Tezcatlipoca grinned. fired. But he already knew the bullet wouldn't be enough.
In one clean motion, he dropped the weapon, lunged forward, and thrust his hand toward Jin-Woo's chest, aiming to rip out his heart with divine brutality—
Only to be blasted back instantly. BOOM.
A detonation of pure, dense mana surged from Jin-Woo's body, like a pressure wave. Tezcatlipoca was hurled back across the field, landing in a slide .
He rolled, panting once, then looked up wide-eyed. "…What the hell…?"
He stood, dusting himself off, staring with disbelief. "Which pantheon are you from…? Greek? Egyptian? One of the ones from Proper Human History?"
Jin-Woo turned his head slightly, calm. "Most of your pantheons are stuck on one planet. Half of them can't even manifest without a human shell—thus, pseudo-servants . And you seriously think I'm one of them?"
Tezcatlipoca burst into laughter, voice booming across the field. "AHAHAHAHA! You're like an alien, huh? Most of those other Crypters would probably call you a Foreigner. An alien servant. If you ever got summoned in the normal Grail system, you'd probably qualify for Grand Foreigner—and that's me being generous."
"And right now… you're not even using your Shadow Monarch power. You're using Force abilities. That's rich."
Then his expression turned sharp . "Daybit! Use one of your Command Spells! For the first time in my entire damn existence, I want to go all out!"
Daybit didn't hesitate. His sleeve rolled back, revealing the crimson sigil carved across his hand.
"With this Command," he said evenly, "I order you, Tezcatlipoca—unleash First Sun Xibalba."
A surge of magical energy exploded around Tezcatlipoca.
He spread his arms wide, wind billowing around him as he chanted with ancient fire in his voice:
"Ehēcatl, ehēcatl. Yohualli ehēcatl, titlacahuan…
Time for annihilation. Go to the next world—Tonal tepēyōllōtl!"
Dust erupted across a one-kilometer radius. The earth cracked. The sky dimmed.
From the core of it all, a skeletal god emerged—wreathed in red smoke, crowned in ancient death. A monstrous shell… but just a vessel. The real power came not from the beast's form—but from the law it carried.
Tezcatlipoca ruled over physical reality itself. Every atom, every rule—now bent to his providence. Since the age of the First Sun, he had stood at the edge of destruction, and now all things in that domain would obey his version of natural law.
Tezcatlipoca raised his hand, the skeletal titan mimicking him.
"Well?" he called out to Jin-Woo. "How about it? Surrender now, Junior. Let Daybit take command."
Jin-Woo stepped forward calmly, eyes gleaming violet under the sky now veiled in divine dust.
"Domain Expansion…" he murmured. "Barrierless, huh? …Not bad for an American."
Tezcatlipoca's eyebrow twitched. His voice rang out, edged with defiance but cracked by confusion.
"You're still under my mercy right now. Even your existence should be bound by my physical law. I decide what can move… what can act… and—"
He froze mid-sentence. A realization struck him his own finger wouldn't move.
No, worse than that—he couldn't will the movement. It was like a law had rewritten itself right beneath him, without his permission. A divine error within his own reality.
What is this…? I'm bound…?
He gritted his teeth. Even I… am still bound by my own divine providence. Since the First Sun, it has always been thus. I cannot violate the shape of my truth. And right now… I can't lift a finger against this bastard junior.
Tezcatlipoca looked up sharply at Jin-Woo, eyes narrowed. "What did you do, junior? Why is my Noble Phantasm refusing to let me harm you?!"
Jin-Woo didn't smirk. He didn't gloat. He simply met Tezcatlipoca's confusion with calm, surgical clarity.
"This is Zeta Halo," Jin-Woo said. "Not Earth. Not a Lostbelt. Not governed by your pantheon's rules."
His hands stayed relaxed by his sides as he added, "And second—I flow-walked into your past. Made some adjustments. Bent one of your internal laws."
Daybit's eyes widened. "Flow-walking… you mean like what Caedus used?"
Jin-Woo nodded lightly. "To a certain extent. There are rules, of course. But some… can be bent."
Morgan, standing beside Daybit with her arms folded, nodded solemnly. "Caedus was absorbed by Jin-Woo. All his skills… all his abilities… belong to him now."
Tezcatlipoca stared. "…That's cheating."
Jin-Woo raised one eyebrow. "So is rewriting the laws of physics every time you want to win a brawl. But I don't complain."
Tezcatlipoca scoffed, stretching his neck with an audible crack. "Fine. Second round's yours. But the final round—fight like a man. No more cheats like... whatever the hell you just did."
Jin-Woo snapped his fingers. The restraints binding Tezcatlipoca's divine laws unraveled instantly—and with them came a surge of raw energy flooding back into his body. But more than that, a sudden pulse of divine intuition struck him: a temporary effect had been granted.
[×2 Damage Multiplier: Active – Any strike landed on Jin-Woo will cause double the effect.]
Tezcatlipoca blinked. Then slowly, he started to laugh.
A deep, guttural laugh—not mocking, but grounded in respect.
"You're fucking crazy, Jin-Woo," he said, no longer calling him junior. "This situation… puts you right next to what my people would call the Enemy of the World. Or Humanity itself."
He inhaled, weapon gripped tight in one hand, eyes locked to the silent monarch before him.
"Are you trying that hard to get erased from existence, Shadow Monarch Jin-Woo?"
Jin-Woo met his gaze without hesitation, the calm in his stance unwavering.
"I want to test something," he said. "I want to see if the Force has limits… or if it can surpass them."
"That's all. Final round now. You win—or I do."
Tezcatlipoca grinned and raised his staff high. Shadows and colors began to converge, his body wrapped in divine resonance. He transformed into his Mayan war god form—adorned in a headdress of jaguar fangs and feathers, ornaments glowing with divine heat.
"Let me introduce myself again," his voice boomed. "I'm black, red, blue, white—and even now, I'm living death. Yayauhqui Tezcatlipoca!"
The black sun manifested behind him—burning without fire. Black jaguars roared around his feet, and native beasts from forgotten Americas surged forth. Rays from the cursed sun streaked down like divine judgment—an attack meant to erase.
Morgan appeared in a flash beside Jin-Woo , her expression tense. "You are reckless, my husband."
Jin-Woo exhaled slowly. "I was about to call you. But you already came. That's good enough."
From his coat, he drew forth a glinting shard—Kaiburr Crystal. As it pulsed in his hand, the Force within him surged tenfold, enough to disrupt the rules around them.
"With this amplification…" Jin-Woo whispered, "I can unleash the Force energies that swirl invisibly around us—even shatter the fabric of space itself. In this way…"
He raised one hand to the storm-wracked sky.
"…I have created storms."
["Force Storm."]
Reality cracked. A violent, screaming wormhole tore through the battlefield—its spiral of blue and black energy devouring the rays of the black sun, the divine jaguars, even the war god's beasts.
Tezcatlipoca's eyes widened as he felt his noble phantasm—his very domain—ripped apart like dust. The planetary energy of Zeta Halo twisted around the storm's core as gravity was bent and broken.
Boom! The Mayan god was flung backward like a meteor, his divine form tumbling across the far side of the Halo ring. He crashed hard, his body scorched and sparking with force-lightning burns.
But he was still alive. Still breathing. And still smiling.
Offensive Bias opened a slipspace rift and silently transported Tezcatlipoca back to Jin-Woo's position. The war god landed on one knee, coughing dust and smoke.
Jin-Woo raised his hand and placed it gently against Tezcatlipoca's chest. A radiant pulse surged outward—Force Healing. The burns faded, his muscles repaired, the scars eased.
Tezcatlipoca groaned and stretched. "Fuuuuuck, man!" He let out a wheezing laugh. "If there wasn't ground to catch me, I'd be spinning in space right now. That's insane."
Jin-Woo simply said, "Force Storm. Very rare. Very hard. But not for me."
Daybit, still watching closely, adjusted his coat slightly. "That's the ability you mentioned, isn't it? The one that can destroy a planet's surface in a single strike. You called it Force Storm… just now."
Jin-Woo nodded. "There are others. Dozens—give or take. You should've seen Darth Nihilus."
"That guy used Force Drain so strong, he devoured the entire life force of a planet. What I did just now? That needed a lot of prep. But for a Sith Lord like him? That was routine."
Tezcatlipoca chuckled again, slower this time. "I lost. I'll admit it. But shit… the Force, huh?" He looked at the sky. "That power might outlast the Age of Gods. Might turn its wielders into living gods."
Jin-Woo made a subtle hand signal, and Offensive Bias responded immediately. A glowing projection shimmered into the air—an updated hologram of Coruscant's vast, layered sprawl. The underworld flickered in red, the upper levels in blue, and the midpoint levels bathed in neutral green.
Daybit crossed his arms. "You still haven't told me what I'm supposed to do. Are you sure it's just reconnaissance?"
Jin-Woo nodded. "Yes. But there's one more thing—something only someone like you can do."
He gestured to the projection, where the sky of Coruscant above the Jedi Temple pulsed faintly with residual Force energy.
"I need you to somehow create a gateway. A rift to Tython—the birthplace of all Force wielders. And when that happens… the Force barrier covering it will vanish."
Daybit gave a small, intrigued smile. "That sounds more like a job for me. Complicated, subtle, high risk."
Then, with a curious glance, "Can I talk to a Jedi? Maybe even Palpatine?"
Jin-Woo turned his head sharply. "You can talk to a Jedi—some of them. But avoid Master Yoda at all costs."
"Why?" Daybit asked.
"Because he'll sense it," Jin-Woo said. "You. You're not from this galaxy, and he'll know it. He's small—green skin, walks with a cane—but don't let that fool you. He's probably the strongest Jedi alive right now. He's usually at the Jedi Temple, but his schedule isn't predictable."
Daybit nodded slowly, taking mental notes.
"As for Palpatine…" Jin-Woo's voice dropped a shade colder. "Talk to him if you want. But he'll try to corrupt you. Twist you."
Tezcatlipoca grinned, clearly excited at the idea.
Jin-Woo raised one finger. "Don't get cocky. If things go sideways—if you screw up and get pulled into his game—Offensive Bias will extract you and return you to your Lostbelt immediately."
"And if your mission fails… I'll take care of everything myself."
Daybit gave a small nods. "Don't worry. I won't fail. Besides—you're a man of your word. If I succeed, you'll grant me and the other Crypters access to midichlorians. I've seen the Force in action. It's far easier to manipulate than magecraft."
Jin-Woo's gaze remained steady. "We'll see. Complete your mission—prove yourself—and I'll deliver. I've got one fifty thousand midichlorians at my disposal. If you succeed, my power will jump to one hundred thousand. And you? You and your group will gain Force potential."
"But fail?" His voice dropped, colder and final. "You get nothing. No rewards. Just a one-way trip back to your Lostbelt."
Daybit nodded without hesitation. "That's the scenario I propose. Fair stakes."
Then he added, "One more thing. Since your galaxy's tech is vastly more advanced… can I travel beyond Coruscant? I mean—offworld?"
Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow. "Can you pilot a starship?"
Daybit stayed silent.
"Didn't think so," Jin-Woo muttered. "Make no mistake—travel between major planets spans lightyears. It's not like hopping through dimensional rifts or teleport circles. One mistake out there, and you'll drift in space until you freeze or suffocate."