"Move out. We need to return to the base immediately," Vikraal commanded, his deep voice echoing in the silent, blood-soaked canyon.
"As you command, Overlord," the surviving hunters bowed.
Pinned high against the cold rock face by the massive spear, Abhay watched Vikraal walk away through blurring eyes. With trembling, blood-slicked fingers, he gripped the wooden shaft piercing his stomach. He reached his other hand out weakly toward the giant's retreating back.
"Vikraal... I will... never..."
Before he could finish the sentence, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.
One of the wounded hunters, clutching the stump of his severed arm, glanced up at the boy. "Overlord Vikraal, should I finish him off? He's still breathing."
"There is no need," Vikraal replied coldly, not even breaking his stride. "The boy won't survive long. He will bleed to death from that wound. Besides, this part of the forest isn't crawling with wild beasts. If he is lucky, someone will find him. If not, he will slowly bleed out within two days."
The hunter nodded, and the group vanished into the deep shadows of the Aranyak forest, leaving the graveyard behind.
Sometime later, Abhay woke up. Pain flared through every nerve in his body. Mustering whatever pathetic ounce of strength he had left, he pressed his feet against the rock face for leverage and gripped the spear with both hands, pulling with all his might.
It didn't budge a single inch.
Drop by drop, thick dark blood continued to fall from his stomach to the dirt below. Through the heavy darkness of the night, he stared at the mangled corpses of the four soldiers. Their bodies were torn apart as if a giant had ripped through wet paper.
Tears streamed down his face. "What is happening... Am I really going to die here?"
His eyelids felt like they were made of lead. The world faded to black once more.
Twenty-four hours passed.
When Abhay opened his eyes again, his vision was entirely blurred. He looked down at his hands. What happened to my body? he thought sluggishly. Why is my skin so yellow?
He saw his fingertips turning a sickly shade of blue. He gasped, his chest heaving, but no air seemed to fill his lungs. "I... I can't breathe..."
With violently shaking hands, he touched his own pale face. His lips were entirely blue. "So cold... My body... is so cold..."
Hypothermia and extreme blood loss were shutting his organs down. He looked at the bodies of his friends one last time. In the humid forest air, the corpses had already begun to rot.
"I'm sorry..." Abhay whispered, his voice cracking as tears mixed with the grime on his face. "I'm so sorry, my friends. This is all my fault. You died because of me."
He struggled to draw a breath, his lungs failing. "People were right... I really am just trash. Trash like me... doesn't have the right to live."
Abhay took one final, ragged gasp. The sound echoed softly in the dead canyon. Then, the light left his eyes. His head slumped forward.
Abhay was dead. His lifeless body hung quietly on the spear.
But a moment later, the sky seemed to ripple. An invisible soul, plummeting from the heavens like a falling star, crashed directly into the lifeless vessel.
Suddenly, the dead boy's chest heaved.
GASP!
The eyes snapped open, wide and filled with sheer panic. He looked around wildly, then his eyes darted down to the massive bloody spear jutting out of his own stomach.
"What the hell?! Where am I?!" the new soul screamed through blue lips. "I was just playing games on my PC a minute ago!"
Suddenly, a glowing blue screen materialized in the air, casting a faint light in the dark canyon. The man stared at the floating text in absolute shock.
[WARNING: Host's life essence is critically low. Severe organ failure detected. Estimated time until death: 5 Hours.]
The man's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?! What kind of bullshit is this? I'm going to die in five hours?!"
Frustration and panic boiled over. "I was just forced into this dying corpse! How am I supposed to get out of this?!" he yelled at the glowing screen.
The System hummed, the text changing:
[Survival now depends entirely on the Host's actions.]
"Screw you!" the man cursed, spitting blood. "Why did you bring me here just to let me die?! I was chilling on my couch! You threw me into a mangled corpse in the middle of nowhere!"
The System flashed one final time.
[Good Luck.]
Then, the blue window vanished.
"Hey! Wait! Get back here!" The man was left hanging in the darkness, utterly dumbfounded.
Four agonizing hours passed.
The man's condition had deteriorated rapidly. The cold was unbearable. His vision was completely blacking out. He was minutes away from dying a second time.
Suddenly, the morning sun pierced through the canyon. The sound of heavy footsteps and clanking armor echoed through the rocks.
Commander Virendra and a squad of royal guards stormed into the clearing. They froze, horrified by the carnage.
"Gods above..." Virendra muttered. He quickly snapped back to reality. "Search the bodies! See if any of our brothers are still alive! Gather the corpses of the Vyadhs and burn them to ash!"
The soldiers immediately fanned out, checking the mangled remains.
"Commander, who could have possibly done this?" a terrified soldier asked, looking at Sur's crushed skull.
Virendra's face was grim. "Only a cultivator of immense power could slaughter our men so easily. This must be the work of someone at the 'Spirit Awakening' or perhaps even the 'Mortal Peak' stage."
A few yards away, a soldier approached the boy pinned to the wall. He reached up and pressed two fingers against Abhay's icy neck.
His eyes went wide. "He has a pulse!"
The soldier immediately channeled his Origin Energy into his palms and pressed them flat against Abhay's bloody chest. A surge of warm, pure energy flowed into the dying boy's heart, forcibly keeping it beating.
"Commander! The servant boy is still alive!" the soldier shouted, pouring more energy into the wound. "But he needs a healer immediately!"
Virendra rushed over. "Get the medical expert! Pull him down carefully, bandage that wound, and prep a carriage. We ride for Shvet-Giri immediately!"
Hanging on the edge of consciousness, the man from Earth felt a sudden, soothing warmth spread through his freezing veins. He forced his heavy eyes open one last time, seeing the blurry face of an armored soldier flooding his body with strange energy.
Unable to hold on any longer, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.