Shujinko stepped through the portal and found himself in a very yellow-green realm. It took a moment for him to realise that the ground beneath him was, in fact, floating around inside a void, as if the planet had been destroyed but the chunks remained within the atmosphere through some otherworldly magic, which may well have been the case.

"What is this place, Damashi?" he asked his companion and guide.

"This is the Chaosrealm," the sphere of light explained.

"Chaos...realm? Not a very imaginative name."

"What good is a name to beings that thrive in chaos? Denizens of this realm view such things as unnecessary. Some do adopt names for dealing with denizens of other realms, however, but they find little value in names compared to you or I."

"I see. I supposed that makes sense."

"They do not even worship Kochal, the God of Chaos. He instead finds worship in the Netherrealm."

"...Why?"

"Religion is yet another structured concept they reject outright. Ironically, one must hold some desire for order to worship a deity of chaos."

"These realms grow stranger and stranger. Wait. If there is a Chaosrealm, there must also be an Orderrealm to counteract it, yes?"

"An astute observation, Shujinko," Damashi responded with a hint of pride and admiration in his tone. "Indeed, there is an Orderrealm. Although, that is only a nickname for Seido, conceived in response to their ideological conflict with Chaosrealm."

"I suppose such a conflict was inevitable. And I'll be travelling to this Orderrealm as well in my quest?"

"You shall."

"Well, that should be safer than the Nether- and Chaosrealms, at least."

"Do not be so sure, my friend. Absolute order is no less dangerous than absolute chaos."

"How do you mean?"

"Seido was not always the Orderrealm. It became that way under the current regime. Most agents of a regime delude themselves into believing the injustices in which they participate are for the greater good of those living under the regime. They are fanatically-devoted to the concept of order, whereas Chaosrealmers simply reject the controlling nature of order."

"I see..."

"You will have a long time to contemplate the natures of order and chaos later. For now, focus on finding the Chaosrealm Kamidogu. If nothing else, the artefact should be less heavily-defended than those of Earthrealm or the Netherrealm. Plus, the denizens of this realm should have some... unorthodox abilities for you to sample for use in other realms."

"You sound almost concerned, Damashi. What kinds of techniques do these people have?"

"You will see. For now, I must return to the Elder Gods to prepare for the next phase of your quest."

"I see. Very well. I will see you again once I have the Kamidogu."

"Indeed. Good luck, Shujinko."

The ball of light dissipated as he had numerous times before, leaving Shujinko alone in a strange realm to continue his quest. He might have felt animosity towards the messenger, but he assumed that there were other agents of the Elder Gods that needed to be met with than just himself. He wondered if he himself might one day meet the Elder Gods. Regardless, he had a task to complete to ensure the safety of the realms.

As such, he turned away from the portal and head towards what looked like some sort of teleporter to the next chunk of earth.


This is one of those stories that exists largely to exposit an idea. It would have been called "The Copycat's Eduction" or something, but I might do more realm seduction chapters like this in the future, so that wouldn't work.

I planned to release this closer to one of the upcoming appearances by Havik, but since it was done, I figured I could release it to coincide with MKK's 4th anniversary. On a related note, be sure to watch my new video series on MKK where I discuss the origins of my ideas.