Salomi was now the apostle of the great Morlük.
She felt in her veins a strange warmth, a presence both gentle and colossal — the Grace of the Creator of Origins of the second zone. Her soul had been marked, lifted, transformed.
But ascension never came alone.
Morlük had entrusted her with a quest — "To seize the World of the Limbo."
A heavy task, almost unreal, but Salomi did not hesitate. She accepted. And she would leave immediately.
Before leaving, however, she set a condition to her elders:
"Do not go back to see mother... not without me. That would be unfair. I want to be there... I want to see her face when she sees Bakuzan again."
Touched, Bakuzan simply nodded.
He understood.
Shortly after, Bakuran joined them in the World of Myths. When he saw Bakuzan, his brother lost for so long, he froze for a moment... then rushed to him. He tried to be strong, to hold back his tears... but his heart gave in, and sobs rose, loud and trembling.
Bakuzan closed his arms around him, without a word.
They were finally reunited.
Zelongue, Ysolongue, and Kai also stood present. These bonds, these looks, this silent warmth — all marked a precious, unique moment before the separation.
Salomi took a deep breath.
"Thank you... all of you. I will succeed in this quest. I promise you."
They gave her calm smiles — neither naive nor worried — smiles of those who know destiny is already in motion.
Then Salomi simply raised a hand.
Space fractured in a breath of silver and shadow.
A breach formed, unfolding like a cosmic wing.
She crossed it without hesitation.
She traveled through countless layers of reality in a single instant, as if sliding between the pages of an infinite book.
Then — she stepped down.
The World of the Limbo stretched before her.
A vast world, without horizon, breathing infinity.
Once cursed by Zeus: a deformed kingdom, gnawed by chaos born from broken concepts and dualities devouring their meaning.
The sky was liquid — black, heavy, dense — like murky ink mixed with corrupt rainbow reflections.
A sky that wept.
That lived.
That watched.
And the sun... was not a sun.
But a colossal, open, vibrant eye, watching every breath.
The Eye of the Demon King Sai.
The Demon Kings...
Entities from Hell higher than most infernal creatures, just below the Demon Emperors.
Beings of the Second Zone, surpassing even those once called the Primeval Demons — first demonic forms, beings of the Third Zone, now a mythical reference as their ancient power is still feared.
Salomi felt the eye fix on her.
Not her body — her.
Her soul.
Her promise.
Her destiny.
She raised her head, a calm smile stretching her lips.
"...He sees me."
The giant eye in the sky throbbed, heavy, omnipresent — Sai's Eye.
A living witness, a burning memory of a defeat the ages never erased.
Sai.
Former Demon King of the Hells.
Seventeenth Sovereign of the Infernal Pantheon.
Once, he formed a feared trio:
Sai, Demon King No. 17
Zerecla, Demon Queen No. 18
Ëpres, Demon King No. 19
Three infernal sovereigns of the Second Zone, whose mere name made the depths of hell tremble.
But that day, there was Apollo.
Apollo, among the highest of the Primeval Gods — the one who embodies light, celestial law, and relentless power.
Numerical superiority was only an illusion.
It was not a fight.
It was an eclipse.
Zerecla and Ëpres, crushed by the evidence, accepted divine order and bowed under the authority of the absolute God.
But Sai, he — refused.
He refused to bow.
He refused to acknowledge his defeat.
He refused to forget.
So he tore himself from the Hells themselves, taking with him those loyal to him — to exile in the Outer Void.
Here, he forged a world in his image:
a world of ruins, rancor, broken dreams.
The World of the Limbo.
A kingdom suspended between existence and negation.
Salomi stepped — and her foot sank into a dark, thick, almost organic substance.
Like coagulated blood.
She watched the substance slide around her ankle, heavy as frozen memory.
"Tsk... to think that before Zeus's curse, this world was even worse..." she murmured.
For Zeus, upon discovering this realm, did not destroy it:
he cursed it.
He imposed on the world the logic of paradox — where concepts oppose each other until they devour, where reality twists under contradiction.
And Sai...
Sai had tried to rebuild nonetheless.
Rebuild a kingdom under a broken sky.
Here, unlike the Hells which are superior structures able to contain beings whose existence even surpasses their own plane, everything is compressed:
the Demon Kings remain only contained forms,
and even Third Zone entities are forced to remain confined inside these borders.
This world is a cage built by the hatred of a single being.
Salomi placed a hand to her chin, her expression grew more serious, almost analytical.
"So... this is exactly what I thought.
This world exists only because it refuses to forget the light that destroyed it.
Ha... Sai... You are truly a tragic being."
The Eye contracted.
As if it had heard.
As if it was waiting.
The Second Zone was a domain of unfathomable complexity.
Although it stood above the lower realities, it did not completely detach from them: it dominated, conditioned, shaped them like imperfect reflections.
It encompassed three great Primordial Kingdoms:
The World of Gods,
The Hells,
The Void.
These worlds shared similar size and cosmic structure, unfolding well above Dhama.
For those from the lower zones, these Kingdoms are not simply places:
they are the threshold of the inaccessible,
the frontier toward what is called the true Second Zone.
But beyond these Kingdoms, there is a higher state:
Endimork.
Endimork is not a place — it is a form of existence.
The true form of the so-called Secondary Gods.
In this state, the World of Gods, the Hells, and the Void become only texts, structures, closed stories.
Gods who reach Endimork contemplate the lower realities as one flips through the pages of a book already written.
In the same way that a being of the Fourth Zone perceives the material world as a mere dreamed fiction,
entities of Endimork see the Sacred Kingdoms as tales frozen within a divine will.
Thus the hierarchy of existences is organized:
each zone reads the previous one,
each transcendent observes the other like a character trapped in a story from which it has, itself, awakened.
However, Endimork is not the summit.
Above, much higher still, lies:
The Madhurya.
The Madhurya is neither a kingdom nor even a unique state.
It is an infinite series of self-transcending strata.
Each layer of the Madhurya surpasses the previous one.
Each layer sees the one below it as a dream, a fiction, an elaborate illusion.
And, at the same time, it is itself perceived as a fiction by the upper layer.
An endless ladder.
A mirror reflecting itself without ever reaching a final image.
It is then said that:
"The Madhurya alone could contain an infinity of levels of existence of Great Mythical Beings.
And this infinity has no summit."
For each transcendence in the Madhurya cancels the previous one.
Each awakening surpasses the awakening.
And the cycle repeats.
Again.
And again.
Salomi cracked her fingers, a thrill of excitement running through her body.
Before her, Sai's immense eye fixed her, impassive, as if probing every particle of her being. But she had nothing left to fear.
She was now Morlük's apostle, and through her interface, she embodied the Absolute Truth of the Second Zone.
With a confident gesture, she extended her hand:
— Son Goku no Buki!
A weapon materialized instantly in her palm: a purple baseball bat, glowing with a strange and vibrant energy.
— Let's go! she whispered, a determined smile on her lips.
She rushed forward, running through this chaotic world toward Sai's massive eye.
But barely had she taken a few steps when the ground trembled violently.
Monstrous creatures emerged from all sides.
Their forms defied logic: some had only floating heads, others were merely pulsing eyes, and some seemed to be living equations, moving with mathematical precision but grotesque.
Salomi laughed, exhilarated:
— I guess you're the appetizer!
Hundreds of monsters charged at her, roaring and howling under this nightmare sky.
But Salomi did not waver.
— Let's see Morlük's attacks!
With a smooth leap, she did a backflip, swinging her bat with a blazing force.
A single strike made the creatures explode in the strange sky, sending them into luminous shards.
She dodged, counterattacked, retaliated, all her moves fluid, precise, each motion punctuated with a smile:
— Too easy!
More creatures sprang from the ground, trying to grab her. Salomi showed no fear:
— Morlük's Strike!
Suddenly, a gigantic silhouette appeared in the sky: Morlük himself.
His size surpassed all creatures, even those Salomi had just destroyed.
He raised his hand and, with a calculated and monumental gesture, hundreds of colossal fists fell to the ground like planets, crushing all abominations indiscriminately.
Salomi freed herself, bursting out laughing.
Every attack of Morlük was relentless, not even the immortality of the enemies could resist.
She then understood the magnitude of her advantage: the power of Morlük flowed in her, and the world of the limbo was no longer anything but a playground before her cosmic strength.