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104. Proof Complete

Kirmiji’s defensive magic, [Titanwall Hekatoncheir], was as tough as, if not tougher than, my [Vajra Barrier]. As I hammered away at the uncracked wall using [Asura’s Six Arms], I silently observed the mana currents swirling around Kirmiji.

Beyond the semi-transparent barrier, clad in red armor, Kirmiji continued muttering to no one in particular.

「Not yet… not yet enough! This power—power worthy of me, Kirmiji, who’s worked harder than anyone—must be even more, even greater…! I who strive to be clean, noble, pure, gentlemanly, and above all, rational! All who would obstruct my path—I shall—shall—shall strike down—………ke……co………」

「Kirmiji?」

「Cock-a-doodle—」

The sound that spilled from Kirmiji’s mouth was eerily chicken-like.

A moment ago, he had commanded a power rivaling that of the gods—almost godlike himself. Yet the sound he made now resembled that of a chicken having its neck wrung. At the same time, the mana that had been intensifying now began to disperse rapidly.

Next came the tremors. Kirmiji’s entire body shook uncontrollably. His face turned pale, and sweat and tears gushed down in torrents. His eyes wandered wildly, and he could barely form words.

「Wh-what i-is t-this… c-cock… wh-what’s ha-ppening…?」

His incantation fell into complete disarray. Even the defensive barrier began to flicker. Anyone could tell—something was very wrong with Kirmiji.

「Feels like your whole ego’s about to vanish from a mind-shattering headache, huh? Yeah, I’ve been through something similar once. So I get it. A little, at least.」

「Wh…at… the… hell… are… you…」

Kirmiji drooled as he slurred, clearly unable to comprehend what was happening to him. Even Koe-san stood puzzled by the pitiful sight.

But I understood.

I’d anticipated this outcome the moment Angelina told me the details.

More importantly, I remembered this happening to me.

「Master, what is this?」

「The [Song of the Age of Gods] is a ‘wisdom skill’—one that grants magical knowledge. It doesn’t just let you learn the magic of the Age of the Gods. It gives you the inhuman intelligence needed to comprehend it. Basically, you get to be smarter.」

The original holder of the skill, Eria Arurma, had been a rare genius of a mage. She didn’t just have ancient magic knowledge—she could also do six years of compound interest calculations instantly. Her intellect was that absurd.

That was the level of power this skill gave its holder, and Eria used it before its current form, the skill had evolved when I recovered it.

The skill gave you now knowledge about the magic of the Age of the Gods—not just ancient magic—then it only made sense that the required brainpower would be even more extreme.

As I spoke, Kirmiji clung to his wobbling knees like a newborn fawn, struggling to stay upright.

「So, wh, why… w-why I-I’m suffering like this now…?」

「Gaining intelligence is like… adding more pages to a book. If a book has a hundred pages, and you add fifty, then two hundred, you get more space to write, right? Simple logic. …[Subspace Rupture」: activate.」

「Guh!!」

I slashed at the barrier mid-sentence. The wall that had been so sturdy just moments ago now shook like a crumbling tower.

That reaction wasn’t for show—Kirmiji’s strength was definitely fading.

「Yeah. Turning a hundred-page book into two hundred pages is fine. Even four hundred, five hundred—you can still read it. But you… you started scribbling down hundreds of powerful divine spells. Just how many pages would you need for that?」

It was just a metaphor, sure. But it captured the essence.

Lord Emesmes, who borrowed my skill [Divine Blade/Three Moon Sword], fused only 512 ‘brains’ into himself. He threw away his life and his future, knowing that was the upper limit.

Even someone like him—a genius among geniuses—had to limit himself to that extent. Or rather, because he was a genius, he understood his limits.

But Kirmiji was different.

No matter how many layers of intelligence you stack, if your core ideology and humanity are warped, all you’ll do is amplify that distortion.

「You kept learning divine magic without restraint. How much mental capacity did you burn just to use those layers?」

「Ah—!?」

「You’re not a ‘book’ anymore. You’re some kind of creature with tens of millions of pages tacked on—where even a master alchemist could only add 512. There’s no way that ends well.」

You need a mind to learn magic.

You need a mind to use magic.

Kirmiji was a book endlessly expanded, used until it was ready to burst.

No—he wasn’t even a “book” anymore.

His binding had simply, and finally, snapped.

「Th-this… this can’t be…!」

「I don’t really remember how I used it, but… I think I only learned two or three spell formulas. Then I combined them with other skills to make use of them. Obviously, I must’ve paired them with some kind of healing skill to repair the burden on my brain.」

That’s what skill synergy is about.

If you just stockpile abilities aimlessly, each one gets neglected—or worse, causes a catastrophic overload, like what’s happening now. That’s why you narrow down. Work with what fits in the palm of your hand. Get creative. Combine and refine. That’s the mark of the strong.

Honestly, if I didn’t need to lend my skills to others, I never would’ve memorized so many in the first place.

Whether he understood any of this with his fried brain, Kirmiji now collapsed, slumped in the mud.

「Th-this wasn’t supposed to happen…!」

「I can guess why you thought that skill was the strongest. Wisdom is power. But so is thinking. So is adapting. The skill strengthens those things, which is why I rated it so highly. But you… you only saw the ‘wisdom.’ That was your mistake.」

Not that this wasn’t a dangerous gamble on my part.

If, by some one-in-a-million chance, Kirmiji had managed to master those hundreds of divine spells, he could have unleashed all of them at once. There’d be no stopping that.

「Well, in the worst case, I’d just die. If the lender dies, all borrowed skills become null and void. I’m not easy to kill, but if it came to it, I’d find a way to off myself.」

「Wha—n-no…!」

Kirmiji had no rebuttal.

So, mimicking Angelina, I delivered the closing line.

「That’s all. Proof complete. Like I said at the very start—「You have no need to know anything more.」 And Kirmiji… I meant that for your sake, too.」