Unrivaled in another world

[: 3rd POV :]

Gazing upon the aftermath of what had just unfolded, the Leader of the Black Meridians stood utterly still, as if even the act of breathing had become foreign to him.

His lips parted slightly, but no words came out; there was no sound, no breath, nothing.

There was no hesitation.

It was not restrained.

It was something far deeper.

He simply… could not speak.

In all his existence, across countless campaigns that spanned dying stars and collapsing galaxies, never, not once, had he encountered something like this.

Not a force.

Not an entity.

Not even a phenomenon.

What stood before him was beyond every classification he had ever known.

His mind struggled, desperately trying to piece together logic from the impossible.

He himself wielded power that bent laws, that imposed authority upon reality.

He had erased entire civilisations that dared to stand against the order he believed in. And yet...

"This…" his thoughts fractured, unable to form a complete conclusion.

"This isn't authority…"

His gaze trembled as it remained locked onto Daniel.

Every attack that had been unleashed, each one capable of annihilating continents, of warping dimensions, had not merely failed.

That alone would have been shocking.

But this… this was something else entirely.

They had been reversed.

The meteor, the lightning, the ice, the poison, everything had turned against them as if the universe itself had rejected their intent.

As if their very actions had been deemed incorrect and forcibly corrected.

"How… how is that even possible…?"

One of the remaining operatives whispered, their voice hollow, their body trembling uncontrollably.

"What the hell is even that...?" another choked out, clutching their head.

"That's… that's not possible…what is he...?"

The leader's hand slowly rose, but even that motion felt heavy, unnatural.

His arm trembled violently as he pointed toward Daniel, his finger unsteady, as if the mere act of acknowledging him brought terror into his very being.

"Y-You…" his voice cracked, breaking apart before it could even fully form.

He swallowed, forcing the words out, though they felt like shards tearing through his throat.

"What are you!?"

The question echoed, not with authority, but with desperation.

"Why are you even on this planet!?" he continued, louder now, though the fear in his voice only became more apparent.

"This world, this place, it's nothing! A backwater! It has no value, no significance, no standing!"

Behind him, the remaining Black Meridians stood frozen, their earlier confidence long shattered.

Their eyes were wide, filled with the same unspoken question, the same rising dread.

"Someone like you…" one of them muttered, barely able to stand.

"You don't belong here…"

"This doesn't make sense…" another whispered.

"Beings like him, they don't just appear in places like this…"

"Is this some kind of punishment…?" a voice trembled from the back.

"Or… are we the ones who shouldn't be here…?"

Their thoughts spiralled, collapsing inward as reality itself seemed to lose meaning.

And yet...

Daniel remained unchanged.

He stood there, silent, unmoving, as though none of their questions held any weight.

As though their fear, their confusion, their very existence...meant nothing at all.

And that silence…was the most terrifying answer they could receive.

Daniel's gaze lowered upon them, not with anger, nor hatred, but with something far more suffocating.

It was indifference, so absolute it felt heavier than judgment itself.

For a brief moment, the battlefield stilled again, as if even reality awaited his next words.

"Who I am, and why I'm here…"

Daniel spoke, his voice calm, almost quiet, yet it carried across every corner of existence present. "…is none of your concern."

A pause followed.

Not long.

But long enough for dread to bloom.

"What truly matters," he continued, his eyes dimly reflecting their trembling forms, "is that none of you will leave this place alive."

The moment the words were spoken, something shifted.

It was subtle, invisible, yet undeniable.

A pressure descended, not on their bodies, but on their minds, their very sense of self.

It did not crush them. It did not bind them.

It simply… rewrote them.

One of the operatives blinked, their breathing suddenly steadying.

"We… won't leave…" they murmured, as if arriving at a conclusion they had always believed.

Another lowered their weapon, the tension leaving their arms entirely.

"…Yes… that's… correct…"

"No, wait!" a third shouted, grabbing their head.

"Why am I agreeing!? What is this!?"

"It's true," someone else said calmly, almost peacefully.

"We're going to die here."

And the most terrifying part...

They weren't resisting it.

They were accepting it willingly and happily.

As though the statement itself had overwritten the concept of survival within them.

The leader staggered back, his eyes widening in horror as he watched his own forces unravel mentally before him.

"N-No… no, this is wrong…" he muttered, his voice shaking violently.

"This isn't fear… this isn't suppression…"

"This is… belief…"

His body trembled as he forced himself to step forward, planting his foot down as if anchoring himself to what little sanity remained.

"N-Nonsense!" he suddenly roared, though the sound cracked midway, betraying the terror beneath.

"T-This shouldn't be happening!"

He pointed at Daniel again, his hand shaking uncontrollably, yet he forced the words out through sheer will.

"There's no way someone of your status would care about a planet like this!"

His voice grew louder, more desperate, clinging to logic like a lifeline.

"This world is insignificant! A backwater! It holds no value, no power, no meaning in the grand scale of existence!"

Behind him, a few operatives nodded weakly, as if trying to latch onto his reasoning.

"He's right…" one whispered. "Beings at that level… they don't intervene in places like this…"

"They overlook them," another added faintly. "Like dust… like nothing…"

The leader clenched his fist.

"We've conquered worlds beyond counting! Planets, stars, entire galaxies, we've reduced them all to stepping stones! Someone like you, someone like that, wouldn't even glance at a place like this!"

His voice dropped, almost pleading now.

"So why…?"

His eyes locked onto Daniel, searching, desperate.

"Why are you here?"

But Daniel did not answer.

Because the truth was far simpler than anything the leader could comprehend.

Daniel had not reached the "status" the leader feared.

He had surpassed the very need for it.

And that was something far more terrifying than any rank, title, or dominion they had ever known.

"It doesn't matter whether I care or not," Daniel said, his tone unchanged, as if the chaos before him held no weight.

"After all… whatever happens next, none of you will be there to witness it."

The certainty in his voice did not feel like a threat.

It felt like a conclusion.

Something has already been decided.

The leader's breathing grew erratic, his chest rising and falling as the last fragments of restraint shattered within him.

His eyes widened, then twisted, something feral breaking through the remnants of his composure.

"…Fuck this," he muttered, his voice cracking into something unrecognisable.

Then he roared, louder, raw and unhinged, "I'LL SHOW YOU WHY THEY CHOSE ME AS THE LEADER!"

Something erupted from within him.

Not energy.

Not power.

But corruption.

[: Blessings of the Dark North King :]

A deep, guttural force surged through his veins as his body began to distort.

[: Apostle of Exiled Dwarf Star :]

His bones cracked violently, expanding, reforming, his frame growing larger, denser, something unnatural taking shape.

[: Blood of Gluttony :]

The moment those words fell, the transformation accelerated.

His body swelled grotesquely, muscles tearing and regenerating, skin darkening into a shifting mass that pulsed with alien life.

His limbs elongated, his spine twisted, and his shadow swallowed the ground beneath him, stretching outward until it covered his remaining subordinates entirely.

He was no longer human.

No longer even a singular being.

He was a composite.

A grotesque fusion of countless species, an impure existence stitched together by stolen power and fractured authority.

And then he laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The sound was broken, deranged, echoing with multiple tones as if countless voices were layered within him.

"Witness this!" he roared, his massive form towering over the battlefield.

"My true power!"

His maw split open, far too wide, stretching beyond natural limits, revealing darkness within that seemed endless.

"Blood of Gluttony, granted by the Lord of Gluttony himself! One of Hell's rulers!"

He bellowed, his voice shaking the air.

"Now… there is nowhere left for you to run!"

Behind him, the remaining Black Meridians, those who had not yet been unmade, stared in awe.

"That's… the leader's true form…"

"We're saved… we're actually saved…"

"Kill him! Tear him apart!"

There was hope in between their fragile and desperate emotions, and all of it existed for a moment because when the leader turned slowly, his eyes were locked onto them.

"…Saved?" one operative whispered, confusion creeping in.

The leader's grin widened unnaturally.

And then he moved.

His jaw expanded further, impossibly so, and before a single scream could fully form, he had devoured them, every single one of them in one single, horrifying bite.

*Crunch*

Moments later, there was only silence as the battlefield froze with no struggle or resistance.

They were simply...gone.

The leader swallowed, his body convulsing as the consumed energy spread through him, veins pulsing violently as fragments of stolen abilities flickered across his monstrous form.

"Ahhh…" he exhaled, his voice layered and distorted.

"Power… I can feel it…"

He declared proudly, but his power of blood of gluttony was incomplete.

It was pathetic and a mere fraction of the ultimate skill of gluttony.

What he had was not even one per cent.

It was an imitation, a degraded echo of something far greater, a mockery of the true Gluttony.

And yet, he laughed again, intoxicated by even that insignificant gain.

"HAHAHAHAHA! You see this!?" he roared, turning back toward Daniel.

"This is evolution! This is supremacy!"

But Daniel remained still as he watched, unmoved by his presence.

Because what stood before him…was not power.

It was desperation given form.

And compared to what Daniel possessed, it was nothing more than a crude, broken imitation of something he had long since surpassed.