Ruler of Beyonders

No heartbeat readings. No aura charts.

Just one new word appeared on the screen.

TYPE: UNKNOWN ABYSS

Seroi narrowed his eyes.

"Pause the scan. Let the echo form."

Inside the chamber, Ren's body stayed still. But from the ground around him, a strange black mist rose. It didn't move like smoke. It bent light around it. And it didn't stop at the floor. It reached toward the air, the walls, trying to touch everything.

Watson leaned forward.

"What is that?"

Seroi spoke quietly.

"This… is Dark Abyss Magic. A myth... a legend... a magic that changes reality and rules over everything."

Watson stared at him. "What does that even mean?"

Seroi's eyes didn't leave the screen.

"It's a type of power that isn't supposed to exist in our world. It's not drawn from nature, or from the gods, or from the elements. It comes from the user's imagination. But not in the way you'd think."

Watson frowned. "Explain."

Seroi took a breath. Goosebumps could be seen on his hands. His entire body felt it too.

"Abyss magic doesn't create, it consumes. It doesn't build, it swallows. Whatever the user imagines… begins to disappear from reality. A mountain. A person. A law of physics. If they can imagine it being erased, it is."

Watson's face turned pale.

"That's… that's insane. That's not magic, that's reality breaking."

"Exactly," Seroi said.

Inside the chamber, the mist kept growing. The silver lights around Ren were fading. Not turning off, being eaten.

Every machine showed emergency alerts. Every operator was worried about it. Then they tried to manage the situation, and after so many efforts, they succeeded. They managed the alert signs and turned off all the machines for safety, because they were too expensive and only a few existed in the world.

Then Watson shook his head. "Has anyone else ever had this?"

Seroi was quiet for a long time.

Then he spoke.

"One girl."

Watson turned to him.

"Years ago," Seroi continued. "There was a girl who went through something similar to Ren. An incident… a creature… a sudden awakening. No one saw the signs in time. Her magic wasn't Abyss, though. It was the opposite."

Watson blinked. "The opposite?"

"Yes. She had something we now call Origin Light. It's pure creation. Instead of erasing what exists, she made what didn't exist. Her imagination could write new laws into reality."

Watson leaned back slowly. "And what happened to her?"

Seroi looked out the glass, his voice colder now.

"She created a storm of light that rewrote an entire continent. Not a trace was left. Cities, rivers, people gone in one instant, replaced by a glowing desert that no map dares include."

Watson's voice dropped. "You mean… she destroyed everything just by imagining something new?"

"Yes. And not on purpose. She was scared. Out of control. Just like Ren could be if we don't help him."

Watson's hands tightened into fists.

"Now I understand why you're so careful. Why you pushed him into this scan. Because if someone like him snaps..."

"...The world won't survive it," Seroi finished. "We weren't prepared last time. This time… we will be."

"In my mind, one question arrived. What happened to that girl? Is she alive or not?" Watson asked Seroi with curiosity, his expression deep and amazed.

Seroi thought for a moment, then replied with no expression.

"She is alive, but she is locked in a secret facility where she practices controlling her powers. Don't worry, we are taking care of that. And I think one question also arrived in your mind. Why we don't know about that continent and that incident? I will answer you before you ask. It was reversed by one of our great Time Mages. They did it, but at the cost of so much energy. They were fully drained and now are in a coma."

"Ohh... now I understand how dangerous that was. You're right, that question was echoing in my mind." Watson replied with a sad and amazed face.

Then we look toward the resonance chamber.

Inside the resonance chamber, the black mist stopped growing.

Ren stood alone in the middle, his eyes glowing faintly.

His voice echoed across the room, but it didn't sound like just him.

"I imagined silence… and the world started listening."

Then everything went quiet again.

The scan ended.

All machines stopped working.

Ren was trapped inside the machines, but in his mind, he thought he was outside them. Then he actually teleported outside the machines in just a few microseconds. All were amazed: Yato, Watson, the operators, Yato's team members. But one man was not amazed. That one was Seroi.

Seroi Uchitake.

He was not amazed, as he later said he had seen something like this before.

"We have only a little time, because slowly his energy will drain and he will become unconscious. Then the true power within him will be revealed to all. The power of darkness that rules the cosmos. As we know, 99% of the universe is made of dark energy and dark matter. Only 1% of the universe is visible to us. The light that created the universe is only 1%. Just imagine what happens when his true power is released. So don't waste time. Everyone, give your energy to that boy to maintain his strength. Only he can do something, not us."

As Seroi said this, everyone present who was awakened started giving their energy to Ren. So many colorful energetic waves and beams moved toward Ren. Like darkness, all energy was swallowed by his body.

Ren, who was slowly becoming unconscious, started to regain consciousness. Then a large wave and flash of energy surrounded the entire facility.

A storm of darkness, lined with many colors, could be seen. In the center of the storm, Ren was floating with black-blue eyes. A symbol appeared on his forehead, a symbol of the Ruler.

Everyone's eyes closed during the flash, and when they opened again, they saw the storm.

All were too tired to maintain their positions. Slowly, they too became unconscious.

All became unconscious and fell to the ground where they stood.

That storm did not affect the facility, just like an illusion. It was seen by all but didn't affect anyone. It just absorbed their energy and the surrounding energy. Like a black hole but not exactly. A black hole affects the whole surroundings and has a visible presence. But this one did not do that.

Inside the storm, one voice echoed.

"A Ruler is awakened. It's time to show the world the true power of the Ruler."

Ren, who had regained his consciousness but not fully, felt his body was possessed by someone else.

He replied to that voice in his mind. He dived into his spiritual sea (not exactly the spiritual sea but that kind of something) and saw endless darkness swallowing everything. His voice, which he used to reply, was not heard by anyone, not even by himself. Then a dark figure appeared and changed the spiritual sea into a dark eternal sea. A black sea that was endless, filled with infinite mysteries.

Outside the storm, all were unconscious. The entire facility was covered in endless silence. In reality, the facility had dived into silence because all were unconscious.

A figure spoke words.

"Welcome to the world of darkness. Welcome, my master, a Ruler of Beyonders. Welcome to the man who is unborn and never dies. A vast gratitude from this Abyss. Please accept it."

The figure bent toward Ren.

The figure was tall and cloaked in shifting shadows, his body made of pure darkness. Crimson eyes glowed from a faceless void, and silver chains coiled around its arms. Dark tendrils floated behind it, pulsing with unnatural energy. Its voice echoed from everywhere, not its mouth, and a spiral symbol of nothingness burned on its chest. It wasn't alive or dead. It was the voice of the Abyss.

Ren, who was half-confused and amazed, finally managed to take his body back from the unknown possession.