Chapter 95: Who Devours Whom
"The one on the other side is Zerofuku."
Grey blinked, confused. "Zerofuku? Never heard of him."
But she dared not ask further—her sister Horist had shifted personalities again, and Grey didn't want to be on the receiving end of another icy glare.
Horist's voice softened. "You probably don't know him. Zerofuku is actually the true form of the Seven Lucky Gods. They're not seven separate deities—they're fragments of one."
Grey's face drained of color. Her reaction was as if the sky itself had collapsed.
"What? Zerofuku is the Seven Lucky Gods? No, no, this is bad—this is the worst possible matchup! We have to stop this fight immediately! Ashiya Dōman must be plotting something again. We must stop him!"
Grey had glimpsed a terrible truth during her time-traveling investigations. Ashiya Dōman had once devised a grand and sinister scheme—and that scheme required the Seven Lucky Gods.
It had been thwarted in his lifetime.
But now, here he was, standing on the stage of Ragnarok, facing off against the very gods he once sought to exploit.
The coincidence was too dreadful to ignore.
"What scheme?" Horist asked, her brow furrowing.
"He wants to break the seal on Amatsu-Mikaboshi," Grey said, her voice trembling. "But that's only the beginning of the nightmare."
"Amatsu-Mikaboshi? Who's that?"
Horist frowned. She hadn't heard of such a god. But the word "Amatsu" hinted at something ancient and powerful—something from the celestial pantheon.
"We need to contact Brunhilde. Now."
"I'm on it."
Horist tried calling their eldest sister.
"Brunhilde, Grey says—"
Click. The call disconnected.
She tried again.
"Brunhilde, it's urgent. Grey says—"
Another disconnect. Then Brunhilde stopped answering altogether.
Horist sighed. Brunhilde probably thought Grey was just being dramatic again. She likely dismissed it as another one of Grey's overreactions.
But then the sun began to dim.
It wasn't an eclipse. The light itself was changing—turning black. The sun emitted a dark glow, as if night were devouring day.
And above the arena, that black sun hung ominously, pulsing like a living thing.
"What is that?"
"Why do humans always summon the creepiest things?"
"Wait… that aura!"
Several gods turned pale. They recognized the energy radiating from the black sun.
It was the aura of two dark gods—ones who had vanished mysteriously a thousand years ago. Their disappearance had been labeled an escape.
Why escape?
Because they governed misfortune. Dangerous and unpredictable, they had been kept under watch—half imprisoned, half monitored.
And now, their presence was unmistakable within the black sun.
Brunhilde, too, frowned. She had overheard the murmurs among the gods.
But her concern wasn't just the sun—it was the sudden shift in the crowd's emotions.
Some spectators grew visibly gloomy, whispering about their past misfortunes.
"So unlucky…"
Just like Zerofuku, they began to speak of their own suffering.
It was spreading—like a contagion.
And Zerofuku? He could absorb misfortune and convert it into power.
But the one creating this atmosphere wasn't Zerofuku—it was Ashiya Dōman.
Did he not know Zerofuku's nature?
No. He knew. That was the point.
He was deliberately feeding Zerofuku's strength.
Brunhilde's unease deepened.
Was this battle being manipulated from within her own ranks?
Zerofuku's shoulders trembled.
He could feel it—not just his own misfortune, but the overwhelming sorrow radiating from the crowd.
And the source of it all?
That smiling onmyōji standing before him.
Dōman clearly thought Zerofuku was weak. So he was accelerating the process—pushing him to grow stronger.
"Don't you dare look down on me!"
Zerofuku roared, his face contorting with rage. The massive axe in his hands began to shift again.
This time, it sprouted countless blades, slicing through the air like living serpents.
"I'll shred you to pieces!"
No—pieces weren't enough. He would grind Dōman into dust.
The entire arena was blanketed in flying blades. Anything tossed into the space would be pulverized before it hit the ground.
"Wait—why are you looking at me?"
Heimdall paled. Zerofuku's murderous gaze was locked onto him.
Then came the scream.
Countless blades slashed toward Heimdall.
But—
"I'm… fine?"
No. Not quite.
His shadow had been severed.
And the shadow—still animate—fled across the arena.
"Please don't come near me…"
BOOM!
A colossal hammer crushed the shadow.
When the dust cleared, only shattered ground remained.
Then Zerofuku's eyes narrowed.
The black sun.
He understood now.
His expression turned cruel.
The hammer morphed again—this time into a segmented greatsword.
With a mighty swing, he hurled it toward the black sun.
It struck—but barely pierced twenty centimeters.
Then, the sun seemed to push the blade out—like a wound rejecting the weapon.
No. That wasn't it.
A figure emerged, gripping the sword's edge.
Ashiya Dōman.
Zerofuku prepared to strike again—but suddenly, he was flying toward Dōman.
What was happening?
He realized it too late.
Dōman had tugged the blade—and with it, Zerofuku himself.
Now face-to-face, Dōman smiled cruelly and slammed his fist into Zerofuku's face.
BOOM!
The impact echoed like a cannon blast.
When the dust settled, Zerofuku lay in a crater, his face twisted and bruised.
He had finally landed a hit—but it wasn't his strike.
It was Dōman's.
Floating before the black sun, Dōman sighed.
His condescending posture, his lofty demeanor—it made Zerofuku's mangled face twist even further.
"So… so… so… so… so… so… so…"
The words spilled from Zerofuku's mouth in a broken loop.
"Is he… broken?"
"Why did they choose someone so unstable?"
"Wait—have you noticed the crowd?"
The gods began to murmur.
Everyone's mood was plummeting.
Yes, Zerofuku was being toyed with. That was depressing.
But this was beyond normal sadness.
"I'm so unlucky… so unlucky… so unlucky…!"
Zerofuku screamed and leapt to his feet.
A black aura exploded from his body, sweeping across the arena.
"WAAAH!"
Heimdall shrieked—not from pain, but from shock.
It was like a wave of shadow had surged toward him.
He was fine. Physically.
But just as he prepared to narrate the scene—
"I'm truly… so unlucky…"
He dropped to his knees, his voice hollow.
And he wasn't alone.
Spectators all around him did the same.
"Zerofuku's misfortune is infecting them. And their sorrow… he's absorbing it."
Hermes clicked his tongue.
"This ability… is borderline cheating."