Chapter 173 — The Second Crystal
Brook opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Then pain.
His body was already moving.
Michael's sword passed through the space where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier.
Brook reappeared several feet away.
Hell Flame swallowed the ground beneath him.
Brook teleported again.
Death's Scythe came down.
Brook twisted.
The blade passed across his side.
Brook hissed.
Blood ran down his body.
He landed hard.
The crimson crystal burned in the distance.
The second one.
Brook looked at it.
Then behind him.
Michael.
Lucifer.
Death.
The three Sources stood apart.
Watching him.
Brook wiped the blood from his side.
Lucifer smiled.
"You're back."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
Lucifer's smile widened.
"Did you miss us?"
Brook looked at the three of them.
Something was different.
They weren't attacking.
Not yet.
The battlefield was quiet.
Too quiet.
Brook looked toward the crimson crystal.
Then back at them.
"You're letting me go?"
Michael answered.
"For now."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Death spoke.
"You have already reached one."
Brook waited.
Lucifer's smile faded.
"You're learning."
Brook looked toward the crystal again.
"Then you're worried."
Lucifer laughed.
Michael didn't.
Brook understood.
The first crystal had changed something.
The white line beneath his skin remained.
He could feel it.
A small part of the chaos inside him had settled.
Not disappeared.
Settled.
His mind was clearer.
His movements were cleaner.
And now—
they knew.
Brook slowly smiled.
"I am."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed.
Brook took a step toward the second crystal.
The three Sources moved.
Brook disappeared.
The battlefield exploded.
Brook reappeared beside a ruined tower.
Michael's sword struck it.
Stone fell.
Brook jumped.
Lucifer's Hell Flame crossed the sky.
Brook teleported.
Death appeared.
Brook's body moved before his mind could register him.
He twisted.
The Scythe passed across his shoulder.
Brook landed.
Blood fell.
He ran.
The second crystal burned ahead.
Crimson.
Bright.
Calling to him.
Brook teleported.
Michael appeared.
Brook's fist struck.
Michael blocked.
Brook disappeared.
Lucifer appeared.
Hell Flame.
Brook moved.
Death.
Brook teleported.
Again.
Again.
Again.
But this time—
he wasn't trying to understand them.
He knew enough.
Michael would follow discipline.
Lucifer would follow desire.
Death would follow necessity.
Brook used it.
He appeared behind Michael.
Michael turned.
Brook disappeared.
Lucifer attacked.
Brook moved.
Hell Flame struck Michael's path.
Michael blocked.
Brook was gone.
Death raised his hand.
Brook appeared behind him.
Death turned.
Brook teleported.
Lucifer's Insignia appeared beneath him.
Brook vanished before it fully formed.
The battlefield shook.
Brook smiled.
He was faster.
Not stronger.
Not yet.
But better.
The first crystal had done something.
The three Sources knew it too.
Michael attacked.
Brook blocked.
Their fists collided.
Brook's arm went numb.
He teleported.
Michael followed.
Brook reappeared beside the crystal.
His hand reached.
Lucifer's Hell Flame struck him.
Brook screamed.
The fire pushed him away.
Death appeared.
Brook's breathing stopped.
The air disappeared.
Brook fell.
He forced himself to teleport.
The air returned.
Brook landed.
Michael's sword came down.
Brook disappeared.
The second crystal remained distant.
But closer.
Brook's body was covered in cuts.
Every time he looked down—
another wound.
Every time he felt his body begin healing—
another attack came.
He was tired.
But he kept moving.
"Brook."
He stopped.
The voice came from Michael.
Brook turned.
Michael stood alone.
Lucifer and Death were nowhere near him.
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Michael lowered his sword.
"You are doing this wrong."
Brook laughed.
"Funny."
Michael didn't react.
Brook continued.
"You're the one trying to kill me."
"We are trying to stop you."
"Same thing."
Michael looked toward the crystal.
"If you collect the second."
Brook's expression hardened.
"What?"
Michael looked back at him.
"Your connection will deepen."
Brook stared.
"To all of you?"
"Yes."
Brook looked down at the white line beneath his skin.
Michael continued.
"You have stabilized part of yourself."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"And?"
Michael didn't answer.
Brook stepped forward.
"And what?"
Lucifer appeared beside Michael.
Brook immediately teleported away.
Lucifer laughed.
Michael looked annoyed.
Lucifer smiled.
"Sorry."
Brook stared at them from across the battlefield.
Lucifer continued.
"He deserves the truth."
Michael's voice hardened.
"Enough."
Brook looked between them.
"What truth?"
Death appeared behind Brook.
Brook moved.
The Scythe cut his back.
Brook screamed.
Lucifer laughed.
Michael's eyes remained on him.
"You cannot understand it yet."
Brook glared at him.
"You keep saying that."
Michael raised his sword.
"Because you keep proving it."
Brook disappeared.
He ran.
The second crystal burned through the darkness.
Brook moved between the ruins.
His instincts screamed.
He teleported.
Death's Scythe passed where he had been.
He reappeared.
Michael's sword was there.
Brook blocked.
The impact forced him backward.
Lucifer's Hell Flame struck the ground.
Brook disappeared.
He landed.
His body was shaking.
He couldn't keep doing this forever.
Brook looked toward the crystal.
Then at his hand.
The white line beneath his skin glowed.
The first crystal.
Brook closed his fingers.
He thought about the moment he had touched it.
The silence.
The vision.
The voice.
Brook.
He looked up.
The crimson crystal waited.
Brook ran.
Michael appeared before him.
Brook stopped.
Michael's sword was lowered.
Brook didn't trust it.
"What?"
Michael looked toward the crystal.
"Do you understand why you are fighting?"
Brook's expression hardened.
"To wake up."
Michael shook his head.
"No."
Brook stared.
Michael looked directly at him.
"You are fighting because you must decide."
Brook frowned.
"Decide what?"
Michael remained silent.
Brook laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
Michael's eyes moved toward Lucifer.
Then Death.
Brook noticed.
Something was happening.
The three Sources weren't simply his powers.
They wanted something.
Brook's expression changed.
"You want me to choose."
Lucifer smiled.
Michael said nothing.
Brook slowly looked toward Death.
Death stared back.
Brook's breathing slowed.
"Choose what?"
Death answered.
"Nothing."
Brook frowned.
Death continued.
"You will choose regardless."
Lucifer laughed.
Brook's eyes narrowed.
Michael raised his sword.
"Reach the crystal."
Brook looked toward him.
"And then?"
Michael's answer was quiet.
"Then we see who you become."
The battlefield shook.
Brook stared at them.
Then smiled.
"Fine."
Brook disappeared.
This time—
he stopped running toward the crystal.
He attacked.
Michael turned.
Brook's fist reached him.
Michael blocked.
Brook disappeared.
Lucifer's Hell Flame followed.
Brook reappeared beside him.
His kick struck Lucifer's chest.
Lucifer smiled.
Brook disappeared.
Death raised his hand.
Brook appeared above him.
His foot struck Death's shoulder.
Death barely moved.
Brook landed.
Michael's sword came down.
Brook teleported.
He appeared in front of the three.
Then attacked again.
Faster.
Not because he wanted to defeat them.
Because he wanted them together.
Michael moved.
Lucifer attacked.
Death followed.
Brook disappeared.
They collided.
Michael's sword struck Hell Flame.
Death's Scythe passed between them.
The battlefield exploded.
Brook ran.
The second crystal was close.
Michael looked up.
"BROOK!"
Brook teleported.
Lucifer appeared.
Brook punched him.
Lucifer grabbed his arm.
Brook smiled.
Lucifer frowned.
Brook disappeared.
Lucifer turned.
Too late.
Brook was already beside the crystal.
Death looked at him.
Brook's body froze.
His heart tightened.
Brook screamed.
Death's hand was raised.
Brook fell to one knee.
The crimson crystal was directly in front of him.
Michael moved.
Lucifer's Hell Flame crossed the battlefield.
Brook looked toward all three.
For one moment—
they had stopped fighting each other.
They were looking at him.
Brook's eyes widened.
He understood.
They had realized.
The first crystal wasn't the goal.
The second wasn't simply another step.
Brook was stabilizing.
If he reached all three—
this fight might end.
And they weren't ready.
Brook smiled through the pain.
"So now you care."
Lucifer's expression darkened.
Brook reached toward the crystal.
Michael's sword moved.
Lucifer's Hell Flame followed.
Death squeezed his hand.
Brook's heart tightened.
The pain was unbearable.
Brook's fingers shook.
Closer.
Closer.
Then—
Brook touched the crimson crystal.
The battlefield went silent.
Again.
Brook's hand pressed against the surface.
Crimson light entered his body.
The white line beneath his skin changed.
A second line appeared.
Red.
It spread across his arm.
Brook's eyes widened.
The crystal cracked.
Then—
he saw something.
Not a battlefield.
A memory.
Brook stood inside a room.
A familiar room.
But he couldn't remember why.
Someone stood in front of him.
Their face hidden.
Behind them—
twelve enormous shapes.
Twelve.
Brook stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The figure didn't answer.
Then—
Brook heard laughter.
Lucifer.
The vision shattered.
Brook returned.
He stumbled backward.
The second crystal broke.
The battlefield remained silent.
Brook looked down.
White.
Red.
Two lines beneath his skin.
He slowly looked up.
Michael stood frozen.
Lucifer wasn't smiling.
Death's Scythe had lowered.
Brook's expression changed.
For the first time—
they were not testing him.
They were afraid of something.
Brook looked toward the third crystal.
Far away.
Almost invisible.
Then back at them.
Lucifer spoke.
Quietly.
"You don't understand."
Brook smiled.
"No."
The three Sources looked at him.
Brook's eyes hardened.
"But you do."
Michael raised his sword.
Lucifer's Hell Flame erupted.
Death lifted his Scythe.
Brook stepped backward.
Then Michael spoke.
"Stop him."
The words changed everything.
Brook's smile disappeared.
Lucifer looked toward Michael.
Michael continued.
"Now."
Death moved.
Lucifer attacked.
Michael followed.
All three.
Together.
Brook disappeared.
The battlefield exploded behind him.
Brook reappeared far away.
His breathing was heavy.
His body was shaking.
But he was smiling again.
The second crystal was gone.
Two.
Only one remained.
And now—
the three Sources were no longer pretending.
End of Chapter 173