The Banquet of Spacetime
The Great Witch Elise Bystana floated serenely in the air, her black eyes gleaming with an otherworldly intensity. Mixed black and golden strands of hair cascaded around her, framing the elegant robes of a true sorceress as she hovered without a trace of effort.
Malkadin Brayden’s face twisted in recognition and fury the moment he caught sight of her. “…Such a curiosity. A 7th-Tier Calamity who should not exist on our information network, yet here she is—without the slightest sign of warning.”
His scarred features tightened, the single eye burning with fanatic zeal.
“What are you? A guardian of the Serverki family? Or perhaps one of the family’s hidden weapons?”
Elise merely twirled her wooden staff once in a lazy arc, her voice calm and measured. “I am simply the young master’s wet nurse. Nothing more. Foolish one.”
“Hah. A wet nurse who stands against such a foe? How amusing.”
With a thunderous slam of his fists, Malkadin planted himself firmly in place. “It matters not. The Lord shall watch over me. Under His gaze, no mortal shall remain—only Chaos shall prevail.”
He wasted no breath. Gripping his fists tight, he struck a ready stance. “Begin, Witch.”
“Ridiculous.”
Elise swung her staff lightly once more. “I have never granted you permission to exist.”
***
“Lu… Luke. What exactly… is Elise’s true identity?”
Ther Theron rushed forward, both arms locked tightly around Luke, her voice trembling with barely contained panic as she stared at the floating sorceress.
She looked utterly bewildered, yet Luke met her gaze with perfect composure. “…Sister. Elise as wet nurse is, in truth, a Great Witch.”
“…R-Really? No—how has this been kept secret all this time…?”
“Only the Duke and I knew. Now you do too, Sister.”
Luke nodded gently, his expression strangely untroubled. “It will be all right. As her wet nurse… she can and will defeat him. She always can.”
Yet the faint unease that lingered on his face spoke volumes.
‘…She warned me. The power pledged to an Evil God is no small burden.’
He knew the truth: Elise and the Evil God had struck a deal. He understood why the full might of an 8th-Tier Calamity like her could not be unleashed right now.
‘But I’ve prepared for exactly this.’
While Luke stood motionless, the duel finally erupted.
“Appearing before us is the Tantalizing Eye in Chaos—grant us the Chaos power to shatter everything in our path!”
A black wave of energy surged outward from Malkadin, shaking the very foundations of the palace. The three of them swayed, but Elise alone remained perfectly still, her posture flawless.
“Witch. Let me taste your blade.”
In the chaos, Malkadin stomped his foot with earth-shaking force.
Boom!
A deafening explosion split the air as his body launched forward like a missile, closing the distance in a blink.
Elise simply shifted her entire frame a hair to the side—feather-light, almost mocking.
Crash!
She dodged the assault with effortless grace. Malkadin’s fury only intensified; he leaped across rooftops, slamming into walls and columns as he charged again and again.
Elise said nothing. She merely danced through every strike, her movements so fluid they seemed to mock the very concept of combat.
Malkadin’s face twisted in mounting desperation.
Elise’s black eyes sparkled as she stared straight at him. “That is all you can manage? How pathetically weak.”
“…What in the world…?”
“Don’t belittle magic, you fool. Even a simple foresight incantation is beneath me.”
Her pupils flared with inner light.
“Time-stop magic—Void Chant. Child’s play.”
Void Chant.
The technique that omitted the chanting of spell incantations entirely. A specialty reserved for high-ranking Witches, yet Elise wielded it as naturally as breathing.
It was not merely impressive; it was monstrous.
And still she remained serene.
“If we speak of Reverse Reason magic, foresight is the least of what I can do.”
She spun her staff once more. “The Evil God has shown his power. Now I shall reveal mine. Reverse. All natural forces of this space—obey!”
Mana swirled violently inside her black eyes.
“Reverse them, shatter the foe before you. Elemental Reverse Storm.”
At that exact instant, countless natural elements—fire, water, earth, wind—erupted like furious schools of salmon leaping upstream, forming a colossal storm that roared straight at Malkadin.
“Hyaaah!”
Malkadin leaped skyward, but the storm did not relent. He smashed through palace walls and pillars to escape, yet the storm pursued like a thousand piercing thorns, relentless and unyielding.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The outer walls of the palace crumbled, yet no one spared a glance. All eyes were locked solely on the duel between the Apostle and the storm.
The elemental tempest battered Malkadin without mercy. Because of the Reverse flow, its movements defied every law of common sense, leaving him unable to predict a single strike.
Fatigue settled into his bones.
“Haaaaah!”
In desperation, he slammed both fists together, unleashing a shockwave of black mana that shattered part of the storm.
The remnants of the storm grew even wilder, as if enraged by the interference.
An Apostle of an Evil God of Ruin was being torn apart before his eyes—and Elise had done it.
This was the glory of one of the Eight Talents, the future Calamity of Soul, and the Great Witch Elise Bystana.
Yet hope flared.
Malkadin’s battle cry tore through the air.
“Hyaaah!”
Crash!
The storm collapsed under the sheer force of his fist.
He did not stop. Black mana flooded his fists again as he charged forward with terrifying intent.
That instant, Elise activated full mana control and spoke the incantation without hesitation.
“Defend. As I command, return every force that approaches to its origin.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Mirror Barrier.”
The barrage of fists and chaos hands slammed into the invisible shield and rebounded with equal fury, crashing back into Malkadin’s own body.
“Guh!”
Elise did not hesitate. She raised her staff in a sweeping upward arc.
Crack!
A jagged shard of rock erupted from Malkadin’s abdomen like a spear.
Blood sprayed from his lips, but she was already moving.
Countless stone needles lanced toward him from every direction.
He did not flinch. The rock embedded in his gut exploded outward; he tore the incoming needles apart with raw strength.
“Haaaaah!!!”
His roar echoed as he destroyed the barrage.
Elise’s lips moved.
“Do not hesitate. My fire.”
A cold flame bloomed before her eyes—paradoxical, yet perfectly natural to a Witch.
“Steal. Burn. Consume every ounce of heat. Ice Flame.”
Her staff swung.
“Flame. Taem Hwa.”
A colossal sphere of blue fire rocketed toward him.
Malkadin tried to counter with black mana, but the stone needles never stopped moving.
Too slow. Too late.
“Kyaa—!”
His body froze solid. Every drop of heat was ripped away; ice crystals began to spread across his skin.
As Malkadin transformed into a living statue of ice, Elise exhaled a long, weary breath.
“Huuu…”
She leaned on her staff, finally steadying herself in place.
It would end here. Surely.
“Wet nurse! It’s not over yet!”
Luke’s voice rang out.
Elise’s head snapped up.
The ice cracked.
A thick black aura surged through the fissure.
Malkadin’s voice echoed, distorted and echoing.
“…Strange Events Fill the Road. Touch of Chaos and Mercy.”
His bloodshot eyes gleamed behind a veil of frost as he bit down hard.
He would not fall here. Not while the All-Seeing, All-Powerful God watched.
The Third Apostle, Malkadin Brayden, reached for the hand of Chaos and Mercy.
Tendrils of darkness bloomed around him. Ethereal white arms extended, countless feminine hands reaching for his body.
These were the hands that cared for their Apostle.
“Appearing before us is the Tantalizing Eye in Chaos—grant me strength.”
Malkadin whispered. Around him, dozens of women’s hands now embraced his form.
“…7th-Tier Authority—Consciousness Manifestation…”
Ther’s face drained of color. Luke had witnessed the same awe-inspiring display many times: 7th-Tier power that brought an entire inner world into reality.
Malkadin had summoned his own universe before their eyes.
“Prepare yourself, Witch. The hand of the God I follow knows no mercy!”
Elise suddenly laughed.
“Hah. So only you can summon the world?”
She pointed her staff forward.
“Human Will Defying Heaven. Banquet of Spacetime.”
Space and time themselves began to writhe beneath her.
***
“What…?”
Malkadin’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The Witch was still there.
But now—another presence behind him…?
They had seen it.
They had seen it.
It was impossible.
Two Witches.
Clearly two.
While he frantically glanced left and right, two Elises spoke in unison.
“The power of Human Will Defying Heaven—Banquet of Spacetime—can summon the me from another timeline.”
Both Elises raised their staffs.
“That means this is also possible. Reverse. All elements of this space. Nature. Reverse them, shatter the foe before you. Elemental Reverse Storm.”
The storm that had appeared moments ago exploded into an even greater maelstrom.
Malkadin did not hesitate. Black mana flooded his summoned hands.
“Too late.”
The two storms summoned by Elise swallowed him whole.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!!”
Countless women’s hands tried to quell the fury of the storms.
Black mana detonated, turning the storm back upon itself, yet the two elemental tempests summoned by Elise fought back with equal rage.
‘My entire body is breaking.’
In the chaos, Malkadin checked his condition.
Blisters and frostbite covered his skin. Every inch was torn and bleeding.
One moment of stillness and the natural storms would crush him into paste.
He was surrounded. Doomed.
A voice boomed inside his mind.
[Destroy.]
His body ignited with power.
Chaos.
The primordial divine energy of an Evil God surged through him.
“Now!”
Boom!
A portion of Elemental Reverse Storm was blasted from his fist.
“Impossible!”
Boom!
Chaos flooded his two fists and the hands of women.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The relentless explosions of Elise’s magic continued. In the center of the storm, Malkadin screamed.
“I am the Third Apostle! Malkadin Brayden!”
His roar cut through the chaos.
Elise’s brow furrowed as she watched. Then she gripped something at her throat.
“Young Master.”
Red light erupted from her hand.
“I do not know where you obtained the power of Chaos… but I will use it.”
Chaos energy bloomed from Elise’s palm.
“What…?”
Malkadin’s expression froze.
“Disappear, heretic.”
Elise swung her staff in a wide arc.
“All living beings who have given life—rebel against reason. Not to prove life, but to prove death by burning it. Supreme Reverse Reason Magic. Life Combustion.”
The highest tier of Reverse Reason magic, powered by Chaos, ignited.
“Guh!”
Malkadin Brayden’s lifespan began to burn away.
***
Cough! Cough cough cough!
As Malkadin’s body rapidly aged and collapsed, Elise sank to one knee, vomiting blood. The Mana Tree inside her mana hole trembled violently, and her condition was critical. Perhaps her life force had already been spent.
“Evil God… I did not break our contract… Cough! Cough!”
She whispered to the entity she had bound herself to.
It had been sheer luck.
The world she had summoned—the Banquet of Spacetime—had only been possible through the power she had painstakingly accumulated. The fact that only one additional Elise had appeared proved that the power pledged to the Evil God remained intact.
The moment Malkadin received Chaos from the Evil God had been terrifying, yet Luke’s borrowed Zigmalion Red Diamond Necklace had allowed her to defeat him.
Truly, it had been divine providence.
Three figures rushed toward the fallen Elise.
“Wet nurse! Are you all right?”
“Young Master… it hurts…”
Luke hurriedly handed her a potion.
While Elise drank it down, Luke stared at the broken Malkadin.
“…Lucky as hell…”
The moment the words left his mouth, black light erupted from the Apostle’s body.
[Ah.]
[Aaah…]
As soon as the voice reached Elise, she sprang to her feet, staff in hand.
This was the voice of a soul crawling out of hell. It was the voice of pure hell itself.
[Welcome, you who have turned my human into a living, ancient tree.]
Everyone present froze.
[I am the being called the Tantalizing Eye in Chaos.]
A Ruin-grade Evil God had appeared—one of the four that governed the destruction of this world.
[Cruel laugh] Haa ha ha!