Chapter 100 — The War of the False King
The door opened.
Slowly.
The sky above Shinokuni-01 split apart as though the world itself had been cut.
Blackness poured through the opening.
Not smoke.
Not darkness.
Something deeper.
Something that swallowed the stars.
Every person in the city looked upward.
Every Abomination stopped.
Every Hell Knight lowered their weapons.
Even the prisoner beneath the city went still.
Brook stood in the ruined street.
His sword was in his hand.
His breathing was steady.
But inside his mind—
Michael was silent.
Lucifer was smiling.
Death was staring into the sky.
Brook looked at them.
"What is it?"
Death answered first.
Something without a lifeline.
Brook frowned.
"That's not possible."
Death looked at him.
You said that before.
Brook looked back toward the sky.
The black opening widened.
Something moved behind it.
Too large to see completely.
A shape.
A silhouette.
Then—
an eye opened.
The entire city shook.
Henry staggered.
Sera grabbed the wall.
Crowley raised his weapon.
The Queen of the Ninth Gate looked genuinely afraid.
Brook noticed.
"You know what that is."
She didn't answer.
Brook stepped toward her.
"Tell me."
The Queen whispered:
"That isn't what's behind the door."
Brook's expression changed.
"Then what is?"
She looked upward.
"That's the thing looking through it."
The eye disappeared.
The door began closing.
Brook stared.
"Wait."
Crowley looked at him.
"What?"
Brook's Death Source pulsed.
He could feel something.
Not a lifeline.
A presence.
A connection.
Something was attached to the people of Shinokuni-01.
Brook's eyes widened.
"The civilians."
Henry turned.
"What about them?"
"Their lifelines."
Brook looked across the city.
Thousands of thin lines stretched beneath the streets.
They were connected.
All of them.
To the door.
"They're powering it."
Crowley understood.
"The evacuation."
Brook nodded.
"Elias didn't bring them underground to protect them."
Sera's face changed.
"He used them."
Brook looked toward the central tower.
"Yes."
The Queen whispered:
"He needed the entire city."
Brook's expression hardened.
"To open the door."
A laugh echoed through the ruins.
Brook turned.
Elias stood atop the remains of the central tower.
Blood covered his clothes.
His hair was disheveled.
But he was smiling.
Brook stared at him.
"You."
Elias looked down.
"Brook."
Brook's voice was cold.
"You used everyone."
Elias nodded.
"Yes."
"You used Kael."
"Yes."
"You used Xcution."
"Yes."
"You used Hell."
"Yes."
Brook tightened his grip.
"And you used me."
Elias smiled.
"Especially you."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Elias looked toward the sky.
"Because the door needed a key."
Brook froze.
"And I'm the key."
Elias nodded.
"You're the only vessel capable of resonating with all three Sources."
Michael's expression changed.
Lucifer stopped smiling.
Death looked at Brook.
Elias continued.
"Michael."
"Lucifer."
"Death."
He looked directly at Brook.
"You weren't created to carry them."
A pause.
"You were created to open the door."
Brook's heart dropped.
"No."
Elias smiled.
"That's why the Maker watched you."
Brook stared.
"That's why he watched me?"
"Yes."
"That's why he kept me alive?"
"Yes."
Brook looked at the sky.
"Then everything…"
"Everything."
The city went silent.
Brook's hands began shaking.
Not from fear.
Anger.
Lucifer stepped forward inside Brook's mind.
His eyes burned.
"He's lying."
Brook looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
Lucifer's expression became serious.
"About one thing."
"What?"
Lucifer looked at Michael.
Then Death.
Then Brook.
"You weren't created for the door."
Brook frowned.
Lucifer smiled.
"You're much worse than that."
Michael looked at him.
"Lucifer."
Lucifer's smile widened.
"Tell him."
Michael remained silent.
Brook looked between them.
"Tell me what?"
Death answered.
"Your Sources chose you."
Brook froze.
Lucifer laughed.
"That's what Elias doesn't understand."
Brook looked toward Elias.
Elias was still smiling.
Lucifer continued:
"The Maker may have prepared the world for you."
His eyes narrowed.
"But he didn't make you."
Brook's expression hardened.
"Then Elias was wrong."
Lucifer smiled.
"Exactly."
Elias raised his hand.
The black symbol across the city ignited.
Brook's body suddenly seized.
Pain exploded through his chest.
He fell to one knee.
Henry rushed toward him.
"Brook!"
Crowley grabbed Henry.
"Don't touch him!"
Brook screamed.
His three Sources erupted simultaneously.
White.
Black.
And the cold emptiness of Death.
The ground cracked beneath him.
Elias watched.
"Yes."
Brook gritted his teeth.
"Stop…"
Elias raised his hand higher.
"Open."
Brook's eyes changed.
Michael appeared.
Lucifer appeared.
Death appeared.
All three were being pulled toward the same point.
The door.
Brook could feel himself being dragged with them.
Lucifer laughed.
Not happily.
Angrily.
"You dare."
Black energy exploded through Brook.
The Hell Source surged violently.
Brook's eyes became crimson.
His teeth clenched.
His body moved on instinct.
He stood.
Elias smiled.
"That's it."
Brook looked at him.
Something was different.
Lucifer's influence was everywhere.
Brook wanted to attack.
Wanted to tear Elias apart.
Wanted to destroy everything.
Lucifer whispered:
"Let me."
Brook's breathing became heavy.
Michael appeared.
"Brook. Don't surrender."
Lucifer stepped closer.
"I'm not asking you to surrender."
Brook looked at him.
Lucifer smiled.
"I'm asking you to fight."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"With you?"
Lucifer laughed.
"No."
His grin became vicious.
"As me."
Brook understood.
The Hell Source wasn't trying to take him.
It was responding to his rage.
Brook slowly stood straight.
The darkness around him settled.
His eyes returned to normal.
Elias's smile faded.
"What did you do?"
Brook looked at him.
"I chose."
Brook disappeared.
Not with a flash.
Not with a sound.
One moment he stood in the street.
The next—
he was standing directly in front of Elias.
Elias barely blocked the first punch.
The impact shattered the stone beneath them.
Brook struck again.
Elias parried.
Brook twisted.
Elbow.
Elias blocked.
Knee.
Elias caught it.
Brook grabbed his shoulder.
Headbutt.
Elias staggered.
Brook drove his fist into his stomach.
Elias flew backward.
He crashed through the tower.
Brook followed.
Inside the ruins, Elias attacked.
Black energy formed around his arm.
He swung.
Brook ducked.
The blast carved through the wall.
Brook stepped inside the opening.
He struck Elias across the jaw.
Elias countered.
Their fists collided.
The shockwave shattered the remaining windows.
Elias grabbed Brook.
Brook twisted his arm.
Elias kicked.
Brook blocked.
Elias fired a blast point-blank.
Brook crossed his arms.
The explosion threw him backward.
He landed against a pillar.
Lucifer laughed.
"Again."
Brook wiped blood from his mouth.
"Gladly."
Elias charged.
Brook met him.
Their fists collided.
Neither moved.
Elias whispered:
"You could have been everything."
Brook pushed harder.
"I already am."
He headbutted Elias.
Elias stumbled.
Brook grabbed his coat.
Then—
he teleported.
They reappeared above the city.
Brook released him.
Elias fell.
Brook marked the ground below.
Elias looked down.
Too late.
Brook appeared beneath him.
He drove both fists upward.
The impact launched Elias into the sky.
Brook landed.
Elias crashed through the central tower.
The structure collapsed.
Silence.
Henry stared.
"Is he dead?"
Brook looked toward the rubble.
"I don't know."
Crowley looked at the sky.
"There's no time."
Brook turned.
"What?"
Crowley pointed upward.
The door was opening again.
Faster.
Much faster.
The enormous eye appeared beyond it.
And this time—
it looked directly at Brook.
The voice came.
Not through the air.
Through Brook's mind.
"B-01."
Brook froze.
The voice continued.
"Come home."
Lucifer's expression changed.
Michael raised his head.
Death stared at the door.
Brook whispered:
"No."
The eye narrowed.
"You belong to me."
Brook raised his sword.
"I belong to myself."
The door shook.
The creature beyond it roared.
Brook felt the three Sources surge.
Michael's power surrounded his body.
Lucifer's darkness crawled across his arms.
Death's presence sharpened his vision.
Brook looked toward the door.
"You're not taking me."
Then he marked the sky.
A single point.
Directly above the door.
Michael understood.
Brook, that's impossible.
Brook smiled.
"Probably."
Lucifer laughed.
"I like this."
Brook jumped.
He vanished.
He reappeared above the city.
The mark beneath him burned white.
Brook raised his sword.
All three Sources surged.
Michael.
Lucifer.
Death.
Not mastered.
Not perfectly controlled.
But together.
Brook brought the sword down.
A massive wave of energy tore through the sky.
The door screamed.
The black opening began collapsing.
The enormous eye disappeared.
The voice roared:
"YOU CANNOT STOP WHAT HAS ALREADY BEGUN."
Brook shouted:
"Then I'll stop what's next!"
The door collapsed.
The sky exploded with light.
The shockwave swept across Shinokuni-01.
Then—
silence.
Brook fell.
Henry caught him.
"Brook!"
Brook breathed heavily.
"I'm alive."
Henry laughed.
"You're an idiot."
Brook smiled.
"Yeah."
The battlefield was over.
Hell Knights had withdrawn.
The remaining Abominations fled.
The black symbols across the city faded.
For the first time since the attack began…
Shinokuni-01 was quiet.
But it wasn't safe.
Not anymore.
Crowley stood before the ruined tower.
The Queen approached him.
"You've chosen."
Crowley looked at her.
"I chose a long time ago."
She smiled.
"You'll regret it."
Crowley raised his weapon.
"Probably."
She disappeared into the smoke.
Henry looked at Crowley.
"So…"
He hesitated.
"King of Hell?"
Crowley sighed.
"Not tonight."
Henry laughed.
"Fair enough."
Brook looked toward the ruins.
"Elias."
Nothing.
The tower was completely destroyed.
No body.
No blood trail.
Nothing.
Brook stared.
"He's alive."
Crowley looked at him.
"You know that?"
Brook nodded.
"I can't feel his lifeline."
Death appeared.
Neither can I.
Brook looked at him.
"Because he's dead?"
Death shook his head.
No.
A pause.
Because something is hiding it.
Brook's expression hardened.
Elias was alive.
Somewhere.
Watching.
Waiting.
Far beyond Shinokuni-01…
Elias opened his eyes.
He was lying beneath the ruins of the old fortress.
His body was broken.
Blood covered his face.
But he was alive.
He slowly pushed himself upright.
A figure stood before him.
The same figure from the darkness.
Elias looked up.
"You."
The figure smiled.
"You failed."
Elias coughed.
"I opened the door."
"You opened part of it."
Elias looked toward Shinokuni-01.
"Brook stopped it."
The figure nodded.
"Yes."
Elias clenched his fist.
"Then I'll kill him."
The figure smiled.
"No."
Elias looked up.
"You will not kill Brook."
"Why?"
The figure stepped closer.
"Because he is still useful."
Elias stared.
"To you?"
The figure smiled.
"To all of us."
Elias slowly stood.
His eyes were cold.
"I don't serve anyone."
The figure laughed.
"That's what makes you useful."
Elias looked toward the horizon.
Shinokuni-01 was still burning.
Xcution was still alive.
Brook was still alive.
Kael was dead.
And the war had only begun.
Elias whispered:
"Then I'll build my own army."
The figure disappeared.
Elias remained alone.
But before leaving, he looked down at the black symbol on his hand.
It had changed.
A second mark had appeared.
Elias smiled.
"The Maker."
He closed his fist.
"I'll find you."
Three Days Later
Shinokuni-01 began rebuilding.
But Xcution didn't celebrate.
They couldn't.
Kael's grave stood outside the city.
Brook stood before it alone.
He placed his hand against the stone.
"You were right."
The wind moved through the grass.
"You told me not to let Elias turn me into something I wasn't."
Brook looked toward the horizon.
"I'm going to try."
He turned away.
Michael appeared beside him.
The next battle will be harder.
Brook nodded.
Lucifer appeared.
He smiled.
Good.
Brook looked at him.
"You really are evil."
Lucifer grinned.
And you're finally starting to understand me.
Death appeared last.
He looked toward the distant horizon.
Something is coming.
Brook stared.
"What?"
Death didn't answer.
He simply watched.
Far beyond the Walls…
something moved.
Something with no lifeline.
Something that had been waiting.
Brook tightened his grip on his sword.
"Then we'll be ready."
The camera pulls away from Shinokuni-01.
Past the Wall.
Past the Eternal Forest.
Past the ruined territories.
Past the lands where humanity still survived.
Until the world became darkness.
And within that darkness—
a single voice spoke.
"The first door has opened."
Another voice answered.
"And the vessel survived."
A pause.
Then a third voice.
Older.
Colder.
Almost amused.
"Let him."
Silence.
"He will come to us."
A pair of eyes opened.
Not human.
Not demonic.
Something else.
Something that had been waiting long before Brook was born.
The voice whispered:
"Let Volume Three begin."
END OF VOLUME 2
End of Chapter 100