Vikka did not sleep.
It watched.
Brush felt it the moment he stepped off the wagon—that subtle pull, like gravity bending just a little more toward him than anyone else. The Seed of the Internet pulsed uneasily, warning him without words.
This place sells consequences.
They walked through the market in silence.
Stalls floated without supports. Merchants whispered prices in forgotten languages. Glass cases displayed things that should never be touched—abilities sealed in chains, glowing like trapped stars.
Then Brush stopped.
A small, unassuming stall sat between two towering markets. No neon. No shouting. Just a single black pedestal.
On it hovered a shard of pitch-dark light.
The sign above it flickered once:
FORBIDDEN SKILL
ULTIMATE POWER
ONE USE GUARANTEED
AFTEREFFECTS: UNKNOWN
Crunchyroller stiffened instantly.
"No," she said. "Absolutely not."
Equinox's smile vanished.
"That's not a skill," she warned. "That's a cheat the System buried on purpose."
Hikaru rested a hand on her katana.
"Anything labeled 'ultimate' demands a price equal to the world," she said quietly.
Brush stared at the shard.
The seven unnamed fates inside him stirred violently.
For the first time, the Seed of the Internet did not warn him.
It… waited.
"How much?" Brush asked.
The merchant finally spoke—not aloud, but directly into his mind.
"Not currency."
"Not memories."
"Not your future."
A pause.
"We take certainty."
Brush frowned.
"Certainty… of what?"
The shard pulsed.
"Of survival."
Silence fell.
Crunchyroller turned sharply toward him.
"Brush," she said, voice tight,
"that means the moment you activate it… you accept that you might not come back."
Brush exhaled slowly.
Images flashed through his mind—
Dark Gods erasing concepts.
Crunchyroller losing an arm.
The Council.
The Gacha Master.
The seven unknown fates waiting for him to be strong enough.
"I've already died," he said quietly.
"Over and over."
He reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the shard—
Vikka shuddered.
Chains snapped into existence, wrapping around his arm, his chest, his soul. Symbols burned themselves into his code, far deeper than skills ever went.
SKILL ACQUIRED: ULTIMATE POWER
CLASSIFICATION: FORBIDDEN / NON-REVERSIBLE
ACTIVATION CONDITION: WILL ALONE
WARNING: SYSTEM WILL NOT INTERVENE
Brush screamed.
Not in pain.
In overload.
For a split second, he felt it—
the ability to end battles instantly,
to overwrite outcomes,
to crush gods, systems, and probabilities alike.
Then it sealed itself.
Gone. Dormant.
Waiting.
Brush collapsed to one knee, gasping.
Hikaru caught him before he hit the ground.
"You idiot…" she whispered.
"…you just bought something even the Dark Gods were afraid of."
Crunchyroller stared at the mark burned into his arm.
"The System felt that," she said grimly.
"Everyone felt that."
Equinox looked toward the deeper city.
"And now," she said softly,
"Vikka knows you're no longer just a customer."
High above, unseen alarms rang.
The Black Market Gods turned their gaze.
And far beyond Vikka—
something ancient smiled.
⚠️ SYSTEM ALERT (HIDDEN)
FORBIDDEN SKILL REGISTERED
NAME: Ultimate Power
STATUS: LOCKED
ACTIVATION: IRREVERSIBLE
USER: Brush D. Rush