Chapter 219: The Empire of the End
When Kaito Shirogane followed Luo Xi back to the Eastern District's Public Space, he found that the entire world had been violently transformed.
The sky above the sprawling district, normally a flat, placid blue, was now a roiling, bruised purple. A colossal, light-devouring black sun hung in the air, having utterly replaced the Nexus's standard simulated sun. Under its sickly, jaundiced light, an ocean of Reincarnators had gathered, their numbers so vast they spilled out from the shantytown market and choked the plazas around the Four Core Facilities.
It was the single densest concentration of Reincarnators Kaito had witnessed since he had first arrived in this dimension.
His eyes swept the crowd, and even with a casual glance, he spotted dozens of individuals who, like Luo Xi, radiated an aura of raw, untamed power. Elemental energy—fire, ice, lightning—leaked from their bodies, a clear sign that they were all powerful Titled-rank Reincarnators.
A strange, silent accord had been reached. At this moment, even those Reincarnators who clearly possessed the ability to fly or levitate were standing firmly on the ground. They had all, by unspoken agreement, left the vast, dark sky empty.
That sky was a stage, reserved for the one and only Transcendent.
Luo Xi, the Crimson Sorcerer, tilted her head back to look up at the magnificent, oppressive spectacle. A cold, sharp sneer cut across her lips.
"A pathetic failure... and he still feels the need to put on such a ridiculous, gaudy show. Hmph..."
Kaito's mind instantly connected the dots. The Crimson Sorcerer, Luo Xi, must be aligned with the other rumored Transcendent, the one who opposed The Final Day: Silent Fate. This explained everything. It explained why Flame Fiend, who was clearly one of The Final Day's subordinates, had so aggressively tried to sabotage Rose Tiger's bid during the auction.
These two factions were oil and water. Their conflict and competition were absolute, raging at every single level of the Reincarnator hierarchy.
At this moment, suspended in the dark heavens, a hierarchy of nine figures stood in a perfect, descending V-formation. At the very apex, his form completely enveloped and silhouetted by the black sun itself, was the Transcendent. Below him, his lieutenants were arrayed like a blade aimed at the world.
Every single one of them radiated an almost physical pressure, a sense of presence so powerful it felt like a weight on the chest.
These were, without a doubt, the most loyal confidants—or perhaps, the most devoted servants—of the Transcendent, The Final Day.
A deep, male voice, impossibly resonant, suddenly echoed across the plaza. The air itself seemed to vibrate with his words, carrying with it the faint, sharp scent of ash.
"My fellow Reincarnators. The era where we—the powerful, the evolved—are forced to bow to the laws, the order, and the rules of mortals... will soon be over."
Kaito's senses pricked. He recognized that scent, that feeling. He stared intently at the black sun. It was crawling with a familiar, dark power—an ocean of Cursed Energy and negative emotions, swirling on a scale he could barely comprehend.
"We are Reincarnators," the voice boomed. "We are superhuman. We are the next step in evolution. We... are higher beings."
The voice of The Final Day was incredibly magnetic, each word delivered with a hypnotic rhythm that demanded agreement.
Kaito watched, his expression unreadable, as this simple, blunt declaration caused a wave of fervent nods to ripple through the Reincarnators packed into the shantytown.
"We should no longer be branded with their false, pathetic labels! 'Danger-class.' 'High-Risk-class.' 'Disaster-class.' We are the ones who should be writing the labels! We... are the Dominators!"
The voice of The Final Day rose in a thunderous crescendo. Kaito-kun himself felt nothing, but he could see the profound, visceral effect it was having on the Second-Rank Reincarnators around him. They were eating it up.
They, who possessed the power to unleash devastating blasts of energy, lived in constant fear of being seen. If a mortal witnessed their power, it meant massive trouble. In a best-case scenario, the Nexus would fine them an enormous amount of Dimensional Points and Singularities to perform a "cognitive correction." In a worst-case scenario... the Reincarnator would be directly and instantly erased.
The Infinite Dimensional Space was a paradox. It was clearly, intentionally leaking its own existence and influence into the real world, bit by bit... yet it would just as quickly punish any excessive exposure with extreme prejudice.
There had to be, Kaito surmised, some kind of external restriction or rule governing the Nexus itself.
The Final Day's speech continued, and every Reincarnator in the plaza willingly spent their precious, limited "Public Space time" to hang on his every word.
"I am tired of that daily life. Tired of being watched, judged, and controlled by mortal rabble! I am tired of the repression, of being forced to hide the very power that defines me! And so... starting now, I will build an Empire. An Empire for us."
"In this Empire, there will be no mortals! No governments! No surveillance! Every single one of us will be able to fly through the heavens and shatter the earth! A place where we can, at last, unleash the... POWER... that is our birthright!"
As he roared the final word, the black sun behind him detonated. It didn't explode with darkness, but with a blinding, negative light. Countless black rays shot downward, striking the stone plaza. Kaito watched in stunned silence as the very cobblestones at his feet began to turn pitch-black, stained by the energy.
This was the first time he had ever seen a Reincarnator's ability directly affect the Public Space.
This wasn't like what The Chosen could do, influencing the rules of the Nexus. This was far more direct. This was a being using his own, personal power to physically alter the terrain of the Nexus hub itself.
The sheer level of power involved in such a feat was so far beyond Kaito's current comprehension that he couldn't even begin to analyze it. But he glanced at Luo Xi. The Crimson Sorcerer was no longer sneering. She was standing in absolute, grim-faced silence.
That told him everything. This was not something that a mere Titled-rank Reincarnator could ever hope to achieve.
Then, as quickly as it had begun, the black sun started to fade. The dark energy receded, and the sky above the Eastern District slowly returned to its normal, artificial blue.
The speech was over. The effect was instantaneous. Info brokers, like ants emerging from a kicked-over nest, immediately began to swarm the crowd, disseminating more detailed information on this new "Empire of the End."
The rumors flew thick and fast.
The chosen location was an uncharted spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A coalition of Titled-rank Reincarnators, working in concert, had physically raised the planet's tectonic plates, using landfill and raw power to create a massive, artificial island—over three hundred thousand square kilometers in size. It was an island that existed on no mortal map.
A more secretive, scandalous rumor also began to circulate: The Final Day's original plan had been to completely obliterate the entire continent of Australia and build his nation there.
But this psychotic plan had been discovered by the Western District's own Transcendent, Silent Fate. The two supreme-level Reincarnators had immediately clashed, sparking a long and brutal shadow war that had caused the death rate among mid-to-high-rank Reincarnators to skyrocket.
Finally, the leaders of the other three Transcendent factions—Azure Sky, Virtuality's Throne, and Destiny—had been forced to step in and mediate the conflict.
The Final Day had been forced to back down, "compromising" with his current solution of building a new island from scratch.
In return, Silent Fate agreed to no longer obstruct the founding of this new Reincarnator-only nation.
While the surrounding crowd was still buzzing, caught up in the fervor of this world-changing political shift, Kaito Shirogane was already walking away. He had gotten the Reincarnator ID for the alchemist from Luo Xi, but after sending a contact request, he had received no reply. The man was likely offline or in a mission world.
So, Kaito changed his destination and headed for the Appraisal Office.
This time, however, the familiar, sharp-tongued Fairy Appraiser was not at the counter. In his place stood a slender, tall human man, who greeted Kaito with a gentle, placid smile.
"Greetings, powerful Reincarnator. Do you have a treasure that requires my appraisal?"
Kaito, without a word, placed the two items on the counter: the Devil Fruit he had acquired in the One Piece world, and the Unidentified Gourmet Cells he had just looted from Flame Fiend's card.
The man's serene eyes widened, just slightly. "Oh my, oh my... this is truly... two wonderful treasures, each containing the unique, miraculous power of two different worlds. You, honored Reincarnator... you possess a truly shocking 'Luck,' don't you?"
Kaito merely shrugged, offering no reply. His mind was elsewhere, still processing the speech about the "Empire of the End," calmly calculating what, if any, impact it would have on his own plans.
[The Appraisal Master 'Lucius' requests 2 D-Rank Singularities and 3,000 Dimensional Points to appraise the selected items. Do you consent?]
[Consent.]
As Kaito watched with a detached gaze, the appraiser named Lucius placed his hands over the items. A soft, violet light began to glow from his palms. The Devil Fruit and the vial of Gourmet Cells floated into the air, and as they spun, countless glowing, mystical symbols began to manifest and swirl around them.
This was a unique, magic-based appraisal. Even without a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, this man could use the laws of mysticism to divine an item's true nature.
"It is done, my guest," the slender human appraiser said. His voice was so unnervingly mild and warm that it set Kaito slightly on edge. "Both are items of significant value."
[You have obtained: Devil Fruit (Exquisite), Gourmet Cells - Blue (Exquisite)]
[Devil Fruit]
[Quality: Exquisite]
[Description: A secret treasure of the sea, born from the One Piece derivative worlds. It contains the power of a sea demon.]
[Effect: Upon consumption, the user will gain the power of the Paramecia-type: Psyche-Flame Fruit.] (Power is granted to the first person to take one bite. Subsequent eaters gain no power.)
Kaito read the description and let out a small, internal "tsk."
Another flame-based ability. In the wider Reincarnator community, any fruit related to a common element like fire usually got the same evaluation: "A trash-tier fruit that not even a dog would eat." This was simply because so many abilities and bloodlines already granted fire powers, making it redundant.
This was not the Nika Fruit Kaito had distantly hoped for. It was a completely new Paramecia fruit that had never been documented. Kaito focused on the detailed description.
It wasn't a physical flame. It was a fruit that governed a person's heart and emotions.
The user could manipulate the emotions and thoughts of anyone they touched, and could then transmute those emotions into a psychic fire, burning the target's mind and spirit from within. At the same time, the user's own emotions could be used to generate different types of flames.
It was... interesting. But just based on the description, it was not a top-tier Paramecia. It couldn't hold a candle to the Tremor-Tremor Fruit or the other "broken" fruits, and it certainly couldn't be compared to a Logia or a Mythical Zoan.
[Gourmet Cells - Blue]
[Quality: Exquisite]
[Description: Special cells born from the Toriko derivative worlds. They contain immense, dormant power.]
[Effect 1: Upon use, the user's cells will be 'activated,' significantly enhancing all physical-body attributes.]
[Effect 2: The Gourmet Cells can be 'leveled up' by consuming specific, high-quality food ingredients, which will dramatically increase the user's cellular and muscular-skeletal strength.]
Kaito looked at the two Exquisite-grade items in his hand. He felt no particular urge to use either of them immediately.
He walked back to his stall, a new plan already forming. Instead of consuming them, he placed both the Psyche-Flame Fruit and the Gourmet Cells - Blue on his stall's main display, marking them for "Trade Only."
This move served two purposes. First, the two Exquisite items would act as a massive beacon, a "honey pot" that would draw an enormous number of Reincarnators to his stall, which would, in turn, help him sell off his other lesser items much faster.
Second, it was a hook in the water. It would see if he could "fish" for an even better item, something more suited to his specific needs.
With his business in the Nexus concluded, he turned to the silent Lee Chae-rin. After binding her with a new series of Nexus-system restrictions, he gave her a single, unsecured satellite phone number.
He gave her one final order: The March Consortium was to contact the owner of that number and begin negotiations for investing in his "paradise."
With that, Kaito Shirogane exited the Infinite Dimensional Space.