" Shit... my ears hurts.. " The ringing wouldn't stop.
DING. DING. DING.
It carved through Ino's skull like a drill, relentless and maddening. He tried to open his eyes—couldn't. Tried to move his hands—they didn't respond. His body felt distant, like something he was borrowing rather than inhabiting.
Make it stop—
The sound swelled, crescendoing into something that wasn't quite noise anymore. It was pressure. Weight. The feeling of being crushed beneath something vast and incomprehensible.
Then—silence. The kind of silence that made his ears ache worse than the ringing.
Ino's eyes snapped open.
Wrong. Everything was wrong.
He wasn't in his house. Wasn't on the blood-soaked floor where he should be dying—had died—alongside Anta. Instead, he floated in an endless void studded with stars that didn't twinkle so much as pulse, like dying heartbeats frozen in time.
Massive gears hung suspended in the darkness, turning with the slow inevitability of cosmic clockwork. Each tick resonated through Ino's chest, syncing with his heartbeat until he couldn't tell which was leading which.
Where—
「 Ch...ild? 」
The voice slithered into his mind—not through his ears, but directly into his thoughts. It felt like fingers prodding at the soft tissue of his brain.
Ino tried to speak. His throat—his throat should be slit, his tongue should be gone—moved normally. "Who—"
「 Oh, good~ You can hear me. How delightful. 」
The tone was saccharine. Pleased. Like a child who'd found an interesting bug to dissect.
「 Do you know where you are, child? 」
"I..." Ino's voice echoed strangely in this place. "I'm dead. I have to be—"
Laughter erupted in his mind. Not cruel, exactly. Worse—amused.
「 Dead? Oh, no no no. You misunderstand your situation entirely. 」
The stars shifted, constellations rearranging themselves into patterns that hurt to look at. One of the massive gears shuddered to a stop, and reality folded.
When Ino's vision cleared, a figure stood before him.
It was humanoid in the way a child's drawing is humanoid—all the right parts in approximately the right places, but fundamentally off. Too many joints in the fingers. Eyes that reflected galaxies instead of light. A smile that stretched just slightly too wide.
「 I am ※#$%^&, 」 the entity said, and the syllables made Ino's teeth ache.
「 Though your limited mortal tongue would fail to pronounce it correctly. How adorable~ 」
The figure circled him slowly, hands clasped behind its back like a professor examining a disappointing student.
「 Humanity knows me as a Higher Existence. Some of you called me God, though that's rather presumptuous of you, don't you think? 」 A pause.
「 Then again, presumption seems to be your species' defining trait. 」
"I don't understand—" Ino started.
「 Of course you don't. 」 The entity's smile widened impossibly further.
「 You're human. Understanding is rather beyond your capacity. But I shall explain anyway—consider it... charity. 」
The void rippled. Images materialized around Ino like ghostly holograms:
Himself, older, working in a factory. No Anta.
Himself, younger, bleeding out in an alley. Anta's funeral, age fourteen.
Himself, successful, in a suit. Anta's grave, fresh flowers.
「 Do you see? 」 The entity gestured lazily at the visions.
「 Across infinite timelines, infinite possibilities, one constant remains: your little brother dies. 」
Ino's fists clenched. "That's—"
「 The truth? 」 The entity leaned closer, its galaxy-eyes boring into him.
「 Oh yes. In some worlds, he dies young. In others, you do. In a precious few—like the one you just experienced—you both die together. How romantic~ 」
The images shifted. Now they showed Anta at fifteen, blowing out birthday candles. Alive. Smiling.
「 This timeline was... special. Your little Antares actually reached his fifteenth birthday. Quite the achievement, really. You should be proud. 」
"Why does that matter?" Ino demanded. His voice cracked. "Why are you showing me this?"
「 Because, child, 」 the entity said with exaggerated patience, like explaining basic arithmetic to a particularly slow student, 「 it means you've met my requirements. 」
The gears above groaned, shifting into a new configuration. Reality shuddered.
「 I require an Apostle. A servant. A useful little puppet to dance on my strings. 」 The entity's smile turned sharp.
「 And you, Ino Siente, have been selected for this magnificent honor. Aren't you grateful? 」
"Grateful?" Ino's voice rose. "You want me to be grateful? Anta is—he's—"
「 Dead? Yes. How observant. 」 The entity waved dismissively.
「 Agent 007 was always overzealous. But the outcome remains the same: you died, he died, and now here we are. 」
"Agent—what? That killer was—"
「 One of mine? Obviously. 」 The entity examined its too-long fingers with affected boredom.
「 How else would I have acquired you? Did you think this was coincidence? Random chance? 」
A pause. Then that awful, patronizing smile returned.
「 Oh, you did. How precious. 」
Rage boiled in Ino's chest—hot, helpless, consuming.
"You orchestrated this. You had us killed. You—"
「 Orchestrated? Such a strong word. 」 The entity tilted its head at an angle that should have broken its neck.
「 I simply... arranged the pieces. Moved the pawns. Your species is so wonderfully predictable, you see. Give a broken boy just enough happiness to cling to, then rip it away— 」
It snapped its fingers. The sound echoed like bones breaking.
「 —and voilà. A perfectly desperate, grief-stricken candidate. 」Ino lunged.
His fist passed straight through the entity like smoke. He stumbled, caught himself, and lunged again. And again.
Each time, the entity simply watched with that same amused smile.
「 Are you quite finished? 」
"I'll kill you," Ino snarled. "I don't care what you are, I'll—"
「 You'll what? 」 The entity's voice hardened, losing its playful edge.
「 Threaten me? A Higher Existence? You—a speck of dust, a fleeting spark, a nothing? 」
The void pressed down. Ino felt his knees buckle under impossible weight.
「 Let me clarify your position, child. 」 The entity crouched, bringing its face level with Ino's.
「 You are mine. From the moment I selected you, your fate was sealed. You will serve. You will obey. You will worship me with every fiber of your meaningless existence. 」
The pressure intensified. Ino's bones creaked.
「 Or— 」 The entity's tone brightened again, sickeningly cheerful.
「 —I could simply discard you. Return you to that blood-soaked floor and let you die properly this time. Would you prefer that? 」
Silence.
「 I thought not. 」
The pressure released. Ino gasped, sucking in air that didn't exist in this place.
「 Now then, 」 the entity straightened, brushing nonexistent dust from its form.
「 Since you're being so cooperative, let me explain your purpose. You will return to your world. You will complete a mission. And if you succeed— 」
The entity's smile turned almost genuine.
「 —I will grant you one wish. Anything your tiny mortal heart desires. 」
Ino's head snapped up. "Anything?"
「 Within reason, of course. I'm not a miracle worker. 」 A pause.
「 Oh wait, I am. How silly of me. 」
The entity laughed at its own joke.
「 Yes, child. Anything. Bring back your brother. Rewrite the past. Become a god yourself—though that last one is quite outside your capabilities, I'm afraid. 」
"What's the mission?" Ino's voice was hollow.
「 Ah, eager now, are we? 」 The entity's eyes gleamed.
「 Unfortunately, that information is... restricted. For now. 」
Before Ino could protest, the entity raised a hand.
「 You see, I need to ensure your cooperation. Your loyalty. And nothing ensures loyalty quite like— 」
The hand snapped shut.
「 —desperation. 」
The void began to crack. Reality bleeding through the fissures.
「 I'm sending you back, child. Back to your broken little world. You'll have time to... grieve. To process. To sever whatever pathetic attachments remain. 」
The entity leaned in close one final time.
「 And when I return for you, you will be ready to serve. Or you will die. Again. Permanently, this time. 」
"Wait—" Ino reached out. "How do I—what do I—"
「 Oh, you'll figure it out. Humans are so wonderfully creative when properly motivated. 」
The cracks widened. Light poured through—harsh, blinding, wrong.
「 One last thing, child— 」
The entity's voice followed him as reality shattered.
「 Don't disappoint me. I have such high hopes for my latest pet~ 」
CRASH.
Ino slammed back into his body with enough force to make him retch. His hands flew to his throat—intact. His tongue moved in his mouth—whole.
He was lying on cold floor. Wet floor.
Blood. Anta's blood.
Ino scrambled upright, vision swimming. The living room materialized around him: overturned furniture, shattered glass, and everywhere—everywhere—red.
But no bodies. No Anta.
He stared at the empty space where his brother had died. Where he had died. Minutes ago? Hours? Time felt broken.
His reflection caught in the broken television screen across the room. Ino crawled toward it, hardly daring to breathe.
There.
His left eye gleamed gold—not reflecting the dim light, but generating it. Like a miniature sun trapped beneath his eyelid.
「 DING! 」
The sound made him flinch. A translucent brown screen materialized in his vision, hovering like smoke,
NAME: Ino Siente [Apostle of ※#$%^&]
AGE: 21
PLANET: Earth
STATUS: Disgusted, Shocked, Grieving
MISSION: [LOCKED]
CURRENT STATUS EFFECTS: - Apostle's Blessing (Passive) [Immune to All Negative Status Effects] - Divine Regeneration (Passive) [Instant Healing]
WORLD DEMISE: 6 Days, 23 Hours, 12 Minutes, 7 Seconds
Ino stared at the countdown.
Six days until the world ended.
A laugh bubbled up his throat—hysterical, broken. He couldn't stop it. It poured out of him until his sides ached.
"Is this your mercy?" he gasped at the ceiling, at the entity he knew was watching. "This is what you call mercy?"
Silence answered him.
Ino wiped his face, forcing himself to breathe. To think. His gaze drifted to the window, where dawn was starting to break.
Brother...
The voice ghosted through his mind—Anta's voice, from memories that felt both distant and immediate.
Wake up...
Ino squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, gold light reflected in the window glass.
"I'm awake," he whispered to the ghost that wasn't there. "I'm awake, and you're gone."
The screen pulsed in his vision, that countdown ticking inexorably downward.
Six days.
Six days to do... what, exactly?
Ino pushed himself to his feet, legs shaking. The house felt wrong now. Hollow. Every corner held memories of laughter that would never return, of a warmth that had been violently extinguished.
He stumbled toward the bathroom, barely making it before his stomach rebelled. He retched into the toilet—once, twice, until nothing remained but dry heaves.
I survived and he didn't.
The thought cut deeper than any knife.
Ino splashed water on his face, avoiding the mirror. But he could still see it in his peripheral vision: that golden eye, mark of something he never asked for.
The screen flickered, updating:
STATUS: Disgusted, Shocked, Grieving, Guilty
"Very helpful," Ino muttered bitterly. "Thanks for the running commentary."
He slumped against the bathroom wall, staring at nothing.
Anta was gone.
The killer had taken him—that thing wearing human skin, Agent 007, servant of the entity that called itself God.
And Ino? Ino was alive. Healed. Blessed.
Cursed.
The countdown continued its steady march:
WORLD DEMISE: 6 Days, 22 Hours, 47 Minutes, 18 Seconds
Ino closed his eyes.
I wish you were here to tell me it was all just a nightmare...
But Anta wasn't here.
And this was no nightmare.
This was divine will.
[END OF CHAPTER 4]