"Still, at this distance... even if something goes wrong, I'll have time to shut the door."
Kaizen wasn't unfamiliar with high-level aura.
He had sensed S-rank aura before—felt its weight, its pressure.
Kroll looked up.
Suddenly—
The dark, swirling mass in front of them—made of thick black aura—froze mid-air.
The next second, it shifted slightly... as if it were looking directly at Kroll.
Even without eyes, that dense aura gave the distinct impression of being watched.
"...Rosgel-sama?"
Kroll's brows furrowed slightly, confusion flickering across his face.
Then—
The cloud of black aura surged forward without warning.
It slammed straight into Kroll's chest.
His body began to swell unnaturally, like a balloon being overinflated.
Kroll grimaced in agony. But amid the pain... a flicker of shock appeared in his eyes.
"Pfft!"
A hand suddenly burst from Kroll's chest.
It looked like something—or someone—was trying to claw their way out of his body.
First came the palm... then a forearm... then the full arm.
As the hand emerged, Kroll's body began to wither, deflating like a used husk.
A figure slowly pulled itself out of him.
And Kroll... vanished completely.
Kaizen watched the scene, unease settling in his gut.
"This..."
The process reminded him of something.
A memory from another world—a parallel world he had seen through fiction.
When Uchiha Madara became the Ten Tails' Jinchūriki, shed the bonds of Edo Tensei, and tried to fully resurrect using the Rinnegan... only for Black Zetsu to betray him in that crucial moment.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had emerged from his body.
This was just like that.
A new figure stepped out from what had once been Kroll.
Kroll was gone.
And in his place stood something... malformed.
It had only a left leg and a left arm, both connected to a torso.
There was no head. No right arm. No right leg.
Dark aura cloaked the missing parts, writhing in the air.
It stood on one leg, unmoving, yet radiating a pressure that made Kaizen tense up immediately.
The aura—definitely above A-rank.
He was on full alert.
If needed, he'd shut the door instantly.
...
Natsu and Uchiha Sasuke—his conjured aura beasts—stood ready to strike or die trying.
Their deaths wouldn't be permanent. They could be reborn.
But Kaizen noticed something odd: the being in front of him wasn't doing anything.
The figure—presumably Rosgel—just stood there, motionless, like a dormant puppet.
"What the hell is going on?" Kaizen muttered, eyes narrowing.
He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed.
The line connected.
"Kaizen-sama," came Shinji's voice.
"Shinji. Is Great-Grandfather out of seclusion yet?"
"I'm not sure. Should I check?"
"Please do."
"Understood."
...
Shinji hurried to the courtyard where Maha Zoldyck was staying.
As he approached, the door creaked open on its own.
A tall figure stepped out of the meditation chamber.
Maha Zoldyck—legend of the Zoldyck family—walked into the yard, sharp senses catching Shinji's approach before the butler even knocked.
"Come in," Maha said calmly.
Shinji entered with deep respect, bowing his head low.
"Great-Grandfather, it's Kaizen. He asked to speak with you."
"Kaizen? What happened?"
"He didn't say yet, sir."
Honestly, neither Kaizen nor Shinji knew exactly what they were dealing with. Even Zeno or Silva might not have seen something like this before.
Shinji handed Maha the phone.
Maha brought it to his ear.
"Great-Grandfather, I ran into something strange," Kaizen said.
"Explain."
"We were doing a live team exercise. We targeted a place in the desert where, apparently, someone had used an ancient relic belonging to the Sand Bandit King. It drew a lot of people in.
"But it was a trap. The goal was to use everyone's life force as a sacrifice to resurrect someone named Rosgel.
"It worked. Everyone—except my squad—was drained and killed.
"Then a black aura cloud appeared and entered Kroll's body. And from there... something came out."
Kaizen's voice grew lower.
"The being has no head. No right limbs. Just the left leg, left arm, and torso. The rest is cloaked in swirling black aura. But the aura it's giving off—it's not normal."
"And it's not moving."
There was a brief silence.
"Does your signal support video?" Maha asked.
"Yes."
"Turn it on."
...
The video call connected. The image was a bit grainy, but Maha Zoldyck's sharp eyes took in everything.
A beat passed.
"I see," Maha said quietly. "I have a rough idea."
Kaizen waited.
"That thing... you can treat it as a humanoid Nen device."
"A Nen device?"
"Yes. It's a very specialized tool. What exact ritual was used to bring it back, I can't say—but what you're seeing now isn't truly Rosgel himself."
"It's just a vessel. A type of thought construct."
"Try touching it with your aura."
Kaizen nodded. "Understood."
He extended a stream of aura toward Rosgel.
But the moment it neared, Kaizen felt resistance—an invisible pressure pushing back.
His aura couldn't connect.
It was as if Rosgel's body had its own biological field—something that rejected outside energy.
"I can't touch it," Kaizen reported.
"That means your aura output is still too weak. Try pushing more."
Kaizen did. Nothing changed.
Rosgel remained still, unfazed. His own aura treated Kaizen's like it was just passing wind.
"Still nothing."
Kaizen frowned.
"Would the people behind this—those from Mimbo—have known this would happen? Would they know how to control it after revival?"
Maha Zoldyck responded, voice steady.
"There's only one way to activate a vessel like that: flood it with aura until it responds.
"That's all Mimbo could've planned—if they didn't succeed right away, they would've done it slowly over time."
He paused, then added:
"Kaizen, can you bring this thing back with you?"
"Yes," Kaizen said without hesitation. "I have a way."
"Then do it. This thing has value—far more than that broken blade you're still carrying.
"If you can figure out how to use it... it'll be worth it."
Kaizen glanced once more at the dormant vessel.
Whatever this thing was—Rosgel, tool, or trap—it was now his responsibility.
And it was only the beginning.
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (1047 chapters in total)