Floyd stood up. The forest was drowned in eerie darkness, thick with silence so unnatural it felt alive. The trees around them swayed, not with the breeze, but with some unseen presence pressing down on the clearing. He placed his palm on his face, fingers digging into his skin as though he wanted to peel it off.
Xavierre froze where he stood, the shovel trembling in his hands. His grip tightened, veins bulging across his forearm until the wooden shaft creaked beneath the pressure. His breath turned shallow.
Suddenly, Floyd turned. His head snapped toward Xavierre with inhuman speed, eyes glinting red through the cracks of his fingers. The crooked grin that split his face seemed too wide, stretching almost to his ear.
Xavierre shrieked. His instincts screamed to run, but his legs betrayed him, cemented into the soil.
Floyd's voice slithered out, low and drawn, dripping venom.
"Xavierre… Ashran…?"
The knight's throat tightened. He swallowed hard.
"Yes…"
And in that very instant, Floyd erupted into laughter. Not the laughter of a man, but a grotesque, unhinged howl that ripped through the silence like tearing flesh. His head tilted back, mouth gaping unnaturally wide, jaw unhinging like a serpent preparing to swallow prey whole. The sound echoed between the trees, carrying with it madness.
Xavierre clenched the shovel tighter, so tight a hairline crack snaked across the handle. His teeth ground together as the sound scraped against his skull.
"Haha, hah, hhhha!" Floyd's laughter cut off abruptly, leaving behind a ringing stillness. His eyes bulged, glowing wide and unblinking.
Then—
[…WHAT WAS THAT, FLOYD?]
The blue screen materialized once more in front of him, floating like an accusation in the dark.
Floyd stared at it. A slow smile returned to his face, cocky, dangerous.
"You are God… right?"
[!!!] The blue screen flashed violently, its words staggering as if taken aback.
Floyd chuckled, turning his head toward Xavierre, who stood trembling in shock.
"Wanna give me that shovel?"
Xavierre's lips parted, but no words came. Against every instinct, against reason, against fear—his body moved. He handed the shovel to Floyd.
Floyd hefted it easily, resting it on his shoulder with one hand, the other slipping casually into his pocket. His brown, ragged clothes lifted slightly with the night breeze, but his posture radiated something else entirely—defiance. His gaze rose skyward. His smile sharpened.
"I only got two things to say to you, God. First is thank you for giving me this opportunity that I always wished for."
Xavierre's face shifted. Shock melted into irritation, then into disbelief. His companion wasn't trembling—he was provoking the heavens.
Floyd's smile grew darker.
"And second… fuck you! If you wish me to act as you suggest, just fuck yourself, man."
The words rang like blasphemy, like knives cutting through the night.
Xavierre's eyes widened, stunned into silence.
---
Somewhere in Heaven.
The realm stretched infinitely, oceans of cloud stained with gold light. Palaces floated across the horizon, made of crystalline marble that shimmered with every heartbeat of the cosmos. In the center, seated upon a throne carved from pure sapphire, an entity watched.
Its hair, endless and flowing, was blue as the deepest seas. Its eyes glowed with galaxies swirling in each iris, cold and calculating. Dozens of luminous screens hovered around it, showing countless worlds, countless mortals. But only one screen pulsed brighter than the rest: Floyd Fontera.
The entity leaned forward, lips curling into a smile, equal parts intrigue and malice.
"You've got some guts, Suhyeon, to cuss at the Administrator of the Universe."
Its voice rolled like thunder, shaking the endless clouds. Angels, or something like them, shivered in their distant towers. But the entity's eyes didn't leave the screen.
"But all bravado comes before the fall, doesn't it…?"
The screen flickered, Floyd's face staring back, shovel in hand.
---
Back on Earth.
Floyd exhaled deeply, as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his chest. He wiped the sweat dripping down his temple, grinning faintly.
"Hoh, I feel nice."
When he turned, his breath caught.
Xavierre had been turned to stone. A perfect statue, mid-breath, eyes widened in frozen shock.
Floyd blinked, stepped forward, and tapped the stone knight's head.
"Hello. 1-2-3-4."
The statue cracked. Xavierre snapped back into life, exhaling explosively into Floyd's face.
"WTF man, what have you eaten last? It smells like shit."
Floyd recoiled slightly, frowning.
But Xavierre wasn't rattled anymore. He smiled, the shovel now gone from his grasp, his voice steady.
"Was I hallucinating?"
Floyd tilted his head, eyes dropping to the shovel in his hand.
"Man, I don't know. But why have you brought this shovel? I thought the knights fight with swords."
Xavierre's expression darkened. His jaw tensed.
"Oh… oh, that… I was to—"
Floyd turned his head, curiosity flickering across his face.
"That was to bury you off," Xavierre finished flatly.
The words sank into the air like a dagger.
Floyd's smile faltered.
"Huh!?"
But before he could react—
Ding!
[YOUR PROVOCATION WAS SURPRISING, FLOYD. BUT WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW? YOU ARE GOING TO… DIE AT ANY MOMENT.]
Floyd's eyes dropped to the glowing words, confusion breaking across his features.
"Huh!?"
And then pain exploded.
A fountain of blood burst violently from the left side of his stomach. His body jerked, a raw scream ripping out of him. The shovel clattered from his hand as he fell to his knees, clutching the gaping wound. His vision blurred, the world spinning.
The agony was blinding, a fire consuming his insides. Blood poured onto the dirt in steaming rivers.
He toppled sideways. The edges of his sight grew dark, creeping inward. His final glimpse was Xavierre lunging forward, arms outstretched, catching him before his skull cracked against the ground.
His lips trembled, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. The last words he muttered before the black void claimed him were faint, bitter.
"Fuck, man…"
---
And in the heavens, the Administrator's smile widened.
---
[A/N: Now, that The Greatest Estate Developer is Finished. Man, what a ride that was, I just looked every park of The Greatest Estate Developer, and now I am here, and I will upload a chapter every alternate day, thanks.]