All Of The Worlds Will Be Mine

Isshiki Ōtsutsuki's eyes widened as he was yanked backward—dragged across the dirt like a rag doll. His back rolled roughly across the hard ground, his robe stained with soil and his dignity in shreds.

But even as he was pulled away, his iron grip on Elric's wrist did not loosen. He clenched it tight, desperate. Desperate to hold on. Desperate to complete the transfer. Desperate to survive.

His golden eyes flicked upward—toward the child's face.

Tears streamed down Elric's cheeks. His young face twisted in grief, eyes still flickering between his unconscious father lying in blood… and the man holding him captive.

But through the tears…

…through the fear…

…Isshiki saw something else.

A spark.

A terrifying, primal light that now glimmered in those young red eyes.

A hunter's gaze.

He's realized it now, Isshiki thought with growing dread. He knows he's different. And he's not running anymore.

Elric wasn't the prey.

He was about to become the predator.

"Damn it… damn it all!"

Isshiki grit his teeth. He wasn't composed anymore.

His hands trembled as he screamed internally.

It was supposed to be easy! Just a brat and a weak shinobi! How did it come to this!?

"This is your fault, you cursed brat…!"

He could feel it. The Karma had been reversed. The boy's body had begun devouring his transformed cells, evolving faster than he could react.

It was too late.

He had only one choice left—a desperate gamble.

A forbidden method even among the Ōtsutsuki.

If I can't claim his body by force…

Then I'll overwrite him with my soul.

It was dangerous. Extremely so.

But it was his final card.

The soul and body were deeply connected. When one changed, the other adapted—or perished. Elric's soul had adapted unnaturally well to the physical changes induced by Karma, an intern his body got time to grow.

Because of this his soul should be very wick now.

That very strength… is his weakness now.

Isshiki closed his eyes.

He forced all of his soul's power into the boy's body.

The world shifted.

Darkness swallowed him whole.

Inside the Soul Realm

When he opened his eyes again, Isshiki found himself in a space devoid of light.

A vast, formless void.

This was no physical space.

This was the realm of the soul.

He floated in the darkness, eyes scanning the silent expanse. Slowly, his gaze landed on a faint glowing form, drifting like a ghost through an abyss—

Elric's soul.

It pulsed dimly, still dazed. Still adapting.

"How lucky," Isshiki whispered, lips curling into a smirk. "Still weak. Still confused."

He moved toward it without hesitation.

His fingers stretched out, reaching for the fragile flickering light.

But then—

He felt it.

A presence.

Something else was here.

A shiver crawled up his back. Something deep in his ancient instincts screamed at him.

He spun around instantly.

And then he saw it.

Emerging from the darkness… a hand.

A colossal, impossibly massive hand made of void and shadow, rippling with power that bent reality around it.

A hand that did not belong to any human. Or any creature he knows.

What—

Before he could think further, a voice tore from his throat—

"WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

Isshiki Ōtsutsuki—conqueror of galaxies, devourer of worlds, immortal tyrant—screamed in a voice laced with primal fear.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this way.

Not even when Kaguya betrayed him.

Not even when he nearly died the first time.

This was different.

This fear was not born from the mind.

It was instinctual.

Natural.

As if every fiber of his being recognized the thing before him—not as an enemy…

The hand didn't answer.

It didn't speak.

It didn't even acknowledge him.

It simply reached forward.

Not for Isshiki.

But for Elric.

"NO!!"

Isshiki tried to flee.

He tried to summon his power, to fight, to run, to do something.

But he couldn't.

The space around him was collapsing.

His limbs refused to obey.

His form began to crack—dissolve.

His golden eyes, wide with horror, watched helplessly as his soul—

began to melt.

He screamed again.

First his fingers vanished, then his arms. Then his torso broke into dust, atom by atom.

And then—

There was nothing.

And with out any will, rest of the power followed the greater source and Flowed into Elric.

The hand ignored it all.

Unconcerned by the vanishing intruder.

It moved steadily through the void.

Its fingers closed gently around Elric's fragile soul.

And then—

Darkness.

"…Then I blacked out," Elric muttered softly.

His voice trembled. Not from fear now, but from confusion.

"And when I woke up, I was here."