"So this one hates Aurelion…"
Rowan Mercer felt a knot tighten in his chest.
Losing a single avatar would not cripple him.
But every avatar represented a complete universe in the making.
When the time came to fuse them all, one missing piece would mean a permanent loss of potential.
He had grown careless.
Two successful encounters had dulled his instincts.
Walking straight into the temple had been a mistake.
If he had fled into the Void immediately, even a multiversal entity would have struggled to capture him.
Now he was trapped.
Or so it seemed.
Something felt off.
Rowan focused.
His perception sharpened.
The truth surfaced.
"This isn't full strength."
The old creator was injured.
Severely.
A true multiversal creator with four magic-based universes should have crushed Rowan instantly.
That hadn't happened.
Which meant two critical things.
The enemy could not draw power from his own universes.
And he had no idea what Rowan actually was.
The old man believed Rowan had reached this state through personal evolution alone.
Not through building a universe.
He did not know Rowan carried one inside himself.
Creators who possessed an inner universe were fundamentally different from those who did not.
Rowan was both.
That gap mattered.
"Alright," Rowan thought. "I try."
Rowan lifted his hand.
A pillar of blinding radiance slammed toward the old man.
Pure, concentrated light magic.
Power capable of erasing planets.
The old man waved his staff.
The spell vanished.
Cold laughter followed.
"Using magic from my own worlds against me? Childish."
Rowan's face twisted into a feral grin.
"Then I'll drown you in it."
He unleashed everything.
Ancient spells.
Forbidden magic.
Dragon-slaying techniques.
God-slaying incantations.
Lost sorcery.
Storms of fire, void, lightning, gravity, and shadow filled the hall.
Rowan shifted into a massive dragon form, magic output multiplying.
He tore forward and engaged in close combat.
The old man barely moved.
Every strike.
Every blast.
Stopped by a casual flick of the staff.
Yet Rowan noticed it.
Tiny delays.
Microscopic strain.
"You're worse off than you pretend," Rowan thought.
He changed tactics.
New spells layered into his barrage.
Magic patterns from other universes.
Structures unfamiliar to Fairy Tail's laws.
The old man's composure cracked.
He began dodging.
Snarling.
"Enough."
The temple roared.
Invisible pressure crashed down on Rowan.
His limbs locked.
Spells collapsed before forming.
"This ends now," the old man said.
"I govern life and death."
Power condensed around his staff.
A direct attempt to rip Rowan's soul free.
Rowan's eyes ignited.
Now.
All avatars.
All souls.
Merge.
In an instant, Rowan's consciousness expanded.
A tidal wave of mental force erupted.
"Mind Break."
The old man froze.
The spell shattered.
For a heartbeat, the multiversal creator stood empty-eyed.
Rowan tore open his inner universe.
A vast, star-filled abyss yawned open.
He did not attack.
He swallowed.
The old man vanished inside.
Rowan followed.
Inside Rowan's universe, the old man roared.
"You created a universe?!"
Shock rippled through him.
He broke free of the mental paralysis through sheer will.
Rowan did not answer.
Chains formed.
Not metal.
Law.
Reality itself twisted into bindings.
They wrapped around the old man's limbs, torso, and soul.
Rowan descended like a falling star.
World-force surged.
Spells detonated.
Fists collided.
The newborn universe trembled.
Rowan pressed the assault without mercy.
This was not a duel anymore.
This was an execution in progress.