"RIKA-COME!"
The silver ring on her finger flares, and Rika erupts beside her. The cursed spirit screeches, snatching two knights and slamming them like iron dolls into the far wall. Armor buckles; black smoke hisses out.
At her feet, Charcadet plants himself and spins, embering the ground. A whirling Fire Spin spirals outward, trapping three more knights in a vortex of searing flames.
Ryusei inhales, cursed energy flooding her limbs.
"KOKUSEN!"
A perfect Black Flash detonates off her heel, the compressed cursed strike cannoning two knights and one lurking archer across the throne room. Their armor implodes mid‑flight.
[Black Flash Level 2 has leveled up ➜ Level 3]
But the tide still swarms.
Ryusei sprints up a broken pillar and pivots high above the floor.
[Lapse: Blue]
A warped implosion of space crushes another squad of knights with implosive force, warping the stone beneath them.
[Limitless: Level 2 → Level 3]
She hits the ground hard. Her cursed energy is gone. Her vision doubles, then triples. She sways on her feet. Blood drips from her forehead, mouth, and arms.
A knight lands a blow to her gut, sending her skidding across the throne room. She slams into the base of a broken pillar.
"I... can't..." she whispers.
With nothing left but her fists, she stands again. Swinging. Punching. Screaming. Teeth clenched. Her hands are split open, knuckles raw and soaked in blood.
Rika is in a frenzy, throwing knights off Ryusei, shielding her as best she can, roaring with every strike.
Charcadet, glowing brighter with each flame he casts, hits level after level, growing stronger from the carnage:
———————————————————
[Charcadet: Level 24]
[New Skills Learned: Will-O-Wisp, Night Shade, Flame Charge]
———————————————————
Will-O-Wisp ignites several knights, leaving them burning and shrieking, their armor melting off.
Flame Charge turns Charcadet into a flaming comet, barreling through the hoard of knights at breakneck speed, his speed increasing with every impact.
Despite their efforts, the horde seems endless.
Rika shields Ryusei with her body, pushing knights away with powerful blasts of cursed energy. She glances at Ryusei, seeing her sway, pale and barely holding on.
"RYUSEI!!" she screams.
Ryusei looks up, barely conscious.
"I'm... not dying here..." she mutters. "I can't..."
She slams her fist into the ground, using it to prop herself up. Her teeth grit, her eyes glowing faintly with raw willpower.
"I haven't come this far... to lose..."
Blood drips from Ryusei's fingertips as she slouches forward on her knees, her breath shallow and ragged. The fractured light from the shattered ceiling of the throne room flickers against her bruised skin, her vision swimming as if reality itself wavers. The endless knights encircle her, silent now-waiting. Watching. Like predators savoring the final flickers of their prey.
She sees them.
Her parents, older brother and finally...herself.
"You don't need to keep forcing yourself."
A soft voice, cold and far too familiar.
A gentle hand brushes her back, and Ryusei's blood runs colder than steel.
That pale, frail figure in a hospital gown. Dull brown eyes. Unkempt brown hair. Empty.
"You were always useless," the vision of her past self says, voice dripping with pity and malice. "A sick, broken little thing that couldn't do anything."
A slow, mocking smile.
"No matter how strong your body gets... you're still me. Pathetic. Worthless. Forgotten."
A flash of silver steel slams into her side-she collapses. A knight's hammer crashes into her shoulder, snapping armor and sending pain roaring through her veins. She screams. She nearly blacks out.
Warmth.
A hand on her back.
"That's enough, Ryusei," says a voice-old and loving. Familiar. Steady like the mountains. "You don't need to listen to them."
Eyes wide, Ryusei looks up.
There he is.
Her grandfather. The only person who ever treated her like she mattered in that past life. The man who smiled at her when no one else did. When she was wasting away, he was the only one who believed she still had a life to live.
And now-he's here.
Smiling at her again.
"You were never weak."
Tears sting Ryusei's eyes.
The ghosts of her parents shatter like mist.
Her brother vanishes.
Her past self wavers, crumbling under the golden warmth now flooding the throne room.
Ryusei, planting her fist into the stone floor, cracking it beneath her. "I REFUSE TO DIE!!"
A shockwave blasts outward, blowing the knights back.
———————————————————
You have unlocked a new skill:
[Silverine Aura Manipulation]
Your grandfather from your past life has been watching over you.
From his will alone, you have been granted Silverine Aura Manipulation!
This power allows the user to amplify and freely manipulate their body's silverine aura. This aura can:
- Freeze and nullify magic and mana, including their byproducts (heat, sound, energy)
- Dispel magical attacks and fields
- Create weapons, barriers, and constructs from silverine energy
- Enhance physical attributes and weaponry
———————————————————
"I'm not a burden." Her voice echoes through the dungeon. "I'm not worthless."
"I have a family now. Friends. People I want to protect."
The knights charge.
Ryusei doesn't flinch.
She dashes forward, silver energy bursting behind her. She freezes the front line's weapons mid-swing, her aura nullifying their enchantments. She carves through them with silver-forged claws.
Her Silverine sword manifests in her hand.
"Thank you, Grandpa... I'll live. For you."
In a flash of violet static, the world distorted.
The knights and the throne room was gone.
Ryusei slammed face first into sand.
She coughed, staggering to her feet. Charcadet landed nearby, disoriented but unharmed. Rika hovered protectively at her side, flickering in and out of her cursed form, still panting from the brutal onslaught they had just endured.
The sky above was an impossible red, with black clouds swirling overhead like smoke. The horizon stretched endlessly in all directions-nothing but dunes, twisted rock, and searing heat.
———————————————————
[You have entered the Penalty Zone.
Due to failure to complete your Daily Quest, you have been forcibly transported.]
Objective: Survive for 4 hours.
———————————————————
Ryusei collapsed to her knees, barely able to breathe.
Her body was battered. Her hands still bled. Her aura flickered, and even the Silverine energy she had just awakened was fading.
"...Did I really just get saved... by forgetting my Daily Quest?"
She let out a dry, painful laugh.
She slowly stood, her legs shaking beneath her.
Charcadet chirped, hugging her leg.
And through the heat and the blood and the pain.
"Thank you... Grandfather."
She looked up into the blazing red sky.
"I won't waste this second chance. This life I was given-I'm going to fight for it. All of it."
Still bruised and bleeding, Ryusei stood tall amidst the scorching desert winds of the Penalty Zone. The stinging heat beat down on her cracked skin, mixing with the sweat and blood on her body. Her breathing was ragged, but her eyes blazed with focus.
Opening the System Store, she purchased Mana Potions, her fatigue now well past 90-the highest it had ever reached.
"One for me... one for you..."
She handed the vial to Charcadet, who chirped and quickly drank it down. Rika, too, took her share, regaining stability in her cursed form, her energy roaring back to life. Ryusei felt the clarity return again, her body no longer on the edge of collapse.
She reached into her inventory, tossing beef jerky to Charcadet, who devoured it hungrily.
But her own injuries... were another matter.
"Tch... potions don't heal damage this deep anymore, huh?"
Even the strongest Health Potion wouldn't close the gashes torn open by Igris or stop the internal bruising from being slammed through marble. She handed the last health vial to Charcadet, who needed it more than she did.
"Guess I'll just have to heal the old-fashioned way... or level up."
And just as the thought crossed her mind
the ground exploded.
Six massive Desert Centipedes burst forth from the sand, their armored carapaces glinting in the sun, pincers snapping. The very sight of them once sent Ryusei running in fear.
Not anymore.
"Last time... something like you almost killed me. But that was the old me."
She clenched her fists, her Silverine Aura beginning to flicker faintly around her arms moving to the rest of her body like silver flame.
"I won't be weak anymore. That version of me...I'm going to surpass her!"
Charcadet leapt onto her shoulder, ready to fight. Rika hovered behind her.
Dodging under one centipede's strike, she landed a devastating blow to its underbelly, flipping it onto its back. Another came lunging, only to be met with a flaming Will-O-Wisp from Charcadet, who then darted in with a Flame Charge, piercing its exoskeleton.
"As long as it doesn't kill me..."
"Any pain I go through is only going to make me stronger!"
Her body screamed in protest, but her soul roared louder. She grabbed the horn of a centipede, flipped over its head, and drove her fist straight into its eye. Another's jaws closed around her side, but Rika's hands severed it clean off.
Centipede corpses fell around her like rain.
Ryusei, chest heaving, staggered forward-
still standing.
Still fighting.
With three more of the beasts left, she bared her bloodied teeth in a grin, her aura swirling once again, stronger than before.