*sigh*
"How did it come to this?" I asked myself out loud, thinking about my current predicament.
I was chained to a dark wall with chains thicker than a tree. Those chains were holding back my mana, making me much weaker than originally.
"Now, even a mere A+-level fighter could beat me. Look at how far I've fallen."
I chuckled emptily. "Well, I suppose it is my fault. Can't fault all of humanity, the ones I forsake only to survive longer."
"Ah fuck, if only I hadn't interacted with its heart back then. Maybe we could've even beaten them, the Voidbornes. But no, I had to be so stupid and side with them."
After being imprisoned in the highest-security prison the Human Empire could offer and spending 20 mental years here, I realized how foolish I had been.
"There is no way the Void will spare me. It only seeks destruction, after all."
"I do wonder how Lucan and the others are faring. I'm sure Lucan can defend humanity. He is the greatest, after all.", I said, mockingly.
"Those idiots don't realize how he got so strong. Anyhow, it doesn't matter. I'm going to go insane in here."
Bored out of my mind, I summoned my status.
"Status"
=============================
[NAME]: Malric Ashborn
[AGE]: 22 (42 mentally)
[RANK]: SSS-
[CLASS]: Voidbearer
[LEVEL]: 99
[EXP]: 900000 / 1000000
[AFFINITIES]: Shadow, Void
[MANA BREATHING]: Devour [SSS]
[WEAPON ART]: Daggerfall [SS]
=============================
[STRENGTH]: A+ [0/5]
[AGILITY]: SS [1/5]
[ENDURANCE]: S [4/5]
[INTELLIGENCE]: SSS [MAX]
[WILLPOWER]: S [0/5]
[PERCEPTION]: SS [2/5]
[CHARISMA]: F- / SSS [LOCKED]
[LUCK]: B [LOCKED]
[ATTRIBUTE POINTS REMAINING]: 0
=============================
Void's Calling (Passive) – Lv. 10 [MAX]
Dagger Mastery (Passive) – Lv. 7 [4/5]
Voidsight (Passive) – Lv. 10 [MAX]
Stealth (Passive) – Lv. 10 [MAX]
Linguist's Gift (Passive) – Lv. 10 [MAX]
Supreme Void Magic (Active) – Lv. 10 [MAX]
Supreme Shadow Magic (Active) – Lv. 10 [MAX]
Foresight (Active) – Lv. 10 [MAX] [SOULBOUND]
Appraisal (Active) – Lv. 8 [0/5]
Ruler's Will (Active) – Lv. 8 [2/5]
Requiem of Ruin (Active) – Lv. 7 [0/5]
[SKILL POINTS REMAINING]: 0
[NEXT SKILL SELECTION]: Lv. 100
=============================
"And I was so close to my next skill, too..."
"Maybe I could've soared above all others if I hadn't accepted the Void. Humans give much less experience than Voidbornes, after all."
"It also doesn't help that Void's Calling locked my luck to a measly B-rank," I said, thinking back to the description of the skill.
[Void's Calling] [S]
Gained by the Class Voidbearer. It locks your Luck and gives you automatic F- Charisma with humans and SSS Charisma with the Void and its entities.
"To be fair, though, becoming the Voidbearer made sense back then. I did foresee my death, after all. In the past, I had been an egomaniac, so I desperately wanted to survive. But maybe the future I saw was the one I will now experience."
"It is a strange skill, I mean, no one has ever heard of it before... And even more strange is that I don't remember how I got it. The description doesn't help either."
[Foresight] [EX]
Gained by #######. Allows you to briefly see into the future. Soulbound.
"What does soulbound even mean? You can't transfer souls. And what is this EX-rank?"
I shook my head and thought how strange it was that I was thinking about all this.
"It doesn't matter, though. I've thought about it ever since I acquired the skill, which was about 30 years ago. I won't come to a conclusion, will I?"
--------------
"What is this strange sensation I'm feeling?" I thought out loud one day, sitting on my bed.
"Is my mana reacting to something? What is happe-"
*BOOM*
A deafening roar shook the earth, launching me off my bed and onto the ground.
The walls holding me in prison began to crack, and dust began flooding in. I got up on my feet and thought: "Finally, something's happening!"
I was confused, but after 20 years, anything was fine.
"If it's the Voidbornes, I'll kill them for ruining my life. All of them. If it's terrorists, I'll kill them and flee."
"Wait. It's not like I can use magic right now. Somebody would need to break the chains."
Just as I was finishing my train of thought, the walls completely split open, and 4 strange, black humanoid beings with visible purple veins came in. They were enormous, about 3 meters tall.
"Voidbornes. Let's see if they let me free or if they are here to kill me."
Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head. It sounded like a plethora of different voices speaking over each other, combined with a horrible distortion, that somehow didn't impede my understanding at all.
"Malric Ashborn. The Voidfather wants to speak to you. Come with us immediately," they said.
My jaw fell to the ground. The Voidfather? Even I, as the Saint of the Followers, had only met him once or twice. Normally, I communicated with his most loyal subjects, the Higher Voidbornes. Speaking of Higher Voidbornes, I could now see that the Voidbornes coming to free me were Higher ones.
This was easily visible; I could see small floating purple crowns on their heads.
"Alright, but could you first free me from the mana chains?" I asked while frowning slightly.
"This won't be an easy fight," I thought.
They stared at me for a few seconds, and then the largest Voidborne came to me and chopped the handcuffs in half using only his hand.
"They have such ludicrous physical strength. At least they shouldn't be capable of casting Supreme Magic," I analyzed.
After being released from the chains, I could feel my Mana Core being refilled. Mana practically flooded in, being devoured by my Mana Breathing Technique.
"Follow us," the Voidbornes told me.
"Before I follow you, let me ask you something," I said, knowing fully that that would annoy them.
They turned around at looked at me, their blank heads looking straight at me, almost as if their eyes were looking at me.
"If looks could kill," I thought and chuckled slightly.
"What is your Question, mortal?" the leader Voidborne asked me, visibly annoyed, obviously taunting me. The Higher Voidbornes had little respect for me, especially after losing to Lucan, or at least so I thought. My SSS-Charisma had little effect on them, differing from the normal Voidbornes and the Followers.
"Have we won? How else could you have attacked the Prison Spire in Criford, the royal capital?" I asked them..
"Yes, of course, we have won. Foolish question."
I could suddenly feel cold sweat running down my back.
"Humanity lost? How? Lucan was ridiculously strong, and the others, too. Fuck, now I've got nowhere to escape to. Guess I just have to kill all of those Fuckers myself."