Izumi nodded.
Looking at Rika, he smiled faintly.
"I succeeded."
"So... this is what lies beyond the Single-Digit realm."
He slowly raised his hands, examining them with quiet curiosity.
Just how powerful had he become?
Even he couldn't answer that.
The only thing he knew...
...was that anything was now possible.
Anything he wished to accomplish could be done with nothing more than a thought.
To him, the entire Dimensional World no longer held a single secret.
Everything was laid bare before his eyes.
...
Hearing his answer, Rika's face immediately lit up with joy.
"That's wonderful."
Then her expression quickly became serious again as she looked toward the battlefield.
"But first..."
"We need to deal with those monsters."
Izumi nodded in agreement.
"There is no second Dimensional World beyond ours."
"The world I once imagined... no longer exists."
"Those monsters are the ones responsible."
"Perhaps countless Dimensional Worlds once existed."
"But after those creatures appeared..."
"They devoured them one after another."
"Our Dimensional World..."
"...is the last one remaining."
...
His calm voice echoed through the void.
"Even this world only survived by borrowing the remnants of those destroyed dimensions."
"It gathered their power..."
"And sealed itself away."
"By isolating itself completely, it avoided the monsters' notice."
"But after countless ages..."
"The seal gradually weakened."
"And our battle..."
"...was the final catalyst."
"The cracks appeared because of us."
"So in a sense..."
"We're partly responsible for what happened."
...
Rika listened in stunned silence.
She had never imagined such a truth.
The Single-Digit beings...
Even they had only come into existence after the Dimensional World sealed itself away.
Their extraordinary powers were born from the countless worlds whose remnants had merged into this final sanctuary.
Without those lost dimensions...
Neither the countless worlds within this universe...
Nor the overwhelming powers they possessed...
Would ever have existed.
And Izumi...
He alone was different.
An exception among exceptions.
...
Only now did Rika finally understand.
Why had no one ever surpassed the Single-Digit realm?
Because it was impossible.
No one except Izumi had ever possessed the means to unite every world into one.
The only being who had ever come close had been Azathoth.
But in the end...
She had destroyed herself.
And all of that power had ultimately become Izumi's stepping stone.
His path...
Could never be replicated.
Not now.
Not ever again.
From this day onward...
There would only be one supreme ruler of the entire Dimensional World.
The King who stood above every Single-Digit existence.
...
Izumi slowly raised one hand.
Then...
He gently pressed it downward.
At that moment—
A miracle unfolded.
Every monster still battling throughout the Dimensional World froze in place.
Regardless of their strength...
Regardless of whether they were Double-Digit...
Or rivaled the Single-Digit realm...
Every one of them was suppressed by an invisible force.
The battlefield fell silent.
Everyone stared in disbelief.
"...What happened?"
"They've all... stopped moving?"
Before anyone could comprehend what they were witnessing...
An even greater miracle occurred.
A supreme authority descended upon the battlefield.
In an instant...
Every monster vanished.
Not defeated.
Not destroyed through battle.
They simply ceased to exist.
As though they had never been born.
...
At the same time...
The Dimensional World itself began to respond.
The corruption left behind by the invaders rapidly disappeared.
Space healed.
Reality stabilized.
The entire Dimensional World seemed to come alive.
It was as though...
It had finally found its true master.
Life flourished once more.
Vitality surged through every corner of existence.
Even those standing at the peak of the Double-Digit realm suddenly felt their bottlenecks loosen.
For the first time...
The path beyond their limits had appeared.
Every eye turned toward Izumi.
High above the battlefield...
He stood like a supreme sovereign overlooking all creation.
Then he spoke a single word.
"Disappear."
A brilliant white light engulfed everything.
One after another...
The monsters vanished completely.
When the light finally faded...
Silence remained.
The battlefield...
The invading army...
The broken dimensional boundary...
Everything had returned to normal.
It was as if the war had never happened.
...
Rika stood beside Izumi, staring blankly at the restored world.
She still couldn't believe what she had witnessed.
It all felt like a dream.
...
As though nothing extraordinary had happened, Izumi smiled gently.
He reached out and patted Rika on the head.
"It's over."
"Let's go home."
"Now..."
"We can wait for our daughter to be born."
"It's going to be a girl."
"I've already decided on her name."
"Ellie."
Taking Rika's hand, Izumi quietly returned home.
Waiting there were all the women who had shared his journey.
The moment they saw him walk through the door...
Warm smiles bloomed across every face.
"Welcome home."