Gate of the Origin

“Huh?”

Everything was gray.

In that vast, empty gray space, only Ryu Hwi existed.

“What the hell is—”

“What do you think? You chose this yourself.”

“Who's there!”

Startled by the voice that had come from nowhere, he spun around, scanning his surroundings. But there was nothing to see.

“That hurts. I'm right here, aren't I? This ‘gray,’ I mean.”

The voice echoed through the void once more.

Only then did he realize he wasn't alone—he was inside the presence of this ‘gray.’

“Intuition never stopped warning you. It must have told you not to go any further, to stop right here.”

He had ignored even Loki's advice to acquire Mental Resistance, choosing instead to push all the way to Lv(ygg).

“From this moment on, you will fight without end.”

The gray world gathered itself together and took the shape of a ‘human.’

It looked like another version of himself—stripped of all color, turned to ash.

“Fight. Keep fighting, on and on, until that spirit of yours wears out and fades to gray. The moment you sink to your knees, you will cease to be yourself. You will fall into something lower than a ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ.”

ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ.

Words he had been utterly unable to understand before, now made perfect sense.

“How far can a fragile human mind hold out?”

It had all been a momentary illusion.

“Resist until you die, then.”

If he had acquired Mental Resistance, this gray could never have invaded.

But this was a path he had chosen himself.

And so he accepted this endless battle.

The dying embers of his rage roared back to life in a blazing inferno.

As long as that anger burned, he could fight forever.

“Come at me.”

Intuition (ygg) forcibly devoured Ryu Hwi's other skills and forged a new one.

Ryu Hwi's own will had played no part in it.

Now he understood why Crowley had wanted Intuition.

Intuition was a key.

A key to cross that gate and go somewhere beyond it.

And right now, it was the power to stand against that ‘Night.’

He swayed unsteadily and pushed himself up off the ground.

Nox, who until now had regarded him as nothing more than a minor irritant, showed hostility for the very first time.

⟨You… you are different now. Do you dare defy the Night of Rest?⟩

“You can shove your ‘rest’ where the sun don't shine.”

⟨……⟩

While everyone held their breath, Nox alone gave no particular reaction.

Her jet-black eyes took in the sight of Ryu Hwi, and blinked once.

Watching. And rejecting.

That alone was enough to constitute an attack.

The spot where Ryu Hwi had been standing a heartbeat earlier caved inward as if a bomb had gone off beneath it.

‘Terrain destruction’—an attack that should have been flatly impossible—had been brought into being by nothing more than her gaze.

The strike had come with no windup, no preparatory motion whatsoever. Yet in the next instant, it wasn't Ryu Hwi who lay crumpled on the ground. It was Nox.

Intuition Lv5 — With superhuman instinct, see through the enemy's attacks.

Fate Eye Lv1 — Fate manipulation. All events yet to occur shift 20% in your favor.

ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ Lv1 — World erosion. Reshape the world into a form favorable to yourself. Effects vary according to the wielder's capabilities.

Intuition had seen through Nox's attack, and Fate Eye had conjured the possibility of evading a blow that should have been impossible to dodge.

And then there was ‘ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ.’

The closest thing a human tongue could pronounce was ‘Abyss’—and this power let Ryu Hwi wield his strength at full capacity even inside Nox's world of night.

The abilities of ‘ᚨᛒᛇᛋᛋ’ changed utterly depending on who wielded it.

Ryu Hwi understood what this concept was, thanks to everything he had been through.

It was the power of the ‘Field’—the very thing the S.E.N had deployed.

And it had manifested in the form best suited to Ryu Hwi.

Pulling a brand-new skill on the spot, Ryu Hwi moved like flowing water—effortless, inevitable—and slipped in behind Nox.

A fist shot out relentlessly at Nox's broken stance and slammed into her abdomen.

Unlike before, when he'd emptied everything he had and been stopped cold, this blow landed. Real damage, unmistakably, dealt to Nox.

“What on earth is he—”

“What did Ryu Hwi just do?”

Ragna and Bisque couldn't make heads or tails of what had just happened.

The only one among them who'd read Ryu Hwi's movements was Selen Lilith.

“He moved so naturally that you 'failed to understand what happened' in the first place.”

A chill ran down Selen Lilith's spine at the movement Ryu Hwi had just displayed.

It was on an entirely different plane from everything he'd shown so far.

“But…… the effects seem pretty weak.”

Nox's body, felled by Ryu Hwi's direct hit, dissolved into a black mist and scattered—then gathered itself again a short distance away, reforming into the shape of a woman.

Nox stared at Ryu Hwi in silence, her face a blank mask.

There was no telling what she was thinking.

No joy, no fury, no hatred. Only a chill like the cold air of night, creeping over the skin.

Ryu Hwi, by contrast, was an open book.

His movements were smooth as flowing water, but the furious rage pouring off him roared like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

The two of them—so starkly opposed—glared at each other for a long moment.

Then Ryu Hwi charged, screaming a battle cry loud enough to rattle the teeth, as if to let that rage finally burst free.

Unlike before, this time his movements were wild and reckless, like a boar gone mad with fury.

Meeting the charge, Nox raised her right hand.

This night itself was her power. Her domain.

Proving that fact, the moment she swept her fingers downward, the stars strewn across the night sky rained down upon the earth as if heralding the end of the world.

The bombardment of stars mercilessly gouged the land around them.

Selen Lilith spread her power to shield Noir and Ragna from the starlight barrage.

Because the act was so unlike her, Bisque looked up at her in surprise.

“Don't you dare move from this spot. I can manage protecting you, at least.”

The polar opposite of Flowing Water Footwork—a headlong, aggressive rush. Cutting straight through the merciless bombardment of falling stars, Ryu Hwi drove toward Nox.

⟨……⟩

Nox seized the sky in her hand. The very fabric of space turned to a curtain, and a fistful of it was wrenched into her grip.

She swung that curtain like a blade. Legend of Lambda was swallowed whole by the night Nox had made, and Ryu Hwi manipulated his Shuffle Gun.

[Shark Cannon], [Lv UP] = [Mega Shark Cannon]

A colossal shell blasted into the sky, slamming into the curtain of night she had swung.

The explosion lit up the darkened heavens—but Nox didn't so much as blink.

A presence behind her.

As if answering that presence, the curtain of night clutched in Nox's hand sharpened into a deadly spike and skewered the thing at her back.

[[Better luck next time~!]]

The Prank Box.

He'd planted a Prank Box—able to bestow everything from buffs to debuffs—so that whatever touched it would receive a random effect.

In the same instant, dozens of dolls popped out from every direction—creatures that looked ever so slightly like Ryu Hwi, and yet somehow not.

Surprise Dummy Dolls.

A deployable item with no particular effect of its own—but more than enough to buy a moment's distraction.

Meanwhile, Ryu Hwi had already used the ‘Warp Gun’ to soar into the sky, taking aim at the ground below with the Shuffle Gun reshaped into its ‘Sniper Rifle’ form.

Overaccel to multiply the bullet's velocity.

Critical Shot—a skill that landed a guaranteed critical hit on the target.

And the Golden Magic Bullet—the special round from Super Gemini, said to pierce every obstacle in existence.

The instant he pulled the trigger, every skill and every item fired at once, and the single shot carved a blazing golden trajectory down toward the earth.

KUUUUUUUNG!

Ryu Hwi's bullet hit with enough force to crater the land itself, punching straight through Nox.

“He did it!”

Ragna shouted.

“No.”

Bisque knew from long experience and raw instinct—this wasn't the end.

And no wonder. The overwhelming pressure of a world drowned in night still hung over everything.

Ryu Hwi, landing on the ground, had sensed it too: through Intuition, that his opponent was still perfectly intact.

Proving the point, Nox—skewered moments ago—snapped back to her original form at once.

Which meant conventional ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠means simply couldn't bring her down.

But even staring at a completely unharmed Nox, Ryu Hwi showed no thought of retreat.

Watching him, Selen Lilith was genuinely impressed.

“He really can fight that thing. Damn.”

Nox was a monster, plain and simple.

She'd slipped away cleanly last time, but this time, without a doubt, Hecate would be getting grilled by the other S.E.N members too.

Whether she'd intended it or not, there was no way she'd get away unpunished after birthing a monster like that.

Of course, the same went for ‘Lilith’ herself—the one who had dragged that very monster back into this world once more.

“But…… he reached the ‘ realm he was never meant to reach’ far too fast.”

A wet cough.

Blood spread across the ground.

“Ryu Hwi?!”

“Boss?!”

Ryu Hwi vomited blood and collapsed where he stood.

Ryu Hwi stared, dazed, down at both of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his blood-soaked hands.

He could hear it—the sound of the gray presence, laughing.