Location: Rudra's Mansion, Mumbai
Time: January 1, 2025 | 01:20 PM
Rudra sat gasping on the cold floor near the shattered remains of his front door. He stared blankly at his own trembling hands—the very hands that had just erased a human being's entire existence. A suffocating wave of terror and agonizing remorse clamped down on his mind.
"I killed someone... I completely erased him," he kept whispering to himself in a broken loop. His fractured mind was outright refusing to accept the horrifying reality of what he had just done.
But suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain violently stabbed through his skull.
Rudra squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed his hair, groaning in agony. When he finally forced his eyes open, he was no longer sitting in the wreckage of his luxurious mansion. His vision was blurred, distorted. He was looking at the world, but through someone else's eyes.
Flashes...
First vision: A dark, damp alleyway. His hand—no, someone else's hand—was gripping a blood-soaked knife. On the ground, a man was begging for his life, tears streaming down his face, right before that hand ruthlessly plunged the blade deep into his chest.
Second vision: The edge of a lonely street. A group of terrified young women walking quickly, and this person was aggressively harassing them, trying to claw at them with filthy intentions.
Third vision: A shattered convenience store. The cash register being smashed open, loose bills being greedily stuffed into pockets.
And then came the final vision, a scene that chilled Rudra to his very core. A locked, pitch-dark room. On the cold floor, a terrified, traumatized girl was weeping uncontrollably, while the deafening, demonic laughter of this man echoed off the walls. The monster had violently assaulted the innocent girl, completely destroying her life without a shred of mercy.
"No!" Rudra screamed at the top of his lungs, falling backward onto the floor. He was panting heavily, his forehead entirely slick with cold sweat.
"What is all this?!" he yelled, frantically looking around the empty hall. Slowly, the overwhelming chaos in his head began to clear. Those were not his memories. They belonged to the thug he had just devoured using 'Gluttony'. He hadn't just absorbed the man's physical energy; he had absorbed his dark soul and witnessed his sickening sins.
The paralyzing guilt that had been eating Rudra alive just a moment ago instantly evaporated. In its place, an icy, dangerous rage began to boil. Staring at the floor, he clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug painfully into his palms. The fear and remorse in his dark eyes had completely vanished. Now, there was only fire.
"If all of that was true..." Rudra spoke, his voice low, steady, and terrifyingly cold. "Then I have absolutely nothing to regret."
He slowly raised his head. "Whatever I did, it was the right thing to do. That animal deserved a death far worse than this. He didn't even deserve the right to be called a human." The shivering fear of a traumatized teenager had just transformed into the cold conviction of a predator.
"Well done, kid."
A deep, steady, and incredibly comforting voice suddenly echoed through the silent hall. It didn't sound like a threatening stranger; it carried the warm, protective authority of an older brother.
Rudra snapped to his feet. He instantly snatched the heavy bronze bat from the floor and dropped into a defensive stance. His sharp eyes furiously scanned every dark corner of the massive living room. "Who is that?! Who said that? Show yourself!"
"I am not out there, Rudra. I am right here, inside you," the voice echoed again, this time vibrating directly within the confines of his own mind.
Rudra slowly lowered the bat. The 'Blue and Red Flames' mark on the left side of his neck emitted a soft, pulsing glow.
"I am Ruin Soul," the voice spoke with a profound, calming serenity. "I am the spirit of the stone that merged with your flesh. I am a part of you now, one of your passive skills. I have seen your trauma, I have felt your deep-rooted fear. But just now, I witnessed the conviction of a true survivor. You erased a demon and cleansed a fraction of this rotting world. I am your guide now. I will teach you how to fight, how to survive in this collapsing reality."
Rudra's ragged breathing finally began to slow down. The voice echoing in his head brought an unexplainable, profound sense of peace. After a month of agonizing, suffocating isolation, there was finally someone who understood his mind, someone who was holding him together.
He let the bronze bat rest on the floor. "Ruin Soul..." he muttered softly. "What about the rest of the memories? Am I going to see the sins of every prey I devour?"
"No. I have already filtered that garbage out of your mind so you don't lose your sanity," Ruin Soul replied calmly. "Now, focus your attention on the world outside. The situation is far worse than you can imagine."
Rudra turned around and looked at the large LED TV in the living room, which was still running on mute. He picked up the remote and turned up the volume.
The footage playing on the screen looked like a scene ripped straight out of a Hollywood disaster movie.
"Governments across the globe have officially declared Martial Law!" The news anchor's voice was stripped of all professional composure; only raw panic remained. "Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Tokyo... the military has been deployed on the streets everywhere. The government has issued a direct, absolute order—any Mutated or Awakened individual seen committing an act of violence is to be shot on sight."
But the ground reality playing out on the screen proved that the order was failing miserably. A live drone broadcast showed a terrifying scene at a major intersection in Mumbai. A squad of heavily armed military personnel was firing automatic assault rifles at a towering, seven-foot-tall Awakened man with thick, stone-like skin. But the standard military bullets were simply sparking against his mutated flesh and dropping harmlessly to the asphalt. The monster casually picked up an empty car and tossed it into the air like a plastic toy.
The governments of the world still held the illusion of power, but their conventional weapons were proving completely useless against these high-level Awakened beings. The entire global system was violently collapsing in real-time.
Rudra pressed the mute button again, plunging the room back into silence. He looked toward the shattered remains of his front door.
He was no longer just a lonely, grieving boy. He had his 'Gluttony', his 'Primal Adaptation', and most importantly, he had 'Ruin Soul' to guide him through the darkness. But the world waiting for him outside that broken door had truly become a living hell.
Date: 1 January 2025
Month: January
Year: 2025
Time: 01:20 PM to 01:35 PM
Location: Rudra's Mansion, Mumbai
Chapter Summary
Protagonist Status: Rudra (18 years old). Mentally fortified and focused after overcoming his initial guilt.
The Memory Flash (Skill Effect): As a side effect of 'Gluttony', Rudra experiences the dark memories of the devoured thug. Witnessing the thug's heinous crimes (murder, robbery, and assault) shifts Rudra's remorse into a cold, righteous anger. He accepts that he erased a monster.
Skill Unlocked - Ruin Soul: The spirit of the glowing stone, 'Ruin Soul', awakens inside his mind as a passive skill. Acting as a comforting, older brother figure and guide, Ruin Soul filters out the rest of the traumatic memories to protect Rudra's sanity.
World Event / Government Action: Global Martial Law is declared. A 'Shoot at Sight' order is issued for violent Awakened individuals. However, TV broadcasts reveal that standard military weapons are completely ineffective against high-level Awakened, signaling the rapid collapse of global defense systems.
Mental State: Acceptance & Conviction. Rudra embraces his dark powers and his new guide, ready to face the apocalyptic reality outside his shattered doors.