Light covered everything.
The World Between Worlds vanished beneath an endless ocean of golden-black energy.
Nobody could see.
Nobody could move.
Nobody could even think.
Only one heartbeat remained.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Each beat echoed through reality itself.
Ancient worlds shook.
The King's Road trembled.
The Final Door cracked further.
Even the monster beyond it became silent.
Watching.
Waiting.
Remembering.
Then the light began fading.
Slowly.
A figure emerged.
Standing between existence and oblivion.
Tall.
Black royal coat.
Golden symbols moving across the fabric like living stars.
Black hair flowing in a wind that didn't exist.
Golden-black eyes.
Not Null's.
Not Hyung's.
Not Aizeno's.
All three.
And none.
D U stared.
For once—
he had absolutely nothing funny to say.
"...Wow."
That was all.
The Old King smiled.
A real smile.
One nobody present had ever seen before.
Because before him stood the being he had spent centuries trying to restore.
The Complete Core.
The Original Heir.
The First Success.
Goo-Gun.
The colossal eye beyond the Final Door narrowed.
The darkness shifted.
The monster recognized him.
And for the first time—
it hesitated.
Goo-Gun slowly looked around.
The battlefield.
The prison.
The broken worlds.
The terrified armies.
His gaze eventually landed on the Old King.
Father and son stared at one another.
Neither spoke.
Neither needed to.
Centuries of plans.
Centuries of sacrifice.
Centuries of suffering.
All of it had led here.
Finally—
Goo-Gun spoke.
His voice carried three tones at once.
Null.
Hyung.
Aizeno.
United.
"You look old."
Silence.
Then—
the Old King laughed.
Actually laughed.
The sound shocked everyone.
D U nearly fell over.
"THE KING CAN LAUGH?!"
Nobody answered.
Because they were equally shocked.
Far beyond the Door—
the monster moved.
A massive hand emerged.
Larger than galaxies.
Covered in scars.
Ancient chains.
Dead universes.
The hand reached toward reality.
Toward Goo-Gun.
Toward the King.
Toward everything.
The Old King's expression hardened.
"Focus."
Immediately—
Goo-Gun turned.
The atmosphere changed.
Everything became still.
Even the monster paused.
Goo-Gun raised one hand.
Nothing flashy happened.
No giant explosion.
No dramatic energy.
Just a single motion.
A simple punch.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
Reality shattered.
The arm beyond the Final Door exploded.
Entire layers of darkness vanished.
The shockwave crossed dimensions.
Ancient stars were erased.
The World Between Worlds split apart.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The monster slowly pulled back its ruined arm.
For the first time—
it had been damaged.
Actually damaged.
Adrax stared.
Luxion stared.
The Fifth Fragment stared.
Even Aizeno's former followers stared.
Nobody could believe what they had just witnessed.
D U blinked.
"...Okay."
He pointed.
"That wasn't normal."
The monster growled.
A sound so deep it shook existence.
Then—
the Final Door opened wider.
Much wider.
Something began emerging.
Not a hand.
Not an eye.
Its true body.
The King immediately stepped forward.
His expression changed.
Urgent.
Serious.
Dangerous.
"Goo-Gun."
The complete heir looked at him.
The King spoke four words.
Words that froze everyone.
"I was never your father."
Silence.
The battlefield stopped.
Goo-Gun stopped.
D U stopped breathing.
Even the monster paused.
Nobody understood.
The King continued.
"You were never born."
Reality trembled.
"You were found."
Memories exploded from the King's body.
Ancient memories.
Forgotten memories.
Forbidden memories.
A younger King.
Standing before a dying reality.
Standing before a broken throne.
Standing before a child.
A child with golden-black eyes.
Alone.
Sleeping.
Surrounded by destruction.
Not Null.
Not Hyung.
Not Aizeno.
Goo-Gun.
The King slowly lowered his head.
"I saved you."
The memory continued.
The child awakening.
The King's shock.
The impossible power.
The endless potential.
Then fear.
For the first time—
the King had been afraid.
"Because you came from beyond the Final Door."
Silence.
Goo-Gun froze.
The monster froze.
Everyone froze.
The King's voice became heavy.
"You are not my son by blood."
Another memory appeared.
The monster.
The child.
Standing together.
Long ago.
Before history.
Before creation.
Before the Doors.
The monster's enormous eye widened.
Goo-Gun stared at the vision.
Something inside him responded.
Ancient.
Forgotten.
Terrifying.
The King finally revealed the truth he had hidden for centuries.
"The reason I divided you."
"The reason I created the Fragments."
"The reason I imprisoned myself."
His golden-black eyes shook.
"Was because I feared what you would become if you remembered."
The monster beyond the Final Door slowly smiled.
A terrifying smile.
A knowing smile.
Then it finally spoke Goo-Gun's true title.
A title forgotten by existence.
"HEIR OF THE VOID THRONE."
The Final Door exploded open.
And something began stepping through.
TO BE CONTINUED...