Chapter 749: The One Who Breaks Destiny
"Hah!"
Atop the summit of a volcano, Kaito Shirogane opened his mouth and unleashed a roaring shout. Blazing lightning erupted, accompanied by the power of magnetic field rotation. Simultaneously, Kaito Shirogane felt a surging impulse from within.
An intensely powerful stream of energy spewed from his mouth.
BOOM!
A jet-black burst of energy manifested amidst the lightning, instantly blasting onto the projected martial artists below.
In a mere moment, the pitch-black breath completely engulfed the group, simultaneously erasing the volcanic crater itself.
After the lightning dissipated, a massive amount of grotesque flesh and tissue residue lingered on the ruins of the crater, while magma flowed down the other side toward the ocean.
[The Anti-Life Equation has loosened. You have touched the Authority: Anti-Life Equation]
[The Fifth Step of the Stairway of Eternal Return: Dragon's Heart Furnace has been restored]
[Fifth Step: Dragon's Heart Furnace]
[Ability: Life Plunder Domain (A), Abyssal Breath (A+) have been unsealed]
Within Kaito Shirogane's body, the power of the Demonic Dragon Grendel had completely reawakened. Residing within his physical form, the demonic dragon of the Anti-Life Domain provided Kaito Shirogane with an internal furnace.
It was akin to a miniature Alchemical Furnace of Life, continuously exchanging and generating massive amounts of vitality and flesh-and-blood energy.
This effect was different from instantaneous self-healing and regeneration; it was more like it enhanced the resilience of his flesh, providing more mass to fill in the gaps precisely as he sustained damage.
This was also the reason why, upon elevating this stairway to the Sixth Step and achieving the Perfect Form, it could support Kaito Shirogane in perfectly activating the 8-Fold Kaio-Ken without his body breaking down.
Now, with the Authority [Divine Hull of the Primordial Genesis Man]—obtained via the Crown [The Archetype of Terminus and Genesis]—advancing to the second tier, he had finally managed to partially break free from the seals of the [Anti-Life Equation] by relying on the effect of standing upon the Source of Life.
[The Stairway of Eternal Return] originated from the helix of Life and Anti-Life. Because Anti-Life was sealed, the helix fractured, and the stairway could not be maintained.
Now, this helix had finally begun to slowly turn once more.
Kaito Shirogane still held the [Authority Fragment: Yin/Yang] in his possession. This item could allow him to elevate the [Stairway of Dualistic Paradox] by another step.
However, because this powerful stairway was an optional progression path, the effects of each tier could be manually selected.
Rapidly elevating the stairway's tiers wasn't actually difficult, but the challenge lay in the fact that these choices were irreversible!
In other words, Kaito Shirogane could quickly utilize various opposing Authorities to raise the stairway's level and obtain high-tier effects.
But in the future, if he acquired higher-level, higher-concept opposing powers, he would no longer have the capacity to integrate them into the stairway.
This was precisely why Kaito Shirogane had refrained from upgrading this powerful stairway.
Opposing elements like Light and Dark, or Water and Fire, were actually the easiest to achieve.
But to find an effect on par with the First Step's [The Paradox of Good and Evil] would require considerable effort.
Kaito Shirogane's current goal was actually [The Paradox of Life and Anti-Life] or [The Paradox of Life and Death].
He had the opportunity to obtain both.
Now that the Divine Hull of the Primordial Genesis Man had advanced and the Anti-Life Equation had loosened, he had the chance to obtain the Anti-Life Equation or the Authority of Life from this connection.
As long as he could obtain this, because he already possessed the characteristics of [Death Intent] and [Grendel], it was highly likely he could rapidly ascend the stairway.
Kaito Shirogane descended from the sky. The pressure of this training ground was no longer sufficient for him. He needed to maximize the harsh environmental conditions and spend Singularity Points to summon powerful enemies as opponents to achieve any meaningful training results.
In truth, the reason Kaito Shirogane remained in the space right now was to wait for a transaction.
Outside the Eastern District, Reincarnators had sent a message through intelligence brokers, expressing their desire to strike a deal with Mercenary Tao.
The item involved had piqued Kaito Shirogane's interest considerably.
[Dragon Radar]
[Quality:] Special
[Description:] A special radar created by a scientist in a certain world, designed to react to the special creations known as Dragon Balls.
[Effect 1:] Using this item in the Dragon Ball world allows you to detect the approximate direction and distance of the Dragon Balls.
[Effect 2:] In the Infinite Dimensional Space, by spending B-Rank Singularity Point * 2 and Dimensional Points * 15,000, you can forcefully initiate a Special Task: Dragon Hunt. (Note: This task will forcefully initiate a deployment.)
Merely the effect of forcefully initiating a targeted deployment into the Dragon Ball world was enough to tempt Kaito Shirogane.
Furthermore, this item possessed the effect of tracking Dragon Balls within that specific world.
Even in the Dragon Ball world, the Dragon Radar was considered extremely rare.
Aside from specific plot characters, almost no one could create one.
And by obtaining the Dragon Radar, one possessed the genuine opportunity to gather all the Dragon Balls, summon Shenron, and make a wish.
Even if it was currently impossible to determine exactly which version of Shenron it was, there was no doubt that for current Reincarnators, the effect of such a wish was outstanding enough.
Outstanding enough that... even someone as greedy and arrogant as Kaito Shirogane was willing to stay in the space and wait for the other party to arrive for the transaction.
At this moment, a spatial message finally appeared, but after seeing the content, Kaito Shirogane furrowed his brow.
Shortly after, he returned to his personal space.
Waiting there was a man he had met a few times before.
The man still had messy hair and a scruffy beard, but the half-black, half-white crown atop his head clearly indicated that this seemingly unreliable fellow had indeed successfully defended the [Sovereign Monarch] crown in the previous Title Tournament cycle.
"Kento, to think you'd come looking for me again. Let me guess, is this about that guy from Azure Sky?"
Kaito Shirogane slightly raised his head, his tone casual and unrestrained. He had never had a good impression of Kento.
This impression was rooted in the first time the man had refused to perform a divination for him to locate that guy whose name he had long forgotten.
Of course, his poor impression of Kento wasn't merely because Kento refused to serve him. What he despised was the perpetual aura of gloom and depression surrounding the man.
It was as if something had ground away all of his drive and impulse.
Yet, this guy who exuded such an aura constantly ran around and fought for matters that had nothing to do with him, time and time again.
He couldn't stand the way the world was, yet felt powerless to change it; he wanted to withdraw, yet couldn't cut ties cleanly.
No matter how you looked at him, this kind of person was a half-measure. It truly made someone as "aggressively enterprising" as Kaito Shirogane unable to form a positive opinion of him.
Kento easily spotted the undisguised mockery and ridicule in Mercenary Tao's eyes, but he didn't get angry.
"Yeah. If it weren't for him, I certainly wouldn't want to come looking for you."
Kento sat down on his own accord. Mizuki tactfully left the space.
"But I'm also here for you."
Kento emphasized the last word heavily, but Kaito Shirogane remained completely unmoved.
"You should have learned through other channels by now, regarding your... [Destined Death]!"
Kento frowned as he watched Mercenary Tao sit down on the sofa, looking entirely as if he hadn't listened to a word.
This guy, Mercenary Tao, had terrible compatibility with him and was incredibly difficult to persuade.
But he hadn't lied.
Kento's primary reason for coming here was, naturally, to make a final struggle, attempting to create an impossible miracle to allow that man to return alive once more.
That way, the order of this world could remain stable. And in the future, whether it was a Dimensional War or something else, having that guy around would always offer some peace of mind.
But at the same time, he harbored a second motive...
"Mercenary Tao, [Destined Death] is no joke. It's not a calamity you can simply overcome by acquiring a new stairway or a new power."
"Even if you wear this unprecedented crown, even if you've become the strongest [Sovereign Monarch], if Destined Death appears, you still won't be able to escape death."
Kaito Shirogane found him a bit noisy and waved his hand dismissively.
"Just get straight to the point. The death of a guy like me shouldn't be that hard for you to accept, right?"
Kaito Shirogane disliked Fate-based powers, but at the same time, he didn't deny Destiny.
From the intense luck that had always accompanied him, he knew that this kind of power was constantly influencing many things in subtle ways.
But for him, rather than letting that power influence him subtly, he preferred it to erupt completely and manifest as a tangible opponent.
Whether it was some god, a conceptual attack akin to the "Butterfly Effect," or even the pinnacle entities from other cosmologies acting personally—it didn't matter.
Kaito Shirogane could accept whatever ending awaited him.
The most distinct difference between Kaito Shirogane and other Reincarnators was that he treated his own life and the lives of others with equal apathy.
To him, even if he died during a deployment or in a task, it would merely prove that he was only a man of that caliber.
His only regret would simply be his own weakness.
Therefore, Kento's words held absolutely no persuasive power over him. Even when the multi-faced alien first told him about his Destined Death, he hadn't felt much reality to it.
Relatively speaking, it was the suffocating, ten-deaths-no-survival pressure he felt when facing Saitama and Black King Clark that excited Kaito Shirogane and felt real.
He... longed for the taste of that kind of death.
"Are you... really even human anymore?"
Kento frowned. Just by looking at Mercenary Tao, he could roughly sense what the man was thinking.
This was a heterogeneous anomaly devoid of empathy. Kento even felt that Mercenary Tao was a complete anomaly merely wearing a human skin.
He lacked the most basic bridge of communication with an Earthling like himself.
Humans are highly intelligent creatures, and all creatures that develop high intelligence instinctively reject annihilation.
Because after annihilation, everything belonging to oneself loses meaning. Therefore, the higher the intelligence of the creature, the more it fears annihilation.
Even the so-called Mythological Species, Immortals, Buddhas, Demons, and Monsters he had seen in other worlds all feared annihilation.
This fear and denial of annihilation formed the basis for much communication.
But right now, this so-called "New King" of the Eastern District sitting before him was a lunatic who didn't even fear his own destruction.
If this kind of "person" truly became the so-called New King, where would this world be led?
Kento began to hesitate about whether his choice was truly correct.
Perhaps... the Western District's Yoko was the genuinely correct choice...
He vaguely realized the truth, but then he thought of his old friend again.
Kento shrank back into the sofa, his posture somewhat dejected.
"Mercenary Tao, I know you've broken destiny once before. You broke a timeline once. Can you tell me how you did it?"
Kaito Shirogane merely tilted his head, offering no reply.
In truth, he believed that the one who broke the so-called destiny of becoming [Fatalism] wasn't himself; it should have been Saitama, or rather, Saitama and Shigeo Kageyama together.
He, who was supposed to become [Fatalism] in the future and cause greater danger to the B711 world, was obliterated by Saitama because he forcefully awakened Saitama, who was under the influence of [The Eternal Destiny].
That future and timeline snapped right there.
Then, after the battle between the [Evil Lord of the Spirit World, Shigeo Kageyama] and Saitama, the Spirit World became unstable and could no longer maintain those hundreds of thousands of spirits.
Therefore, Shigeo Kageyama used the golden soul fragment of that little Marine from the One Piece world attached to him to repair and resurrect himself.
Fundamentally, he hadn't broken destiny; rather, that timeline, along with himself, had been shattered together...
Receiving no answer, Kento fell silent for a moment before continuing.
"I hope you can break the Destined Death belonging to Sousuke. In exchange for that, I can eliminate your Destined Death as well..."
Kento presented his final terms.
Kaito Shirogane's eyelids twitched slightly. Kento's abilities exceeded his expectations if he could perform operations like interfering with other people's fate lines.
At least on a practical level, it had already surpassed the effects achieved by [The Eternal Destiny] back then. Of course, this might be due to the difference in their Authority adaptation rate and utilization efficiency.
In Kaito Shirogane's eyes, aside from being smart enough to avoid direct contact with Saitama and instead influencing him through society, that [Eternal Destiny] hadn't displayed many characteristics of the Sovereign Crown.
On the contrary, that ability where a finger descended from the sky to obliterate the desert was quite powerful.
Seeing that Mercenary Tao still offered no response, Kento stood up, his expression somewhat grave.
"Mercenary Tao, whether you believe it or not, I genuinely do not wish for you to die with him in that world!"
"For us, that would be a disaster."
Kento raised his hand and directly drew a circle in the void.
The next moment, through that circle, Kaito Shirogane saw a peculiar rift appear in the depths of the pitch-black ocean.
Massive amounts of seawater were continuously sucked in and expelled.
From the rift, intense vitality continuously leaked out. The biological tier of that vitality was far higher than native creatures like whales or sharks found on the seabed.
"Do you see? Our world has already been marked. More and more extraterrestrial visitors will invade our world."
Kaito Shirogane's eyes widened, his golden irises shining brilliantly. The corners of his mouth split into a wide, ecstatic smile.
"Hah, these guys moved pretty fast."
Back when the monster that appeared in Ying Tian was killed by Hibari, Tenkyo and Black Butler had analyzed that the thing was highly likely a Kaiju from the [Pacific Rim] cosmology.
According to that setting, the possibility of the real world being marked for invasion did indeed exist.
Now that it had actually appeared, it instead filled Kaito Shirogane with the joy that the world had finally begun to change.
"Kento, don't you think our world has been a bit too boring?"
Within the massive White Alchemical Jade Manor, an illusory gate appeared. Reinhardt stood before the gate, his intense Authority manifesting, while faint anomalies appeared in the sky.
The bloodline of the Primordial God Race fulfilled the requirement for a Mythological Species bloodline.
Sousuke stood in his original spot, but on the ground, golden veins automatically connected to the illusory gate.
The Astral Species was also born in prayer.
The illusory gate finally stabilized after the two keys appeared.
The two men turned around.
"Now, we're just waiting for that guy..."