The Black Eye shot through the vastness of space like a dark comet, tearing apart the fabric of the void and leaving a trail of absolute nothingness in its wake. His speed was not merely physical movement; it was an existential leap that spanned light-years in an instant, until he finally touched down on the surface of that desolate, exiled desert planet on the outermost fringes of the Tenth World. He sat amid the shifting sands, which began to whirl wildly under the gentle pressure of his calm yet overwhelming aura. Before he could even catch his breath, his communicator buzzed with an incoming call. He didn't even need to glance at the caller ID to know who it was; it was Isola, and her voice preceded her fury.
The moment he accepted the call, her voice poured through like molten lava: "You are dead meat, Black Eye! How dare you completely ignore my direct orders? Do you take me for a fool who doesn't see the strings you're pulling? I sent you to finish off that wretched whore, and you simply turned around and followed your brother instead!"
The Black Eye replied with an eerie, unsettling calmness, as if her shrieks were nothing more than an annoying buzz: "Truthfully, I stopped because Dazai gave the order. And you, of all people, know very well that Dazai's word is the absolute law in 'Gustoria,' overriding any secondary desires—even yours, Isola."
Isola hissed through the comms, the grinding of her teeth audible: "Even so, you should have finished the mission first! The power the organization granted you isn't for you to wander aimlessly across the Ten Worlds without my permission. How dare you cross boundaries with them without briefing me? Are you starting to think you've outgrown my shadow?"
The Black Eye shifted his seating position, gazing out at the endless sandy horizon, and said: "There's no need for this pointless anxiety. I'm here to take care of some personal business, but at the same time, I'll grant you what you want. I will kill Yusha, and I'll put an end to the legend of that fool named Arius as well. Consider it a promise written in blood."
Isola let out a sharp, chilling laugh—not out of amusement, but dripping with danger and mockery: "Do it, if you truly believe you hold the upper hand. But remember this well, 'Black One': there is no turning back after taking that step. Once that blood is spilled, the gates of hell will open, and not even your begging will close them."
He replied in a voice utterly devoid of emotion, the tone of a man who had made peace with his own death long ago: "I am completely satisfied with that. For a long time now, regret has had no place in my vocabulary. Their deaths or lives will change nothing about who I am. I will execute this, and I will obliterate anything that stands in my path."
Isola's tone abruptly shifted, turning eerily soft and cunning: "Good luck then. I know for a fact that you are the only monster capable of doing it. But listen to me carefully: the moment you finish tearing their bodies apart, return to World Zero immediately. I don't want you lingering under Dazai's influence any longer."
He answered with a chilling coldness as he rose to his feet: "I cannot. I will stay with Dazai until his journey here concludes and he returns. So, excuse me, we are done talking." Before she could utter another syllable, he terminated the connection, shattering her pride with a single touch of a button.
He had barely lowered his communicator when the silence was shattered by a terrifying energetic explosion. A treacherous strike, charged with monstrous destructive force, hurtled directly toward him from behind. The Black Eye didn't budge an inch; he didn't even attempt to block it. The attack slammed straight into his back, causing the desert planet to rupture under the immense weight of the impact. The region instantly transformed into a volcanic crater of dust and sparks, and the surrounding sands vaporized within seconds.
Amidst the wreckage, a massive, grotesque, pig-faced humanoid emerged, clad in heavy armor reeking of blood. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a smug look as he surveyed the destruction: "Well, well! Is it really over this easily? I thought the 'Black Eye' would put up more of a fight, but it seems the stories vastly exaggerated a piece of trash like you."
However, his smug grin completely vanished the moment the smoke cleared. The Black Eye was standing dead center in the middle of the devastation; his clothes weren't even wrinkled, and his dark aura hadn't flickered a single hair. He stepped out from the ashes as if emerging from a warm bath, his eyes gleaming behind his mask with a lethal brilliance.
Yusha shrieked madly, sparks flying from his eyes: "You despicable wretch! Are you showing off your strength right in front of me? Did you lure me here just to prove how well you can withstand a casual strike from me? I'll turn your hide into a rug for my palace!"
The Black Eye remained entirely unperturbed. He took a single step forward that made the earth tremble beneath his opponent's feet, and said in a calm voice laced with stinging sarcasm: "Welcome, 'Yusha'—the merciful assassin. You're a bit late; I was hoping your strike would be a little more.. lively."
Yusha spat a disgusting glob of phlegm onto the ground, which immediately began to crack under his immense weight. A piggish smile twisted his face, revealing yellow fangs stained with filth, and he rasped in an arrogant tone: "So, you're that rising criminal everyone in the cosmic taverns is whispering about? Your bounty skyrocketed from zero to 200 quadrillion with suspicious speed, as if the demons of World Zero suddenly decided to crown you the king of ruin. No matter, that number makes your corpse a treasure well worth the trouble of coming to this pathetic planet."
The Black Eye stared back at him with lethal coldness. His eyes behind the mask didn't blink, and his voice hissed like icy wind cutting through a storm: "I've read your filthy file, Yusha. I heard all your enemies fall dead before they even comprehend the nature of your blows, but more importantly... I uncovered the truth about you. You don't kill for money; money to you is just trivial paper. You kill for that sick pleasure that twists your guts. You hunt high-bounty targets not to capture them, but to indulge your sadism—raping, torturing, and performing the most vile rituals of mutilation on your victims before you finally grant them death. Seventy-five million victims have fallen into your personal hell... You aren't an assassin; you're a diseased parasite feeding on agony."
Yusha burst into a lunatic laugh that shook the entire planet, his blubbery face vibrating with sick satisfaction as he gasped: "Magnificent! So you've done your homework! That makes this all the much more exciting. Sounds like you're eager to be victim number seventy-six million. And in this isolated spot, where no one can hear you scream, I'll teach you what artful pain really feels like."
The Black Eye remained as steadfast as a mountain, stating with a tone defying the laws of logic: "I'll give you an offer you won't get twice... If you can scratch me even once—a trivial scratch invisible to the naked eye—I promise you before this vast universe that I will surrender to you completely. Do whatever you want with me, inflict all your filth upon my body, and I won't resist. But... if you fail to do so after however many strikes you designate, I'll consider your time up, and it will be my turn. Do we have a deal?"
Yusha's eyes flashed with greed and mockery as he stepped forward, shattering boulders beneath his feet: "Deal! Blind confidence is always what leads fools like you to their doom. I'll hit you with just one blow—a strike that will vaporize your atoms and turn them into the dust of this universe."
Yusha gathered his energy into a massive fist that swelled until it grew the size of a small mountain, then unleashed a savage punch. The force was so terrifying that the planet's remaining sands and mountains completely vanished, sucked out into space, and the planetary crust split like a fragile egg. Yet, when the dust finally settled, sheer astonishment reigned supreme. The Black Eye hadn't moved a single millimeter; not even the edges of his dark cloak had ruffled.
Yusha recoiled, confusion gnawing at his features: "Wait! This isn't fair... I wasn't fully prepared, my foot slipped!"
The Black Eye replied with searing sarcasm: "Take all the time you need. I don't want any lame excuses once I begin. How many strikes do you want now?"
Yusha screamed like a madman, having completely lost his sanity: "A million strikes! I'll pummel you with a million blows until the fabric of existence crumbles beneath you!"
The Black Eye nodded in agreement with provoking indifference. At that exact moment, Yusha transformed into a hurricane of destruction. He began punching furiously; every single blow unleashed destructive shockwaves the cosmos had never witnessed before. The planet completely vaporized and vanished from existence, and the destructive fallout expanded to obliterate millions of neighboring star systems, turning entire galaxies into graveyards of extinguished stars. An absolute, suffocating silence fell over space once Yusha had depleted every last drop of his energy.
He panted heavily, his sweat floating in the vacuum like droplets of mercury, and stared ahead to witness the impossible. The Black Eye was standing right there in the middle of the cosmic void—without a single scratch, without a hint of fatigue, as if all that cataclysmic devastation had been nothing more than a cool breeze.
The blood froze in Yusha's veins, and for the first time in his life, he experienced the true terror he had always inflicted upon his victims. He turned to flee at the speed of light, desperately trying to tear through the dimensions of space to save his skin, but in a fraction of a millisecond, he felt a cold hand clamp onto his shoulder like an inescapable shackle of fate.
The Black Eye whispered right behind his ear in the voice of inescapable doom: "Your turn is over... and now it's mine."
He didn't draw a sword. He didn't charge up any energy. Simply, he raised a single finger and tapped him lightly on the back. At that very instant, the indescribable happened: Yusha's massive body exploded from the inside out—not like shattering bones, but his entire entity converted into a vast, terrifying ocean of deep crimson blood that began to float and spread across the cosmic vacuum like a surreal, macabre painting.
The Black Eye gazed at the sea of blood he left behind and said calmly: "Another one down... and now for the most important." He spun around and flew off, piercing the distant horizon, heading toward the destiny awaiting him... toward Arius.
The three of them settled into a dilapidated inn tucked away in a village of the Fifth World, where shadows clung to crumbling walls. Dazai's features conveyed a calm before the storm; he turned to his two companions and said in a decisive tone: "Yellow Eye, tomorrow your task will be our gateway across; I want flawlessly forged identities that will allow us to breach the borders of the Sixth World without raising a single suspicion. As for you, Red Eye, you will be our advance scout ahead of time—study the blind spots, monitor troop movements, and bring me a detailed report on the inspection protocols there before we take a single step."
Red Eye nodded coldly: "As you wish," and departed alongside Yellow Eye, leaving Dazai alone. Dazai drew a deep breath as he contemplated his disguised face in an old mirror. His thoughts intertwined in a labyrinth of complex calculations known to no one else, until exhaustion finally overtook him, and he drifted off to sleep right over the wooden table, his forehead resting against the maps of the worlds.
With the dawn of the next day, Yellow Eye successfully secured the passes, while Red Eye returned from his reconnaissance mission looking sour: "The situation there is hell; cosmic soldiers are swarming like ants, our faces are plastered on every corner, and their screening targets even stray grains of dust crossing the border."
Inside the inn, Dazai monitored an hourglass and muttered: "The time isn't right yet."
Yellow Eye objected sharply: "Why all this waiting? Let's just break through the barrier with brute power and finish this nonsense in minutes!"
Dazai replied, raising his gaze to him with stern focus: "If we force our way in now, we'll walk right into the trap Karma set. He isn't looking for the reason behind our arrival as much as he's dying to pinpoint our location so he can close the trap around us. In this situation, my friend, the mind matters more than the fist, and every uncalculated step is a free ticket to death."
Several days of agonizing wait passed, until Dazai finally spotted a tiny opening in the surveillance grid caused by a routine guard shift change. He barked at them: "Now! Move!"
The three of them blended into the throngs of wretched refugees heading toward the Sixth World, wearing tattered rags that concealed their terrifying might. They stood before towering gates where colossal guards grimly inspected holographic badges and faces.
Just as the gates slowly parted to let the first batch through, Dazai moved with the agility of a fox; he skillfully shoved one refugee into another, instantly triggering a brawl. Amidst the shouting and commotion, Dazai unleashed subtle, stinging pulses of energy toward random individuals in the crowd, causing everyone to feel sudden pinpricks and start swinging at each other in total chaos. The guards rushed to break up the melee, stepping away from the checkpoint lane. In that split second, the three shot forward like arrows through the gate, and the moment they crossed, Dazai unleashed a destructive rear-blast that completely shattered the gate behind them to cut off any pursuit.
They paused in a dark interior corridor before stepping out onto the other side. Red Eye breathed deeply and said: "We made it, but it felt suspiciously easy."
Dazai raised a hand in warning: "Stop! This is where the real plan begins. Karma isn't stupid enough to leave the gate without secondary layers of security."
With a precise sweep of his palm, Dazai shattered the wall of the side corridor, ripping open a tear in the space-time fabric: "We're going through here."
They crossed into a bizarre spatial domain where light and time refracted, allowing them to walk right past rows of guards on the other side. The guards saw nothing because they were moving inside a "parallel dimension" separated from reality by mere inches. They walked with solemn calm deep into the lands of the Sixth World, breaching the most heavily fortified lines using Dazai's terrifying intellect, placing themselves right inside the heart of Raimus's kingdom without a single soul knowing these three monsters had arrived.
The moment Dazai and his companions set foot in the Sixth World, they didn't waste a second lingering; they bolted like bolts of lightning, tearing through the void at staggering speeds to distance themselves from the fortified border zone. They settled on a geologically dormant, remote planet to use as a temporary base to map out their next moves within the new kingdom of Raimus.
As for the Black Eye, his crossing into the Sixth World was like a nightmarish stroll; his space-time abilities turned the most formidable barriers into mere phantom walls. He arrived on planet Earth—a place holding the lingering memories of the old "Arius."
He landed with terrifying silence in front of the house belonging to the Kyle family. He stood for a moment, staring at the plaque hanging by the door, then in the blink of an eye, used spatial teleportation to find himself inside the hallway.
Absolute silence gripped the area—a heavy silence heavy with abandonment. The Black Eye was surprised by the emptiness of the house. He advanced a few steps into the main living room, his eyes catching a framed photograph of Raimus and Lena hanging on the wall; the expressions of happiness in the picture contrasted sharply with the profound chill residing in his heart. He pushed deeper into the house until he found the basement door. He opened it carefully and descended the wooden stairs that groaned beneath his weight.
He ignited his palm with a faint purple glow, revealing dusty piles of old crates. He searched through them with mechanical coldness until he found what he was looking for: old photographs of Arius's mother, and pictures of Arius himself in his early childhood. He picked up one of the photographs, and his gaze froze; the picture frame was broken, the glass shattered, and there were deep, deliberate, vicious scratches carved right over Arius's face specifically, as if ancient hatred had been poured onto the paper.
The Black Eye stood up, walked out of the basement, and left the house with steady strides. He stood in the front yard, slowly raising his hand toward the structure that once held a full life, and unleashed a dark pulse of energy that turned the entire house into a blazing inferno of rubble within seconds. He stood watching the fire coldly, as if cleansing the place of the past's burdens, then launched himself toward the sky at impossible speed, vanishing into the stellar dust of space.
On the new "Planet Raimus," the atmosphere crackled with the heavy noise of power. Raimus was training like a madman, his destructive energy tearing apart bedrock and generating thunderous storms in the upper atmosphere. Mythos stood watching the scene with apprehension, leaning over to Wang to whisper: "Incredible... he has crossed into pure savagery with this training. Look at his eyes; he sees nothing before him except power. I have no intention of crossing him while he's like this; he looks like a volcano on the verge of erupting."
Wang chuckled with his usual composure and replied: "It's fine, Mythos. Absolute authority demands a hard heart; he'll get used to this burden soon enough."
In the quiet wing of the palace, Lena sat in a lush garden Wang had specially designed for her to practice her hobby of tending to flowers, trying to chase away the anxiety gnawing at her heart. Suddenly, the magic staff in Wang's hand vibrated, projecting a holographic screen displaying a live feed of a house burning down on planet Earth. Wang's eyes widened slightly, and he immediately approached Raimus to brief him.
Raimus halted his training, staring at the screen in shock that instantly morphed into explosive rage: "Who dares? What fool had the audacity to touch my property and desecrate the memories of my people?"
Wang swept his hand across the projection to reveal a clear image of the masked man: "Actually, sir, the perpetrator is this individual... Though I must admit, this is my first time laying eyes on him."
Mythos narrowed his eyes, studying the plague mask: "The plague mask? Who is this scoundrel? Have you ever seen him before, Raimus?"
Raimus stared at the masked features with intense concentration, then exhaled irritably: "No... I don't know him, and I don't care who he is. But he committed a sin that will cost him his life. Wang, prepare yourself; we're going to hunt this wretch down right now and tear him to pieces." He turned sharply toward Lena, who was watching them from afar, and commanded in an authoritative tone: "Don't you dare say a word of this to her; I don't want her mood ruined by this piece of trash."
Raimus flashed a forced smile, waving to Lena from a distance: "I have urgent business to finish quickly, I'll be right back, my love."
The three prepared to take flight. Mythos charged his energy, saying: "I'll accompany you; I have a burning curiosity to know what this masked intruder possesses that makes him dare challenge us in our own backyard."
Wang began tracking the leftover energy signature of the Black Eye, and thanks to his vast expertise, successfully pinpointed his exact coordinates. The three shot off behind him like bolts of vengeful lightning, tearing through the cosmic expanse at insane speeds, while fate drove them toward an unexpected confrontation.
In the corridors of the First World, where power intersects with mystery, the air was thick with an unnameable tension. Karma sat in his plush armchair, his stern features hinting at a deep anxiety he tried to mask behind his habitual coldness, while Nahira sipped from her cup with a smoothness laced with cunning.
Karma broke the silence with a deep, measured voice: "Nahira, listen to me carefully... Things are taking a very suspicious turn. There's a glitch in the security grid we established."
Nahira raised a single eyebrow and asked coolly: "And what's so strange about that? The Ten Worlds are under your grip, and everyone trembles at the mere mention of your name."
Karma placed his hands flat on the table, interlacing his fingers: "Dazai... He's here. He's lingering inside my territory, breathing the air of our worlds, and with all our technology and power, we are utterly incapable of tracking his location or pinpointing his coordinates."
At that precise moment, Nahira froze. She slowly lowered her cup, her confident smile fading to be replaced by a sharp, anxious look: "Dazai is here? In the heart of the Ten Worlds? Exactly where is he? Which world is this rat hiding in?"
Karma exhaled tightly: "I don't know... And that's the dangerous part. He's plotting something, weaving strings in the dark whose endpoint I cannot see."
Nahira resumed her poisoned smile, speaking in a provocative tone: "Are you asking for my help to trap him? Have your armies truly become powerless to catch a shadow?"
Karma answered sternly: "It's not that simple. He isn't alone; he has two rabid hounds with him—Red Eye and Yellow Eye. And you know very well how dangerous that duo is if unleashed."
Nahira looked at him dismissively: "And what could they possibly do against our immense power? We are the rulers of these universes, and they are merely mercenaries from World Zero."
Karma slammed his fist onto the table—not out of anger, but as a warning: "The issue isn't what they'll do directly to us, but the destruction they'll leave in their wake across our worlds! Each of them is capable of wiping multiple worlds out of existence with the blink of an eye, let alone Dazai, who is the mastermind behind this entire madness. Their presence here means catastrophic losses in lives and resources if their intent is total annihilation... But what puzzles and worries me even more is that new 'Shinshu'."
Nahira stopped playing with the hem of her dress: "A new Shinshu?"
Karma nodded: "Yes. The sixth member of their organization. A bizarre entity that only recently appeared, as if they had been hiding him in the deepest layers of hell away from our sight. When I accessed his existential record, I experienced a shock I haven't felt in centuries."
Nahira asked dismissively, trying to hide her curiosity: "And what's in his file? Just another criminal who shed the blood of some weaklings?"
Karma looked straight into her eyes, speaking in a tone dripping with quiet terror: "This individual killed roughly two billion monsters... Monsters that don't even exist in our Ten Worlds to begin with. And worse yet, he wiped out those monstrous armies in just three years. The weakest among those beasts possesses enough energy to easily destroy hundreds of universes. Those creatures belong neither to World Zero nor our worlds; their origin is entirely unknown, meaning this person was training somewhere completely outside the scope of our comprehension."
Nahira fell silent for a moment, while Karma continued: "No name, no past, no identity... All we know is his moniker, 'The Black Eye,' and that cursed black mask he wears. He's a walking enigma."
Nahira tried to regain her composure, thinking to herself: This isn't entirely strange; World Zero is a cosmic junkyard of nameless entities, perhaps he's just a biological weapon they developed there. But deep down, the seeds of doubt began to sprout; a billion monsters in three years? Those numbers didn't reflect a mere strong fighter, but rather a "destroyer of worlds" being groomed for a single purpose... to strike down anyone standing in his way.
The Black Eye was cutting through the deep expanse of space in the Sixth World with absolute chill when suddenly, the cosmic fabric behind him rippled violently. Sensing a treacherous burst of energy heading his way, he tilted his body a mere fraction of a millimeter as the strike grazed past him, obliterating a massive asteroid in the horizon. He didn't turn around completely; instead, he cast a cold sidelong glance to see Raimus, Wang, and Mythos surrounding him like predatory falcons.
Raimus stepped forward, fury boiling in his veins, and roared with a voice that shook dimensions: "You masked insect! Do you realize the magnitude of what you've done? Why did you destroy my wife's family home? What drives a lowlife like you to burn memories that don't belong to you? Answer me before I wipe your trace from existence!"
The Black Eye turned his entire body around, speaking in a tone completely devoid of emotion, as if discussing the weather: "I am looking for Arius."
A brief silence fell, then Raimus laughed mockingly: "I figured as much... trash looking for trash."
Mythos intervened, narrowing his eyes suspiciously: "Wait, Raimus... Why does this person want Arius specifically? What did that boy do to attract the plague mask's attention?"
Raimus replied indifferently: "He must have caused trouble in World Zero, and they sent this guy after him like a hound. Tell me, masked one, are you a friend of that wretch?"
The Black Eye looked at them and stated dryly: "I just want to kill him."
Wang asked with his usual composure, though his tone carried an underlying threat: "And what reason makes you cross all these distances and breach the worlds just to kill him?"
The Black Eye answered with even greater chill: "I want to kill him... simply because I want to."
The three were infuriated by this dismissal. Raimus roared: "You want to kill Arius while your power doesn't even exceed 300 degrees? You're a pathetic joke!" Raimus raised his hand and unleashed a sphere of pure destruction energy, but to his utter shock, the Black Eye lifted a single hand and, with just the tip of one finger, flicked the attack away as if it were a floating feather.
Mythos didn't give him a second; utilizing his utmost speed, he materialized right beside him, unleashing a superhuman punch. But the Black Eye caught his fist with a single hand as if it were a child's toy, then delivered a swift kick to his stomach that sent him flying millions of kilometers into the vacuum of space. Wang rushed to catch Mythos, who was gasping for air, while the Black Eye said with feigned regret: "Strange... Even though I held back to the absolute limit, you couldn't take it."
Raimus lost his mind and attacked like a hurricane. His fist collided with the Black Eye's body in an energetic explosion that completely demolished nearby galaxies, yet the Black Eye caught Raimus's fist and locked him in place. He told him with terrifying calmness: "You reckless fool... You've destroyed countless lives and inhabited planets just to attack me... You're a barbarian unworthy of the power you carry."
Raimus retreated, panting heavily from frustration, and decided to deploy their trump card: "The Purple Transformation." His energy began to rise madly; his skin turned purple, his muscles bulged monstrously, and an aura radiated from him that caused the walls of the cosmos to fracture. The Black Eye muttered: "His power has reached 5 septillion, huh..."
The transformed Raimus attacked, raining down blows like lightning strikes, but the Black Eye received them with his body as if it were a "massage session." He didn't stagger, he didn't feel pain; instead, he watched their movements like a teacher observing failing students. Wang and Mythos joined the assault, striking from every angle, while the Black Eye effortlessly dodged them with his fingertips. Suddenly, his eyes widened, unleashing an energetic vortex that blew the three away like autumn leaves.
Mythos said in disbelief: "What's the deal with this monster? Didn't the record say his power was weak?"
Wang replied, wiping blood from his mouth: "He's hiding an ocean of power behind that mask."