The world didn't just end in the arena; it shattered. The last image burned into my retinas was the terrified face of Kaelen as I held him by the collar, followed by a sensation of a massive, invisible sledgehammer crashing into the center of my skull. THUD. The pain was so absolute that my consciousness simply surrendered. I fell into the dirt, my body convulsing, and then—absolute, terrifying silence.
But death was not my destination today. I opened my eyes to find myself standing in the middle of a vast, starlit ocean of nothingness. The Astral Space. 🌌 The stars were so close I felt like I could touch them, but my focus was on the girl standing before me. The crushing pressure in my head was gone, replaced by a strange, ethereal calm. However, the girl looked far from calm.
"You absolute, unmitigated idiot!" she screamed, her voice vibrating through the vacuum of space. "Do you have any idea what you just did? You forced a human neural network to process information at the speed of a Primordial! You almost burned your soul to a crisp just to show off in front of some third-rate knights!"
I stared at her, mesmerized by her fury. Her eyes were flashing with a celestial light, and she was pacing back and forth like a caged predator. The way she gestured, the way she scolded me with that mixture of anger and genuine fear for my life—it hit a chord deep within my locked memories.
"Why are you scolding me like my Mom?" I muttered, a weary, genuine smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. 🤨
The girl froze. Her celestial aura flickered for a split second, and then, she did something I didn't expect. She laughed. It wasn't a mocking laugh, but a beautiful, melodic sound that seemed to harmonize with the stars themselves. "You... you're comparing a cosmic entity to your mother? Reyansh, you truly are the most peculiar soul I have ever hosted."
But as quickly as her laughter came, it vanished. She stepped closer, her presence becoming suffocatingly heavy. "Listen carefully, fool. I can stitch your neural pathways back together. I can heal the cracks in your mind. But I cannot save a soul that is stolen or a body that is reduced to ash. You have companions—Hina, Yumi, even that coward Night. Use them. In this universe, no one survives their war alone. Stop trying to be the only martyr." 🧐
She handed me a translucent, glowing flower. "Inhale. And remember: the next time you crash your system, I might not be able to reboot it."
The Bitter Reality of SolisI snapped awake, gasping for air as if I had been submerged in water for hours. I was in a bed, the silk sheets soaked in my cold sweat. The agonizing pressure in my skull was gone, replaced by a sharp, crystalline focus. Night (Kiran) was sitting in a chair nearby, his face ashen, his hands trembling. "Night-ji! Praise the stars! You've been unconscious for six hours. What... what was that?"
"A calculated risk," I lied, my voice raspy. "I sensed a threat, and my mind accelerated to meet it. We don't have time for a medical report. We move now."
Internally, I called out to Kiran. "Did you see her? The girl in the space?" Kiran sounded genuinely baffled. "What girl? You were right here, Reyansh. Your brain nearly melted because you tried to overclock my mana output without a proper channel. You're lucky to be breathing."
I ignored his ignorance. I summoned Seraphina (Lady Night) and Kaelen (Rank 2). My request was simple and cold: "Take me to the ruins of the last attack. Now."
The journey to the village was a descent into hell. The landscape was a mosaic of horror—rotting skin hanging from charred trees, piles of bleached bones, and the heavy, metallic scent of dried blood. It was a mirror image of the trauma I had faced, but as I walked through the carnage, my detective's mind began to pick apart the 'miracle' Isabella had described.
I reached the site where the 'Three Generals' lay. I knelt in the blood-soaked mud, examining their severed heads and the mana signatures left in their flesh. My lips curled into a sneer. These aren't Generals.
These were decoys. High-ranking demons, yes, but they lacked the 'Abyssal Core' that true Generals possessed. They had been sent here as sacrificial lambs—staged puppets meant to be killed so the Solis Kingdom could celebrate a false victory. Isabella had lied, or worse, she was being played just as much as I was. 💀The Prophecy and the Siege
We galloped back to the palace, the wind biting at my face. I immediately demanded an audience with the King and the Princess. We met in the inner sanctum, a room reinforced with anti-magic crystals. I ordered everyone out—the maids, the lower guards, everyone. Only the King, Isabella, Seraphina, and Kaelen remained.
Isabella looked at me, her expression a mix of hope and suspicion. "Sovereign, your sudden departure was... unconventional. What did you find at the village?"
I stood there, blood still staining my boots, and looked at the King, whose crown seemed too heavy for his shaking head. "I found a theater," I said, my voice echoing like a death knell. "Those 'Three Generals' you're boasting about were decoys. Their fighting styles were amateur, their mana residue was weak. They were sent there to die so you would lower your guard."
The King's face turned a sickly shade of white. "Hero, what are you implying? We have peace! The people are celebrating!"
I leaned forward, the Azure light flickering dangerously in my eyes. "I am saying that your Kingdom is a tomb waiting to be sealed. You've been lulled into a false sense of security while the real predators are at your throat. Your Kingdom will be erased from history before the sun—"
"BOOM!"
The massive, iron-reinforced doors of the sanctum didn't just open—they were blown off their hinges. A soldier, his armor melted and his left arm missing, collapsed into the room. He didn't even have the strength to scream; he just wheezed out words through a mouthful of blood.
"Your Majesty... the walls... they're gone! A demonic army... thousands... and the High Generals... they're already in the inner circle! They're slaughtering... everyone..."
The air in the room turned freezing. I felt a cold knot tie itself in my stomach. I looked at the panicked King, then at the smoking doorway.
"Shit..." I thought to myself, the irony tasting like copper in my mouth. "I just finished the warning, and the nightmare is already here. I thought I had hours to prepare, but I gave them too much credit. I spoke too soon, and now... the real massacre begins." 😨