The night reeked of blood.
Screams still echoed in Soul Ming's ears, even though the silence of death had already claimed the world around him. His knees pressed against the cold ground, his fingers trembling as they clutched the lifeless hand of his younger sister.
Her eyes once full of light were now empty.
His parents lay dead behind her.
And standing a few steps away… the one person he trusted the most.
His girlfriend.
Her hands trembling covered in blood the knife she held.
Not from defending him, but from striking the final blow.
> "I never loved you, Ming," she said, though her voice cracked with fear.
"The gods promised me freedom, riches and power if I betrayed you."
Her smile was hollow, no look of sympathy for the one that once loved her.
She stabbed him in the back with no remorse or hesitation
The gods' system pulsed above her like a radiant sphere, whispering to her as though she were their chosen pawn.
Ming's breath came ragged, his own chest pierced by wounds that burned like fire.
The system's cold voice rang in his mind, mocking him.
[You have failed]
The system's voice echoed, colder than death itself:
[Your existence ends here].
He collapsed, the last of his strength leaving him his blood flowing as his life fades away
[Is this how it ends]
He spoke as he draws his last breath
The stars blurred into nothingness.
His final sight was seeing the system's glow, and her face turned away from him.
As they moved away his vision blurred then slowly
Darkness swallowed
everything.
But the end never came.
"So this is hell? To die so foolishly… and lose everything?" Soul Ming's last thought burned in despair.
In the abyss of nothingness, another voice crept in—venomous, tempting
Deeper than the gods.
> [Tell me, do you not crave vengeance?]
Ming's soul, broken but burning, quivered.
He had no strength left—only hatred.
Then he screamed and said
"…Yes." I will make them all pay
The voice laughed sounded eerie, almost like the abyss itself was mocking the gods. Then the voice echoed again, satisfied.
[ Rise, Soul Ming. I grant you a second chance—not for redemption, but for vengeance. Slay those who brought you pain.]
Chains of light shattered in the abyss. Something wrapped around his soul a warmth unlike anything he had ever felt but yet familiar. A system not made by the gods, but made to kill gods.
His eyes opened again.
Black.
Empty of mercy.
A second chance had been forced up
on him.
Not for redemption.
But for revenge.