The Hangar Bay of Zone 6 was cold. Not winter cold, but "bureaucratic indifference to human life" cold.
Sora and Shiro stepped forward, holding hands. Their pupils had that iconic multicolored glow.
"Chess," Shiro whispered, clutching a chess piece she had pulled from... somewhere. "Solved game."
"It's not just chess, little sister," Sora smirked, looking at the giant robots and the trench warfare outside the hangar doors. "It's 4D Hyper-Chess with Live Ammunition and Permadeath."
He pointed up at the balcony.
Lelouch Vi Britannia (masked as Zero) stood there, cape fluttering dramatically. Next to him, Tanya Degurechaff was angrily reloading a magical rifle almost as big as she was.
"Intruders!" Lelouch declared, waving his hand. "Your King has entered the board. Conditions: Defeat my army, and you receive the Reality Anchor. Surrender: You become my pawns forever!"
The Anchor—a glowing blue crystal shaped like a King piece—was levitating above a massive tactical map in the center of the command deck.
[REALITY ANCHOR #6: THE KING'S GAMBIT CORE]
"Total war?" Vegeta scoffed. "I'll blow up the map."
"Negative!" A new voice intervened. A woman with purple hair and a plugsuit walked in. Misato Katsuragi. But she was fused with Lena (Bloody Reina) from 86.
"Commander!" Misato-Lena saluted Vegeta (mistaking his scowl for leadership). "We can't use WMDs! The Reality Anchor is synced to the civilian casualty rate. If too many innocent NPCs die, the Anchor shatters, and we lose the game instantly!"
"Civilians?" Vegeta twitched. "Since when do I care about—"
"If we lose," Sora interrupted, "we have to restart the level. And judging by Subaru's face, restarting sucks."
Subaru was huddled in a ball, rocking back and forth muttering, "Don't touch the rabbits... don't touch the rabbits..."
"Fine!" Vegeta crossed his arms. "A bloodless war. Ridiculous."
"It's not bloodless," Sora corrected, his eyes gleaming dangerously. "We just have to make them surrender before they die. Shiro?"
"Calculation complete," Shiro nodded. "Victory probability... 100%."
"We challenge you!" Sora pointed at Lelouch. "A Game! Our small strike force against your entire Legion-Geass-Empire army!"
Lelouch laughed. "Fools! I accept! ALL UNITS! COMMENCE OPERATION: CHECKMATE!"
The Battlefield: No Man's Land
It looked like a WWI trench merged with Tokyo-3. Mud, barbed wire, and AT-Fields flickering in the rain.
The Strategy Team (Blank + Lelouch)
Sora and Shiro sat on a crate, controlling the battle via a holographic interface that Bulma and Monkuma had hastily jerry-rigged together.
"Pawn A (Tanjiro) to E4," Sora commanded. "Bishop (Goku) to F3—flanking maneuver!"
"Understood!"
Tanjiro sprinted through the mud. Water Breathing: Third Form! He wasn't cutting soldiers. He was cutting their guns.
"Sorry! Excuse me! Please surrender!" Tanjiro yelled as he sliced rifles in half, then bowed apologetically to the terrified stormtroopers.
Meanwhile, Goku... was Goku.
"Flanking!" Goku zipped across the battlefield. A giant Legion Tank (spider-robot with a cannon) aimed at him.
Goku stood on the cannon barrel.
"Hey!" Goku knocked on the hull. "Are you strong?"
The tank fired. BOOM.
Smoke cleared. Goku was standing there, covered in soot.
"That tickles!" Goku grinned. He tapped the tank gently. "Sleep!"
He flicked the tank. The massive machine flipped upside down, tracks spinning helplessly. The pilot ejected, screaming.
"Goku!" Sora yelled into the comms. "Don't destroy the units! Capture them! We need Resource Points!"
"Got it!" Goku started grabbing tanks and stacking them into a giant pyramid.
On the enemy balcony:
Lelouch narrowed his eyes beneath the mask. "He's stacking my armor? Is that a barricade?"
"It's mocking us!" Tanya screamed. She levitated, her computation orb glowing gold. "Mages! Battalion 203! Wipe that smiling idiot off the map!"
Twenty flying mages dove at Goku, firing explosive magic shells.
"Queen (Saitama)," Shiro whispered into the mic. "Interor... Intercept."
Saitama was walking through the trenches, looking for loose change in the mud.
"Hello?" Saitama looked up. "Oh. Fireworks?"
The mage shells rained down on him.
Saitama took a deep breath.
Normal Move: Serious Blow.
He blew air upward. Just a puff. Like extinguishing a candle.
The air current turned into a localized hurricane. The mage shells flew back up. The mages spun out of control like leaves in a gale, crashing softly (mostly) into a mud bank.
"Impossible!" Tanya gritted her teeth. "My trajectory calculations! Physics doesn't work like that!"
"Physics is optional for that unit," Shiro said calmly.
"Knight A (Kazuma)!" Sora yelled. "Stealth Op!"
Kazuma was crawling on his belly through the mud, using his "Lurk" skill.
"Why am I always the stealth guy?" Kazuma whined. "I'm soaked! My tracksuit is ruined!"
He reached the enemy supply depot.
"Steal!"
Instead of stealing ammo or keys... Kazuma stole the pins out of every grenade in the depot.
click... click... click...
"Run?" Kazuma asked himself.
"RUN!" Sora shouted.
Kazuma sprinted away. Behind him, a massive chain explosion of smoke grenades (Sora had targeted the non-lethal supply) filled the enemy base with purple fog.
"Smokescreen deployed," Sora grinned. "Rook (Mash), go!"
Mash Burnedead didn't run. He marched.
He walked straight through the barbed wire. He walked through the mines (boom—he didn't blink). He reached the giant gate of the fortress.
A colossal Geass-controlled Knightmare Frame (giant mech on rollerblades) blocked him.
"HALT!" The pilot shouted. "Identify yourself!"
Mash pulled a cream puff from his pocket. It was muddy. He looked sad.
"You ruined my snack," Mash said.
The mech raised a sword.
Mash punched the mech's sword. The vibration traveled up the blade, into the mech's arm, through the chassis, and caused the ejection seat to fire automatically. The pilot shot into the stratosphere.
"Home run," Mash said.
He grabbed the fortress gate.
"Door's stuck."
He ripped the 50-ton steel gate off its hinges and used it as a surfboard to slide down the muddy hill, entering the base.
The Command Center
Lelouch slammed his fist on the console.
"They're dismantling my army without killing a single soldier!" Lelouch panicked. "How?! My Geass orders absolute obedience!"
"Because you're playing Chess," Sora's voice hacked into Lelouch's speakers. "And we're playing Jenga. We just removed your support."
Inside the base, anarchy reigned.
Aqua had summoned water, flooding the lower levels.
Darkness was standing in the hallway, blocking gunfire with her body and moaning "More! Punish me for trespassing!", which terrified the guards into surrendering.
Pikachu (fused with Killua Zoldyck—Godspeed Thunderbolt Pikachu) was zipping through the vents, short-circuiting the power grid.
"The power!" Tanya yelled. "We're losing shield integrity!"
"Now!" Sora pointed. "Checkmate!"
The ceiling of the Command Center shattered.
Falling from the sky was the Ultimate Weapon.
Not Goku. Not Saitama.
It was Anya Forger (Spy x Family).
Carried by Koro-sensei.
Koro-sensei (flying at Mach 20) dropped Anya directly onto the strategy map.
Anya looked at Lelouch. She looked at Tanya. She read their minds.
Lelouch: I need to protect Nunnally! I just wanted a peaceful world!
Tanya: I hate Being X! I just want a safe desk job in the rear!
Anya's eyes sparkled.
"Waku waku!" (Excited!)
Anya pointed at Lelouch.
"Brother Zero loves his sister!" Anya announced to the room. "And Angry Soldier Girl wants a coffee break!"
Silence.
The stoic facade of Zero crumbled. "H-How do you know that?"
"Telepathy!" Anya giggled. She grabbed the glowing blue King Piece (The Anchor) from the table.
"Game Over!" Sora announced through the shattered ceiling. "You lost the psychological war! We exposed your soft spots!"
Tanya lowered her rifle. She looked exhausted. "Coffee break?"
"With creamer," Anya nodded.
Lelouch sighed, taking off his mask. "Very well. If you seek to restore the world... perhaps my strategy was flawed. I concede."
[REALITY ANCHOR 6/7 ACQUIRED]
Anya held the crystal high. "We got the shiny!"
The desaturated grey world exploded into color. The snow melted.
"Six down," Anos Voldigoad stepped through a portal into the room. He was wearing a General's coat now. "And I didn't even have to lift a finger. Excellent delegating, human strategist."
Sora and Shiro high-fived. "Blank never loses."
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[FINAL ZONE UNLOCKED]
[DESTINATION: THE VOID AT THE END OF TIME]
The room shook. This wasn't a gentle warp. The floor cracked.
Black ink—Aizen's corruption—flooded the room from the walls.
"It's him," Gojo pulled down his blindfold, serious now. "The Draft."
"He's waiting," Goku sensed it. His smile faded. "This Ki... it's empty. It feels like nothingness."
A swirling vortex opened in the center of the room.
"The Final Anchor is in there," Pux the Guide-NPC said, appearing on Anya's shoulder. "The Reality Core. The heart of the Crossover."
"Let's go," Vegeta commanded. "I'm done with games."
The team leaped into the abyss.
Zone 7: The Deleted File
It was white.
Not heaven-white. Printer-paper white.
There was no ground. No sky. Just sketched lines suggesting a horizon.
Floating in the emptiness were fragments of deleted scenes. A rejected character design here. A scrapped dialogue box there.
"Where is this?" Tanjiro asked, voice not echoing.
"The Cutting Room Floor," a voice replied.
Standing in the center of the sketches was Aizen Sosuke.
But Aizen wasn't alone.
He was fused. With Yhwach (Bleach). With Madara Uchiha. And Blackbeard (One Piece).
Fusion: The Architect.
He held a pen. A giant, calligraphy brush dripping with black ooze.
"Welcome," The Architect smiled. His eyes were Rinnegans with pupils shaped like hollows. "To my Masterpiece."
Behind him, bound in chains made of text, was the Final Anchor. It wasn't an object.
It was a person.
A girl with silver hair, wearing shackles.
Eri-chan (My Hero Academia).
But her horn was glowing uncontrollably—rewinding reality itself.
"He's using her Rewind to keep the Ink fresh!" Deku realized, horrified. "He's torturing her to sustain the dimension!"
"Correct," The Architect dipped his brush. He painted a line in the air.
The line became a slash of darkness that cut the empty space in half.
"I will rewrite this multiverse," The Architect declared. "No more heroes. No more hope. Only a perfectly orchestrated tragedy."
He pointed the brush at them.
"Delete."
A wave of black eraser-fluid rushed toward them.
"Goku!" Vegeta yelled.
"On it!"
The Final Battle began.