The world had stopped breathing.
Mountains lay cracked open from the last clash, molten rivers snaking through the scars of Earth. The sky above was no longer blue — it had turned into a whirlpool of black and silver light, swirling around a single point: Arin.
His body hovered midair, head tilted slightly down, hair whipping in the storm his energy created.
But it wasn't hair anymore — streaks of silver and dark violet ran through it, flickering like plasma. His eyes burned with the same metallic glow.
> [Core Status: Assimilation Active.]
[Energy Synchronization: 82% and rising.]
[New Form Detected: Proto-Archon State.]
The air shook with every heartbeat.
Below him, Goku and Vegeta floated side by side, shielding their faces from the shockwaves pouring off Arin's aura. Even in Super Saiyan Blue, they could barely hold their ground.
"His energy… it's mutating," Goku said, eyes wide. "It's not ki or god ki — it's something else entirely."
Vegeta scowled, sweat dripping down his temple. "He's not fighting that thing anymore — he's becoming it."
---
Above them, the Archon watched in silence. Its six wings folded slowly, each feather glowing with divine fire. The wound Arin had cut earlier was gone — regenerated — but the Archon's expression wasn't anger. It was… fascination.
> "So the seed learns to devour."
The being's voice echoed across dimensions, heard not through ears but through existence itself.
> "Your evolution is unnatural, mortal. You are rewriting the laws that bind reality."
Arin opened his eyes. For a moment, everything froze. Even light seemed to pause.
"Good," he said quietly. "Because your laws don't apply to me anymore."
He clenched his hand — the metallic gauntlet of his Change skill tightening with an audible grind of dark steel. The black veins of Qi beneath his skin pulsed with light, each beat synchronized with the Core inside him.
> [Qi Output: 2.4x baseline.]
[CP Recovery Rate: Doubled by Black Core resonance.]
The Archon raised one hand.
> "Then let us test the strength of your defiance."
---
The world broke again.
The Archon vanished — instantly appearing behind Arin. One wing slashed forward, sharp enough to carve through mountains. Arin turned just in time, catching it with his gauntlet-covered arm. Sparks exploded as two incomprehensible forces collided.
"Too slow," Arin whispered.
He spun, driving a knee into the Archon's chest — the impact sending the celestial being crashing into the earth below, carving a crater that swallowed mountains.
The ground shook for hundreds of kilometers.
Vegeta's jaw dropped. "He just—"
"—sent that thing flying," Goku finished, smiling. "He's catching up fast!"
---
Down in the crater, the Archon stood unharmed, brushing dust off its armor.
> "You wield my power as though you own it. But you forget, human — power without will is nothing."
It extended both hands outward.
The air tore open, revealing countless black sigils — rotating rings of runes that filled the entire sky.
> "Let me show you what will truly means."
Every rune flared. Beams of annihilation — pure existence erasure — fired upward at once.
Arin's System screamed in his head:
> [Danger: Reality Compression Detected.]
[Recommend: Immediate Countermeasure.]
He didn't hesitate. His aura expanded, forming a black shield — half liquid metal, half energy storm — that absorbed the first wave. But the pressure was unimaginable; the beams weren't energy, they were commands — rewriting reality to erase anything in their path.
"Then I'll rewrite it back," Arin growled.
He thrust both hands forward, activating his new ability — Assimilate.
Black streams of light tore from the beams themselves, siphoned into Arin's Core.
The beams flickered. Then they bent — reversing direction.
The Archon froze.
> "You… you're absorbing the laws themselves?"
Arin grinned.
"Guess I'm learning fast."
He vanished — appearing right in front of the Archon, his aura warping gravity around him. The punch that followed shattered sound, light, and space in one hit.
BOOM.
The Archon was sent spiraling upward, crashing through its own dimensional gate. For a heartbeat, the stars bent around them — they were fighting outside of reality now.
---
[In the Void Between]
There was no ground. No air. Only black infinity.
But even here, their clash shook the fabric of the universe.
Each strike created galaxies, then destroyed them. Each clash of their energy formed and erased dimensions.
> [Warning: Energy Output exceeds safe limit.]
[Body Integrity: 71% and dropping.]
Arin didn't care. His hunger was in control now — the Hunger of the Blackstar.
The Core pulsed: feed, evolve, consume.
Arin roared, every nerve in his body burning, every thought drowned in the rhythm of battle. His gauntlets shifted shape, now forming blades of black energy stretching from his forearms.
He dashed forward, slashing again and again, each strike faster than thought.
The Archon blocked most, but some cut through its armor. For the first time, the being's expression shifted — not anger, but interest.
> "Then perhaps you are ready."
"Ready for what?" Arin shouted.
> "To learn the truth."
The Archon opened all six wings, each one glowing with a different hue — black, silver, crimson, gold, azure, and violet.
> "You think the Core made you unique? Foolish mortal. You are not the first. There were others — each born from the same hunger."
Arin's breath hitched.
"What do you mean… others?"
The Archon extended a finger, touching his forehead.
In an instant, memory flooded him — flashes of worlds long gone, civilizations devoured by beings like him. All of them carrying a Core. All of them falling to madness before they could ascend.
> "The Core does not serve you, Arin. It serves the Void."
Arin's eyes widened. "Then why am I still here? Why am I me?"
> "Because you resist it."
For a second — a single second — the Archon's voice softened.
> "That resistance is what makes you dangerous. Perhaps… you are the final key."
Then it stepped back.
> "Very well, Blackstar. Show me whether your will can surpass creation itself."
---
The void trembled.
Both beings stood opposite each other — god and mortal, light and abyss.
And between them, reality began to collapse.
Goku and Vegeta, far below, could only watch the sky split open.
Goku clenched his fists, trembling not with fear, but awe.
"He's… he's fighting on a level even we can't reach."
Vegeta's voice was low. "He's no longer human."
---
Arin smiled faintly. His Core burned bright — no longer consuming, but harmonizing.
"I'm not your creation," he said. "I'm not your tool."
His aura ignited — black and silver flames twisting together into a perfect spiral.
"I'm the error your system couldn't delete."
> [New Form Achieved: Blackstar Ascendant]
[Passive Upgrade: Hunger → Infinity]
[Effect: All absorbed energy becomes permanent. Decay nullified.]
The Archon's eyes widened slightly.
> "Then so be it."
They vanished — colliding in the heart of the void, light and darkness merging into a single explosion that devoured the horizon.
For a brief, infinite moment — there was silence.
Then a pulse of light spread across the cosmos.
When it faded, only one figure remained.
Arin floated there, breathing slowly, surrounded by the remnants of shattered reality.
The Archon was gone.
But its voice lingered.
> "This is not the end, Blackstar… this is only your first judgment."
The Core pulsed once — heavy, silent, alive.
> [Warning: Unknown data fragment integrated.]
[New Objective Unlocked: Judgment Path — Transcend the Void.]
Arin looked toward Earth, far below. A faint smile crossed his face.
"Guess I'm not done yet."
He folded his metallic hand, the last spark of black light fading from his eyes.
--
Complete of Chapter 10: