Daniel stretched out his hand and pressed down on that causal line!

He forcibly twisted the result of "being blocked" into "taking the full brunt of this strike"!

Whoosh—!

The seven elemental spheres shot out with a thunderous roar, tearing through the void as they hurtled straight toward Brand.

Yet a cold smile appeared on Brand’s face.

So this was the Strength this human ant was so proud of?

Using attack methods below Divine-grade to deal with a Divine-grade powerhouse?

Ignorant and laughable!

Divine-grade powerhouses possessed the ability known as [Thoughtstep].

And this did not apply only to attacks. It applied to any ability.

Facing Daniel’s attack, Brand needed only a single thought, and he would have countless ways to remain completely unharmed.

Divine-grade and everything below Divine-grade were two entirely different levels.

Stepping into Divine-grade meant stepping into another dimension of existence.

In their eyes, everything below Divine-grade was no different from ants. Mere insects. Crush them, and that was all!

Brand threw a punch.

Thoughtstep.

Under normal circumstances, this punch would not only shatter the seven elemental spheres, but also crush Daniel into dust along with them.

But—

Whoosh!

Brand’s fist actually brushed perfectly past the seven elemental spheres.

It missed by only the slightest margin.

Impossible!

Brand’s eyes widened.

What kind of joke was this?!

However, what shocked him even more was still to come.

Brand tried to dodge.

But no matter how he moved or evaded, no matter how he tore through space or folded the void...

It was all useless.

It was as though fate had already decided that someone would die today.

That person had also received Death’s invitation, so he did not dare go outside, did not dare eat or drink, and did not even dare move.

He simply lay motionless on his bed.

And yet, he still died.

Perhaps he choked on his own saliva. Perhaps he was poisoned by toxins in the air. Perhaps the ceiling just so happened to collapse exactly where he was lying.

In short, once something was decreed by fate, death was inevitable!

This was the terror of Causal Power.

Therefore, no matter what Brand did, he could not avoid it.

The seven elemental spheres smashed directly into his body, all of them landing solidly.

-30 billion!

-30 billion!

-30 billion!

...

The result could not be changed.

Brand completely endured Daniel’s attack.

If not for the fact that Divine-grade powerhouses had already ascended to another dimension of life, where every single cell was fundamentally different from beings below Divine-grade, this strike would have been enough to instantly kill him back when he was still supreme-grade.

Even so, Brand still suffered some damage.

Although traditional physical attacks and elemental attacks dealt almost negligible damage to him, and he recovered to normal almost instantly, he had indeed been wounded.

More importantly, he suddenly understood something.

"This is... the Strength of laws!"

Brand was horrified.

"What law is it... Could it be causality and fate?"

His eyes were filled with lingering shock and uncertainty.

He was only low-tier Divine-grade and had merely touched the threshold of laws.

He had no access at all to such profound and mysterious laws.

"This human can actually use the power of laws?"

Brand was completely stunned.

A Strength that even he, a Divine-grade, could barely touch—yet this insignificant legendary-grade ant had actually...

Mastered it?

At this moment, the way Brand looked at Daniel completely changed.

Daniel, however, was not surprised.

From the moment he grasped the law known as "causality and fate," he had known that all his plans would change.

That was a law!

A supreme authority standing above countless forms of Strength.

Even if it was only low-grade, even if it was only an embryonic form, the word "law" alone was enough to crush every Strength in the mortal world.

He slowly clenched his fist, feeling that Strength surging through his blood from the depths of fate itself.

This feeling...

Was truly wonderful!

The face of Brand, the God of Light, darkened like leaden clouds. He stared at Daniel, his voice carrying a solemnity it had never held before.

"Faustus, you truly surprise me."

"I thought that your ability to kill supreme-grade beings was already extraordinary enough."

He paused for a moment, his gaze growing even deeper.

"But I never imagined that you had already touched the threshold of laws."

He took a deep breath.

"At this moment, you are qualified to be my opponent."

"Sage rank—open!"

Rumble—!

The heavens collapsed. The earth surged.

Daniel’s vision suddenly distorted, as though an invisible giant hand had seized him and dragged him into a strange and eerie void.

This stretch of heaven and earth was completely empty.

There was no wind.

No light.

No elements!

As far as his perception could reach, there were only dried riverbeds and deathly silent wastelands.

The elemental power he relied on most had fallen completely silent here.

His battle power was instantly reduced by more than half.

Even more terrifyingly, he could no longer see Brand anywhere.

All around him was nothingness. He could not even capture a trace of Brand’s aura.

Yet the causal lines told him that Brand was still here.

And that he was everywhere.

"So this is a sage rank?"

Daniel frowned slightly.

This was not his first time stepping into this kind of domain, but the previous time had only been a brief contact. This time, however, he had been dragged directly into the abyss.

"Faustus, this is my sage rank."

Brand’s voice descended from above the nine heavens, yet also seemed to rise from beneath the nine hells. It was ethereal, elusive, and everywhere at once.

"Within my sage rank, I am the sovereign!"

"If I command the elements to be born, they are born. If I command the elements to perish, they perish. Everything in this place lies within a single thought of mine."

"You—are dead."

Daniel said nothing.

He lowered his head and looked at the causal lines.

This time, the trembling causal lines were as dense as a spiderweb, layered upon layer, too numerous to count.

He touched them one by one.

He looked through them one by one.

At the end of every single line, the same answer was written...

Death!

Countless endings, all leading to the same destination.

He had no path to survival.

Could he rewrite the result?

Yes!

But every time he rewrote it, a new deathtrap would grow from the ashes.

All he could touch were those endings that had already been written.

This was an infinite echo!

If he changed it ten thousand times, he would survive ten thousand times.

But on the ten-thousand-and-first time, he would still die!

Apart from delaying the inevitable, it was meaningless.

Thinking of this, Daniel actually became calm.

He said flatly, "Divine-grade powerhouses are indeed terrifying. But if you think you can crush me this easily... then you’re thinking far too simply."

He raised his head, and his voice exploded through this void-like sage rank.

"God of Light, let’s talk."

"Talk about what? You think you’re qualified?"

A ripple of emotion appeared in Brand’s voice.

"That’s right."

The corner of Daniel’s mouth curled into a cold smile, but his eyes were colder than ancient ice.

"With the lives of your Godkin’s billions of people as my bargaining chip—are you willing to talk?"

Brand sneered.

"Heh. Your hands are empty. What right do you have to hold billions of Godkin hostage?"

Daniel shook his head.

"You don’t believe me? Then I’ll let you see it with your own eyes."

His voice suddenly sank.

"I’ll slaughter until you regret it!"

Boom—!

Daniel detonated himself.

Golden flames exploded inside the sage rank, blooming like a fleeting night flower!

Brand was utterly astonished.

Self-destruction?

Had this human ant gone mad?

...