An intense headache roared through my skull like a crashing tide.
It wasn’t just pain. It was sothing primal, raw, like nails were scraping my brain from the inside. My fingers dug into my scalp as if trying to tear the agony out.
A strangled groan left my cracked lips.
I was awake.
Barely.
My eyelids twitched and struggled, stitched by exhaustion, as if soone had sewn them shut with iron wire. But eventually, after what felt like eternity, they peeled open with a reluctant flutter.
And the world greeted with suffering.
My lungs burned. My ribs throbbed. Every fiber of my being scread like it was dipped in acid. I couldn’t even tell where one wound ended and another began. My entire body... it was a battlefield.
No.
It was the wreckage after the war.
My eyes, heavy and bloodshot, darted up slowly—and I froze.
The landscape...
It wasn’t just ruined.
It was obliterated.
A field of apocalypse.
Magma bled through cracked earth like the land itself had been stabbed. Craters dotted the terrain. Hills had been leveled. Smoke curled from distant fires, and the air carried the tallic scent of scorched death.
Monster corpses were strewn everywhere, like discarded toys after a tantrum. Hundreds. Maybe more.
So were grotesque beasts with skin like armor and tusks like warhamrs. Others looked deceptively harmless—small, rounded creatures with wide eyes and too many teeth.
And then... the giants.
Mountain-sized things. Things that should have ruled this zone.
Dead.
All of them dead.
Ripped apart.
Torn limb from limb. Heads caved in. Bodies mangled into unrecognizable sses.
But what truly made my stomach churn wasn’t their numbers.
It was the lack of blood.
None of them bled.
No guts. No tissue. No fluid.
It was like they weren’t made of flesh and bone at all. Like they were hollow inside. Like puppets.
Lifeless.
Soulless.
Fake.
Still clutching my throbbing skull, I let my gaze drift downward—toward my own body.
And I blinked.
Then blinked again.
I couldn’t recognize myself.
Patches of my skin were gone. Entire chunks of flesh ripped away, revealing raw muscle, so parts even bone.
My uniform was a tattered ss barely clinging to . Dried blood flaked off like dust.
My right arm looked fractured. My ribs poked through my skin like they were trying to escape.
My entire left side felt numb—like it belonged to soone else.
I looked like a corpse that had kept fighting.
’How... how long was I unconscious?’
Before I could gather my thoughts, the headache returned—this ti sharper, heavier, deeper.
Sothing dug into .
Not physically.
ntally.
And then—
Flashes.
Not dreams.
Visions.
Like a reel spinning in my head. Scene after scene of slaughter. From a first-person view. From my view.
I saw myself—though I didn’t feel like myself—tearing through monsters.
One after another.
A blur of movent. Precision in every strike. No hesitation. No rcy.
Just death.
Cold and thodical.
It didn’t matter if they were big or small. Fast or armored. They all fell the sa.
I saw my fists denting skulls.
My feet shattering ribs.
’My blade—wait, did I use a blade?’
Everything was a blur.
But I rembered the feeling.
The clarity.
The way the world moved slower. Like everything was reacting just a second too late. Like ti itself had bent to accommodate my wrath.
But the monsters fought back.
Oh gods, did they fight.
I saw my body—my own goddamn body—get crushed under sothing’s weight. I saw fangs pierce my thigh. Claws rip open my side. I was hurled through stone, swallowed, crushed, burned—
But I didn’t stop.
The visions kept coming. Like a storm. And I watched it all happen.
Over.
And over.
And over.
And yet...
I kept getting back up.
Kept killing.
Kept moving forward like a machine with no off switch.
And slowly—too slowly—I realized the truth.
That thing, that force of nature, that beast tearing through armies?
That was .
I had done all this.
Not so monster.
Not so ally.
.
And I knew why.
My breath hitched.
I whispered the na—profane na, inwardly.
’Eye of the End...’
The na echoed in my skull like a whispered curse.
That profane, enigmatic skill—it had activated on its own.
It hadn’t asked for permission. It hadn’t even warned .
It had simply taken over—seized control of my limbs, my instincts, my mind—and puppeteered into that slaughter.
And I was absolutely sure of it.
This wasn’t just so passive enhancent or battle instinct. No, that damned skill had used like a plaything, moving my body with chanical precision as if I were just a vessel.
I clenched my jaw, breathing through my teeth to resist the urge to scream.
’It was the only skill I had without a background.’
Just there.
Part of an unknown elent—an aberration.
And it scread trouble from the mont I laid eyes on it. I should’ve known.
Still... I had deluded myself.
I had thought of it as my golden finger, my cheat skill, my secret weapon—the thing that would carry through this world.
But it wasn’t that.
Not even close.
It was sothing far, far more dangerous.
Sothing alive.
’I need to check on it... thoroughly.’
Because if sothing had the power to hijack —override my free will—and leave near dead after that massacre, then it wasn’t a skill.
It was a threat.
I hated losing control. It wasn’t just a preference—it was practically a core tenet of my being.
I managed my life. My circumstances. My outcos.
But this skill... it had flipped all that on its head. It had used . Like a marionette.
And I hadn’t even noticed.
A bitter laugh tried to claw out of my throat, but the pain made sure it didn’t.
I swallowed dryly and attempted to call the system. "Sys—"
Imdiately, my throat flared up. A firestorm of agony exploded in my windpipe, like molten magma had been poured in and stuffed with barbed wire.
I shut up instantly. Words were a luxury I couldn’t afford.
So instead, I resorted to the safer route—thinking.
’System profile.’
A familiar chi sounded in my head, and the neon-blue screen blinked into view.
— Profile —
Na: Cassius Lancaster
Rank: ★★★
Exp: 6,350 / 100,000
Elent: Lightning, Nothing
Abilities:
[Restricted]
Skills:
[Restricted]
— Stats —
Health: 30,000 / 30,000
Strength: 390
Stamina: 240
Speed: 420
Endurance: 300
Dexterity: 220
Luck: 58
Stat Points Available: 0
— Close —
My jaw nearly unhinged itself.
’The fuck you an "Restricted"?!!’
Before I could even fully comprehend it, a system notification popped up as if mocking .
« Penalty for using [Eye of the End] ».
« Ti until Penalty Revoked: 47:58:13 »
I just stared.
Blankly.
For several long minutes, I forgot the agony ravaging my body.
That was how stunned I was.
Not only had that damn skill hijacked my body...
Not only had it pushed to the brink of death...
But now it had sealed all my other abilities and skills for two entire days?!
What in the ever-loving hell was this cursed thing?
Rage flooded my chest like hot oil. My muscles trembled—part pain, part fury.
My eye twitched, and despite the sharp throb slicing through my spine, I slowly—very slowly—lifted one hand.
Middle finger raised.
A gesture of pure defiance.
A small act of rebellion against the system, the world, everything.
’Fuck. You.’
The system dinged again.
« Examination Complete »
« Please proceed to the portal »
I snorted ntally. As if that wasn’t ominous.
Still groaning, I lifted my gaze and scanned the destroyed battlefield.
And like magic, a shimring blue portal materialized before .
Elegant. Silent.
No choice but forward.
I staggered, bones cracking in protest, and limped toward the portal. Every step felt like glass was embedded in my legs.
Then—
A pull.
And I was gone.
The warped space bent around , and the hellscape vanished.
When I reappeared... I was on a stage.
I realized it imdiately, from the oppressive silence.
Thousands of eyes locked onto . Staring. Watching.
Many recoiled. So looked horrified. Others were just dumbstruck.
I didn’t bla them.
I looked like a corpse dressed in rags, with blood-stained skin, torn muscles, dried wounds, and a hollow gaze.
Even I would be terrified of .
Among the crowd, I spotted her—Mia.
She was standing beside the heroines and a new fellow?
Then she saw .
Our eyes t.
And sothing in her broke.
Before I could even brace for it, she sprinted toward , ignoring the crowd, the gasps, the murmurs.
She wrapped her arms around carefully, like I was made of glass.
Like she was terrified I’d shatter in her arms.
It hurt.
Everything hurt.
But I didn’t pull away.
I couldn’t.
And yet—
As I stood there in her arms, one strange, foreign question whispered into the recesses of my mind.
’Who was Mia... exactly?’
The thought wasn’t natural.
It wasn’t mine.
It ca from sowhere deep.
From sothing inside .
And it chilled more than the pain ever could.
Reviews
All reviews (0)