The Final Door exploded.
Reality broke apart.
The ancient seal that had imprisoned the darkness for countless ages shattered like glass.
One.
Two.
Thousands.
Millions.
Every seal across existence collapsed simultaneously.
The End was arriving.
The creature stepped forward.
Not fully.
Only one foot crossed the threshold.
Yet that single movement caused entire universes to disappear.
Stars died.
Dimensions folded.
The World Between Worlds screamed.
The King's Road cracked.
Even the Prison Beyond Reality began collapsing.
The monster was simply too large.
Too ancient.
Too powerful.
Its colossal body slowly emerged.
A crown of black void-fire floated above its head.
Countless broken worlds orbited around it.
Its skin looked like endless night.
Its eyes contained dying galaxies.
Its voice shook creation itself.
"AT LAST."
The armies fled.
Watchers fled.
Entities fled.
Even ancient horrors that once terrified civilizations ran from the battlefield.
Fear had become instinct.
Instinct had become survival.
Only a few remained.
The Old King.
Goo-Gun.
Hyung.
Aizeno.
D U.
The Guardian.
One.
Zero.
And the last warriors willing to stand.
The monster looked at Goo-Gun.
Then smiled.
A terrifying smile.
A familiar smile.
Like looking into a mirror.
"HEIR."
The word echoed.
Goo-Gun felt something inside him react.
Something ancient.
Something buried beyond memory.
The Old King's face darkened.
"Do not listen to it."
The monster laughed.
"HE KNOWS THE TRUTH."
Its gaze remained fixed on Goo-Gun.
"YOU BELONG TO ME."
BOOOOOOM.
Golden-black energy erupted from Goo-Gun.
The Void Throne inheritance activated.
The entire battlefield shook.
Yet something felt wrong.
Inside him—
two voices were colliding.
One calling him forward.
One pulling him back.
Suddenly—
the monster raised a hand.
And reality froze.
Everything stopped.
Except one person.
D U.
Silence.
The battlefield vanished.
The others disappeared.
Only darkness remained.
And D U.
"...Great."
D U sighed.
"I hate when reality does that."
A voice emerged from the darkness.
Not the monster.
Not the King.
Something older.
Something hidden.
"Hello."
D U turned.
A figure sat upon a throne of black crystal.
A young man.
Black hair.
Golden-black eyes.
A smile identical to Goo-Gun's.
D U immediately frowned.
"...Who are you?"
The figure laughed.
"You've forgotten me."
The smile slowly faded.
"But I remember you."
D U froze.
For the first time since his introduction—
he looked genuinely shaken.
Because he recognized that voice.
A memory.
Long buried.
Long forgotten.
A battlefield.
A younger D U.
Covered in blood.
Kneeling.
Broken.
Dying.
And that same man standing before him.
The memory vanished.
The figure leaned forward.
"My real name was erased."
D U's heartbeat stopped.
"Just like yours."
Silence.
The figure stood.
"You think D U is your name?"
D U didn't answer.
Because deep down—
he already knew.
It wasn't.
The figure pointed toward the battlefield.
Toward Goo-Gun.
Toward the monster.
Then spoke the impossible truth.
"You were the King's final weapon."
Reality cracked.
D U stumbled backward.
"No."
"You were created for one purpose."
The throne room began shaking.
"When the Heir of the Void Throne returned..."
The figure's eyes glowed.
"...you would decide his fate."
D U felt his memories breaking apart.
Fragments returning.
Pieces reconnecting.
A forgotten past awakening.
Then he saw it.
A vision.
The future.
Goo-Gun standing victorious.
The monster dead.
Reality saved.
Then another future.
Goo-Gun becoming the new Void King.
The End reborn.
Everything consumed.
Two paths.
Two destinies.
One choice.
The figure looked directly at D U.
"You are the lock."
Silence.
"You are the key."
D U's hands trembled.
"And soon..."
The figure smiled sadly.
"...you must choose whether Goo-Gun lives."
"...or dies."
The vision shattered.
Reality returned.
The battlefield reappeared.
The war resumed.
Nobody noticed D U had disappeared.
Nobody noticed he had returned.
Only One did.
One looked at him.
Immediately.
"You saw something."
D U didn't answer.
For the first time—
the man who always joked...
the man who never looked afraid...
the man who laughed in the face of death...
looked completely silent.
Above them—
the monster fully emerged from the Final Door.
The End had arrived.
And somewhere deep inside his shattered memories—
D U realized the worst truth of all.
The future of existence now rested in his hands.
TO BE CONTINUED...