---
Arthur emerged from the heart of a golden storm, like an explosion of forbidden light that should not exist in this world.
It was not an ordinary exit, nor a smooth transition.
It was more like being thrown out from the womb of reality itself.
A massive vortex of glowing shards, shattered sparks, and distorted spatial ripples wrapped around his body for moments that felt timeless. The light was neither warm nor merciful; it was sharp, searing, pressing against the eyes and the soul alike, as if the world rejected his existence and was then forced to accept it.
Then… everything went dark at once.
The storm vanished as if it had never been, and the golden fragments faded into the air, leaving Arthur standing with strange steadiness on the slope of a colossal mountain.
A silent mountain.
A black mountain.
Its rocks were not merely dark… they were scorched, as if an ancient fire had passed through this place since the dawn of the world and decided to leave its mark forever. The edges were sharp, the angles shattered, and every jagged outcrop carried a story of destruction whose beginning no one remembered anymore.
His eyes needed a few moments to stabilize his vision.
It was not because of the light…
But because of what he saw.
And when his sight finally settled…
He saw the end of a world.
The sky was not a sky.
There was no blue, no sun, not even clouds in the familiar sense.
It was a dark, suffocating dome, cracked as if someone had struck it with a cosmic hammer. The fractures stretched across the horizon, fissure after fissure, each one glowing from within with a sickly purple light.
Violet thunderstorms tore at the sky without mercy.
Lightning fell like whips, striking the air itself before striking the ground, ripping through the clouds and detonating the void with deafening force.
Each flash of lightning revealed a world more distorted than the last, as if the sky were trying to remind anyone who looked at it that it was no longer stable.
The winds…
They were not merely winds.
They were a constant roar, a terrifying force battering the place from every direction, twisting and spiraling like hungry hurricanes trying to tear mountains from their roots. The air itself was heavy, suffocating, saturated with violent energy that made breathing a conscious act rather than an instinctive one.
And at the heart of this celestial hell…
Were the gates of the Abyss.
Countless rifts.
Not one, nor two, but hundreds… perhaps thousands.
Of every category and size, small like superficial wounds and colossal like cracks that sought to swallow the sky itself.
They tore through the dark dome as if it were skin that could no longer withstand the pressure.
From within those ruptures…
Life was trying to crawl out.
Deformed hands, black or gray or covered in strange scales, stretching out in convulsions.
Protruding fangs, hot breaths, eyes glowing with madness and hunger.
Monsters with no fixed shape, their bodies incomplete, as if reality itself refused to fully form them.
They slammed against the edges of the rifts, were pushed back by an invisible force, then tried again.
Once… twice… dozens of times.
Unable to cross completely.
But they did not need to.
The sounds of screaming, roaring, scraping, howling…
Were enough to fill the world.
A horrifying echo that shook the soul before the body, pierced the bones, and left a cold trace along the spine.
A sight capable of breaking any sane mind, drowning it in terror or madness.
But…
Arthur did not move.
He did not raise his weapon.
He did not clench his fist.
He did not take a defensive stance.
He stood there with cold calm, as if detached from the scene, like a spectator with no connection to this devastation. His armor glimmered faintly even without a sun, the reflection of purple light and violet lightning giving him an almost sacred, almost terrifying presence.
His golden eyes remained steady.
No fear.
No astonishment.
Not even curiosity.
As if this destruction… meant nothing to him.
Because he knew.
This was not a full invasion.
Not a true ending.
What was happening here was merely a backlash.
A delayed shock.
A fleeting tear in the layers of reality caused by the intervention of a force that did not belong to this world.
A temporary phenomenon… and it would fade.
The world itself was resisting.
All these gates, all these storms, all this madness…
Were nothing more than symptoms.
And therefore…
This hell was not his objective.
Arthur's focus was not on the sky, nor on the monsters, nor on the winds that nearly tore his body apart.
It was focused on something more precise.
Something more dangerous.
A void.
Not a visual void, but an existential one.
Something missing.
From the moment he emerged from the golden storm, he had felt it.
That strange silence inside his head.
That empty space he had never noticed until now.
Something that had always been there…
And then vanished.
And at the last thread of hope, in a low voice barely audible amid the storms and roars, he murmured:
"…System?"
No response came.
No window.
No voice.
Not even that irritating sensation of being watched.
Absolute silence.
For the first time in a long while…
He was completely alone.
He remained standing for a few moments, staring at the fractured sky, as if his mind were trying to confirm that this silence was real.
One second passed.
Then another.
But no matter how long he waited, he received no response.
A lump formed in his throat, accompanied by a feeling of loneliness and pain. He had grown accustomed to the system's presence in his life; it had stayed with him for three years, and even if it was annoying at times, it was the only one who had remained by Arthur's side. And now…
"I'm alone… again."
(Alright, can we stop this?)
Arthur jolted at the voice and instantly leapt into a combat stance. His power reacted with him; shadows began to whirl around him like flying, tangible swords, lightning burst from his armor in flickering shocks, and the ground beneath him trembled as if preparing to launch stone spears or open up to bury an enemy.
The earth itself was listening to Arthur. Nature as a whole began to revolve around him in a posture of attack.
(Woah… easy there, master. I'm not an enemy.)
"Who are you? Show yourself."
(What do you mean? I live inside you.)
"What…?"
Arthur began to look at his body in a strange way.
(I'm inside the tattoo, genius.)
Arthur raised his left hand and saw the black tattoo around his arm pulsing.
"So you're that three-headed monster?"
(I have a name, you know. No need to insult me and call me a monster.)
"Just answer according to the question. I don't care about secondary matters."
(Well, you truly don't possess a shred of morality, contractor.)
Arthur narrowed his eyes, which began to shift to a purple hue matching the tattoo. Sensing danger from his new master, the creature decided to speak.
(My name is The Tri-Ruin. I am a monster of the "Natural Disaster Class." I was created by my first master—the entity that helped rebuild your pitiful body.)
(I possess three souls, and each soul represents a kinship to my master. But because of your extreme weakness, you can only release one of my souls.)
Arthur continued to stare at the tattoo, as if telling it to continue.
(Because a fragment of my master's soul is lodged within your body, in addition to another familiar yet weak soul, each of my souls has become connected to these fragments.)
"Wait… are you saying that there are two other souls inside my body moving freely?"
(Exactly.)
Arthur remained shocked by this revelation, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not sense anything unusual. And he did not like that at all.
Then he remembered that the status window was still functioning. The status seemed to read his thoughts and appeared before him. It resembled the very first window that had appeared to him in this world; although it had lost its blue color, its form remained exactly the same.
---
[Host Status File]
[Name]: Arthur Gray [Mike] — [???]
[Age]: 16 years old
[Rank]: Basic Awakened (E)
[Race]: Human (Corrupted) / Half-Dragon ????
[Error]: Undefined Race
[Origin]: Void World ?
[Physical Condition]: Strong — Energetic
[Curses] : 4 Curses — (Currently Active)
[Link]: Body Integration Ratio: 53.12%
> [System Advice]:
Accelerate your integration ratio to avoid severe power-related complications in the future.
---
[Distinct Traits]
Emotional Coldness
High Intelligence
Advanced Combat Analysis Ability
Extreme Mental Resistance
Moderate Mental Power
---
[Base Statistics]
STR: 1.00% (100%)
MAG: 50.00% (100%)
MNG: 26.18%
END: 1.00% (200%)
INT: 66.66%
LUK 18.00%
MP: 50.00% (100%)
CHA: 80.00%
[Overall Rank]: ++E
> [Note]:
Each rank advancement resets all stats to zero
(Luck and Charisma are excluded as they are non-evolving attributes).
---
[Special Elements]
Shadows → Darkness
Corrupted Lightning
Corrupted Flora
Corrupted Fire
Water
[Description]:
All elements are bound to the host's newly awakened power.
Any direct contact between corrupted elements and a living being may result in complete erosion, depending on the host's strength.
---
[Core Status]
Mana Core: Blue(Corrupted)
Sub-Designation: Basic Awakened
Stability Ratio: Stable — Powerful
> [System Note]:
The core is formed from the essence of the World Tree + the essence of a Pure Dragon (Corrupted).
---
[Vital Status]
Body Condition: Strong — Energetic
Endurance: 2000 / 2000 (Due to Hybridization)
Mana Capacity: 1500 / 1500 (Due to Hybridization)
Lifespan After Integration: 7 months
Previous Lifespan: 1453 hours (≈ 60.54 days)
Current Lifespan: 6493 hours (≈ 270.54 days ≈ 9 months)
---
[Skills]
◈ Insightful Eye — Lv.2
Type: Enhancement
Analyzes abilities, weaknesses, and possible trajectories.
Provides minor buffs to allies.
[Passive] One future incoming attack is foreseen.
(Cooldown: 1 day)
---
◈ Pebble Throw — Lv.1
Type: Offensive
A nearly useless skill…
But it might distract a squirrel.
And perhaps a monster—if it's stupid enough.
Upgradeable
---
◈ Iron Will — Lv.4
Type: Passive / Defensive
Resistance to mental and spiritual attacks
Reduces pressure from powerful auras
Mitigates damage from natural elements
Reduces effects of weak poisons
---
◈ Gluttonous Predation — Max
Type: Offensive / Enhancement
Devours anything with life or energy,
Converting it directly into physical evolution.
---
◈ Lightning Step — Lv.3
Type: Mobility / Movement
Physical enhancement via lightning
Combat evasion
Body propulsion using lightning energy
Upgradeable
---
◈ Destructive Lightning — Lv.2
Type: Offensive
Electrocutes the target, raises internal temperature, and vaporizes bodily fluids, causing violent internal explosions.
---
◈ Shadow Manipulation
Type: Control / Domination
Binding
Concealment
Disruption
Forms shadows into physical weapons (blades, strangulation)
---
◈ Corruption Vines
Type: Offensive / Binding
Physical restraint + gradual erosion of mana and endurance.
Not upgradeable
---
◈ Ruin Flame — Max
Type: Offensive
Consumes all forms of energy indiscriminately.
Can be fused with weapons or other skills.
Acknowledges no rank—everything it touches becomes fuel.
---
◈ Royal Scale Armor
Type: Defensive / Offensive
Light armor forged from the scales of a Noble Abyssal Dragon.
Absorbs attacks
Reflects half the damage back to the attacker
---
◈ Core Reconstruction — Max
Type: Control
Subjugates and binds any weapon (even spiritual)
Alters form and attributes
Allows reconstruction even after total destruction
---
◈ Crypton Berserk — Lv.3
Type: Enhancement
Temporary comprehensive boost.
Damaged body parts are replaced with corruption.
Side Effects:
Severe reduction in intelligence and mental power
Critical vulnerability to mental attacks
---
◈ Telekinesis — Lv.2
Type: Control
Manipulates physical objects within a 10-meter radius.
Usable offensively or defensively.
---
◈ Heart Domain — Lv.1 (New)
Type: Offensive / Defensive
A shockwave released from the dragon's heart.
Range: 5 meters
---
◈ King's Presence — Lv.1
Type: Passive / Dominance Aura
An existential pressure that weakens the weak
and forces the strong to acknowledge the gap.
---
[System Warning]
> The Corruption Aura within the host has been sealed.
If detected by others, you will be immediately classified as an Abyssal Entity.
---
After seeing this, Arthur was shocked by the scale of power he now possessed. It wasn't a simple increase or an ordinary leap—it was a true breakthrough past a development threshold that most characters in the game never reached, even in their endgame. He could feel it in his body; in the weight of his presence, in the way mana responded around him, and in how nature itself seemed to watch him cautiously.
And more specifically…
The protagonist of the story himself.
Now, Arthur was stronger than him.
But instead of satisfaction or exhilaration, another feeling crept into his chest.
A cold, unsettling one.
He lowered his gaze slowly, then spoke in a low voice, as if tasting the word with reluctance:
"Seven months…."
He muttered it as if it were an insult—or a poorly told joke.
Seven months. Only that.
A sarcastic smile appeared on his lips, but it never reached his eyes.
"You must be kidding me…"
He raised his voice slightly, anger slipping between his words.
"I literally fused myself with a Black-class dragon, five stars, of pure lineage… and it was nearly two thousand years old."
His hand clenched unconsciously.
"And all I got was seven months?!"
He paused for a moment, then continued in a heavier tone:
"…Why?"
A short silence followed.
Then the voice came from the tattoo, hesitant in a way it rarely was:
(Um… maybe I'm the reason.)
Arthur immediately turned to his left arm.
The black tattoo was pulsing slowly, like another heart embedded in his body. He didn't speak, but his gaze alone was enough. The beast felt it… and understood.
(Ummm…)
The voice hesitated for a moment before speaking in a tone closer to confession.
(In truth… the dragon was already dead. Lifeless.)
Arthur's body stiffened.
(I devoured its soul, and everything related to its vitality. I left only a single fragment… unintentionally.)
(Maybe that's why you only obtained this much.)
In the next moment, the atmosphere changed.
Arthur's presence spread suddenly—dense and heavy—like an invisible wave sweeping across the entire mountain. The air itself grew heavier, and the rocks beneath his feet emitted a faint hum, as if the land were acknowledging his existence.
He spoke in a low voice… but it was more dangerous than shouting:
"You say… a fragment."
He slowly raised his head, his eyes gleaming sharply.
"If a single fragment of that vitality gave me this much lifespan…"
He paused, then continued coldly:
"In your opinion… what would its complete soul have given me?"
(You should know that I helped you.)
"And how is that…?"
The reply came immediately, without hesitation this time:
(Do you really think you, weak one, could devour the life of that dragon?)
(It may be trivial to me, but to you… it was a ticking bomb.)
The voice went silent for a brief second, then continued:
(Neither your body nor your soul could have endured that amount.)
Then, in a tone tinged with mockery:
(But yes, you're right. I could have left you a larger portion of its vitality—enough to grant you at least a hundred years.)
(But where's the fun in that?)
{ Author: Yes, and this is also a reason to write more future chapters}
(What you received was through assistance.)
(Not through your own ability.)
Arthur didn't reply.
He remained standing there, his chest rising and falling slowly. The anger was there—clear and present—but it didn't explode. He swallowed it… just as he had swallowed many things before.
After a few moments, he turned his attention away from the tattoo, as if the discussion were over.
He lifted his gaze to the horizon.
He reassessed his surroundings with a cold, practical eye.
It was an unknown location, remote to an irritating degree. Harsh mountain ranges stretched in every direction, rough terrain filled with steep rises and sharp descents. No trees, no forests—nothing that could be called shelter.
At the very edge of his vision, on the far horizon, the faint outline of a small border city appeared… barely visible. Without it, he would have assumed the place was completely abandoned.
He said calmly:
"It seems my bike… no matter how
enhanced… won't help me here."
Then added after a moment:
"And instant teleportation isn't available right now."
He slowly turned to his side.
"Behemoth…"
He spoke the name as if it were a settled decision.
"The best option available."
A faint smile appeared on his lips—not one of joy, but of readiness. He stepped closer to his spiritual weapon, his hand reaching toward it with steady resolve.
---