The Hero Association selected a volunteer team of thirty-seven people.
In an atmosphere mixed with determination, vigilance, and unease, they gathered before the dark, concealed entrance to the Monster Association's headquarters.
It was deep within the Z-City ruins, beneath what appeared to be an ordinary collapsed subway station.
The entrance was cleverly camouflaged, blending with the surrounding decay.
Gyoro Gyoro appeared. "Welcome. The inheritance altar is at the deepest part of the headquarters. Please follow me. Our side will also send a representative, Garou, to undergo the trial."
As the words finished, a figure emerged from the shadows.
He still wore his black bodysuit. His silver hedgehog hairstyle looked defiant in the dim light.
Compared to their last meeting, his aura seemed more refined, more dangerous, with less impatience in his eyes and more settled coldness and focus.
Garou's gaze swept over the Hero Association team, stopping on Setsuna. "I lost to you last time. Next time, I will definitely beat you!"
"Oh," Setsuna responded flatly, paying him no mind.
Even at his current stage, Garou was nothing to him. Even the [Cosmic Fear Garou] version was beneath his notice.
Setsuna's complete disregard seemed to anger Garou. A red glint flashed in his eyes, but he eventually suppressed his rage, snorted, and turned to walk to the front of the Monster Association's group.
He would prove himself with actions, not pointless arguments.
The passage led ever downwards, winding as if leading to hell's depths.
After an unknown amount of time, the way ahead opened up.
A vast underground cavern appeared before everyone.
At its center was a massive, ancient altar built from black stones.
Its surface was covered in intricate, dizzying, dark red patterns. These weren't carved... instead, they resembled the blood vessels of some living thing, faintly pulsing.
"This is the place," Gyoro Gyoro said, floating at the altar's edge, its giant single eye sweeping over the group. "Stand on the altar. Whether you gain God's recognition and inheritance depends on your will and qualifications."
Setsuna stepped up without hesitation. Garou snorted and followed, striding onto the altar.
Then Sweet Mask and the other A-Class and B-Class Heroes followed.
Seeing everyone in place, Gyoro Gyoro said no more.
It raised its tentacle and sent an obscure energy wave toward the altar.
All the dark red patterns on the altar suddenly lit up.
A vast, ancient consciousness, like an ancient beast awakened from slumber, descended from deep within the earth.
That consciousness swept over everyone on the altar, like choosing suitable vessels.
It lingered on Garou, seemingly pleased with his potential for 'monsterization' and strong negative emotions.
It also paused on Sweet Mask, interested in the fierce internal conflict between his 'monster' and 'human' wills.
It swept over the other Heroes, some directly ignored, some causing it to stir slightly.
Finally, its gaze fell on Setsuna.
As its consciousness attempted, like it had probed others' souls, to enter the depths of Setsuna's mind...
Boom!
What did it 'see'?
It wasn't a sight a human soul should contain.
It was a vast, boundless cosmic expanse. Spiral arms of galaxies slowly turned. Stars were born and died with each breath.
Horrified, it realized this cosmic expanse had transformed into a colossal human face, looking down upon it as if it were but an ant, and the other the true God.
"What is this?" God's consciousness let out a terrified shriek.
"How can there be a universe within a human soul? Who is he? What is he?"
It tried to flee, to immediately retreat into the altar's depths and sever the connection.
But it was too late.
Setsuna's voice echoed through this starry cosmos: "Since you're here, don't leave."
An irresistible force locked God in place, dragging it toward the cosmos's center.
"No!" God let out a desperate wail. It felt like a fish on a cutting board, being butchered.
Its feeling was accurate.
The projections of Setsuna and Don Slime appeared, elegantly slicing and cooking it.
On the altar, the dark red light flickered wildly, uncertainly, finally swaying violently like a candle in the wind.
The surrounding space let out groans of strain and cracking sounds.
The others on the altar only felt an indescribably terrifying pressure and violent tremor at the soul level.
The weaker ones groaned, dizzy, nearly collapsing.
Even Garou and Sweet Mask's expressions changed drastically, fiercely resisting this tremor and fear emanating from the depths of their souls.
They didn't know what was happening, only instinctively felt that something terrifying was occurring.
For the outside world, this process lasted only seconds.
But for the devoured God consciousness, it felt like eons.
Finally, all the dark red light on the altar extinguished completely.
The pulsing, vein-like patterns lost all vitality, becoming like dried, cracked earth.
The entire altar, along with this underground space, lost its strange 'activity', becoming cold and dead.
As if that so-called 'God consciousness' had never existed.
Setsuna still stood quietly on the altar.
Only he knew that deep within his soul, the originally brilliant but somewhat 'empty' cosmic expanse now seemed infused with new 'life force'.
His Eighth Sense Cosmo, having undergone the soul accumulation of the Bleach World, had now devoured this planet's aggregate consciousness, finally breaking through to the second level.
In his own classification, the Eighth Sense could be roughly divided into three levels.
First Level: Initial awakening of the Eighth Sense, soul sublimation, able to perceive and utilize deeper cosmic energy.
Like his previous self, and like the Terrestrial Chief Star, Atavaka among the Specters.
Though possessing divinity, they hadn't obtained clear 'authority' and weren't considered complete gods. Their strength was equivalent to lower-tier primordial gods, like the Four Dream Gods.
Second Level: Deep integration of Cosmo with soul and will, enabling initial application of a certain 'authority'.
Strength corresponding to secondary gods like Thanatos, the God of Death, and Hypnos, the God of Sleep.
Third Level: Cosmo as vast as an ocean, willpower to carry out universal laws, able to create and govern one's own world. For example, the Underworld and Elysium were worlds created by Hades.
Strength corresponding to major gods like Hades, the God of the Underworld and Apollo, the God of the Sun.
To use more descriptive terms: First Level Cosmo is planetary to galactic scale, Second Level is galactic to cluster scale, Third Level is cluster to universal scale.