Pov: Ryuk
The vision went blank as I opened my eyes now finally seeing the source of danger, there is still few minutes left before this experience card expires, so I decided to use that time in finding a way out of this predicament.
Cold sweat drenched my clothes, sticking to my back like ice. My whole body was shivering, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.
A martial pill.
All those years in the city lord's manor, the neglect, the cold indifference from my father, the fact that he never allowed me to touch martial arts—it was never negligence. I was livestock. I was a medicine being raised in a pen, waiting for that golden-masked woman to rip my eyes from my sockets and tear the green pearl from my chest.
And tomorrow morning, they will descend upon this town like gods of death.
"Think... Ryuk, think!" I slapped my own cheeks hard, trying to force down the suffocating panic rising in my throat. My head felt like it was going to split open, but I couldn't stop.
I looked at the starlight, using every drop of perception granted by the enhanced Ancient Astrology to run simulations, searching desperately for any path of survival.
First, I calculated running away tonight with Yuki and the children. In my mind, a simulation formed: we gathered our things in the dark and fled into the wilderness. But before we could even cross the boundary of the next district, a terrifying pressure descended from above. Reynolds appeared in mid-air. With a single cold wave of his sleeve, a storm of martial energy flattened the ground. Yuki, the nine children, and I were crushed into minced meat instantly. Result: Total death.
My breath hitched. "What about the Fragment of a Fallen Kingdom?" I asked the system, trying to see if hiding everyone inside that portable space could save us. But the astrology showed the brutal reality: my system was only level zero, and the fragment was just a broken piece, not a complete world. When a powerhouse who can tear open the void descends, that tiny isolated space would be shattered like a glass bubble. Everyone hiding inside would be suffocated and crushed by the collapsing void. Result: Trapped and slaughtered together.
Desperation clawed at my chest. "What about Dead Rising? What if I learn necromancy? What if I raise an undead army to fight back?" I looked into that possibility, but the vision was even more laughable. A mere 11-year-old child who just picked up a scrap of paper trying to fight an apex powerhouse with a few shambling skeletons? Reynolds wouldn't even need to swing his sword. The sheer pressure radiating from his body would turn any low-level undead into ash within seconds, and the backlash of the corrupted mana would make my own head explode before I could even land a scratch. Result: Meaningless suicide.
No matter how I calculated, no matter what path I looked at—hiding, fighting, running together, using my system items—the starlight only showed one single, terrifying ending.
A sea of blood.
Yuki pierced by a flying sword. Kevin screaming before turning into ash. Little Anya and Arya holding hands as the earth caved in. Every single life around me snuffed out like candles in a hurricane.
Why? Because they were near me. Because they were standing next to the "martial pill."
The starlight began to dim. The time on the Experience Card was reaching its final seconds.
[TIME REMAINING: 00:28]
[EXPERIENCE CARD DURATION HAS ENDED.]
[ANCIENT ASTROLOGY MASTERY REVERTED TO BASE LEVEL (15/100)]
A tearing headache hit me like a sledgehammer. The vast celestial sight vanished in an instant, leaving me kneeling on the wet grass under a normal, cold night sky. Blood trickled down from my nose, and I fell forward, gasping for air, tears blurring my vision.
There was no way out. Not for me.
The gap was too vast. It was like an ant trying to stop a falling mountain. In this world, weakness was the greatest sin, and right now, I was nothing.
I lay on the cold ground for several minutes, staring at the dirt. But then, as my ragged breathing slowly steadied, a clear realization pierced through the fog of despair.
The danger was never for them.
Reynolds and that woman were coming for me. They didn't care about a group of orphan children or a runaway girl. In the vision, Yuki and the children were killed simply because they happened to walk beside me on the road to the bakery! They were crushed like bugs caught under the wheel of a carriage!
"If I am with them... they die," I whispered, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "If I am not there... they have a chance."
I couldn't save myself. But I could still save them.
A sudden surge of frantic energy overtook my body. I scrambled up from the grass and sprinted into the hut, moving as silently as a ghost.
Inside, the faint moonlight showed the children sleeping peacefully under the new blankets I had bought just yesterday. Little Kevin had a tiny smile on his face, probably dreaming about eating pizza or meeting his parents. Yuki was sleeping near the corner, her breathing calm and steady.
My heart ached so intensely that I could barely breathe, but I had no time to cry.
I grabbed a piece of rough packaging paper and a piece of charcoal from the corner of the room. With shaking hands, my fingers smearing charcoal dust across the page, I began to write a letter to Grandma Rose:
Grandma Rose,I am sorry, but I have to leave town immediately. Some very dangerous people from my past are coming for me, and I cannot stay here any longer. I beg you, please take care of Yuki and the nine children. They know nothing about my trouble. Please send them away to your master's sect as soon as possible. Do not look for me. Keep them safe.— Ryuk
I folded the paper and took three gold coins from my pocket—the money I found on the necromancer's skeleton—and wrapped them inside the paper.
Without wasting a second, I bolted out of the hut and ran into the night.
My legs pumped with everything I had. The wind cut against my face like cold knives as I sprinted through the deserted slum alleys, crossing the empty roads toward the central market. My 11-year-old body was pushed to its absolute limits, muscles screaming, heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped beast.
Finally, I reached the dark, shuttered storefront of Grandma Rose's bakery.
The street was dead silent. I rushed to the wooden front door and slid the letter, along with the wrapped gold coins, deep beneath the door crack until it disappeared inside.
"Please, Grandma Rose... please protect them," I prayed in a choked whisper, pressing my forehead against the cold wood for just a second.
Then, I turned around and sprinted all the way back.
By the time I reached the hut again, my vision was spinning with exhaustion and my chest burned like fire. Dawn was still two hours away, but every passing second felt like the ticking of a death clock.
I pushed open the shabby wooden door.
As soon as the hinges creaked, Yuki stirred and sat up, her eyes immediately turning alert. Seeing me panting by the door, covered in sweat and dirt, her expression instantly filled with worry.
"Ryuk? What happened? Where did you go?" she whispered, getting up softly so as not to wake the children.
I grabbed her by the shoulders. My hands were trembling, but my gaze was dead serious.
"Yuki, listen to me very carefully," I whispered, my voice cracked and hoarse. "You have to take all the children and leave right now. As soon as the sun begins to rise, take them straight to Grandma Rose's bakery. Don't stop for anything, don't ask any questions, and don't look back."
Yuki blinked, stunned by my sudden intensity. "What are you talking about? What about you? Aren't we going together?"
"I have something urgent I need to handle," I lied, forcing my voice to remain firm even though my throat felt like it was closing up. "I have to leave the town first. I already left a letter and money for Grandma Rose. She will take all of you to a safe place, to a sect where no one can hurt you."
Yuki's eyes narrowed. She was smart—far too smart for an 11-year-old. She looked at my trembling hands, at the fear I couldn't completely hide in my eyes, and shook her head firmly.
"No. You're lying to me, Ryuk. You look like you're running away from death. What danger is coming? Is it my enemies? If someone found us, I can fight—"
"It's not your enemies!" I cut her off, my voice shaking with an uncontrollable burst of emotion. "It has nothing to do with you! Yuki... please. Just this once, listen to me. If you stay with me, everyone will die. Do you want Kevin to die? Do you want Anya and the others to die?"
Hearing those names, Yuki froze. Her face turned pale in the dim moonlight.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, letting go of her shoulders. "You're their big sister. You have to protect them. Take them to Grandma Rose. Promise me, Yuki."
She stared at me, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, her lips quivering. She wanted to argue, but seeing the pure desperation on my face, she finally bit her lip and slowly nodded.
"I... I promise," she choked out.
"Good."
I didn't dare look back at the sleeping children. If I looked at them, my courage would shatter.
Turning around, I sprinted out of the hut and ran straight toward the dense forest behind the clearing.
I reached the dirt mound where I had buried the necromancer Roby. The cold wind howled through the tall trees, making the shadows dance like mocking ghosts.
I dropped to my knees in front of the grave, my hands digging into my pocket to pull out that ancient parchment of Dead Rising.
I didn't care about mana corruption anymore. I didn't care about the taboo of defying life and death, or the mental pollution that comes from borrowing power from the outer world. Right now, I didn't want this technique to build an army. I didn't want it to fight Reynolds.
I just needed speed. I needed a mount, a distraction, anything that could carry my body as far away from this town as humanly possible before the sun came up!
If Reynolds was tracking my bloodline, then every kilometer I ran into the depths of the wild forest was another kilometer between him and those children. If he wanted to harvest this martial pill, he would have to come find me deep in the desolate mountains!
Unfolding the parchment with dirt-covered hands, I bit my index finger until blood welled up, smearing it across the dark runes of the scroll.
"System..." I whispered, tears finally escaping my eyes and dripping onto the bloody parchment. "Help me invoke Dead Rising. I don't care about the consequences... just get me away from here."