The air in Zone 5 didn't smell like air. It smelled like wet pennies, iodine, and that specific scent a refrigerator makes when you forget about a pack of ground beef for six months.
"Ew," Aqua summarized eloquently, plugging her nose. "It's sticky."
They were standing in Shibuya Crossing. But the famous crosswalk wasn't asphalt. It was a giant grid of pulsating muscle fibers. The buildings weren't concrete—they were bone covered in neon advertisements that screamed messages like:
SUBMIT
SUFFER
50% OFF DESPAIR AT UNIQLO
[CURRENT ZONE: THE ECLIPSED SHIBUYA]
[ENVIRONMENTAL DEBUFF: "PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR"]
[EFFECT: All cheerful characters receive -50% debuff to vibes.]
"My vibes!" Luffy gasped, grabbing his chest. "I feel... strangely critical of government structures... and I don't feel like eating!"
"That's a serious debuff," Chopper panicked, checking Luffy with a stethoscope.
Guts stepped forward. His metal boots squelched on the meat-pavement. The Black Swordsman looked at home here. Which, frankly, was the most depressing thing about him.
"Keep your guard up," Guts grunted, resting the Dragon Slayer on his shoulder. "The shadows here... they bite."
"Is this your home universe, Guts-san?" Tanjiro asked, his nose wrinkling. "It smells like sadness. So much sadness."
"No," Guts muttered. "My world has fewer neon lights. But the demon vomit feels familiar."
Kazuma was currently staring at his UI.
[SANITY: 89% -> 82%]
"It's dropping just by standing here!" Kazuma yelped. "Don't look at the geometry! It's non-euclidean! It hurts the brain!"
"I don't have a brain!" Asta shouted triumphantly.
[ASTA SANITY: 100% (LOCKED)]
[SYSTEM NOTE: Intelligence stat too low to perceive existential dread.]
"Finally," Asta cheered. "Being stupid is a superpower!"
Suddenly, the skyscrapers roared. Not collapsed—roared. Mouths opened in the glass windows.
A horde dropped from the railway station above. They weren't just curses. They weren't just apostles.
They were... Chainsaw Demons? No.
They were creatures made of chains, teeth, and negative emotions.
"Contact!" Genos announced. "Incineration Cannons charged."
"Wait," Gojo pulled up his blindfold. "These things... they aren't alive. They're manifestations of trauma. Genos, fire won't work if you don't feel anything."
Genos blinked. "I am a cyborg. My emotional inhibitors are active."
"Then you're useless here," Gojo laughed, stepping back. "This Zone requires a specialist."
He pointed to a slouching blonde teenager revving a cord on his chest.
"Denji-kun. You're up."
Denji looked at the meat-monsters.
"Do they have boobs?" Denji asked.
"No," Megumi Fushiguro sighed from the side. "But if we kill the Boss, there might be food."
VRAAAA-VOOOM.
Denji pulled the cord.
Chainsaws erupted from his head and arms. The roar of the engine drowned out the fleshy squelching noises of the city.
"DREAM REQUIIIIIRED!" Denji screamed, launching himself into the horde.
Location: Shibuya 109 (Now a Tower of Agony)
The team split again. Survival instinct mostly.
The "High Sanity" group (Tanjiro, Midoriya, Captain America—who had just arrived and was confused but polite—and Guts) pushed toward the tower.
The "Low Sanity" group (Kobeni, Zenitsu, and Usopp) was currently cowering in a Hooters that had been converted into a torture chamber.
"Why are we here?!" Kobeni wailed, polishing a knife while weeping. "I just wanted to resign! My car is gone!"
"Shhh!" Zenitsu shivered, clinging to Usopp's long nose. "I can hear it! The Boss... it's disgusting! It sounds like someone stirring macaroni and cheese aggressively!"
SLORP.
From the ceiling, a figure descended.
It had patchworked gray skin. Blue hair. And purple hands—lots of them. Invisible vectors unseen to the naked eye, but visible to those with spiritual awareness.
Fusion Boss: Mahito-Geuse (Mahito x Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti).
The creature contorted, snapping its own neck to look at them.
"My brain... my SOUL... is trembling!" the creature screeched, voice vibrating between playful cruelty and religious insanity. "Is it? Is it? Is it Love? Or is it just the shape of your soul crying out to be popped like a pimple?!"
"GYAAAAH!" Zenitsu passed out instantly.
[ZENITSU SANITY: 0%]
[AUTOPILOT ENGAGED: THUNDER BREATHING MODE]
Sleep-Zenitsu stood up. The tears stopped. His hand rested on his blade.
"Oh?" Mahito-Geuse smiled, extending a mutated gray hand. "Idle Transfiguration... meets Unseen Hand!"
Fifty invisible spectral arms shot out, aiming to reshape the trio's souls into lawn furniture.
Zap.
Zenitsu moved.
"Thunder Breathing. First Form. Thunderclap and Flash. Godspeed."
He bounced off the walls. Yellow lightning tore through the fleshy interior of the Hooters. He severed ten invisible hands.
But Mahito laughed. "Physical damage? To the soul? Nuh-uh!"
The severed hands turned into slime, then reformed into spiders with human faces.
"Help!" Usopp screamed, pulling out his slingshot. "Special Attack: Green Star! Devil!"
He fired a plant seed. Vines erupted, entangling the soul-spiders.
"Kobeni!" Usopp yelled. "Stab something!"
Kobeni panicked. She didn't aim. She just flailed. She slipped on a pool of blood, did a triple backflip, bounced off a table, threw her knife, kicked the knife mid-air, and somehow pinned Mahito's ear to the wall.
"OW!" Mahito-Geuse shrieked. "THAT WAS PURELY ACCIDENTAL! I HATE RNG!"
Location: Outside the Tower
Denji was covered in gore. He was laughing.
Guts was covered in gore. He was not laughing.
They were back-to-back.
"You fight weird, Chainsaw Boy," Guts grunted, cleaving a flesh-golem in half. "You lack discipline."
"Discipline doesn't get you toast with jam!" Denji yelled, ripping a demon's throat out with his face-saw.
"Focus," Tanjiro called out. "I smell the Reality Anchor! It's at the top of the tower! It smells like... betrayal!"
They looked up. Atop the 109 Building, surrounded by a swirling vortex of dark energy, was a small red object. It had a face. A crying face.
[REALITY ANCHOR #5: THE BEHELIT OF INFINITE SACRIFICE]
"A Behelit," Guts' single eye widened. The Dragon Slayer sword shook in his grip. Rage—pure, PTSD-fueled rage—began to boil. "GRIFFITH!"
"Who's Griffith?" Asta asked, landing next to them. "Is he strong?"
"He is," Guts snarled. "And he's mine."
"Actually," a calm voice floated down. "He is not here. The Behelit is simply a catalyst."
Hovering in front of the Anchor was a new threat.
A man with a cross on his forehead. A long black coat. And a book.
Chrollo Lucilfer. (Hunter x Hunter).
But his book was open, and he wasn't reading Hunter abilities. He was reading Devil Fruits.
"Bandit's Secret," Chrollo whispered. "Combined with All For One."
He closed the book.
"Skill Stolen: Gura Gura no Mi."
He punched the air.
The air cracked like glass.
The entire meat-city tilted.
Tsunamis of blood rose from the streets.
"Defend!" Captain America raised his shield (Vibranium). "Get behind me!"
The shockwave hit Cap's shield. Cap didn't budge. "I can do this all day... but wow, that hurt."
"Mob-kun!" Reigen Arataka (who was hiding in a dumpster) shouted. "This guy is totally a con artist! He's plagiarizing powers! Get him!"
Shigeo Kageyama (Mob) stepped forward. His bowl cut flapped in the apocalyptic wind.
[MOB EXPLOSION PROGRESS: 98%]
Mob looked at the carnage. He looked at Kobeni crying. He looked at Guts' trauma. He looked at the twisted souls trapped in the meat-buildings.
"It's terrible," Mob said softy. "Using people... like items."
[100%]
[EMOTION: COMPASSION]
"???"
Mob's aura exploded. But it wasn't violent. It was white. It was gentle. It was absolute.
Chrollo's gravity quake stopped. Not blocked. Stopped.
The cracks in the air healed.
The meat-buildings turned back into concrete.
"What?" Chrollo checked his book. "My stolen abilities... they aren't working? Are you canceling my Nen?"
"I'm just asking you to stop," Mob said, floating upward. His outline glowed rainbow colors.
Mob waved his hand.
Chrollo was flattened into the roof pavement. No pain. Just immobility.
Mob floated to the Behelit. The ugly red egg was screaming.
Sacrifice... Sacrifice... The Behelit whispered. Give me your flesh... and I will give you...
Mob patted the Behelit.
"It's okay," Mob said. "You don't have to be lonely."
The Behelit... blushed?
It stopped screaming. Its contorted face relaxed into a weird sleeping emoji face.
[REALITY ANCHOR 5/7 ACQUIRED]
[Status: Pacified by Wholesomeness]
Guts stared.
"He... hugged the Behelit? And it worked?"
"Mob is just built different," Reigen shrugged, adjusting his tie. "Now, who wants ramen? My treat. Except I left my wallet in the other dimension."
Side Quest: The Legendary Shopper
While the apocalypse was being hugged away, Saitama was on a mission.
He found a convenience store that wasn't made of flesh. Lawson. The holy land.
The automatic doors opened.
Bing Bong.
Inside, the clerk was a Skeleton Warrior.
"Welcome," the Skeleton rattled.
Saitama walked to the sale section.
"Bento boxes..." Saitama picked one up. "Hmm. Moldy."
He checked the freezer.
"Popsicles..."
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
A zombie.
"Braaaains..."
"Do you work here?" Saitama asked. "Is the udon fresh?"
The zombie bit Saitama's shoulder. Its teeth shattered.
"Guess not," Saitama sighed. "Man, this dimension sucks."
He walked to the counter, placed a packet of gum (the only thing not rotten) down.
"One yen," Saitama placed the coin.
The Skeleton clerk stared at the coin. He picked up a sword.
Saitama picked up a plastic spoon.
"Serious Series: Serious Transaction."
Saitama slammed the yen coin onto the counter.
The impact was so precise it forced the cash register open, placed the coin inside, printed a receipt, and blew the Skeleton's bones into a neat pile in the corner.
"Keep the change," Saitama took the receipt and walked out.
He stepped back into the street just as Mob purified the city. The red sky turned blue. The meat melted away.
Saitama popped a piece of gum into his mouth.
"Finally," he chewed. "Flavor."
Hub Space: Transition Zone
The team regrouped. Kobeni was catatonic. Zenitsu was waking up screaming. Guts was staring at Mob like he was an alien god.
"Five Anchors," Kirito counted. "We have two zones left."
Anos Voldigoad looked at the sky. The Black Ring was dripping more ink now.
"The next zone is different," Anos sensed. "I feel... stagnation. Time stopped. A world of infinite resets."
"Resets?" Subaru flinched. "Please, no."
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[WARP INITIATED TO ZONE 6]
[TITLE: THE LOOPING EMPIRE]
The world swirled.
Colors desaturated. Everything turned grey and militaristic.
Snow began to fall.
"General," a voice spoke over a radio. "The Jaeger is ready."
Vegeta looked around. They stood in a massive hangar bay. Giant robots towered over them.
EVAs? No.
Gundams? No.
86 Juggernauts?
"This isn't just robots," Kirito realized. "It's a Tactical Strategy Zone. Code Geass... plus 86... plus Attack on Titan logic."
Standing on a high platform, wearing a zero mask but looking suspiciously like Lelouch Vi Britannia, was a figure.
"Attention, Plebeians!" The figure commanded, Geass symbol glowing in his eye. "I order you... to play my game of Chess!"
"Chess?" Anos smirked. "How dull."
Suddenly, from behind the "Zero", a second figure emerged. A little girl with blonde hair and a rifle.
Tanya Degurechaff.
"This isn't a game, you melodramatic beanpole!" Tanya yelled at Lelouch. "It's total war! Artillery fire! Fire everything at the intruders!"
Zone 6: The War Game.
Kazuma groaned. "Great. I'm bad at RTS games."
"I'm not," a voice said from the back.
A blank-faced brother and sister stepped forward. Sora and Shiro (No Game No Life).
"Did someone say 'Game'?" Sora grinned. "Checkmate is already set."