After uncovering the peculiar ability known as Killing Intent Rebound from Ōtsutsuki God Shibai, Malrick felt an unexpected sense of satisfaction.
Leaving the world of Shinobi behind, he continued traveling across countless worlds.
The integration of Doomsday's genes was already halfway complete.
Once that fusion was finished, this phase of his journey would come to a temporary end.
After departing the Shinobi world, Malrick arrived in the pirate world.
He appeared at a very specific moment, right in the middle of the Summit War.
In the chaos of battle, he materialized at the center of the battlefield, glanced around with clear disdain, and calmly declared that everyone present was trash.
That single sentence was enough.
Pirates and marines alike began dying in large numbers.
This was the result of Malrick's enhanced Killing Intent Rebound.
When Shibai possessed the ability, Killing Intent Rebound could only reflect killing intent back as damage if there was direct physical contact.
After Malrick refined it, the ability became a permanent passive effect.
It no longer required physical contact.
Anyone who harbored hostility toward him would immediately suffer true damage in return.
As a result, the moment Malrick appeared and spoke those words, nearly half of those present at the Summit War dropped dead on the spot.
To an uninformed observer, it might have looked as if he possessed a terrifying ability where words became reality, that calling them trash turned them into corpses.
In truth, every death was caused by reflected killing intent.
Blackbeard, Squard, and many others widened their eyes before exploding into blood.
Those who survived were mostly left severely injured.
Admiral Kizaru, who had been in the middle of a Light-Speed Kick, merely frowned in irritation at the insult. That single flicker of displeasure was enough. He was sent flying backward, crashed into the sea, and never resurfaced.
Only simple-minded fighters like Luffy emerged as the true winners of the Summit War.
After Malrick left, anyone still standing could be considered victorious.
Ending the Summit War with a single sentence, and conveniently collecting genes and Devil Fruits along the way, Malrick continued wandering the world.
He visited Mary Geoise, strolled down its main avenue, and casually walked into the palace.
He did nothing overt. He did not lift a hand, nor did he take anything.
Yet when he left Mary Geoise with his hands in his pockets, the sunset behind him was painted crimson by the blood staining the ground.
With his business in the pirate world concluded and a large collection of Devil Fruits and Sea Kings acquired, Malrick moved on to the world of the God of Death, Bleach.
This time, he kept a lower profile and deliberately weakened Killing Intent Rebound.
Even so, figures like Aizen and Yhwach collapsed the moment they frowned at him.
It was not Malrick who frowned, but them reacting to his presence.
"This is becoming tiresome," Malrick thought.
He further suppressed Killing Intent Rebound. After studying the final Zanpakuto, he returned Ryūjin Jakka to the barely conscious Genryūsai Yamamoto lying at his feet.
After casually healing him, Malrick departed the world of the God of Death.
That very day, Seireitei was decorated with lanterns and banners, filled with music, as an annual God of Death Day was established to celebrate Malrick's departure.
How did Malrick know?
His other body remained within the Bleach universe, quietly observing everything.
"So happy that I'm gone," Malrick muttered. "Killing Intent Rebound, activate."
Cries of pain echoed.
Confusion spread.
"Didn't the one who cannot be named leave? Why is it still rebounding?"
In the end, Seireitei kept God of Death Day.
But it was no longer a celebration.
It became a warning to every Soul Reaper that there existed someone who could not be named, someone who was always watching.
…
Malrick continued traveling between worlds.
This time, however, he halted midway.
Through the other body he had left behind in the biochemical world, he sensed something unusual.
World fusion had begun.
"How reckless," Malrick muttered. "Starting a fusion without approval."
Clearly displeased with the World Consciousness acting on its own initiative, he locked onto the biochemical world and returned.
The moment he appeared at the Raccoon City mansion, he saw another world reflected in the sky like a mirage.
Towering skyscrapers, vast oceans, endless mountain ranges, it looked like another Earth.
Malrick looked up, and so did all of humanity.
Six months earlier, former International Union vice chair Jill Valentine had reappeared, announcing that the world was about to evolve once again.
For half a year, the entire planet had been waiting.
Now, with another world faintly visible overhead, more than a billion superhumans clenched their fists in anticipation.
Leon S. Kennedy, current chairman of the Seville Republic and known as the Three Lights, gave a public address. He swore to stand alongside the World Consciousness and the founding chairman, Malrick Stark, to protect every citizen throughout the fusion process.
…
"You're back."
At the Raccoon City mansion, Ada Wong stepped outside and came to Malrick's side.
He nodded slightly, his gaze never leaving the sky.
"Will the fusion go smoothly?" Ada asked, dressed in a red knitted sweater, studying his profile.
"Not perfectly," Malrick replied. "But nothing catastrophic. The World Consciousness was simply too impatient."
Just thirty seconds earlier, it had transmitted frantic messages through his other body, warning of an uncontrolled collision and begging for help.
The adjacent universe had been pulled too forcefully, causing a direct impact.
Fortunately, Malrick intervened in time, slowing the rate of contact between the two worlds.
Now, the fusion had officially begun.
Malrick's real work was only starting.
At the edge of the biochemical world, he controlled his other body and struck the World Consciousness aside.
As abstract entities, they could interact directly.
Ever since Malrick left that body behind, the World Consciousness had constantly clung to him.
This time, its eagerness to prove itself nearly caused a disaster.
It was like a foolish cat offering its master a dead mouse, a well-meaning act that only made things worse.
Perhaps that was simply the nature of this world.
The fusion of two worlds required coordination across multiple dimensions, space, matter, reality, and countless underlying rules.
Even with Malrick's current level of consciousness, the process demanded focus and precision.
That was why his main body on Earth remained silent, continuing to gaze skyward.
Beyond human sight, the boundaries between the two universes blurred, overlapped, and slowly merged as their laws intertwined.
Information from the opposing world flowed into Malrick's awareness.
After a brief analysis, he raised an eyebrow.
"So it's this world."
Back on Earth, Malrick finally spoke to Ada Wong.
"Ada, once the fusion begins, similar entities from both universes may overlap or even merge."
"Our side is already mentally prepared, so it will not be an issue."
"But the other Earth may panic."
"Take a team and represent our world. Establish communication with them."