People born into this world receive blessings at birth.
Gifts bestowed by the gods themselves—divine imprints meant to prepare humanity for survival. Strength, magic, talent. Advantages granted before one even understands the meaning of fear.
Why?
Because this world is hostile by design. It exists alongside monsters and demons, a land where death is common and mercy is rare. The gods did not bless humanity out of kindness. They did it out of necessity.
Blessings carry a single, unspoken command:
Grow stronger.
Hunt monsters.
Learn.
Level up.
And one day—sever the head of the Demon King.
That is the role humanity was given.
Except for me.
I was born without a single blessing.
I couldn't cast even the simplest spell. There was no mana within me—no spark, no residue, not even a trace. My body was frail, sickly, weak enough to invite pity.
Unlucky, some would say.
They weren't wrong.
But weakness has a way of sharpening the mind. Of forging resolve where talent fails. Instead of breaking me, it gave me clarity—and rage. Because how dare those who call themselves gods decide my value before I could even stand?
They gave me nothing.
So I decided I would take everything.
I would grow strong without blessings.
I would survive without mana.
And when the time came, I would tear down the gods themselves and dismantle the thrones they hide behind.
My name is Alex.
I am a mercenary.
An all‑rounder.
And because I slaughter not only monsters and demons—but also human scum who have forfeited the right to live—people began to name me.
God of War?
Hah. Cute. I'd rather poke my eyes out with a rusty spoon than go by that.
Mad Demon?
Not bad. Has a nice punch. But too dramatic for my taste.
The truth? I'm more practical than poetic.
I don't need a title soaked in fear or reverence.
When you see me mowing down monsters, demolishing human scum, juggling guns, blades, and sheer audacity all at once… the only name that fits is:
Jack of All.
---Elsewhere---
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Three gunshots echoed across the plain.
Three bullets pierced three dragon skulls with merciless precision. The creatures collapsed one by one, their colossal bodies crashing into the scorched earth, lifeless before they even understood they had lost.
The battlefield was ruined—blackened soil, fractured stone, lingering smoke. A silent record of violence already concluded.
Alex stood at its center.
A white coat rested over silver armor scarred by battle. Ash clung to the fabric. Blood—most of it not his—darkened the ground at his feet.
"Yes," he said quietly.
"I am different."
He drew his sword.
With a single swing, the blade carved through the heavens themselves. The sky split apart, darkness torn open, night forced to retreat as light flooded through the wound—turning midnight into a false morning.
Alex stood beneath the broken sky, unmoved.
"Yes," he murmured.
"That's right."
"I was built different."
The sky, already split open, shifted.
From the fracture descended a figure wrapped in radiance—a being crowned with six vast wings, each feather gleaming like polished ivory dipped in gold. Light spilled from her presence, bending the air around her as if reality itself felt obligated to behave.
Alex looked up.
"…Finally," he said, voice flat, unimpressed.
"Took you long enough, you rotten excuse for a goddess."
The goddess did not bristle. She hovered in silence, golden hair cascading like molten sunlight, her eyes concealed beneath a veil of light—as if looking directly at the world was beneath her station.
When she spoke, her voice carried divine resonance, calm and immaculate.
"Do you truly intend to slaughter the gods," she asked, "without understanding what such an act would do to this world?"
Alex raised his sword.
Then his gun.
He aimed both at her without hesitation.
"Hm?" He tilted his head slightly. "What will happen?"
For a moment, the wind itself seemed to hesitate.
"…I don't care," Alex continued, tone sharpening. "Not even a little. All I want is to see you gods grovel—your halos cracked, your pride ground into dust. Watching one of you get dragged off and eaten by a goblin?"
He exhaled softly, almost thoughtful.
"Now that would give my life a sense of fulfillment."
The goddess remained composed—but the stillness was strained. The light around her wings flickered, just barely. Fear masked as serenity.
"What if," she said carefully, "I told you that it was not we who deemed you unworthy?"
Alex's brow twitched.
"What?"
"There are beings above us," the goddess continued. "Entities whose will even the gods must obey. Your fate was not ours to decide."
Silence fell.
Alex stared at her, expression unreadable.
Then he laughed—quiet, humorless, edged with something dangerous.
"…So," he said slowly, "you're telling me there's someone higher on the food chain."
His grip tightened on his sword.
"Good."
His eyes lifted, gleaming with interest rather than hesitation.
"That just means I won't stop with you."
"After I kill you," Alex said calmly, "I'll move on to whoever you gods answer to. Minions, overseers, higher beings—call them whatever helps you sleep. I'll shred them one by one until there's nothing left standing above this world."
The goddess's wings stirred, light rippling across the broken sky.
"We are the ones who govern blessings," she replied. "We give humanity the means to survive—to kill the Demon King, to protect themselves from extinction."
"Enough," Alex cut in.
His voice was cold now.
"And why would I listen to you in the first place," he continued, "when I was born with nothing?"
The air warped.
"I received no blessing," he said. "No protection. No favor. Just the divine waste you bastards left behind."
He vanished.
In an instant, Alex reappeared behind her, blade already descending, aimed to split her skull cleanly in half.
Then—
A golden ray of light tore through the space behind him.
It pierced straight through Alex's back, scorching flesh and bone, its trajectory mercilessly precise. It did not stop with him. The same beam struck the goddess squarely through the chest.
Both bodies were hurled downward.
The impact shook the ground.
The attack had been too fast—too absolute—for even Alex to react.
He coughed, blood spilling onto the scorched earth.
"…What does this mean," Alex muttered, forcing his head to turn.
Beside him, the goddess lay on the ground, wings dimmed, blood seeping from her chest.
Behind them stood a figure clad in radiant golden armor.
Only one wing extended from its left side.
When it spoke, its voice carried neither anger nor mercy—only authority.
"Ardella," it said, "you are fully aware that revealing such information to human scum is forbidden."
The six‑winged goddess grunted, blood staining her lips.
"Of course… I know that," she said between coughs. "But I didn't reveal anything important. Nothing about him."
The figure's eyes ignited crimson.
"We have seen the future," it said. "You were meant to tell him everything he needs to know—not only about you, but about us."
It raised its hand.
"And about himself."
Another ray of golden light began to form, dense and suffocating.
"Your death is guaranteed," the figure said. "Survival does not exist in your future."
The golden beam surged forward again—but not toward Alex.
It bent, precise and merciless, aimed at the fallen goddess.
Gods did not die easily.
Piercing a god once meant nothing. Even tearing through the chest was rarely fatal. Their bodies regenerated almost instantly—flesh crawling back into place, wounds closing as if they had never existed. As long as one of their divine hearts remained intact, death simply refused to stay.
That was why gods were feared.
And why they were called immortal.
The beam was meant to destroy another heart—another step toward making sure the goddess stayed down.
Slash.
Alex's blade intercepted the light.
The beam split apart, severed cleanly, its radiance breaking into fading motes that vanished before reaching the ground.
Ardella turned her head toward him, shock flashing across her bloodied face.
"Don't misunderstand," Alex said calmly. "I'm not saving you."
He raised a potion and drank it. The hole near his heart sealed shut, pain receding as scorched flesh knitted itself together.
Alex straightened and looked at the one-winged figure.
"After I kill that bird," he said flatly, "you're next."
"Your arrogance exceeds its limits, human," the figure replied. "Allow me to demonstrate the difference between your existence and mine—before I erase you from it entirely."
It raised a single finger.
A golden sphere formed at its tip, dense and radiant, swelling in size in an instant. The air screamed under the pressure. Dust and stone were torn from the ground, lifted helplessly into the air. The earth trembled as fissures crawled outward, mountains groaning as the land itself began to split.
"Rejoice," the figure declared. "You shall be the first to bear witness to our might—"
Boom.
The attack never formed.
A violent force struck the figure mid-sentence, blasting it backward before the sphere could be released.
"Kugh—!?"
The light shattered.
"What is the meaning of this?" the figure snarled, turning sharply. "Ardella?"
The six-winged goddess rose unsteadily, divine light gathering around her despite the blood staining her form.
"What do you mean?" Ardella replied.
"You intended to execute us both."
Her wings spread wider, radiance sharpening.
"Did you truly believe," she continued, "that I would kneel and await annihilation?"
Her gaze hardened, ancient and cold.
"I am a goddess.
I do not wait for death."
"Is that so?" the figure replied. "I guess you're eager to be erased first."
It aimed a finger, and a yellow sphere began gathering energy at its tip, spinning and pulsating with raw force as it targeted Ardella once more. "I shall grant your wish," it said.
Ardella murmured ancient words, and a shimmering barrier erupted around her. It warped and shifted, repairing itself continuously. She pressed her other hand against her side, and her wound closed, flesh knitting back together instantly.
In an instant, Alex appeared behind the figure, sword arcing toward its neck. "That's not gonna happen, isn't it?"
Clang!
The figure blocked with its bare palm, stopping the blade effortlessly, without even looking. "Foolish human," it said.
Tsk. Alex frowned, lips smacking sharply. He vanished again and reappeared lower, aiming at the figure's legs this time.
He swung with full force, but the figure stepped back casually, letting the strike pass harmlessly. The sword cut into the earth, tearing up soil and rock. A distant mountain split cleanly in half where the strike landed, debris spraying in every direction, the ground quaking from the impact.
"Is that all?" the figure replied, releasing continuous yellow rays toward Ardella, who struggled to maintain her barrier.
Alex didn't care what would happen to her—but his body said otherwise. He instinctively rushed toward her.
"What am I doing?" Alex asked himself. No matter how strong that barrier was, it couldn't withstand a dozen strikes from that monster.
Alex readied himself to slash through all of them in an instant—
The yellow rays suddenly curved, striking the ground around them. The impact detonated violently, sending jagged rock and shards of earth flying in every direction. Explosions erupted continuously where Ardella and Alex stood, the ground cracking and shaking beneath the force, dust and debris clouding the air as the energy rained down relentlessly.
Amidst all those barrages, Alex remained mostly unharmed. Ardella, however, could not stay safe—her six wings and her body served as a shield for him, since the barrier could not withstand the full force of the devastating attacks.
"Why…?" Alex whispered weakly, consciousness slowly fading.
Light began to shimmer around him as Ardella spoke words older than those she had used for the barrier.
"What are you doing!?" the figure shouted. "Are you using the language of the ancients on a lowly human!?"
As it yelled, an enormous golden sphere appeared in the sky. "I will leave no trace of either of you!" it added, releasing the sphere straight toward them.
Time seemed to slow. Ardella gently stroked the unconscious Alex's hair and whispered, "You were never meant to be like this… but next time, it won't be."