The conversation with Kuroka left a strange aftertaste, similar to the feeling of an unfinished chess game where pieces froze a step away from the endgame. It didn't cause irritation, but rather awakened cold, analytical curiosity, which was much more familiar. Jin's blunt refusal of neutrality was met not with argument or persuasion, but with a light, almost indifferent smile. As if his decision was an unimportant, pre-calculated move in someone else's much more complex game.
When he coldly and directly refused her offer to "not interfere," he expected anything: persuasion, threats, seduction attempts, maybe even a sneak attack. These were standard moves in the arsenal of those like her—cunning, calculating predators used to getting their way. But Kuroka did none of that. She didn't argue. She showed neither disappointment nor anger. She just... smiled her lazy cat smile, shrugged, and with ease, as if discussing the weather and not the coming apocalypse, said: "Well, pity. See you then, Izayoi-kun." And left.
This thought didn't anger him but intrigued him. The Khaos Brigade, Vali's goals, their interest in Fenrir, whose fangs, rumor had it, could wound possessors of "divinity"—all were links in the same chain. But the key element that interested Jin wasn't their fuss with Ragnarok. He was interested in the one who was aware of all these events and pulling the strings. Azazel. Schemer, collector of gears. If anyone could shed light on his own existence, it was him.
And for that, he needed to be at the center of events, where now, on the eve of the Summit, all key figures were gathering. The plan was simple: get to Gremory territory, use them as a starting point, and act according to circumstances from there.
"Unfortunately, this time you're staying home," Jin said goodbye to the only remaining pet.
He took out a smooth obsidian crystal from his pocket, a gift from Sirzechs. Thinking of the Lucifer residence, Jin squeezed the artifact in his palm and poured a fraction of his energy into it. The world around blurred. Familiar sensations were replaced by a whirl of pure, raw displacement, as if he were pulled through the eye of the universe's needle, turned inside out, and reassembled.
The landing was unexpectedly rough. Under his feet was not polished marble, but sharp, cold stone. Jin opened his eyes and suppressed a curse. He stood on the edge of a rocky cliff, and around him, as far as the eye could see, stretched a wild, primordial mountain landscape.
The air was thin and cool, tasting of ozone and dust. A purple sky, across which clouds the color of molten gold floated, oppressed with its boundless, alien beauty. This was the Underworld, but clearly not its civilized part.
Far below, on the horizon, he saw the reason for his mistake. A gigantic, barely shimmering dome of energy covered a colossal territory. He was outside, on the very border.
'Cunning Sirzechs,' Jin thought with a crooked smirk. The crystal turned out not to be a universal key, but a ticket with restrictions. It gave access to the demon world, but not to its heart. The Devil Lord retained control, not giving an outsider the opportunity to appear wherever he pleased. Well, that was even more interesting. The front door is for guests and petitioners. Real players find other ways.
Sweeping his gaze over the harsh landscape, he chose the highest peak rising towards the purple sky like the fang of an ancient beast. A second of concentration, and his body turned into a blurred silhouette. It wasn't like running; rather, a series of explosive, controlled pushes that carried him up sheer cliffs with ease contradicting the laws of physics. He pushed off invisible ledges, flew over chasms, using every protrusion as a springboard. In a few moments, the piercing wind of the Underworld was already ruffling his blond hair at the very top of the world.
The view that opened up made even him, satiated with power and miracles, freeze for a moment. Below him, inside the protective sphere, lay the lands of the Gremory clan. And it wasn't just a kingdom. It was a work of art. A gigantic territory structured with mathematical precision resembled a honeycomb. Huge hexagonal sectors, separated by thin, glowing lines of energy barriers, stretched to the very horizon.
Life buzzed inside each "cell." In one spread a futuristic city with elegant towers reaching for the sky. In another greened a forest with trees whose foliage shimmered from silver to indigo. in a third sparkled a lake, smooth as obsidian. Jin even distinguished industrial areas where pillars of pure, concentrated magic rose from pipes instead of smoke. All this was connected by a complex network of roads and floating bridges. Order brought to the absolute. A demonstration not just of wealth, but of power over reality itself.
He chose a direction—towards the central, largest sector, where the capital of the domain was apparently located, and prepared for descent. But before he could make a move, his heightened senses caught a sharp change in the atmosphere.
Pressure. Invisible heaviness fell on his shoulders, and the air around thickened, saturated with ancient, primordial might. The silence of the mountains was torn by a growing hum, resembling the roar of an approaching storm.
From behind a distant peak, a dark dot appeared. It grew with frightening speed, turning into a gigantic silhouette flying straight at him. It was a dragon.
The creature was of colossal size; each flap of its giant wings generated a hurricane wind that tore stones from the peak. Its scales, of a deep purple color, shimmered in the light like polished amethyst. All over its body, from the head crowned with massive horns to the tip of the tail, wound golden veins that pulsed softly, as if molten gold flowed inside. The dragon's eyes burned like two suns; ancient wisdom and power capable of crushing worlds splashed in them.
The aura emanating from it was overwhelming. It wasn't malice or aggression, but pure, concentrated might, a force equal to an element. The dragon didn't attack. It noticed the intruder on the border of its domains and was now flying to meet him.
Jin stood motionless, his body tensed. Inside, in response to this display of power, his own predator awakened. Blood pounded in his temples, and a cold, anticipatory smirk appeared on his lips. Before him was an opponent worthy of attention.
...
The wind on the peak died down, replaced by oppressive, ringing silence. The gigantic dragon landed on a neighboring cliff with grace unthinkable for its size. The stone block under its paws cracked protestingly, crumbling into gravel, but withstood the colossal weight. The creature showed no blind rage of a beast; its gaze, resembling two lakes of molten gold, was filled with ancient wisdom and cold assessment. It wasn't just looking—it was studying Jin.
"You are not a demon," the dragon rumbled, and its voice, deep and rolling, seemed to come from the very bowels of the mountain. There was no threat in it, only a statement of fact and an imperious tone that brooked no lies. "Your soul is not marked by the seal of the Underworld. But neither is the light of Heaven in you. Who are you, stranger, and for what purpose have you stepped onto the borders of the Gremory lands?"
Jin met its gaze without a shadow of fear. On the contrary, cold, predatory excitement flared in his violet eyes. After weeks of apathy and internal torment, this moment felt like a breath of clean, icy air.
"Let's say I'm a tourist who got lost due to a poor-quality map," he answered with a lazy smirk. "And now, if you don't mind, I'll continue my way. I have an appointment with a certain experiment lover."
The dragon blinked slowly, its golden eyes narrowed. It sensed not only the audacity in the youth's words but also the immense power hidden behind it, which did not obey familiar laws.
"These mountains are guardians of peace. And my duty is not to let pass those whose intentions are obscure," the dragon's voice became firmer. "Either you name yourself and the purpose of your visit, or you turn back. There is no third option."
"There's always a third option," Jin lightly rolled his neck, and a quiet crack rang out in the silence. "You just won't like it."
It was a challenge. Direct and undisguised. The dragon asked no more questions. It spread its gigantic wings, and a shadow covered the gorge. A deep breath shook its mighty chest, the golden veins on the purple scales flared brighter, and a stream of blinding, purple flame gushed from its gaping maw. It wasn't just a jet of fire; it was a roaring storm of pure dragon energy capable of turning a granite mountain into a puddle of molten slag in an instant.
The fire crashed down on the peak where Jin stood. But instead of the expected explosion and screams of agony, something unthinkable happened. The flame, reaching the youth, seemed to hit an invisible wall. It didn't explode, didn't reflect—it just... vanished. Streams of pure destructive energy dissolved a meter away from him, annihilated upon contact with the field emitted by his essence. "Code: Unknown" ruthlessly erased the very supernatural concept of this attack.
Jin stood at the epicenter of the raging but absolutely harmless to him flame, and only mild disappointment was written on his face.
"And is that all the Dragon King is capable of?" his voice cut through the roar of the fire. "I expected more."
The dragon's golden eyes widened in shock. It stopped the attack. What it had just seen contradicted all laws of magic and nature.
"My flame... it..." it rumbled in amazement.
"It doesn't work," Jin finished for him. "My turn."
He bolted from his spot. His body turned into an afterimage rushing down the sheer cliff. He wasn't running—he was falling, controlling the trajectory with inhuman precision. The dragon, recovering from shock, roared and struck the cliff with a mighty claw, trying to throw the insolent one down along with tons of stone.
The canyon wall collapsed, but Jin was already elsewhere. Using falling blocks as steps, he jumped from one to another, rapidly closing the distance. The dragon beat its wings, rising higher and breathing fire again, this time not in a continuous stream, but in short, concentrated volleys that exploded, turning rocks to dust.
Jin moved in this hell with the grace of a predator. He slid along vertical walls, dodged fireballs; his speed was so high it seemed he was teleporting from place to place. In one moment, he pushed off the canyon wall, soared into the air, and crashed down on the dragon from above, his fist aimed straight at the massive head.
The dragon instinctively put forward a scale-covered paw the size of a small house. Impact!
A deafening sound rang out, like a mountain splitting. A shockwave rolled through the gorge, causing new rockfalls. The dragon was thrown back several meters, its paw went numb from the monstrous force of the blow, and thin cracks appeared on several diamond-hard scales. Jin was thrown back by the recoil, but grouping in the air, he landed on a narrow rock ledge like a cat.
"Take a hit pretty well, lizard," he smirked crookedly.
The dragon roared in rage and pain. It no longer tried to burn him. It switched to physical force. A mighty tail crowned with bone spikes cut through the air with a whistle, aiming at the ledge where Jin stood. The blow was so strong that the rock simply shattered into pieces. But Jin was already elsewhere. He ran up the sheer wall, and then, reaching sufficient height, jumped onto the dragon's back, landing between the broad wings.
He delivered a series of quick, crushing blows to the spine. Each blow echoed with a dull, heavy boom, as if striking a giant bell. The dragon howled, its body arched in an attempt to throw off the annoying parasite. It began to spin in the air, smash against rocks, trying to crush Jin.
It was a mad dance of death and destruction. Mountains trembled, the gorge changed its outlines. Jin held on tight, continuing to strike, feeling the indestructible scales crack under his fists. Finally, the dragon, realizing it couldn't shake him off, decided on a desperate step. It folded its wings and plummeted down like a stone into the narrowest part of the canyon, intending to crush Jin between its body and the rocks.
"Too late!" Jin shouted and at the last moment pushed off the dragon's back, soaring upward, while the giant carcass crashed into the bottom of the gorge with a deafening roar, raising a cloud of dust and stones.
The dragon struggled to rise; its movements became slower. The fight was exhausting it, while Jin seemed not to feel fatigue. The Purple King realized that brute force wouldn't take this opponent. Something more was needed.
It raised its head to the sky, and its body was again enveloped in a glow, but this time different. Not furious flame, but a dense, vibrating aura of pure magical energy. The air around it began to distort.
"You are strong, stranger. Stronger than anyone I have met in centuries," it rumbled. "But you faced not just a beast. You faced the power of the Underworld itself!"
A sphere began to form between its horns. At first small as a spark, it grew with every second, absorbing surrounding magic, condensing into a pulsating ball of dark purple energy streaked with golden lightning. It wasn't just an attack. It was a concentrated cataclysm capable of wiping the entire gorge off the face of the earth.
Jin, who had landed on the opposite slope, watched this performance without fear. He felt the colossal power emanating from the sphere. His passive defense might not withstand such a thing. That meant he had to act.
He didn't wait for the dragon to finish. He stomped on the ground. A visible shockwave went from his foot, and a huge slab of rock on which he stood broke off from the mountain and began to slowly slide down. Without waiting for it to gain speed, Jin grabbed the multi-ton block with both hands and with inhuman effort hurled it straight at the dragon.
The stone projectile flew, rotating like a giant meteorite. The dragon, still concentrating its attack, couldn't dodge. The energy sphere, already reaching the size of a small hill, collided with the flying rock.
The explosion was soundless but blinding. The world drowned in purple light for a moment. Magical energy and kinetic force annihilated each other at the point of impact. When the light faded, not a speck of dust remained of the rock, and the sphere had halved in size but continued to hang in the air, crackling unstably. The dragon was exhausted; it had put too much strength into this strike.
This was exactly what Jin was waiting for. He was already moving. Using the shockwave as cover, he crossed the gorge in a split second. He appeared right in front of the stunned dragon, who didn't expect such speed after such an effort.
Time seemed to slow down. The dragon saw the youth's fist approaching. It saw the muscles on his arm tense, saw his violet eyes burning with cold, ruthless fire. It tried to raise a paw for defense, but its body reacted too slowly.
The blow landed precisely on the jaw. There was no deafening crash. Only the dry, sharp crack of breaking bone and scale. All the colossal kinetic energy contained in this single blow passed through the dragon's body. Its golden eyes widened in shock for a moment, and then slowly rolled back. The giant body went limp, and the Purple Dragon King, one of the most ancient guardians of the Underworld, began to slowly, like a felled ancient tree, topple to the side.
It crashed with a titanic roar, making the earth shudder one last time. Silence hung over the gorge, broken only by the whistle of the wind.
Jin stood over the defeated giant, his chest heaving heavily. Blood appeared on his knuckles—his own. He looked at his hand, then at the motionless carcass of the dragon. Satisfaction from a good fight and the opportunity to release stress appeared on his face.