The Longleaf Pine Forest Reserve
Yusaku Kudo lied.
He sat comfortably in the driver's seat of his rental car, looking out the window at the parking lot of the Longleaf Pine Forest Reserve. It was already packed with people. News vans, police cruisers, federal investigators, and morbid onlookers crowded the dirt lots.
Many were curious and surprised by the brutal deaths of over five hundred people in a single night. This media circus wasn't surprising. The dead were highly publicized, extreme environmentalists connected to powerful PACs. If they were just ordinary people from the local town, almost no one in Washington would be interested. A major gang war in Los Angeles could kill that many people over a weekend and barely make the national news.
This was the free America.
Yusaku had claimed to the Governor and Chief Gray that he didn't know much about these superhumans. But he deliberately concealed the fact that his genius son—Shinichi Kudo—actually seemed to know a lot of in-depth information about the supernatural underworld.
This lie of omission was inevitable. Who in their right mind would tell a corrupt, foreign Governor all their geopolitical secrets?
Through recent, encrypted satellite calls with his son, Yusaku had learned more detailed secrets of the supernatural world with a profound hint of excitement. Shinichi had confirmed that many major supernatural events had already occurred in Japan.
Yusaku's brilliant eyes rippled with excitement at the thought of that magnificent and terrifying supernatural realm. A surge of adrenaline welled up inside him, fueling the legendary detective's urge to fully "return to the game."
Because…
'The extraordinary can actually be controlled by mortals…' Yusaku thought, his pulse quickening.
He had initially thought that gaining extraordinary power might require extremely stringent, impossible conditions. For example, direct bloodline inheritance like Hahn Cliff's Baron title. Or perhaps grand destiny and divine decree.
He never imagined that supernatural power could be obtained simply by clinging to the right powerful figure. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department—which Shinichi reported was now fielding superhuman officers—was a prime example of this trickle-down power dynamic.
In that case…
Yusaku made up his mind. He would firmly lock onto Hahn Cliff's powerful, divine backer! If the bond between him and Cliff wasn't deep enough yet, he'd practically eat, live, and sleep with the man. With his vast resources and intellect, Yusaku refused to believe he couldn't make himself indispensable to the new Baron Lionheart!
Stepping on the gas, Yusaku lost all interest in the surging, ignorant crowd swarming the Longleaf Pine Forest. They were all just mortal opportunists.
"Wait! The death toll is wrong!" a federal agent yelled in the background. "There should be a gardener unaccounted for!"
"I know him! An old guy!" a local cop replied. "Supposedly called Old Bert!"
Behind Yusaku's accelerating car, the murmurs of conversation rose and fell in the lot. The authorities weren't particularly interested in the fate of an unknown old man; they simply used critical, dismissive tones to label Old Bert as a suspect or a casualty.
A stubborn, grumpy old man. Although his body wasn't found among the shredded corpses, perhaps he was simply eaten by wild animals drawn by the blood. As for whether he was missing or hiding, who really cared? No one wanted to waste their energy or budget searching the massive woods for a useless old caretaker. The state would just hire another one.
In the car, Yusaku's expression was a strange mix of laughter and tears. He looked at the ignorant crowd fading in his rearview mirror. They looked like a horde of blind, buzzing demons.
'Cliff's job is probably going to be incredibly tough with these people around…' Yusaku sighed. 'And Old Bert... truly a pitiful, magnificent old man…'
Tokyo
Seiran Mizunotsuki lounged on the couch, mentally counting his System points.
He had amassed enough points from the terror generated in California to unlock one or two more low-level dimensional dungeons.
Without hesitation, Seiran directly unlocked the Demon Slayer dungeon, exchanging points for the templates of Demon King Muzan and Nakime.
The most important acquisition was the Nakime template. Because Seiran specifically wanted Nakime's Infinity Castle Blood Demon Art.
This was an incredibly valuable, strategic item. It was practically another independent little world—a pocket dimension. With some patching and restoration using his own cursed energy, it might truly become a functioning Divine Realm.
Also, it was about time for the Japanese samurai aesthetic to take a stroll on his chessboard. Thinking about the sheer offensive power needed, he decided the template of Yoriichi Tsugikuni was also good, and exchanged for it as well.
With his Shadow Clones at his disposal, these powerful templates could now serve as autonomous avatars to execute his will globally.
He experienced the psychic connection between the newly acquired Infinity Castle and himself with great interest. In the blink of an eye, he teleported his consciousness, stepping into the seemingly boundless, shifting wooden architecture of the Infinity Castle.
But after a careful, analytical look around, Seiran fell into deep thought.
Large. Very large.
The raw territory of this Infinity Castle was even larger than Seiran had originally imagined. From the dialogue in the original manga, he knew that even Nakime herself didn't know the true, macroscopic extent of her own domain. Moreover, the stronger Nakime became, the larger the Infinity Castle naturally grew.
Yes, the Infinity Castle is a Domain that can dynamically grow.
But its structural weaknesses are also glaringly obvious. The Infinity Castle is extremely chaotic, filled with spatial distortions, gravity inversions, and no discernible physical rules. Unless one relies entirely on Nakime's biwa-playing Blood Demon Art to move the rooms, it's easy for even the owner to get completely lost within its endless corridors.
However, getting lost wasn't the main issue. The problem was that the Infinity Castle is very structurally "fragile." In the original work, even a few Hashira and Upper Moon demons clashing in a localized battle could physically break through the Infinity Castle's wooden defenses and walls.
Therefore, in its base form, the Infinity Castle could only be seen as a vast, ruleless dream bubble. It's fine for fooling ordinary mortals and trapping weaker enemies. But if he really wanted to use it as a Divine Realm to house powerful superhumans and Gods, its fragility would embarrass him…
'Tsk. It seems a bit useless in its raw state,' Seiran mused.
Seiran didn't want a useless, fragile toy. Therefore, he directly began the systemic research and modification of the Domain.
The Infinity Castle's spatial growth potential needed to be preserved, but its physical barriers needed to be reinforced with cursed energy, and its chaotic gravitational rules needed to be structured. This was the domain Seiran planned to use as his official "Divine Realm," so naturally, he couldn't be careless.
A pocket world of "infinite size" serving as a Divine Realm—that's barely enough of a show for a true God.
With Seiran's current, massive strength, he tested the borders of the Infinite Castle...
After expanding his macroscopic vision with System points, Seiran was slightly astonished.
Despite its structural fragility, the raw spatial volume of the Infinite Castle is undeniably massive…
Centered on Seiran's position, the spatial coordinates extended directly to the equivalent distances of Mercury and Jupiter. This localized dimensional area… already encompassed a significant portion of a solar system.
'It needs to be modified. This thing absolutely must be modified!'
He decided to directly bind the Infinity Castle's structural integrity to his own personal strength using System points. The stronger he physically and spiritually became, the stronger the Infinite Castle's all-around defensive enhancements would be. Although it could only be used as a massive, secure storage space and a maze for now, it might be incredibly useful for trapping and attacking powerful factions in the future.
However, the sheer, astronomical size of the Infinite Castle also made it a veritable "money pit" for System points. Completely transforming it into a secure, structured Divine Realm would likely be a long and arduous task.
He shook his head regretfully. He couldn't burn all his acquired System points on the Infinite Castle right now.
His current strategic focus remained on dominating Earth. He would have to wait until later to see if he could fuse and modify the Castle with extraordinary architectural systems from different, higher-tier worlds.
Back in reality, Seiran felt a profound sense of triumph.
He was now technically gazing at the universe… although this "gazing" was arguably illusory, much like Earth's mortal technology using a telescope to stare at the stars and arrogantly claiming to have conquered them.
But at least he had something massive to look forward to. In the future, he might very well be able to control an actual star system and become a cosmic entity. This was far more expansive than simply overpowering Earth's governments and ultimately becoming a planetary ruler.
This cosmic potential was enough to prove that his long-term plans hadn't gone wrong.
He calmly and composedly sat back down in the private activity room at Soubu High School, looking out the large window at the ordinary students on the playground below.
He seemed to spot a few familiar figures in the crowd. Several pink-haired girls. The infamous "Earth Cancer" Chika Fujiwara and her sister. And… Miss Miko Iino?
'Miko...' Seiran suddenly realized he seemed to have forgotten about the strict, petite morality committee member.
'So… should I use Miko as a political plot device in my next move…?' he pondered, tapping his chin.
Click…
The heavy door to the clubroom opened abruptly.
It was the blonde, thoroughly defeated tsundere, Eriri Sawamura. She didn't look angry; instead, she looked creatively manic. She hurriedly grabbed her sketchpad and a set of inking pens from her bag.
"Quick, take it off!" Eriri demanded, her blue eyes blazing with artistic fervor. "My inspiration has struck! I need anatomy references!"
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