Jinra tried to move, but a sharp pain violently brought her back to reality. Her gaze fell to her left.
Nothing. Empty. Her left arm was no longer there.
— "No…" she whispered, her throat tight.
A sob escaped her, and she raised her right hand to her face, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. Her heart pounded fiercely in her chest, each pulse a bell of pain.
Then, in a broken voice, she weakly whispered:
— "Who…?"
Ethan turned his eyes away, a heavy guilt visible on his face. His hands trembled, his knees clattering against the floor. He slowly stood, as if trying to escape his own reflection in his actions, and approached the bed.
— "It was me."
Silence fell, heavy, almost sacred.
— "He was screaming. He was suffocating… He was going to die." Ethan shook his head, his face marked by a pain he struggled to contain. "I didn't think. I took the blade. And… I cut."
He collapsed to his knees, his forehead resting against the sheets, close to her. His shoulders shook with the effort to hold back his tears.
— "I screamed, Jinra. I still have your blood on my hands. And I thought you would never wake up."
She stayed still, her gaze empty, then, with a slow and painful movement, she lifted her right hand and placed it on Ethan's head. This simple touch, fragile yet full of meaning, was enough to break the pain that had been hiding behind her eyes.
— "Thank you… for having the courage to do it." Her words were barely a whisper, but they carried all the weight of her emotions.
The tears Ethan had been holding back for so long finally flowed. He let himself go, his face buried in the sheets, his throat choked with sorrow.
— "I would have preferred for this not to have happened. But I'd rather see you alive. Even broken. Even… like this. Than to have lost you."
Silence fell once more on the room, heavy, unyielding.
But before they could even take a breath, an icy light suddenly filled the room. The ceiling, the walls, their faces—everything froze in a white, unreal glow.
A sharp beep echoed in the air, inhuman, mechanical.
Then a voice rose, cold and distant, yet capable of whispering directly to Jinra's soul.
> [Divine Resurrection System – Activated]
Status: Early Awakening – Anomaly detected. Missing arm.
Regeneration denied.
Reason: Injury inflicted by emotional link. Repair canceled.
Jinra shivered. A cold tremor ran down her spine. Ethan looked up, his eyes wide in surprise, as if he didn't understand what had just happened.
> New Decree: "Growth through Solitude"
Survival location: Dungeon [Heart of the Abyss – Floor 1]
Objective: Reach level 50 to return to your loved ones.
Transfer in 3… 2… 1…
— "No, wait!" Ethan shouted, reaching out to her, but there was no hand to grab. And soon, no Jinra.
A glowing circle formed beneath her, fractal and shifting, like an ancient eye opening a rift to another reality.
She felt her feet lift off the ground, her body torn from the world, from reality. One last glance at Ethan, frozen in a silent expression of distress.
Then, the void.
---
Dungeon: Heart of the Abyss – Floor 1
The air here was heavy, almost alive. It smelled of moisture and earth, as if every breath was a promise of something darker.
Jinra fell heavily to her knees, the brutal impact. Her hands dug into the cold ground, but she didn't let the tears fall. Not this time.
She was alone.
Completely alone.
A blue glow blinked before her eyes as the system activated once more.
> Level: 1
Class: None
Strength: 11
Agility: 9
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 7
Intelligence: 10
Skill obtained: [Heightened Vigilance – Level 1]
Your perception increases slightly in danger.
She gritted her teeth, her gaze hardening. The pain, the anxiety, the anger—all of it boiled inside her.
She had lost an arm. She had lost her family. She had lost everything she had known.
But she wasn't going to die here.
Not before reaching that damn level 50.
She slowly rose, clenching her right fist, ready to face whatever was coming. The Heart of the Abyss hadn't asked for her opinion, but she wasn't going to give it the satisfaction of victory. Not as long as she had breath in her lungs.
She was going to survive. And she was going to come back.