siheir main motif revolved around Hi3rd cepts (sns, Kamis, as well as the Edict Edges/Divine Key equivalents), I decided to expand on this idea. This arc is supposed to prepare Aleph for the eventual csh he’ll have with the Co. You expect that after this arc, it’ll be that fight.