Part One: Calm Before the Tempest
The first week at the Imperial Academy for Knights and Mages had been a blur of new faces, strange rules, and endless training schedules. Neil walked along the stone-paved path between towering oak trees, the scent of early autumn leaves crisp in the air. On his left, Sophia hummed softly, adjusting the white ribbon that held her platinum hair. Joan trailed behind them, arms folded, her emerald eyes scanning their surroundings as if expecting trouble.
It was supposed to be a simple day—combat drills, mana flow control exercises, and maybe a spar or two. After the chaos of the Forgotten King and that blood-soaked battlefield, this calm almost felt alien.
Neil stretched lazily. "Finally, a day without blood on my hands."
Sophia rolled her eyes. "Don't jinx it, Neil. Peace never lasts with you."
Joan's lips curled into a faint smirk. "She's right. You attract calamities like moths to a flame."
Neil laughed. "Oh come on, what's the worst that could happen here? We're in the Academy. The safest place in the Empire."
The words left his mouth like a curse.
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Part Two: The World Trembles
It started as a whisper—a ripple through the mana veins beneath their feet. The very air seemed to hold its breath. Birds mid-flight froze and plummeted from the sky, lifeless before they touched the ground. Insects scattered, a primal instinct screaming at them to flee.
Neil stopped dead in his tracks. A cold shiver traced his spine as his system interface flickered like a broken lamp.
[Warning: Unknown Presence Detected]
[System Scan: …Error…]
[Classification: ████████]
[Threat Level: …Cannot Compute…]
"What the hell—?" Neil's voice cracked as his vision distorted. The familiar vibrant Academy gardens dulled into gray, and the mana-rich air turned thin, suffocating.
Sophia gripped her staff tightly, sweat dripping down her temples. "This… isn't normal."
Joan stepped forward, blades drawn. Her entire body screamed fight-or-flight, yet something inside her soul whispered only one word: Run.
The temperature dropped ten degrees in an instant. Frost crystallized along the branches overhead. The Academy bell tolled far in the distance, a distorted, broken sound.
Then, the ground split open.
Not violently—not like a quake—but as if reality itself was being peeled apart.
---
Part Three: The Arrival
He stepped through the rift without a sound.
Tall—too tall—his silhouette stretched unnaturally against the dimming sunlight. Clad in what looked like shattered obsidian armor chained together by strips of burning light, the figure radiated something beyond divinity. His presence didn't roar; it whispered, yet that whisper drowned out the entire world.
His face was obscured by a mask carved from bone, and behind him floated fragments of weapons—blades, axes, and something resembling a scythe—all tethered by thin glowing threads that hummed softly, like lullabies sung in a dead language.
The grass around him withered into ash. The wind didn't dare touch his form.
Neil could barely breathe. His lungs felt like they were filled with molten lead.
[System Alert!]
[Entity Detected: Codename—"God Slayer"]
[Error: Information Redacted by Unknown Authority]
[Warning: Engaging is Prohibited. Survival Rate: 0.00001%]
---
The man's voice—if it could be called that—was a calm storm. Each syllable cracked like thunder but carried the serenity of a temple hymn.
"You were never meant to exist, Neil Runders."
Neil's heart stopped. His name… How did this thing know his name?
Sophia stepped in front of Neil, her voice trembling but firm. "Who… are you?"
The masked figure tilted his head slightly, the bone mask shifting just enough to expose a sliver of something… wrong. Eyes that weren't eyes—rings of void with burning cores.
"Names are for those who need identity. I am the end of identities."
Joan, gripping her dual swords, growled. "If you think you can touch him, you'll have to go through us."
For the first time, the God Slayer's aura pulsed—a slow wave of killing intent so heavy it bent the blades in Joan's hands. Sophia nearly collapsed under the pressure.
"You speak," he murmured. "That is… impressive. You should not exist either."
---
Part Four: The Tiny Display
From the treeline behind them came a sudden roar—a beast of nightmare, one of the Academy's most dangerous training creatures, an S-Class Mana Devourer, had broken its seal and lunged at the intruder.
Neil thought, for a fleeting moment, that it might buy them time.
The God Slayer didn't even look.
SNAP.
The beast's head slid from its shoulders before the sound of its roar even faded. Its body collapsed in a heap of steaming gore, blood hissing into black smoke upon contact with the ground.
Neil hadn't seen him move. No blade, no gesture, nothing. The creature was just… dead.
Then, the God Slayer raised one chained finger and drew a single glowing line across the earth. The ground split open like parchment, a canyon yawning between Neil and the monster's corpse.
"You think yourselves strong because you have defied fate once," the masked figure intoned. "But when the Second Sun rises, I will take your head, Neil Runders."
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Part Five: Departure and Dread
Without waiting for a response, the figure turned. Chains rattled softly as the rift swallowed him whole, sealing shut as if nothing had ever happened. The crushing pressure lifted—but not entirely. The ground still bore his mark, a scar that would never heal.
Neil collapsed to his knees, chest heaving, every nerve screaming. His system buzzed frantically:
[Emergency Protocol Activated]
[New Quest Unlocked: SURVIVE THE INEVITABLE]
[Warning: Unknown Countermeasure Required]
[Initializing Contingency Plan ZERO]
Sophia knelt beside him, trembling. "Neil… what was that?"
Joan's voice cracked for the first time. "Not a man. Not a god. Something worse."
Neil stared at the sky, his fists clenched. Whatever that thing was, it had named him. It had marked him.
And he knew, deep down, that this was only the beginning.
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