One-way traffic

"You've come to see me again because of orders from Academy City?"

"Ah—it's about idols. Now that the various abnormal incidents have come to an end, the chairman himself has returned to Academy City, so the work processes of each idol are slowly starting to resume."

"What utter nonsense! This ridiculous idol project is a joke! Damn Academy City, they have money to burn."

The second person sighed.

Seeing his expression, Yu Caihai moved even closer.

"On the contrary, you seem quite unusual compared to usual."

How did you figure that out?

"Hmm... For example, if you just sit in this room all morning and do nothing, does that count?"

Kakine Teitoku was speechless.

He didn't know how to respond, or rather, he himself didn't know what to say.

"I'm leaving."

After remaining in a daze for about a minute, Kakine Teitoku stood up from his chair.

"I've put the documents here. Sign them once you've thought them through—of course, I'll sign them for you even if you haven't thought them through yet."

"Ha, you think you can make me your lackey just by signing this? I might have been a little interested before, but now you want me to play some boring pretend game? I'm really not playing along."

"That's hard to say. I remember you said something similar before you left last time?"

Do as you please.

The second person muttered these words, his hands in his pockets, and gently kicked open the door with his toes.

And so he left the apartment he had bought at a high price.

--------------------------------

The time is noon.

Christmas seems to be just around the corner, and you can see all sorts of people busy with Christmas preparations everywhere.

It's clearly not a Japanese holiday, these guys are really worshipping foreign things.

Kakine Teitoku sat in his chair, listlessly glancing at the scenery outside the window.

Even though there's still a little time before Christmas Eve, the streets and alleys are already filled with all sorts of decorations. Some restaurants and gift shops have changed their packaging to Christmas themes, and all kinds of couples have started to be active on the streets.

If someone were the second-ranked individual in Academy City, such an identity exposed in such a massive crowd would inevitably lead to an irreversible riot.

Fortunately, he now possesses extraordinary power. Relying on the characteristic of "changing himself, a tiny individual, through the collective power of a huge group," he successfully reduced his presence, transforming himself into an inconspicuous individual like a pebble in the vast sea of ​​people.

hum-

My phone vibrated.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipped it open, and saw messages he hadn't seen in a long time.

The amount of information has reached ninety-nine plus.

Upon closer inspection, the messages appeared to come from various different people, some from higher-ups in Academy City, and others from the innocuous remarks of the idol project team.

Gazing at the rows of information, Kakine Teitoku then opened a certain window.

'Christmas is almost here, General! We've been waiting for the day you come back.'

Even you, you still need to remember to go to school.

"...So you still remember me."

His expression didn't change; he simply deleted the message.

It's probably impossible for the average person to understand the current position of Kakine Teitoku.

If we use the universe as a metaphor for the world, then even among an infinite number of infinitely large worlds, Kakine Teitoku would still be the most dazzling existence.

As a result, he was almost unparalleled in this world, almost invincible.

This is no longer a level that can be measured by any simple human or social thinking. He has transcended the framework called the world. The awakened power he gained through his own efforts has officially freed him from his miserable status of being manipulated by others.

but.

Even with such great power, there are still things he cannot do.

Even if one person could destroy countless worlds, he still wouldn't be able to truly create what he wants.

Clearly, I am the very concept of "creation".

Previously, his purpose in gaining power was to seek out stronger enemies and to bring everything to an end.

Now it's really all over.

There are no more enemies threatening the world, no more unimaginable crises, and no need for me to travel to other worlds anymore.

Kakine Teitoku's battle should end here.

But what did he ultimately gain?

Looking into his own palm, he realized that his body had gained ultimate power that no one could match, and he had even gained the concept of never dying, a permission to live beyond eternity.

But so what?

What's lost can't be recovered no matter what.

The reason I embarked on this path was to change someone's destiny.

However, that person was already dead.

However, Kakine Teitoku did not give up. In order to continue, he did not linger in the same place, but looked to the future, believing that he could do better things and prevent more similar tragedies from happening.

But then someone else died right before his eyes.

The second time, the tragedy that he could not prevent happened again, the scene before his eyes flashed before his eyes. Kakine Teitoku hated himself for not being able to change the city, for not being able to stop these things before the tragedy occurred.

He has come a long way and finally obtained the power he had always dreamed of—the power to change everything.

If he wanted, he could instantly engulf the entire Academy City and go directly to the building where the chairman was located to confront him face to face.

Having witnessed so many battles, and even fought alongside Aleister against various enemies, experiencing life-or-death moments together, he now has a benchmark for comparing his own strength to that of the mage.

Even if it were Aleister, I could still defeat him if I were in my current form.

At that time, I will be able to perfectly control the entire Academy City, change everything according to my own ideas, and fundamentally destroy this hellish city filled with darkness and death.

I'm already capable of doing this myself.

But now, Kakine Teitoku seems to have completely lost his reason to act.

"why?"

The second person was utterly bewildered; he couldn't fathom why he had become like this.

"Does this mean that what I'm pursuing isn't changing this city at all? But if that's the case... then what exactly am I seeking?"

What is the purpose of doing these things?

He couldn't figure it out.

The question and answer, which even he himself could not understand, kept swirling in the mind of the second person. Even if he could easily destroy the entire world, he would still not be able to find the answer to this question.

Just as one can create everything, one can never bring back a person who has vanished from the past.

Everything in the world is unique.

It might be possible to resurrect a corresponding individual using primordial matter; however, this individual would still be independent, and even if it possessed everything exactly the same as the deceased in life, it would still not be that person.

In a sense, Kakine Teitoku could indeed resurrect the dead.

But from his own perspective, this level of ability is far from enough to resurrect the dead.

"Hello! This is your Christmas special set meal!"

After thinking for a long time, the shop assistant's voice finally interrupted my thoughts.

Kakine Teitoku awoke from his deep thought.

In the blink of an eye, the young female shop assistant in front of him had already placed all the dishes he ordered on the table: hot coffee, a burger set meal, and what seemed to be a complimentary colorful ice cream.

"That...guest?"

"Ah—it's nothing."

The second person shook his head, and the waiter then left, while Kakine Teitoku casually began to eat the food in front of him.

To be honest, he had no idea why he had come to a place like this.

If I clearly don't need to breathe or eat anymore from a physiological perspective, why would I come to a place like this?

As he thought this, he took a bite of the hamburger patty he had cut off.

"…Um?"

Someone sat down opposite him.

"The second in Academy City... Kakine Teitoku."

Kakine Teitoku watched him calmly as he ate his steak.

"If you're the kind of villain in those cliché novels who're here to cause trouble, I suggest you get lost."

"I'm so sorry... You seem to have misunderstood, I'm not that kind of person."

The other person was dressed in black and wearing a black hat.

Without being able to see his face at all, they threw a card at him.

"But I want to show you something interesting."

"If possible, please come to this coordinate."

For an instant.

The other person's figure—or rather, some kind of holographic projection—disappeared from the spot.

Only a card remained, which had been placed on Kakine Teitoku's desk.

The second person frowned and picked up the card.

The coordinate position formed by a series of numbers.

Based on the coordinates, this should be... located in some underground area.

"Could it be that there's going to be some more entertainment?"

The second ability user sneered.

He then accepted the card.

Chapter 861 Ringo

A warm and joyful atmosphere.

With Christmas approaching, the streets and alleys of Academy City are filled with a joyful atmosphere, and everyone is preparing for the holiday.

However, this has absolutely nothing to do with Kakine Teitoku.

Ignoring the bustling streets and crowds, he walked alone into a side alley.

A gloomy atmosphere immediately followed.

It was as if he had returned to that dark and treacherous Academy City once again.

He took out the card that the person in the restaurant had given him earlier from his pocket.

It's a technology that's like holographic projection, yet it can still give him a physical object.

But that's not the point.

Based on the numerical information shown above, Kakine Teitoku easily calculated the actual coordinates of the location.

"It's underground right here."

It was right where he was standing.

Then, based on the information he found, it seemed that there were indeed activities deep underground in this place that the Academy City authorities had never recorded, which confirmed that Kakine Teitoku's idea was correct.

He put the card away and then casually looked down at the ground.

"Judging from the depth, it's probably about 300 meters underground?"