Kuzon could feel his nerves stretching thin.


    Sweat formed on his golden brow and his widened eyes sought an exnation. Right in front of him was a person who was supposed to have be a statue, but was perfectly fine.


    How was such a thing possible? How could it happen? This was the ultimate technique of the Midas Race!


    No one was supposed to be able to resist it. Yet…


    ''Why isn''t he petrified yet?!''


    … Here he was, watching an exception to the absolute rule.


    "Hmm. I see now." A voice appeared from behind him, and someone suddenly materialised. "So that''s how it works."


    Before Kuzon could even react, the hand of the oddly familiar voicended on his shoulder, sending a very domineering feeling coursing through him.


    "Y-you… how are you…?"


    Kuzon knew he was holding the opponent right in front of him. Yet, why was there another one standing right behind him?


    "C-clone…?!"


    "Close, but not quite." The voice came from behind him, and suddenly, the one he held became nothing more than particles of light.


    The particles found their way to Jared, and they fused in no time.


    "You wouldn''t understand, even if I told you." The young man behind him added, instantly driving Kuzon into a state of rage.


    "How dare yo—"


    Before he could evenplete his sentence, and pour out his abundant energy, the hold of his opponent suppressed everything.


    "K-keuk!"


    He couldn''t even leak out a single word.


    "I thought I would be careful, so I decided to use this means, but it seemed I overestimated you."


    Kuzon could sense the condescending tone being used on him—the Absolute Emperor.


    He couldn''t take it. It infuriated him to no end.


    "But, well… I suppose something good came out of this venture. I was able to scan your [Midas Touch]. It''s an interesting ability. With just enough tweaks, I can…"


    >VWUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!<


    Kuzon''s eyes instantly widened when he heard the sound of the wind echoing in his ears and saw the golden aura that emanated from the Outer.


    In moments, the Outer was now in the same form as Kuzon—golden all over, with a brilliant smile on his face.


    Disbelief was etched in Kuzon''s eyes, and he found his heart slowly turning mellow. His body copsed like jelly, and he quickly lost the will to fight.


    The hidden technique of his family… had been easily copied by a mere outsider.


    "Y–y-you… filth…" Even though Kuzon said this, there was hardly any animosity in his words. It felt so weak-willed that it was almost sad.


    "If I use this as a base and add it to other Magic effects, I should be able to develop something good. As I thought… there are some innovations that are still worth keeping here."


    As if that wasn''t enough, the defeated emperor heard the Outer mutter words like; "Kuzon is going to be so shocked when he sees this…"


    He would have questioned it, but he was currently too broken to utter any word. He was stuck in the pressuring hold of his opponent, who could easily replicate his trump card.


    What more was there to say or do? He knew it well enough.


    ''It''s… my loss…''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    *


    *


    *


    I didn''t think it would be this easy, but everything worked out in the end.


    While Kuzon had been basking in his power, I used [Unknowable] and [The Moon] to create an invisible clone. Then, by activating Martial State, I swapped ces with the clone, allowing me to bepletely undetectable while Kuzon fought the duplicate.


    Calling it a duplicate sort of watered down what it was meant to be.


    Simply put, I extracted a portion of myself and made it into another me. The ''clone'' that fought against Kuzon was simply another ''me''.


    The reason I chose to use the Arcanas in my fight with Kuzon was because of my caution. I could have even sought any simple cloaking Spell, but I chose [Unknowable].


    That was how careful I decided to be.


    ''Thanks to going through that route, though, I was able to confirm something important.''


    The [Midas Touch] affected Mana on the same wavelength as anything native to this world. Since Mana existed everywhere here, Kuzon could petrify the Mana itself, thus affecting everyone and everything by extension.


    Even Inepts still breathed air that had fragments of Mana. Plus, their Souls had Mana. As long as the concept of Mana existed, [The Midas Touch] would affect it and petrify the object of attention.


    ''Unfortunately for Kuzon, I don''t exist in this reality, so the wavelength is different.''


    I also remembered that the Aether transformed my Soul into pure Aether, so it wasn''t Mana-based any longer.


    ''Once I turn all the Mana Cores that exist in my body into Aether, and my Soul pumps out more Aether, the leftover Mana Particles in my body will eventually vanish and be Aether.''


    In any case, his ultimate power wasn''t going to work on me… which was kind of sad, considering the petrification was the only thing about the [Midas Touch] that really worried me.


    "It looks like I win this round, Kuzon." I smiled at the broken youth, though no form of satisfaction really coursed through me.


    There was no way I could take satisfaction in beating someone as weak as this. Even Neron, who had been Inept just a while ago, would be able to defeat this Kuzon.


    ''The petrification will be a problem, but knowing Neron, he''ll be smart enough to figure it out.''


    Ciel would also be able to win. Edward and Karlia as well.


    ''As for the others… well…''


    With Arcana Spells, it was sort of cheating to evenpare their powers with Kuzon, to begin with.


    I deactivated the [Midas Touch], deciding to practice its useter. For now, it was far preferable to continue the talk we were having right before the interruption.


    Since we won, Kuzon would have to hear the Outgroup out.


    ''Everything is going as nned.''


    *


    *


    *


    [A/N]


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