"Meow." A soft cry made the young man pause. He turned his head and saw a crippled cat slowly making its way toward him. The small creature was missing both of its hind legs and one of its front paws, crawling forward with effort as it pushed its little wheelchair along the ground. The sight made him stop in his tracks.
"That's right," he murmured quietly, crouching down. "You need me… how can I end my life?" His voice was barely above a whisper as he reached out and gently picked up the poor cat, its frail body light in his arms.
Letting out a tired sigh, he sat down on the nearby step and pulled out the small pouch of food he always carried. The cat meowed again, a softer sound this time, before eagerly beginning to eat. Watching it nibble away at the food, content despite its broken body.
He looked at the cat for a while, quietly watching it move its head as it ate. How could it still seem happy with how miserable its life was? The question lingered in his mind as he stared, trying to make sense of it. The small creature continued to eat with its eyes closed, completely at peace, unconcerned with its broken body or the pain it must have endured.
He let out a faint breath. For a moment, he tried to smile, but the motion felt foreign to him. It had been years since he had last done something as simple as that. Still, he tried again, and little by little, a weak but genuine smile found its way onto his face… the least he can do before he ends it all.
"Maybe I should try to make the best of what I have," he said quietly, the words leaving his lips like a thought more than a statement. To think it was a cat of all things that made him realize this. All it took was reaching the point of wanting to end everything, only to see that small creature still finding joy in life. The cat had already moved past its pain—it didn't think about what it had lost, it simply lived on… something he spent years being incapable of doing.
"I have no enemies…" he said softly to himself. It was a line he had once heard in an anime years ago—something that hadn't meant much back then. But now, for the first time, he truly understood it. All this time, he had been a slave to his own emotions, chained by the weight of anger and bitterness he refused to release. His rage and hunger for revenge had bound him tighter than any rope, keeping him trapped in a past that refused to fade, stopping him from ever finding peace or happiness.
He realized how much of his life he had wasted living for people who would never care about him, bleeding himself dry over memories that no longer mattered. Was that not the same as being a slave?
He turned to the cat. It had stopped eating and was now gazing up at him quietly, its head tilted slightly as if studying his face. The man's faint smile eased, losing the tension it once carried, softening into something calmer and far less forceful than before.
"By time… you came to this state oddly fast." The sudden voice made him freeze. It was the cat that spoke—but the sound wasn't anything close to what a cat should make. The voice was deep, so deep that it seemed to echo through his very soul. His body trembled, and his grip faltered; he almost dropped the creature out of pure shock. Somehow, he managed to steady himself, clutching it tightly as his eyes widened in disbelief.
Then, before he could even think, the cat leaped out of his arms. Its small body landed on the ground with a soft thud before it began to change. Bones shifted, flesh stretched, and fur gave way to scales as its form grew larger and larger. Within moments, the small crippled cat was gone—replaced by a massive dark red dragon, its eyes glowing faintly as it looked down at him.
"For years, I have searched for people with vast hatred and a hunger to destroy the world," the dragon said calmly, its deep voice vibrating through the air like a rumble of thunder. "For years, I have tried to guide them toward the mental state you have now reached. Few have managed to reach that point; even fewer have rejected my request. You… you are the seventh person to stand before me."
"What do you need?" he asked gently.
"Become my incarnation. Become me as I become you," the dragon replied. Its deep voice carried no hostility, only certainty. "I am Chaotic Destruction. My sole goal in existence is the destruction of all things, no matter what they are. In that effort, I destroyed even myself, and now I seek an incarnation capable of controlling that power."
The young man stood there, stunned, unsure what to say.
"Many have become my incarnation," the dragon continued calmly. "You know one of them as Anos Voldigoad. Even he, though he was the best among them, was not capable of controlling my power. At best, he could only suppress it—offsetting his strength with his own. Normally, he could only manage the small portion that remained after that struggle."
"I see. What number was Anos?" he asked, genuine curiosity flickering in his voice.
"He was born as my reincarnation," the dragon replied, its tone even and unbothered. "I didn't choose him; he was simply that talented."
The young man nodded slightly, lowering his gaze in thought. For a moment, silence filled the space between them as he considered what he had just heard.
"I think I have a way to control that power," he said finally, his tone calm but certain. "I don't believe self-control alone is enough."
The dragon's massive head tilted slightly, its brow lifting with clear interest as its glowing eyes focused on him, studying the human who dared to claim such a thing. It had known this man for the past 32 years he has been alive, and he had never come across anything that could give him such an idea.
"Oh? And what do you have in mind?" the dragon asked, its tone carrying genuine curiosity.
"Your powers are pretty much absolute," he began, "You can't control something that was never meant to be controlled. It's like trying to pause the end of everything forever—it's impossible. The end would still come, no matter how much you resisted it. The best you can do is slow it down, delay it for as long as possible."
The dragon's glowing eyes narrowed slightly as it listened, then it gave a slow nod of agreement, acknowledging the truth in his words.
"Since Anos' world existed, that means other worlds should exist too, right?" he asked. "So, something like a Zanpakutō from Bleach should exist as well. Those weapons basically force their user to bond with their Zanpakutō spirit—which, in your case, would be you. By forming that bond, I wouldn't just connect with you, but with your power itself."
The dragon's eyes narrowed slightly as it processed his words, the faint glow within them shifting. "I see what you're saying…" it rumbled, its tone thoughtful as it sank into deep contemplation.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure that would be enough," he said, his brows furrowing slightly. "For one simple reason—a Zanpakutō's power can't be completely controlled. Maybe something like Ultra Instinct could work? Clearing your mind of everything, reaching that perfect state of instinct and flow might help. Or perhaps Gear Five—being completely free from all limits and expectations. That freedom could allow control through the destruction of all chains that enslave you…."
He paused for a moment, then added, "Or maybe the answer is to fully embody destruction itself—to destroy what you choose, rather than letting the urge consume you."
The young man kept talking, thoughts spilling out as he worked through possibilities aloud. The dragon watched him in silence, a faint smile curling across its scaled face, clearly amused and intrigued by his way of thinking. It wasn't creative, for its nature was destruction and nothing more. So, I would have never thought of what the man before him was thinking.
"Speak your mind," the dragon said once he stopped. "Once you're done, I shall take you to a god—and they will happily grant you wishes."
The words caught the young man off guard, leaving him frozen in surprise.
"What do you mean?" he asked, his confusion clear as he looked up at the massive dragon before him.
The dragon's glowing eyes softened slightly, and its voice lowered to a calm, resonant tone. "My greatest dream in life is not destruction," it said slowly. "It is to explore creation—to see and understand what I was once destined to destroy." The creature's great head bowed, its massive horns dipping low in a gesture of sincerity that felt almost reverent.
"So forgive me," it continued, "for what I truly wish is for you to explore the world in my place. See what I never could. Show me all there is to see."
The young man stood still, stunned once again, unsure how to respond to a being that had once been the embodiment of destruction, asking him to live for discovery.