Rei Ao seemed completely unperturbed by Aiwass's warning. He took another step forward, and as he did so:

All around the room, the magic circles flared to life. Countless runic symbols rose into the air and arranged themselves into a complex array.

"Stop," Aleister warned.

"Move one more step, and you'll be confronting the entire defensive system of Academy City."

Sure enough, Rei Ao halted—but not because of Aleister's warning. He raised his head to look at the life-support capsule floating overhead, and a trace of pity flickered in his eyes.

"You really think these little toys can stop me?"

Rei Ao asked softly.

"In my calculations, you haven't exceeded our level of power," Aleister responded without hesitation.

At a mere thought from him, the magic circles in the room all activated at once. Dozens of magical beams, powerful enough to annihilate anything in a heartbeat, shot at Rei Ao from every direction.

Yet Rei Ao merely raised his left hand, and all those beams froze about a meter away from his body, as though hitting an invisible wall. Even more shocking, the beams twisted and deformed—then dissolved into countless motes of light, vanishing without a sound.

"Heh, your little tricks won't work on me. I'm sure you already knew that," Rei Ao sneered. This was clearly a small ploy of Aleister's.

"Of course," Aleister said, unsurprised.

"But after that… I have a real 'present' prepared for you, my 'guest.'"

In an instant, the entire interior of the Windowless Building lit up. Countless magic arrays stacked atop one another, enclosing Rei Ao. More critically, they carried the power to manipulate phases.

Inside the Windowless Building, cold blue light rippled across metal walls, and a certain ancient heaviness permeated the air—time itself seemed to slow. Rei Ao stood in the center of the chamber, a ten-meter-wide magic circle beneath him, while runes swirled around him like living creatures.

"A truly warm welcome," he commented with a chuckle, his black coat fluttering despite no wind. His voice echoed in the vacant metal room, tinged with faint mockery.

"So this is how you 'entertain' guests, General Superintendent Aleister?"

"Your very existence is a variable. In my calculations, you shouldn't even be here,"

Aleister replied.

Rei Ao tried lifting an arm, only to discover a formless energy seeping from the magic circle, like countless transparent threads winding around his limbs.

"'Sevenfold Phase Sealing' plus 'Conceptual Lockdown,' a special version for travelers from other worlds?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"You came well-prepared."

The magic formation suddenly grew brighter. Seven differently-colored halos rose from the floor, each etched with mysterious characters—Hebrew, runic symbols, Sumerian cuneiform… They represented seven distinct sealing systems, now flawlessly merged into a single spell.

"Your power system is totally foreign to this world. Ordinary measures can't bind you,"

Aleister's voice remained calm.

"But no being can escape the binding of concepts—'Otherworldly Existence,' 'Life,' 'Motion,' the fundamentals that shape your restrictions."

"My calculations indicate these can hold you,"

he said, as though regaining the upper hand.

"So what will you do now?"

"You're right," Rei Ao admitted coolly, folding his arms.

"And you're pretty adept at predicting human nature. If I forcibly break your seal, it'll wreak chaos in this world—and Mikoto, plus the others, will be caught in that mess."

"You really are a seasoned magician,"

he said sarcastically.

"Thank you for the compliment," Aleister observed the captive Rei Ao carefully. Suddenly, he noticed Rei Ao wearing a faint smile.

Rei Ao glanced at the rings ensnaring him, lips curling in a smirk. His black hair swayed in the flow of magical energy, revealing the faint outline of a dark-red mark on his forehead.

"Your calculations are accurate. I won't just brute-force my way out right now."

He lifted his head, an odd glimmer in his eyes.

"But what about the part of me that doesn't figure into your calculations?"

The fluid in Aleister's life-support tank rippled unnaturally. Aleister's brow creased slightly—an extremely rare show of emotion.

"What do you mean?"

Rei Ao didn't answer immediately. He slowly closed his eyes, as though sensing something. The oppressive force from the magic formation intensified, and tiny cracks began forming on the metal floor. Yet Rei Ao's expression only grew calmer.

"Aleister," he said suddenly, his voice deep and resonant.

"Do you know how one becomes a Magic God?"

For a moment, the air froze. Aleister's mind raced. A Magic God—a supreme entity in the magical domain—could warp phases and reality at will.

"To reach the pinnacle of magic, master every phase, and transcend humanity," Aleister answered evenly, while secretly ramping up the seal's power.

"What's your point?"

Rei Ao opened his eyes. Where once his pupils had been dark, now they flickered with a dim red glow.

"Then allow me to tell you: I'm about to become a Magic God."

Sensing something, Aiwass's form rippled strangely.

[Crowley, something's changing!]

Before the words had fully rung out, the mark on Rei Ao's forehead flared with a glaring crimson light—unlike any known magical system. It felt more primordial, more fundamental.

A strong wave of unease hit Aleister. His calculations had never accounted for this possibility.

"True Demon's Aspect, Release."

Only five words, yet it made the entire Windowless Building quake. Rei Ao's body began floating off the ground, and the seven sealing halos crackled under the strain. His skin took on a dense pattern of dark-red lines, which moved across him as though alive, continuously rearranging.

Aleister immediately activated the highest-level defensive spells. But to his shock, any magic that got within three meters of Rei Ao simply dissolved.

"This is impossible… He's rewriting fundamental magic rules?! That's the power of a Magic God!"

~~~

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