The void-shard pulsed on Alpha's desk like a dying star trapped in glass, its sickly light staining the walls of Shadow Garden's hidden sanctum. Translucent tendrils snaked from its core, burrowing into the stone as if the fortress itself were bleeding. Alpha leaned closer, her silver mask reflecting the shard's malevolent glow. "It's… breathing," she whispered, recoiling as the artifact hissed her name in a chorus of distorted voices. Across dimensions, Saitama jolted awake in his cramped City Z apartment, sweat dripping down his brow. The same voice slithered through his skull, oily and cold: "You cannot outrun entropy, little god. Even stars crumble." He stared at his cracked ceiling, fists clenched. "Shut up. I'm trying to sleep."
Dawn crept over Midgar Academy, its spires bathed in golden light. Cid Kagenou leaned against the clocktower, his school uniform crisp, eyes tracking his sister Claire as she laughed with friends in the courtyard. Unseen by all, inky veins spiderwebbed beneath her collar, creeping toward her jawline—the shard's corruption. Perfect, Cid thought, snapping a covert photo with his phone. "Let the Void think it's winning," he muttered, texting Alpha. "Let it believe Claire is just another pawn." His grin felt brittle, like glass under pressure.
In City Z, Saitama shuffled through the fluorescent aisles of Super Mart, a basket of instant noodles and discount soda in hand. The cashier's eyes flickered void-black as he scanned the items. "Sir," the clerk rasped, plastic melting under his fingertips, "your card's… dissolving." Saitama blinked at the smoldering sludge. "Huh. Must've bought it at a shady kiosk." Behind him, the store's lights dimmed, shadows elongating into clawed hands. He yawned. "Can I just pay in coins?"
The Void Nexus trembled as Nyxara, herald of the Devourer, plunged a jagged shard into the heart of a dead god's citadel. Her stardust body flickered, teeth-like constellations grinding as the Void Eater's voice boomed through her: "The key is turned. Now… FEAST." Reality screamed. Skyscrapers fused with Gothic spires, power lines tangling with dragon wings as City Z and Midgar merged into a grotesque hybrid—Cidgar. Saitama stepped onto the warped street, dodging a lamppost that sprouted tentacles. "Great. A crossover episode," he deadpanned, crushing a void-rat scuttling toward his groceries. Above him, the sky split open, the Void Eater's maw roaring into existence—a black hole lined with dying stars.
Cid materialized in a swirl of shadows, his cloak singed and Slayer of Gods crackling with unstable magic. "Baldie. Fancy meeting you here," he drawled, though his voice lacked its usual theatrics. Saitama eyed the blood trickling from Cid's sleeve. "You look worse." Before Cid could retort, a scream pierced the chaos—Claire, pinned under rubble, her veins now pitch-black, eyes wide with terror. "Brother…!" Cid's smirk faltered. On script… but why does it sting?
Nyxara descended like a falling galaxy, her form a nightmare of stardust and serrated teeth. "Behold the Devourer's true might!" she crowed, reality warping at her touch. Buildings liquefied into grasping tentacles; heroes and cultists fused mid-scream into writhing hybrids. Saitama punted a mutated trash can into the vortex. "This is worse than the monster association sale." Cid's blade flared, nuclear light clashing with void-energy. "Distract her. I'll strike the shard in her chest," he ordered. Saitama raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you do math?" Cid's grin turned feral. "Since plot twists pay better."
Nyxara lunged, her claws shredding dimensions. Saitama dodged, fists a blur, but each strike only fed the vortex. Cid wove through shadows, Slayer of Gods aimed at the shard—until Claire's corrupted voice rang out: "Brother… help me!" The distraction cost him. Nyxara's tendril speared Cid's shoulder, pinning him to a crumbling wall. "You lose, little Shadow," she crooned, void-energy surging into his veins. "Your story ends here."
Saitama cracked his knuckles. "Hey, Nyxie. Catch." He punted a half-melted car at her head. The distraction lasted a millisecond—enough. Cid roared, plunging his sword into the shard. "I Am Atomic—Zero Point." The blade detonated in a silent explosion, reality rewinding like shattered glass reforging itself. The vortex shrank; Claire's veins cleared; rifts sealed. But Cid… flickered, his body translucent, edges dissolving into static.
"You… okay?" Saitama asked, eyeing his flickering ally. Cid staggered, clutching his chest. "Please. I'm the protagonist," he rasped, dissolving into shadows. Blocks away, he rematerialized—alive but diminished, his magic a guttering flame. In Midgar, Alpha gasped as the shard crumbled to ash. But beneath the desk, a lone void-worm wriggled free, slithering into her shadow. Her eyes flashed black. "All according to plan…"
Saitama tossed Cid a soda from a half-wrecked vending machine. "Teamwork's kinda… okay." Cid caught it, his smirk weaker. "Don't get used to it, Baldie." Above them, the sky cracked—a single new rift, small but pulsing with sentient hunger.
In Shadow Garden's base, Alpha knelt before the shard's ashes, unaware of the worm nesting in her shadow. In City Z, Saitama microwaved noodles, the TV blaring: "Global portals multiplying! Is this the apocalypse?" He sighed. "Can't even binge-shop in peace."