The voice of Antonio came from Razeal's right side loud, echoing through the water like a ripple of madness cutting across silence.

From the corner of his vision, the endless tide of monsters began to part again. The colossal sea creatures shifted aside with synchronized movement, forming a vast path as the water darkened around them. And then, slowly emerging from the gloom, Antonio appeared once more.

This time

He stood proudly on the massive head of a giant octopus the creature's tentacles twisting restlessly beneath him, stirring the surrounding current into violent spirals.

His grin was wide, his eyes gleaming with manic excitement. The blue glow of the ocean cast eerie light across his pale, hollow-cheeked face, making his expression seem even more unhinged.

"Ahhhh, that was magnificent!" Antonio shouted, spreading both arms as if greeting an old friend. "You really are something special, boy!"

Around them, the ocean moved again.

The enormous gap carved through the sea by Razeal's previous attack ..that impossible corridor of emptiness began to close. The endless horde of sea creatures surged inward once more, drawn together like waves pulled by a tide.

Within moments, Razeal, Maria, and Neptunia were surrounded again completely encircled by a living wall of scaled monsters.

Hundreds of thousands. Maybe millions.

Their eyes glinted like countless lanterns in the dark, each pair glowing faintly in the deep blue. Teeth flashed, scales shimmered, fins quivered yet not a single creature attacked. They hovered there, the weight of their collective killing intent pressing in on the three intruders, waiting.

Waiting for Antonio's command.

Maria's hand instinctively went to her bowstring. Neptunia's expression hardened, her body shifting subtly into a defensive stance. The pressure was suffocating so thick it felt like even the water itself had become heavier.

Razeal, however, stood calmly amidst it all, unfazed.

"This cloning ability of yours…" he began, his tone low and steady, eyes locked on Antonio. "I must say, it's useful. But I wonder…" He tilted his head slightly, studying the man on the octopus. "How many times can you actually do this ..before I find your real body and deal with you properly?"

The words fell like daggers through the water.

For a moment, Antonio froze. The grin on his face twitched.. the expression faltering.

Then his pupils dilated, and his entire expression twisted.

"Cloning ability…?" he hissed, his voice trembling with disbelief before erupting into rage. "How… dare you say that word to me?!"

The sudden fury in his tone made the very water around him tremble. His teeth clenched tightly, his veins standing out along his neck.

"How dare you insult the sacred ability of my father's relica?!" he roared, slamming one hand against his chest. "This.. this is not cloning! I.. No WEE you see ..WE are not FUCKING copies!"

Antonio's face contorted further, the edges of his lips twitching uncontrollably. His pale skin flushed red with anger, his voice cracking between each manic shout.

"We are born from the womb of the Mother of Fertility herself.. The legendary and one of the oceans legendary and strongest relica!" His arms spread wide, almost worshipfully. "It is creation! Life itself! These are no imitations.. no copies or fakes.. they are my brothers! My kin! I am the son of my father's, and through him, life is given form!"

He jabbed a trembling finger at Razeal.

"How dare you call us clones!"

His tone grew more and more distorted, his voice echoing through the army of creatures like a call of madness.

The monsters around them responded in kind.

Every shark, serpent, and leviathan twitched, their eyes flaring with collective rage. The calm water turned wild, currents swirling violently as though mirroring Antonio's fury. Even through the heavy water, their growls and hisses vibrated the sea.. a chorus of hatred directed straight at Razeal.

Razeal simply watched, his expression cool and detached, though a faint smirk ghosted the corner of his lips.

"Now this is interesting…" he muttered softly, scanning the encircling horde with mild amusement.

He let Antonio's rant echo through the water, his words growing increasingly frenzied, while Razeal's mind worked quietly in the background.

Pieces of information clicked together in his head.

Antonio's outburst had given him more than enough clues.

From what Neptunia had told him earlier, Antonio's power was the result of a "cloning relica," capable of copying creatures through essence extraction. But now, with the Sea Lord's words.. Or son of sea lord's words, that theory was unraveling completely.

So this wasn't cloning at all.

Razeal's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Accelerated creation maybe? he thought. Not replication.

Instead of copying life, Antonio's relica might be to create it.. growing new beings entirely from… his own essence.

From sperm.

The relica, "the womb of the Mother of Fertility," as dude was saying.. must be serve as the incubator. An artifact capable of accelerating biological development, converting a single fragment of essence into a complete living organism.

Razeal exhaled slowly. Maybe that's it. Well his guess can be little or very different but thats what he can thought of from just those words.. But dor mow

"That relica must be something if it's really something like that," Razeal muttered to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "A womb of fertility… hmmmmm."

He had never heard or even thought of such thing.. before, but even from the description alone, he could imagine its function a magical engine of creation, tied to a goddess of birth and growth.

Perhaps a sacred artifact.. Or maybe just the original whoomb of goddess.. itself like from body which lead to becoming a relica after some time.. Really doesn't really know about god or goddesses.. But the best guess he can give for now

Interegued.. But still

A faint smile Razeal's lips.. as questions were still there and he needs answers.. to see and find the limitations of this.. Object.. as thats the important thing.. he wanna know currently

"System," he murmured in his mind. "Analyze all the creatures' ages for me. Include this Antonio as well."

[Affirmative,] the mechanical voice replied instantly. [However, note that without a biological or blood sample, results will be approximate. Analysis based solely on surface structure may not yield perfect accuracy.]

"Do it."

[Analyzing…]

The pause lasted only a few seconds.

Then, in the corner of Razeal's vision, faint numbers began to appear.. floating above the heads of every creature within sight, one after another like a constellation of data points scattered through the sea.

Dozens… hundreds… thousands.

Each with a small glowing number hovering above their skulls.

Razeal's eyes moved, scanning the crowd. The digits varied.. some showing 21, others 27, 33, 38. But none exceeded a certain point.

Every single creature he looked at, no matter how massive or monstrous, had an age falling somewhere between twenty and forty.

Not one older. Not one younger.

The pattern was too precise to be coincidence.

Razeal's smile deepened slightly. But still

His gaze shifted back to Antonio

The faint number glowing above his head.

Age: 26

Razeal's eyes narrowed slightly. The faint blue digits floated steadily above Antonio's skull, just as they did above every other creature surrounding them.

So that's how it is, he thought, a quiet hum leaving his throat as he began to connect the dots.

"Hmm… maybe the maximum acceleration his relica can achieve is about twenty years," Razeal muttered softly, mostly to himself. His sharp gaze moved across the endless horde, watching the glowing numbers above each creature. "Since there's no one younger than twenty here… and none older than forty. That's quite the pattern."

[Yes, Host,] the system's calm, mechanical voice echoed in his mind. [From the calculations, it seems the acceleration effect caps around twenty years of biological development. Any being produced through that relic cannot surpass forty years of age. After that point, their bodies likely begin to degenerate or die naturally.]

Razeal's lips curved faintly, not quite a smile.. more like a smirk of realization and understanding.

"Hm. That explains a lot."

He crossed his arms, floating silently as the water shifted around him. So that's the limit of the so called legendary relic, huh?..

If that was true, then Antonio's army, despite its overwhelming size, wasn't as unstoppable as it looked. There was a built-in expiration date. Every single creature here had a short life cycle.. born fully matured, but doomed to die within two decades.

And that wasn't even the worst of it.

Even if Antonio could somehow create new creatures infinitely, they would always be capped by that same rule.. the ceiling of their growth. No matter how talented the spawn, no being could grow immensely powerful in twenty years without the proper conditions and resources.. And ofcourse needed time. W

The corners of Razeal's mouth twitched upward in faint amusement.

"So even if he could mass-produce life, it still wouldn't be limitless. The lifespan restricts them.. and so does time."

His gaze drifted toward the massive octopus that Antonio sat on. It loomed like a living fortress, the water trembling faintly with each of its slow movements. Its body alone could've crushed entire ships ..a monstrous being of incredible mass and muscle.

Above its head floated another glowing number:

Age: 40

Razeal exhaled slowly through his nose. "The oldest one here… forty. So that's the end of their line, huh?"

He studied it carefully, observing the faint aura it released. The power radiating from it was immense, but far from overwhelming Razeal can handle.

"At best, it's a sixth-rank intermediate beast tol," he said quietly, half to himself and half to the system. "Strong, sure, but nowhere near high enough to pose a real threat to me."

The realization settled firmly in his mind.

Even if Antonio poured endless essence into his relic, producing creature after creature, each would need time.. years.. to mature and strengthen. That meant his so-called endless army wasn't something he could conjure instantly. It had to be cultivated, developed.

Which meant… there was a limit to his chaos.

Razeal's smile deepened. So this big, terrifying army of his takes time to build, huh? That's… good to know...

His mind was already calculating.. quietly forming new conclusions. If Antonio's relic could only accelerate up to twenty years of biological growth, and his creations couldn't surpass forty years of life… then there were weaknesses. Many of them.

First: lifespan. The army was temporary. No matter how vast, it would eventually decay and die.

Second: growth potential. Only a few would ever reach higher ranks within such a short timeframe.. Depending on there talent ofcourse. The rest would remain mediocre, powerful in numbers but weak in individual strength.

Third: dependency. The relic had to be constantly active, constantly producing new creatures to sustain the numbers. Which meant.. destroy the relic, and everything else collapses... If it can be destroyed ofcourse.. Which Razeal doesn't know.. But again as system had said nothing in this world.. Is undistrictable

As he thought this through, a faint glimmer of satisfaction passed through his dark eyes.

"System," he said in his head, "these beings… you told me before they aren't true lifeforms, right? That they're artificially made. You're sure about that.. Because this logical is saying something else?"

"If This concept what i thought is true .. It should be taken as true life form.. right? Then why am I only getting one killing point per kill?" he asked flatly. "Even when some of these are fifth or sixth rank beasts. Don't tell me you're cheating me again, system."

[The accelerating of biological growth and development does not constitute true life, Host,] the system replied evenly, unaffected by his tone. [These beings are not born naturally, nor evolved by their own will. They are artificially formed from another's essence ..their existence dependent on external energy and divine manipulation. Therefore, they do not yield proportional essence energy upon death.]

"So you're saying…" Razeal said slowly, raising an eyebrow, "…they're just glorified puppets."

[To an extent, yes.]

The system's tone remained perfectly calm as it continued, [Their creation process blurs the line between natural and artificial. They possess life.. but not origin. Because they were produced from a relic that itself functions as a living being, the system still grants you some value for eliminating them. However, since they lack true evolution and spiritual individuality, they can only yield a fixed, minimal reward. One point per confirmed kill.. As how kind i villey am. The kindest Villain system around..] It said

Razeal blinked once, the corner of his lip twitching in irritation.

"So even though I'm doing all the work ..cutting through literal armies.. I only get one measly point per kill?"

[Correct.]

"Even for the higher-ranked ones?"

[Correct.]

"And nothing for creatures three ranks below C rank (4th rank)?"

[Correct.]

Razeal's expression flattened.

"…You're a cheater," he said finally, his voice low, calm, and utterly deadpan.

[Host, that assessment is inaccurate. The system operates with complete fairness and logical balance.]

Razeal's eyes narrowed, unamused. "Fairness? Logical balance?" He let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, sure. Logical my ass."

[Host]

"Don't even start," he muttered, cutting the system off mid-sentence as he rolled his eyes. "You just don't want me getting rich off easy points."

[System: O⁠_⁠o]

The silence that followed almost felt awkward if a mechanical voice could be awkward.

Razeal sighed, dragging a hand through his damp, disheveled hair as he glanced around again.

----

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