The So-Called Kings

Bai Cangshu’s sudden offer of a chance at "resurrection" nearly sent the deathly still Consciousness Space into turmoil once more.

Countless yin spirits yearning for resurrection grew frantic.

Even Satoru Gojo and Uchiha Madara cared greatly about the word resurrection.

Yet the two with the strongest desires were undoubtedly Millennium Worm and White Face, who had once been Reincarnators.

Precisely because they had been Reincarnators and witnessed the miracles of countless powers did they understand how difficult resurrection was. Even in the Infinite Dimensional Space, which possessed nearly limitless kinds of power, Reincarnators were still as fragile as scraps of paper.

Moreover, compared to ordinary Plot Characters or ordinary people from the real world, Reincarnators were even more humble and fragile.

The instant Reincarnators underwent informatization upon entering the Space, they had in fact become assets of the Space.

When a Reincarnator died, the Space reclaimed that information—or rewarded it to other Reincarnators in the form of Scarlet Drop Cards.

Thus, value was transferred between Reincarnators. The true power system of the Space—the hierarchy—had been built upon this transfer of information.

Resurrection in the conventional sense could not work on dead Reincarnators, because even their souls became a form of information and were reclaimed by the Space.

However, because White Face and Millennium Worm had been killed by Mercenary Tao’s special ability, their souls had instead been extracted and preserved.

Now, faced with the dripping black mud, neither could contain their wild joy.

They wanted to live. They wanted to be resurrected!

That impulse nearly made even someone as strange and arrogant as White Face lower her head and kiss Mercenary Tao’s feet.

Satoru Gojo watched the man in the black trench coat, who had always followed behind him and remained neither warm nor cold aside from providing some information, step forward eagerly now.

"Mr. Mercenary Tao, please resurrect me. I will form a mercenary squad spanning both the real world and the Reincarnation Space for you, clearing away every obstacle in your path."

"Furthermore, I possess intelligence and connections within several top-tier gatherings. As long as I am resurrected, that value will also…"

Millennium Worm had lost his composure somewhat. Afraid that Satoru Gojo and the others would get ahead of him, he spoke urgently, only to receive Bai Cangshu’s mocking smile in return.

He saw the man seated upon the Throne of the Heart in midair. One hand held the petite White Face, while the other rested on the throne. The eyes looking down at him held only lofty indifference, without the slightest sign of being moved by him.

Millennium Worm’s heart went cold, while White Face curled her lips and revealed her chillingly white teeth. She had a fang on each side, and her face was delicate and petite, so her smile carried an especially mocking, teasing air.

"Mercenaries… Ha~ What an idiot."

White Face instinctively mocked Millennium Worm. That was simply her personality. She had been exceptionally intelligent since childhood, precocious, and considered herself a special human being blessed with extraordinary talent.

Completely unlike those mortals destined to live mediocre lives.

Even after entering the Infinite Dimensional Space, she had remained calm. After surviving her first trial mission in a somewhat panicked state, she swiftly gathered intelligence and began extensively analyzing the original plots of various Derivative Worlds, searching for loopholes and special strategies.

Her completion rate rose rapidly on her second mission.

After White Face rapidly improved herself, she caught the Sage’s attention. After being recruited, she drew the notice of Lord Shiyu—who had not yet become a Sovereign—after merely two or three missions, and was awarded a card.

White Face was an excellent judge of people. With one glance, she could tell that Mercenary Tao was likewise someone exceptional. Trying to negotiate with such a person using a mercenary squad, connections, or influence was utterly pointless.

White Face forcefully turned her head, her spirit body’s jaw nearly crushed by Mercenary Tao’s excessively powerful hand.

"Didn’t you want to know the secrets of cards and the hierarchy? I can tell you everything, even more hidden rumors about the Space…"

"Do you know about the existence above Supreme Experts?"

Bai Cangshu gave a low exclamation and no longer paid attention to Millennium Worm, whose value was insufficient. He pulled White Face’s small face close before him.

"Above Supreme Experts are the so-called Kings?"

White Face frowned, then realized that rumors said Black King Society members had entered the One Piece World during that incident, slaughtering vast numbers of Reincarnators. Mercenary Tao had successfully returned, and people had assumed he had simply been lucky enough not to encounter any Black King Society members.

But now, it seemed that Mercenary Tao had witnessed the existence of Black King Society members and still survived.

"You saw the Black King and still managed to return alive?!"

White Face’s pupils shifted as she nearly suspected she had misjudged Mercenary Tao.

Black King Society was an extremely peculiar group. The conditions behind its emergence were unknown, as was the reason for its initial birth.

All that was known was that when Lord Shiyu entered the Space, Black King Society already had three members. Now, it had as many as seven.

Most Black King Society members came from Derivative Worlds with an exceptionally large number of worldlines. Under the influence of vast numbers of Reincarnators or other plot factions, those worlds had been completely destroyed.

The collapse of countless worldlines and timelines caused the power of innumerable World Wills to lose their vessels, while massive amounts of information began to crowd and compress together.

In the end, they combined in a form that had yet to be clearly understood, giving birth to the Black King.

This was Sovereign Eternal Destiny’s conjecture.

Due to the attention of countless World Wills and the collapse of enormous amounts of information, every Black King possessed power far beyond all expectations.

They wielded overwhelming strength that completely surpassed the scale of the worlds from which they originated.

Modern Reincarnators found it difficult to contend with such beings.

Furthermore, the information these people had accumulated was too immense. For unknown reasons, they had also been acknowledged by the Space and became existences similar to Reincarnators.

They could leave their original worlds and enter all manner of other worlds.

Every appearance of a Black King was accompanied by the deaths of countless Reincarnators.

These Kings showed absolutely no mercy toward bloodthirsty Reincarnators. Aside from the dwindling group of idealists within the Space, few Reincarnators survived.

How could a man like Mercenary Tao, whom both eyewitnesses and rumors within the Space had nearly unanimously labeled a madman and a savage, escape from the Black King’s hands…

Slap. Slap.

White Face’s thoughts were interrupted. She saw Mercenary Tao teasingly patting her cheeks again and again, as though playing with a novel toy.

"Don’t think about things that have nothing to do with you. Keep using that clever little head of yours to show me all the information…"

Bai Cangshu read White Face’s thoughts without any hindrance. White Face froze as she realized this, instinctively trying to empty her mind through mental control to avoid the mind-reading, only to immediately feel dizzy as she was lifted upside down and shaken a few times.

The humiliation of being completely treated as a toy nearly caused White Face’s spirit body to collapse.

The next moment, a strange mental force erupted directly from White Face’s spirit body, making it ripple like dough.

"You…"

White Face tried to maintain her anger, but in her eyes, Mercenary Tao’s appearance became increasingly perfect, while the resistance in the self being held in his hand grew weaker and weaker.

"How despicable~"

She had clearly meant to speak angrily, yet her voice became strangely soft in the end.

Below, Satoru Gojo whistled, while Uchiha Madara snorted and disdainfully looked away.

Even a Genjutsu master like him disdained using this sort of seductive mental hypnosis.