This is a mess.
Okay. Maybe I didn't die. But I sure as hell went through something worse.
First of all, this was my fault. Thalia and I were supposed to be nothing more than a political match. Our clans were among the most influential families in the Kingdom of Silvermere, and our marriage would form an alliance strong enough to make even the royal family nervous.
And that's all it was meant to be. No love. No emotional ties. It shouldn't have been a problem if we each had … other arrangements. Temporary ones, of course. I did. And not just one.
Abigail. Laura. Melissa. Ella.
I mean, Eruvia Academy was full of beautiful girls—it would've been a shame to commit to just one. I was still young. Handsome—well, decent enough. It couldn't have been just my status that drew so many women to me, right?
But when Thalia had someone else too, I felt … something ugly stir inside me.
Thalia was the conservative type. Principled. Assertive. And … she knew all about my nasty habits. The cheating. The way I messed with some loser students just for fun.
And for some reason … she always let it slide. Sure, she always tried to scold me. Talked a bunch about preserving the dignity of our clan and staying away from disgraceful behavior.
Until she stopped.
The reason? Luka Moss.
A penniless marquis's son. Always wearing worn-out uniforms. Barely spoke. Ranked dead last in terms of power.
I found them talking in class after school. Too close to be just friends. Too intimate for it to be nothing.
Okay, talking might be too sneaky. Because there's hand-holding involved and Thalia's cheeks were flushed. And on her face—an expression I'd never seen before. Not even when she was with me.
lost it. Slammed the classroom door open so hard it broke. I meant to shock them—and it worked.
Thalia looked confused. Alarmed. Scared. Good. She should be scared. She should know who she just dared to betray.
But Luka? He wasn't scared. Wasn't shaken. Not even a flinch. His expression didn't change one bit.
It made me sick. Made me snap. I charged at him, ready to punch the bastard—only for my hand to freeze mid-air.
If you think Thalia jumped in to save him dramatically—no, she didn't. It was Luka Moss himself.
Yeah. That scrawny twig of a boy, who didn't even look like he could lift a stick, stopped my punch with one hand. Neutralized my attack like it was nothing.
When I tried to strike with my other hand, he kicked out one of my legs and sent me crashing to the floor in the most humiliating way.
I still tried to fight back—I threw headbutts, bites, knee kicks—and yeah, I did leave Luka bruised and bloodied. I was too. But I thought it was worth it. Until I said that.
"… like father, like son. You must've gotten that rotten personality from your traitor of a dad."
That's when Luka decided he was done. And so was I. I don't even know what happened. It was like he hadn't been serious until then. Suddenly, he switched to attack mode and continued what could no longer be called a fight.
I just lay there, helpless, as he beat me down with precise, brutal force.
Next thing I knew, I was in my room. Surrounded by my personal servants. My body burning with rage, my eyes lit with vengeance.
I told my father everything. Said this insult needed to be punished—harshly and immediately. I asked him to send our best soldiers after Luka, to make him pay.
But my father just stared at me—cold, sharp, judging.
When he finally spoke, it was more terrifying than a death sentence:
"You lost to Luka Moss? That Moss's son?"
Everything changed after that. My father's attitude. My family's. Even the servants'.
My physical training doubled—I didn't even have time to breathe. At night, I was forced to attend magical discipline lessons until I collapsed into bed.
Every day was torture. And it was all because of Luka Moss. Thalia didn't hang around him anymore. The time she once used to spend with him after class, she now used to wait for me.
Maybe she was trying to be the perfect fiancée. Or maybe she was just covering up another affair.
Either way, it pissed me off. One day, I snapped and hit her right in her face.
"Don't treat me like I'm someone who needs pity!"
As she held the side of her face where I slapped her, Thalia looked at me … with sorrow in her eyes. I tried to ignore it. Because why should I care?
It's not like she'd report it to her family and end the engagement, right? It's not like I'd made some huge, unforgivable mistake … right?
SLAP!
"You've brought enough shame on this family!"
That night, my father slapped me. Once. Twice. Ten times? I lost count. My face was bruised and burning.
He told me, because of my behavior, Thalia's clan saw no value in maintaining our alliance and decided to cancel the engagement. The projects they were funding for our clan were now dead in the water.
"You had one job—to marry her, put a child in her, and keep us tied together!"
"A-and let her cheat on me with no consequences? You expect me to just let them walk all over me?"
My father slapped me again. "Then you beat up the damned boy she cheated with—not her. Or what? You didn't even have the guts for that? You got cold feet just because you lost once?"
Me? Cold feet? Screw that.
I'll prove my father wrong. That loss was just a mistake. I let my emotions get the better of me. Yeah, that's all it was. And maybe I was holding back too.
If I get serious—focused—I'll crush that bastard Luka without breaking a sweat.
And then I lost. Badly. Like really, really bad.
Not just in some messy brawl like before. In a formal duel. One I challenged. In front of everyone.
With the intense training I'd received, I was confident I could take ten guys at once. But against him? In front of him? I was nothing more than a toddler.
Helpless. Weak. Pathetic.
All of Eruvia Academy watched as I got beaten to a pulp by a boy whose existence had never even been noteworthy.
And when I ran home—intending to grab the Holy Weapon passed down in our family and finally kill him—I was stopped.
"Master Claudius no longer wants to see you."
Jacob. Our head guard. A man who once looked kindly even at a jerk like me—now stared like I was trash.
My heart sank. "What … what does that mean?"
"You don't get it? You're out. Banished. You no longer have the right to return. From now on … you are no longer a Claudius."
Thus began the vagabond life of a once-so-proud Ares Claudius, who had become a lowly homeless bum.
I lived among narrow, foul-smelling sewers—filthy and a far cry from the king-sized bed I used to own.
I had to survive by stealing, eating spoiled food, and sharing my nights with rats.
The worst part? I was addicted to gambling. Just a year after my exile, my debt had already climbed to nearly a million ions.
Now, not just security officers—but loan sharks too—were chasing me down. I'd grown accustomed to collecting bruises, wounds, even stabbings.
That last one came courtesy of someone who was supposed to be a 'friend' of mine on the streets. Lured by the promise of free money, I was tricked, captured, and handed over to a debt collector.
While unconscious, I was used as a test subject for some illegal experiment. I didn't know what they took from me ... or what they put inside me. It was a process I didn't even see. Because when I came to—I was already here.
Amori.
The forsaken land. The forgotten place. A land inhabited by the dead—literally.
Because what I've encountered here—at least so far—is walking corpses. Nightmarish creatures I once thought were just stories used to scare kids back in Silvermere.
And I've seen them with my own eyes.
Creatures that can't be killed unless you cut off their heads. Beings driven by a single instinct—to feast on your brain. Monsters that, if they bite you, can turn you into one of them.
Zombies—no, Undead!
Zombies? Where did that term come from? Wait ... what memory is this?
And then strange information began flooding my mind.
About a distant and bizarre life.
Where magic is considered myth.
Where ships fly and people can talk to each other in real time, even across thousands of kilometers.
And with that information came the realization that this world ... is nothing more than a game. A video game designed to entertain kids—or well, adults (mostly adults, since they're the ones who can afford it).
And me? In that life, I was a man named Maheswara.
Twenty-seven. Never had a girlfriend. Trapped in a soul-sucking job at a shady company that didn't even pay overtime. Supporting three younger siblings still in middle school. Living with two parents addicted to pills.
What the hell was this?
The harder I tried to reject those memories, the clearer and more real they became.
Even within those memories, there was information about the recent me too—about Ares Claudius.
A third-rate villain who, by accident, triggered the protagonist Luka Moss's power awakening after mocking his father.
And... come to think of it, everything was starting to make sense.
Maybe this was part of whatever strange thing that loan shark injected into me. But the way it unveiled my fate—it was too accurate to be some drug-induced vision.
Which begs the question ...
Does that mean every vision I've had since... is also an accurate prediction of this world's future?
Amid the confusion, I heard a strange chime.
[Ding! You have qualified to receive the Mad Frankenstein System]
[You can now restore the Undead's human consciousness and turn them into your most loyal servants]