After surviving such a deadly attack, I was hovering in the middle of the massively messy art Iris had just created. I was nning to retaliate, but I would be futile as I did not have a weak spot on her. Instead, I attempted to resolve the situation through dialogue.


    "From your reaction, it seems like I hit the mark. Not only once, but you did twice. You really don''t fail to entertain me, Raphael."


    "...What are you talking about? What makes you think that I have that ability? What is your basis?"


    Not only did she catch me using the Impregnable Fortress, but she also knew how many times I cast it. I had thoroughly concealed my skill by using the Unique Skill: Mystic Artist to apply Perfect Concealment to each cast, removing any trace of mana, energy, etc. But my efforts seemed fruitless in front of Iris.


    "You ask me how I knew? It''s as simple as... I used to know someone who has this ability."


    "What..?"


    "Not only that person used Impregnable Fortress, but also the other abilities of the... Ultra Skill: Ultimately Arts."


    "?!"


    (No way... Am I hearing her right?)


    The moment she uttered the name of one of my most ssified skills, my eyes widened in genuine shock. Except for my sister, I told no one about this, so it was impossible for anyone to know. If that was the case, then she really knew someone who had the same skill. But who?


    "How is that, Raphael? You still don''t want to believe me?"


    "There''s no way I would believe in you... You betrayed me and even attempted to kill me."


    "I have a reason, Raphael. Please let me exin."


    My mind was still doubting the authenticity of her ims, even though her guesses were right on the spot. But deep down in my heart, I still loved her and wanted to believe in her.


    Moreover, she had literally every millisecond to attack me, but she did not. I did not sense any hostility from her since then, so she probably did not intend to kill me.


    It might be a simp''s move, but it had been a day since we started going out, and I did not want to lose her and go back to the hassle of finding some noblewoman to be my primary wife again. Gathering all my remaining trust in her, I would have her exin herself here.


    "Go ahead, Iris, exin yourself." I said that to her, but I was still in maximum defense mode.


    "Thank you for trusting me again, Raphael," she nodded once. "The reason why I attacked you was that... There is something that I wanted to confirm, and the result is what I expected."


    "Hm? You did such a deadly move just to confirm something? How bold. If I did not defend myself, I would have—..."


    Suddenly, I realized what her goal was. She attacked me with a fatal strike because she wanted me to resort to using the Ultimate Arts as there was no way to defend it. I see, it was a clever move, but why did she want to know that?


    "It looks like you finally get the gist of it, Raphael. You guessed it right. I want to confirm if you have the Ultimate Arts or not."


    "So that''s it. And yes, you caught me, I indeed have the Ultimate Arts. But by how you just attacked me, you seemed certain that I would use that skill to defend myself. The question is, how did you know that I possessed that skill?"


    "It might be shocking to you, but here is it. You see, I have known you even before we met. Do you remember the time when my brother and his friends came over to your residence to court your sister?"


    "Yeah, I remember."


    "If so, then you should remember the dragon that attacked you."


    "?! Iris, don''t tell me...you are the one who sent that Amphithere?!"


    There was no way I could forget that legless dragon. Not the dragon itself, but the one who controlled it. The one who trapped me in that invincible barrier and dropped arge piece of iceberg into it, which almost killed me.


    Now it all makes sense. In order to escape death, I resorted to using Absolute Severance to break the barrier and avoid the iceberg. If Iris was the one controlling the Amphithere, then she must have seen me executing that skill.


    "Yes, it was me, Raphael. Just as I said earlier, I was testing your capabilities at that time. But a single test cannot satisfy me, so that''s why I did it earlier and confirmed that you are the one I am looking for after personally seeing it myself."


    "You are looking for me...? Who really are you, Iris?"


    "As you have guessed, this is not the real me, Raphael. This identity, Iris Arcenciel, is mytest incarnation."


    So that means she had been reborn, and she was actually older than she seemed. It made her kind of simr to my circumstances, but I did not know what kind of incarnation she did, whether she was an otherworlder like me or she could be just a local reincarnator who wanted to transcend mortality.


    She mentioned that she was looking for me; was it because she was aware that I was an otherworlder? Asking her that might make her suspicious of me, so I should refrain from doing so.


    "Are you saying that you have several previous lives or something? Constantly repeating the cycle of life?"


    "Yeah, something like that. But it isn''t like I am doing it every time my term ends. I have been reincarnating myself with a particr interval."


    "What are your reasons for doing this? You said you were looking for me, right?"


    "Well, it is true that I am looking for you, but I am actually searching for some individuals like you. I am not the only one who is hiding a secret or two, you know? You are also hiding something from everyone. I cannot see anything like your Ultimate Arts on your skill set after all."


    "So you can see more than an Appraisal user, huh? But let''s get to the point: who exactly are you looking for, Iris?"


    "Fufu. The same as you, I am searching for that very special individual who was born every half a millennium. In short, these reincarnators from another world."