°•○●
The system's mark pulsed inside his fractured vision like a colorful phantom.
He gasped.
Cold air. Blood in his throat.
Screams everywhere.
Then, voices inside his head.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETED]
New Name: Orion
Gender: Mal-Co (Male)
Type: Humanoid
GeneticHeritage: Homo Sapiens (B-46)
DNA Details: Locked
Age: 19 (Soul Age: 30)
Level: 0
Essence and Abilities: LOCKED
Stats: LOCKED
Condition: Stabilized (Death by Fall + Heart Failure Prevented)
- "Cheat Your Death" Triggered
I'd prefer a girl voice in my interface, but whatever.
Orion blinked for the first time.
Stone walls with no ceiling spun around him, open to a starlit sky. It looked like a stone maze beneath a strangely beautiful night.
Chaos surrounded him. Blood smeared across the stone, violence unfolding in every direction.
A dozen young people were fighting inside a burning zone. Their movements were frantic, almost like a bad cosplay party was taken too far.
Someone cried. Someone bled.
And someone, a girl with blonde hair and eyes like blue gems was staring at him as if he had just crawled out of hell.
Orion grinned.
Not because he enjoyed what he saw. No. It was the collision of everything surging through his chest at once.
He realized that forcing himself to calm down was only making him lose control of this new body.
The grin stretched wider, manic, and lingered there for a few seconds.
"Okay. This is new," he muttered, wiping blood from his lips.
He tried to stand, but his legs refused to cooperate.
His ribs were broken.
Or they had been.
Now they weren't.
Was this healing?
Resurrection?
He looked down at his hands. Pale. Human. Still shaking.
Just as he was about to speak, the devil whispered into his ear.
The system spoke again, this time with a sweet female voice.
[Welcome to Midka]
[Your new life has begun]
[Good luck]
Orion didn't feel confused.
And he didn't scream.
Not when he fell.
Not when he woke up in this strange body.
Not even when he noticed a child's corpse nearby, its neck twisted at the wrong angle.
Because somewhere deep inside his fractured psyche, one idea burned brighter than fear.
I finally escaped from that hell. This is just a second life.
And second lives with cheats are meant to be full of pleasure!
In a corridor of magic and fire, among strangers with weapons drawn and monsters moving through the mist, Orion Vale took his first step.
Into the Academy of Pain and Pleasure.
He was already smiling at a future filled with endless desire.
..
Orion walked for a while before a sharp clarity cut through his thoughts, forcing him to stop.
Where the hell am I?
The battlefield pulsed like a living thing. Burning walls loomed nearby, screams echoing through the stone corridors, shattered weapons crunching beneath his feet.
Everything felt too vivid, sharp and painful.
This has to be a dungeon. Right?
The blonde girl he had seen earlier lingered in his mind. Her perfect face. Her impossible proportions.
She looked like something designed, crafted beyond anything his past life could have produced.
The monsters, the architecture, even the eerie lighting all shared the same wrongness.
Everything looked hyperrealistic.
And yet, it wasn't just what he saw.
He could smell blood, feel heat pressing against his skin and taste bile creeping up his throat.
He didn't remember how he had gotten this chance.
He only remembered going to sleep.
He had been supposed to wake up early to drive to his cousin's wedding.
The plan had been simple: grab a coffee, hit the highway, maybe blast some rock music on the way.
Instead, he woke up in a hellish warzone.
And he was sure he hadn't done anything extraordinary to deserve it.
[Health Condition: Stabilized (Death by Fall + Heart Failure Prevented)]
- "Cheat Your Death" Triggered
Orion stood there, frozen, as if his brain were lagging behind his eyes.
The strange creatures around him still weren't attacking. He didn't know why.
Right now, he didn't care.
Because there was only one question in his head.
What the f*ck is going on here?
The phrase echoed in his mind like a broken record.
Cheat Your Death.
A girl's voice inside his head; soft, ASMR-like, uncomfortably close.
His hands trembled as he stared at them. Cuts on his palms. Dirt under his nails. Wind brushing against his skin.
His heart raced, threatening to burst from his chest. Fear swelled inside him, heavy and real.
I died…
…and I don't remember how. But I definitely died.
Then came the pain.
His body folded as a brutal cramp twisted his stomach. A disgusting, unholy sound burst from his ass before embarrassment could even register.
He vomited.
And farted.
At the same time.
It came out like a violent geyser, splattering the cracked stone floor.
Okay. That felt disturbing but somehow refreshing.
He dry-heaved.
Then again.
"Jesus…" he groaned.
What kind of transmigration starts with vomiting?
He wasn't thinking this to joke or calm himself down. These new sensations were painful.
Disgusting, but mostly agonizing.
After whatever his throat and his ass had just put him through, one question still dominated his thoughts.
Where is this place?
He didn't know where he was.
Rrrrr… Kiiiiiiiaaa…
After a few more miserable gasps, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then his hearing returned in violent bursts.
Ringing and Buzzing all over his head.
As if his ears were rebooting.
A final high-pitched whine stabbed into his skull, then stopped.
The buzzing faded.
Hearing again felt refreshing after a long time. Silence… silence was terrifying.
And he could finally hear everything.
There were real screams, coming from everywhere.
They were echoing through the whole stone maze, making his stomach sink.
He walked a few more steps and things started to change again.
His vision was healing.
The fog in his eyes thinned.
He could see properly now.
Before, the stone maze had looked chaotic and strange. Now it felt unmistakably real.
Dark fantasy dungeon vibes.
A really cool place, if you ignored the bloody war.
His brain clung desperately to anything it could survive with.
He suddenly wanted to turn back and find that blonde warrior girl he had left behind.
If the clarity in his eyes were this good now, would she look even better?
Maybe even sexier?
The ache in his body eased slightly. The numbness in his limbs loosened. He was finally feeling his limbs better.
And then he realized something.
That was how he had stood up earlier. Because he hadn't felt any pain.
If he had felt this pain back then, he never would have managed to get up.
Now his body was fully waking up. And the pain came with it, rolling through him in waves.
Then something shattered that fragile clarity.
The fog at the edges of his vision cleared completely.
He saw them.
Monsters!
Various kinds of goblins, mutated dogs, snake-like beasts slithering through the shadows.
All of them staring at him.
Shit.
They didn't hesitate.
Claws and teeth tore into his body.
Orion didn't even have time to scream.
Since he had been walking alone, none of the other fighters saw it happen.
But if anyone had been close enough, they would have confirmed it instantly.
He was dead.
Undeniably killed by monsters.