The village of Eran had known only a few days of peace.
For Ryo, those days passed like a fragile dream — quiet, fleeting, and almost unreal.
He had helped rebuild fences, carried water, and shared simple meals with the villagers.
For the first time since his rebirth, life seemed… gentle.
Yet deep inside, the void whispered.
Something was coming.
That night, peace shattered.
A scream pierced the silence — then another.
The ground trembled, and the air filled with the stench of burning wood.
Shadows emerged from the forest — monstrous forms, eyes glowing red, jaws dripping with bloodlust.
> "Monsters! Everyone, to the barricades!" Eran shouted, gripping his spear.
Ryo's heart pounded.
He could sense them — their presence, their hunger, their rage.
His instincts urged him to fight, but his mind hesitated.
He wasn't ready.
Eran turned to him.
> "Ryo! Help me get the injured out! Hurry!"
Ryo obeyed. He pulled a child from beneath a collapsing roof, shielding him from the flames.
Everywhere, villagers fought with rusted blades and bare hands — not soldiers, just people refusing to die.
And then Ryo saw him — the "weak" Master Eran had spoken of.
He stood at the front lines, sword raised, shouting orders as monsters closed in.
> "Hold the line! Protect the gates! We fight until dawn!"
Ryo froze.
Even knowing he couldn't win, that man fought on.
His strength wasn't power — it was resolve.
Ryo clenched his fists.
The villagers bled, screamed, died… while he stood back, useless.
> "If only I were strong enough to protect them…"
And then, the voice came — deep, resonant, and familiar.
> "If you use your power here, Ryo…"
Gabriel's voice echoed like thunder within his mind.
"You might destroy everything. You don't control it — not yet.
If you lose yourself now… this entire village will vanish."
The ground trembled beneath him.
He could feel that energy pulsing inside — endless, wild, and hungry.
A god's power… trapped in the body of a man too afraid to use it.
> "Not now," he whispered. "Not here…"
He forced the power back into the void, grabbed a fallen spear, and rushed to Eran's side.
They fought shoulder to shoulder — not with divine might, but with the determination of men who refused to surrender.
Time blurred.
When the dawn finally came, the village stood silent.
Ashes, smoke, and death lingered where laughter once lived.
Ryo stood amid the ruins, trembling.
He had survived — again.
But not because he was strong.
Because he was afraid.
Eran limped toward him, bleeding but alive.
> "We made it… thanks to our Master. He might be the weakest on the continent, but he's the reason we're still breathing."
Ryo watched the man tend to the wounded, comforting a crying child.
That was strength — not power, not dominance, but heart.
He looked toward the rising sun.
> "I must become stronger," he said softly.
"Strong enough to protect those I care about."
And in the silence of the void, Gabriel did not reply.
But Ryo felt it — a quiet, approving presence watching over him.
The path to power had begun.