In the vast emptiness of the mortal universe — Universe 3, one of the strongest among the 10 universes of Zero's Xenoverse — a massive circular spaceship hung suspended in dead space.
It was an intimidating vessel. The kind that used to make lesser ships turn around without a word exchanged. Now it drifted silently, hull cracked, lights flickering — and outside, thousands of corpses floated in the void. Still. Cold. Forgotten.
Inside the command center, two beings remained.
One was lying flat on the ground.
The other was above him pressing his foot to his face.
"Curse you, Ice!" Krane's voice cracked with rage despite his position. "You traitor! I defended you when everyone called you a monster! Built this empire from nothing alongside you! And this is how you repay me?!"
"You trusted my results." Ice's tone was calm. Almost gentle. "Did you think I didn't know that? You were simply using me."
Ice pressed his foot down further.
Krane groaned, teeth grinding against the pain.
"It doesn't matter." Ice looked down at him with complete indifference. "What matters now is that you will be my obedient servant." A soft laugh escaped him. "Ho ho ho. It will be fun, don't you think?"
He lifted his hand.
A sphere of dark energy formed above his palm — dense, swirling, pulling the light around it inward like a drain. It pulsed once. Slowly. Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to anything alive.
"It will be painless."
Krane stared at it.
For a man who had fought across dozens of universes, who had never once flinched before death — his heart seized. Something in that sphere wasn't just power. It was wrong in a way his instincts couldn't process. Every survival instinct he had screamed at once.
He screamed.
After a while, the screaming stopped.
Krane lay still. Nothing visibly different about him — same face, same armor, same build. Except his eyes. They had gone completely black.
Then, slowly, they returned to normal.
He rose from the ground and lowered himself onto one knee before Ice without a single word.
Ice laughed.
"It is fascinating!" He clasped his hands together, delighted. "Don't you agree, my dear friend?"
Krane said nothing. He simply knelt.
Then the air behind Ice split open. A projection materialized — dark light forming the shape of a woman in a long coat, goggles pushed up on her forehead, eyes sharp and calculating.
Ice glanced back.
"Oh." His tone shifted to something casual, almost playful. "If it isn't Lord Rez. What brings you here?"
"Ice." Her voice was flat. "I hope you haven't forgotten our agreement."
"Rest assured." He turned to face her fully. "I am a man of my word. My preparations are complete. In fact—" he gestured behind him toward the kneeling Krane, "—I prepared something extra."
Rez's eyes moved past Ice and settled on Krane. She studied him for a moment with the same expression she gave interesting specimens.
"Is that what you mean. He's strong." A slight pause. "Perfect for a pawn."
"So I believe I've performed exceptionally well." Ice smiled. "I trust my expectations won't go unmet."
The air in the projection shifted. A pressure radiated through it — subtle, but suffocating.
"Do not speak like you are equal to me, pawn" Rez's voice dropped.
Ice straightened immediately. Something flickered across his face.
"Please..." A slight bow of his head. "Forgive me, Lord Rez."
A moment passed. Then Rez raised her hand and a sphere materialized before Ice — darker than anything he had produced himself. Denser. It pulsed with an energy that felt older than the ship, older than the space around them.
"I have given you what you desired." She let it hover. "Now your next task."
An image appeared beside her. A young man. Unfamiliar to most. But clearly significant enough to be projected across dimensions. It was an image of Jin.
"This is your next target." Rez's eyes didn't leave Ice. "Find him. And bring him back alive."
Ice reached out and took the sphere. He bowed.
"Rest assured, Lord Rez. I will fulfill my duty."
The projection collapsed. The pressure vanished. The command center returned to its cold silence.
Ice stood motionless for a moment. Then he brought the sphere to his chest and absorbed it — the dark energy pulling inward like a breath, his veins briefly visible beneath his skin before fading.
He exhaled slowly.
"Count your days, Dark Masters." His voice was quiet. Almost conversational. But the intent behind it was absolute. "Soon your power will be mine. And soon after — this entire multiverse."
He turned and walked toward the viewport. The endless stretch of dead space greeted him. And floating through it, thousands of corpses drifting in every direction.
He stared at them for a moment.
"Annoying sight."
He glanced back at Krane.
"Clear the corpses. Then find that man."
Krane nodded once and left without a word.
Ice turned back to the viewport.
"...I wonder." A thin smile crossed his face. "Should I go after that idiot's little friend first? Sei, was it?"