Chapter 140: Gluttonous Depth
The ruined store had become unnaturally quiet. The sounds of war still surrounded the building, with distant explosions shaking the walls and the occasional roar of a monster echoing through the streets, but inside the store, none of it seemed to matter anymore. Baekho's body rested motionlessly in Mirage's arms, his once-warm face now peaceful in a way that Mirage couldn't accept. For years, the three brothers had survived together through hunger, violence, poverty, and countless battles, yet all of those hardships had somehow felt easier because they had always been together. Now there were only two.
Mirage lowered his head until his forehead rested against Baekho's. His shoulders trembled as another tear rolled down his cheek, followed by another. He remained like that for several seconds, silently holding his brother as though refusing to let the final moment become real.
Eventually, Mirage spoke.
"Shogun."
The ninja remained kneeling nearby, his head lowered and his fists still stained with blood from how tightly he had clenched them. His breathing was controlled, but his body betrayed the effort required to maintain that composure.
Mirage slowly lifted his head.
"How many clones?"
Shogun understood immediately.
"All of them."
His voice was quiet.
"Ten."
Mirage stared at the floor for several seconds before asking, "Can you release it?"
Shogun's eyes narrowed.
He already knew what Mirage meant.
"Mirage."
The Silver Moon leader didn't look at him.
"Release it."
Shogun slowly stood.
"If I do that, the entire city will be affected."
Mirage remained silent.
Shogun continued, his voice becoming more serious.
"The clones are connected to me. If I force all of them to release their Savage Power simultaneously, the output won't simply increase. It will multiply. The pressure alone could destroy parts of Playmore, and the energy won't distinguish between our enemies and our allies."
He looked toward the broken entrance of the store.
"Playmore might not survive it."
The city outside was already burning. Buildings had collapsed into streets, smoke covered entire districts, and the battlefield had spread so far that there were almost no areas untouched by the conflict.
Mirage finally looked up.
His face was wet with tears, but his expression had changed.
The grief was still there, so was the pain, but something darker had begun to rise beneath them.
Mirage looked down at Baekho one final time before slowly standing, carefully supporting his brother's body in his arms.
"Then let it burn."
Shogun's eyes widened slightly.
"Mirage—"
"RELEASE IT."
The command echoed through the ruined store.
Shogun stared at him for several seconds. He wanted to argue. He wanted to remind Mirage that thousands of people were still fighting throughout Playmore, that their own allies were still inside the city, and that releasing such an enormous amount of Savage Power could turn the entire battlefield into a graveyard.
But then he looked at Baekho.
He remembered the three of them sitting together around a small fire years ago, sharing stolen food because they didn't have enough for proper meals. He remembered Baekho laughing whenever Mirage became overly serious. He remembered Baekho stealing food from Shogun's plate and pretending he hadn't done it. He remembered the younger brother calling him "big brother" when they were still children and had no idea what their future would become.
Shogun closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the hesitation was gone.
"Understood."
* * *
Across Playmore, the battlefield suddenly changed.
Ten different Shoguns stopped moving at exactly the same moment.
One stood on a rooftop surrounded by Royal Guards. Another was hidden within an alley. Another stood among the ruins of a collapsed building. Another faced Aerin. Another remained in the middle of a street filled with monsters.
Every clone, regardless of where it was located, slowly lifted its head toward the sky.
Then all ten raised one hand, the effect was immediate.As Champagne stopped mid-step.
His eyes widened as an unfamiliar pressure descended upon the city.
"What the hell…?"
Nearby, Brandon looked upward. The expression on his face became serious.
"That isn't normal Savage Power."
Mardale felt it in the middle of his battle with the King. The King felt it as well, and for the first time since their confrontation began, both fighters temporarily stopped attacking each other.
Across the city, Aerin, Wei-Wan, Fah-jin, Nyx, Zachia, Avenor, Monday, and every other fighter capable of sensing energy felt the same pressure descend upon them.
Even the monsters reacted.
Freakers that had been charging toward their enemies suddenly slowed down, some stopped completely as others backed away.
It wasn't intelligence that made them retreat, it was instinct.
The primal instinct of a living creature recognizing something that it should not approach.
Then the ten Shoguns spoke.
Their voices came from every direction at once, overlapping until they sounded like one enormous voice spreading throughout Playmore.
"SAVAGE POWER…"
The sky darkened.
Purple clouds began forming above the city with unnatural speed, twisting together as though an invisible force was dragging the heavens into a massive vortex. Lightning flashed through the clouds, but the lightning was no longer the ordinary blue-white color that accompanied a storm.
It was crimson.
KRAAAAAK!
A red bolt tore across the sky as the ground shook. Windows shattered throughout the surrounding buildings.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Pieces of glass rained onto the streets as cracks began spreading across walls and roads.
The air itself became heavier as people struggled to breathe as an enormous pressure settled over Playmore.
Then the ten Shoguns spoke again.
"GLUTTONOUS DEPTH."
For one heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Dark-red energy erupted from every Shogun simultaneously.
Ten gigantic pillars of Savage Power shot into the heavens, each one expanding as it rose higher and higher. The force of the release sent shockwaves across the city, tearing through streets and throwing debris into the air.
SWOOOOSHH!!
BRRRMMMM!!
CRAAAASHH!!
Buildings groaned under the pressure. Some collapsed immediately. Others cracked from their foundations.
Fwooosh!
The battlefield was swallowed by dust.
CRAAAAAACCCKKK!!
The sky itself seemed to split open. Purple, dark red, and black energy spread across the heavens until the sunlight disappeared completely.
Playmore entered darkness.
The enormous pillars began connecting with one another.
Dark lines of energy stretched between them, spreading across the city like the veins of some gigantic organism. Within moments, an enormous web had formed above Playmore, enclosing the battlefield beneath it.
Then the shadows moved as Champagne looked upward his eyes widened.
Something was moving inside the darkness.
At first, it appeared to be nothing more than distorted clouds. Then one of the shadows opened.
A mouth.
A gigantic mouth formed within the darkness, its teeth appearing from nowhere as it opened toward the city below.
Then another appeared, and another, and another.
Within seconds, countless mouths were visible throughout the blackened sky.
Some were enormous, as others were smaller.
Some opened vertically, as others stretched unnaturally across the darkness.
But they all had one thing in common, they looked hungry.
They weren't simply manifestations of energy, they felt alive.
They felt as though they were waiting, and waiting for something to consume.
Step....
Champagne instinctively stepped backward.
SHWOOOSH!
The dragon energy inside his body reacted violently, surging through his veins as though warning him about the danger above.
His eyes widened.
"What the hell is this?"
For the first time since the battle began, even Champagne's confidence disappeared.
His body was telling him something his mind couldn't yet understand.
Run.
* * *
At the center of Playmore, the King stopped fighting. Mardale stood several meters away, his body tense as he stared toward the sky. Neither fighter attacked the other.
The King slowly raised his head as his usual confidence had disappeared.
"What is that?"
Mardale's eyes remained fixed on the enormous vortex.
"I don't know."
That answer alone was unsettling.
Mardale had survived enough battles to recognize most forms of power, yet whatever Shogun had unleashed was beyond anything he had expected to encounter in Playmore.
The King narrowed his eyes.
"This wasn't part of the plan."
Mardale didn't answer because he was thinking the same thing.
Something had changed.
This wasn't simply another attack the entire battlefield had become part of the ability.
Elsewhere, Monday Valhalla looked toward the sky.
For perhaps the first time during the entire battle, he stopped talking as his usual expression disappeared.
He watched the mouths forming inside the darkness and slowly lowered his weapon.
"…That guy's unstable."
There was no humor nor teasing in his voice, only recognition.
Even Monday understood that whatever was happening had gone beyond a normal battle.
Near the Dam, Zachia stared at the enormous vortex, as his eyes widened.
He recognized the energy.
"Silver Moon, what have you done?"
The surviving Stars looked upward as well, as some of them smiled. Their strongest weapon had finally appeared.
They believed the battle was about to turn in their favor. They didn't understand what exactly had been released.
* * *
Back inside the ruined store, Shogun remained standing. His body was already beginning to suffer from the strain. Blood slowly trickled from the corners of his eyes.
His breathing became heavier.
Every clone was connected to him, and maintaining ten separate bodies had always required enormous concentration. But now he wasn't merely controlling them.
He was forcing every one of them to release their full Savage Power simultaneously. The energy flowing through him felt like fire passing through his veins.
His muscles trembled, blood ran from his nose, his knees almost buckled yet he refused to stop.
Mirage stood beside him.
Baekho remained in his arms.
The Silver Moon leader looked toward the city. He could see the enormous vortex covering the sky. He could feel the energy spreading through Playmore.
The darkness reflected in his eyes.
Shogun struggled to breathe.
"Mirage…"
Mirage didn't turn.
"What?"
"If we continue…"
Shogun swallowed.
"…there may be no going back."
Mirage tightened his grip around Baekho.
"There wasn't any going back when he died."
Shogun stared at him as Mirage's eyes remained fixed on the battlefield.
His face was still covered in tears but his voice had become cold.
"Everyone wanted us to be monsters."
The energy surrounding the city grew stronger.
"They treated us like monsters."
The ground shook beneath their feet.
"So let them see one."
Shogun closed his eyes.
The ten clones raised their hands higher.
The vortex expanded.
BOOOOOOM!
Another shockwave swept through Playmore. The enormous mouths in the darkness opened wider. As the city trembled beneath them.
Mirage slowly looked toward the battlefield. Toward the people who had taken his brother from him. Toward the enemies still standing. Toward everyone who remained between Silver Moon and the end of this war.
His expression contained no joy, triumph, nor satisfaction.
Only grief that had been twisted into rage.
His voice entered the communications network.
Every surviving fighter heard him.
Champagne.
Brandon.
Aerin.
Wei-Wan.
Fah-jin.
Zachia.
Avenor.
Mardale.
Even the King.
Mirage spoke slowly.
"Today…"
The vortex above Playmore continued to expand. The darkness swallowed another section of the sky. The mouths inside it opened wider, revealing rows of teeth formed from condensed Savage Power.
Mirage tightened his grip around Baekho, his voice remained calm.
Almost frighteningly calm.
"Today, Playmore learns what happens when you take everything from a man who has nothing left to lose."
For several seconds, nobody answered.
Then the city shook again.
KRAAAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOM!
The ten pillars of Savage Power erupted once more, and the enormous vortex descended lower over Playmore.
The battlefield had changed. The war had changed. And the grieving brother standing beneath the darkened sky was no longer interested in winning.
He wanted everyone who had taken his brother from him to understand exactly what their actions had created.
Above Playmore, the countless mouths opened and Gluttonous Depth began to awaken.
TO BE CONTINUED…...