Three days have passed since the Champion Trial. Nihil is confined within his sterile white room. Outside his door, two Imperial Guard Holy Knights stand like statues, their presence a constant reminder that he is no longer a student, but an asset—or threat—of the state.

He spends his time in meditation, trying to control his Void Sync, which now hovers at a dangerously high threshold. At 9.5%, he can feel the Whispers of the Void growing clearer in his mind. The whispers no longer merely offer power, but also cold, efficient solutions to his problems. Solutions that often involve total annihilation. Heze's soul must struggle fiercely to maintain control.

The door to his room opens. It is not Celia who enters, but Headmistress Alina Sunstone, her face more serious than usual.

"He has come to see you," Alina says succinctly.

"Who?" asks Nihil.

"Grand Inquisitor Richter Von Braum," replies Alina, and the name alone is enough to make the room feel colder. "Listen carefully, Nihil. Do not play games with him. Do not try your clever tactics. This man is not like Theron, who is power-hungry, or Selene, who craves control. Richter is a true fanatic. He genuinely believes every word in his holy texts. To him, you are the embodiment of original sin. Be careful."

A short while later, Richter Von Braum enters.

He is not what Nihil imagined. Not a burly warrior in black armor, but a gaunt, ascetic middle-aged man in a simple white robe of the Inquisition. But his eyes... they shine with such pure, intense golden light, as if two small suns were trapped in his eye sockets. The Blessing energy radiating from him is so strong it is painful, making Nihil's skin feel as if it is on fire.

"So," says Richter, his voice soft yet resonating with irrefutable power. "This is the anomaly that dares to defy the sacred laws of life and death."

He slowly paces around Nihil's bed, scrutinizing him like a biologist examining a repulsive specimen. "The foolish scholars at the academy see you as a scientific puzzle. The politicians see you as a weapon. But I see you for what you truly are."

He stops and looks straight into Nihil's crimson eyes. "There is no such thing as 'nothingness,' my child. There is only God's creation, and the fleeting shadows that flee from His light. You are not a force. You are a disease. A void where a blessed soul should be."

Nihil feels immense pressure from Richter's gaze and aura. This is not mere mental pressure; it is a spiritual attack. Richter's Blessing aura is actively trying to "fill" the emptiness within Nihil, a process that feels like his soul is being stretched to its limits.

"I am here to conduct an examination," Richter continues. "To see how deep this corruption has spread."

Before Nihil can react, Richter places his palm on Nihil's forehead.

For Nihil, it feels like a star exploding inside his head. Pure, searing golden light floods his mind, trying to erase the darkness, trying to rewrite his very existence. The pain is excruciating.

But then, something else happens.

For Richter, the moment his hand touches Nihil's skin, he does not feel resistance. He feels something far worse. He feels nothingness. As if he has just touched a hole in reality. His boundless Blessing energy is not reflected or resisted; it simply vanishes, sucked into the bottomless pit within the boy, leaving no echo. A terrible coldness creeps up his arm, a coldness that does not merely freeze flesh but also erodes belief.

He quickly withdraws his hand, as if he had touched a burning coal. His palm is slightly smoking.

He looks at Nihil with a completely new expression. No longer contempt, but horror and absolute understanding.

"You..." he whispers, his voice slightly trembling. "You are not just empty. You are the antithesis. The Anti-God. A sin given form."

Richter turns. "You cannot be allowed to exist."

He walks out without another word. Nihil is left trembling on the bed, not from fear, but from the residual effects of the conceptual clash. A new notification flickers in his mind.

[DIRECT CONCEPTUAL CONFLICT DETECTED: EXISTENCE vs. NONEXISTENCE]

[VOID SYNC HAS REACHED CRITICAL POINT. STABILITY COMPROMISED.]

[Void Sync: 9.6%]

The Imperial Holy Inquisition has just officially declared holy war against him.

News of the Grand Inquisitor's visit to Nihil's isolation cell spreads quickly among the elite, triggering a series of moves on the dark chessboard.

At Duke Alaric's safe house...

Velka Nocturne reads a report from the agent who accompanied Tarek. It details the horrifying confessions of Doctor Elric regarding the sacrifice of her unknown brother.

Her face is pale, but her eyes no longer show sorrow, only a cold, hard fire. "So, my father... sacrificed his own son to try to 'cure' his wife, then lied about both of them?"

"It seems so," Duke Alaric says grimly. "And the Church of Life is his hand. This is a scandal that could topple two pillars of power in the Empire."

"We need evidence," Velka says firmly.

"Correct," Tarek replies from the corner, cleaning his crossbow. "Confessions from the dead mean nothing in court. Elric mentioned a 'restraint formula.' Alchemical recipes. Something like that would definitely leave paper trails."

Velka falls silent for a moment, her mind racing. "My mother... she had a private laboratory beneath the Nocturne residence. A hidden place that even my father feared to enter after her death. She was a botanist and alchemist."

Alaric and Tarek exchange glances.

"Your next mission is clear, Miss Velka," Alaric says. "You must return to the snake's nest. You must infiltrate your own home and find that laboratory."

Above the sky, inside "The Wanderer"...

Elara Moonveil stares at the recording of Nihil's duel. She has analyzed the energy waves from the regeneration process hundreds of times.

"The conclusion is inescapable," she says to her team. "The energy released matches the theoretical signature of the 'God-Slaying Event' from the Dawn War. He wields Trans-Essential power."

She gazes at the political map of Solara Magna. "The situation has reached a critical point. The Grand Inquisitor has moved. The Cult is gathering. Princess Selene is trying to make him a war dog. They are all children playing with cosmic singularities."

She makes a decision. "I can no longer approach him through intermediaries or as an observer. I must meet him directly."

"But how?" asks her assistant. "The academy is now a fortress."

"If we cannot enter the fortress," Elara says, "then we must give him a reason to step outside of it." She begins to devise a complex plan, a plan involving a bait that an analytical mind like Heze's could not refuse.

In a dark alley in Solara Magna...

The Silencer meets with Valerius's intermediary.

"New orders from the client," says the intermediary. "The academy asset has demonstrated absolute regenerative capabilities. It is now considered a primary threat. The client grants full authorization."

The intermediary pauses. "Use any means necessary. Eliminate it."

The Silencer remains silent in the shadows. She has studied her target. A regular blade would not work. Poison would not work. Even total physical destruction had failed. How do you kill something that can rewrite its own existence?

The Silencer knew that to kill a monster like that, she needed a weapon that was also beyond the laws of nature.

She went to a forbidden antique shop in the city's shadow district, where artifacts from the Abyss were traded.

"I am looking for something that can strike the soul," she whispered to the withered shop owner.

The owner grinned, revealing golden teeth. "Ah, a customer with rare taste."

She produced a small black wooden box. Inside, on a velvet cushion, lay a small shard of obsidian that seemed to absorb all light. The object emitted a cold aura that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, an anti-life aura.

"A Shard of the Existence Devourer," hissed the shop owner. "Found near an Abyssal Rift. This thing does not harm the body. It consumes the soul. No regeneration can restore a soul that has been devoured."

The Silencer took the shard. She now had the perfect weapon for her hunt. The most difficult and dangerous hunt of her career.

Three plans from three different factions are now in place, all converging on one point: Nihil. The storm that has been gathering is now ready to unleash.

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