Night blanketed the world once more.
The Capsule Corp. compound slept under silver moonlight—quiet, peaceful. But deep within the reinforced training hall, the silence was anything but comforting.
Arin sat alone, cross-legged on the gravity chamber floor.
The hum of machinery surrounded him, yet his mind drifted elsewhere—far beyond Earth, beyond light.
He could still feel it.
That presence.
The same whisper that had once slipped through the crack in the sky. The same that had sent Montess falling from the void.
Now it called again.
> [Warning: Resonance Detected.]
[Source: Unknown, Extra-dimensional.]
[Power fluctuation—approaching cosmic levels.]
Arin opened his eyes. They glowed faintly crimson in the dark.
"...So, you're still there," he murmured.
He stood, clenching his fists. The faint sigil of the Black Core pulsed on his chest, rhythmic like a heartbeat.
Every pulse sent ripples through the air, distorting the gravity field.
He closed his eyes again, sinking into meditation.
Within moments, his consciousness slipped inward—into the endless dark space of his mind.
---
Inside His Core
Arin floated in a void made of ink and stars. The Black Core pulsed in front of him like a black sun. Around it drifted motes of Qi—silver, blue, and crimson.
But tonight, something else was there.
A ripple—a distortion across the surface of the Core. Then a face appeared within it. Not Montess. Not human.
A skeletal figure with eyes like collapsing stars.
> "So... you are the vessel," it spoke, voice echoing from nowhere.
Arin frowned. "Who are you?"
> "One who remembers what you do not," it replied. "The Black Core was never yours, mortal. It belonged to us—The Blackstar Legion."
The name vibrated through the void. The stars around them trembled as if afraid to hear it.
> "You… destroyed worlds," Arin said slowly, realization creeping into his tone.
> "We devoured them," the voice corrected. "And now, a fragment of our essence festers within you. That mark on your chest? It is the seed of our return."
Arin's fists clenched.
"Then I'll burn it out before that happens."
The entity chuckled, soundless and cold.
> "You misunderstand, vessel. You cannot destroy what you are becoming. You will either consume... or be consumed."
The void trembled. The Core pulsed violently, red lightning flickering across its surface.
> [Warning: Core Instability rising — 65%]
Arin growled, forcing his energy outward. His Qi surged, colliding with the Core's resonance like two storms.
Black mist and silver light exploded around him as he fought for control.
> "I'm not your weapon!"
> "Then prove it," the voice whispered.
And just like that—it vanished.
The Core calmed. The stars dimmed. But a crack had appeared across its surface—glowing faintly with silver light.
Arin floated in the silence, breathing heavily.
He could feel it now—a balance forming. Darkness and light... chaos and order.
---
Back in Reality
Arin opened his eyes slowly. The chamber was shaking. His Qi output had doubled, maybe tripled, during meditation.
The sensors screamed warnings across Bulma's monitor upstairs.
"His energy signature—it's changing again!" Bulma shouted. "Gohan! Goku! You need to see this!"
Within seconds, Goku and Gohan appeared outside the chamber, watching through the reinforced glass.
Inside, Arin stood glowing with two opposing auras—one black as the void, the other bright silver-white.
They spiraled around him, perfectly balanced, feeding each other instead of clashing.
Goku's eyes widened. "That's... new."
Gohan nodded. "He's stabilizing dark Qi and pure Qi at once. That shouldn't be possible."
Vegeta appeared at their side, arms crossed. "Tch. He's rewriting his own limits. Dangerous game."
---
Inside the Chamber
Arin looked down at his hands. One glowed black, the other white. He could feel both forces inside him—each heartbeat feeding both destruction and creation.
Then, his System spoke again.
> [New Skill Created: Yin-Yang Core Mode]
[Description: The fusion of Dark Qi and Pure Qi within the Black Core. Balances hunger with restraint, amplifying CP and Qi regeneration x4 temporarily.]
[Duration: 15 minutes. Cooldown: 12 hours.]
Arin exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of that power settle into his bones.
The hunger that once threatened to consume him now felt... tamed. Controlled. But still waiting beneath the surface.
Then—something cold brushed his senses again. A flicker from beyond the stars.
He looked up instinctively.
And for the first time since the crack appeared—he saw it open wider.
A faint line splitting space itself far above Earth. It glowed red, pulsing like a wound that refused to close.
This time, however, something was coming through.
> [Alert: Spatial Rift expanding.]
[Entity Signature detected: Class—UNKNOWN.]
[Power Level—Unable to Measure.]
Arin's breath caught. His senses screamed. Whatever was approaching wasn't like Montess—it was worse.
Much worse.
He whispered to himself. "...It's starting again."
---
Above Earth
Beyond the stratosphere, space rippled violently. From within the widening crack, hands emerged—shadowy, immense, clawed.
Then, a head—humanoid, crowned with horns of light and eyes like collapsing galaxies.
> "So this is the world my child touched," the being murmured. "How quaint."
Its gaze shifted toward Earth, locking instantly onto a single point—
Arin.
The entity smiled faintly. "Found you."
---
Back on Earth
Arin's system went wild.
> [New Threat Detected!]
[Designation: High Demon — Archon of the Abyss]
[Power Tier: Celestial Class]
[Recommendation: Flee.]
Goku frowned as the sensors exploded in alarms. "Uh, Bulma? What's that?"
Her eyes went wide. "Something just appeared outside Earth's orbit... and it's—oh, no—its energy signature's above Beerus-level!"
Vegeta's jaw clenched. "Impossible…"
Arin's heart hammered. He looked up at the sky through the window, eyes narrowing.
The hunger inside him stirred again, but this time it wasn't consuming him—it was responding.
He whispered,
> "Then come. Let's see what the Blackstar really is."
The crack in the sky flared once more, and the shadow began to descend.
---
Complete Chapter 8: