Divine Power

Cosmo, the power system from Saint Seiya, was a terrifyingly powerful system that could rival the upper limit of the Dragon Ball World. It was also incredibly comprehensive and versatile.

After entering the Sixth Sense realm of Cosmo, one could develop the brain and gain all kinds of psychic abilities. At the same time, Cosmo could directly attack atoms with one’s fists, making it terrifying in both offense and defense.

Even without the enhancement of Saint Cloths, a Saint Seiya burning his Cosmo could unleash devastating blows.

Bai Cangshu watched the reincarnator codenamed Skylark turn and follow Bang and Bomb toward a corner of the shattered district, undisguised greed flashing in his eyes.

Sure enough, there had to be a reason someone who seemed so scatterbrained had survived this long.

"Tsk, Sage, you really are disappointing. I’m about to give up on you~"

Bai Cangshu murmured as if in a daze, then stomped on Sage’s cervical spine once more.

Perhaps because he had become afraid after Bang’s earlier blow, Sage had not even tried to influence or interfere with Skylark’s perception. This lowered Bai Cangshu’s opinion of him even further.

Sage was lifted by one hand. He had become much quieter this time, neither using that ability again nor showing any expression of struggle.

Bai Cangshu lost interest at once. Dragging him along, he sprang into the air with a light tap of his foot.

After bouncing a few times, he rapidly arrived above the city.

He looked down at the city, more than half of which had been swallowed by desert, and sensed from the air that presence which made him tremble for no apparent reason.

That was the target he wished to pursue.

Bang, bang~

Bai Cangshu leaped through the sky and looked down, seeing signs of heroes’ activities in nearly every shattered district.

There were also corpses and blood left behind after battles involving reincarnators or monsters.

Bang’s elder brother, Bomb, was among them as well.

This made Bai Cangshu vaguely realize something. He was currently in the Limit Break Spiral state, and he did not let that flash of Spiritual Perception slip away.

He grabbed Sage. This time, rather than grinding him to death against the wall of air, he spoke.

"You’re the one interfering with this world’s perception of heroes, aren’t you…"

Sage Yu Huaxin looked somewhat weary. The pain of dying repeatedly had left him with a worn-down air. Now, only the certainty that he would not be killed sustained him.

No, something else was supporting him too, but he would not speak of it.

Faced with Mercenary Tao’s question, Sage remained silent.

But Bai Cangshu smiled cruelly and raised one finger.

"You seem to have forgotten that, at this moment, that ability isn’t yours alone."

He then plunged his finger into the throat Bang had sliced open. The intense pain reminded Sage that Mercenary Tao indeed possessed the trait of copying others’ abilities.

Which meant…

As the thought reached that point, he immediately realized something was wrong.

Damn it, I can’t show agreement with his actions, consciousness, thoughts, or words!

But it was already too late. The instant he acknowledged that Bai Cangshu possessed that ability, the Hanged Man Devil Bai Cangshu had copied through a cursed spirit acted like an antenna, exchanging certain information with the Cognitive Devil residing within Sage.

"Next, I’ll get the information I want from your mouth. Heh~"

"Mr. Skylark, that person just now, was he like you too…?"

Charanko hesitated. On one hand, he truly hated those Ability Users who had suddenly appeared in this world and thrown everything into chaos.

A person calling himself Tree Herder was hiding somewhere unknown, creating vast numbers of new Ability Users to harass and destroy cities everywhere.

The Great Cataclysm half a year ago had caused even more irreparable consequences. According to Master Bang, that pitiful ??? was currently battling Tatsumaki the Terror.

But Mr. Skylark was different.

He was kind, righteous, and hated evil.

Since appearing three days ago, Mr. Skylark had already killed roughly seven or eight such Ability Users in two nearby cities.

After hearing Mercenary Tao’s name, Charanko realized he was the hero Miss Fubuki had mentioned.

That was why Charanko held a certain fantasy about Mercenary Tao.

It would be nice if someone that strong was a good person too…

Skylark frowned, unable to understand what Charanko was thinking. He merely nodded and gave a simple reply.

"Yeah, he’s quite famous among us, but… it’s a Fierce Reputation."

"He may have killed more of our kind than I have."

He discreetly used the term "our kind" to avoid directly referring to reincarnators.

Skylark greatly disliked those reincarnators who entered mission worlds, freely indulged their desires, and turned everything into a mess.

He did not care about arguments over whether Plot Characters were truly human, nor did he care about philosophical questions of what made someone human.

His sense of good and evil was very simple. Those who did good were good people; those who did evil were bad people.

He would help good people and beat bad people!

Because he was… an Ally of Justice!

Upon hearing Skylark’s words, Charanko thought, Wouldn’t that be even better?

But before he could speak, Bang stopped him.

"Enough, Charanko. Mercenary Tao is different from you."

"He… is probably more like that guy~"

Bang’s tone carried a touch of wistfulness, along with helplessness at not wanting to say more.

Charanko immediately realized his teacher was referring to Garou, the greatest prodigy in the dojo who had nevertheless embarked on the path of Hero Hunt.

The moment he thought of Garou, that powerful, sinister feeling surged into Charanko’s heart again. He lowered his head slightly, his expression changing.

But neither of the two people walking ahead noticed.

Charanko suddenly thought that if he possessed Garou’s talent, he should be able to help Master Bang completely revitalize the dojo.

Then, whether he became a hero or a Martial Arts Grandmaster, he would certainly be able to do better.

The next moment, a brilliant light suddenly appeared before Charanko.

He stared around in horror and discovered that everything had vanished.

Mr. Skylark, Master Bang, even Z-City—all of them had disappeared.

"You desire that power…"

A majestic voice rang out from the sky. Charanko raised his head as the white radiance gradually dimmed.

An incomparably enormous head emerged from within the light.

The nearly thousand-meter-tall head frightened Charanko into retreating again and again, but the figure grew larger and larger.

Until it completely filled his vision, leaving him unable to see anything else.

"You desire… that power!"

The voice rang out again.

Within Charanko, his yearning for strength and talent could no longer be suppressed. It blazed fiercely.

Then Charanko felt heaven and earth shaking as he began flying into the sky.

He looked down and saw only an incomparably massive palm beneath his feet.

"What is this… Is it a god?!"

"I shall grant you… power!"

As the voice spoke, white light began pouring into Charanko’s body.

In an instant, Charanko felt his entire body nearly filled with power. The unprecedented sensation caused even his mind to begin drifting out of control.

—

Bai Cangshu looked at the white glow in the desert below, when a stabbing pain suddenly pulsed through his right hand.

The curse mark left behind by Inari Ōkami shone brightly.

The next moment, the Fox Divine Envoy appeared again, its scarlet eyes fixed upon Bai Cangshu.

"Reincarnator, I wish to make a deal with you~"

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