Aster adjusted his backpack strap and pulled his coat tighter against the wind. The twilight sky looked like spilled paint—raw, ugly crimson fading into black He didn't rush his steps. The train station wasn't going anywhere, and neither was his life.
At twenty, Aster was the definition of average. Dark hair, sharp eyebrows, and a jawline that might have been noticeable if he ever cared to look people in the eye. He was lean, bordering on skinny, built by years of skipped meals and back-to-back retail shifts.
He plugged in his earphones, tuning out the noise of the evening commute.While the rest of his university classmates spent their nights at bars, chasing girls, or bragging about fake achievements, Aster spent his free time in a world that actually mattered.
Web novels. Magic, swords, and impossible power scales. It wasn't just a hobby—it was the only thing keeping his head above water. He reached the steps of his apartment building, taking them two at a time.
The door unlocked with a quiet click. Inside, the small living room was dark, save for the blue glare of the television. His mother was fast asleep on the worn couch, still wearing her nurse scrubs.
Aster sighed softly. He walked into his room, grabbed a heavy fleece blanket, and draped it carefully over her shoulders. He paused for a second, pulling her shoes off and placing them by the door before slipping into his own room.
He didn't bother turning on the lights. He just threw himself onto the mattress, pulled out his phone, and opened his reading app.
The Extra Who Wants to Live. Chapter 500 had just dropped. "Finally," he muttered, his thumb flying across the screen.
he horizon bled blue. Two moons hung above the sky like milky eyes.
Fate sat on the edge of the shattered cliff, golden and silver threads tied to his fingertips. Below him, the world was breaking.
A pale monster—four horns tearing through its skull, white angelic wings stained with ash—swung a claw that split the clouds. Tears of black liquid leaked continuously from its eyes.
Against it stood a knight in silver plate armor. His katana glowed with a sickening mixture of golden light and blue electricity. Every stroke tore space apart.
Then, the air shifted.
A man wrapped in a cloak of swirling constellations appeared beside Fate.
"It's time... isn't it, old friend?" Fate asked, his voice barely a whisper ,The figure—Zander—didn't answer. He simply reached out a glowing hand and pressed his thumb directly against Fate's forehead...The screen went black. A simple prompt appeared:
[End of Chapter 500. Author's Note: Hiatus starts next week.]
Aster stared at the screen for three full seconds. "Are you kidding me?"
He sat up, his jaw clenched. Five hundred chapters of build-up. Five hundred chapters of waiting for the main fight, and the author pulled a cliffhanger with two random characters who had never even been mentioned before? He smashed his thumb against the review box.
[Comment] User_Aster:
"What a joke. Where is the fight? You spent 500 chapters building this up just to drop two random NPCs and go on hiatus? Garbage pacing. Complete waste of time."
He slammed the post button, tossed his phone onto the desk, and flopped back onto his pillow "Unbelievable," he grumbled, closing his eyes.
Five minutes later, his breathing slowed. He was dead to the world just like this he died because the plot twist He well never fell the air in his room turn ice-cold or hot
Far beyond the borders of reality, in a void where concepts went to die... Sparks of violet and green lightning snapped across the darkness. Huge, ancient stone arches tore open in space, grinding against each other with a sound like crushing bones.
Then, everything stopped.
No sound. No light.
Just a heavy, rhythmic metallic scrape echoing through the silence:
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.