Rei Ao's silhouette vanished from the material world.
The very next instant he found himself in a dim, ash-gray realm where even time appeared to have come to a halt—the Netherworld.
Familiar with this place, he strode confidently through the swirling mist and soon reached a comparatively "bright" zone.
There, a colossal altar of interwoven runes and chains rose from the gloom.
At its center sat a woman in an ornate gown, beauty so otherworldly it bordered on the demonic.
Her long hair was a deep violet, and her eyes as fathomless as a star-strewn sky—Pandora.
Just then Pandora was idly flicking several crystal orbs that floated before her, as though observing something.
When Rei Ao's presence drew near, she did not even turn around. In a voice tinged with languor and reproach she said,
"Oh? Isn't this my willful 'child'? What brings you to visit your mother?"
"Or did you just kill another of Mother's 'children' and feel like boasting about it?"
The "children" she spoke of were the Campiones—god-slayers.
Marquis Voban had been one of them.
Rei Ao stopped at the foot of the altar.
His iridescent pupils regarded Pandora's back impassively.
"Boast? I've no interest in that.
"Voban annoyed me, so I killed him. Perfectly normal."
Pandora finally turned, a faint, ambiguous smile on her lips.
"Heh, to a Campione, killing a fellow god-slayer may indeed be 'normal.'
"But you aren't like them. You…don't belong to this world at all, nor to my 'rules.'"
Her words carried insight—and resignation.
Rei Ao's power had long since slipped beyond her control, even beyond the logic of this universe.
"Not of this world—so what?" Rei Ao countered.
"I'm here, I see, and I do as I please.
"For example, right now I have a question for you."
Pandora eyed him with interest, eager to learn the aim of the being who even she found troublesome.
Locking eyes with her, Rei Ao's tone was utterly calm, yet brooked no refusal.
"Pandora, you've been imprisoned here a long time, haven't you?
"Trapped in the Netherworld, unable to leave—don't you find it dull?"
Pandora's gaze sharpened, her smile fading.
"What are you getting at?"
"I'm saying"—Rei Ao paused, then enunciated each word—"come with me.
"Be mine. Leave this place, cast off the chains that bind you, and see the wider world outside."
Pandora chuckled as though she had heard something absurd.
"Do you know what you're proposing?
"I am part of the Netherworld itself; my being is woven into this realm's laws.
"These seals are the shackles of the world—my fate. How could I possibly depart?
"Not even Campiones can break them and take me away."
Rei Ao's iridescent eyes flashed.
"Can't break them? That's because they're too weak. Are you comparing me with them?"
He took a step forward, letting his aura seep out.
It was a force far beyond Campione's authority—power that belonged to him alone, drawn from a higher dimension.
Even the slightest leak made the Netherworld tremble.
The surrounding mist churned violently; the runes beneath Pandora flickered erratically.
Pandora's ease vanished, replaced by shock and disbelief.
She could feel the terror of Rei Ao's power—enough to overturn everything she knew.
Ignoring her astonishment, Rei Ao continued, "You say the seals hold you fast.
"To me, seals are chains meant for the weak.
"For me, nothing is unbreakable."
With that he raised a hand.
No incantation, no elaborate spell.
He merely extended a finger and tapped the gigantic runic chains that bound Pandora—chains embodying the very laws of the world.
A crystalline crack rang out.
Chains deemed indestructible even to Campione authority shattered like brittle glass the moment his fingertip touched them.
One. Two. Three… More and more.
Rei Ao's finger was a reaper's scythe; wherever it passed, the seals that had imprisoned Pandora for countless ages splintered and dissolved into motes of light.
Pandora's eyes widened, lips parted in stunned disbelief.
She could feel the crushing weight that had bound her for eons growing lighter—an unfamiliar prelude to freedom.
"This…this is impossible…"
"These are the world's seals…"
Rei Ao withdrew his hand, voice still even yet irresistibly firm.
"Nothing is impossible.
"I told you—I can break every seal and take you away. Do you believe me now?"
Before the "One-and-Only God," the laws of the world were playthings.
Pandora stared at him, a tempest raging inside.
To leave the Netherworld and see the outside… She had dreamed of it countless times, each hope quenched by cruel reality.
But now, this man had shown her—in almost playful fashion—that it could be done.
The lure of freedom was overwhelming.
Even Pandora, mistress of the Netherworld, could not resist.
Her eyes shimmered with complex emotions: shock, doubt, yearning—and a trace of hesitation.
For she knew that what lay before her was nothing less than Pandora's Box itself.
Rei Ao did not press her. He simply waited, patient and supremely confident—
confident that he could persuade her,
carry her out all the same.
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