I think the goal now for the Worm is to create a Hokuto no Ken style world. Basically, the Outside will become just like the Inside, and then the Worm will take full control of the world in such a state with a martial artist of superhuman capacities.
Now, it would have been great if they didn't rat on chi energy in this manga, which is a spit in the face of any real eastern martial artist master, who all practice this at the highest levels, and for good reason. That way we could get powers that are still well within the real martial arts range like with aforementioned Hokuto no Ken. (But I've never seen that particular anime or manga so maybe is is full wuxia. But obviously it isn't Dragonball, so you see what I mean, maybe...)
Because some of those Kure clan members and the Connector seem to have superhuman powers to a certain degree. The connector would HAVE to, to be worth the hype. I mean, the superman syndrome is already up there. Time to full on apocalypse with this world. Mere matches are not enough. Kengan Asura's Annihilation tournament was already as good as it could possibly get, as far as I'm concerned. This time, get serious!
As for the characters, I don' think they are new. We are now learning about the 7 Nikos, and that means about the last Niko to survive, the crazy one from the Purgatory Tournament.