Kenji sat with his back against the charred, skeletal remains of the dead tree, staring up at a night sky that held no stars.
A thick, oily fog smothered the heavens, as if the world itself refused to look back at him. The air was unnervingly cold, a dry, sterile chill that didn't just bite the skin but seemed to leech the very heat from his soul.
Though his eyes were fixed on the leaden grey clouds, his mind was still miles away. He was still with her.
Kenji swallowed hard, a cold sweat prickling his skin as he let out a slow, shuddering breath. Death of the Endless. Just thinking her name made his stomach twist into a knot.
She was, no, she is, the finality of the DC Multiverse. She wasn't a goddess of death in the way Hades, Hela, or Anubis were, those were just beings playing at a job. She was the job.
She was a function of existence itself. Endings were her because she was the personification of the very concept. Even the most arrogant cosmic gods, from Darkseid to the Guardians of the Universe, bowed their heads when they felt the rustle of her unseen wings. She was the one who would put the chairs on the tables and turn out the lights when the last thing in the universe dies out, she'd be the one to close up the universe.
And she had come for him personally.
Some Time Earlier
Kenji hadn't sensed her approach. One moment, he was alone, then she was there, and just seeing who it was had frozen him in fear, in absolute terror.
One moment, he had been getting ready to set out to find his friend, and the next baam, death was there for him, and what a scare it was. She was there.
She was sitting atop a jagged, moss-covered rock as if she had been part of the landscape since the dawn of time.
She wore casual clothes, a simple black top, and jeans, with pale skin and dark hair that seemed to absorb what little dim light remained in the woods. An ankh hung from her neck, glinting with a soft, silver light that felt more real than the world around it. Her bare feet rested against the rough stone, and she wore a smile that was gentle, warm, and utterly, terrifyingly final in a way you just can't explain.
Kenji's soul nearly jumped out of his newly reconstructed body.
"L–Lady Death," he stammered, his voice a pathetic, high-pitched squeak. He scrambled his feet, trying to keep himself from jumping 30feet into the air, and bowed. "I—I—I didn't—I mean—pardon me, I-I—"
He stopped. There were no words. What do you even say to the person who will eventually close the book on an entire multiverse? What defense does a "Gamer" have against the person who owns the console?
"Now, now," she said lightly, her voice carrying a melodic, amused quality that reminded him of a summer breeze, the kind you feel right before a storm breaks. "Don't look so flustered. You'll pop a blood vessel."
She smiled at him. Under any other circumstances, he might have been struck by how beautiful she was, a kindness in her eyes that promised a peace he had never known. Right now, he was too busy trying not to cease existing through sheer terror.
She tilted her head, studying him like a scientist might study a bug they'd never seen before. "So," she said, resting her chin in her palm, "who are you, exactly? And I'm not asking for the name on your driver's license."
"I—I'm Kenji," he answered quickly, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. "My lady. Kenji Takahashi."
"That's not what I meant, Kenji."
The reply was instantaneous, and it made his heart skip a beat. She straightened slightly, her eyes focusing on him with a clarity that made his System interface flicker, static-out, and glitch. For a second, the blue boxes turned blood-red before vanishing entirely.
"I know every soul that has ever lived in the spheres of the Presence," Death said calmly, her voice echoing not in his ears, but in the very core of his being. "I know every soul that is, and every soul that will be when the last light goes out. I know the rhythm of their hearts and the weight of their sins." Her gaze sharpened. "But I don't know you. I've never seen your name before, and you aren't in the book of my brother destiny."
Kenji felt his blood turn to ice. This was the ultimate nightmare, being flagged as an "Illegal Entity" by one of the absolute authority of a high-tier reality.
"I didn't even know you were here," she continued, tapping a pale finger against the rock. "You and those odd friends of yours. I didn't feel you at all. It wasn't until your soul reached the gates of the Sunless Lands, only to go dragging itself back to Earth through that little candle-trick of yours, that I truly noticed."
Kenji winced, thinking of his [Save Point] ability. he nearly started laughing in hysteria. The ability he created to help him survive death is now what brought death to him, and on the first time using it, just what type of shitty luck was this? Is his tier 2 luck just for show.
"So," Death said pleasantly, swinging her legs like a teenager on a park bench. "I'm curious. Who are you? And why are you walking around in a story that doesn't belong to you?"
Silence stretched between them. Kenji considered lying, spinning a tale about being a displaced mage from a hidden dimension or a laboratory accident from a parallel Earth.
Then he met her eyes and saw the infinite depth within them, the billions of years of endings she had witnessed. Lying to Death was like trying to hide from the sun by closing your eyes. It was a futile, insulting gesture.
"I'm… an outsider, my lady," he said quietly, his voice finally regaining some stability. "In the most literal sense. I'm from outside the Multiverse."
"An outsider?" she echoed. She hummed thoughtfully, the sound vibrating in the air like a cello. "We've had visitors from other multiverses before. Bright ones, dark ones, even those from the 'House of Ideas' next door with the colorful spandex and the talkative mercenaries. Even then, they were beings I recognized. Their souls had a familiar weight, even if the flavor was different."
Kenji paused. He realized she was talking about the Marvel crossover events, the sanctioned meta-interactions. But he was something else. There had always been people who said that DC and Marvel were actually created by the presence just using different forms, and that's why the two could interact, so he could guess maybe that's why she could still know their souls.
"I believe," he said carefully, "that I'm from a multiverse beyond even those. A place where...even the presence has no power in."
"I see." Her tone changed. The warmth didn't vanish, but it was joined by something vast, ancient, and cold, the weight of a trillion trillion dead. "Then tell me, Outsider. What are you doing here in the middle of a tragedy that isn't yours? And why should I not simply remove you to preserve the balance of this world?"
The pressure in the air became unbearable. Kenji's [Danger Sense] finally exploded, a siren blaring in his skull that told him he was standing on the edge of a total, permanent "Game Over."
"We didn't come here by choice!" he blurted out, his desperation overriding his fear. "We were dropped here by a power we don't fully understand! There's something dangerous that doesn't belong here either. We're here for that. We're just here to take it and leave! nothing more, I swear it."
Death stared at him, her eyes unblinking and deep as the ocean. She was watching his heart, his intent, and everything in his being all at once. She could tell he was telling the truth.
More importantly, she was watching the others. Even now, her consciousness was split, observing Erza, Sora, and Van in the bunker. They were anomalies, yes, but they weren't malicious. They were just kids.
When she had first sensed Kenji's "return," her instinct had been a simple one, erase the glitch. But she had found, to her immense surprise, that she couldn't.
She could destroy him if she used her power on him directly, yes. She could shatter him into a billion pieces. But for some reason, she just couldn't will him gone, which was quite the surprise. She had never once had that problem before, but only those above her had the power to stop her from doing something like this, and Kenji didn't have that kind of power, so she became curious, and that curiosity was the only reason he was still breathing.
Finally, Death stood up, smoothing out her jeans. "You may continue your mission, Kenji Takahashi. For now."
Kenji's head snapped up, his jaw hanging open. "You're… letting us stay? You aren't going to delete us?"
"For now," she said, her smile returning, this time, it held a sharp, warning edge that promised a very different conversation if he failed. "This universe is already a funeral march. It won't matter much if you finish the song. But be careful. If you cause a ripple that reaches where it's not supposed to reach... well, just hope we don't meet so soon... I will see you again. And next time, I may not be so curious."
Then, with the soft, haunting, beautiful sound, she vanished right in front of him, and he couldn't even understand what happened, had he not known she was real, he would have thought he imagined her.
Now
Kenji dragged both hands down his face, his skin still cold from her presence. He felt as though he had been scrubbed clean by an abrasive wind. He let out a muffled, agonizing scream into his palms, his shoulders shaking.
"Why can't life be easy? Just once? I just want to do something without something crazy happening, like bargain with the concept of mortality," he groaned.
He sat there for a long while, letting the adrenaline fade, and his mana pool and nen slowly replenish. He looked at his hands, the same hands that had just been in the presence of the ultimate end. He felt different. Smaller. The triviality of the vampires, the "King," and even the fall of this world seemed less daunting now. If he could survive a conversation with Death, he could survive anything.
He stood up, his joints popping like firecrackers. There were things to do. Friends to find. A mission to finish. And somewhere out there, a Shard of Chaos was waiting to be reclaimed.
With one last glance at the empty, starless sky, Kenji turned and started walking. It was time to rejoin his friends.
CHAPTER 112: An Audience with the End
Kenji sat with his back against the charred, skeletal remains of the dead tree, staring up at a night sky that held no stars.
A thick, oily fog smothered the heavens, as if the world itself refused to look back at him. The air was unnervingly cold, a dry, sterile chill that didn't just bite the skin but seemed to leech the very heat from his soul.
Though his eyes were fixed on the leaden grey clouds, his mind was still miles away. He was still with her.
Kenji swallowed hard, a cold sweat prickling his skin as he let out a slow, shuddering breath. Death of the Endless. Just thinking her name made his stomach twist into a knot.
She was, no, she is, the finality of the DC Multiverse. She wasn't a goddess of death in the way Hades, Hela, or Anubis were, those were just beings playing at a job. She was the job.
She was a function of existence itself. Endings were her because she was the personification of the very concept. Even the most arrogant cosmic gods, from Darkseid to the Guardians of the Universe, bowed their heads when they felt the rustle of her unseen wings. She was the one who would put the chairs on the tables and turn out the lights when the last thing in the universe dies out, she'd be the one to close up the universe.
And she had come for him personally.
Some Time Earlier
Kenji hadn't sensed her approach. One moment, he was alone, then she was there, and just seeing who it was had frozen him in fear, in absolute terror.
One moment, he had been getting ready to set out to find his friend, and the next baam, death was there for him, and what a scare it was. She was there.
She was sitting atop a jagged, moss-covered rock as if she had been part of the landscape since the dawn of time.
She wore casual clothes, a simple black top, and jeans, with pale skin and dark hair that seemed to absorb what little dim light remained in the woods. An ankh hung from her neck, glinting with a soft, silver light that felt more real than the world around it. Her bare feet rested against the rough stone, and she wore a smile that was gentle, warm, and utterly, terrifyingly final in a way you just can't explain.
Kenji's soul nearly jumped out of his newly reconstructed body.
"L–Lady Death," he stammered, his voice a pathetic, high-pitched squeak. He scrambled his feet, trying to keep himself from jumping 30feet into the air, and bowed. "I—I—I didn't—I mean—pardon me, I-I—"
He stopped. There were no words. What do you even say to the person who will eventually close the book on an entire multiverse? What defense does a "Gamer" have against the person who owns the console?
"Now, now," she said lightly, her voice carrying a melodic, amused quality that reminded him of a summer breeze, the kind you feel right before a storm breaks. "Don't look so flustered. You'll pop a blood vessel."
She smiled at him. Under any other circumstances, he might have been struck by how beautiful she was, a kindness in her eyes that promised a peace he had never known. Right now, he was too busy trying not to cease existing through sheer terror.
She tilted her head, studying him like a scientist might study a bug they'd never seen before. "So," she said, resting her chin in her palm, "who are you, exactly? And I'm not asking for the name on your driver's license."
"I—I'm Kenji," he answered quickly, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. "My lady. Kenji Takahashi."
"That's not what I meant, Kenji."
The reply was instantaneous, and it made his heart skip a beat. She straightened slightly, her eyes focusing on him with a clarity that made his System interface flicker, static-out, and glitch. For a second, the blue boxes turned blood-red before vanishing entirely.
"I know every soul that has ever lived in the spheres of the Presence," Death said calmly, her voice echoing not in his ears, but in the very core of his being. "I know every soul that is, and every soul that will be when the last light goes out. I know the rhythm of their hearts and the weight of their sins." Her gaze sharpened. "But I don't know you. I've never seen your name before, and you aren't in the book of my brother destiny."
Kenji felt his blood turn to ice. This was the ultimate nightmare, being flagged as an "Illegal Entity" by one of the absolute authority of a high-tier reality.
"I didn't even know you were here," she continued, tapping a pale finger against the rock. "You and those odd friends of yours. I didn't feel you at all. It wasn't until your soul reached the gates of the Sunless Lands, only to go dragging itself back to Earth through that little candle-trick of yours, that I truly noticed."
Kenji winced, thinking of his [Save Point] ability. he nearly started laughing in hysteria. The ability he created to help him survive death is now what brought death to him, and on the first time using it, just what type of shitty luck was this? Is his tier 2 luck just for show.
"So," Death said pleasantly, swinging her legs like a teenager on a park bench. "I'm curious. Who are you? And why are you walking around in a story that doesn't belong to you?"
Silence stretched between them. Kenji considered lying, spinning a tale about being a displaced mage from a hidden dimension or a laboratory accident from a parallel Earth.
Then he met her eyes and saw the infinite depth within them, the billions of years of endings she had witnessed. Lying to Death was like trying to hide from the sun by closing your eyes. It was a futile, insulting gesture.
"I'm… an outsider, my lady," he said quietly, his voice finally regaining some stability. "In the most literal sense. I'm from outside the Multiverse."
"An outsider?" she echoed. She hummed thoughtfully, the sound vibrating in the air like a cello. "We've had visitors from other multiverses before. Bright ones, dark ones, even those from the 'House of Ideas' next door with the colorful spandex and the talkative mercenaries. Even then, they were beings I recognized. Their souls had a familiar weight, even if the flavor was different."
Kenji paused. He realized she was talking about the Marvel crossover events, the sanctioned meta-interactions. But he was something else. There had always been people who said that DC and Marvel were actually created by the presence just using different forms, and that's why the two could interact, so he could guess maybe that's why she could still know their souls.
"I believe," he said carefully, "that I'm from a multiverse beyond even those. A place where...even the presence has no power in."
"I see." Her tone changed. The warmth didn't vanish, but it was joined by something vast, ancient, and cold, the weight of a trillion trillion dead. "Then tell me, Outsider. What are you doing here in the middle of a tragedy that isn't yours? And why should I not simply remove you to preserve the balance of this world?"
The pressure in the air became unbearable. Kenji's [Danger Sense] finally exploded, a siren blaring in his skull that told him he was standing on the edge of a total, permanent "Game Over."
"We didn't come here by choice!" he blurted out, his desperation overriding his fear. "We were dropped here by a power we don't fully understand! There's something dangerous that doesn't belong here either. We're here for that. We're just here to take it and leave! nothing more, I swear it."
Death stared at him, her eyes unblinking and deep as the ocean. She was watching his heart, his intent, and everything in his being all at once. She could tell he was telling the truth.
More importantly, she was watching the others. Even now, her consciousness was split, observing Erza, Sora, and Van in the bunker. They were anomalies, yes, but they weren't malicious. They were just kids.
When she had first sensed Kenji's "return," her instinct had been a simple one, erase the glitch. But she had found, to her immense surprise, that she couldn't.
She could destroy him if she used her power on him directly, yes. She could shatter him into a billion pieces. But for some reason, she just couldn't will him gone, which was quite the surprise. She had never once had that problem before, but only those above her had the power to stop her from doing something like this, and Kenji didn't have that kind of power, so she became curious, and that curiosity was the only reason he was still breathing.
Finally, Death stood up, smoothing out her jeans. "You may continue your mission, Kenji Takahashi. For now."
Kenji's head snapped up, his jaw hanging open. "You're… letting us stay? You aren't going to delete us?"
"For now," she said, her smile returning, this time, it held a sharp, warning edge that promised a very different conversation if he failed. "This universe is already a funeral march. It won't matter much if you finish the song. But be careful. If you cause a ripple that reaches where it's not supposed to reach... well, just hope we don't meet so soon... I will see you again. And next time, I may not be so curious."
Then, with the soft, haunting, beautiful sound, she vanished right in front of him, and he couldn't even understand what happened, had he not known she was real, he would have thought he imagined her.
Now
Kenji dragged both hands down his face, his skin still cold from her presence. He felt as though he had been scrubbed clean by an abrasive wind. He let out a muffled, agonizing scream into his palms, his shoulders shaking.
"Why can't life be easy? Just once? I just want to do something without something crazy happening, like bargain with the concept of mortality," he groaned.
He sat there for a long while, letting the adrenaline fade, and his mana pool and nen slowly replenish. He looked at his hands, the same hands that had just been in the presence of the ultimate end. He felt different. Smaller. The triviality of the vampires, the "King," and even the fall of this world seemed less daunting now. If he could survive a conversation with Death, he could survive anything.
He stood up, his joints popping like firecrackers. There were things to do. Friends to find. A mission to finish. And somewhere out there, a Shard of Chaos was waiting to be reclaimed.
With one last glance at the empty, starless sky, Kenji turned and started walking. It was time to rejoin his friends.
———————————————————
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