The dark golden interface slowly unfolded in Eriyi's eyes, spreading open like an ancient scroll.
Her gaze lingered on the items displayed within the system store.
The emptiness that once filled her eyes gradually faded, replaced by faint curiosity and fragile excitement. A soft light appeared in her pupils as she browsed, moving from Harry Potter to Naruto, then from God of Death to Aquaman.
She lifted her finger and searched specifically for the Shadow of Aquaman.
Each item caused subtle emotional ripples within her. Small sparks of joy accumulated one after another, and before she realized it, a gentle smile appeared on her face as she continued shopping.
If her brother, Shuichi Gen, had seen her at this moment, he would have been horrified.
In all the years he had known her, he had never once seen Uesugi Eriyi smile like this. To him, she had always resembled a lifeless doll.
Eriyi's life had been confined to a single space, sealed behind dozens of reinforced, blast-proof doors.
It was not because she was precious or noble enough to deserve such protection.
It was because she had been a monster since birth.
Only through strict isolation could others feel even a basic sense of safety.
Her entire world was one room.
A beautiful room, at least by any external standard.
Ancient sunken wood furniture released a faint sandalwood fragrance. The wooden floors gleamed under careful polishing. Long, winding corridors stretched through what was essentially an entire old aristocratic estate.
Such a residence, in a city like Tokyo where every inch of land was priceless, was beyond imagination. Even if most people sold everything they had, including their own bodies, they could never afford to live there.
But Eriyi had no concept of value or luxury.
She knew nothing of the real world.
Her understanding of reality was stitched together from animations, games, and films.
In her worldview, pirates and marines clashed daily on the high seas, wielding Devil Fruit powers. After death, their souls drifted naturally into the Soul Society.
As for the real world, the most powerful forces were secret organizations similar to the great ninja villages like Konoha or Sunagakure.
And in a place called Japan, terrifying giant monsters often appeared to destroy cities, only to be defeated each time by Ultraman arriving at the last moment.
Eriyi knew she was a monster.
But she was not as enormous as Golza, nor as grotesque as Gigera's Flower, nor capable of endless evolution like the Chaos Virus.
Those were great monsters.
She was only a small one.
Shuichi Gen liked Ultraman and often brought her DVDs to watch.
To others, these special effects films seemed childish.
To Eriyi, they felt disturbingly real.
Every time Ultraman destroyed a monster with beams of light, she felt the same fear as if she herself were being erased.
So when her eyes stopped on an item in the system store titled "The Trial of Rejedo Ultraman," her finger froze.
A deep, familiar fear surged through her chest.
Her body suddenly felt weak, as if she had already been struck by an Ultraman's finishing move.
In truth, ever since the system extracted her Dragon bloodline, Eriyi had become an ordinary human.
Compared to her former strength, when tearing through blast-proof doors had been effortless, she was now unbearably fragile.
She simply had not noticed it until now.
Only fear made it clear.
Eriyi slowly lowered herself into a crouch.
She had never felt this powerless before.
Not even when she had been restrained on a bed with iron rings and injected with suppressants meant to restrain her dragon blood.
In her mind, the conclusion was simple.
She must have already been hit by an Ultraman's light ray.
This day had finally come.
Perhaps wanting to face the end sooner rather than later, Eriyi gently tapped on "The Trial of Rejedo Ultraman."
This was not an item meant for purchase.
Unlike other items that directly granted abilities, this was only a trial.
And it cost 1,000 points.
Almost no one would ever buy it.
Eriyi did.
She did not understand the value of points. She did not know she only had 3,000 to begin with, or that buying it would consume a third of everything she owned.
The purchase confirmation window appeared.
She tapped again, softly.
When the interface displayed "Purchase Successful," Eriyi slowly sat down on the floor, hugged her knees, and curled into herself.
She reached out and gathered her toys.
Eriyi's Duck, Rilakkuma, Hello Kitty.
Even the Ultraman and monster figurines she had stuffed into her toy train earlier were pulled into her arms.
These toys were her entire world.
She wanted to take them with her when she died.
So that when she arrived in the Soul Society, she would not be alone.
Malrick floated high above, suspended in the void.
His attention was split between observing Lu Mingfei's household scene, the so-called Dragon King returning only to be sent out by his aunt to buy soy sauce, and analyzing the Dragon bloodline data collected by the system.
The Dragon Race was not physically powerful.
Even the strongest Black King could not survive a nuclear explosion through raw strength alone.
What made them terrifying was their authority.
They possessed the power to interfere with the rules of the world itself.
The Four Dragon Kings governed Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire.
The White King represented the spiritual domain.
The Black King ruled over all authority, capable of restarting the world and reversing cause and effect.
In this world, even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya could overwhelm the Dragon Race with ease.
But to truly restart the world, even Ōtsutsuki God Shibai would fall short.
Malrick collected Dragon blood not merely to enrich his genetic archive, but to study their authority over causality.
He was accustomed to multitasking.
He was calmly watching Lu Mingfei attempt to show off a Devil Fruit, only to be scolded and sent out to buy soy sauce, when his expression suddenly changed.
"Someone bought the Trial of Rejedo Ultraman?"
This item had been added to the system store almost as an afterthought.
Malrick had never expected anyone to purchase it.
Points were precious.
A C-rank bloodline yielded only 20 points, B-rank 50, A-rank 100, and even S-rank only 500 to 3,000.
And yet someone had spent 1,000 points on a mere trial.
For a moment, Malrick thought of Shuichi Gen.
That stubborn man who once tried to sell sunscreen might actually do something like that.
But when Malrick activated his newly acquired causality tracing ability and followed the thread back to its source, he paused.
It was not Shuichi Gen.
It was Uesugi Eriyi.
"So it's her," Malrick murmured, surprised.
After a brief moment of thought, he reached into his coat and removed a pendant resembling Rejedo Ultraman's chest timer.
It was a transformation device he had crafted personally.
A cosmic-level manifestation remained linked to him at all times, maintaining perfect synchronization.
The device was named Great Cosmic Will.
Silver and violet light flickered.
Malrick transformed into a beam of light, crossed thousands of kilometers in an instant, and arrived at the Genji Heavy Industries building.
Inside the room sealed behind countless reinforced doors, Eriyi watched as pure, endless light surged from every corner, completely engulfing her vision.
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