001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

As Rei swung Espada Galaxia, the celestial sword blazed with an intensity that dwarfed everything around it. The air itself seemed to scream under the pressure of its raw power. An unimaginable surge of energy erupted from the blade, creating a shockwave that instantly flattened the area in all directions except for the church behind him that protected by *Atheism*, tearing apart the ground like paper and uprooting trees as if they were mere blades of grass.

The blade's arc carved through the sky, and in its wake, the very atmosphere was torn asunder. Stars that had once resided calmly in the sky were now being drawn in, pulled from their distant homes and bent towards Rei's blade, as if the cosmos itself was kneeling before it. The stars, burning bright and hot, transformed into streaking comet-like trails, slamming into the ground and detonating with explosive force, sending pillars of flame and smoke high into the air.

Wherever the swing's path traveled, reality seemed to distort. Space cracked and shattered like fragile glass, revealing an endless expanse of dark, infinite void beneath. The laws of physics bent to the sword's will, and gravity lost its meaning—the earth rose up in chunks, boulders hung suspended in the air, caught in the vortex of power. The overwhelming light illuminated the entire city, turning night into a chaotic day that made shadows dance wildly and violently in every direction.

The clash between *Espada Galaxia* and *Enuma Elish* was cataclysmic. The crimson storm generated by Ea collided with the azure fury of the celestial sword, and for a moment, there was a deafening silence—a calm before the storm. Then, with an earsplitting roar, the opposing forces met in a violent eruption of power. The ground beneath them was ripped apart, and the sky above them split into a cacophony of colors—a kaleidoscope of stars, crimson ruptures, and brilliant blue radiance that reached beyond the horizon.

Rei's *Espada Galaxia* didn't just overpower Ea—it engulfed the other. The crimson lightning from Ea was swallowed whole by the torrent of blue and gold cosmic energy. The sword's brilliance expanded further, completely enveloping the chaotic spiral of *Enuma Elish* and neutralizing it with an overwhelming force that crushed even the ancient weapon's might.

Gilgamesh, for the first time, felt the genuine sting of fear as the light from *Espada Galaxia* bore down upon him. The sheer magnitude of the energy was so intense that his golden armor began to crack and melt under the radiant pressure. His confident demeanor shattered, replaced by wide eyes and gritted teeth as he struggled to comprehend the sheer scale of the power before him. It was as if he was staring into the birth of a new universe, a power that defied all logic and transcended any weapon in existence.

The energy wave from the sword stretched into the heavens, splitting clouds and distorting the sky, parting it in an endless chasm that seemed to reach into the very depths of space. It was no longer merely a weapon—*Espada Galaxia* had become a manifestation of celestial destruction, a blade that could sever not just flesh, but the fabric of reality itself.

And then, as the swing completed, the energy burst outward, a final, deafening explosion that seemed to shake the very core of the world. All went quiet, the world holding its breath in the wake of such a divine display of power. A massive rift hung in the sky, shimmering with remnants of stardust and cosmic light—a scar upon reality that would take time to heal, if it ever could.

Despite all that destruction, Rei continued to smile broadly, staring up at the sky. His deep purple eyes fixed on the massive rift hanging in the air, with no sign of Gilgamesh left.

"A weapon that separates heaven and earth... kinda disappointing. I wonder if it would've been stronger if Gilgamesh was actually alive or not."

He looked around, and saw that the area surrounding him was completely devastated, except for the church behind him which remained untouched due to the protective barrier he had set up earlier. As he gazed toward the city, he saw that it was burning and in ruins from the fallen stars. However, he noticed that the mansion where Sakura was staying was still standing, unharmed due to the barrier he had put in place when he first arrived in this world.

"What the hell are you doing, Foreigner!?" Suddenly, he heard an old man's voice from behind him.

"Oh? I wondered when you'd show up, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg." Rei turned around with a smile, looking at the old man who had appeared, holding a staff made of crystal.

Zelretch glared at Rei, his expression filled with anger. "You almost destroyed the entire planet! You could have beaten Gilgamesh without using that sword!" he shouted while looking at the sword in Rei's hand.

"Yeah, I could've beaten him without using this sword, but where's the fun in that? I can't do my testing if I just beat him like that." Rei replied, sounding completely unconcerned with Zelretch's words.

Suddenly, someone landed beside Zelretch—it was Archer, Fujino. She stared at Rei with intense anger, her crimson eyes glowing. "Didn't you already say you weren't going to use your full power?"

"What do you mean? I never used my full power. I didn't even use my wings, you know?"

Rei then raised his right hand, holding the Celestial Sword. "This is just the ability of my sword. And I didn't even enhance it with my wings, so I never lied to you."

As they listened to Rei, both of them noticed his purple eyes glowing, making them realize something was off. During Zelretch's observation earlier, he noticed that his eyes were previously sky blue, not purple like now. Fujino had the same realization—his eyes were different from what they had been before.

"Creation: Sword of Rupture, Ea." Rei suddenly said, lifting his left hand.

Just like with Gilgamesh earlier, a bright red light appeared, with lines rupturing in the air. The lines quickly moved toward his left hand, forming Ea—the signature weapon of Gilgamesh—perfectly replicated by him.

"Such a dangerous ability you have… I can't even compare it to the Crimson Moon." Zelretch murmured as he watched the Ea materialize in Rei's left hand.

In Rei's right hand was the Gateway-Star Sword, while in his left hand was Ea, the Sword of Rupture. This wasn't just any Sword of Rupture; it was an unrestrained version, unrestricted by Gaia, capable of wielding its full power.

"Leave this world, Foreigner! If not, Alaya and Gaia will do everything they can to force you out of it!" Fujino said, preparing to activate her Mystic Eyes.

But Rei paid no attention to their words, choosing instead to focus on the Ea in his hand.

"Very interesting... So, this weapon's strength depends on its user, huh? But because Gilgamesh was the only one to wield you, you never reached your full potential." Rei spoke as if conversing with someone.

"Then awaken, Ea."

Ea immediately responded, its segments spinning rapidly as it unleashed a torrent of crimson energy and crackling lightning.

"Ughh—!" Zelretch and Fujino were pushed back by the intense gusts of wind generated by Ea.

The moment he did that, Rei could feel Ea absorbing his energy to fuel Enuma Elish. However, since Rei's energy was different from Gilgamesh's, the crimson aura that Ea had previously emitted began to change color to a deep purple, with the same transformation happening to the lightning that crackled around it.

"I see, you're not as strong as my Celestial weapon, but I can definitely do a lot of things with you." Rei remarked, studying the newly altered Ea.

"Rei, what the hell happened out there?!?" Suddenly, he heard Rin's voice inside his head.

"Everything is shaking! I thought we were going to die in here! But we can't see what's going on outside, and we can't leave because of the barrier you put up!"

The moment he heard her voice, his eyes immediately reverted to their sky blue color. "Eh, Rin!? I'm sorry, I forgot about you. I kind of got carried away here."

He quickly deactivated Ea, and the chaos around them subsided. The weapon vanished, along with the Celestial sword he had been holding.

With its task complete, the Celestial Sword reverted to a glowing blue orb before disappearing from this dimension, returning to Lyria.

After that, Rei looked around and realized that he wasn't just getting carried away—he had gone way too far.

But what could he do? His Astral side was his true nature, one that he constantly suppressed to prevent it from emerging. However, it wasn't possible for him to hold back his true nature forever. Sooner or later, it would resurface. That's why he, along with Lyria and Djeeta, agreed to let it out from time to time, to prevent incidents like this from happening.

However, since it had been almost a few months since he last let his true nature out, his Astral side had unintentionally taken over this time.

So, he immediately spread his twelve dark wings and soared high into the sky.

The higher he flew, the more destruction he could see throughout the city. People screamed in panic and terror, and many had already perished in the flames consuming the city. Fortunately, Sakura was still safe, asleep inside the mansion, thanks to the barrier he had set up.

The massive rift in the sky led to somewhere unknown, but he didn't care much about that at the moment. He had to fix everything here first. He couldn't even sense Saber anymore; she was probably dead from the aftereffects of his attack.

After he reached a sufficient height, he stopped and hovered there, looking down at the entire devastated area.

"Akasha, lend me your power."

Rei's twelve dark wings began to glow and transformed into a silver hue, the color of Akasha, indicating that his wings were now imbued with its power. While he could access Akasha's power without fully invoking it as he did in the DxD world, he could only utilize a fraction of its strength—enough for something like this.

"Reverse."

And then everything stopped. The screams from the people in the city fell silent. The world became still. Zelretch and Fujino, who were watching from below, also froze in place.

Even though Zelretch wielded the Second True Magic, he still found himself immobilized as Rei used Akasha's power. Despite being unable to move, he could still sense what was happening around him.

"Excluding Gilgamesh, turn everything back." Rei muttered as he made a gesture like he was turning something counterclockwise.

As Rei's gesture mimicked the motion of turning back the hands of a clock, the world around him responded to his will.

The first sign was the city flickering as if caught in a glitch in reality. Fires that raged moments ago began to diminish, their flames shrinking and reversing into nothingness. The ash and smoke swirling through the air were pulled back into the remains of buildings, debris reassembling into their original forms. Crumbling walls rose up, and shattered windows reattached themselves seamlessly.

People who had been running in terror began moving backward, like marionettes guided by an unseen hand. Those who had fallen to the ground got back up, wounds healing in an instant. Their expressions of fear and pain vanished as they moved back into their homes or previous locations, unaware of the impending doom that had just been reversed.

The once-massive fissure in the sky, a gaping wound in the fabric of reality, started to close. The rift shimmered, retracting like a stitched-up scar, until the sky above returned to its undisturbed blue state. The cosmic distortion that hung there, tearing through the heavens, faded back into nothingness.

In the forests beyond the city and the cemetery where the fierce battle had unfolded, the chaos was similarly undone. Fallen trees rose from the ground, cracks in the earth sealed up, and all signs of the violent clash between servants were erased. The cemetery, once reduced to rubbles, rebuilt itself piece by piece, like pieces of a puzzle falling into place.

The magical energy Rei used to reverse time rippled across the entire area, touching every corner of the city and beyond. As it swept over the landscape, it was as though an artist was erasing a canvas of destruction, line by line, stroke by stroke, and repainting it to its original, untouched state.

Meanwhile, the people who had been caught in the chaos were none the wiser. To them, no time had passed. Conversations that were cut short resumed as if nothing had happened, and life continued its ordinary rhythm.

Rei's expression remained calm but focused, his silver wings shimmering with the pure energy of Akasha. As the world completed its reversal, his wings dimmed, their light fading back to their dark color. The restoration was nearly complete, and all that remained was for the timeline to stabilize.

Everything was back to how it was—except for one: Gilgamesh was still absent from the world, his fate sealed outside the bounds of time's reversal.