The Eternal Hell was silent, save for the ragged breathing of the Straw Hat vanguard and the slow, dripping hiss of neutralizing venom.
Light Yagami stood in the center of the graveyard he had just created, his pristine black coat entirely untouched by the blood of the legends surrounding him. He opened his system panel, the glowing, ethereal blue interface reflecting faintly in his dark eyes.
[ KARMA SYSTEM ]
[ Remaining KP Reserve: 15,345,000 ]
Fifteen million points. It was an astronomical sum, harvested from the deepest, darkest pit of human depravity.
Light looked at the numbers, a profound, heavy silence settling over his mind. He was about to walk into the Paramount War. He was about to step onto a battlefield populated by the three Marine Admirals, the Warlords of the Sea, and Edward Newgate himself. He needed power to impose his will upon the apex predators of the world.
[Armament Haki (Lv.4) [Internal Destruction] -> Armament Haki (Lv.5 max) [Unbreakable Blackening] ]
[Cost: 10,000,000 KP]
[ Proceed?]
He could pour ten million points into ascending his Armament Haki to Level 5. His instincts told him that reaching the absolute pinnacle of Armament would push it to cataclysmic levels.
Unbreakable Blackening.
He guessed from the name. His Armament would be unbreakable. When he utilized it, perhaps only those who could use Internal Destruction might be able to hurt him.
Maybe, finally his saber wouldn't remain 'black' in merely colour. With constant use, it would truly become a black blade worthy of him.
It would harden his blade to a point where he could confidently clash head-on with the devastating Devil Fruits of the Admirals and withstand the earth-shattering quakes of an Emperor.
[Conqueror's Haki (Lv.3) [Physical Manifestation] -> Conqueror's Haki (Lv.4) [Coating] ]
[Cost: 8,000,000 KP] [ Proceed ?]
Or, he could upgrade his Conqueror's Haki from Level 3 to Level 4. He had a hunch Level 4 would finally allow him to utilise his Conqueror's Haki in attacks, surely increasing the power of his attacks. But, it was significantly more expensive than Observation or Armament of the same level.
Then, his mind drifted back to the headless corpse of Marshall D. Teach. To the thousands of Green Karma points the usurper had passively accumulated just by hiding in Whitebeard's shadow. He thought of Magellan, the 'Warden' who couldn't differentiate between the pure and the evil, nearly melting the Straw Hats into a puddle.
Light absolutely despised such a man. He would be disgusted with himself if he were to ever be as blind as that fool.
Power... or truth, huh?
Light chuckled.
Was that even a question?
"System," Light whispered into the quiet abyss. "Ascend Observation Haki."
[ Upgrading Observation Haki: Lv. 4 (Future Sight) ➔ Lv. 5(max) (Empathic Omniscience). Cost: 10,000,000 KP. ]
[ Processing... Confirmed. ][ Remaining KP Reserve: 5,345,000 ]
That's it.
That was him.
He was not the mindless enforcer of some judgement obsession. He did it because he believed in himself more than anything. If he even had a shred of doubt while killing a person, he wouldn't be Light anymore.
The change did not crack the bedrock or shake the air. It was a profound, utterly terrifying expansion of his consciousness.
Light gasped quietly, his pupils dilating. The physical walls of Impel Down simply ceased to be obstacles. His perception exploded outward, expanding like a massive, invisible dome. He felt the terrified, scrambling guards on Level 4. His awareness stretched up, up, up, bursting through the surface of the ocean, feeling the massive Marine battleships anchored in the calm belt outside the prison.
It was a range that rivaled the legendary Mantra of the Sky God, Enel.
But the sheer distance was only the beginning. The true ascension of Level 5—a tier of perception reached only by ghosts of the old era like Patrick Redfield—was the depth.
The glowing blue system panels didn't vanish. The ghostly premonitions of Future Sight didn't fade. Instead, a third, infinitely deeper layer was superimposed over his reality. Light didn't just see people and their numbers anymore. He understood them. Instantly.
He looked at Monkey D. Luffy. The system panel hovered over the boy, but Light looked right past it, feeling a flood of raw, unfiltered emotion. Light felt the boy's agonizing physical pain, overshadowed entirely by a desperate, blindingly pure love for his brother. There was not a single ounce of malice in the rubber boy's soul.
Light shifted his gaze to Roronoa Zoro and Sanji. He felt their absolute, unquestioning loyalty to their captain. He felt their readiness to lay down their lives without a second thought.
He looked at Emporio Ivankov and Inazuma, feeling their fierce, burning desire for a world free of oppression. He looked at Bon Clay, shivering near the stairs, and felt a beautiful, self-sacrificing warmth dedicated entirely to friendship.
And then, Light's omniscient gaze settled on the two men hiding behind the Revolutionaries.
Buggy the Clown and Galdino, Mr. 3.
"Eh? What're you looking at us for, pal?" Buggy asked nervously, taking a step back.
Light looked at their glowing red Karma numbers, well past the execution threshold. But now, he felt the context.
He looked through Buggy. He felt the sheer, callous joy Buggy experienced when he fired Buggy Balls into innocent civilian towns in the East Blue, slaughtering families simply because someone had laughed at his nose. He felt Buggy's absolute lack of remorse, his parasitic greed, and his cowardly, festering malice.
He looked at Mr. 3. He felt the cold, sadistic pleasure the former Baroque Works agent took in trapping bounties in wax, watching the life slowly suffocate out of their terrified eyes over days of torture.
They weren't harmless comic relief. They were irredeemable scum who had simply been overshadowed by bigger monsters.
Light didn't draw his sword. He didn't even turn his body to face them. He simply raised his left hand, his fingers slightly curled.
With his Life Force having crossed Level 15, his Force Authority (Max Output) was no longer constrained by human stamina. It was a terrifying telekinetic grip.
Light casually closed his fist.
CRUNCH.
.
.
.
[Chapter 82: Empathic Omniscience - I ]
A/N: Some of you might be dissatisfied that Light forsook power for truth, but I am not going to change it. Light was a genocidal psychopath out on a killing spree because he loathed criminals. He never did it for power.
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