An Uninvited Intrusion

A strange object like a disk, formed from ring after ring of black runes, appeared in Bearded Uncle's hand and began spinning wildly without pause.

It looked somewhat like a clock? Meruem's thoughts seemed to have caught onto something, yet something still felt off—there was an odd sense of dissonance.

"Die! Little brother!" The disk-like ring of runes flew rapidly toward Meruem, though it was not as fast as he had imagined.

But just as Meruem prepared to rise and evade the attack, he suddenly discovered that his body was completely beyond his control. He could not move at all.

"Time Stop!" At some point, Bearded Uncle had pulled a pocket watch from his chest.

"What is this?" A terrifying possibility regarding Bearded Uncle's identity suddenly surfaced in Meruem's mind. But he was forced to set it aside to deal with the disk-like attack.

"Take this! Hyakki Yagyō - Lord of Chimi Mōryō!" The enormous figure behind Meruem slammed into the massive spinning disk. The collision exploded with a tremendous shockwave.

"My, my, that was dangerous. Very dangerous." The explosion sent Bearded Uncle flying, but numerous black, demon-like wings suddenly appeared behind him, allowing him to stop steadily in midair. He kept patting his chest, yet he was completely uninjured.

Meruem, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. Not only had his Hundred Demons Parade been destroyed, but his body had also been battered to pieces—rather, it was now covered in countless wounds.

This guy is too strong, in every possible sense. His body, his techniques, even his abilities... Is this the power of a god? And not the strength of an ordinary god, either. Meruem's muscles contracted once more, and the bleeding from the wounds across his body stopped again.

But this was only a temporary measure, not a cure. Meruem's body had still been injured; he had merely suppressed it for the moment. Sure enough, without recovery abilities like Cell's or Majin Buu's, he was at a severe disadvantage in battle.

"My, little brother, you actually survived. Not bad. So, why not lend that thing to me? It's useless to you anyway!" Bearded Uncle proposed once again.

Leaving aside whether something like the System can even be lent out, even if it could, I wouldn't lend it to you. And even if I did, you'd definitely kill me afterward. Don't think I don't know what you damned gods are like.

"Since you can come to this world, that means you shouldn't need that thing at all."

"Little brother, that's not quite right. It took me tens of thousands of years to discover even one world like this. And then, by such incredible luck, I found you in this world too~ What a lucky day for me. So? Give me that thing, and perhaps I'll consider letting you join my script."

Meruem knew exactly what Bearded Uncle meant by his so-called script. Only an idiot would be willing to take part in it.

"Before that, can you tell me why you're here? Kairos, younger brother of Ancient God of Time Chronos!" Meruem revealed Bearded Uncle's identity in a single sentence—the younger brother of the ancient God of Time, Kairos. Or perhaps he could be called Specter Yoma of Star of Heavenly Retribution Mephisto. Or Pegasus's Dad.

This man had first appeared in "Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas," famous for his overwhelming strength and control over time. But why would a god with such terrifying power appear in the world of "Hunter x Hunter"? These were clearly two separate worlds. Nen was not Cosmo. The two worlds had entirely different worldviews and power systems, so why was this guy here?

Yoma was not merely powerful in terms of abilities; even his physical body was terrifyingly strong. If Meruem crushed Nen Users through physical strength in Hunter World, then Yoma had crushed Gold Saints through physical strength in Saint Seiya World. Which of the two was stronger was obvious at a glance. (In the side story, Yoma had crushed Cancer Manigoldo with merely a clone.)

"So you know me, little brother. I never expected that after coming to another world, someone would know of me—the younger brother whose existence was sealed away and erased by his own brother. What a delightful surprise." Yoma was briefly stunned upon hearing Meruem reveal his identity, then delighted, before returning to normal.

"As a reward, there's no harm in telling you. You know this world is far larger than you can imagine, right? And this land inhabited by humans is only a tiny corner of it. I came from the endless Dark Sea—or as the humans here call it, the Dark Continent. There are many monsters there so powerful that even I am amazed by them. But because space in one region there is rather unstable, once I found a spatial node, it was easy for me to enter. Still, I rather like this world. At the very least, it has no trace of that damned brother of mine." After saying that, Yoma spread his arms as if embracing the sky.

The Dark Continent? I already knew this world wasn't so simple, but now it seems it really is far from simple. There are actually creatures in the Dark Continent that can astonish even the God of Time. And unstable space? Does that mean people from other worlds might appear in the future? Crimson World Kings from the world of "Shakugan no Shana"? Mecha from the "Gundam" series? Or those universe-level monsters from Dragon Ball? What a—utterly unanticipated prospect.

But how did Yoma determine that I have the System? And how is he so certain it can take him to other worlds? This guy probably won't tell me. Hmph, gods really do have certain privileged methods. And his goal must be to undo the seal Ancient God of Time Chronos placed on him.

Once that seal was removed, his power would far surpass those so-called gods of the "Saint Seiya" plane, whether the Twelve Olympians, the Titan Gods, or even the Norse Gods. Even Apsu, Mars God, and Saturn from the "Saint Seiya Omega" series could not compare. As for whether Saturn was Chronos, he personally believed they were not the same person. After all, Chronos in the Saint Seiya series seemed to be an intangible, bodiless existence.

Fortunately, the current Yoma was merely a sealed body. As long as Meruem had enough time, he would kill even a god.

Compared to these beings who had lived for countless years, Meruem, who had only been born a few months ago, was indeed at a great disadvantage. No matter how gifted he was, no matter how powerful he had been from birth, a few months of life could not compare to gods like them. But if he were given a little more time, beating gods to a pulp would not be a dream.

"Now, hand over that treasure, and I'll spare your life!"

"I refuse." As the King of the Chimera Ants, he would never submit to some god from another world, even in death. The gods of this world would be no exception.

"How bold. Since that is the case, I'll kill you first and retrieve that treasure myself." Enraged by Meruem's words, Yoma once again conjured enormous black runes in his hand.

Truthfully, if possible, Yoma did not want to fight Meruem. If he could kill him instantly, why waste so much breath? Even a monster of Yoma's level might not gain much of an advantage in a direct physical clash with Meruem. And without the ability to control time, it was hard to say whether he could even defeat Meruem. Of course, that was only true for Yoma in his sealed state.

Yoma had actually used his full strength in that earlier attack, yet he still could not seriously injure Meruem.

"Die!" Needle Shoot! Countless enormous black objects resembling clock hands appeared before Yoma and continuously shot toward Meruem's position. If this attack hit Meruem, he would undoubtedly die. After all, this was a technique that could even shatter a Gold Cloth.

"Let's do this again. 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva - Ninety-Ninth Hand!" The enormous Guanyin Statue appeared behind Meruem once more, though he had no idea how many times it had done so already. His Hundred Demons Parade had been shattered, and he likely could not use that technique again for a while. Thus, he settled for the next best thing to block Yoma's attack. Meruem did not believe he could defeat Yoma. He was only stalling for time, because he would be able to leave this world in a few minutes.

The two attacks collided and exploded once more. This time, the Guanyin Statue did not disappear, but it was covered in cracks from head to toe, as though it might shatter at any moment.

"Little brother! You're quite impressive. But I've already seen through you. Your body may be powerful, but unfortunately, I have a technique specifically meant to counter you." Yoma looked at Meruem confidently.

"Farewell, little brother! Return to infancy and disappear!" An enormous translucent clock appeared beside Meruem.

"Damn it!" This was Yoma's signature technique, a move so overpowered it was practically a bug. It could manifest the time within his opponent's body and then control it. It could even reverse that internal time, turning the opponent back into an infant until they finally disappeared.

Not just Meruem—even every human in the "Saint Seiya" plane would be unable to withstand this move. In the original story, it had only failed because Yoma's opponent was in a soul state and therefore had no such thing as internal time. Otherwise, anyone would have perished beneath this attack.

"Life Reversal!" The enormous clock began to turn.

Damn it. As a transmigrator, I'm actually going to die at the hands of a god who is also a transmigrator. What an irony.

"King!" It was Pitou. In that instant, her body moved in front of Meruem.

She blocked that fatal blow.

Pitou looked Meruem directly in the eyes and smiled. Her smile was filled with contentment. That tragic, beautiful smile was so beautiful.

It was deeply etched into Meruem's heart.

"King, this is all I can do for you. Live well. It's wonderful to be able to die for you." As the translucent clock turned, Pitou's body gradually shrank, eventually transforming into the form of a huge egg. And the egg continued to shrink.

"Oh? A beauty saving a hero. What a noble little miss."

"No! No! I won't allow you to die! Who told you to decide this on your own? Who told you to make such a selfish choice?" Tears filled Meruem's face, tears of guilt and self-reproach.

It's all because I'm too weak. It's all because I'm too weak. If only I were stronger...

Weakness is the original sin.

Ding. The Transmigration System update is complete. Host may begin the journey of transmigration.

PS: The melodramatic plot begins.

PS2: As always, asking for votes.

PS3: Congratulations on the conclusion of the first season of Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma.