"Ugh... Ahh—my head..."
I groaned, my voice echoing through a place I couldn't yet see.Pain throbbed in my skull, sharp and real.
"Wait… pain? But I'm supposed to be unconscious. What the hell…?"
I winced, slowly opening my eyes—but I wasn't on a bed.I was falling.
Drifting downward through an endless white void, glittering with floating spheres of color—each glowing with an aura of its own. Crimson, gold, sapphire blue, eerie green. Some felt warm, some ominously cold. They shimmered around me like stars torn from the heavens.
"Where... am I?" I muttered.
The question echoed in my mind, unanswered. Then something caught my eye. A reflection in one of the spheres.
It was me.But… not me.
My hair—once black—was now a shock of pure white, glowing faintly like silver in moonlight. My eyes… crimson red.
"This… can't be real."
Then, a whisper—just barely audible—drifted through the void:
"Myde—"
It was muffled. Incomplete. But it shook my chest, like it was trying to pull something out of me.
I turned slowly.
Floating in the distance was a woman—elegant, ethereal.
Her eyes shimmered a deep crimson white, like galaxies spinning inside them. Her long white hair flowed behind her, weightless. She wore a beautiful gown stitched from starlight and silk, each step leaving glowing traces in the air.
But most of all…
She felt familiar.Like I'd known her forever. Like she was part of me.
She didn't speak at first. She just watched me with a soft, almost bittersweet smile. Then, her voice finally reached me.
"Wake, Mydeimos."
My heart thumped.
"Wake… Mydeimos."
The name echoed in my soul like it belonged to me.Like it was me.
Then—
Darkness.
The light vanished. The colored auras shattered like glass. The woman disappeared. Even I—disappeared.
Nothing remained.
Except the sound:
Thump… thump… thump…
I shot upright in bed, gasping.
Sweat drenched my body. My chest heaved. My eyes darted around.
I wasn't in a hospital anymore.
I was in a house.
A clean, modern-looking room. Hardwood floors. Sunlight gently pouring in from behind thin curtains. White walls. A bookshelf with worn novels and what looked like… old magical relics?
I clutched my chest.
"What… is this place?" I whispered to myself.
Suddenly—
Click.
The door creaked open.
A man stepped in, tall and casual. He wore a long black shirt, fitted jeans, and a pair of black Nike sneakers. His hair was a little messy, but his eyes were sharp.
He gave a relieved sigh.
"Oh, good. You're awake."
I stared at him, confused and tense.
"Where… where am I?"
He walked in casually and leaned against the doorframe.
"You've been asleep for almost six months. Honestly, I wasn't sure you'd make it. Thought you were brain-dead for a bit, not gonna lie."
My mind raced.
Six months?!
I looked down at my hands. They were fine. I didn't feel weak… if anything, I felt stronger.
"Who are you…? And why did you save me?"
The man chuckled, walking over to a chair and plopping down.
"Name's Kaito. Kaito Nakamura."
The name hit me like a blade to the chest.
"Nakamura…? Wait—you're from the Nakamura Clan?! The strongest clan in history!"
Kaito just chuckled, scratching the back of his neck with a lazy grin.
"Yeah, yeah, that's me." His tone was light, almost careless—but the air around him carried a weight that couldn't be ignored.
Then he leaned back casually.
"Oh, right—you're probably confused about where we are. This is an abandoned mansion."
I blinked at him. "Mansion…?"
"Yep," he said, smirking as if explaining something obvious. "Think of it like this—in our world, we had villages with cottages, right? Well, here they call those houses. And those massive castles you see in royal capitals? In this world, they've got something between a house and a castle—mansions. Big, fancy, expensive places… but without the king and crown. And this one—" he gestured around us, his voice dipping into something quieter, "—this one's been empty for a while."
I swallowed. "So… how long have you been here?"
Kaito's expression shifted, the grin fading for the first time.
"Three months. When we all arrived, the world went insane. People didn't know what was happening—monsters appeared out of nowhere, and strangers from another world just… spawned right into Earth. Entire cities tore apart trying to handle the chaos. But now—" he crossed his arms, gaze hardening, "Earth and our old world are starting to fuse. People here are awakening mana cores too. The rules of reality are… shifting."
His words sank into me like ice.
I hesitated. "…And you? How did you end up here?"
For a second, Kaito's grin flickered back—but this time it was thin, strained.
"I was with my clan, training as usual. Then—boom. An explosion tore through everything. I don't even remember what hit us. The next thing I know, I wake up in this mansion, and my clan… gone."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
A weight pressed against my chest, heavier than before.
Did this happen because of me? Because of my choice to awaken?
Was the system behind this…?
My thoughts spiraled. My breathing hitched.
"Hey," Kaito's voice broke through, confused. "You good?"
But my mind wasn't with him.
It was back with her. The woman. The voice. The name.
Mydeimos.
Flashes seared my mind—
The crocodile monster.
The glowing orb.
The explosion.
Too much. Too fast. My heart pounded against my ribs.
If the system caused this… can I even trust it anymore?
I forced myself to meet Kaito's gaze and asked the only question that mattered.
"…Do you know who… or what… Mydeimos is?"
For once, the ever-smiling Nakamura froze. His eyes narrowed, and the room seemed to still. A heavy silence stretched—then, out of nowhere, he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Mydeimos? What is that, some kind of wannabe villain name? Sounds like the type of guy who writes sad poetry in the moonlight!"
He grinned wide, shaking his head. His tone was mocking, but for just a split second—I caught something flicker behind his eyes. Something he wasn't saying.
My stomach twisted. I stared at him.
"…Is he really a Nakamura?"