"God" is dead.
This is a cold fact acknowledged by every civilization that has stepped into the sea of stars. Those so-called "deities" worshipped by primitive peoples in the past were nothing more than pioneers who had grasped higher-dimensional technology, or drifters among the cosmos who used information asymmetry to deceive. A true, omniscient and omnipotent creator has never once been observed.
Until today.
AD 2025, Earth.
Axia, an ordinary second-tier city.
Otsuka Sen, a recent graduate trading his youth for a meager salary in a cubicle, was, like always, zoning out in his tiny rental late at night, staring at a design draft that refused to progress on his computer screen. Outside, the city glowed with neon. Inside, the dust settling over his dreams.
His life was as ordinary as a single drop of water falling into the ocean, without the slightest ripple.
The anomaly came at midnight.
No warning. No sound. In that instant, it was as if someone had removed one ten-thousandth of a second from the flow of time.
Otsuka Sen rubbed his sore eyes, and suddenly felt a kind of "gaze" that was impossible to put into words. It didn't come from outside his window, nor from inside the room. It was a chill that started in his soul—like some incomprehensible existence had turned its sight toward this blue planet… and toward him.
He jerked his head up.
His vision pierced through the ceiling, pierced through the thick atmosphere—and saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Far beyond Earth's geosynchronous orbit, a "curtain" larger than the moon silently unfurled. It was made of pure darkness, a black that reflected no light at all. It did not obey any physical law: the gravitational field showed no disturbance, the starlight remained unobstructed. It was like a two-dimensional projection branded directly onto space itself—a BUG on the scale of the universe.
Otsuka Sen's mind went blank.
He wasn't "seeing" this with his eyes, but through a higher-dimensional sense. And it was in that same instant that he realized, in horror, that there was a faint, tenuous thread connecting him to that mysterious "sky curtain".
The source of that connection was a strange stone tablet he had picked up half a month ago from a street stall: palm-sized, pitch black, covered in indecipherable patterns. He had treated it as a little desk ornament. Now, that stone tablet was floating above his desk, emitting a faint, ghostly glow.
Before he could wrap his head around anything, an immense torrent of information surged along that thread straight into his brain.
[Dimensional Singularity locked…]
["World-Sky Curtain" system activating…]
[Observer authority bound: Otsuka Sen]
[Newbie Tutorial Quest: Publish a cross-world ranking once. Content: up to you. Requirement: trigger emotional resonance from beings across the multiverse.]
Otsuka Sen's pupils shrank sharply.
He wasn't dreaming!
This thing called the "World-Sky Curtain" had actually chosen him! And its power went beyond anything he could have imagined—it could connect the myriad worlds.
At the same time, this indescribable sky curtain was not appearing over Earth alone.
In a manner that completely defied the logic of time and space, it descended simultaneously over countless independent universes and planes. On fantasy continents of sword and sorcery, above galactic empires whose fleets roamed the stars, in war-torn lands where shinobi raced across rooftops—wherever there were intelligent beings, all they had to do was look up to see that absolute darkness hanging above the heavens.
Terror, reverence, confusion, greed… a thousand different emotions spread through a thousand different worlds. No one knew what it was, where it came from, or what its purpose might be. It was like a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all civilizations, looming in silence, radiating a suffocating pressure.
When that silent oppression reached its peak—
In his mind, with a will that trembled slightly, Otsuka Sen issued his first command.
He chose the domain he knew best, the one he was sure could set hearts on fire more than any other—
Anime.
[First ranking theme confirmed]
The very next second, across every world, lines of light began to form in the depths of that pitch-black curtain, woven from starfire—words that every civilization could understand at a glance, regardless of language:
[Cross-World Ranking: Now revealing to you—The Top Ten Most Hype Moments in Cross-Anime History!]
The instant the text appeared, an invisible power swept through all of creation. In every world, no matter if they were fishmen at the bottom of the sea, gods high above the clouds, soldiers within towering Walls, or Saiyans soaring through the void—everyone had a clear, instinctive understanding of the concepts behind "cross-anime", "hype", and "iconic moments".
It was a forced conceptual download, cutting straight through language, race, and culture. A miracle among miracles.
And the multiverse erupted.
[One Piece World]
On the Grand Line, aboard the Thousand Sunny.
The Straw Hat crew were enjoying a rare moment of leisure at sea when the change in the sky made everyone freeze.
"Wh-What is that thing!?" Usopp pointed up at the sky, clutching Chopper in his arms and shaking like a leaf. His voice had jumped an entire octave.
Nami gripped her Clima-Tact tightly, a serious, uneasy look clouding her pretty face. As she stared at that ominous black curtain, she felt her navigation skills shrink into insignificance.
"Cross-anime… hype moments?" Robin adjusted the brim of her hat, sapphire eyes gleaming with intelligence and curiosity. She softly read the words aloud, brows knitting together. "Does 'cross-anime' mean stories from countless different worlds? If this curtain can connect them all… this is more shocking than the Poneglyphs."
"Oh oh oh! That sounds awesome!"
In stark contrast to everyone else's tension, their captain, Luffy, was hanging over the rail with eyes shining, punching the air in excitement. He didn't feel even a hint of that divine pressure. If anything, he looked like a kid who had just discovered a new playground—his face full of pure curiosity and anticipation.
"Hype! That means super cool fights, right? Hurry up and start already! I wanna see!"
"Idiot captain! Does that look like something good to you?!"
Sanji blew out a puff of smoke and, for once, dropped his usual easygoing flirtatiousness. His gaze stayed locked on the sky, body slightly tensed as if ready to jump into battle at any moment.
"An unknown power covering the entire world… This is no joke."
The swordsman aboard the ship, Zoro, already had his hand on the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. He narrowed his one open eye, as if he could cut that black curtain apart with his gaze alone. He didn't speak, but the sword pressure rolling off of him made his stance clear—
Whatever this thing turned out to be, god or demon, if it dared threaten his crew, he would meet it with a swing of his blade.
[Naruto World]
Konohagakure, Hokage's office.
With a loud bang, Tsunade slammed both hands down on her desk, her generous chest heaving with agitation. She stared out the window at the impossible scene hanging in the sky, the diamond mark on her forehead standing out even more sharply than usual.
"Shizune! Call in the ANBU, now. I want every scrap of intel we can get! What the hell is that thing? Genjutsu?!"
Her voice was tight with urgency—and with a fear she herself hadn't yet noticed. Something that enormous, covering the entire sky, and completely beyond the perception of the village's sensory ninja—no trace of chakra at all—that was already far outside the realm of any known ninjutsu.
"Y-Yes, Lady Tsunade!"
Shizune clutched Tonton close, face pale with fright, but still hurried to obey.
Down in the village, at the ramen stand, Naruto had just finished a mission and was slurping down a bowl of noodles. When the glowing words appeared overhead, he froze with the noodles still hanging from his mouth.
"Cross-anime… top ten hype… moments?"
Naruto's blue eyes went wide with disbelief. He dropped his chopsticks and dashed outside, jabbing a finger at the sky.
"What the heck is this?! Is this some new part of the Chūnin Exams or something? It feels super awesome, dattebayo!"
Under the shade of a nearby tree, Kakashi slowly lowered his little orange book. His always-lazy "dead fish eye" was open wider than usual. One hand stayed in his pocket while the other rubbed thoughtfully at his chin, his expression more serious than Naruto had ever seen.
"Making the entire world see something—and even understand it, regardless of language…"
Kakashi muttered the words under his breath, a storm raging inside.
"This isn't any ninjutsu or kekkei genkai we know. This power… it's beyond the dimension of 'ninja' altogether. A ranking of iconic battle scenes? What in the world is it planning?"
[Dragon Ball World]
West City, Capsule Corporation.
Bulma was surrounded by a pile of complex instruments, frantically trying to analyze the composition of the black curtain in the sky—but every readout came back the same result:
"Unable to analyze."
"Come on! What the heck is this thing?!"
She raked both hands through her hair in frustration. "It has no mass, no energy reading… It's like… like a mistake in the fabric of the universe itself!"
"Mom, there are words up there!" Trunks shouted, pointing at the sky.
"A ranking of hype moments?"
Vegeta floated in midair, arms crossed, the veins on his forehead standing out slightly. His face was a mask of pride and disdain, but his tightly furrowed brows betrayed the turmoil within.
"Hmph. A cheap parlor trick."
The pride of a Saiyan prince would not allow any existence to stand above him.
"Whatever so-called 'god' thinks they can put on a show over my head—when I find them, I'll blast them into cosmic dust. I want to see what could possibly be more 'hype' than my battles."
Far away in a quiet mountain forest, Goku paused his training and looked up. He scratched his head and broke into his usual, carefree grin.
"Wow, so many different worlds!"
He didn't feel any fear at all—only boundless fighting spirit and curiosity.
"Sounds like there'll be loads of really strong guys out there! Heh, that's exciting! I wonder if their fights can beat the one I had with Frieza!"
[Jujutsu Kaisen World]
Tokyo Jujutsu High.
In the first-year classroom, Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara raised their heads at the same time, staring out the window at the eerie black curtain in the sky.
"Oi, you've gotta be kidding me, right? A curtain this big? What kind of special grade cursed spirit could pull this off?"
Nobara clicked her tongue in irritation, hand drifting toward the hammer at her waist.
Megumi, on the other hand, was calmly analyzing, his expression more serious than usual. His hands had already moved into the starting motions for summoning his shikigami.
"No… this isn't a barrier."
He could feel cold sweat forming on his forehead.
"I can't sense any flow of cursed energy at all. And the scale… is way too huge. This is outside the realm of jujutsu. It's some completely unknown phenomenon."
"But, hey, 'hype moments' though!"
Yuji pointed up at the sky, sounding a bit carefree as always, but his eyes were full of interest and anticipation.
"Doesn't it sound like one of those movie trailers? Like it's gonna show all kinds of super cool fights, right? Think we'll show up in there?"
Just then, a laid-back voice rang out from the doorway behind them.
"Yo~ Kids, did that scare you?"
Satoru had appeared at the classroom door without anyone noticing. He lifted off his blindfold, and those icy-blue Six Eyes locked onto the sky. In them, a torrent of information was flowing—things no ordinary person could ever perceive.
"This isn't the work of a cursed spirit."
A playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but his tone was more serious than they had ever heard.
"A stage that links countless worlds, and forces every living being to watch… This is just… insane. Interesting. Things are about to get very interesting."
Starlight spun within his Six Eyes, as if he were trying to see through this unprecedented upheaval down to its very core.
Right now, across the multiverse, countless beings, uncountable gazes, were all converging on the sky curtain. They held their breath, waiting for the first "hype moment" to be unveiled.
And the one behind it all, Otsuka Sen, was still sitting in his cramped rental, heart pounding wildly, palms slick with cold sweat.
He understood that from this moment on, his once-ordinary life—along with the fate of myriad worlds—would be completely rewritten.
(End of Chapter)
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