Part 1
At last—after days of endless walking—they had reached Floor 501.
Yamato stopped in front of the great door that led to the next level. He said nothing. He simply stared.
On the other side awaited the final surprise Nebel had prepared for him.
It wasn't an enemy.
It wasn't an ally.
According to Nebel, it was a "test." For some reason, he had chosen to provide very little information about it.
Seiryu stood by his side in complete silence. The air was so dense, not even his calculated remarks could pierce it. Everything in that place felt… suspended.
As if the world itself was holding its breath.
It had been 250 floors since their encounter with Satirus. And while his swarm floated in defensive formation, Yamato replayed the echoes of his most brutal battles… and the faces of his new Heralds.
The fight with Zero, on Floor 700, had been more than brutal.
It had been unnatural.
The entire chamber had been shaped into a frozen apocalyptic wasteland.
Snow fell endlessly. The ground cracked beneath their feet, hiding what felt like an abyss. Twisted towers of ice rose like ruins from an extinct world, and the ceiling… the ceiling bled razor-sharp crystal blades at the faintest sound.
But the worst part wasn't the terrain.
It was the cold.
A cold so dense, it seemed to have a will of its own.
It didn't just cut skin. It infiltrated bone, thoughts, memories.
Each breath felt like swallowing needles.
Yamato did not fear pain.
But this… wasn't just pain. It was invasion.
A punishment designed to collapse even his logic.
That was when he forced himself to stop.
To inhale.
Exhale.
Not out of biological need—
But to calculate.
He had to learn to regulate his breathing like a soldier stranded in the vacuum of space.
To understand how his body—this old vessel of flesh—still responded to extreme climates.
Because no matter how deeply he had fused with the Void… he was still human.
At least, partly.
And that part suffered.
The cold didn't speak to him.
It challenged him.
And that's when he understood—resisting wouldn't be enough.
He had to break the rules of the environment.
Rewrite the battlefield.
Bend even the climate to his will.
"Total inversion of gravitational field," he ordered. His nanobots responded instantly.
The world flipped in a single heartbeat.
Snow exploded upward in a swirling cloud, ice towers collapsed in a chain reaction, and crystal blades rained in every direction.
The gravitational vortex Yamato unleashed devoured everything, twisting even the natural laws of the floor itself.
In the midst of this chaos, Zero remained still—unmoving—
As if the collapse of the environment meant nothing to him.
He only smiled, while the winds tore chunks of ice from the ground around him.
"In over two thousand years… no one's ever endured this cold. Who are you?" he asked, his voice a faint whisper in the storm.
"My name is Yamato," he replied, steady and resolute. "Join us… and take revenge on those who imprisoned you. Freeze everything in your path."
Zero extended his hand, recognizing something in him—something no time or storm had managed to erase.
"I will follow you anywhere, Master Yamato."
The wind stopped.
For the first time, Floor 700 fell silent.
Yamato didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
He simply looked at him… and nodded.
Another one freed.
Another Herald of the Void.
And perhaps… the first who truly understood what he was.
Then came the time of Darwin.
Floor 650 offered no resistance.
No traps. No guardians.
Only an infinite, living library.
The walls pulsed with text in extinct languages, whispering softly—as if the words didn't want to be heard by intruders.
And throughout the entire place… mummified corpses.
Human. Beast.
Entities that defied taxonomy.
They were arranged like art. Like offerings to intellect.
At the center, a man adjusted his white lab coat while carefully cleaning a pair of round glasses with surgical precision. His gaze—neutral. Unmoving. Yet alive.
Far too alive.
"What fascinating specimens I have the pleasure of receiving today…" he murmured, eyes locked on Yamato.
Yamato didn't respond.
He walked slowly, taking in every corner of that sanctum of dissection—
a place where life was not sacred, only… useful.
Every object, every organ suspended in fluid, was part of an equation.
"An intelligent subject… and thirsty for knowledge. How… intriguing."
Darwin's voice trembled.
Not from fear. From euphoria.
"What a fascinating human. You don't even show fear… I'm dying to open you up and understand how you work."
"I'm afraid I'll have to interrupt those plans," Yamato replied, still walking. "I don't plan on dying yet. But if you follow me… maybe one day you can."
"When I die. If I can die."
Darwin tilted his head slightly—
as if processing an unexpected hypothesis.
"Interesting… a soul unafraid of dissection?"
"But I offer you something better," Yamato continued. "I can take you out of this prison. Out there, on the surface… there are test subjects waiting to be studied. Infinite. Unique."
"You gain knowledge," he added, his eyes cold and clinical. "And I gain your discoveries. What do you say?"
The silence that followed was clean.
Sharp.
Not awkward—
Just… precise.
Darwin smiled.
A minimal curvature.
An emotional incision.
"I accept.After all, idleness is the mother of all vices… and out there, there's so much knowledge to uncover."
And so, the demon of knowledge joined the Void.
Not out of faith.
Not out of fear.
But because his thirst for knowledge demanded it.
And for Darwin, knowledge was more absolute than any god.
The memory faded like smoke.
Yamato was still there, standing before the Judgment Door.
The one that had been watching him since he arrived—
even though it didn't move.
Even though it didn't speak.
Seiryu waited in silence.
He understood that this moment… did not belong to him.
The door bore no inscriptions.
It didn't shine.
And yet… it weighed.
Yamato stood.
Not with urgency, nor with tension.
But with the certainty of someone who does not fear the past…
Yet has never forgotten its shape.
"Floor five hundred and one…" he murmured.
He cast one last glance toward his Heralds.
He was not one for speeches.
In truth, he still struggled to speak to them.
Not from distrust—
But because he had never needed to.
"I want you to stay here," he said at last.
"What lies beyond… is my personal trial.
Something that, according to Nebel, only I can face."
Yamato turned briefly to his Heralds.
"The Judgment of Light."
For the first time in their journey, his followers saw him… unsure.
"Yes, my lord. We will wait in silence," Seiryu answered, bowing his head.
Yamato nodded.
Then placed both hands on the door.
And pushed.
A flash engulfed him instantly.
Blinding.
Aggressive.
The light didn't illuminate him—it invaded him.
He had to shut his eyes.
After so long wrapped in darkness, it felt like a blow.
An unbearable presence.
When his vision finally adjusted, what he saw was… nothing.
A vast chamber.
White. Aseptic.
Like a room without time or shadow.
And at the center…
Circles of radiant seals spread outward in concentric patterns—etched into the ground like living runes.
At the core, floating with a pure glow… A crystal.
And inside it… a nun?
"Is that… a human being?" he muttered, confused.
Nebel didn't answer.
Yamato tried to approach but the moment he touched the barrier, an invisible force hurled him back. As if the runes rejected him simply for existing.
"What is happening?"
He raised his hand. His swarm of nanobots appeared instantly, buzzing with lethal precision.
"Destroy that barrier."
The order was clear. A black wave surged forward… and was annihilated.
The nanobots disintegrated one by one the instant they touched the luminous border.
Yamato took a step back.
For the first time in months… his expression showed something close to surprise.
"I don't understand… my nanobots aren't even aligned with darkness," he muttered, as he summoned a new swarm and shaped them into a heavy silver revolver.
"Dark Matter Bullet."
He raised it and fired without hesitation.
Void-born darkness clashed against divine light.
The explosion shook the chamber—
And for a brief moment, even the light recoiled.
But the barrier… remained. Steady, like an impenetrable dome.
The swarm shielded him instantly, dampening the shockwave. A column of smoke rose and slowly dispersed.
At the center of the crater, the barrier's crack began to mend—layer by layer.
"Too much power can sometimes cloud judgment," Nebel murmured—his voice drifting into Yamato's mind like a dense echo.
"So you finally speak," Yamato growled, never taking his eyes off the regenerating magical shell.
"Ha ha ha… I just wanted to see how you'd react when brute force failed you."
"Who is that nun? And why is that barrier so damn strong?"
"That, my dear friend… is the power of a Primordial Star."
Yamato blinked. For a moment, his mind slipped into confusion.
"Primordial Star? Is that… a deity? Like you?"
"Let's say yes… and no."
"I'm not in the mood for riddles, Nebel."
"Very well," he said—his tone shifting, graver now. Clearer. "She is exactly like you."
"Inside her dwell fragments of a Primordial Star. Beings of pure light… that feed on human desire. They live for it."
"In short, Primordial Stars are our natural enemies."
Yamato narrowed his eyes. The pieces began to fall into place.
"I see… So what do you suggest I do? I don't want to unleash overwhelming force just to crack open a barrier."
"That… is your problem, Yamato. Not mine."
"Use your best weapon."
"And what's that?"
"Your mind. Your cold logic. Your ability to reduce gods into equations."
Yamato didn't reply.
He fell silent. As though already dissecting the very structure of the light.
For the first time… Yamato felt cornered.
Not by strength.
But by truth.
And he couldn't just ignore Nebel's words.
This wasn't an obstacle.
It was judgment.
And if he wished to continue receiving the Void's aid. It was something he had to overcome… alone.