Once upon a time, Lies and Truth were bathing by the river. Lies washed first, put on Truth’s clothes, and left. Truth, however, refused to wear Lies’s garments. In the eyes of the world afterward, people were only willing to accept Lies wearing the clothes of Truth, yet found it difficult to accept **naked Truth.

At this moment, Aozaki Aoko and the others shared that very sentiment. In Lin Luo’s view, what he had witnessed in the illusion was undoubtedly the prelude to a pair of loving siblings preparing to destroy the world, yet these naive women insisted he was a great deceiver. They were just like those ignorant masses unwilling to accept **naked Truth.

Lin Luo inwardly scorned them.

Of course, scorn aside, the important task at hand could not be neglected.

After learning that he and the four women had been trapped within the formation for two full days, he immediately began further adjustments to the array. Through the combat over this period, the formation had absorbed a massive amount of mystery, though previously, due to the presence of that mirror, Lin Luo had intentionally slowed down the formation's assimilation of this mystery.

Now, with the mirror shattered, Lin Luo naturally had no need to hold back. He even sped up the formation’s operational rate. As the mystery was digested, Lin Luo could clearly see the white world born from the formation gradually becoming colorful, showing the nascent form of a true "world."

Adjusting the formation was an extremely tedious project, and Lin Luo could not leave it for an instant. While he undertook this work, the others were not idle; they commenced an unparalleled slaughter of the Abyss Demons.

Stripped of the mirror—their great backing—the Abyss Demons, though still possessing terrifying combat power and vast numbers, could no longer pose a significant threat against the several Hosts whose strength had surged, the Gensokyo girls who were already powerful and adept at handling sudden situations, and the army of Arthurian fools teleported over by Lin Xiaoke. Once the weakness of the duplicates was understood, these foes became utterly negligible.

With excellent coordination, specialized tactics, and unwavering resolve—fighting for themselves, for their comrades, or for the ones they loved—everyone's fighting spirit soared. As the clean-up battle against the Abyss Demons began, the tide of war became completely one-sided. It was an effortless, complete crushing victory!

Then, the very moment the last Abyss Demon was annihilated, the stopped time resumed its normal flow. Exhausted from the battle, the others fell asleep, awaiting the dawn, save for Lin Luo. He continued to fine-tune the formation.

In truth, the absorption of mystery had reached an overflow state near the end of the fight, and by the time everyone slept, it had been completely digested. What he was doing now was adjusting the world’s rules, such as the ontological nature of the Heroic Spirits and the overall mystic planning for this new world.

An immensely complex task, yet under Lin Luo’s hands, it unfolded in perfect order…

He didn't know how long it took, but when Lin Luo completed the final step, this Nasuverse world was fundamentally altered by him. At that instant, Lin Xiaoke, situated in Fuyuki City, Tohsaka Rin, at her family home in Fuyuki, and the last Nasuverse Host, Rorelyea, still in London and yet to arrive in Fuyuki, all three looked up toward the sky simultaneously.

They observed that the entire Earth—no, originating from the Earth—a warm and gentle radiance spread outward in all directions, surging toward the stars, toward the Milky Way, toward the entire cosmos, rushing into every dimensional space and parallel world… finally enveloping everything completely.

They could distinctly feel it, and only they could feel it: the world had been changed. However, since they hadn't directly participated in this transformation, they didn't know precisely what alterations Lin Luo had wrought. But… judging by that warm and gentle light, the development was surely positive.

Putting aside their thoughts for a moment, after thoroughly reshaping the world, Lin Luo had achieved complete mastery over the entire Nasuverse. Now, he needed no action; even a single thought could cause this world to vanish or be reborn.

This was the Heavenly Rank!

From existence to oblivion, from transformation to fixed state—to command an entire world was a power only attainable upon reaching the Heavenly Rank.

And Lin Luo, achieving the Heavenly Realm state while still technically at the Quasi-Heavenly Rank, was nothing short of a miracle.

If merely gaining control of the Nasuverse was the goal, Lin Luo had succeeded. He could effortlessly merge the Nasuverse into the Bright Realm. But Lin Luo would not do that, at least not yet, because mastering the Nasuverse was merely the beginning. His true objective was to utilize it for reverse deduction, thereby allowing him to reach the Heavenly Rank himself.

This purpose had remained unchanged from the start. Merging the Nasuverse into the Bright Realm could be done at any moment.

Therefore, at this instant, as Lin Luo's thoughts turned, he instantly arrived "Outside the World."

The world was boundless; while this statement was theoretically correct, that theory did not apply to those of the Heavenly Rank. For those powerful beings, different worlds held different distinctions. For instance, Lin Luo now stood within a truly infinite infinity of worlds, looking down upon the finite Nasuverse.

What did it mean to transcend the world above? Lin Luo finally understood.

Only when one's own existence surpasses that of the world can one be deemed transcendent. No matter how powerful one is, even possessing the might to destroy the world, if one remains confined within it and cannot step outside, one cannot be called transcendent, nor can one claim the title of Heavenly Rank!

Having arrived outside the world, Lin Luo comprehended not only this but countless other things he had never understood before. They flooded his consciousness, yet fully grasping this information required one final, formal deduction. Once this information was fully integrated into himself, he would be… Heavenly Rank!

Thus, Lin Luo closed his eyes and began to seriously deduce and contemplate.

Standing outside the world, time and space held no meaning for him. He was unbound by temporality, unbound by anything; the passage of timelines was utterly meaningless to him.

So, Lin Luo couldn't tell how long passed. It felt like an instant, yet perhaps several centuries had elapsed. He only knew his deduction was proceeding smoothly. As more and more information was assimilated, he could distinctly feel the changes within himself. Both power and realm advanced at a rocket-like pace.

"You possess no extraordinary innate talent, yet you manage to step upon the necks of countless geniuses. You appear so frail, yet your strength is blinding. Things deemed impossible, you always manage to achieve miraculously... again and again, creating miracles no one else could, your dazzling brilliance inspires envy, jealousy, and a deep, profound infatuation."

Just as Lin Luo believed he was about to attain the Heavenly Rank, a voice echoed in his ear. The voice was ethereal and illusory, yet real and distant, and strangely familiar.

As the voice sounded, Lin Luo’s deduction was abruptly interrupted, causing him to instinctively open his eyes. He searched the surroundings for the source of the sound, and then, in the space not far ahead of him, a mirror materialized silently. A faint light shot out from its surface, coalescing into a luminous humanoid shape.

This is?!

Even Lin Luo was greatly shocked by this sight, as this mirror was clearly the prototype of the one that had projected into his formation earlier. Could this luminous figure be the mirror’s master?

The next moment, as Lin Luo contemplated this, the luminous surface of the figure suddenly shattered like broken glass with a crash, instantly revealing its true appearance.

And upon seeing the true form of the luminous figure, Lin Luo was utterly stunned.

Standing before him was a girl of about sixteen or seventeen, slightly petite, with a delicate, beautiful face and clear