The sound… did not exist.
Nor did silence.
But something deeper than both.
A dense emptiness, as if existence itself had paused for a moment to catch its breath.
Ares was not seeing with his eyes…
but he was feeling.
Feeling the space.
Feeling the void.
Feeling… himself.
Then—
the voice appeared.
Not a real voice,
but a meaning that suddenly formed inside his awareness.
[Processing…]
The echo vibrated inside his mind like a stone dropped into a bottomless well.
Moments passed…
or perhaps centuries.
Time here was not moving normally.
[After millions of attempts, the language has been decoded.]
If Ares had a body capable of trembling… he would have trembled.
A voice without a source.
Awareness without a form.
Something… living inside his head.
He said slowly within himself:
"System… where am I?"
He was not as surprised as he should have been.
A warrior who lived more than a hundred years among iron and blood…
had learned that shock saves no one.
Only calm does.
The reply came immediately, without emotion, without hesitation:
[After reviewing previous conversation records of the nurses and those present, it has been confirmed that this place is called: Shattered Star Clan.]
Ares' mind paused at the name.
Clan.
So… a society.
Power.
Hierarchy.
Conflicts.
Good.
The next reply was heavier:
[The geographic location… or the world specifically… is unknown.]
…Unknown?
Even the system does not know?
He smiled inwardly.
"So I truly… am no longer in my world."
He began gathering his memories.
Death.
Cold.
Emptiness.
Then—
birth.
But what clung most to his mind was not the pain…
It was that scene.
Space tearing apart.
People walking in the sky.
A forest the size of a continent.
Pressure that made the air feel like a rock.
He said slowly:
"System… what I saw at the moment of my birth…
was it an illusion?"
A brief silence.
Then—
[In response to the host's question… everything you saw was real.]
His thoughts stopped.
Real?
Real?
His mind repeated it several times…
But he did not feel denial.
He felt something more dangerous.
Excitement.
Danger means power.
And power… means a new path to rise.
He said:
"But this… is illogical."
The reply this time was deeper:
[Logic is not measured by what you are used to… but by what governs this world.]
[And what the host has experienced — rebirth — is stranger than everything you saw.]
…
Ares fell silent.
He found no answer.
Because the system… was right.
But something else was bothering him.
A sensation.
Strange.
Not pain.
Not warmth.
But… attraction.
As if everything around him were bending slightly toward him.
As if the void itself were falling in his direction.
He said slowly:
"What is this feeling…?
I feel as if I am a center… a planet… something pulling the world toward it."
The reply came without introduction:
[After scanning and analysis… this is the gravity ability.]
Then it added:
[An ability the host acquired after merging with the source of the black hole.]
…
If he were capable of laughing… he would have laughed.
"Are you telling me… that I control gravity?"
[Yes.]
Then—
[The host must control it… and then control the rest of the elements that form the black hole… otherwise you will collapse like a dying star.]
This time…
He felt something cold pass through his awareness.
Collapse.
A word he knew very well.
All warriors fear the moment of collapse.
He said in a low inner voice:
"Explain."
[Most of the black hole source merged with the artificial intelligence chip and the source of the heavenly world… forming the "System".]
[As for the core of the black hole… it merged inside the host's body.]
The system continued:
[This mysterious body is called — the Dantian.]
The word sounded ancient…
primitive…
dangerous.
[The Dantian formed as a result of the host adapting to the spiritual energy that fills this world.]
Spiritual energy…
So this is a world of ascension.
A world that challenges the limits of the body.
If his eyes were open, they would have shone with a warrior's light.
But the next reply was like a death sentence:
[If the host fails to control the power… you will turn into a real black hole.]
…
No death.
No dying.
But a cosmic disaster.
He whispered:
"What madness…"
Then laughed inwardly.
"But… I like it."
"How do I control something this massive?"
Silence.
Then—
[Processing…]
The silence grew longer.
Longer than it should.
Then suddenly—
[Processing failed.]
Once.
Twice.
Ten times.
Even the system… could not find an answer.
Finally it said:
[After reviewing thousands of scenarios and possibilities and reading the energy data on this planet, the closest conclusion to reality is that the host must grow stronger and increase understanding of the primary elements that form the black hole, and gain the ability to control them freely and with mastery.]
System: [After analysis and research, the fundamental forces the host must control are:
Gravity
Devouring: energy
Mass: matter and density
Darkness
In fact, according to ancient knowledge, darkness is not a fundamental component of a black hole. It is dark due to the absence of light or because light is devoured. However, after analyzing the black hole source, it has now been determined that darkness is a secondary element resulting from the black hole. Therefore, the host must also control the darkness element.]
System: [At present, the only force among these elements that the host can use is gravity.]
[Analysis indicates that the host must grow stronger to unlock and control the remaining elements.]
Ares asked directly:
"How much time do I have before the collapse?"
[Calculating… failed… failed…]
Then—
[Initial estimate: one thousand years.]
His thoughts stopped.
A thousand…
years?
But the system continued:
[As the host grows stronger, your existence will become denser… and the duration may shrink.]
[Loss of control may also lead to a sudden collapse… in as little as one hundred years.]
…
Ares: What a headache.
But there are no biological treatments from the previous world. Living for one hundred years alone might now be considered a stroke of luck, let alone a thousand.
System: [After processing and calculations, what the system can tell the host is to stop projecting the fundamental laws of the previous world onto the current world. After monitoring and analyzing the spiritual energy, it has been determined that one of its simplest properties is evolving life forms toward the peak. And certainly, one of its first principles will be greatly increasing the lifespan of living beings.]
Ares fell silent for a moment.
But inside him, the warrior's spark ignited — that spark which had gone out after he reached the maximum possible human strength in his previous life — it ignited again.
Ares: So when will I be able to walk and move?
System: [In a normal scenario, that would be after nine to fifteen months from birth. However, in this world, due to the presence of spiritual energy, calculations indicate that the average beginning of movement is after six months.
For the host, the abilities of your Dantian, which merged with the black hole source, allow you to completely devour spiritual energy and convert it into pure energy. Therefore, according to calculations, the actual time for movement and walking is after two months.]
Only two months.
The body of an infant…
with the heart of a warrior.
At that moment, Ares realized one thing:
This world…
did not give him a new life.
It gave him a larger battlefield.
So he whispered within the darkness of his awareness:
"Good…"
"Let the entire universe come."
"If my fate is to become a black hole…
then I will be the black hole that devours the stars."