The sky wasn’t just bleeding.
It was literally gone.
The atmosphere had been ripped away ten minutes ago. It was replaced by the suffocating, tension of the Outer Gods.
Gravity? A concept.
Physics? A knowledge.
Hope? Error 404.
And Arthur? The Chosen Hero? The Beacon of the Humanity? The man carrying the fate of 8 billion human souls in his inventory?
He was crying.
He was actually, physically, sobbing.
"I... I can’t do it!" Arthur shrieked. His voice cracked like a pre-pubescent strear losing a ranked match. "He has a soul too, Seraphina! If we kill him, we’re no better than the monsters!"
I laid twenty ters away.
I was currently buried under a pile of radioactive rubble.
My legs were crushed into at paste. Red jelly inside cheap, a clearance-aisle trouser.
I tried to laugh but it ca out as a wet, hacking cough that sprayed black blood onto the fractured concrete.
[HP: 0.01%]
[Status: Critical Failure. Bleeding. Poisoned. Cursed. Mocked by Fate.]
"Are you... are you kidding ?"
Twenty years.
Twenty years of hell.
I spent two decades carrying this idiot’s bags.
I carried his potions. I sharpened his sword. I cooked his vegan als while he flirted with the Saintess. I managed his PR. I did his taxes.
I threw myself into a goblin pit to buy him five seconds to cast a spell.
And now?
At the Final Boss? At the End of the World?
He wants to debate ethics.
BOOM.
The ground shook. Tectonic plates snapped like dry twigs.
The Demon King didn’t care about Arthur’s moral dilemma.
He raised his hand.
Mana was gathered torrentially.
It wasn’t magic. It was...
[Warning: Extinction Event Detected.]
[Skill: Charging... 99%]
"Arthur!" The Saintess Seraphina shrieked. Her golden armor was cracked, useless, revealing the panicked girl beneath. "Strike him! Use the Excalibur! It’s the only way!"
Arthur lowered the sword.
The glowing holy blade dimd. It vomited light, reacting to his pathetic will.
"No," Arthur whispered, tears streaming down his flawless, K-Pop idol face. "I can change him. It’s The Power of Love and it’s the strongest!"
I watched from the floor.
My vision was blurring.
You absolute potato.
You absolute waste of oxygen.
You absoluteSSS-Rank disappointnt.
[Activation.]
He snapped his fingers.
It hit Seraphina first.
[Party mber ’Seraphina’ Status: DEAD.]
"Seraphina!" Arthur wailed while falling to his knees.
He didn’t raise his shield nor parry.
He just stared up at the beam with mouth open. He was looking like a surprised blob.
The light finally took him.
The Chosen One, The Hero, was vaporized instantly.
[Party mber ’Arthur’ Status: DEAD.]
[Quest Failed: Save the World.]
[Result: Planetary Wipe.]
Silence eerily filled the area.
The roar of the beam faded, and the dust settled down.
There was nothing left, it was just .
Cain Cross, the F-Rank Porter.
The trash, the extra, and the side character that would not worth ntioning.
I dragged my broken body forward while clawing at the dirt with fingernails that were already peeling off.
Why was I still alive?
Simple.
I was so weak, the Demon King didn’t even target at .
I wasn’t a threat, but I was a re ant.
"Hey," I croaked.
The Demon King paused. He looked down.
Those eyes were like dying stars, cold and bored.
"You missed a spot," I spat.
I hated him.
But I hated Arthur more.
I hated the Guilds who sent us here with under-leveled gear because they wanted to save money for their quarterly financial reports.
I hated the Gods who watched this like a livestream while spamming emotes when we burned to ground.
I looked at the broken Excalibur that was lying in the ash.
It was ten feet away from it.
My legs didn’t work.
So I crawled over.
Pull. Drag. Scream. Repeat.
My skin tore off against the jagged rocks. I left a trail of at and blood behind like a slug.
The Demon King watched amusingly.
"The Hero is dead. Do you think you can slay a God with a broken sword?"
I reached the sword.
My hand wrapped around the hilt.
SIZZLE.
It burned , and holy energy rejected . It cooked my palm like bacon on a grill.
[System Warning: You are F-Rank.]
[You cannot wield a Divine Weapon.]
[Your arm will explode in 3... 2...]
"Shut up," I snarled.
I squeezed harder.
My bones cracked, the flesh blackened, and the sll of my own cooked at filled my nose.
"I don’t want to save the world," I whispered to the sword.
The Demon King raised his hand again. It was the final blow.
I just stared at him, and didn’t blink.
"I just want to kill everything that put in this horror predicant."
Sothing snapped.
Not my bones.
The World.
[Alert: Anomaly Detected.]
[User ’Cain Cross’ possesses trait: .]
[Willpower exceeds System Paraters.]
The Demon King flicked his finger.
A shockwave of death rushed toward .
I didn’t care.
I saw the "Ga Over" screen that was flickering in the air.
If I had another chance...
I wouldn’t be the Porter.
I wouldn’t be the "Side Character."
I wouldn’t help the Hero.
I would stab him in the throat and take his part.
I would hoard every item, steal every skill, and even morize every opportunity The Hero had.
I would burn the Guilds, enslave the Kings, and I would turn this whole damn apocalypse into my personal property.
[Conditions t.]
[Secret Achievent Unlocked: .]
The shockwave hit .
My body was disintegrated entirely.
————————————————————
[Initializing...]
[System Reboot.]
[Loading Save File: "Day One".]
[Error. Soul corrupted by Tiline Residue.]
[Compensating...] x99
[Trait Awarded: The Usurper of Flesh & Soul (SSS).]
————————————————————
GASPPPP!
I sat up.
The air, it was sweet, polluted and smoggy air.
I looked at my both hands.
They were unscarred, small and weak.
I looked down.
My legs, they moved.
I wiggled my toes.
I scrambled up to my feet.
I was standing on a cliff.
Below , a crowd of thousands cheered, banners waved in the wind, and the sll of cheap hotdogs and expensive perfu filled the air.
"All Hail the Awakened!"
"The Age of Heroes begins today!"
I knew this place.
The Whispering Cliffs.
I turned my head.
To my right, the one who was standing on a podium while wearing pristine white silk robes and waving to the adoring masses.
It was Arthur.
He looked young, hopeful, and naive.
He was smiling with that sa arrogant and punchable smile. The smile of a guy who has never worked a day hard in his life.
"Isn’t it beautiful, Cain?" Arthur bead at . "Today, we get our Abilities! I hope I get sothing cool, like a Paladin! Don’t worry, if you get a ’Farr’, I’ll protect you eternally."
My eyes and hands were twitched.
I checked the ti on the holographic clock floating above the square.
[11:58 AM.]
In two minutes, [Dungeon Boss: Void Spider] spawns right on top of this crowd and eats half the village.
In the original tiline, Arthur survived by hiding behind .
I lost my kidney. He got the kill, the XP, and beca the Hero after.
Arthur placed his hand on my shoulder.
"We’re going to save the world, buddy!"
I looked at his hand.
Then I looked at his throat.
A dark twisted grin spread across my face.
"No, Arthur," I whispered, stepping closer to him.
I reached into my pocket.
I didn’t have a sword, but I had a rusted iron dagger that I used to cut apples.
"I am going to save the world."
[Ti until Impact: 00:00:10]
"You?" Arthur laughed maniacally, tilting his head back. "You’re just—"
SHUNK.
The sound was wet and soft.
Very intimate.
I drove the rusted blade into the soft spot between his collarbone and his neck.
Arthur’s eyes went wide.
He tried to scream, but only a gurgle of blood ca out.
"C-Cain?" he mouthed miserably.
I twisted the blade.
"Shh," I soothed him eerily, bringing my lips to his ear as he slumped against .
"Don’t fight it. You are going to die anyway."
The crowd was cheering too loud, too loud to hear the murder.
They thought we were hugging intimately.
A brotherly embrace before the ceremony. How touching were we.
Arthur’s knees gave out. I held him up. I needed him alive for ten more seconds.
[11:59]
The sky darkened.
The mana gathered.
[12:00]
[System Online.]
A purple crack tore open the sky directly above us. The Void Spider shrieked, descending like a nightmare made of chitin and hunger.
The crowd scread with panic and chaos.
But I didn’t look at the monster.
I looked at the text appearing in front of my eyes.
[Target: Arthur Pendragon (Unawakened Hero).]
[Health: CRITICAL.]
I ripped the knife out.
Blood sprayed across my face. It tasted like iron.
Arthur fell unalived.
[You have killed a Hero.]
[Destiny Shattered.]
[Effect of Trait Activated.]
My left hand began to glow with a crimson hungry mist. It felt cold, like reaching into a grave.
I reached down and grabbed Arthur’s dying face.
[Stealing SSS-Rank Talent: 100% Drop Rate...]
[SUCCESS.]
The world froze.
I stood over the corpse of the savior, covered in blood while smiling at the incoming spider that was about to slaughter everyone I knew.
"So, that’s how it is. Let the harvest begin," I grinned heinously.
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