Chapter 1 — Rebirth in the Ashes
Darkness pressed around Jin Ryo like a weight.
No breath.
No heartbeat.
Just a cold, drifting awareness… and a voice that did not belong to anything human.
[Initiating Transfer…]
[New Vessel Acquired.]
The words echoed without sound, vibrating through the void. Jin couldn't tell if he was dreaming or dying—until pain struck him, sharp and sudden, dragging him into a world that stank of smoke and blood.
He opened his eyes.
Above him, the sky burned.
A shattered courtyard lay in ruins. Charred wood, broken stone, the distant collapse of a once-proud sect hall. Flames crawled along the ground like hungry serpents.
Jin pushed himself up, coughing. His hands trembled—not because of the smoke, but because they were not his hands. Thinner. Paler. Scarred.
A memory slammed into him.
Not his own.
A boy screaming.
A blade glinting behind him.
A fall from the sect bridge.
Cold water swallowing him.
Darkness.
The original owner of this body… had died violently.
Jin's breath hitched. He wasn't just reborn—
He had inherited someone's unfinished tragedy.
Then the voice returned.
[Oblivion Ascension Protocol Activated.]
[Syncing with new host consciousness…]
[Warning: Host condition—critical.]
"Yeah, no kidding…" Jin muttered, his throat raw.
A panel of faint light flickered before him, but unlike the cheerful systems from novels he'd read, this one felt cold—metallic—like a verdict.
Mission 01: Survive the Night.
Failure: Erasure.
His pulse hammered. "Erasure? As in—what, dying again?"
No answer.
Only the crackling of flames and the distant screams carried on the wind.
He staggered to his feet, gripping what remained of a broken spear. His legs barely supported him, but instinct—someone else's instinct—guided him toward the shadows.
A sound cut through the smoke.
Footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate.
Like a hunter walking toward a wounded deer.
A figure emerged—clad in black sect robes, face hidden beneath a silver mask. The blade in his hand dripped with recent violence.
Jin didn't know his name.
But the original body… remembered his fear.
The masked man tilted his head. "Still alive? Persistent little ghost."
Jin's chest tightened. He couldn't outrun him. He couldn't fight him.
But the system pulsed again:
[Host must endure.]
[Auxiliary function unlocked: Reflex Stabilization.]
Suddenly his shaking hands steadied. His vision sharpened. His heartbeat slowed, not from calm—but from forced control.
The masked man raised his blade.
Jin raised his broken spear.
For a moment, under the burning sky, they faced each other—
a predator
and a boy wearing another boy's fate.
Jin swallowed hard. "I don't know who you are… but I'm not dying twice."
The masked man lunged.
And Jin moved—
not skillfully, not powerfully—
but desperately, instinctively, with the system forcing his body to respond faster than his fear.
Steel clashed. Sparks scattered.
Pain shot up his arm as the spear cracked further… but it held.
The masked man hissed in annoyance and stepped back.
Not defeated—just surprised.
"You weren't this troublesome before."
Jin didn't answer. He couldn't. His lungs burned, his body screamed, and the spear felt like it weighed a ton.
But he was alive.
For now.
The masked assassin lowered into a killing stance.
Jin tightened his grip, blood dripping from his palm.
Then—
A beastly roar shook the courtyard, echoing through the flames.
The masked man's head jerked toward the sound.
"Tch. Another problem."
He flicked his blade clean.
"We'll finish this later."
And in a swirl of black cloth, he vanished into the smoke.
Jin collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The system chimed:
[Mission Update: Survive the Night — In Progress]
Jin stared at the burning ruins around him.
If this was the world he'd been thrown into…
then survival alone might be a battle he'd never stop fighting.
He clenched his trembling fingers around the spear.
"Fine," he whispered.
"If the world wants a monster… I'll become one before it kills me."
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