Chaos Splinter 1st seat, number 010: The Clown (x)

Chaos Insurgency 2nd seat, number 011: Celestial Beast (x)

Chaos Insurgency 3rd seat, number 012: Master of Flesh (√)

Chaos Insurgency 4th seat, number 013: Nightmare (x)

Chaos Insurgency 5th seat, number 014: The Priest (√)

Chaos Insurgency 6th seat, number 015: The Sinner (√)

Chaos Insurgency 7th seat, number 016: White Walker ( Unknown )

Chaos Insurgency 8th seat, number 017: The Balance (√)

Chaos Insurgency 9th seat, number 018: The Centaur ( Unknown )

Chaos Insurgency 10th seat, number 019: The Vermin (Unknown)

Chaos Insurgency 11st seat, number 020: The Computer ( Unknown )

Chaos Insurgency 12th seat, number 021: The Swordsmith (√)

Naira Sorkin stared at the list before him. Each one represented a part of Chaos Insurgency, a faction once unified under the fearsome leadership of 009 Splitter. Now, scattered like ash in the wind, they were no longer the formidable force they had once been.

"Except for three, five, six, eight, twelve..." Naira murmured under his breath, his fingers tracing over the list. "Only five remain. The rest... vanished, like ghosts."

A gravelly voice interrupted his thoughts. "This is truly Chaos Splitter," the old man said, stepping into the room. His gray hair framed a face etched with experience and weariness. "There isn't enough. We lack a leader."

Naira remained silent, his eyes still on the parchment. He knew Juan was right. The structure that had once bound them together was gone. Without 009, the force that had commanded unity through sheer power and fear, there was no center. The group had fractured. Chaos lived up to its name, a house divided with no heart to guide it.

"Even the church needs a pope," Juan continued, his voice carrying a quiet resolve. "Someone whose belief is strongest. A leader brings order, even among those who serve gods."

"Splitter was our pope," Naira replied, his voice cold and distant. "When he was alive, there was one will. One mind. Now that he's dead, this... family has collapsed into ruins."

Naira's gaze darkened. "None of us can lead. I can't. You can't. And neither can the others."

Juan crossed his arms, his old eyes sharp with understanding. "That's because our abilities are nearly equal. No one can dominate with sheer strength. None of us can force the others to follow. We don't trust each other, and no one is willing to submit."

Naira clenched his fist. That was the crux of it. Chaos Insurgency had been held together by Splitter's overwhelming presence, his power. Without him, there was no reason for any of them to fall in line. Each of them had a force of will too strong to bend, and no one possessed the raw might to command the others.

He sighed, leaning over the table, his thoughts whirling. "So where do we find a leader now?" he asked, his voice low. "One strong enough to unite us?"

Juan shook his head, a grim smile on his lips. "It's impossible. 009 is dead, and the Goddess has no desire to descend to this earth. Without her intervention, there's no one who can take his place. Not among us."

...

The room was still, death hanging thick in the air. Five bodies slumped in their chairs, motionless, a bloody hole punched clean through each of their foreheads. Silence reigned as Zero, dressed in pristine formal clothes, lowered his smoking pistol. His eyes, red with a fevered determination, turned upward toward the ceiling.

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"Almighty Lord," he whispered, his voice trembling, "I have shown you my sincerity, my resolve. If this truly is my fate, let me see you, here in this world."

Zero—his name once an echo of nothingness—had become the architect of chaos. The once powerful Kitsune line had been toppled within days, their strength crumbling like ash in the wind. It had begun with dreams, nightmares that clawed into Zero's mind, haunting him night after night.

In those dreams, the Goddess of Death swung her scythe mercilessly, cutting down one after another. Their bodies fell in waves, and above it all, a massive invisible clock swung slowly, its hands inching forward, pulling threads of fate with deliberate precision. Waiting. Watching. Measuring time until the inevitable.

It was in those dark nights that the whispers began.

Low, insidious voices spoke to him, shaping his thoughts, warping his mind. The words slithered through the cracks of his consciousness, speaking of miracles, of gods, of men and their place in the cosmos. Each whisper planted an idea, a seed that took root in the dark soil of his soul.

By the time Zero realized it, his hand was already gripping the gun, and the five elders of the Kitsune council lay dead, slain by his own will.

A single word thrummed in his mind, pulsing with life: Evolution. The idea was unshakable now, wrapped tightly around his very being, suffocating all other thoughts.

"All great deeds require sacrifice," the voices told him, coiling around his mind like serpents. "Humans may not understand, but they will obey."

The whispers continued, their tone intoxicating, filling Zero with a twisted sense of purpose. "We are born for greatness, for perfection. Our evolution transcends the stars themselves. This is destiny—more meaningful than the rebirth and destruction of the universe."

Zero clutched his head with both hands, his fingers digging into his scalp as his eyes turned a deeper shade of red. "This is my destiny," he whispered fiercely. "Humanity will evolve. The Kitsune must embrace this wave of rebirth, or be swept away."

Crack!

The air before him suddenly split, and a tear appeared in the very fabric of reality. Out of the void stepped a figure cloaked in black mist, an ethereal presence that sent shivers down Zero's spine.

He didn't know what it was—nor did he care.

Zero raised his trembling hand toward the figure. "Lord..." His voice was barely more than a breath, consumed by awe.

From the shadows, Mei emerged, her form wreathed in black flames. She raised her hand, fingers glowing with dark fire, and as their fingertips touched, she smiled.

"When personal will collides with the current of history," Mei murmured, her voice both soft and menacing, "the spark ignites. Tell me, Zero, can you grasp what destiny truly means?"

Zero's eyes sharpened, his madness tempered with an eerie calm. "Life needs to be tested," he said, his voice ringing with newfound conviction. "Whether it's new life or old, this is an apocalypse. I will sound the horn of doomsday."

His gaze hardened, a fire burning in his soul. "If humans win this war, we claim dominance. If the monsters win, then we are purged. But I..." He paused, his voice a promise, "I will lead humanity into the storm, into the struggle between new and old life."

Mei's smile widened. Through the future diary, she had seen potential in this man—a man with a mind twisted by obsession, but with a genius buried within. The way he had responded to her whispers over the past few days had not disappointed her.

"Life, new or old, follows the same eternal rule," Mei said, her voice silky, almost teasing. "The world is ruled by death. If you can crush the new life, this evolution will be yours alone. But if you fail..."

"I will be the first to be discarded," Zero finished, his voice unwavering. "But I will not fail."

Mei's eyes glittered with amusement, her fingers turning in the air. A vial of dark, muddy liquid appeared at her fingertips, swirling ominously. She held it out to Zero.

"Opportunity comes only once," she said.

...

Zero, ever the fanatic of the so-called "Great Will," had always believed that destiny held sway over all things. The invisible hand of fate pulled the strings, and he saw himself as the one destined to pull humanity from the depths of oblivion. His role, as he defined it, was not simply as a leader of the Kitsune, but as a monster quality inspector—a gatekeeper of the evolutionary tide.

His creed was deceptively simple: he wanted Mei, a force beyond human comprehension, to give humanity a fair chance, an opportunity to face the monsters on even ground. If humanity could succeed, if they could triumph in this brutal test, then the outcome was clear. Every monster would either be captured or destroyed. The Kitsune, under Zero's rule, would rise to dominate all nations, becoming the supreme force in the world's shadowy underbelly. And Mei, the enigmatic being who stood before him now, would ascend to become their god.

If he failed... the answer was also clear. The world would not need to question the consequences of such a failure, for it would be written in blood and despair. The Kitsune, would be nothing more than a footnote in history, its fall a testimony to the folly of mankind.