Within the upper floors of the hotel, reality itself had been divided. The right half of the 8th floor still resembled an ordinary room—scattered beds, curtains, and half-eaten food trays—while the left side had become something else entirely. A sprawling sci-fi laboratory, forged through Kang Woo's mastery of reality warping.
Division 4 sat in what could only be described as a spectator section—rows of metallic seats facing the chaos ahead. In front of them, two figures worked in eerie synchrony: Kang Woo and the Black King, two maniacs mirroring each other's faces but not their methods. Machines hummed, sigils flared, and vials spun in suspension above the air, surrounded by mist and floating spheres that sometimes screamed.
Makima leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, watching them both. Her gaze flicked between the two, waiting to be called—or perhaps waiting for a chance to mock the Black King again.
From the seats, Denji groaned, slumping forward. "These two twins have been at it for hours, man. It's getting boring."
Himeno tilted her head, counting the time on her watch. "Two hours to be exact. And look at that—those floating bottles and balls of mist? Some of them are actually screaming.."
Aki's eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. "Those balls… they're human lives. The ones Kang Woo collected."
Kishibe took a slow sip from his flask, his tone dry but analytical. "Maybe. But those souls aren't from our world. At least he didn't slaughter people here immediately."
Himeno frowned, her voice sharp with restrained frustration. "Sensei,. The whole country's already broken because of him. Kang Woo might've saved Japan from the Crimson King, sure—but he also put half its citizens in mental hospitals afterward ."
Kishibe waved a dismissive hand. "We can skip that part. What I mean is—look closely at one of those screaming heads." He nodded toward a misty orb hovering near the lab's center. "That thing doesn't even have a human face. More like a monster's. And second, if those souls were from this world, he wouldn't need to wait or tap his damn finger on the table. He could've brought them out instantly."
Denji leaned back with his usual grin, scratching his head. "Sensei, are you part of Kang Woo's fan club now? You sound like that black-shit twin brother of his."
Kishibe gave him a flat look. "I'm just trying to think realistically."
Before Denji could reply, the lab lit up. A sudden burst of light flared from the center console—a condensed spark of alchemy taking form. In the middle of the two maniacs' work, something small began to manifest. The air rippled; mist condensed; and within seconds, a stone hovered between Kang Woo and the Black King. Its surface pulsed faintly, but instead of the radiant crimson described in ancient texts, it was pitch black—cold, imperfect, incomplete.
Kang Woo frowned, examining it closely. "It's incomplete. And black. Not what the Tablet described at all."
The Black King's expression didn't waver. "It's already been formed—with its container intact. What it needs now is refinement.."
Kang Woo shot him a sharp glare. "It's still fucking black, asshole. Did your Outer God brain short-circuit when you transcribed that knowledge into the Emerald Tablet sitting right next to us?"
The two glared at each other—god and host locked in a familiar storm of insults that somehow didn't end in planetary ruin.
Makima leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a faint smile tugging at her lips. Yeah… a real laughing stock, she thought. Two peas in a pod, just born from different wombs.
Division 4 couldn't help but grin too. Watching the two most dangerous beings in existence argue over color theory felt strangely human. Titans with godlike power, and yet their egos were still absolute garbage.
The glass door hissed open again. Kobeni stepped in, balancing several large buckets of popcorn in her arms, steam still rising from the freshly cooked kernels. "I, um… just made popcorn. Did I miss anything important?"
Himeno smiled and gently pulled Kobeni down beside her. "You didn't miss a thing. And thanks for the popcorn, sweetheart."
Power's eyes widened the moment she saw the buckets. "MINEEE!" she shouted, lunging forward and snatching one without hesitation.
Denji groaned, reaching for another. "Hey, no fair! I want the sweet one!"
Aki ignored the two idiots—Power and Denji—popped a kernel into his mouth, and chewed with a faint, amused smile. "Sensei," he said, glancing at Kishibe, "you got any plan to nick one of those stones just to piss them off?"
Kishibe took a slow drag from his cigarette, then shook his head. "If we try to steal one, they'll sit on our asses until we're dust. Still… I won't lie—this alchemy is interesting. Remember that other stone Kang Woo made, the one he whipped up instantly?"
Kobeni's face brightened. "The Xersesian Philosopher's Stone, right?"
Kishibe nodded once. "Yeah. But I'm thinking bigger. The one Kang Woo's trying to create now—that's the prize. If I could get my hands on something like that…" He let the sentence hang, the implication plain enough: he'd take the risk if the reward was worth it.
Then, from the lab's center, Kang Woo's voice erupted—sharp and furious. "It took five hundred thousand souls, and the result is this failed product?!"
The entire room fell silent.
Makima, still leaning against the wall, narrowed her eyes. Five hundred thousand… that's half the Gun Devil incident, she thought. Still less than what he absorbed during the Auswählen .
Denji froze mid-bite, his face pale. Five hundred thousand lives? Even he couldn't find a joke for that number.
Himeno blinked, forcing a nervous laugh that died halfway out. Oy oy… don't say that so casually. Souls, lives, whatever you call it—that's still terrifying.
Kishibe just exhaled smoke slowly, saying nothing, the glow of his cigarette faint in the sterile lab light.
Power puffed up her chest suddenly, breaking the heavy air with her usual absurdity. "Hah! That's nothing! My number is six hundred thousand—no, one million!"
The Black King turned his head sharply, glaring. "What the fuck did you just say?"
Denji sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't mind her, Kang Woo's doppelgänger. She's not right in the head."
Kang Woo exhaled through his nose, rubbing his temple—then suddenly clapped his hands together, sharp and loud, the sound snapping through the lab. He pointed at the Black King, mimicking the exact gesture of a Somali pirate from Captain Phillips.
"Hey! Look at me," Kang Woo said, his tone dead serious.
The Black King blinked once. "Sure."
Kang Woo leaned closer, eyes narrowing. "Look at me."
The Black King tilted his head, irritation flickering. "Yes, I'm already looking at you."
Kang Woo smirked. "I'm the captain now."
There was a beat of silence before the Black King groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "This isn't the Captain Phillips reference anyone needed ."
Division 4 immediately broke into mixed reactions—Power cackling, Denji wheezing, Himeno facepalming, and Kishibe muttering under his breath that the apocalypse had truly gone off the rails.
Then, out of nowhere, Makima's calm voice cut through the noise. "Is there… a movie called Captain Philip?"
Both Kang Woo and the Black King froze mid-glare, turning toward her in disbelief. The Black King's jaw actually dropped, his usual cold composure cracking into visible confusion.
Kang Woo blinked slowly, frowning. "What kind of cursed world is this? How do you, a maniac who watches everything from horror flicks to propaganda reels, not know one of the most iconic films ever made?"
Makima tilted her head slightly, completely unbothered. "It must've been before my time."
Himeno sighed, dragging a hand down her face. "Uhh… Makima-san might actually be right. And honestly, Kang Woo—what you said? 'I'm the captain now'? Pretty damn embarrassing when you think about it."
Denji pointed a finger at Kang Woo, grinning. "You've gone completely off the rails, dude. Like, more than usual."
Power instantly snatched Denji's popcorn mid-sentence, still laughing uncontrollably. "Bwahaha! Foolish human! Your food is mine now!"
Denji glared at her, standing up. "That's my popcorn, you thief! Don't act like you're laughing at the joke—you just wanted the sweet one!"
The Black King ignored the commotion, his tone cutting back to the matter at hand. "Well, since my fucking slave driver, oh great Kang Woo, doesn't seem to need this pathetic little stone anymore—"
He raised his hand, gathering a surge of dream energy, ready to smash the incomplete Philosopher's Stone to dust.
Before the blow could land, a blade flashed through the air. Aki's katana spun end over end, slicing toward the Black King's face.
Without even flinching, the Black King tilted his head slightly. The air shimmered—his Authority of Dreams flaring—and the blade dissolved mid-flight, unraveling into a cloud of glowing butterflies that scattered across the lab.
He turned his gaze toward Aki, expression flat, almost bored. "If you want it, you don't need to make a scene, ant."
Aki's jaw tightened. "Didn't you hear me, doppelgänger? Lives aren't something you can bargain with or toy around like some—"
Before he could finish, Kang Woo moved. His hand shot out, grabbing a swirl of souls orbiting Frostmourne. He opened his palm—and from it, a wave of ghostly faces screamed, the sound echoing through the lab like the wail of the damned. But none of the faces were human.
Kang Woo's eyes flicked toward Aki, his tone calm but absolute. "They're not souls from this world, Aki Hayakawa. They're mine. My storage." He raised his hand slightly, the twisted forms of the trapped spirits swirling between his fingers like liquid darkness. "Orcs. Eredar. Demons. And plenty of magicians who thought they could fuck with me."
Aki's expression hardened, his voice low but steady. "It's still the same… when living beings die, that should be it. There's no need for slavery after death. Even when devils die—"
He stopped mid-sentence, his breath catching as his eyes widened slightly—realizing what he'd just implied.
The Black King's grin stretched slow and cruel, voice rumbling like a predator circling its prey. "Oh, come on… go ahead, ant. Keep talking. Finish that thought. You were so sure of yourself a second ago."
Aki froze, the words caught in his throat. He knew he'd stepped on a landmine—and this time, even he couldn't talk his way out of it.
Himeno quickly stepped forward, putting herself between them, her tone sharp but laced with an uneasy laugh. "Hey, pull the brakes, will you? Not everyone's perfect. Even a drunkard like me screws up sometimes."
The Black King's grin widened, slow and dangerous. "So—Kang Woo. You won't bury me six feet under if I keep talking, right?"
Kang Woo's eyes narrowed, calm and cold as ice. "Right now the scale tips in your favor. But if you throw the first blow, I'll drown you in my red sea before your smug grin can finish."
The Black King's smile curls, all mockery and venom. He turns that grin toward Aki, voice dripping contempt as he paces the slight distance between them.
"That's convenient," he sneers.
"Let me finish the thought for you Ant : when devils die, they go to Hell — and when they die in Hell, they come back to this Earth. A never-ending, pathetic loop. a stupid cycle of slaughtered bodies and recycled grudges. Look at you lot, Public Safety — fighting the same monsters forever while the wheel keeps turning. Pathetic."
Himeno snapped back, heat in her voice. "Don't lump us in with monsters like you. We're still human—not some freak that does whatever it wants."
The Black King's grin widened, malice gleaming in his eyes. "Ah, but the casualties keep coming, don't they? The Control Devil holds the line, while Public Safety keeps throwing bodies at the problem. Dozens die in devil hunts every year—maybe hundreds. And then you geniuses fired her, cut her off from the sliver of immortality she had left."
He gave a dark laugh, voice dripping mockery. "What the hell is wrong with you, government of Japan? You threw away your only weapon."
Makima kept her stance firm, eyes fixed on him. Her voice stayed calm, but the tension behind it was razor-sharp. "You're being unusually provocative. Didn't you hate ants enough to ignore them completely?"