In the silent auditorium, the five wooden puppets were meticulously wiping the seats with cleaning cloths.
Though their movements were jerky and mechanical, they worked with chilling precision. Kayy had not yet departed; he remained atop the stage, casually manipulating the threads of his new servants to perform the mundane task of cleaning the theater.
Under normal circumstances, once the "time limit" of a spatial rift expired, its inhabitants would be ejected. The world believed that limit to be exactly one hour.
One hour had passed.
Yet, there was no sign of rejection. The hollow, gray sky of the Hell of Decision remained unchanged.
"System," Kayy murmured, "When will the exit open?"
**[Retrieving information requires 2 Subversion Value.]**
"Just take it. And turn off the sound effects—that 'ding' is starting to grate on my nerves. Only alert me when necessary."
**[Understood. Points deducted. The condition for the exit to open is as follows: This rift will only reject its contents once every soul that entered has perished.]**
Kayy fell silent. He hadn't expected the condition to be so absolute.
Everything made sense now. No one ever made it out alive because this dimension acted like a predator's stomach. Living humans were food to be digested; the equipment and clothes left behind were merely "waste" that the monster had no desire to consume. The world assumed the limit was an hour only because no one ever lasted more than sixty minutes inside.
"So the exit only opens when everyone is dead? There's no other way?"
Kayy was no god. He needed to eat, and this barren wasteland offered nothing. Even if he could trade Subversion Value for supplies, it wasn't a permanent solution.
**[Alternative detected: You may hunt the Overlord of this Rift to obtain the 'Spatial Source Heart.']**
Kayy's eyes narrowed. "An Overlord? So this place has an owner."
If that were true, then the "one-hour rule" was entirely at the master's whim. Once the master finished feeding, the dimension spat out the remains.
"System, what is the level of this Overlord? How far above me is it?"
**[Data retrieval requires 10 Subversion Value.]**
"Don't ask next time. Just deduct it directly."
**[Deduction complete. Information regarding the Rift Master is as follows:]**
Entitas: The Shadow Sovereign
Level: Sovereign-Tier
Abilities: Unknown
Suggestion: Confrontation is not recommended. Within its own rift, a Sovereign is nearly invincible.
"Tch. Sovereign-Tier."
Kayy took a sharp breath. The Shadow Sovereign was a full rank above his current power.
His current template, The Illusionist, was a Heaven-Tier character. Below Heaven-Tier were the Earth-Tier and Mortal-Tier ranks. A Heaven-Tier entity already transcended ordinary humanity, capable of defying gravity and logic.
But a Sovereign-Tier? They were the "Grand Bosses". They held absolute dominance over their domains.
Even though Kayy held a Heaven-Tier template, he had only unlocked his first ability. The remaining three were still sealed. In his current state, challenging a Sovereign was suicide. The Sovereign wouldn't just defeat him; it would crush him like an insect.
Unless... he unlocked everything.
To do that, the shock and fear of a few dozen survivors wouldn't be enough. He needed eyes. Millions of eyes. The faster the world believed in "The Illusionist," the faster his power would reach its peak.
He checked his status panel. His "Performance Progress" had surged after his debut, and his second ability was shimmering on the brink of activation.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from the back of the auditorium.
A beautiful girl, clutching her phone with trembling hands, was cautiously approaching the seats. It was Sofia. Every twitch of a shadow made her flinch, her body taut with terror.
Kayy stared at the phone in the girl's hand. An idea sparked in his mind.
"System, can this place connect to an external network?"
The answer was no—at least, not for ordinary humans.
"Connect her phone to the internet," Kayy commanded. "Force-start the livestream."
**[Deducting 50 Subversion Value. Establishing connection... Forced Livestream initiated.]**
Sofia knew nothing. She didn't notice the "Live" icon blinking active on her screen. She was focused only on the five puppets who had suddenly stopped cleaning.
Their bodies remained rigid, backs turned to her... but their heads slowly rotated 180 degrees in unison to stare at her.
Sofia froze.
At that exact moment, the livestream went active. Notifications chimed on the phones of her tens of thousands of followers.
*— "Wait, Sofia? Why did the stream cut out earlier?"*
— "I heard something happened on the food street. People are saying dozens just vanished."
In this world, mass disappearances usually meant one thing: A Spatial Rift. And a rift meant certain death.
*— "If she's live, maybe she's okay? But it was chaotic, Sofia, you need to find safety!"*
In other parts of the city, panic was still spreading across the food street where Sofia had disappeared. However, the chatter in the comment section went silent as the viewers actually looked at the screen.
*— "Wait... why isn't she talking?"*
— "Yeah, Sofia, where are you? This doesn't look like the city."
— "Wait a second—"
— "ARE THOSE PUPPETS MOVING?!"
— "WTF!"
— "JUMP SCARE! I almost peed myself!"
The comment section exploded.
*— "Something is wrong. This isn't the food street. I've never seen a stage like that."*
— "Those puppets... why do I feel so bad just looking at them?"
— "Damn, I dropped my phone and cracked the screen. Switching to PC for this."
Sofia remained paralyzed. However, after a few moments, seeing that the puppets were not attacking, she released a shaky breath.
Her suspicion was right. They were not hostile.
Sofia stepped further into the stage light and bowed deeply toward the empty air where she felt the "Artist" resided.