Elisa Willow’s appearance made Nirva’s expression harden.
In the past, he could have dealt with her leisurely, but right now, that was out of the question.
‘There’s no way she could have found a method to target me inside the Infinite Prison.’
From the outside, the Infinite Prison looked like a massive sphere with only a single hole at the top.
But inside, it was a chaotic blend of countless dreams and spaces, boasting a volume close to infinity.
Even if one was right nearby, without passing through the doors into other fields, movement was impossible.
And even if someone overcame such a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} harsh environment and opened a door, it did not guarantee arrival at the desired location.
It was purely random.
Open a door, then open another.
It was not a two-dimensional maze, but a three-dimensional labyrinth.
The possible choices increased exponentially, forcing one to wander endlessly.
That was the Infinite Prison Nirva had unfolded.
And yet Elisa had found him.
Had she discovered him by sheer astronomical chance?
No.
“Julia Plumehart, was it.”
Nirva’s blazing gaze turned to Julia, who still shone brightly.
“What trick did you pull?”
“Are your ears clogged with age? I told you, I analyzed the structure of this prison and sent out a signal.”
“Signal? A signal, you say? In a space close to infinity, no matter how intensely something shines, do you think it would ever catch anyone’s eye?”
Even a brilliantly shining star in the endless universe becomes invisible if it’s far enough away.
The Infinite Prison was just like that.
“It’s not truly infinite, is it? It’s just the name. In reality, it’s only a very large place.”
At Julia’s remark, Nirva’s brow twitched.
Her words wounded his pride, but they also pierced to the very core of the Infinite Prison’s structure.
“I’ve already finished analyzing it. The moment someone opens a door and steps inside, new rooms are added where nothing existed before, isn’t that right?”
A blank sheet of paper.
Its size was so vast that one could hardly imagine its limits.
You could call it “infinite.”
But that sheet was not the Infinite Prison itself.
The Infinite Prison was rather the maze drawn upon the paper.
Whenever someone opened a door from the outside, new passages quickly spawned outside the previous exit.
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a prison of infinity.
It was an endlessly expanding labyrinth.
“Infinity is nothing but an illusion. It only feels infinite because the next space generates so rapidly and broadly.”
Julia smirked.
It was the enigmatic smile she always wore when brimming with confidence.
“That means if no one opens a door, that space never exists and stays as nothingness, doesn’t it? Because that’s the condition.”
The Infinite Prison could not grow on its own.
Its expansion depended on those trapped inside trying to escape by opening doors.
The more they tried to escape, the larger the maze became.
Like quicksand that swallows you deeper the more you struggle.
“But you couldn’t have transmitted your exact position.”
“Why do you think that’s impossible?”
Through her dream-sense, Julia quickly analyzed the structure and infused her mana into it.
She planted circuits that didn’t just cover the general framework but even grasped the minute mechanisms of the Infinite Prison.
Like ink spreading through water.
Inside the Infinite Prison, a massive web—a Dream Network Julia had created—was spreading.
Like a poison.
“A human couldn’t possibly think of such a thing...!”
To Nirva, this was incomprehensible.
Filling the prison with dream-sense and mana to create a vast web?
And to expand it while analyzing the entire mechanism?
“That’s something elves would attempt...”
He cut himself short.
His eyes turned to Sedina standing beside Julia.
Sedina Roschen.
No, Sedina Plante.
With her knowledge of the World Tree and its Wood Network, she could have imagined such a concept.
But theory alone couldn’t yield such practical results.
“No matter how gifted you are, calculating this massive prison should take at least three days at the fastest.”
Yet she had done it instantly? Without showing fatigue?
“The answer to that lies elsewhere.”
Julia said this as she raised a magical formula in her hand.
To Nirva, it was something utterly incomprehensible.
“What... is that?”
“Ever heard of [Source Code]?”
“Source... code?”
“Yeah. Of course not. It was only just created. Not widely known yet.”
That was natural.
Because Source Code was a new form of magic invented by a single individual.
“It’s the work of Professor Ludger Cherish.”
A tool to manifest magic faster and more conveniently.
That was why Ludger had taught it only to a select few students.
Broken into four framework fragments.
And Julia Plumehart...
She had ranked within the top five in every exam during the first semester and was one of the few to receive the complete [Source Code] from Ludger.
What made Nirva react so violently was the man’s name.
Ludger Cherish.
“Him... again!”
The man who could fight him on equal terms with sheer force.
The man he had barely subdued by taking hostages and dragging into a dream.
And now, once again, that man was binding his feet.
‘How does a human come up with such thoughts? Is it something bestowed on him by the gods?’
Nirva’s head spun.
The very existence of the Source Code baffled him.
He could not understand it.
Even modern mages could not fully grasp it, unable to accept its radical nature.
There was no way he could comprehend it.
The truth—that the knowledge originated from another world’s future, forged by countless geniuses over long years—was beyond his reach.
Not even Nirva, servant of dreams, could understand.
“You... how dare you!”
Nirva raised his prosthetic arm of dream-sand, aiming at Julia.
He intended to crush her fragile neck under its pressure.
But before he could, a pink mana blast forced him to switch to defense.
“Isn’t this too much? Even if you’ve lost your mind, ignoring me when I’m standing right here wounds me deeply as a lady.”
Furious at the interruption, Nirva twisted his face.
“Lady? You’re far too old for—”
Before he could finish, his head was cleanly sliced above the jaw.
“Oh my, I didn’t mean to.”
Elisa tilted her head with one hand resting on her cheek.
Watching from behind, Sedina and Julia both felt a chill run down their spines.
‘Th-the Headmaster is terrifying...!’
‘I must never anger her.’
Ssshh.
Dream-sand gathered over Nirva’s severed jaw.
As his head regenerated, he stared at Elisa in bewilderment.
‘What...?’
He hadn’t reacted at all to her earlier strike.
It was unlike any of her usual attacks.
Though weaker in raw force, it was faster and more precise than ever.
And weaker only in comparison to her normal wide-range magic—its lethality was obvious, as it had just taken his head.
This was not the same woman who relied solely on overwhelming scale.
Her techniques were becoming more refined.
“Were you hiding your power all along?”
Nirva could not understand.
He had already gathered intelligence on Elisa Willow.
And the Elisa Willow he knew had never fought like this.
Nor had she ever concealed some hidden strength.
“Surprising, isn’t it? Of course it would be. You read your opponent’s past and information through dreams, judging their level at a glance.”
To face Nirva one-on-one meant laying all your cards on the table.
Unless you had as many as Ludger, who defied easy reading, you began the fight at a disadvantage.
That was how it should have been.
“I’ve never hidden my strength. This is simply... my new challenge.”
“A new challenge? That makes no sense—”
“Don’t underestimate humans.”
Elisa smiled faintly.
But her gaze pierced Nirva sharper than any blade.
Like a finely honed sword.
“Anyone who struggles with all their might in every single moment... can accomplish anything.”
“Heh.”
Nirva understood Elisa’s sincerity.
Even though she appeared calm and composed, every word she spoke revealed her determination to fight him with all she had.
Like a swan gliding gracefully on the water’s surface, but paddling furiously beneath.
Elisa Willow was the same.
“And did you forget? The signal is still being transmitted.”
The moment Elisa finished speaking, the doors of the three-dimensional maze clattered open.
Through the opened doors, new people began to arrive one after another.
“Little one! There you are!”
“We’ve come to rescue you!”
“You fiend! This time we’ll bring you down!”
Dreamwalkers led by Clara Cowen.
“So you were hiding here, Nirva.”
And Franz, radiating hatred.
“Oh. I came because I heard there was a signal, and what an amusing sight it is.”
“I nearly lost my way.”
“If someone hadn’t been stirring things up under the guise of hunting, that wouldn’t have happened.”
The Owenz, hiding their identities behind white masks.
“Headmaster! We’ve come to help as well!”
“Are the children safe?”
Even the instructors of Seorn had followed the signal and arrived.
Up, down, left, right—
The doors of the three-dimensional labyrinth flung open, and waves of people poured through, drawn by the signal.
Nirva, surrounded on all sides, was like a poisoned rat trapped in a corner.
‘To think I’ve been reduced to this by mere humans...’
He barely restrained the urge to slaughter them all.
He had to face reality.
He was surrounded by the very humans he had scorned. If he fought here, it would be his defeat.
‘Stubbornness changes nothing.’
If he had fought with everything from the beginning, it might have been different.
But it was too late to turn things back.
Then... he had to choose.
Boom!
Nirva raised his prosthetic arm and smashed it into the ground.
The dream-sand that swirled around spread outward in concentric waves.
A wide-range attack—yet not a single person here failed to respond to it.
Slash!
The wave of sand split apart as a sword strike struck Nirva’s prosthetic arm.
Sparks flew with a sharp crack.
Nirva gritted his teeth and deflected Alex’s blade.
But he could not block the harpoon that Phantos hurled next.
Thud!
The harpoon pierced through his side.
A chunk of his flank tore away, golden blood spilling out.
‘Regeneration is slow!’
He realized the harpoon carried a strange power.
Something fundamentally different from dream-sense.
‘Is this what beastkin call Spirit?’
Within that Spirit burned an intense will—the conviction to kill its prey.
In some sense, it brushed close to dream-sense itself, a manifestation of heart and imagination.
Whoosh!
Nirva whipped up a raging sandstorm around him.
Not to attack, but to obscure vision.
He pressed his hand to the ground, tearing away the blocks beneath.
His choice was escape.
“He’s running!”
“Don’t let him get away!”
The quick-witted attacked to stop him.
Nirva hurled himself through the hole he had opened in the floor.
In the process, incoming attacks tore wounds across his body.
A new labyrinth stretched beyond.
Here, Nirva intended to shake off the humans.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Franz closed in from behind, slashing a dagger.
Nirva twisted his body in haste.
“Kh!”
The blade, aimed at his neck, cut deep across his cheek.
A dagger that could even destroy his regenerating arm—
The grudge, wrath, and obsession imbued in its edge carved an indelible scar on his face.
Franz sneered at him.
“Pathetic. The arrogant demon, tucking his tail and fleeing before humans.”
“Shut up!”
Nirva spat his anger in words only, never stopping his flight.
He opened doors, twisted space, fleeing again and again.
‘This won’t work. Those relentless pests won’t ever let me go.’
If it came to this, he would have to devour humans while fleeing, bit by bit restoring his strength.
If he could drag it out into a war of attrition, he could seize victory.
“Soldiers!”
The ceiling walls burst open, and Somnium Terracotta soldiers poured out.
Clad in sand armor, the soldiers lunged at his pursuers like zombies.
Nirva used the distraction to widen the distance.
Crash!
With no time to open new doors, he smashed through walls instead, barreling onward.
He didn’t stop, hunting for life force, until at last he stumbled upon a group of students.
“Found you!”
Like a man finding an oasis in the desert, Nirva bared his ferocious aura and lunged.
The students froze at the sudden appearance.
A hawk-nosed old man, eyes glowing gold, wrapped in swirling sand—he was no ordinary human.
“W-what is that?!”
“Run!”
They scattered like sheep before a wolf. But among them were those who refused to flee.
Flora Lumos was one of them.
Nirva’s gaze locked on her.
Among the gathered students, she held the greatest energy.
Devouring just her alone would grant him the power of a hundred humans.
“Get lost!”
Flora summoned a defense spell in that fleeting moment.
Nirva’s sand-hand slammed into her barrier.
The resistance was strong.
Remarkably precise for magic cast by a mere student.
Even faintly tinged with dream-sense—her talent was clearly extraordinary.
Nirva’s mouth watered.
Something in her aura felt subtly different, as if from another Apostle, but he had no time to question it.
He would devour her.
And survive.
Driven by that burning survival instinct, Nirva poured strength into his prosthetic arm.
The barrier shattered like thin ice.
Through the scattering fragments, Flora saw the sand-hand reaching for her—
And then, the solid back of someone standing before her.
Boom!
The force of the clash blasted the air apart with a deafening crack.
Flora, hair whipping in the gale, stared at her savior.
“How dare you.”
Blocking Nirva’s arm with one hand, Ludger muttered with the weary irritation of a man just woken from sleep.
“You dare lay a hand on my student?”