The Sixth Hollow was absolute silence. Suffocating. A graveyard where concepts went to die, where wind refused to blow. Time didn't flow here—it stagnated, thick and rotten. Grey ash stretched for millions of miles. Ground-down remnants of civilizations. Gods, reduced to powder by Entropy itself.
A citadel of obsidian shards stood at the center. Jagged. A scar across the horizon, the only thing daring to exist where nothing should.
Inside the throne room sat a man. Chin on fist. Messy black hair. Eyes like a storm-tossed sea—gray, endless. Bored.
Cain Blackwood. Lord of Entropy. King of the Sixth Hollow. He sighed, and the sound rattled bones of the eldritch horror beneath his feet, serving as footstool.
"Ten thousand years," Cain muttered. His voice cracked the stagnant air. "Ten thousand years. Ash everywhere. Silence. Nothing but Void Beast jerky to eat."
Near the pillars, a massive shadow shifted. The creature stepped forward—twelve feet tall, wreathed in cold gray flames. Armor forged from fallen star ribcages. Condon. General of the Gray Wastes. His presence could shatter mortal minds.
"My Lord," Condon rumbled. Voice like grinding stones. "The jerky displeases you? We hunted a Void Leviathan recently. The meat is... chewy."
Cain stared at his loyal general. Pity mixed with rage. "Condon. You know what pepperoni is?"
"...I do not, My Lord. A weapon? Some new torture?"
"Round," Cain whispered. A tear nearly formed. "Red. Spicy and salty. It sits on melted cheese. Tomato sauce underneath. Resting on crust that crunches when you bite. Civilization, Condon. The apex of existence."
Condon blinked burning eyes. "It sounds dangerous."
Cain stood. The obsidian throne crumbled instantly to dust, unable to bear his sudden movement. "I'm leaving."
"Leaving? To conquer the Seventh Hollow? Wage war on celestial realms?"
"No." Cain raised his hand. Air began screaming as reality tore. "Getting a slice of pizza. And a Coke. With ice."
He waved. Five artifacts floated upward—Crown of Ash, Dagger of Silence, Cloak of nothingness, Ring of Entropy, Boots of the Void. Relics from Five Monarchs he'd slain. Devoured over millennia.
"My Lord!" Condon stepped forward, panic flooding his voice. "The dimensional barrier between Hollows and Earth is absolute! Force your way through and the World's Will won't just reject you—it'll crush you to paste! Your divinity will be lost!"
"Don't care," Cain snarled. Hunger in his stomach drowned the logic in his brain. "I'd trade all this godhood for a single garlic knot. Goodbye, Condon. Don't water the plants. They're already dead."
Cain clenched his fist. The artifacts shattered. Cataclysmic Null-Ether released. He grabbed space-time's fabric, ripped it open like cheap curtain. A vortex swirled—blue and green light. Colors of life. Earth's colors.
The Lord of Entropy jumped without hesitation.
The sensation wasn't flying. More like being thrown inside a blender made of sandpaper.
Cain roared, tumbling through dimensional gap. The universe fought him. The World's Will—Earth's defense mechanism—had detected foreign deity attempting intrusion.
Get out.
Not a voice. A command from the planet, slamming into his mind.
"Make me!" Cain shouted back, biting tongue as gravity seized him.
Blue sphere approached rapidly. He aimed for the largest artificial light concentration. New York City. Center of the world he remembered.
System Alert! [Foreign Deity Detected]
System Alert! [Defense Protocol Omega Activated]
Golden chains manifested from nowhere, wrapping his soul. They burned hotter than hellfire. He felt his power—infinite ocean of Null-Ether—draining, compressed, locked away.
"No! You can't take it all! I need that for dinner!"
System Alert! [Sealing Authority of Entropy... Success]
System Alert! [Sealing Singularity Heart... Success]
System Alert! [Sealing Physical Divinity... Success]
Cain hit atmosphere. Became a meteor, streaking over Atlantic Ocean. Chains tightened. His godlike body turned fragile. Mortal.
BOOM!
He crashed into a large green expanse surrounded by towering skyscrapers. Trees vaporized. Dirt exploded into mushroom cloud. A twenty-meter crater formed in Central Park's heart.
"Cough... cough!"
Cain dragged himself from dirt. Body screaming agony. Heavy, weak, pathetically small. He looked at his hands. Trembling. Blood on his arm—his own blood. He hadn't bled in six thousand years.
"My power..." Cain wheezed, trying to summon Gray Flame. Tiny spark flickered on finger. Died. "Gone. All of it."
Riiing!
Blue holographic screen popped before his face.
[Status Window]
[Name: Cain Blackwood]
[Race: Human (Sealed)]
[Level: 1]
[Class: None]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Mana: 0]
[Null-Ether: 5 (Sealed)]
[Unique Trait: Lord of Entropy (Sealed by 3 Iron Doors)]
"Three Iron Doors?" Cain closed eyes, looked inward. Deep in his soul, where roaring sun of power used to be, stood three colossal gates. Metaphysical iron. Wrapped in chains. Holding back divinity.
Level 1. Basically a toddler.
"Grrrrr..."
Low growl emerged from park shadows. Cain looked up.
Five wolves stood on crater rim. Not normal animals. Bull-sized. Fur matted with green sludge. Eyes glowing feral red.
[Monster Detected: Mutated Wolf (Rank F)]
"Mutated?" Cain frowned, wiping blood from lip. "Since when does Earth have mana monsters? I was only gone... well, ten thousand years is long."
The wolves didn't wait for reminiscing. They lunged. Jaws snapping. Drool dripping from fangs.
Cain's instincts—honed over millennia of slaughter—didn't need stats. He didn't move from fear. Moved from annoyance.
"You look disgusting," Cain spat. "Probably taste worse."
He dodged first wolf by hair's breadth. Beast's claws tore through his materialized jacket, grazing skin. Pain sharp. Shocking.
I can die, Cain realized. These dogs bite my throat, I actually cease to exist.
A grin spread across his face. Not joy. The smile of a predator realizing stakes just got raised.
"Good," Cain laughed. Dry, raspy. "Immortality was boring anyway."
He reached into tiny Null-Ether reserve leaked through First Iron Door. Barely enough to light candle. But in Lord of Entropy's hands, even spark could start forest fire.
Rite of Corrosion.
No weapon. Didn't need one. He stepped into wolf's guard, slapped palm against beast's forehead.
Null-Ether didn't cut. It erased.
"Yelp!"
Wolf's head didn't explode. Simply turned gray dust. Body collapsed, headless. Momentum carried it into dirt.
[You have defeated a Mutated Wolf.]
[Experience gained.]
Four remaining wolves hesitated. Smelled their pack mate's death. Didn't smell like blood. Smelled like nothing.
"Come on," Cain beckoned. Gray eyes shining in moonlight. "I need levels. And you probably don't carry cash."
Pack charged together. Cain spun. Mortal body sluggish but technique flawless. Ducked under snapping jaw. Kicked another's knee, shattering bone. Drove fingers into third's ribcage.
Dust to dust.
Null-Ether ate through bone, flesh.
Fight lasted thirty seconds.
Cain stood among five ash piles. Breathing heavily. Sweat stinging eyes. Stamina pathetic. Stomach roared—louder than wolves ever had.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 3]
Trickle of strength returned to limbs. Not much. A start.
"Earth," Cain whispered. Looked at New York City skyline visible through trees. Lights dazzling. City noise—chaotic symphony compared to Hollow's silence.
He walked over to ash pile. Kicked it. Small glowing stone remained.
[Mana Stone (F-Rank)]
He picked it up. Hummed with weak energy.
"Currency," Cain deduced instantly. "Monsters drop loot. Loot equals money. Money equals pizza."
He pocketed the stone, began walking out of crater. The King had returned. Absolutely starving.