To reach the Peak of Absolute Power.
This single sentence dictated everything in Kai's life. Everything. From his plans, schemes, maniacal tendencies, ruthlessness, rage, and calm, to even love.
There was nothing in any world that mattered more to Kai than becoming stronger; more powerful.
Every action, random or not, must lead to him progressing toward the Peak.
Every thought, artificial or not, must be about the next step.
Every truth or lie must lead him to victory.
These things had etched themselves into Kai's heart.
Never again did he want to feel as helpless as he had felt when his mother had died in his arms. Never again did he want to feel as helpless while running for his life. Never again did he want to feel helpless while seeking the ability to kill his enemies.
But then came Alan Stormborn and a momentary change of heart occurred, resulting in a disaster.
Kai had never known his father before. At first, he had felt anger, a burning rage making him attack Alan when he had apologized regarding Edith Stormborn's fate.
Later, the unknown feelings had kicked in.
Yes. There was someone in his life once again... who truly cared for him. He didn't need a Slave Contract to trust this man. Family. Father. Blood.
He was a son. Once more.
With Kai's abnormal mental capacity, losing Alan so soon had almost caused him to lose his mind. That's why the Ad Infinitum had sent both Black and Kai to hibernation, letting them cope with the emotional upheaval.
It hadn't taken Kai much time to get himself together and regain all control with no fear of going insane.
However, a Faceless had uncountable and incomprehensible secrets; even from oneself.
Among all the feelings Kai carried with himself, regarding his father, there was this one thing that had caused him pain the most.
It was this one thing that had single-handedly turned him into a maniac.
It was this one thing that had replaced the desire for the Peak of Absolute Power in Kai's heart, becoming an obsession.
It wasn't an unreachable stage of power or an Item or an Ability. Nor was it Alan's obvious intentions of humble his son by showing him what the true Peak looked like.
No. It wasn't those things.
It was... a scolding.
After... after thousands of years... when Kai had lost and forgotten the concept of familial feelings... someone... his father... had scolded him.
What were you doing all this time? Alan had asked, frowning. Why haven't you mastered Bankai yet, huh?
Indignant was the only word that could barely hope to describe Kai's emotions, then.
Bankai. Bankai. Bankai.
Why... Why hadn't he reached Bankai? Had he let his father down in front of his friends? Had he come short of his duties? Had he failed as a son... again?!
Bankai. Bankai. Bankai.
This single obsession had been ruining him, Kai knew; and so did the Ad Infinitum.
Hence, the AI used Kai's Comprehension of Facelessness to seal the desire, burying it so deep that until he completed his plans, and until a few years passed, he wouldn't be able to recall it.
The burial was so thorough, in fact, that even the Ad Infinitum had erased all the data about it from its storage.
Since then, no yellow crystal danced in the Mindscape regarding Bankai anymore... until Black faced the Mirror of Erised.
After his encounter with the Sorting Hat, Black had gotten a good measure of how these Artifacts worked.
They invaded your mind, not much unlike Legilimens, and extracted the info.
It was pretty simple, but extremely hard to defend against.
However, after transforming his Mindscape to a Galaxy with a Black Hole, using Infinity as an Illusion, Kai hardly worried about such items or skills or beings.
This wasn't empty confidence, but pure belief.
The Mirror of Erised, though, didn't work like the Sorting Hat.
It didn't reach into one's mind to know one's greatest obsession..
It looked into the past and the future and pulled out what truly, in its entirety, represented the present greatest desire.
No matter how deep an obsession was buried, it wouldn't remain buried for eternity.
There was no defense against the Mirror of Erised. Literally. It was a broken item.
All one could do, as Dumbledore had put it, was to come to terms with oneself.
— It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts... The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror. —
Dumbledore was right.
Alas! Even he didn't know the true nature of the Mirror of Erised.
No one knew from where the Mirror of Erised had come, to begin with. Who brought it to Hogwarts? How did it come into existence? Who was its creator?
Perhaps only the Timeline and DEATH knew; such was the mystery behind the Mirror of Erised.
Regardless of the reasons, and follies, what happened when Black stepped in front of the Mirror couldn't be undone.
Black's image in the Mirror of Erised let out a demonic, filthy grin.
Black had become so transfixed that he couldn't move, much less take his eyes off the happenings getting reflected in his eyes.
Suddenly, as Black looked at himself grinning wider and wider, he noticed the background.
There were no dark walls behind the image. Slowly, a redness was creeping in the mirror, taking over every nook and cranny.
Soon, everything around the image became bloodier than bloody.
Then Black heard the words that shocked his Source.
"Devour," the image cackled, "Ayin!"
Murasame and Sounga appeared in the image's hand, which plunged into the redness beneath its unseen feet.
When the image pulled the swords out, they had transformed.
Limitless Murasame drank the image's Reiatsu and its edge lit up with black, cursed flames.
Supreme Sounga roared, drinking the Reiatsu as well. Its blade lit up with purple flames, oozing out nothing but pure evil.
No! The Ad Infinitum pulled out the buried memory after finally realizing what was happening.
But it was already too late... for both Black and Kai.
In pure terror; horror beyond horrors; the image stretched its hands, holding the massive hiltless swords upside down, the blades' tips kissing the redness at the mirror's foot.
The image smiled again, sending a chill running down Black's spine, and let go of the swords.
The swords melted into the darkness.
Boo—ooooo ———mmmmmmm!
The Mirror of Erised shattered.
Black vanished. Memories got erased. Somewhere afar, a parasite hiding within a girl's mind just... blinked out, leaving behind an imprint.
In the room, filled with hideous spatial cracks and floating shards of the Mirror of Erised, nothing left anymore.
The Timeline protected the possessor of the Prime Providence...
... but even IT shuddered at the words lingering between reality and illusion; truth and false.
Those words echoed for long until the time regained its momentum and everything returned to normal.
Even then, if one were to stand in the room, one could hear the hisses, slithering through the shadows, distorting all and everything.
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