[Void Kangaroo Capability: Capable Of Kicking Your Ass]
[Time Limit: 1 Minute (The Time Limit Was Greatly Reduced Due To It Being Your First Time Facing A Punishment)]
[Get Ready! For The Punishment…]
[Starts Now!]
"...What?" My voice cracked, a pathetic whisper against the vast emptiness.
I barely had time to process before it moved. No, teleported.
One blink, and it was already in front of me. Its gloved fist drew back, then shot forward with impossible speed, like reality itself bent to make way for its strike.
Pain exploded in my gut. The impact stole the air from my lungs, forcing a wet, ragged scream from me as I was launched backwards like a ragdoll.
My body hit the ground with a crunch, sand kicking up around me as if the desert itself rejected me.
I spat blood, warm and bitter, staining the grains beneath me.
The void kangaroo didn't give me time to breathe.
From above, its shadow loomed, growing larger until the beast itself descended, fist raised high like a guillotine blade.
"Move, move, dammit!" My body screamed at me.
Summoning every ounce of strength left, I rolled just as the fist smashed down.
The ground convulsed. The red sand cracked and caved as if the world itself wanted to crumble under the monster's strike.
I staggered to my feet, clutching my stomach. Every breath burned. My legs trembled.
Still, I tried to run, to dodge, to put distance between me and it. But it was faster.
One moment it was across the sands. The next, it was right in front of me again, its fist already in motion.
I tried to sidestep, but fate had other plans. My foot caught in the sand, and I tripped.
Time slowed.
I saw its fist slice through the air, missing me by inches as I fell backwards.
The sound of its punch ripping past me was like thunder, raw and terrifying.
Then, just as I hit the ground, something strange happened.
My breath hitched. The punch that had already missed me… somehow, impossibly. Before I could even blink, the kangaroo's fist smashed into my gut.
The impact was indescribable. My entire body folded in half as though I were nothing more than paper caught in a storm.
And then—
[Time Limit Reached!]
[Congratulations! You Survived!]
[All Damaged Sustained Is Reduced By 90%]
The words pulsed across the screen, but I barely processed them.
My vision blurred, twisted, and then, just like that, i was back. My room. My bed. My ceiling.
I lay there motionless, my mind blank.
"…I almost died."
The words slipped past my lips in a trembling whisper.
Cold sweat rolled down my face. My chest rose and fell unevenly, like I couldn't remember how to breathe properly.
I had been one second away, no, less than that, from hugging death itself.
Suddenly, my lungs seized, and I gasped for air. Then came the pain.
At first it was a dull throb, but within seconds it roared through me like wildfire.
It felt as if my ribs had been caved in, my spine shattered, my organs liquefied under the weight of a collapsing skyscraper.
"Gh—ahhh!"
I clutched at my torso, curling into myself on the soaked sheets.
The agony was so overwhelming that I couldn't even think straight.
Every nerve screamed at once. I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, hoping it might distract me from the sensation of being ripped apart from the inside.
But it didn't. It lasted forever. Minutes stretched into eternities. My head pounded, my body convulsed, and all I could do was endure.
By the time the torment began to subside, I wasn't even sure if I was still alive.
"…Ha…"
The sound of my own shaky exhale filled the room.
I was drenched in sweat, my clothes clinging to me like I had been thrown into a river.
My sheets were no better, damp, wrinkled, suffocating.
The void kangaroo's punch. That was the cause.
The recoil hadn't struck me immediately; it had waited, lurking, before finally tearing me apart long after the fight ended.
And I could've really died if no for the system reducing the damage by ninety percentage.
Shakily, I turned my head toward my nightstand, where my phone rested.
My trembling fingers wrapped around it, and I squinted at the screen.
[3:09 AM]
I dropped it back with a dull thud, exhausted.
I wanted to sleep, to drift away and forget everything that had just happened.
But the system had other ideas.
A new screen appeared before me.
==== Daily Villain Quest ====
Word: A villain can't be weak. The process to becoming a great villain has various steps, and one of those steps is…
Quest Info: Build yourself.
Push-ups — 0/100
Sit-ups — 0/100
Squats — 0/100
Running — 0/10 km
Note: If the daily quest isn't completed, you will be punished.
=============