Super God Academy: Kabuto

The starlight in the Emerald Galaxy is always dimmer than elsewhere. It's not that the stars here aren't bright enough, but rather that the rift stretching across the galaxy's edge, like a vertical pupil that can never close, is slowly and irreversibly devouring the surrounding light. At the rift's edge, space exhibits a morbid folding, like crumpled and then barely smoothed-out paper, each fold oozing a faint, dim light, not belonging to this universe.

When Lin Yu arrived, Tsukasa Kadoya was floating in mid-air with his legs crossed, pointing his camera at the crack, idly pressing the shutter. Click. Click. Click. The sound of the shutter shouldn't echo in a vacuum, but Lin Yu heard each one clearly. It wasn't a sound in the physical sense, but a more essential resonance that directly affected consciousness—Tsukasa Kadoya was telling him: I'm here.

Lin Yu's figure emerged from the void. There were no spatial fluctuations, no energy overflow; he simply and naturally "appeared," as if he had always been there, only now allowed to be seen by the world. That was one of the abilities he brought back from the closed loop of time—resonance with the world itself. No longer needed to tear space, no longer needed to distort the laws; simply reaching a certain tacit understanding with the world would send you wherever you wanted to go.

Tsukasa Kadoya put down his camera and glanced at him. His eyes lingered on Lin Yu for a moment, then the corners of his mouth, always carrying a lazy smile, curved slightly upward. "Not bad," he said, his tone as flat as if he were commenting on the weather, "You've gotten stronger." It wasn't a question, not an exclamation, just a statement. As if he had known all along that Lin Yu would get stronger, as certain as he knew the sun would rise again tomorrow.

Lin Yu didn't speak, but simply looked at Tsukasa Kadoya as well. He could sense that the aura of the person before him was completely different from before. It was no longer the aura of a Kamen Rider who traveled around, but rather a heavier, more ancient weight, as if it had settled after countless births and deaths of worlds. "You are the same," Lin Yu said.

Tsukasa Kadoya shrugged, not denying it. He stood up from the void, brushed off non-existent dust from his suit, and looked past Lin Yu towards the slowly expanding crack in the distance. "Should you handle this, or should I?" Lin Yu asked. His tone was calm, as if asking, "Should you pour this tea, or should I?" But Tsukasa Kadoya understood the meaning beneath that calmness—who would guard this crack?

Tsukasa Kadoya was silent for a moment. His gaze shifted from the crack to another direction—the ruins of the Divine River. There, an even larger crack was swallowing the main forces of the three Void races. There, the silver wings of angels, the shadows of demons, the golden flames of the sun, and the steel of Earth were converging into an unprecedented allied force. That was the true battlefield. "This place is yours," Tsukasa Kadoya finally spoke, his voice less languid and more serious. "I'm going over there."

Lin Yu nodded. Without hesitation or further questioning, he simply replied, "Okay." They didn't need many words between them. From the moment they met until now, their relationship had never been one that required countless words to understand each other. One was a traveler who had traversed countless worlds, the other a guardian bearing the fate of two worlds; their tacit understanding was honed through countless moments of walking side-by-side and brushing past each other.

Tsukasa Kadoya gave Lin Yu one last look. "Don't die," he said, his tone still casual, but the words in his eyes were more real than any heavy entrustment. "You too," Lin Yu replied.

Tsukasa Kadoya smiled. There was no mockery, no languor, only a pure warmth, like that of an old friend bidding farewell. Then, he turned, and a crimson aurora curtain unfolded before him, its burning edges casting a golden outline of his figure. He stepped into the curtain, his figure disappearing into the light.

The Emerald Galaxy returned to silence. Lin Yu hovered alone in the void, facing the slowly expanding rift, with an endless sea of ​​stars behind him. He raised his hand, palm facing forward, and a wisp of silver light spilled from his fingertips, extending like a thread towards the rift. The light was thin and weak, as if it might be swallowed by the darkness at the edge of the rift at any moment. But it did not. It steadily and resolutely extended forward, weaving a silver net in front of the rift, gradually enveloping, compressing, and purifying the seeping dark light.

Lin Yu closed his eyes. He could sense something gathering on the other side of the rift. It was countless heavy, solid, mountain-like auras—the Earth Royal Family. They were waiting, waiting for the rift to widen enough to accommodate their massive forms, then they would surge in and crush this fragile star system into dust. But they would not succeed. Lin Yu opened his eyes, the silver light flowing deep within his pupils, like time itself flowing in his eyes. "Come," he whispered, his voice dissipating into the void.

On the other side of the rift, the sky of the void world—if that ever-churning darkness can be called the sky—is an eternally dark gray-blue. It is not cloud, not fog, but eternal miasma generated by the friction of void energy against dimensional barriers, each wisp containing a high concentration of void particles enough to disintegrate real matter.

Three enormous figures hovered before the rift, like three continents floating in the void.

Kunxu remained the quietest of them all. Its enormous body, like that of a cosmic whale, was completely still, only the deep blue scales on its surface seemed to breathe slowly, each breath creating visible ripples in the surrounding void. Its three pairs of eyes—those three pairs of eyes like dark blue vortexes—were fixed on the distant rift leading to the Emerald Galaxy, as if calculating something, or perhaps waiting for something.

The serpent was on its right. The patriarch of the Earth Royal Clan was currently in a rare state of excitement. Its coiled body, like a mountain range, writhed slightly, and the massive claws at the ends of its countless appendages opened and closed continuously, the earthen-yellow light at the tips of the claws like that of a hungry beast licking its lips. Its single eye burned with an intense light, fixed intently on the crack, as if it were about to pounce at any moment.

Youluo was on the left. The Void Insect Clan Chieftain maintained her languid yet dangerous posture, her upper body, in alluring female form, leaning against a mass of void, her slender fingers toying with a strand of dark purple energy. Her lower body, the massive spider-like form, had its eight segments slightly curled, the void toxins at the tips slowly condensing into tiny droplets, each drop enough to corrode the core of a small planet. Her gaze shifted back and forth between Kunxu and Hui, a cryptic smile playing on her lips.

"The rift is about to open." The serpent finally couldn't help but speak, its deep and resonant voice rumbling in the void. "Which of you will go?" Its single eye turned to Kunxu, then to Youluo, with earthen-yellow flames leaping in its pupil.

Kunxu did not answer immediately. It simply turned its massive body slowly, its three pairs of deep blue, swirling eyes sweeping over Hui and Youluo in turn, finally settling on Hui. "You want to go?" Kunxu's voice was old and calm, like the ceaseless undercurrent in the deep sea. There was no question, no probing in that voice, only a detached indifference that seemed to see through everything.

The serpent's single eye flickered. It discerned something in Kunxu's tone—it wasn't a question, but a confirmation.

"I'll go." Its voice was deep and resonant, like the movement of the earth's crust, carrying an undisguised resolve. Its massive body leaned forward slightly, its countless appendages simultaneously adjusting their direction, aligning its mountain-like head with Kunxu. "I'll wait for you over there. We'll meet in the Emerald Star System."

It paused, the flame in its single eye flickering as if hesitating. Then, the flame hardened. "I hope you won't forget our promise." The voice carried a heavy, almost stern tone, one that only creatures that had endured countless ages could understand. It wasn't a threat, not a warning, but a trust. Words uttered only when entrusting one's back to comrades.

Kunxu gazed at it silently, something seeming to flicker faintly in its deep blue, swirling eyes. "I won't forget," it said, its voice still calm, yet carrying a heavy promise that had transcended endless time.

Youluo didn't speak. She simply looked at Hui, her cold, eerie eyes unusually devoid of mockery or provocation. She remained silent, silently watching this "big, simpleton" with whom she had fought for countless years, volunteer for the first time to go to the most dangerous battlefield. Then, she nodded slightly. The movement was so light it was almost imperceptible. But Hui saw it. In its single eye, the earthen-yellow flame flickered, as if something was burning within it, or perhaps something was melting within it.

The serpent said nothing more. It turned around, its massive body slowly changing direction in the void, its countless appendages exerting force simultaneously, pushing its mountain-like body forward.

Behind it, tens of thousands of Earth Royal warriors moved simultaneously. The colossi strode forward, each step causing the space to tremble; the Earth Devouring Insects emerged from the void, their undulating bodies like dark yellow rivers; the Mountain-Shaking Soldiers surged together, their muffled footsteps coalescing into a deep rumble, like the earth roaring. The Serpent led its people, slowly moving in another direction, towards the rift that was about to open in the Emerald Star System.

Its figure grew farther and farther away, smaller and smaller, until it finally turned into a dark yellow dot of light and disappeared into the end of the void.

Kunxu stared in that direction and remained silent for a long time.

Then, it spoke slowly, its voice deep and resonant, like an ancient echo from the deep sea. "Youluo."

"Mm," Youluo responded, her voice unusually devoid of sarcasm.

"Get ready," Kunxu said, his deep blue, swirling eyes turning back to the dazzling sea of ​​stars on the other side of the rift. "Once the serpent opens the passage, we'll attack from here—in unison."

Youluo didn't speak. She simply nodded slightly, her eight limbs slowly unfurling, and a solemn expression finally appeared in her cold eyes, befitting her status as the queen of a race.

Two rifts, two battlefields, simultaneous attacks. This is the plan of the Void Races—not a desperate gamble, but a two-pronged attack. To overwhelm the allied forces of the known universe, to cause their defenses to collapse under double pressure, and to turn their hopes to ashes in despair.

Kunxu glanced one last time in the direction the serpent had disappeared, and something seemed to flash across its deep blue, swirling eyes. Was it worry? Trust? Or some kind of premonition about fate that even it couldn't articulate? No one knew. It simply turned slowly, casting its gaze toward the ruins of the Divine River.

There, another storm is brewing. There, it and Youluo will lead the main force of the void in a decisive battle against the allied forces of the known universe. And Hui will face alone on another battlefield the being that even Kunxu fears.

The sky in the void world remained gray-blue, the cracks continued to widen, and war continued to draw near. In the void where the three figures once stood side by side, only two silent shadows remained, along with a wisp of fading, earthy-yellow afterglow belonging to the serpent.