Sam’s body was swallowed whole by the void.
The black substance wrapped around him, dragging him down until not even a trace of his existence remained.
Under normal circumstances, that would have been the end.
The void was absolute. Those who fell into it never returned.
But Sam refused. He wouldn’t accept death here.
The void kept putting pressure on him, slowly but surely destroying his [Primordial Barrier] until it shattered.
Then...
CRACK!
His bones shattered one by one under the pressure.
Agonizing pain consud him as his vision went black.
Ding!
[You have died.]
The ssage hung in his mind for an instant before sothing else stirred.
[Determination is Fuel] triggered.
His death wasn’t the end. It was only the beginning.
Sam’s eyes opened again, but he was not where he had been before.
This place was still a void, but not the sa one that had devoured him.
Here, countless pairs of glowing eyes stared down at him from every direction.
They were more overwhelming than before. And yet... clearer.
He could see the faintest outlines of their faces beyond the eyes. A suggestion of bodies.
The stares pressed against him like a crushing weight, silent and suffocating.
They didn’t speak. They only judged.
And Sam understood.
He had always suspected who they were. The Primordials.
The ones who had co before him.
The ones who had been killed, devoured, erased.
And yet here they remained, trapped in this void, still watching. The last of their kind.
The only one left to stand against what had destroyed them.
Sam could feel it: expectation.
They wanted him to succeed where they had failed.
They wanted him to avenge them, to finish what they had started.
But Sam didn’t care. It wasn’t his responsibility to fulfill their will.
It wasn’t because he was one of them that he had to follow their path.
He would carve out his own.
[You can’t give up yet, Sam Walker!]
[You’re the last one, and even in this despair, you must stay determined!]
Ding!
[Determination fuels your veins as you refuse to give up.]
The words echoed through him, vibrating against his bones.
And just before his body was pulled awake again, he felt sothing else.
The pulse of every primordial pressing down on him.
It was almost like encouragent.
[You are alone in this world, True Primordial.]
[But we will always dwell in your soul, watching.]
[The Forsaken Lords were only the beginning. Worse things are yet to co.]
Fwish!
Sam lost consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, there was only darkness.
The sa suffocating void surrounded him, pressing against his body like a liquid prison.
He didn’t panic. He had already accepted this much.
’I should find a way out.’
His hand tightened around his sword.
The primordial blade was still with him.
Even death hadn’t taken it. Even the void couldn’t strip it away.
He wouldn’t let go of it no matter what happened.
Not in death, not in eternity.
Sam tried to move. His arm barely twitched.
[If we want to leave, we need power strong enough to overwhelm this entire void.]
The thought made his stomach tighten.
That kind of power didn’t sound possible. Still, he struggled.
Every muscle in his body strained as he forced himself against the pressure.
Crush! Ding!
[You have died.]
Once again, the void shattered him.
Once again, the pain devoured him.
And once again, he opened his eyes in that other space, where the eyes of the primordials lood over him.
This ti, there was no chorus of encouragent.
Only a single voice. Cold.
[Don’t give up. Keep going.]
Sam closed his eyes.
The words clung to him, colder than any wound, but he accepted them.
Then he woke again. Darkness.
But this ti, sothing new appeared.
A panel shimred in front of him.
Dark edges writhed like tendrils, text glowing faintly in the center.
[You... are still alive.]
Sam frowned.
Each of these beings had a panel, he realized.
Jevil’s had been cards that spun endlessly.
Another presence; the one that hovered above them all; had an overwhelming crimson panel, though even then, Sam had felt it didn’t reveal everything.
And now this one appeared, a black panel shaped like the void itself.
As for Sam, he also had his own.
Even here, their differences were clear. But there was no ti to think further.
Crush! Ding!
[You have died.]
Revive!
Sam opened his eyes again. Death wasn’t an end for him.
As long as his determination burned, he could return.
Even if he had to be killed millions of tis, it wouldn’t matter... maybe?
The void could erase him, but it couldn’t erase his will.
Still, there was a limit.
[27 minutes 36 seconds left.]
The advancent task. If he didn’t complete it before the tir ended, he would lose everything.
His chance to advance would vanish forever, no matter how many tis he revived.
The task was simple on paper. Kill the [Pale Monarch].
But Sam hadn’t even seen the creature once. And ti was running out.
[You just... keep coming back...]
The void’s whisper brushed against him.
Crush! Revive! Crush! Revive!
It continued endlessly, a cycle without pause.
Sam’s eyes burned with the sa fire as always.
There was no hesitation. No faltering.
’If I show even a mont of weakness,’ he thought, ’then I’ll die for real. I can’t end up like the others.’
The void pressed closer.
[You don’t want to die, do you?]
[Then I’ll strip that determination away. I’ll tear your soul apart and make it mine. I’ll grow stronger than those even above.]
Fwish!
The pressure intensified, crushing in on every inch of him.
What followed was slaughter. Sam was crushed. Again and again. Thousands of tis.
So many deaths that even the pain began to dull. But he kept coming back.
Each ti, his eyes flared, his sword was still in his hand, his will refused to break.
The void’s presence stirred in frustration.
[What is the point?]
[You cannot escape. Do you think your persistence matters?]
[Even if it takes millions of years and billions of deaths, I will continue.]
Sam’s lips curled into the faintest smirk.
"And I’ll be here too. Every ti."
His voice was flat, unshaken. But inside, he knew it was a bluff.
[Our determination is limitless, but it is not perfect.]
[Die too many tis, and it falters. It distorts. It fades.]
[Don’t be so confident. End it while you still can =)]
Sam’s stomach twisted.
[Hell-Mode Analysis] wasn’t wrong. He could feel it already.
Every death chipped away at him.
If the tir ran out before he reached his goal, that would be the true end. And he couldn’t stop it.
[9 minutes 59 seconds left.]
Thousands of deaths had already passed. And the clock was running out.
The void’s voice grew colder.
[We’ll be here for eternity, you and I. Slowly, you’ll be absorbed, and nothing will remain.]
[So why not talk?]
The darkness stirred. The space around him shifted.
His arms and legs were bound tight, but in front of him, a section of the void peeled back.
Sothing stepped through. A figure.
[Hell-Mode Analysis: Holy shit.]
It erged slowly, towering above him. A body sculpted entirely of void.
A form so massive that it dwarfed him completely.
Sam’s heart pounded once before he forced it calm. The aura alone was suffocating.
The sheer presence of it made the Forsaken Lords seem weak in comparison.
And its head... That was all he could see clearly. A white mask.
Eight eyes carved into it, each glowing with piercing light.
The weight of its gaze bore down on him with crushing power.
Sam had thought he wouldn’t encounter beings stronger than the Forsaken Lords so soon.
But this thing proved him wrong. It was worse. Stronger.
Sothing that made even the Lords seem small.
The void rumbled with its voice.
[Because I know that eventually, you WILL give up.]
[They all did.]
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