He coughed, blood flowing from his mouth, and sneered. A cruel laugh, devoid of fear, that made Bakuzan shudder. This laugh, insolent and provocative, defied pain and death, confirming that this doppelgänger was far more than he appeared.
The tyrant's laughter echoed through the cave, resounding like a morbid echo against the stone walls. Bakuzan fixed his hard gaze on the floating figure.
— What makes you laugh? he asked, his voice cold as steel.
The tyrant suddenly stopped, a nostalgic smile stretching across his lips.
— Alright, I give up… I'm well aware I can't match you…
He slowly raised his eyes, his red pupils reflecting the glow of Bakuzan's yellow eyes.
— I don't know how long I've been in that seal… But I no longer want to play at being the main Niyus…
— Play at… what? Bakuzan asked, frowning.
The tyrant lowered his head, his nostalgic smile turning into a veil of melancholy.
— Originally, I was just an avatar of Niyus. Before… Niyus was an extremely powerful deviant, but with limited mythical knowledge. When we faced the demon Tatam, we were separated…
He dived into memories, his voice calmer but heavy with gravity.
— Tatam launched a devastating attack. Using Niyus's essence, he could create countless copies of him across all space-times — past, present, future… every possible dimension. It was deadly: if a single copy died, all copies, including the true Niyus, would perish.
He inhaled deeply, letting his words weigh on the air.
— But Niyus had not said his last word. Every Niyus created by Tatam, containing the true essence, was linked to him. He infused his aura into each of us, making us powerful… all capable of surpassing Tatam.
He shrugged, a cold smile on his face.
— I am Niyus⁵, the most powerful of the avatars after Niyus². Although each of us was created with different moral values and personalities, I posed a problem for Niyus. If we rebelled, it could alter the real one… Because we are alike, but our objectives differ.
The tyrant crossed his arms, fixing Bakuzan with a piercing look.
— Niyus² warned us: there is a Niyus above all, the one true. We were only fictions to him. Any rebellion would have been annihilated by this supreme Niyus. After our talks, we received different missions and were separated.
— Our task seemed simple: acquire mythical knowledge to complete that of the true Niyus. But although we share the same essence, our personalities differ. That's why I chose my own objectives…
The tyrant smiled, a cruel smirk tinting his lips.
— I met Tehailor… a vampire with immense mythical knowledge. He had a manor filled with at least sixty girls. At first, I thought he was merely a polygamist… But it was far more sinister. Tehailor was evil, cruel, a killer…
He lowered his gaze, revealing a mixture of anger and contained horror.
— Monahika… one of the girls, revealed everything to me. They were there only for a ritual. The mystical creatures absorbed their life energy, then possessed them to attack the neighboring village… and take the men's energy.
Bakuzan paled, clenching his fists instinctively.
— What? Taking the men's energy?
— Yes, confirmed the tyrant, his tone calm but icy. They were mere instruments… and I was there to watch. To learn.
A heavy silence fell in the cave. The two men, so similar and yet so different, measured each other, each feeling the weight of centuries, betrayals, and contained powers.
Niyus⁵ slowly nodded, his glowing red gaze fixed on Bakuzan.
— Those mythical creatures… they weren't mere tools. They are succubi. I'll let you imagine how they absorbed the men's energy in the village…
A heavy silence fell, as if the cave itself held its breath. Then he continued:
— Monahika led me to TOKIMÛ, the serpent of the sacred temple of the Monitors. Created from the concept of Guardian of the Green Earth, it should have protected the balance… but Tehailor corrupted it. Maybe that's where everything tipped…
Bakuzan frowned, his deep voice resonating in the stone:
— The serpent of the sacred temple of the Monitors? You mean the Monitors? They are just great mortals… but transcendent within the sibylline worlds, where the causality of silence reigns…
Niyus⁵ blinked, surprised:
— What? You… you know them?
Bakuzan nodded, jaw tight:
— Exactly. They are mortals frozen in their pride. They will never reach full transcendence of causality because they refuse to bond with the Great Mythical Beings.
A slight smile appeared on Niyus⁵'s face.
— To be honest, I don't fully understand what you say… but I feel it. You have reached a mythological level far beyond the comprehension of my own world. I'd like to learn more… but first, let me finish my story.
— After TOKIMÛ… after seeing what Tehailor had done, I understood that everything we thought was ordered, balanced… was actually a farce. A gigantic manipulation orchestrated by forces beyond anything I imagined.
He paused, his red eyes blazing in the darkness.
— And that's when I decided… I would never again be just an avatar. That I would no longer be under the sway of Niyus² or the true Niyus. I would forge my own rules… and stand against anyone who tried to reduce me to a copy.
Bakuzan felt the gravity of his words. Even his father, even the original Niyus, might never have dared to say those words with such certainty. Bakuzan's blood boiled, not with anger… but with a complex blend of recognition and fear.
— Continue, he said simply, his voice low but firm. I want to hear the whole truth.
Niyus⁵ continued, his voice resonating in the cave like a sinister echo:
— I searched, dug relentlessly… and understood that with the help of a great mythical creature, I could rebuild myself, recreate myself from scratch. Cut off from the true Niyus's influence… become a free, autonomous avatar…
He paused, letting silence weigh. Then resumed, his blazing gaze fixed on Bakuzan:
— And that's where I found Zramë, the god of destruction. I prepared, studied what was needed before summoning him. Once in his presence… I begged him to free me from the true Niyus.
He let a heavy silence linger, a cruel smile appearing on his lips:
— And in exchange? Well… I offered him Niyus's life itself.
Bakuzan's eyes widened, teeth clenched, struggling not to let his anger explode.
Niyus⁵ continued, his voice vibrating with a mix of pride and regret:
— That triggered a titanic battle: Zramë against Niyus, Lingyin, and Jin Muleo. Zramë, invisible to their eyes, dominated them… but everything went too fast…
He grabbed his head, as if overwhelmed by old nightmares:
— Introducing gods… was madness. Mü Thanatos arrived… she didn't look pleased. After her threat, I fled. Niyus was dead or not… it no longer interested me. All I wanted… was to become an autonomous avatar.
A silence fell, broken only by Niyus⁵'s hoarse breath:
— Some time later, Niyus was still alive… but diminished. No longer a transcendent deviant… just a super mortal barely perceptible… like me. So I thought… why not dominate him and become the main Niyus?
He lifted his head and fixed Bakuzan straight in the eyes, his scarlet pupils blazing:
— That's how it all began. All the carnage you know… the tyrant Killer Man… everything else.
Bakuzan condensed his shadow, a black and oppressive flow crossing Niyus⁵'s body. The tyrant spat blood, his red eyes blazing with pain.
— Hahaha… I understand your anger… you are free to kill me if it suits you… but…
His sentence was cut off. Suddenly, a massive flow of information poured into the tyrant's mind, revealing in a moment all the events since his seal. The war, manipulations, losses, deaths… all the chaos he had left behind, condensed in a torrent of images and memories he had never known. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, everything stopped.
Bakuzan withdrew his mana. Niyus⁵'s wound slowly closed, but his eyes remained wide, trembling.
— So… so that's… all that… happened… since I was sealed? he whispered, his voice broken.
Bakuzan looked at him, silent. In the shadow of his gaze lay the full gravity of judgment: he had just shown the tyrant the real weight of his actions, and the tyrant finally understood the extent of the chaos his stubbornness to become the true Niyus had caused.
Niyus⁵ remained frozen, his breath short, his body still trembling from the pain inflicted by Bakuzan. His red eyes, once proud and arrogant, now reflected terror and disbelief. All the chaos he had left behind… the lives destroyed, the worlds plunged into shadow… he now saw it all in its entirety, unfiltered, without possible justification.
— It's… it's… he murmured, voice broken, trembling, unable to find words. Everything I did… I thought… I thought I acted for my freedom… but… but…
Bakuzan stepped forward, his aura of shadow and light vibrating around him, imposing and silently overwhelming.
— Yes… you thought… repeated Bakuzan calmly but icily, each word striking like a hammer blow. You thought you were the main Niyus, free from everything… but all you sowed was suffering and death. And now, you finally realize what your stubbornness has cost.
Niyus⁵ instinctively stepped back, feeling Bakuzan's overwhelming power. His hands trembled, his entire body seemed ready to collapse under the intensity of that gaze. The fear he had always ignored, that he believed unreachable by avatars, now consumed him.
— So… so I have no more chance… he murmured, his words tinged with despair.
Bakuzan knelt slightly, placing his face level with Niyus⁵'s, and in this heavy silence, he said:
— No… you have no chance against me. But I am not here to kill your essence. I am here to show you… what the chaos you created truly caused. And now… it's time to bear responsibility for all of it.
Bakuzan's breath transformed into a wave of dark and luminous mana, enveloping Niyus⁵ from all sides, saturating his body and mind. He could feel, live every minute of the Killer Man war, every cry of the innocent, every world erased by his ambitions. Every tear, every scream… everything condensed around him like an unbearable weight.
— I… I… stammered Niyus⁵, unable to defend himself, unable to look away.
Bakuzan stepped forward again, and with icy precision, fixed his gaze on Niyus⁵. Isissis's yellow eyes locked into the tyrant's red pupils, as if the entire universe condensed in this moment, revealing the truth Niyus⁵ had always refused to see: his freedom had never been an excuse, his autonomy had never been innocent.
The tyrant staggered, falling to his knees, unable to move, unable to breathe normally. His hands grasped at the air around him as if to hold the weight of the information Bakuzan had infused. His entire world had collapsed, and he knew it.
Bakuzan stood up, letting the silence settle, imposing, crushing. Then, with a slow and precise gesture, he threw Niyus⁵ into the center of the cave, where the ground cracked beneath the condensed power of his presence.
— There… said Bakuzan finally, his voice deeper than thunder. That's what your stubbornness has done… and now… you will pay the price of your pride.
Niyus⁵, still kneeling, eyes wide and trembling, murmured:
— Bakuzan… I… I understand…
Bakuzan smiled slightly, but a hard, merciless smile.
— Then listen well… because this is the last lesson you will receive. You are no longer a free Niyus, you are no longer the autonomous avatar you thought you were… from now on, you exist only because I allow it, and every breath you take must serve to repair the chaos you sowed.
An oppressive silence settled. Niyus⁵, broken, finally understood: his rebellion was over. Bakuzan's power was not only physical but moral, total.