----- Just when they thought the menace of the Yakuza was over, yet another terrible threat emerged. Mammon—whom everyone believed more than capable of handling anyone—was being pushed around, crashing right in front of them out of nowhere! The culprit? A strange mass of writhing transparent hands composed of pure spiritual energy and psychic power. BOOOM! After the massive explosion, they found him on the floor, covered in cracks and bleeding, crushed into the ground by these massive invisible hands that seemed to pour endlessly from a hole dug through the crystal waves of this strange and bizarre domain. "Ugh! Are you done with the small fry?! Now help me fight this thing! It's coming from the Core of this Spirit Domain!" "W-What? The core?" Harumi asked, shocked. "Big brother, what's going on?! We're all exhausted here! You want us to fight yet another thing?!" "He said the core!" Kireina exclaimed. "Most likely he means there's an entity within the Core of this Domain controlling the entire space... But why did you have to provoke it, Mammon?" "Okay, I'm sorry!" Mammon cried. "I thought I could handle it on my own, but that thing's cheating, Kireina! It's some sort of Esper!" "Esper?" Erika asked. "Like... uh, those people with Psychic Powers?" "I've never met one in person, but I've heard they're incredibly rare, people born with an abnormal mutation in their brains that allows them to use 100% of their brain capacity. It manifests as invisible psychic power that isn't Mana, Ki, Spirit Energy, or any known supernatural force," Matsuo explained. "This is why they're considered so dangerous. Some can awaken and level cities in seconds! They're among the most dangerous awakened beings in the world because their power fluctuates wildly, based mostly on emotions, imagination, and memories. And they don't follow any other power system like we do. They don't need to drink blood, pray to gods, cultivate their bodies, learn magic, or martial arts...!" "W-What?! Are they really that threatening? No way," Erika said. "A truly strong Esper—a mighty Psychic—can easily compare to the level of our guild's strongest members. But they're so rare we never really consider them a factor," Harumi sighed, gritting her teeth. "We're all weak here. Even if we're healed, we can't keep fighting. We should run...!" "Run?! Do you think that thing will let us run?" Mammon asked, slowly standing up. His metallic body, covered in cracks, rapidly regenerated. "Espers might be strong, but their power is pure. They can't curse you or leave nasty effects on your soul or body. They use raw psychic power to damage either your mind or body. As long as you're strong enough, you can beat them." "Those hands aren't attacking us though?" Matsuo wondered. "Maybe it's not really aggressive?" "I don't know, but I've been trying to leave for a while now—nothing works!" Erika groaned. "Unless our parents come here to save us again... we can't escape unless we confront that thing and either refine the core or destroy it." "Did they seriously put a damn Esper in the core?" Harumi sighed, facepalming. "What do we do now..." "Espers, huh...?" Frank muttered. "My Gray Magic is quite similar to an Esper's Psychic Power, right? I can manipulate invisible forcefields and energy attacks, but mine are just Empty Mana instead..." "Yeah, I guess so," Harumi nodded. "You're the only user of Gray Magic I know. It's a very rare school of magic." "Really?" Frank asked. "It mostly exists because I lack an element... for some reason." "The hands are disappearing..." Kireina scanned the area, noticing the hands vanish completely. She sighed in relief. "Okay, there are a lot of people left behind once the beasts died... That giant of fire and ice... yeah, over here...!" Her eyes widened as she left the group and walked toward a nearby crater. There, she found the core of the Ice Beast, which resembled a Giant of Ice and Fire that Frank had defeated with his powerful Manifestation. "Lazuli... Blaze..." Kireina's eyes widened as she saw both girls lying there. "Last time I felt your presence, you were inside that large ice and fire castle. There was a spiritual domain around it with endless hordes of fire and ice spirit beasts we fought. But before we reached you, a wall sent us here... I thought we needed a key to finally get to you, but I was wrong. Were you being used? Perhaps by the one who left you like this—the Primordial Spirit Queen of the Spiritual Plane. That damn witch has been messing with us for a while now." From invading Genesis to abducting her friends and turning them into monsters against her, Kireina had endured countless annoyances and suffering because of these entities. They had infiltrated Genesis for a long time, choosing gods to betray them. Among them was Odin, who caused havoc and began stealing Yggdrasil Trees—likely what they were trying to take from Kireina as well. "Freyja's been distracting herself in the God Academy, but she's still grieving the abduction of her child inside the Yggdrasil Dream Tree she was growing..." Kireina sighed. "And they even kidnapped Freyr, leaving his Realm and Freyja's in chaos. I haven't forgotten any of it... Especially her grief, and the grief of Freyr's wife, Gerd. And that's not even considering how the people of Niflheim were sealed by that bastard Obsidian, turned into black crystals. Njord, Skadi's husband and King of Niflheim, suffered that fate after Tundra betrayed everyone and took the Crown of Niflheim, made from the Fragment of the Primordial Spirit of Ice, one of Genesis' direct children. What a mess." Yet there was something Kireina couldn't comprehend. Why? Why were they doing this now? She was sure the Spiritual Plane was invading Genesis, so why target this Cosmic World inside the Dungeon? Kireina thought they were happy she was "trapped" here, unable to intervene. But it seemed their plans had drastically changed. Perhaps, like the Demons, Vampires, and the Sun God, the Spiritual Plane entities were greedy enough to want a piece of this world, even while invading Genesis. "To know what's going on, it would be better to call for them..." Kireina nodded, closing her eyes and channeling her consciousness across dimensions, into her Vast Cosmic Realm. There, she quickly manifested her Cosmic Will and used it to scan the entire Cosmic World, finding the ones she had been searching for—those who had been training and preparing for an eventual battle. -----