Hearing Yhwach's refusal to accept Black as an heir, Alan shook his head, disappointed.
Julius, clinging to Yhwach to show the new magic he had come up with, disappeared into the dimensional portal.
Alan then grabbed Black by the back of his neck and reprimanded, "What were you doing all this time? Why haven't you mastered Bankai yet, huh?!"
Black gaped at his father. "I…"
"Anyway," Alan said, lifting Black off the floor. "You better not make your old man look bad in front of all of them, brat!"
As veins pulsed on Black's forehead, Alan threw him into the portal before jumping in himself.
…
It was a world of crystals.
Black looked around and saw huge crystal pillars rising off the crystal floor, reaching a dark ceiling. There was no sky, no clouds, and no hint of wind, either. It was as if they hadn't arrived at a world, but a chamber of some sort.
Suddenly, Alan, Yhwach, and Julius snapped their heads up.
Black was a touch behind them in noticing it.
There was a gaze in the sky.
An eye.
"Captain…" a draconic voice boomed across space-time. "Leave me… alone…"
With this roar, an overwhelming sense of Sadness seeped into Black's bones, jolting his Calm.
Alan and Yhwach shared a glance and shook their heads.
"It has gotten worse, I am afraid," Yhwach said, closing his eyes.
Alan lit another cigar, sucked it in, and blew the smoke out, agreeing in silence.
"Acne!" Julius screamed, his eyes shining. "Got new magic for me?! Huh?!!"
For a moment, there was silence.
Then, a shooting star divided the dark sky in half and landed right in front of them.
BOOM!
The crystal floor shattered, cracks running across it for miles.
From the crater, a man walked out, cloaked in a black robe and wild, gray hair.
Black looked at him, and yet, somehow, his eyes kept going down as if they didn't want to look at the incoming existence.
The sheer phenomenon rocked Black's mind. Never had his body reacted itself so.
It felt like the feeling itself had stemmed from his bloodline.
"So-So!" Julius blinked near the incoming creature, his eyes shining.
The creature ignored Julius and stopped a few feet away from Alan and Yhwach. He took a furtive glance at Black, whose head was down, and at the sealed Book, before looking at Alan and turning around.
"Go away, Captain," he said through the Sadness. "Let me die in peace."
The creature crouched and was about to shoot away when Alan took the cigar out of his mouth. "When the Storm gathers…"
Yhwach, Julius, and even the creature's eyes trembled. As if following an instinct, they let out the words together.
"When the Storm gathers, the Winds come from afar."
"Acnologia, my friend," Alan said, smiling. "I won't survive this without you. Join me. For one last time."
Acnologia squeezed his eyes shut, his shoulders trembling in pain and regret. He sighed.
Alan sighed, lifted the spear, and shattered the dimension. "Thank you," he said, laughing. "With you, our chances are better than ever."
"Spare me from the thanks, Alan," Acnologia said, looking at Yhwach. "You even brought him… Did he see me agreeing to you?"
Yhwach smiled. "Does it matter?"
"Tch!" Acnologia tsked and marched toward the portal, followed by an excited Julius.
When Acnologia, Yhwach, and Julius disappeared, Black looked up, rubbed off the sweat, and asked, "What… was that?"
Alan pulled the Sorting Hat's rim down and shook his head. "Acnologia… Sigh! He annihilated four of the seven Primary Timelines."
Black's eyes widened. "What?! Why?!!"
What was the point? Why destroy the Primary Timelines, when one could use them to gain even more power? Black couldn't fathom the reason behind this, no matter how much he thought about it.
Alan's hand fell on his son's head.
"There are horrors beyond horrors, son," he said, smiling, "terrors beyond terrors. I hope you will never come across them. But it seems inevitable now.
"Anyway, you did good, not looking directly at his face just now. Do me a favor, don't look into the eyes of the next person we are going to meet. OK?"
"Huh? Wait, I need to…"
Too late.
Alan grabbed him by the back of his neck and threw him in the portal.
…
The moon shone red in the sky, with several black swirls on its surface.
Black and the others appeared at the foot of a colossal tree, its branches seemingly covering the entire earth. Cocoons were hanging off the branches, draining spiritualities off the prisoners. Under the tree, against its thick wall-like bark, a figure sat with his head down.
The moment they appeared here, the figure lifted his head.
The Ad Infinitum roared, shutting all optical receptors. Black had seen them before. The unsaid, unknown, and unfelt trauma lived within the AI now.
"It's you, Alan," the figure said, standing up, and coming closer. "I knew it was too soon for them to send another General-level enemy. Haha!"
Alan looked around and frowned. "Madara," he asked concernedly, "why didn't you tell me?"
Uchiha Madara scoffed, cracking his neck.
He looked at Yhwach, Julius, and Acnologia. Some unseen figures were holding Julius from blinking next to him, making the Wizard King frown in exasperation.
Then Madara looked at Black, his eyes falling on the middle of his forehead. The swirls in his eyes revolved. His white skin began gaining yellow spots. With one wave of his hand, he cut off the corrupted flesh and threw it away, where it wriggled with madness.
Madara looked at Alan and shouted, "You could've warned me!"
"Rascal! You didn't give me a chance!" Alan cursed.
"Anyway," Madara said, suddenly narrowing his eyes. "I think I will use this during the next wave of attacks. Haha! Imagine the horror on the faces of those Otsutsuki bastards! Hahaha!"
One truth-seeking orb went to the corrupted white flesh and sealed it.
"Do you need help?" Alan asked, his eyes reflecting a scene Black couldn't see yet.
Madara frowned. "Fuck you, Captain."
Alan's mouth twitched. "I need your help."
"3 hours," Madara replied, looking up. "I must get back within 3 hours."
None of them said that coming back might not be a possibility.
Alan nodded, shattering the dimension.
Madara walked toward the portal. "I have something to discuss with you," he said, nearing Yhwach. "About the possibility of…"
Yhwach's pupils briefly became two before returning to normal. "I see," he said, listening to Madara's words before he said it. "Yes. We can try this with the remaining Pillars. If we survive…"
Julius kept listening to everything with a smile on his face.
Acnologia looked as if nothing could make him happy anymore.
Behind everyone, Black just stood there, feeling like a bug. He opened his eyes and walked toward the portal where his father was waiting.
Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, he caught a sheet of whiteness.
Black's feet paused, his dark pupils shuddering.
Thousands upon thousands of white-skinned corpses were scattered over the earth. Even if none mentioned it outright, Black guessed exactly who they were.
The members of the Otsutsuki Clan!
"Brat! Come on! Or must I throw you into the portal every time?!" Alan Stormborn rubbed his face and sighed. "Four down, three more to go…
"… The next one is even more troublesome…"
**************
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