The battlefield was silent.
Smoke still curled from where Xu Wenwu's army had fallen, and the last of their scattered supplies were gathered and secured. My soldiers moved efficiently, collecting weapons, food, and treasure with no hesitation. Every corpse, every piece of equipment, every crate of supplies was assessed, sorted, and repurposed.
I smiled to myself.
Victory was not just destruction—it was opportunity.
With a thought, I activated the Purple Ring. The world blurred. The ground beneath me and my army vanished in an instant. When the light cleared, we were back inside my territory, the city walls and my estate rising proudly around us.
The soldiers stood at attention, breathing in the scent of home and order, waiting for instruction. I didn't speak. I didn't need to. They already understood.
The system chimed.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: DEFEATED XU WENWUREWARD: 6,000 POINTS
Points. Always points. Always opportunity.
I opened the system panel and scrolled carefully. Knowledge had always been more valuable than raw power. The right knowledge at the right time could render even gods blind and mortals helpless.
I made my purchases deliberately.
Complete knowledge of the Marvel Runes — 2,000 PointsComplete mastery of the DC Universe Runes — 2,000 PointsMagical Energy Boost + High Magical Talent — 2,000 Points
Confirmed.
Immediately, my mind filled.
Runes—ancient, arcane, cosmic—unlocked themselves in layers I could see, comprehend, and manipulate. Symbols that had once been inaccessible, impossible to read, now flowed like second nature across my consciousness.
Marvel Runes spoke of gods, relics, and reality-warping laws.
DC Runes spoke of multiversal structure, meta-energy, and the flow of magic across worlds.
Magical energy surged through me as if a dam had broken. I could feel it coiling in my core, extending outward into my fingers, flowing into the rings and weapons I wielded. My capacity for control, for creation, for subtle manipulation, had just multiplied exponentially.
And alongside it, a new skill manifested: high magical talent. Not just raw energy, but the ability to manipulate it with precision and finesse. To twist it into forms and effects my predecessors could only dream of.
I let it settle for a moment, closing my eyes as power whispered through me.
The Ten Rings on my fingers pulsed faintly in response. Even the bracelets I had taken from Wenwu shifted, acknowledging the new hierarchy of mastery.
I opened my eyes.
The estate was quiet. My army waited. My subordinates—Itachi, Giyu, Yamato—stood nearby, their expressions unreadable but attentive.
I spoke softly.
"Everything we've fought for… everything we've built… is about to grow beyond this world."
Because now, armed not just with armies or rings, but with knowledge and magic beyond comprehension, there was no limit to what I could achieve.
The system hummed quietly in the corner of my mind.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: POINTS USED SUCCESSFULLY. PURCHASES CONFIRMED. NEW ABILITIES INTEGRATED.
I smiled again.
Not for the first time, not for the last.
Victory was not just survival. It was evolution.
And evolution was unstoppable.