The Obsidian Door closed behind the Nexus Seven, and the transition was jarring. They materialized in a grim, abandoned city street, the moss-covered stone walls towering hundreds of feet above them. The air was thick with the chilling smell of primal fear and drying blood.
"This is utterly ghastly," Dazai remarked, looking around at the desolate environment. "The structural damage is overwhelming, and the scent of death is so crude. Where is the elegance?"
"The air is clean, but the stench of fear is suffocating," Tanjiro whispered, his nose twitching violently. "It is the smell of mass hysteria, overwhelming and raw."
Okarun (in Turbo-Granny mode) felt the spiritual dissonance. "The spiritual energy here is focused entirely on consumption. The low-level ghosts are just... food scraps for something bigger."
The Nexus Link flared, and Malak's unnervingly cheerful voice filled their minds.
"Nexus Seven, pay attention! This universe is defined by Absolute Carnage. Its Anchor Point is Fear. Your mission is to locate a unique temporal anomaly—a survivor named Elias—who holds the key to stabilizing this timeline. You must extract him from the world before he is consumed. He is currently hiding in the ruins outside the second internal wall."
Jin-Woo looked at the towering walls. "Extraction. This time, we save a life to stabilize the universe."
Kazuma, however, was shivering. "Flesh-eating giants? No magic, no shadows, just biting? This is where I die!"
Before Jin-Woo could form a strategy, a massive, distorted face peered over the wall, its eyes wide and vacant. A 15-meter Class Titan was staring right at them.
It moved with surprising speed, kicking itself off the wall and lumbering toward them.
"Challenge accepted!" Saitama yawned, stretching his neck.
Gojo grinned, adjusting the fit of his white jacket. "After our little run-in with the Saiyan, I need to remind myself what easy victory feels like. Saiyans are too high-concept. These are just big, hungry puppets."
"I propose a contest," Gojo announced. "Since the mission is time-sensitive, we must clear the path quickly. The Contest of Absolute Carnage: who can neutralize the most of these lumbering idiots?"
Kazuma instantly objected, but Saitama and Jin-Woo were already focused.
"Ten," Saitama said simply. "I'll do ten."
"Ten is an insult," Gojo countered. "I shall do twenty. Without moving."
Jin-Woo, needing to regain his mental authority after the conceptual shock, looked out at the ruins. "The path to the internal wall is clogged. I need to test my new power ceiling."
"Fine," Jin-Woo declared, his eyes glowing faintly. "I will do fifteen. Using only the Shadow Scythe."
As the three high-tier anomalies launched themselves into the city—Saitama with simple, devastating leaps, Gojo floating and crushing Titans with compressed space, and Jin-Woo moving like a blur of cold steel—Dazai sighed and approached a small, four-meter Titan that was stumbling out of a collapsed building.
"Ah, salvation!" Dazai whispered, eyes shining with hope. "A large, gaping maw! I shall offer myself, and perhaps the crude digestive process of this beast will be enough to finally end my suffering."
Dazai stood still, arms spread wide, right in the Titan's path.
The Titan roared and opened its mouth—but as Dazai's body entered the beast's influence, his No Longer Allowed in Another World concept flared.
The ability—designed to negate special powers—was not meant for physical entities, but in this world of pure, unexplained biological terror, Dazai's power registered the Titan's Core Biological Drive as an "ability."
The Titan froze mid-bite, convulsing violently. A dark, vaporous substance—the accumulation of Dazai's low-grade poison abilities—seeped from his skin. The Titan's digestive system, fundamentally incompatible with the concept of existential despair and the poison of a thousand failed suicides, immediately seized up.
The Titan collapsed, steam rising from its neck, dead. The system was too pure in its cruelty to process Dazai's despair.
Dazai looked at the steaming corpse. "Disappointing. Even the giants refuse me death."
After ten minutes of concentrated, hyper-efficient carnage, the area was clear.
Saitama: Stood next to ten neat, steaming piles of Titan vapor. He had used one punch per Titan. Result: 10
Jin-Woo: Stood with his Scythe resting on his shoulder, fifteen precise, surgical cuts delivered to the Titans' weak spots. Result: 15
Gojo: Floated serenely. The area around him was clear, but fifty meters away, the remnants of Limitless compression left behind distorted, crumpled Titan bodies, squeezed down to basketball size. Result: Over 20.
"I concede the victory to Gojo, based on sheer structural innovation," Jin-Woo stated, retrieving his Scythe.
"Winning is so easy it's exhausting," Gojo gloated. "Now, let's find this Elias before the Arbiter starts complaining."
The path was cleared. The Nexus Seven moved deeper into the ruins, seeking the elusive survivor who was supposedly the key to stabilizing the world.
They found footprints leading toward a collapsed section of Wall Maria, footprints that smelled of human sweat, ancient leather, and a strange, powerful scent of unrealized destiny.