"Hmph! Don't let this brat fool you."
The Ise founder's expression remained cold as she stared at the trapped Kazuma.
"We've kept him confined here for so long, yet this supposed god backing him has never appeared to help."
Her eyes narrowed.
"That alone makes it obvious. He's bluffing. There's nothing to fear."
Among the four founders, Ise was undoubtedly the calmest and most calculating.
Kazuma's threats hadn't shaken her judgment in the slightest.
Long ago, she'd been the one who secretly devised the plan and pushed the Tsunayashiro founder into taking the lead in mutilating the Soul King.
When it came to strategy and manipulation, the other three founders simply couldn't compare with her.
She'd also been the first among them to sense the mysterious god beyond their world and successfully establish some form of contact with it.
So as far as Ise was concerned, the situation before her was perfectly clear.
Kazuma was simply running his mouth and trying to frighten them.
"Ise is right."
The Tsunayashiro founder stepped forward as well.
"This brat is obviously spouting nonsense. We shouldn't believe a word of it."
"And even if there truly is a god behind Kazuma, so what? We aren't the ones who would have to face it."
He was an ambitious man through and through.
Having already chosen to serve an outside god, he had no intention of suddenly growing a conscience halfway through and backing out now.
Meanwhile, Kazuma lay on the ground with his eyes closed, looking for all the world as though he'd fallen into a deep sleep.
In reality, his consciousness had already sunk into the depths of his soul.
...
"Emperor, I really screwed the pooch this time."
Kazuma looked miserably at Hokushin Raitei, who was leisurely enjoying his wine.
"I actually managed to get myself trapped."
"You're all-powerful and everything, so surely you have some way to break this damn prison, right? I can't exactly stay stuck here forever."
Hokushin Raitei gently swirled the wine in his cup.
"You brat."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"You're usually so reckless and arrogant, always acting as though everything in existence is under your control."
"And now?"
"You finally ran into something you couldn't bulldoze through."
He looked thoroughly amused.
"The world is vast. There will always be someone stronger, stranger, or more capable than you. Surely you understand that by now."
Rather than immediately telling Kazuma how to escape, the Emperor took the opportunity to mock him.
For someone who'd become as overconfident as Kazuma, getting knocked down a peg once in a while was probably healthy.
Ever since transmigrating into Soul Society, Kazuma had relied on his unusual talent and ridiculous advantages to steamroll one obstacle after another.
Aside from that crushing defeat at Yhwach's hands years ago, he'd encountered very few enemies capable of truly threatening him.
Naturally, that had gone to his head.
Little by little, Kazuma had started behaving as though he was already invincible.
Getting trapped here was a brutal reminder that he wasn't.
Perhaps this experience would finally teach him to rein himself in before excessive confidence eventually got him killed.
If one had to summarize Kazuma's current predicament in a single word—
Deserved.
"Emperor, please stop making fun of me!"
Kazuma looked ready to cry.
"This is an emergency! Have some mercy and help me get out of here!"
He had to admit that he'd gotten a little too full of himself over the years.
But could anyone really blame him?
Most of the enemies in the Three Worlds had been pathetically weak compared to him, while Hokushin Raitei's power was absurdly overwhelming.
Under circumstances like that, staying humble was easier said than done.
"If you want this Emperor to help you escape…"
Hokushin Raitei leisurely turned the exquisite wine cup between his fingers.
"That is not entirely impossible."
Kazuma's eyes immediately lit up.
"I knew you wouldn't abandon me!"
He practically lunged forward.
"Whatever you want, just say it! I'll agree to anything, no conditions!"
The Emperor's smile deepened.
"Oh?"
"You said that yourself."
"This Emperor did not force you."
For some reason, Kazuma suddenly had a bad feeling.
Then Hokushin Raitei raised one hand.
A mysterious imperial seal appeared in his palm, shining with profound divine light.
And in the next instant—
Kazuma's expression changed completely.
"What the—"
The immortal power inside his body began draining away.
Not slowly.
Not gradually.
It poured out of him like floodwater bursting through a broken dam.
The speed was terrifying.
Normally, Kazuma agonized over spending even the tiniest thread of immortal power.
Now an invisible force seemed to seize all of it at once, extracting it relentlessly and pouring every bit into the imperial seal in Hokushin Raitei's hand.
Kazuma could only stare in horror.
"No, no, no, no—!"
Within moments, the vast reserves of immortal power he'd painstakingly accumulated were nearly exhausted.
A crushing weakness immediately followed.
His legs went soft.
Kazuma nearly collapsed where he stood.
It felt as though his entire body had been hollowed out, leaving him so drained that even remaining upright became difficult.
"Emperor, you…"
Kazuma stared at Hokushin Raitei in disbelief.
He'd never expected this.
The Emperor was using Kazuma's own converted immortal power as the price for breaking the prison.
Technically, there was nothing wrong with that.
In fact, Kazuma knew this method himself.
That was precisely what made it so painful.
He'd always been too stingy to spend the immortal power he'd accumulated with such difficulty.
If he'd been willing to use it freely from the beginning, he probably could have solved the problem himself instead of getting trapped long enough to beg Hokushin Raitei for help.
Kazuma regretted opening his mouth so badly that he wanted to slap himself.
'Why did I ask him?!'
"You agreed."
Hokushin Raitei looked completely innocent.
"This Emperor did not force you."
Of course, he hadn't truly stripped Kazuma bare simply out of cruelty.
This was a lesson.
With most of his immortal power removed, Kazuma's strength dropped rapidly until it settled at roughly the same level as Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni in his current transformed state.
That level of power was difficult to define.
It had already exceeded the normal limits of a Shinigami, yet it hadn't truly entered the realm of gods.
If Kazuma fought at full strength now, his overall combat ability would be approximately comparable to Kurosaki Ichigo in his Mugetsu state or Aizen after fully evolving through the Hōgyoku.
And that was exactly what Hokushin Raitei wanted.
Kazuma needed pressure.
He needed opponents who could actually threaten him.
Only then would he continue growing.
Giving him enough power to crush everything in his path forever would not help him mature.
It would only make him climb higher and higher on his own arrogance—until one day, the fall became fatal.