"Huh? Where am I?" Selene stammered.
The last thing she remembered was falling asleep while hugging her Master, Calyx.
"M-Master?"
Selene began to feel nervous.
Where was this?
Everything in sight was a dark blue abyss… and the ground was covered in snow.
She flew using her spiritual energy, but no matter how far she traveled, the scenery remained the same.
Just a dark, bluish abyss as far as she could see.
Moments later, Selene felt a sharp pain in her head.
She held it with her hand… as memories began to flood in.
....
"Selene… I'm sorry," her mother said through tears.
She clutched a pouch full of gold coins.
Selene was only 13 years old.
Her snow-white hair was disheveled, and her eyes were hollow.
Her hands were bound with metal chains, along with hundreds of other young girls.
As the chains were pulled, they were forced to walk. Walk… and walk.
She gazed around and saw crowds of people watching the procession.
They were celebrating, hoping that this sacrifice to their god would end the drought and bring rain. Then food would grow again, and crops would thrive.
Eventually, they reached a deep hole—its bottom unknown.
An eerie energy seeped from its depths.
One by one, they were thrown in.
Selene closed her eyes as she felt her body fall.
When she opened them, a ghostly, shadow-like monster was devouring her hand.
She screamed in agony, but soon lost her voice as her head was crushed and eaten.
Then she woke up—only to see her body being eaten again.
And again.
Her body healed.
Then came the splash, the scream, the pain, the rage…
It wasn't long before Selene realized—this was her soul.
She was now nothing more than a soul being devoured by the monster again and again.
Eventually, she became numb.
She watched her limbs being torn apart, blood spilling out.
When her head was severed, her eyes showed no emotion.
Ten years…
A hundred years…
A thousand years…
Ten thousand years.
At the 10,000-year mark…
She dropped the monster's bone and licked the blood from her lips.
Yes. For the past 10,000 years, she had been devouring that monster over and over again.
You think Selene was being eaten by the monster for 10,000 years? No... it was the other way around.
It started like this..
After several days during that time she came to this place being devoured by monster, she tried biting the monster back.
Her strength grew.
And the next day, she tried again. And again. And again.
Until her strength grew enough to kill the creature.
For 10,000 years, she ate that monster every time it respawned.
The blood never stopped flowing. Her hair turned crimson—she couldn't even remember that it used to be white.
....
Boom!
A murderous intent surged through Selene's body.
"What a pity… only 1% of our memories have awakened. Maybe we need more time," a cold voice echoed.
Selene turned her gaze.
She saw a beautiful woman—like a goddess. Her eyes were like abyssal stars. Her hair, like snow.
She looked exactly like Selene, only more mature.
"Who are you?" Selene asked.
"Who am I? I am you. But Selene is a name I abandoned long, long ago… I don't have a name anymore."
"But I call myself 'Anomaly,' because no one can defeat me."
Selene exhaled slowly.
She watched as the woman—herself—walked forward.
"We're currently deep inside your consciousness."
"You must have many questions, so I'll answer them one by one. First, let me show you this."
The bluish abyss vanished.
In its place—
"Do you know who they are?" Anomaly asked.
Selene walked toward the figures.
"That's me… Nyx, Lilith, Dante, and the others..." Selene murmured.
"Correct. Ugh, how annoying… I didn't realize someone like that would appear at the start," Anomaly said with a sigh.
"As you know, in my original timeline, I was the strongest being. But 500,000 years later, someone was born with something called a system. That system was powerful—perhaps even another anomaly—but I was stronger."
"He thought he killed me, but it was only my clone. I was focused on defeating the 'Black Mist,' but in the end, I found only one solution—not to defeat it, but to escape it. Through reincarnation."
"One million years from now, this cosmos will end because of the Black Mist. That's why I sent my soul back to the past—to the very beginning. Thus creating you… us. But I didn't expect to be reborn not through natural means, but as part of this thing called the system."
"That person named Calyx is a System Holder. We accidentally got reincarnated as a creation of the system."
"Look at them—Lilith, Nyx. Their souls were pulled from another timeline, and the system edited their memories. But we're different. We are the strongest existence. And now that 1% of our memory has awakened, you can finally unbind yourself from the system," she said with a smile.
....
Meanwhile, Calyx sat calmly, hugging Selene, who was still asleep.
[Ding! Error… error… Master… A powerful entity is breaching the system.]
[Ding! The entity has taken something from the system!]
Calyx was instantly alarmed. He opened his book and wrote quickly.
The system stabilized.
"Who was that?"
"Who could possibly sense the system?"
After a few minutes of thinking—
"That's right! I almost forgot. The main villain."
The main villain of the story he wrote called herself 'Anomaly.'
She wasn't killed by the protagonist in the story. What he defeated was merely a clone she created. She had only been toying with the protagonist, even though he possessed a system. Yet at that time, the world celebrated, believing they had finally slain the antagonist.
She had been busy searching for a way to stop the Black Mist—the true threat to humanity.
He had written the book up to the timeline one million years in the future. There was no clear ending for her, but it was implied everything ended with the Black Mist.
"She's the only being who can challenge a
True System Holder."
But there was a problem because.
At this time..
She shouldn't have that power yet.
In this timeline, she was still a mortal.
And her name was—
Wait…
Calyx's heart began to race.
He looked at the girl he was hugging.
"No way…"
....
Hours passed. Calyx said nothing, deep in thought.
Eventually, they arrived at the Monarch Auction House.
Calyx went to his room and disappeared into outer space.
He gazed at the Mystic World.
"I was wrong…"
"Yes, this was the beginning—but not the original timeline of my book."
"Maybe she used reincarnation to return to the start… and accidentally entered my system."
"But so what? I'm the strongest. This book and pen are invisible—only I can see and wield them. Because I'm the author."
"You may be the 'Anomaly'… but I am the 'Supreme Anomaly.'"
Calyx sighed.
'But why am I sad?'
"She must have awakened her memory… and once she wakes up, she'll leave. She's already unbound from the system."
'Should I change time? Should I rewrite everything just to make her bind to the system again? Just to make her stay with me?'
He smiled.
"That's something I absolutely won't do. Even with godlike power."
Calyx created a rock floating in space. He grabbed a beer… drank… and ate grilled fish as he wrote in the book.
Earlier, the scenery had been serene and beautiful. Now, it was only darkness—lifeless space.
In his past life, he had a boring job. He wrote stories on the side. He had no family, no wife or tried having a girlfriend.
In the Monarch Auction House, he treated Nyx and Lilith as his servants… Larisha as a friend. But Selene was different.
Yes, he admitted—he liked her. He was in love with her.
But it was hard to express. She came from the system. Did she know what love was? Or did she only know how to obey?
That's why he never told her.
It had been twelve years. Nearly every day, Selene was by his side.
With his mortal experience, it was the longest he had ever interacted with anyone.
Calyx kept drinking.
No one knew what he was thinking at that moment.