"Trial and error? But what exactly is there to try in this place, Itsuki-sama?"

  Kaito looks around the utterly desolate void. His face clearly paints a picture of pure bewilderment, yet his hands remain tightly clenched, looking absolutely terrified of missing a single syllable I am about to drop. Well, at least this eager to learn attitude of his is still somewhat manageable. The kid actually shuts up and listens instead of jumping straight down my throat like Nanao does.

  I let out a scoffing smirk, not even bothering to give him a verbal answer. I simply raise a single finger into the air. My claws slide out, clicking sharply against one another before unleashing streaks of azure flames straight into the empty void.

  The moment those azure streaks touch the stark white ground, they instantly bleed out like drops of black ink splattered on a canvas. The flames rapidly spread out in all directions, drawing a perfect perimeter that entirely encircles the city behind us.

  "Do you recall that arena that kept infinitely resetting every single time you threw a tantrum trying to play the hero?" I narrow my eyes, watching the streams of azure spiritual energy continuously radiating into the atmosphere. "This place most likely operates on a similar wavelength. The underlying rules might be a bit different, but the core mechanics are cut from the exact same cloth."

  I shrug, lightly whipping my tail against the featureless floor. "But heaven only knows what its specific rules are. That is exactly why we need to run a stress test."

  Kaito stands awkwardly by my side, his hands repeatedly clenching and unclenching. The kid clearly wants to pitch in and help, but he has absolutely no clue what the right move is. His proactive work ethic is actually worth a bit of praise, even if he is acting a little too jumpy.

  "Relax, do not put so much pressure on yourself. If you were truly worthless, I would never have arranged for you to tag along in the first place."

  I reach my hand out, signaling for the boy to step closer.

  "Hey kid, there is something I want to show you. Keep your eyes peeled and watch closely. I only bust this out because I actually value you."

  Hearing that, Kaito immediately whips out his smartphone and hits the record button.

  "Huh? What the hell are you doing?" I raise an eyebrow.

  "Well... just so I do not forget, sir," Kaito mumbles, his eyes remaining glued to the screen. "I’m afraid of dropping the ball if there is too much information to process. You did say this is super important, right?"

  That answer makes me freeze up for a split second. This damn brat... honestly. But looking at that ridiculously overcautious attitude of his, I actually find it somewhat endearing, even though I would absolutely swallow my own tongue before ever admitting that out loud.

  "Fine, suit yourself. Just make sure you do not actually forget the things I am about to drill into your head.”

  I clear my throat, shifting my posture into something a bit more serious than before.

  "The Divine Laws, at their core, are simply the act of imposing a deity's will upon the surrounding world. Reality itself is fundamentally just an external manifestation of the mind. Do you get it? A deity's mind is potent enough to drag whatever exists inside their head out into the physical world."

  I point my finger toward the glittering urban district in the distance.

  "Truth be told, you currently possess enough capability to control the reality around you. The catch is that the controller must remain lucid enough to recognize themselves as the absolute sovereign subject. Otherwise, you are nothing but a nameless pawn shaped by someone else."

  "Changing the surrounding reality? Itsuki-sama, when did I awaken a superpower without even knowing it?"

  I slap Kaito firmly on the shoulder, the sheer force of the impact causing the kid to stumble a bit.

  "Did you seriously forget that out in the real world, my spiritual body is currently crashing inside your meat suit?"

  I let out a smirk, exposing a small fang that reflects the azure glow of the fire ring encircling the Mindscape.

  "Give it a try."

  I leisurely carve a line straight through the empty void. My claws leave behind glowing, phosphorescent tears in space. Instantly, a barrage of luminous silk ribbons pours out from the spatial rift, fluttering and swirling above Kaito's head like a swarm of fireflies in the night sky.

  Finding it amusing, Kaito mimics me by reaching out and snatching one of the light ribbons. The kid starts rolling it into a ball, then stretches it out, constantly playing around with it for quite a while without stopping. Finally, the boy manages to mold a rather basic looking sword of light out of the silk ribbon hovering above him.

  Looking at my disciple's overly excited demeanor, I lightly tap my claw against the blade in his hand and slice a line through it.

  "If you are going to go through the trouble of dreaming, then dream big. Why bother crafting a cheap children's toy like this?"

  The sword suddenly glows so intensely that Kaito is forced to squint, before abruptly dying out. It instantly transfigures into a chunk of dull gray metal and then shatters into thousands of tiny hovering fragments.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Before the kid even has time to mourn his lost toy, the cloud of metallic dust automatically pieces itself back together into a colossal Mecha robot, complete with a polished cockpit gleaming right in front of our eyes.

  "Holy shit! That is insanely cool!" Kaito exclaims, his limbs flailing clumsily as if he wants to vault straight into the cockpit. "So now all I have to do is think about something, and it becomes reality, right, Itsuki-sama?"

  I snap my fingers with a sharp crack.

  The badass Mecha robot that just took shape instantly explodes into ash, completely disintegrating before Kaito can even lay a finger on its steel hull.

  "Whoa whoa, calm your horses," I snort, my tail flicking lightly through the air. "Getting thrilled over something so minor. You are falling for the exact classic trap that always gets rookies killed. Listen closely so you stop being such a dead weight later on, because I am absolutely not repeating myself."

  "First of all, you need to differentiate between a pure concept and a craving dragged around by raw desire. Once you hold the authority to warp reality in your hands, you are strictly obligated to perceive your own self as more 'real' than the existing reality in front of you. If you fail to do that..."

  I drop my voice to a lower pitch, baring my fangs just a little bit to manufacture a genuinely creepy atmosphere.

  "Keep going, Itsuki-sama," Kaito swallows hard, his throat bobbing continuously from pure anxiety. "Why did you suddenly go quiet?"

  "Then you will completely lose yourself," I exhale a wisp of pale blue smoke. "You will transform into a miserable slave to your own burning willpower."

  Kaito knits his brows, his face plastered with total confusion. "Huh? But what is so bad about willpower? Is willpower not the exact thing that helps the main character turn the tables in manga?"

  "That so called 'iron will' you kids always love to praise, when stripped down to its core, is nothing but base desire sugarcoated with a bunch of empty, pretty words, you idiot." I deliver a light knock to the kid's head.

  Strangely enough, Kaito does not throw a fit or talk back like he usually does. The boy just silently rubs his head, staring fixedly at the pile of metallic dust beneath his feet.

  "Hmm, if this were me from a few weeks ago, we probably would have gotten into a massive screaming match by now. But for some reason... right now, I actually find your words somewhat... reasonable."

  "That is because you are finally starting to smarten up," I nod approvingly, feeling rather satisfied that the kid's brain is not entirely made of tofu. "Keep listening to get the rest of this through your thick skull."

  "Your actions cannot be allowed to be controlled by willpower, but rather, they must be guided by 'True Intent'. Do not ever let emotions or cravings crash the party when making your decisions. The power residing in your hands, if you just force it through using some 'never give up' determination or sheer ironheaded stubbornness, will eventually snap. Absolutely do not center things around your personal willpower. Center it entirely on the objective in front of you."

  Kaito stands there looking completely dumbfounded, his blank face looking absolutely pathetic.

  "You are saying a bunch of things that just make my ears ring... Could you please summarize that in normal human language?"

  I let out a long, drawn out sigh, my tails drooping down in pure exhaustion. Does this punk seriously think I am speaking the language of the gods right now?

  "Honestly... fine, listen closely. Every single time you feel overly excited or driven into a mad rage, force yourself to run a mental check to see if that emotion is currently warping your decision making process. Though I can guarantee you it definitely is, one hundred percent of the time."

  "Well, that does not sound hard at all," Kaito shrugs, instantly regaining his signature brand of confidence. "I just need to clear my mind and calm down, right?"

  "Hehe," I laugh wickedly, my eyes narrowing with heavy implications. "Talk is always cheaper than action. Just wait until you experience it firsthand and you will see. Even I still occasionally get dragged around for a walk by my own emotions like a dog on a leash, let alone a brat like you."

  "That is enough chitchat. Now let us get back to business, please."

  I brush my hands off, retracting my claws before pointing toward the smoldering ring of azure fire that is completely wrapping around the city in the distance.

  "You see this ring of fire, do you not?" I narrow my eyes, wagging my tails with absolute smugness. "While this Mindscape definitely possesses the ability to bend the rules inside of it, its actual authority has a hard limit. The exact spot we are standing on right now is highly likely sitting completely outside of its jurisdiction. No wonder absolutely zero projections are wandering anywhere near this sector."

  Kaito follows the direction of my hand, cold sweat continuously breaking out across his forehead. He swallows hard, his voice trembling with deep skepticism.

  "But... are you one hundred percent sure about that? What if this entire hypothesis is totally off the mark, and it actually spots us?"

  I burst into laughter, slapping the boy hard on the back.

  "Well, uh... it will instantly kick my ass out of this place, lock the damn door, and leave you kids down here to fend for yourselves."

  "What?!?" Kaito jumps a mile high, every single drop of blood draining from his face. "No way! You cannot just casually conduct such a suicidal experiment like that!"

  "Haha, I am just pulling your leg. Why so tense?" I smirk, my tails wagging frantically in pure delight. "If it actually does spot us, I just need to dive straight into your body, and we are golden. This trick has been thoroughly stress tested. It is absolutely foolproof."

  "But Itsuki-sama... this is the subconscious world, right?" Kaito scratches his head in total bewilderment. "We do not even possess physical bodies in here. Even our souls are resting outside. Only our raw consciousness is left in this place, right?"

  "Kid, I already told you that conventional logic simply does not apply here. If I say it works, then it damn well works. Now shut up, focus, and watch this."

  I stand up completely straight, manifesting the true form of my nine tails into the open air. They radiate a blindingly brilliant azure light that entirely envelops my body.

  "Forcing it to hard reset using this method is the fastest route," I whisper, my eyes glowing fiercely. "I am betting my life that this Mindscape's operational range cannot reach this far out."

  "Then... what about Nanao and Yusei?" Kaito looks anxiously toward the center of the urban sprawl. "What if they run into trouble..."

  "Do not worry, they will not die."

  I wave my hand with complete apathy, before abruptly thrusting my right hand high up toward the dull gray sky.

  I execute a sharp pulling motion, exactly as if I am dragging down an invisible rope. Instantly, a massive surge of azure light erupts from my hand, rapidly coalescing high up in the heavens.

  Right above the skyline of the fabricated Akihabara, the space itself distorts, fracturing with an effect exactly like shattering glass. From within the pitch black fissure, a colossal boulder blazing with azure flames majestically pushes its way through. It is literally the size of an entire city district.

  The gigantic meteor begins to rip straight through the fabric of space, plunging downward.

  "If it eats this entire thing straight to the face and still refuses to expose its true colors," I smirk wickedly, watching the apocalyptic rock descend to obliterate the entire city. "Then things are going to get a lot more violent."