(This arc is just for me to actually use his fighting ability since he can't use it in his world lol. I'm not going to do arc like this anymore here)
[Edward POV]
The horde of million zombies and mutant bees, marched on the land.
50 meters tall zombies with chains on their necks were leading the march. Behind them, millions more zombies who were controlled by the Queen Bee frequency.
The Queen Bee sat on a palanquin carried by the zombies, crossing her leg and smirking.
The Golden Beetle led his army of Knight-type beetles into the fray. The Ant King were leading millions of ants– from worker ants, flying ants, humanoid ants, and even mutated ants into the battle.
I floated ten kilometers away with Tiga, Suna, Ado, and Rust, watching the battlefield choke with monsters.
"The world needs a reset," I murmured. "In the old days, it was a meteor that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. In this age, it must be fire and ash that ends the reign of the undead."
The sky tore open. A red streak, the size of a small hill, screamed downward like the judgment of the gods.
"A great purge will come," I continued. "And when it's done… only the strongest will crawl from the ruins. That will be the true rebirth of mankind."
*BOOOOOOOM*
The meteor was only a hundred meters in diameter—like a stone hill ripped out of the earth—but its weight was amplified a hundred times over. That meant the impact wasn't just falling rock, it was like an entire mountain crashing down at once.
The fifty-meter titans in chains lifted their heads too late. When the meteor struck, they were the first to break, their bones snapping like twigs. The rest of the horde turned into a cushion of flesh—absorbing some of the force, yes, but dying instantly, crushed into ash and blood.
The crater that should've swallowed the land whole was shallower than expected, because the bodies took the brunt of it.
I put up defensive runes on the girls' bodies, and created a magical protection shield covering us.
The world shook from the impact.
The shockwave spread out like a wave in water. Tsunamis were created.
Trees were torn up, dirt ripped into the air. Even one hundred kilometers away at the shelter, the ground rumbled as if an earthquake had split the world open.
Walls trembled, lights burst, and people screamed.
The battlefield itself turned into a furnace. Fire rolled in every direction, swallowing ants, beetles, and zombies by the millions. Smoke and dust shot into the sky, darkening the sun.
And yet—some still lived.
The Golden Beetle dragged itself out from beneath broken shells of its army, its armor cracked and glowing red from heat.
The Queen Bee's wings were torn, her palanquin gone, but her eyes still burned with fury.
The Ant King pulled himself free from the ash, not even a dent in his body.
I calculated there were ten thousand creatures, level 5 and above, that had survived the impact—scarred, broken, but alive.
The meteor hadn't wiped the board clean, but it took out most of it.
"Second wave of bombardment," I ordered calmly.
My duplicate up in the sky opened a portal. Tyre jumped through, landing in the survivor village.
She raised her voice to the defenders there: "Activate the missiles, now."
From the hills around the settlement, steel silos groaned open. What I had scavenged and repaired over the last two years—hundreds of missiles, dug out from abandoned U.S. Air Force depots, old NATO bases, and even a rusting carrier strike group left to rot.
The launch racks were a patchwork of various missiles.
Tomahawk cruise missiles, their guidance systems rebuilt by my hand.
AGM-158 JASSM, stealth black, with payloads refitted to burn through undead flesh.
A handful of Trident II D5 SLBMs, weapons meant to end nations, now pointed at corpses.
And smaller stocks of Hellfire IIs and Stinger MANPADS, loaded on jury-rigged trucks and drones.
The villagers lit the ignition charges. The missiles flew through the portal and headed directly underneath it.
*FWOOOSH—FWOOOSH—FWOOOSH.*
Hundreds of contrails tore into the sky at once, streaking across the red horizon like furious brushstrokes. The ground shook with every launch.
Up above, the wounded horde looked up too late.
"OH COME ON!" The Ant King grimaced.
*KABOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*
They were continuously being bombarded by the missiles. It continued on for about 10 minutes.
I could feel the heat from the bombardment even ten kilometers away.
The horde was helpless from the surprise attacks. The Ant King flew to the air to battle the missiles, but he felt like he was doing a useless thing.
If he cut it off, it blew up.
If he punched it, it blew up.
He blocked with his body, it still blew up, but it pushed him to the ground so he missed blocking several more.
As the missiles were used up, the air around the horde was so thick with dust that it was hard to see if there were survivors from the attack.
"Hmm… There's like a thousand left." I rubbed my chin as I watched the survivors crawl up from the fiery hole in the ground.
"Suna. Tiga." I ordered. The two girls flew to the battlefield and began clearing out the dust.
The Sandstorm girl already had evolved into a level 6 being. Her sand control had branched out, allowing her to control dust.
She also gained another ability– Metamorphosis, allowing her to manipulate a material at level 6, and awakened another ability– metal control, after she used the high risk esper serum.
Tiga only had her telekinetic ability, but its strength had reached tenfold now. She could also create a forcefield with her ability.
The two girls no longer wore fallout shelter clothes. Tiga opted for a black-green one piece dress with two deep cuts on her legs, and cut her hair short after dying it green.
Suna wore a black, tight fitting, elegant dress with fur coat and a golden hoop on her ear. She also slicked her hair back and wore a slight eyeshadow.
Tiga and Suna mowed down the injured, continuously pruning their numbers. The leaders of the horde finally regained their mind after a while.
The Ant King shrieked and tried to attack the girls, but I interjected mid-way, kicking his abdomen and pushing him back to the ground.
"Rust. Ado. Kill the Bee. Tiga. Suna. You guys handle the Beetle." I ordered calmly as I slashed through the survivors, taking around 200 of them in a single slash of my adamantium sword.
'This weapon is really strong… It's too bad…'
I wanted to cry in my mind. Sage told me over and over– that I couldn't bring anything back with me.
That's why I gave my armor to Ado, and for the cure, I have to really remember the formula for me to recreate it back home.
I slashed and slashed, cutting the numbers down to another half before the Ant King could return.
"You… How are you much stronger now?" He asked, fully shocked.
I snickered and said, "I just got to level 8 yesterday. Thank god after level 6, I didn't need hundreds of cores anymore to level up."
I went to hunt for the level six, seven and eight monsters and zombies in the past few days. Since I had the sling ring, travel became much easier now.
I even began hunting creatures in different continents. There, I met a level 9 dragon.
The Ant King was definitely the strongest creature in this world.
We started our fight immediately, and my sword couldn't penetrate his skin.
I even added slashing runes to the adamantium sword, but it was useless. His skin was invulnerable.
'How can I kill this guy? I'm out of Amaterasu, so I don't have anything that can bypass his defense.'
The blade and carapace clashed, we struggled to gain an advantage over one another.
My duplicates joined the battle with the bombardment squad, using railgun cannon to mow down the horde.
Rust and Ado teamed up in fighting the Queen Bee.
The Queen Bee could control people using frequency, but Ado was like her natural nemesis.
Ado strummed her guitar to block the frequency, stopping other bees from helping the Queen, while Rust continuously shot her direct railgun.
A surge of electromagnetic power engulfed Rust, making her float to the sky. She could shoot two blasts at once, causing the bee to get in a serious trouble.
Tiga and Suna worked together to fight the Beetle. The Beetle slashed at Tiga, but she blocked using her forcefield.
Suna took the chance to shoot multiple metal swords at the monster, but he managed to avoid it, only to fall into a quicksand trap Suna had made.
The girls could handle themselves, so I just focused on beating the Ant-King.
"Useless! Useless! We can't hurt each other. But I have the advantage here. Once your time is up, then I will kill all of them!" The Ant King shrieked.
"I see." I summoned my Susanoo as I created a distance with the Ant King.
Instead of the sword, I picked the violin fiddle. The sword turned into a violin, which made the Ant King confused.
"You're singing at this time?" He asked, shocked.
{Asturias - Isaac Albéniz}
I played a melody using the chakra violin, and the Ant King suddenly found himself trapped.
"I can't move." He spat out, his face fully shocked.
"This is the sound of the soul. Your physical body would be indestructible, but your soul? It can be chipped away." I muttered as I continued playing the song.
The Susanoo flared around me, its form shimmering with strings of light, like a colossal figure woven from music itself. The bow of the violin glowed as I drew it.
"Cantus Anima." I whispered the name of my Susanoo ability. "The Song of the Soul."
The melody surged, every note a blade that cut deeper into his essence.
The Ant King shrieked in pain. As his body convulsed, he finally took off the human look and turned into a full blown ant monster.
His body grew to 100 meters height, breaking free of the illusionary trap.
"Shit." I cursed, blocking his attack. My Susanoo could handle his strength, and we began the second battle in our titan-sized forms.
"I guess there's no shortcut in this fight," I muttered. I figured my ability failed because, as a monster, he couldn't appreciate the beauty of music.
The ant chuckled. "Why would you want to end something so interesting so soon?"
"I have places to be," I groaned.
The Queen Bee and the Golden Beetle were both defeated by the girls after an hour.
Only the Ant King remained.
I fought and fought, but I couldn't defeat him.
Instead of despairing, I became more excited by the minute.
"See… I know you're similar to me." The Ant King grinned at my battle-thirsty expression.
Suddenly, as the sword and his carapace clashed again, his antenna sharpened and thrust into my heart.
I spat blood from the surprise attack, but I didn't retreat. Instead, I used Fire Jutsu: Fireball and spat a huge flaming ball of fire at his face.
Jumping away, I immediately converted my Yang energy to my heart.
"I'd almost have died if it wasn't for my healing factor," I muttered in astonishment.
The fire burned the ant's eyes, but his own healing factor kicked in, slowly regenerating them.
"This fight's going to drag out, huh?" I told him.
He nodded. "Until one of us falls."
"That sounds… tiring," I sighed heavily.
We clashed again and again, until day turned into night, and night turned back into day.
Our abilities were evenly matched. I even tried Magneto's metal control to pull apart his carapace, but I think even his internal organs were metal, so it didn't work.
I heated him with fire magic and rapidly cooled him with ice magic, but that failed too.
Adamantium armor was too OP. The only things that could defeat adamantium were the Muramasa blade or Anti-Metal Vibranium.
I had neither.
The fight sharpened my swordsmanship by the second. I could already cut through steel, so now I wanted to see if I could cut through adamantium.
I huffed and puffed. Thirty-six hours had passed since the battle began. I'd used up all my trump cards. My chakra was nearly depleted, and I couldn't summon Susanoo armor anymore.
The Ant King was in a similar state. He couldn't finish the fight either.
"Eddy! We're done!" Tiga called from afar, waving.
"Hmm?" Both the Ant King and I turned toward her. We saw millions of cores being brought back to the camp.
"Ah… do it then!" I told her. She nodded and left through the portal my duplicate opened.
I had instructed them to start the purification device to disinfect the airborne alien virus that was mutating everything. Once complete, humans wouldn't need to fear their newborns turning into living corpses.
The purification would also cleanse the water and land, making them safe for consumption again.
The Ant King tilted his head in confusion, but didn't bother to understand. He only wanted to fight.
"Focus on me!" He lunged at me again.
"God, you're like an obsessive girlfriend." I sidestepped his attack—when suddenly, I felt something stir in my left eye.
My Mangekyo ability was finally ready.
…
[General POV]
"Is this a fight a human could ever interfere in?" Suna muttered, her eyes trembling as she watched the battle between two demigods.
The Ant King's claw attack ripped the land apart, but Edward blocked it with ease.
Edward's slash cut a mountain in two, yet the Ant King wasn't even fazed.
Edward then duplicated himself into three, each creating massive Rasen Shuriken of different attributes. The impacts of the chakra attacks caused earthquakes across the continent.
Meanwhile, Tiga directed survivors to pillage monster corpses for their cores, hauling them back to the purification machine.
Edward kept one duplicate dedicated only to portal travel, focusing all his strength on the fight.
The machine, resembling a particle collider, dissolved the cores and created a cloud that fed into massive tubes. The cloud grew and grew, eventually engulfing the entire survivor camp.
As more cores were added, the cloud expanded until it reached the battlefield—20 kilometers away.
The Ant King was confused by the sudden green gas surrounding them, but unaffected.
"Hey, I have to finish this early. I want to see the beginning of the new world… so I'm going to end this in one attack," Edward said.
The Ant King smirked. "If you had that, you'd have done it hours ago."
He thought Edward was bluffing. Edward tilted his head slightly in agreement.
He held his sword in front of him and activated his Eternal Mangekyo again.
"I can't believe I got this ability," he muttered softly.
"Isn't this Pride's ability from the Seven Deadly Sins? Sin of Pride—Escanor's ability?"
[Invincible Under the Sun]
However, he could only use it when the sun was at its peak, and only for five minutes.
His sun-shaped eyes spun, and red flames burst out from him.
The air trembled. Dust and stone vibrated violently as if the world itself feared the heat.
Edward's aura burned so brightly that the green purification cloud above turned crimson. The survivors back at the camp shielded their eyes, some even falling to their knees under the overwhelming pressure.
The Ant King's smirk faltered. "What… is this?"
Edward raised his blade, and the weapon melted, reshaping into a searing pillar of flame. His Susanoo flared behind him—no longer a hollow giant, but a blazing titan with a crown of fire.
"This is not bluff," Edward said calmly. "This is my peak."
He swung once.
The sky cracked. The earth split open in a line that stretched for kilometers. The very air roared like a dying beast as the flame carved a path toward the Ant King.
The Ant King crossed his arms, bracing himself. His carapace glowed white-hot, the adamantium-like shell resisting the inferno.
But the attack wasn't meant for just his body.
Edward's flames didn't burn flesh—they burned the soul.
The Ant King shrieked, not from pain of the body, but from something deeper. His legs buckled, his roar shaking the mountains.
Edward pressed forward, his voice steady despite the fire consuming him too.
"You wanted a fight until one of us fell. So fall."
The fiery titan's blade descended, engulfing the Ant King completely.
The battlefield vanished in a pillar of fire so tall it pierced the sky. For five minutes, the world turned into a miniature sun.
When the flames finally receded, only one figure remained standing.
Edward's armor cracked and shattered, his chakra nearly gone. He dropped his sword and staggered, his body smoking from the effort.
The Ant King lay broken in the crater, his carapace shattered, his eyes dim.
Yet he still grinned. "Magnificent… truly magnificent…" His voice faded as his body dissolved into ash.
Edward exhaled sharply, falling to one knee. "It's over."
Behind him, the green purification cloud spread fully, cleansing the land. For the first time in decades, the sky began to clear.
Edward staggered to the Ant King's body, wanting to make sure he was dead.
Then, he saw the core from the Ant King's body lying in plain sight. All his flesh had been burned away, leaving a hollow carapace.
Edward picked up the core, the Black Gold Core, and contemplated eating it on the spot.
"Well, I'm going to leave anyway. So I'll eat it after I see the new world."
He picked up the core, the size of a basketball, and opened a portal back to the survivor camp.
However, instead of going to the machine, Edward opened a portal back to his room and flopped down on his bed, unconscious.
Tiga immediately flew toward the lab as she saw the portal open.
When she found him, she broke into tears.
"Thank you… thank you so much…" she sobbed uncontrollably.
…
[Edward POV]
Ten hours had passed since the battle. I finally regained my strength and went to see how far the cloud had travelled. By AI calculation, in just a few minutes, it would engulf the entire world.
The war with the mutated beasts and zombie horde would continue, but the enemy wouldn't be able to replenish their numbers anymore.
I had less than a day left in this world. As I saw the kids running around outside the village, a sense of satisfaction washed over me.
"I've done all I can. I'll leave it all to you now."
I held the red esper fluid in one hand, and the Ant King core in the other. I knew if I kept the core here, it would attract countless hordes to the camp—like how they were drawn to the level 6 core before.
So I would eat it to destroy it.
Tiga, Suna, Rust, Tyre, and all the survivors of the camp saw me sitting by the window. I waved at them, then swallowed the core after downing the esper serum.
We all knew this was goodbye, so there was no need for words. The girls had already accepted this before the battle started.
My veins bulged from the pain of trying to ingest the core. I struggled to breathe and crouched forward—Tiga flew toward me and caught me before I collapsed.
"Tiga. Take care of your colony—"
She kissed me before I could finish.
"See… you didn't die. You liar," she teased through tears. "Thank you, Edward Newgate. We'll make sure never to forget you."
"And I too won't forget you. If I have the chance, I'll come visit you."
My body cracked under the weight of the serum and the core.
Ado suddenly stepped forward and said, "Eddy. I finished the song."
"Oh. Sing it quickly," I told her, excited despite everything.
[New Genesis – Ado]
She sang with a sweet, fairy-tale voice.
"♫♪ Shinjidai wa kono mirai da ♫♪"
{We can choose the path of our future}
"♫♪ Sekaijuu zenbu ♫♪"
{Try a brand new path}
"♫♪ Kaete shimaeba, KAETE SHIMAEBAAAAA~~ ♫♪"
{If I change the world… IF I CHANGE THE WORLDDD}
The music became upbeat, and I nodded my head along. My eyes were already blurry, so I didn't see Ado crying as she sang.
"♫♪ Jamamono, yanamono nante keshite
Kono yo to metamorufooze shiyouze
Myuujikku, kimi ga okosu majikku ♫♪"
{Say goodbye to everyone who stood against us
No one has the power to stop a change that came through music
Because you can't stop magic}
Suna grabbed my left hand, and Tiga grabbed my right.
"♫♪ Me wo tojireba mirai ga hiraite
Itsumademo owari ga konai you nitte
Kono uta wo utau yo ♫♪"
{Close your eyes and you can see the future before you
Everyone note I sing is bringing your closer to your purpose
Once you're there, don't let go.}
I whispered, "Ado is really an amazing singer."
"♫♪Do you wanna play?
Riaru geemu, girigiri, tsuna watari mitaina senritsu♫♪"
{You wanna play a real game, unfurl the chain. Melodies strung out like we're walking a tight rope}
Suna suddenly said, "You gave us our freedom back, Edward. If by any chance you could return here… we will make sure not to disappoint you with what we're going to build."
"♫♪ Mitomenai modorenai wasuretai ♫♪"
{Don't wanna cry, don't wanna try, wanna forget}
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself." I told Tiga.
"♫♪ Yume no naka ni isasete ♫♪"
{Just let me live inside a dreamland}
I remember when I first started to teach Ado about music. She was depressed about her esper ability, and considered herself useless in the world, but I managed to convince her to sing with me.
"♪ I wanna be free ♪ "
My legs and upper torso dissipated into particles of light. Tiga cried and said, "We will make sure not to waste this chance."
"♫♪Mieruyo shinjidai ga sekai no mukou e♫♪"
{And let a brand new era dawn. I know that we can–}
"♫♪Saa iku yo, new world!♫♪"
{Create a new world!}
As if she was saying a vow, Ado sang with all of her emotions.
I couldn't hear the ending as my entire body disappeared. The girls didn't know it yet, but I had left a gift in the lab for them to find.
Finally, I was returning to my world.
…
[General POV]
Ado continued singing while the rest were bowing to Edward's dissipating body.
"♫♪ Shinjidai wa kono mirai da ♫♪"
{We can choose the path of our future}
This was the day they would mark in their calendar as the rebirth of the new world.
"♫♪ Sekaijuu zenbu ♫♪"
{Try a brand new path}
Ado's tears dripped from her chin. She wiped her eyes and continued singing even though Edward was gone.
"♫♪ Kaete shimaeba, KAETE SHIMAEBAAAAA~~ ♫♪"
{♫♪ If I change the world… IF I CHANGE THE WORLDDD ♫♪}
She wrote the lyrics based on what Edward promised her before, when he tried to make her practice.
'You think music won't save the world. But I'm a singer you know? And I'm pretty sure I can change the world with my melody.' Edward patted her hair as she was pouting.
"♫♪ Hateshinai ongaku ga motto todoku you ni
Yume wa minai wa, kimi ga hanashita ♫♪"
{This boundless music brings transformation. Messages in song, reach even further! This dream will come true.}
She wanted the song to reach Edward in another world.
♫♪ "Boku wo shinjite"♫♪
{I believe in you}
She believed he would be back.
The girls cried for a while, the kids and the old man were crying too. After a while, they finally calmed down and returned to their respective jobs to maintain the community.
Tiga, Suna and Ado went to his lab. The AI was still there, the robot was still taking care of the clones.
Suddenly, all three of them were shocked when they saw a naked man eating some evolution seed, sitting crossed legged on the floor.
"What the hell-" Ado cursed as she saw the familiar face. Suna asked with astonishment, "I thought you had left?"
"What?" The man turned, still munching cores in his mouth. Oracle explained, "That is not Mr Newgate. That is his clone."
They watched closer, and saw that he had no bellybutton.
"He… why… I don't understand?" Suna was confused.
The clone finally finished eating and then stood up in front of them. Other than Ado, the two girls immediately covered their eyes.
"Hey, you must be Ado, Suna, and Tiga. Nice to meet you." He tried to shake hands with the girls, but Ado scolded him, "Wear some pants!"
Complete with memories– implanted by the sharingan, the copy would live his life in this universe to help the girls build up the civilization.
"What? I thought this is what you guys wanted!" He stood proudly, displaying everything to the girls.
His common sense still hadn't fully developed after all.