The air still crackled with residual energy as the white-clad figure, Whity, finished materializing. He was the spitting image of Nero, but his aura was one of pure, serene calm.
Toki blinked, his jaw slightly agape. "What the hell? He's... the beautiful version of you?"
"Uruse," Nero shut him down with a single word, a faint hint of irritation on his face. "He looks the same as me."
Whity, already processing the command given moments before, nodded. "Rest assured. It will not take more than sixty seconds."
Darky, leaning against a shattered pillar, couldn't resist. "Tch. I could do it in thirty." A teasing smirk played on his lips.
Whity didn't even glance his way. "Twenty seconds."
"Fifteen," Darky shot back, his smirk widening.
"Ten."
"Seven!" Darky finally snapped, his smile turning menacing.
"Darky..."
"Alright, alright! I was joking, you don't need to go that far," Darky said, raising his hands in mock surrender, though his menacing smile remained. "Well, okay. If you say so. I don't think you'd go back on your word. I mean, you could... no one would know. But a real man doesn't go back on his commitments, right?" He was practically vibrating with mischievous energy. "Be ready, I'm counting! One second versus hundreds of portals all over Earth..."
Before he could start, Nero reached out, and with a grip that seemed to transcend the physical, he yanked a shimmering essence out of his own body. Darky's form flickered and became semi-transparent.
"Hey! Ahhh, that hurt!" Darky complained, floating mid-air. "Anyway... the counting begins now!"
What happened next defied logic. Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl. In the span of a single, drawn-out moment—0.0000001 seconds—a dungeon was cleared. A portal snapped shut. Then another, and another.
Whity became a blur of pure white light, streaking across the globe. S-rank and SS-rank monsters, beings that could level cities, were extinguished like candle flames, their forms dissolving before they could even register the attack.
(Nero's Third Gate boosts my physical capabilities significantly... by a factor of ten, perhaps twenty,) Whity calculated mid-stride.
0.75 seconds later.
The last portal winked out of existence. The oppressive, demonic aura blanketing the planet vanished.
"It is done," Whity stated, reappearing beside them as if he'd never left.
Darky's face contorted into a mask of comical disbelief. "Huh? Done? I can't believe it! You must have cheated! Right, Nero? ...Nero?" He looked around. "Where'd he go?"
Whity sighed, the sound like a soft chime. "Idiot. We are a part of him. Sense deeply. Do not act like a fool."
"Ahhh, I know where he is now!" Darky retorted, flustered. "I just got distracted by your cheating! And by the way, why is he convincing that demon to become a good guy? If I were in his place—"
"You are not," Whity interjected smoothly.
"If I were in his place—" Darky tried again.
"You would never," Whity cut him off.
"If I were in his place—!"
"Stop dreaming."
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Darky screeched, his cute form puffing up with anger. "Cutting my words like a sharp scissor! Wanna fight?!"
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Whity's lips. "We are all fragments of a single being. What is the point of this stupid talk?"
Enraged, Darky lunged, grabbing Whity by his pristine white collar. "I know you never want to see me happy! Even when I try to be happy with my own words, you're jealous! You bastard! How about I just chop your head off?!"
He struck. In the next instant, Whity's head was gone.
Darky's anger vanished, replaced by pure panic. "Oi! Oi! I didn't hit you that hard! Hey! Talk to me! Don't leave me all alone!"
Suddenly, Whity's headless body shrunk slightly, and a new head popped right out, good as new.
Darky let out a furious, cute shout. "I knew it! You're one of the cheapest bastards!" He tried to hit Whity again, but the white entity dodged effortlessly, the two of them engaging in a bizarre, high-speed game of tag across the ruined landscape.
Scene Shift: Inside Vapi's Consciousness
Nero stood in a void of swirling memories and regret. Before him, Vapi's spirit flickered weakly.
"What more do you want from me?" Vapi's voice was a broken whisper. "You've already taken my life..."
"No," Nero's voice was firm, yet not unkind. "You cost yourself your life, Vapi. If someone asked me the biggest weapon needed to win a war, I would say it's misunderstanding... or incomplete knowledge."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about your friend, Wil. The reason behind his death wasn't humanity. It was a specific cabal of Gate Users. I'm telling you this again because your mind is so clouded by hate. Just because those Gate Users planned this destruction, it doesn't mean all who hold Gate power are evil." Nero extended a hand, and a shimmering orb of light formed. "Look. These are Wil's memories, sealed away by Gate power so you could never see the truth."
A few minutes passed in the void. When Vapi looked up again, his ethereal form was trembling.
"What... what have I done...?"
"Nothing," Nero's voice suddenly turned to ice, his rage a palpable force. "You just wiped out an entire civilization. You erased millions of lives. The young, the old, the big, the small... you spared no one."
Nero waved his hand, and the void around them played out the scenes of Vapi's rampage.
"Do you see those children? When you first came to Earth, you played with them like a big brother. And there they are, crying, begging you for mercy as you incinerate them in thousand-degree flames. Can you even imagine their pain? And not just them. Most of the people you killed met the same fate. The interesting thing is, they had nothing to do with you. They were just living their short, happy lives with their families. And you silenced them. Forever."
"Forgive me..." Vapi pleaded.
"Really?" Nero's tone was dangerously soft. "Vapi, it seems you don't understand why I'm telling you all this. You are essentially asking a demon for a chance. But that's not my decision to make anymore."
Suddenly, another form solidified beside them—the gentle, familiar soul of Wil.
"Vapi, I'm done here," Nero said, his form beginning to fade. "You two can decide what happens next. You can think this is an illusion created by my power if you want. I don't care. The Soul Reapers are on their way to collect both of you." His voice echoed his final judgment. "I hope after you finish your punishment, you will start a new life. If not... I will be there to purge you again."
Nero's consciousness snapped back to his body just as Toki approached.
"So... what happened to Vapi? Is he... gone for good?"
Nero nodded, a weary weight in his eyes. "Yeah. He's dead forever."
Toki looked at the devastation around them. "We won... but at what cost?"
"I still think the cost was far too low."
An unknown voice, laced with absolute authority, washed over them. "And as for victory... can you really say you won this war?"
With those words, an unimaginable pressure slammed down from the sky. One by one, Nero's comrades—Toki, Blaze, Sugeto, Kim—were pinned to the ground, unable to even lift their heads. Only Nero remained standing, his posture relaxed.
A figure descended. Aekai, Leader of the Fatebreakers.
"Even Gate 5 Users can barely withstand such power," Aekai mused, his gaze fixed solely on Nero. "And yet you stand there with relaxed composure. I am impressed." His eyes narrowed. "Now, tell me your answer. I ask you once again: Do you want to stand in my way... or do you want to walk with me on my path?"
Nero, with an infuriatingly casual air, scratched his ear. "Fuck off. Don't waste my time with this stupid nonsense again like you did last time."
The air froze. The insult hung in the air, a spark on a powder keg.
Aekai's expression didn't change, but the air grew colder. "End his story."
At his command, hundreds of Gate Users materialized from the shadows, unleashing their full, collective power at Nero—a wave of annihilation meant to erase him from existence.
Nero didn't flinch. "Aekai, you really don't care about the lives of your own comrades, do you?"
As he spoke, he brought out a small, ancient-looking token. A single drop of his blood fell onto its surface.
BOOM!
A portal, darker than any void, tore open the sky. A pressure far greater than Aekai's descended, so immense that Nero was forced to one knee. Those of Aekai's forces who weren't quick enough to kneel were instantly vaporized. Aekai and his top lieutenants dropped to their knees just in time, their faces masks of shock and fury.
"Lord Ravana..." Aekai whispered, horror dawning in his eyes. "How the hell did he summon a god-level entity?! I severely underestimated him..."
From the portal, a being of immense power and ten heads strode forth. His presence was the definition of authority. He walked directly to Nero.
"Rise, son," Ravana's voice was like rolling thunder, yet it held a note of curiosity. "Tell me, why have you summoned me?"
Nero lifted his head, respect in his posture. "Oh, Great Lord, please accept my humble greetings."
"You may raise your head, son," Ravana said, a hint of approval in his tone. (He noted the young man's manners.)
"My Lord, you may have forgotten, but as your follower, how could we forget the day of your celebration?" Nero explained, his voice clear. "That is why I have prepared this day for you."
"I am impressed by your dedication," Ravana replied, his multiple heads surveying the devastation. "But why is it that wherever my eyes fall, I see only destruction? Who is responsible for this?"
Nero didn't hesitate. He pointed directly at Aekai. "My Lord, he is the one. He caused this destruction in his greed for power."
Ravana's gaze shifted to Aekai. The Fatebreaker leader couldn't even speak, crushed by the divine pressure, feeling what it was like to be pinned down for the first time.
"I wish to speak with my son," Ravana declared. "Everyone else... move aside."
In a vacant, serene pocket dimension, Ravana regarded Nero.
"Son," he began, his voice now softer, paternal. "Are you afraid of Aekai?"
Nero remained silent, weighing his words.
"I call you 'son.' Do not worry, I will not harm you. Speak to me from your heart."
"Can I..." Nero started, hesitantly. "Can I call you Grandpa?"
A genuine smile touched the faces of Ravana's ten heads. "Sure."
"Grandpa, speaking the truth... it's true I summoned you as my last option. Thank you for all your kindness toward me." Nero's voice was earnest. "As for Aekai... I don't even know what to say. I don't know why he does this. He was chosen as a guardian, to protect others. So why does he abuse his power? If I had one wish, I would eradicate this devastating Gate power system itself. Sometimes I think people were happier without it."
"You are from Aryavarta. Haha... That's why you think like him."
"Him?"
"An old friend of mine. He thought the same way," Ravana said, a note of nostalgia in his voice. "It is true, child, this power system has taken many hopes. But it is also true that it has given hope to many... like you. With this power, you brought happiness to Aryavarta. Children live in peace there. Even if these powers were erased, something else would always rise to take their place. The best path for you is to achieve the 7th Gate as quickly as possible. A greater threat approaches from the future. And even if you achieve Gate 7, you may find your power is not equal to your foe."
"Grandpa, can you tell me about this foe?" Nero asked, his eyes sharp. "Is it from the Abyss? The Eternal Darkness?"
"You seem to know a little. Let me explain," Ravana said, his expression turning grave. "Nero, the word 'demon' usually represents evil, but not all demons are evil. As a Demon Lord, I can say with millions of years of experience that most are like humans—they live with joy and happiness. But a few... are the true definition of evil. Your enemy is one of them. His name is Kali."
He began the ancient tale. "He was a cheap, lowly demon until he drank the Nectar of Immortality. It happened when the Devas and Asuras formed a temporary alliance to churn the ocean for the nectar. As per their pact, a certain number from each side were allowed to drink. But Kali disguised himself as a Deva(Gods) and drank it. The gods were quick, they cut off his head... but it was too late. He had already become immortal and fled."
"That was millions of years ago. In all that time, he has done nothing but accumulate power, seeking to dominate all of existence."
"If he's immortal, why does he need more power?" Nero questioned.
"Immortality does not equate to invincibility. Raw power is still the ultimate currency."
"But Grandpa," Nero's voice was laced with concern, "if he is truly immortal... how am I supposed to kill him?"
Ravana's answer was simple, yet profound. "There is a basic principle of this world: Those who are born, must die. You must find a way to enforce this law upon him yourself."
They spoke for a while longer, until Ravana finally rose. "It is time for me to leave. The moment I depart, Aekai will make his move. Do not worry; your backup is nearly here. Before I go, I will grant you one boon. Ask anything. I can even tell you the secret to achieving the 7th Gate."
Nero shook his head, a determined fire in his eyes. "No. I want to achieve that on my own. As for a wish... I don't need anything for myself. But if you could undo the destruction caused by this battle, it would be a great help."
"I can restore the land," Ravana agreed. "But I cannot revive all who died. According to Heavenly Law: a life for a life."
"I don't have many souls to offer," Nero said. "Except for this one." He held out the crystal containing Oran's soul.
Ravana took it. "This is more than enough. A powerful soul can be exchanged for many lesser ones."
With a wave of his hand, a wave of cosmic energy washed over the Earth. Shattered cities reassembled. Scorched earth turned green. The physical scars of the battle were healed, though the lives lost remained a heavy memory.
As Ravana's form faded back to his realm, his final words echoed. "Be ready, my son."
On the devastated but restored battlefield, Aekai, now free from the divine pressure, rose to his feet. His eyes, burning with a mix of rage and newfound respect, locked onto Nero.
A cruel smile stretched across his face.
"Now..."