Hearing Ethan's refusal, Madeline showed no sign of surprise, as if she did not care.

"You do not seem surprised that I would refuse?"

"That is what makes it interesting."

Ethan realized that Madeline had not expected him to refuse. Rather, she simply did not care whether he refused or not. His refusal seemed to have heightened her interest.

As the two spoke, a group of unrelated onlookers had already arrived in the courtyard. They kept their distance from both Ethan and Madeline.

If they could, they wished to leave immediately. Even Shirou was no exception, despite it being his home.

Unfortunately, the surrounding situation made it impossible for them to leave. They could only stand there blankly, watching the two extraordinary beings talk.

"Maybe you find it very interesting, but I am not interested in playing with you anymore."

Ethan lightly clenched his left fist. His left hand erupted with brilliant blue light, and immediately after, the pattern of a teleportation circle appeared beneath his feet.

The teleportation circle activated normally. It seemed this small world could not prevent Ethan from leaving. However, just as he was about to initiate it, he sensed something and immediately stopped his magecraft.

"Did you notice?"

Ethan lowered his left hand and looked at Madeline. He had not expected that Madeline would think of using this method to stop him.

"When you arrived in this world and created this new worldline, you formed a connection with this world. Although such a connection is difficult to grasp, if you were to use that method to leave in front of me..."

Madeline did not finish, but Ethan already knew what she meant.

If he cast teleportation magecraft under Madeline's close watch, using his connection to this world and the close distance, Madeline could follow him through the spatial rift opened by the teleportation.

This meant Ethan's main world would be exposed to the eyes of one or even a group of Main Gods.

"So? You still cannot stop me from leaving," Ethan said, looking at Madeline. "Especially since your true body cannot truly face me."

The Madeline in front of him was just a projection of a clone, possessing no great power. Trying to suppress Ethan with strength was laughable.

The real Madeline was guarding outside the world, ready to track Ethan at any moment.

"So what? You cannot leave. Are you willing to stay here and waste time with me indefinitely?"

"You are overthinking it," Ethan shook his head. "Like you just said, for you to catch up to me, I first need to use that ability in front of you, and the most important thing is the connection I have established with this world itself."

"So?"

"So I just need to cut off this connection. Then, even if you see me use that ability, you will have no way to chase me."

Madeline's expression finally changed. She frowned and bit her lip slightly. It was not that she had not thought of this, but she could not figure out how Ethan could cut off this connection.

According to her observation, Ethan had not fully mastered that power, which meant many connections were established by the ability itself and were not under his personal control.

"It is simple. Just destroy this world..."

Madeline's mouth dropped open. She had not expected Ethan to say something so extreme. Destroy a world? That was far more complex than destroying a planet.

However, upon closer thought, she realized it was not impossible. After all, this was a nascent world. If he found the right method, he could destroy this world easily. Even if he could not completely annihilate it, he could shatter it into pieces, throwing the world's rule power into chaos. At that point, the connection Ethan had established with the world would also fluctuate, and he could seize the opportunity to leave without worrying about being tracked.

So, the only question now was, did Ethan have the strength to do all this?

"I do not believe you can do that."

"By myself, it is indeed difficult."

Ethan admitted this frankly. Even a nascent world could not be destroyed casually. But just because he could not do it alone did not mean it could not be done. Ethan alone might not be enough, but he had friends.

With a slight lift of his hand, two spatial rifts appeared above him. These rifts were like patches of blackness that suddenly appeared in mid-air, capable of swallowing everything. Even these two rifts posed a significant threat to the nearby Servants. Accidentally brushing against one meant that part of their body would be completely severed from this world.

When the rifts appeared, everyone involuntarily retreated farther, almost reaching the edge of the small space.

For Madeline, these rifts were nothing remarkable. What concerned her were the two powerful energies emanating from the other side.

"But I have been wandering outside for so long, I have made some friends. They will be very happy to lend me a hand right now."

In the application of magecraft, rules, and energy, these two were top-tier existences. They did not even need to truly appear. By lending him some power, Ethan could complete the demolition of this world.

As powerful energy mixed with various rules surged from the two rifts above, it resonated with the energy Ethan released below, forming an inverted triangle. A chaotic energy sphere began to condense at the center point of the three locations.

There was no earth-shattering sound, no dazzling light, and no suffocating wind, yet this strange energy sphere gave off an incredibly terrifying feeling. Even in Madeline's heart, a sense of fear arose, a feeling she had not experienced in who knew how many years.

"Is this really okay?"

Madeline looked at the crowd watching from the side. If Ethan destroyed this world, even if they survived, they would lose their homeland. Although Reincarnators in the Main God's Space often destroyed entire cities or even planets at the drop of a hat, that did not mean Madeline appreciated such methods.

From the beginning, she had thought Ethan was a good kid leaning toward the good alignment, which was why she was so eager to recruit him. Had she misjudged?

"I admit what I am doing is not a good thing, but that does not mean I refuse to use such methods when necessary."

Madeline folded her arms and suddenly made a suggestion.

"How about we make a bet? If you can win, I will not only let you leave, I will even give you this world as compensation."

Madeline did not want to completely fall out, but Ethan was never the type to follow the opponent's script.

"Why do you think I would be willing to make a bet with you?"

He was not without a way to resolve this crisis, so why should he act according to the other party's wishes? You say bet, and he has to bet? Did she think he would not just plaster this energy ball onto her face?

Madeline found that her suggestion was completely ignored by Ethan. This made her even more interested in him and less willing to let him leave.

However, the current situation was not about what she wanted. Ethan did not want to say anything more to her. Amidst the terrified faces around them, he slammed the energy ball in his hand onto the ground.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no terrifying scene of world destruction. Apart from the confinement space created by Madeline suddenly shattering, it was as if nothing had happened. People like Shirou and Rin barely noticed anything strange. Only the Servants suddenly felt something was wrong.

"I feel... something has changed."

Just as a few Servants were about to check, Illya suddenly knelt on the ground in pain, and blood began to seep out of her body continuously.

"Ah..."

Indescribable pain filled her entire body. The blood quickly soaked her clothes.

"Have a good sleep. When you wake up, you will find everything is different."

Ethan appeared beside Illya at some point. He lightly brushed his hand over her head, and Illya, who had been in too much pain even to faint, fell into a deep sleep.

At this moment, everyone noticed that most of Ethan's originally black hair had turned gray, and fine wrinkles had appeared at the corners of his eyes.

"You... what did you do?"

The moment Ethan appeared beside her, Rin instinctively wanted to use magecraft for defense and attack. But when she pulled out her gems, she was surprised to find that she could not feel any mana at all.

"Rule distortion."

"What does that mean?"

Some understood a little, while others did not understand at all. Madeline, who had recovered from her shock, explained, "You modified the rules of this world?"

"This way, my connection with this world was also erased during the modification. Now I can leave whenever I want, and you cannot follow."

Ethan had modified more than just his connection to this world. He had directly erased the magecraft system of this world. The change in rules would have more effects, such as a certain old man who was barely clinging to life through magecraft. With the loss of mana, his lifespan had completely reached its end.

"It seems you have won this time, but your current state is not looking good." Madeline was not angry about Ethan escaping her clutches. She even felt that this state made him more worth pursuing. "If you pledge allegiance to me now, I can help you resolve these troubles."

The aging was still ongoing, but Ethan did not care. "This is not a trouble for me."

"Your troubles are not just this."

Madeline lightly pointed to the top of the wall nearby. A woman with a long spear was sitting there at some point, quietly watching Ethan.

"Your actions just now directly got rid of her home."

"..."

(To be continued.)