Darkness.
Not the dark that makes you feel good, like sleep, but something else. There is something wrong with it.
Lucian floated in complete emptiness, with no ground beneath him, no sky above him, and no sound to prove that he was still alive.
He tried to feel his body, but he couldn't. There was no weight, no substance, and nothing to prove that he was real.
The silence was so complete that it became a kind of noise, a deafening lack that pushed against his mind.
Here, time seemed broken. Seconds turned into hours, or maybe hours turned into seconds. He didn't know anymore.
After that, the voices began.
They came from all over and nowhere, whispering accusations that he knew right away were his own thoughts made real.
"You nearly killed her."
"You led Glacielle straight to her death, and she trusted you completely."
"Two days... You couldn't even make it through two days in this world."
"You're not a hero... you're just a burden."
"Even if you have EX-rank luck and a system that makes you strong, you're still useless."
"You wasted your second opportunity."
Lucian tried to argue and defend himself, but every reason he came up with died in his throat before he could say it.
Because what they said was correct.
Every single accusation was true.
He had jumped into a B-rank quest even though he was only an F-rank adventurer. He wanted to be a hero, so he ignored all the basic rules of tactics and common sense.
He had almost killed the one person who had faith in him from the beginning.
In his head, he could still hear Marshal's voice saying one word of judgment: "Pathetic."
She was also correct.
The darkness got closer, making it hard to breathe even though it didn't have a body. Lucian felt himself curling up and pulling away from the heaviness of his own failures.
"I'm not the chosen one." He whispered to the empty space, "What's worse is that... I'm not anything special either."
"I'm just a virgin loser... who is addicted to gacha games and got lucky with a system..."
"I don't deserve them or this second life."
"There are probably a lot of humans that's worth them all other than me..."
The confession should have made things easier, but it only made things worse. This wasn't just guilt on the surface.
This was a total crisis of self-worth, with all of his insecurities from both of his lives coming crashing down at once.
Then the emptiness broke.
Lucian was back on familiar ground.
It's the valley where they fought Corvus, but nothing was right. The sky was red, but not the red of a sunset; it was the deep crimson of fresh blood.
The air smelled like copper and ash.
Glacielle was kneeling on the ground twenty feet away.
Her ice armor was completely broken, and the pieces were all over her broken body. There were wounds all over the skin that could be seen.
She was covered in claw marks, burns, and frost that had melted into water and mixed with her blood. She had a hard time standing up with both hands on the ground for support.
Her frost fans were broken into pieces nearby, and they couldn't be fixed.
The pale blue eyes stared directly at Lucian, freezing his heart in place. There was no anger, no fear—only an overwhelming sense of crushing disappointment.
"Master..." she said, her voice weak but clear. "Why didn't... you keep me safe?"
"I believed... in you."
"You said... you'd treat me like a person... not a tool."
"But you used me... to protect you from your own carelessness."
Lucian tried to scream and run to her, but his body wouldn't let him. He could only watch as she fell forward and her body turned into ice shards that blew away in the blood-red wind.
"NOOO...!!! PLEASE...! GLACIELLLEEEE!!!"
There was another person behind her who had fallen. Marshal Kyrathiel was there, but he wasn't the fierce warrior from what he remembered.
This version was broken. Her Banner of the Unbroken Sun lay in two pieces at her feet. The Dawn Reapers were shattered, their golden sunfire extinguished forever.
She was still standing, but just barely, with dozens of weapons sticking out of her body at strange angles. Blood ran down the blades and dripped onto the ground.
"Rookie... I've fought in hundreds of wars," Marshal said, and you could see how hard it was for her to say each word. "I've worked for a lot of... different bosses in my life."
"But you... were the WORST."
"You had real potential... and you wasted it like a naive fool you are."
She looked him in the eyes one last time. "Pathetic... even until the end."
Then she fell forward, and her body disintegrated into ash that was carried away by the same wind that had taken Glacielle.
Lucian's knees gave out.
'This couldn't be real.'
'N-No... It couldn't... be...'
But more shapes appeared behind Marshal's fading form. Silhouettes that are blurry but clearly female.
Different builds, weapons, and armor styles. Warriors that he hadn't called yet. The prophecy said that there would be companions in the future.
They are all dead. Because he was so bad at his job, all of them died.
There were seven or eight bodies present, their details unclear but their presence too heavy to bear. The famous warriors were nothing more than another failure.
Manic laughter that made fun of people echoed across the nightmare battlefield.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!"
Corvus showed up, standing on top of a pile of dead warriors. His crystal balls shone with success.
The villain laughed insanely and said, "This is what happens when a weak Master tries to be a hero!"
"You killed them all because you were too proud...!"
"The prophecy was wrong! You were never good enough to be this world's hero!"
The realization struck Lucian with a profound impact.
And this is what would have happened.
If it weren't for the emergency call protocol. If Marshal hadn't shown up at the last minute. He would have seen them all die, and it would have been his fault.
"NOOOOO!"
He screamed with all his might. His scream was not one of fear, but rather one of complete denial and rage.
"I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!"
"I WON'T BE THIS WEAK ANYMORE!"
"PLEASE...!!! GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE NOOWWWWW!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
His voice took over the nightmare, pushing back against the darkness and the accusations. Words came from deep inside, a promise to himself and to the warriors who deserved better.
"I got a second chance, but I can't waste it by being a hero..."
"I can't gamble with the lives of people who trust me..."
"I need to EARN the right to lead them and become someone WORTHY of their loyalty."
"Stop being reckless and stop being arrogant because of gaming logic..."
"I'll be the Master they deserve, or I'll die trying this time..."