Chapter 2 – That Which Dwells in the Abyss (2)

Part 2

The great door opened with a slow, heavy creak.

It didn't explode. It wasn't forced.

It simply… opened from within.

The two guardians who watched over it stepped back.

That door was only supposed to open if they were defeated. Never the other way around.

"What the hell…?" muttered the red-skinned one, tightening his grip on his mace.

"Impossible," said the blue one, unmoving. "No one can come from there. Not without… dying first."

Yamato crossed the threshold with a steady pace.

His dark silhouette, the scythe resting on his shoulder, seemed to float more than walk.

He didn't radiate arrogance. He radiated certainty.

The red oni pointed at him instantly.

"That has to be the intruder! No one climbs up from below without my permission, you insect!"

"Silence, Aka," the blue one warned with a calm voice. "Don't act without thinking."

But it was too late.

Aka roared and charged like a wild beast.

His mace kicked up dust and cracked the ground with every step.

He wasn't looking for answers. He wanted blood.

Yamato didn't flinch. He kept walking as if those beings didn't exist. As if they weren't even worthy of his attention.

The mace came down hard, but a swarm of nanobots surged from his back, forming shields that blocked the impact effortlessly.

"What's going on…?" said Aka, stepping back, confused by his own weapon.

"Aka, stop! Think for a second!" shouted the blue oni.

"Don't you see where he came from? That's the door of the great Nebel!"

But Aka wasn't listening. He struck again and again, lost in a frenzy of wounded pride.

The nanobots repelled every blow while Yamato kept advancing, undisturbed, the scythe still resting across his back.

"Don't ignore me, you walking trash!"

His club ignited.

With a furious shout, he raised it above his head. The air trembled.

"I told you to wait, idiot! Stop already!"

"Extinction Meteor!"

A colossal burning rock fell from above.

The hall was so vast that its origin was unclear—only the light that surrounded the massive boulder gave it away.

"Die, insect!"

Yamato clicked his tongue in disapproval.

Since merging with Nebel, he had come to understand the origin of his existence.

What was an instant for others… had been millennia for him.

Millennia of comprehension. Of the universe. Of everything.

"I was considering being merciful… because I have nothing against you," he said without haste, "but now you're starting to irritate me."

His voice didn't rise, but it carried something that tore deep.

It wasn't rage.

It was certainty—so cold it seemed to pierce the soul.

He turned and looked at the meteor. His eyes glowed with a cosmic hue, like a distorted star floating in the void.

He raised his arm and brought his middle finger and thumb together. Then, without rushing, he pointed at the boulder.

"Distortion."

A small black sphere, barely larger than a marble, appeared at his fingertip and moved slowly toward the meteor.

As it traveled, it absorbed light, heat… even sound.

When they collided, the sphere expanded for an instant… and devoured everything.

The massive meteorite collapsed as if space itself had dragged it into oblivion.

Not even ash remained.

"What… what was that...?" the blue oni whispered, fear crawling up his spine.

"Hey, you… red one," said Yamato without even looking at him.

"I'm giving you one last chance."

"You're wasting my time."

"If you kneel, I promise your death will be less painful… and quick."

"I would never kneel before an insignificant human!" roared Aka, now wrapped in flames.

His body trembled with rage, as if he'd just pushed past his own limits.

"Give him what he deserves," said Nebel in his mind. "Even I'm already tired of that insect."

From the ground, chains made of nanobots emerged.

They coiled with precision around Aka's legs and arms, immobilizing him completely.

"I said… kneel."

The chains snapped tight.

The red oni's muscles cracked.

His knees buckled, forced to the ground.

"Last chance," Yamato whispered, with barely concealed malice.

"I'll tear you apa—"

"Wrong answer."

The nanobots began to crawl up Aka's arms, sliding like living blades.

Skin split open in precise lines.

Bones snapped with slow, cruel pops.

Aka screamed as his body was dismantled inch by inch by millions of nanobots.

Not rushed.

Only efficient.

Surgical precision with a single goal: to break him.

"I warned you this would happen," Yamato said calmly. "You should've done like your brother and stayed still."

"I wasn't interested in you. I only want to return to the surface."

Aoki, the blue-skinned demon, watched without moving.

He had seen horrors—wars, madness, ancient magic.

But never anything like this.

Yamato wasn't laughing.

He wasn't enjoying it.

He was simply… executing.

"This isn't punishment," Aoki murmured. "This is judgment."

A chill ran up his spine.

Not because of the pain but because of the calm.

That cold, inhuman calm with which the man dismantled Aka as if he were a malfunction to correct.

He felt fear.

Not for his life but for what he was witnessing.

Because he understood.

This wasn't a man.

It was a force beyond comprehension.

He knelt.

"My lord," he said with a steady voice, though his body trembled. "Allow me to serve you… before I too become another error."

Aoki remained kneeling, waiting for a response.

Not out of surrender but understanding.

He had seen judgment.

Felt it in his skin.

And he knew…

He had no place outside that shadow.

In Yamato's mind, Nebel's voice rose like a soft whisper.

"What wonderful perception this guardian has…"

"Why not make him your first Nulvoid?"

"After all, empires need powerful vassals."

Yamato studied him in silence.

He saw not who he was… but who he could become.

"Raise your head," he ordered.

Aoki obeyed without hesitation.

"Your name no longer represents you."

"Aoki died here, along with his brother."

"I will allow you to follow me, but you must abandon that form… and pledge loyalty without hesitation."

"Understood?"

"Yes, my lord."

Yamato raised his hand.

Darkness enveloped him completely—

Not to devour—

But to shape.

The shadows compressed like living ink, reconstructing his body from the core.

His skin turned pale.

His figure became slimmer, more refined.

His horns retracted gently.

His eyes—once full of rage—now gleamed with intellect and control.

"From now on… you shall be called Seiryu."

The blue oni was gone.

In his place stood a humanoid figure—refined, sharp-eyed, radiating calculated presence.

Seiryu bowed with solemnity—

Not as a mere servant…

But as a herald.

"My existence is yours, my lord. My will—a reflection of your own."

Yamato nodded without a word.

The door opened.

The ascent continued.

Seiryu followed in silence.

The echo of their steps faded at the threshold, as if the Pit itself held its breath at what had just awakened.

Neither looked back.

There was no need.

What remained of that floor no longer had a purpose.

Far away, in the kingdom of Valheim… Someone felt uneasy, without knowing why.

Kaede Minazuki held her lollipop, eyes fixed on the window.

She wasn't eating it—just spinning it between her fingers.

The afternoon sun barely touched the marble of the palace.

The training room was full of voices, laughter, and heated discussions about levels, abilities, and strategies.

But she heard none of it.

Her eyes were locked on the sky.

Thinking about her childhood about someone who was missing.

"Kaede, are you okay?" asked Yui, walking over with a towel.

"Yeah…" she replied with a tone that convinced no one.

It wasn't sadness Kaede felt.

It was something harder to define… a dull discomfort in her chest, like a premonition she couldn't explain.

She rolled the lollipop across her teeth, never biting it. Just holding it there in silence.

Rei Kanzaki was dead.

No one seemed to question that.

And yet… something inside Kaede refused to accept it.

"It's been three months since they sacrificed him… and still, no one talks about it," she murmured, eyes still on the sky.

Her voice was quiet—yet heavy.

"I know he wasn't important to most, but he didn't deserve that."

Yui sat down beside her, lowering her gaze.

She didn't respond right away.

"To this kingdom… we're disposable. Just tools."

"They summoned us, gave us labels… and if something doesn't fit, they throw it away."

Kaede nodded, almost unconsciously.

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. One that said more than any words.

"Sometimes I dream of him," she finally said. "But not as he was… more like something else.

Something pulling me toward a deep darkness… like the bottom of the ocean."

Yui frowned, uneasy.

"Are you talking about the monster from the Pit?"

Kaede didn't answer.

She just spun the lollipop slowly between her lips, eyes fixed ahead.

There was no doubt something disturbed her but saying it aloud could spark suspicion.

And if the Church ever thought she had been touched by the Void…

They might send her to the Pit.

And no one wanted that.

Meanwhile, without anyone knowing… with silent, steady steps… Yamato continued his ascent.

The world was in need of correction.