Ethan hadn't planned to sleep. He'd spent days running on fumes, hellfire burning in place of rest. But now, with Asia humming softly in the church as she prepared the bedding, his body finally crashed.
When his eyes opened again, he wasn't in the church.
Blackness stretched in every direction, thick and endless, the kind of void that pressed on your lungs. For a moment, he thought he'd slipped into hell itself. Then he noticed the glow.
A computer.
Not just any computer—**his computer.** The beat-up desk, the scuffed monitor, even the half-crushed soda can sitting by the mouse. Exactly as it had been back home, before he'd been ripped out of his world.
Ethan blinked, then barked a laugh. "Oh, sure. The perverted anime protagonist gets harems in his dreams, and I get Steam Early Access: *Hellfire Edition.* Fantastic."
Still, he sat. The chair groaned the same way it always had, and the monitor flickered to life. His stomach tightened.
The game he'd been playing before he was dragged here—*Ghost Rider: Vengeance.*Only it wasn't the game character on-screen anymore. It was **him.** Black leather, chains coiled at his side, and a skull wreathed in fire staring back at him.
For a second, he thought it was just a cruel joke from his subconscious. But then words shimmered across the screen:
**\[Character: Ethan Cross]**
**\[Level: ??]**
**\[Kill Points: 5]**
**\[Abilities]**
* Hellfire Manipulation (Low)
* Penance Stare (Low)
* Chain Mastery (Low)
* Infernal Regeneration (Passive)
* Blessing of the Rider (Locked)
* Daybreak Rider (Locked)
**\[Inventory]**
* Freed's Pistol (Enchanted)
* Raynare's Wallet (Light on Cash)
* Nun Asia (Following)
[Upgrade Path Available—Spend Kill Points to enhance abilities]
At the bottom of the screen, three fire-shaped symbols pulsed faintly.
Ethan leaned back, rubbing his face. "Right. Totally normal for a nun to appear in my dream inventory."
But his hand trembled. Because deep down, he knew—this wasn't *just* a dream. The way the fire inside him resonated with the screen, the way the void thrummed around him… this was the Rider's domain.
His domain.
Ethan hovered the mouse over the locked abilities. Two stood out: **Blessing of the Rider** and **Daybreak Rider.** His eyes finally started to shine.
Being stuck to the night is a handicap I can't afford; it's not like all Devils, Fallen, Exorcists… will only fight him at night.
The screen responded. **\ [Daybreak Rider—Partial Unlock Available: 4 Kill Points]**
**Effect: Access the Rider form under the sun at 50% power. Full unlock requires more Kill Points.**
Ethan stared at it. "Half strength… still better than nothing." His lips curled into a dry grin. "Guess I'll be the discount Rider for now."
He clicked. The void rumbled, fire crawling across the screen and wrapping around his skull like living chains. Heat punched through his chest, fierce and searing, then settled into a steady thrum.
**\[Daybreak Rider: Partial Unlock Acquired]**
Ethan leaned back in the chair, staring at the glowing screen. His fingers drummed restlessly against the desk.
"Alright… Daybreak Rider. Half power in the sun. That's something," he muttered. His jaw tightened. "But it's not enough. Not here."
He knew the Rider's flames could reduce armies to ash, but this world wasn't built on simple armies. This was a world where gods walked in shadows, where dragons the size of continents stirred in their sleep. Great Red. Ophis. Names that could shatter the earth just by existing.
Compared to that, his chains and hellfire felt like a flamethrower, which was good but not enough.
His reflection in the monitor smirked back at him with burning sockets. He didn't like how it looked right.
"Dammit," he sighed. "If I knew, I would have played a different game where you can get a max-level character at the start."
The void pulsed. The monitor glitched—once, twice—then stabilised with new text written in fire:
**\[System Directive Generated]**
**\[Quest: Judgment in Fire]**
Hunt and purge 100 sinners within 100 days.
**Reward: ??? (New Skill Unlocked)**
Ethan froze. The words on the screen glared back at him.
"…Of course," he whispered, a sharp laugh slipping out. "How can my game be missing a quest, right?" His eyes narrowed at the line beneath. Kill 100 sinners.
He leaned back in the chair, running a hand down his face. "Yeah, sure. Easy. Only problem—where the hell am I supposed to find a hundred people who actually deserve it?"
His thoughts churned, heavy. 99% of humanity sinned in one way or another—liars, thieves, and cheats. But that didn't mean they deserved the Rider's judgment. Not everyone's crimes were worth death.
Still… the thought lingered like a poison in the back of his mind. If even a thief could be considered a sinner, then technically, the world was already full of targets.
The text flickered again, branding itself into the void:
**\[Progress: 0/100]**
Ethan bared his teeth in a grin that was half defiance, half anticipation. "Fine. You want me to hunt? I'll hunt." In the end, he accepted because he was still a selfish person who wanted power.