Throne of the Heart (3K)

"You’re that little rat that’s been hiding all this time."

Enel crackled with lightning, and ionized particles flickered faintly through the surrounding air.

He had noticed this little rat that had escaped when he first made his move, but the other party had hidden well, and he could not be bothered to waste effort searching for him.

He had not expected that evil demon to end up inside him.

"Ha~"

White vapor streamed from the man’s mouth and nose. This phenomenon meant his body temperature had risen to a terrifying level.

Enel frowned, sensing that something was wrong.

The next moment.

The person before him seemed to vanish into thin air. As a fist tore through the air, black lightning pierced through Enel’s body.

Enel’s pupils contracted. He felt as though he had been swallowed by surging Haki. At that moment, he could not even actively use Elementalization.

Bang!

Terrifying brute force and magma erupted out of nowhere again, crimson lotuses dozens of meters wide blooming in the air.

Enel spat blood, smashed through countless flesh tumors, and flew nearly a thousand meters before crashing into the ground.

Crackle~

Electric currents raced across Enel’s body as he tried to use electricity to stimulate his cellular activity.

The spasms in his left hand had only just subsided, yet fear had already risen in his heart.

What exactly was that black lightning? It was far more terrifying than Doflamingo’s Conqueror’s Haki. Not only could it strike his body, it could also prevent him from actively using Elementalization.

This ability…

Whoosh!

Bai Cangshu tore through the air. He threw a punch, and purple-black ripples spread from his body. In that instant, even Enel, the Thunder God, felt as though he had been electrocuted, transforming into scattered currents in a flash.

Boom!

Bai Cangshu threw a punch, and the purple-black Satsui no Hado surged out like a terrifying storm.

Under the sweep of the Satsui no Hado, the faces on the ground nearly vanished completely. The blast flew over a thousand meters before exploding and kicking up fierce winds.

Enel’s figure condensed in the sky.

Below, Bai Cangshu had already rushed before the werewolf monster that had just climbed back up. One punch sent the hundred-meter-tall monster stumbling, then he grabbed the werewolf’s tail and viciously swung it around before smashing it into the ground.

Enel felt slightly relieved. This guy seemed to have no rationality and was in a chaotic state. He attacked anyone who approached.

Standing in the air, Enel began preparing to pick him off from range.

He raised a hand toward the sky.

Divine Punishment!

Lightning shot into the sky in an instant, followed by a bolt of thunder dozens of meters in diameter descending from above.

But Bai Cangshu’s instincts were sharp, making him difficult to lock onto.

What troubled Enel even more was that his ever-reliable Mantra seemed to have completely lost its effect at this moment.

There was nothing but chaos in the other party’s heart. He could not hear any useful information at all.

It was as if he could hear tens of thousands of voices crazily roaring and screaming within the other party’s heart. It was like another hell unfolding inside him, with only the purest, most extreme killing intent leaking out in the end.

Was this the evil demon’s influence?!

Enel vaguely sensed that the evil demon had likely fallen into some sort of trap as well. The current situation had exceeded the control of that demon capable of corrupting human hearts.

Within the blank Consciousness Space, Morning Star of Hope Roland—or rather, God Hand: Roland—was still somewhat dazed.

He watched the Yellow Springs before him grow increasingly violent due to the riot of tens of thousands of Yin Spirits. Myriad Death Intent flowed through the river.

Countless faceless Yin Spirits stared restlessly at the vacant Throne of the Heart in the sky.

With the path to survival severed, the path to rebirth had also been cut off. They had originally been trapped to die in this Yellow Springs with no road to rebirth, but today, they discovered that the cold, steel-like main consciousness—the insane Bai Cangshu—had been dragged down from the Throne of the Heart by a force.

None of the Yin Spirits wanted to miss this chance to revive once more.

They began frantically surging with spiritual power. Yin Spirits, Grudge Spirits, even Cursed Spirits—it did not matter. So long as they could gain power, so long as they could occupy a body again and feel the vitality of life once more…

That would be wonderful!

Roar!

Roland watched with his own eyes as the Yin Spirit of a tall man fell on the spot into some kind of Grudge Spirit under intense emotion. His body stretched dozens of times larger as he crazily trampled and crushed other Yin Spirits, climbing toward the Throne of the Heart in the sky.

Ahead, tens of thousands of Yin Spirits had already piled into a black Yin Spirit Tower, gradually drawing closer to that position.

Roland realized where the problem lay. In the future he had seen, he had indeed invaded this Reincarnator’s body. In the end, he had even seen this Reincarnator grip Guts’ Dragon Slayer with the King’s Left Hand and slash the Abyss God with a terrifying strike.

But was that… really him?!

Roland had never heard of anyone whose Consciousness Sea looked like this.

He had heard of two souls in one body, and even cases of split consciousness with dozens or hundreds of personalities. But the scene before him far exceeded that limit.

This guy, this Reincarnator codenamed Mercenary Tao, had an absolute mess inside his body.

He turned his gaze and saw Mercenary Tao’s own consciousness in another corner, laughing madly as he tore apart the other Yin Spirits in front of him and climbed the "Yin Spirit Tower" himself.

The man even seemed to be enjoying himself.

This guy was not normal.

Roland took a deep breath. White light blazed from his body, and the Grudge Spirits around him instantly reverted to Yin Spirits under its illumination. One after another, they pressed their palms together as though they were about to ascend to heaven.

He had once been one of the holders of the special Card of Virtue, and had continued advancing until the third sequence, materializing virtue into the Morning Star of Hope. Not only could he gain hope for himself, he could also grant hope to others.

This hope was not a psychological suggestion or Genjutsu, but a genuine possibility.

Even an ordinary person caught in the center of a nuclear explosion, where survival was impossible, would gain an extremely slim chance of living if granted hope. Whether it was the nuclear explosion failing or aliens invading, among the countless possible worlds, a possibility of survival would always emerge.

This was the Morning Star of Hope.

At this moment, the Yin Spirits pressing their palms together were not hallucinating. There truly was a tiny chance that they would unexpectedly be reborn now.

Roland walked forward just like that, stepping out of the shadows. His figure was illusory, with golden hair draped over his shoulders, fair skin, and a blue-and-white suit. A flower was pinned over his chest, and he carried himself with exceptional grace. Yet below his chest, his body turned black, covered in countless disgusting flesh tumors. Faces twisted in despair opened and closed their mouths without end.

"Mercenary Tao, whether you believe me or not, I will give you hope. But I must take this body."

He spoke, his voice shaking the entire Consciousness Space. His spiritual strength was extremely high.

Bai Cangshu, who was still madly beating other Yin Spirits, heard the voice and turned to see the half-white, half-black figure in the distance. He knew that person was the true body of God Hand: Roland.

He said nothing. He merely looked at the holy mark on Roland’s left hand, then at the scarlet mark on his own right hand. The greed in his heart surged ever higher.

"Roland, don’t you think cultivating virtue and sin together would be exciting?!"

Bai Cangshu had never considered himself some heinous villain. He thought getting a Virtue Card would be quite good. Compared to the Tarot Sequence’s requirements regarding a Reincarnator’s nature, the more direct path of sin and virtue felt much more convenient to him.

The two moved from opposite sides toward the Yin Spirit Tower at the same time.

But before they could meet, a tall white-haired man emerged from another corner. He seemed to have been lying there for a very long time.

He suddenly leaped to his feet, and countless Yin Spirits and Grudge Spirits instantly reached out to grab him.

The howls of tens of thousands of Yin Spirits erupted at once.

In midair, the newcomer formed a hand sign and softly said,

"Domain Expansion, Unlimited Void."

Buzz!

The world seemed to freeze for an instant, but the phenomenon lasted only briefly. Or perhaps time had no meaning in the spiritual world, and these Yin Spirits and consciousnesses had no brains to process information.

When Bai Cangshu came back to himself, he discovered that Satoru Gojo was already sitting atop the enormous throne suspended in the air at the center of the Consciousness Sea.

He was laughing wildly.

"Hey, hey, hey, don’t get so cocky, 2.5 Gojo!"

Before most of the Yin Spirits had awakened, Bai Cangshu jumped into the air, grabbed Satoru Gojo’s spirit body, and threw him down. In that instant, both of them froze.

Bai Cangshu clearly felt his hand pass through some sort of boundary. Satoru Gojo had not expected this guy to be able to ignore his Limitless Cursed Technique. Was it because his spirit body had been absorbed into the other party’s body, meaning that, in a sense, his Limitless had also been imprinted inside that body?!

At the thought, Satoru Gojo’s pupils shrank. He lowered his head and looked at the densely packed tens of thousands of Yin Spirits below.

Hey, hey, if one guy could possess that many techniques, "the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer" would not even begin to describe him… A monster. A freak who could not be restrained at all…

While he was thinking, a tremendous force dragged him down from the air. Bai Cangshu reclaimed his body, but only for a moment before he was drowned by surging killing intent.

He fought by instinct and killing intent for a while, then was dragged down by other Yin Spirits and fell from the Yin Spirit Tower.

Among everyone present, Roland was probably the only one who had a chance of enduring that surging Satsui no Hado, but…

Bai Cangshu let out a howl and charged again, throwing a long-range punch at Roland from afar. On the other side, Satoru Gojo also continuously bombarded Roland.

No one cared whether this Consciousness Sea would be destroyed. They allowed one Yin Spirit after another to briefly touch the Throne of the Heart as though taking turns buying tickets for an experience, only to be dragged down again by other Yin Spirits.

Bang!

Bai Cangshu was sent flying and landed beside Corey, who still looked like a sailor.

"Corey, aren’t you going to fight for it?"

It was as though Bai Cangshu was not fighting over his own body. He looked curiously at Corey, who was not participating in the struggle.

Corey shook his head, but rose to his feet at the same time.

"I can’t compete with you people. Even if someone like me were reborn, what use would it be?"

He looked at Bai Cangshu and smiled.

"I’ll help you seize it. After all, we made an agreement, didn’t we? You still have to fulfill my promise to Cindy."

After saying that, Corey waved his fist, indicating that he was probably stronger than an ordinary Yin Spirit. Moreover, in the Consciousness Sea and the Yellow Springs, Yin Spirits basically could not truly die, and only soul-related abilities could be used, so he could be of some help.

Bai Cangshu’s heart, heated by the chaotic battle, briefly calmed for an instant.

"Is that kind of promise important?"

"It was nothing more than the boastful words of a marine soldier and the babbling of an innocent girl."

Corey stopped, turned back, and solemnly clenched a fist before his heart.

"To me, it’s important."

"She believed in me. I have to answer that trust. That is my… true heart."

Corey lunged fiercely at Roland, who was advancing without pause. Within that white light, Corey was completely unaffected. He did not need hope. He only wanted his true heart to be carried through to the end.

Bang!

Roland staggered back from the blow. Bai Cangshu revealed a cruel smile again, then turned and charged toward the Yin Spirit Tower.