The Warlord has fallen.
The world collapsed.
The heavens flickered out.
And the silence…
Was heavier than any scream.
Kim stood in the void, clutching the charred crown.
Small skulls whispered within him.
Echoes of unending battles.
He looked at it.
He felt nothing.
Then—
A faint line appeared before his eyes, as if etched into the air:
Concept Extinguished: War
Status: Vacant
Sync Rate: 87%
Do you wish to inherit the Concept?
Kim didn't blink.
He spoke with a hollow calm:
"No."
The line vanished.
But the crown… did not.
It cracked.
Turning into red dust…
It surged into his chest, as if the universe had decided on his behalf.
At that moment—
The trembling in his hand ceased.
The pain vanished.
The exhaustion evaporated.
The slight shudder that seized him whenever he remembered one specific name—Nir—was gone.
He stood tall.
His gaze grew sharper.
Stiller.
Colder.
A new line appeared.
Partial Fusion: 5%
Trait Acquired: Absolute Decisiveness
Warning: Emotional Response Diminishing
Kim touched his chest.
He didn't feel anything missing.
But something… was less.
He whispered:
"Three…"
This time—
He didn't mean the number of Rulers.
A faint number appeared before his left eye.
Human Stability Index: 3%
Silence.
The void around him shrank, as if the cosmos was holding its breath for his decision.
If he killed the next one—
The percentage would drop.
If he killed them all—
Nothing named "Kim" would remain.
Only concepts walking on two feet.
He closed his eyes.
Nir's face appeared.
Not as he was dying.
But as he was laughing.
Saying:
"You idiot…"
Kim breathed slowly.
But the breath… wasn't out of necessity.
It was out of memory.
He spoke in a voice barely audible:
"I am killing them… for you."
He paused.
Then—
"But if this part of me disappears…"
He didn't finish.
He opened his eyes.
There was no madness in them.
No mercy.
Only a terrifying realization.
He slowly raised the Breaths of the Void.
The space around the blade felt suffocated.
If he plunged it into the next Ruler's Trace now—
Everything would end faster.
Harsher.
Cleaner.
He took a step.
Then…
He stopped.
For the first time since Nir's departure…
He stopped of his own volition.
The Trace of the next Ruler appeared before him.
Their world was close.
Very close.
If he crossed now—
He would never return as he was.
He stared into the emptiness and said:
"If I return… and find myself void of feeling…"
He went silent.
"Would you have chosen me then, too?"
The void did not answer.
But the number before his eye wavered.
3%
It didn't drop.
It didn't rise.
It was waiting.
Kim lowered the dagger slowly.
Not out of pity for the Rulers.
Nor out of fear of them.
But out of fear of becoming something…
Whose name Nir would no longer recognize.
He turned around.
And for the first time since the massacre began—
He didn't walk toward a Trace.
He walked away from it.
The void did not chase him.
The Concepts did not bar his way.
The remaining Rulers felt only one thing:
That the monster…
Had stopped.
And not because he was tired.
But because he chose.
Yet deep within—
The fires of rage did not die out.
They simply…
Began to transform into something more dangerous than anger.
Something called:
A Conscious Decision.
Kim concluded his words, looking up at the sky:
"Life demands more than I possess."