Consciousness returned slowly.
At first, Ethan felt nothing except cold.
A deep, cruel cold pressed against his body from below, like metal left outside in winter. Then pain followed. Then confusion.
When he finally opened his eyes, he found that his body was tied down. His limbs would not move. He was lying flat on a hard iron platform, unable to even turn properly.
For a brief moment, Ethan forgot everything else.
He forgot death.
He forgot the Nine Lotus Temple.
He even forgot the message he had seen after cutting his own throat.
All that remained was one sharp, immediate thought.
Where am I now?
He forced himself to breathe and tried to stay calm. Panic would only make things worse. His vision adjusted little by little, and he started examining his surroundings from the narrow angle available to him.
It looked like a factory.
Not the clean, bright kind. This place was filthy and cold, with a heavy stink filling the air. Blood. Animal waste. Rot. The smell was so thick that it seemed to coat his throat. Somewhere nearby, soft, cheerful music was playing. The contrast was so wrong that it made his skin crawl.
A slaughterhouse.
That was Ethan's first real guess.
And the thought that followed was even worse.
Was he in the hands of some serial killer?
He immediately tried to move his fingers and loosen the ropes around his wrists.
Nothing happened.
He froze.
Then he tried again, harder this time, focusing all his strength into his hands.
Still nothing.
A horrifying thought flashed through his mind.
He could not feel his fingers.
He tried to lift his neck, but the movement felt strange and limited, as if his body no longer worked the way a human body should. His neck seemed shorter. His head could only twist awkwardly against the iron plate.
His heartbeat sped up.
He forced himself to look downward.
And then he saw it.
No hands.
No feet.
Only four bound legs ending in hooves.
Pink skin. Sparse white hair. A dirty, swollen body.
For a few seconds, Ethan's mind went completely blank.
Then terror crashed over him.
He had turned into a pig.
Not a free animal in the wild.
Not some strange hybrid creature.
A pig.
A pig in a slaughterhouse.
A pig tied down and waiting to be killed.
His thoughts became chaotic. This made no sense. In Night City, whenever reincarnation had triggered before, he had always remained himself. Different situations, different conditions, but still human. So why had everything changed now? Was this because of the Six Paths of Reincarnation? Had something gone wrong? Was this another trap left behind by Master Rowan?
Questions flooded his mind faster than he could answer them.
But none of them helped.
Right now, there was only one truth.
He was in a death trap.
He opened his mouth, desperate to scream that he was human, that something had gone terribly wrong, that someone needed to help him.
What came out was only a panicked pig's squeal.
"Oink! Oink!"
The sound hit him harder than any blade.
He was trapped completely.
Still, Ethan refused to surrender. He twisted his head as far as he could and looked around. Other pigs lay on iron platforms nearby, both ahead of him and behind him. They were tied down the same way, waiting in line. Unlike Ethan, they had no idea what was coming. Some made soft sounds along with the background music, almost peaceful in their ignorance.
There were no butchers standing nearby. No people with knives walking among them.
Only a large glass wall in the distance.
Behind it, workers in blue uniforms lazily monitored the assembly line with bored expressions, as if this was just another ordinary shift at work.
Then Ethan heard one of them shout something.
"Next one!"
A low mechanical rumble began beneath him.
The line moved.
The iron platform carrying Ethan started sliding forward.
Straight toward death.
His body jerked violently. He fought against the ropes with everything he had, twisting and kicking, but the bindings were too tight. After all that effort, he only managed to loosen them a tiny bit.
It was nowhere near enough.
The machinery above him lowered.
A metal rod descended.
Then—
Sizzle!
A violent electric current surged through his body.
Pain tore through every nerve.
His muscles locked. His heart seemed to burst and then stop at the same time.
His vision went dark.
Just before consciousness vanished, he saw a prompt appear.
Six Paths of Reincarnation
Animal Path
Progress 1%
---
Ethan woke up again.
His first reaction was desperate hope. Maybe it had ended. Maybe that nightmare was over.
But no.
He was still a pig.
Still tied down.
Still inside the same merciless slaughterhouse.
He remembered the last thing he had seen and quickly understood the meaning.
Animal Path.
One percent.
That meant one thing.
Every death increased the progress by one percent.
So if he wanted to get out of the Animal Path by simply dying through it—
He would need to be slaughtered one hundred times.
A chill worse than the slaughterhouse cold moved through him.
That death by electrocution had been fast compared to other methods, but it was still agony. And now he was expected to endure it over and over again?
No.
He had to escape.
Even becoming a wild pig in the woods would be better than this.
But before he could plan anything properly, the conveyor had already carried him forward again.
Darkness took him.
Animal Path — 2%
---
When Ethan woke for the next round, his terror had changed into a grim kind of determination.
He could not keep dying like this.
This time, he noticed that he had more distance before reaching the electrocution device. That gave him a little room to think. He looked toward the workers behind the glass. In his condition, there was no way he could stop the whole system directly.
But perhaps he did not need to.
If he could damage the machinery under his platform, the entire line might stop.
If the line stopped, the slaughter process would stop too.
And when the workers came to repair it, maybe—just maybe—he could find another chance.
That was his plan.
He began thrashing wildly, twisting his heavy body and trying to dislodge the iron plate from the mechanism beneath it.
One of the workers noticed.
"Hey, what's that pig doing?"
Another voice answered, "No idea. Don't let it mess up the line. Go handle it."
A group of large workers quickly ran over carrying iron rods and tools.
Ethan's heart sank.
He squealed desperately.
In his mind, he was shouting, Help me! I'm human! I'm human!
But the only sound coming out was animal noise.
There was no way they could understand him.
The iron rod came down.
And then came death again.
---
After that, Ethan tried everything he could think of.
He tried forcing himself off the conveyor.
He tried loosening the bindings enough to roll away.
He tried crashing his body into the machinery.
Once, in total desperation, he even tried to rally the other pigs, hoping instinct and panic might spread among them and create chaos large enough to stop the slaughter line.
It was impossible.
The pigs could not understand him.
They were as trapped as he was.
Again and again, he died.
Again and again, he woke up.
The first deaths were terrifying.
The later ones became numb.
After enough repetition, even the fear started to dull. That was the most frightening part of all. Ethan began to feel himself changing, becoming colder inside, as though his mind was slowly building walls just to survive.
At last, just when he felt he was about to lose himself completely, the long-awaited prompt appeared.
Six Paths of Reincarnation
Animal Path
Progress 100%
A white light flashed.
And Ethan finally escaped the Animal Path.
---
At first, Ethan thought that would be the end of it.
Surely leaving the Animal Path meant returning to the human world. He did not even ask to return as himself anymore. After that nightmare, he would have gladly accepted any normal human life.
He had learned to lower his expectations.
Unfortunately, what came next was far worse.
Heat.
Unimaginable heat.
A burning so intense it seemed able to roast not only flesh, but the soul itself.
When Ethan regained awareness, he found himself inside a world of fire and suffering. Everywhere he looked there was magma, red light, and endless torment. This was not merely pain. This was punishment given form.
He had entered true hell.
The ground glowed with molten cracks. The air itself felt alive with agony. Everywhere were screaming sinners and twisted, vicious demons. Some of the damned were bound to frames while skeletal fiends stabbed them over and over with spears. Others were sliced apart piece by piece by blade-wielding monsters, their flesh tossed into boiling oil.
The sound never stopped.
Crying.
Begging.
Screaming.
Metal striking bone.
Fire roaring.
This place was worse than the slaughterhouse by a hundred times.
Ethan looked down at himself.
He was human again.
But that brought no comfort.
His hands and feet were nailed to a frame. Iron chains had been driven through his shoulder blades. Even the smallest movement sent waves of pain crashing through him.
Compared to this, the agony of the Sandevistan felt trivial.
Compared to this, the slaughterhouse had been merciful.
Ethan's face turned pale.
He knew that sooner or later, it would be his turn.
And he refused to accept it.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled with all the strength he had left. Flesh tore. Blood splashed down. Pain nearly knocked him unconscious. But somehow he ripped himself away from the rack.
He collapsed to the ground and dragged himself forward.
If he had to choose between dying on his own terms and being tortured by these creatures, he would choose the former every time.
But he had barely moved before a thin imp-like demon seized him from behind and lifted him effortlessly into the air.
The creature looked weak and starved, all ribs and bones, yet its strength was absurd.
"Here's one trying to run!" it shrieked with delight.
More imps rushed over, grinning wickedly.
They re-hung Ethan on the frame.
Their faces lit up with excitement, as though they had found new entertainment.
"How should we punish him?"
"Brand him!"
"No, that's too easy!"
Then they all began shouting together in wild excitement.
"Ten Thousand Arrows Through the Heart! Ten Thousand Arrows Through the Heart!"
What followed was not torture in the ordinary sense.
It was a carnival of cruelty.
By the time Ethan finally died and the next reincarnation began, he understood one thing clearly.
The Hell Path was far worse than the Animal Path.
The slaughterhouse killed quickly.
This place made sure you suffered first.
A prompt appeared.
Six Paths of Reincarnation
Hell Path
Progress 1%
---
When Ethan revived again and found himself back in hell, he almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because once a person passed a certain point, laughter and despair started to feel the same.
But this time, unlike in the Animal Path, he already understood the rule.
The fastest way out was simple.
Do not resist too much.
Die quickly.
Repeat until complete.
That was probably the only practical answer.
So when the imps approached again, Ethan forced himself to shout at them.
"Come on! Hurry up and kill me!"
The imps smiled with hideous delight.
They were happy to oblige.
Hell Path — 2%
---
The cycle continued.
Pain.
Death.
Revival.
More pain.
By the tenth reincarnation, Ethan's eyes had already grown dull before the torture even began.
This would not work.
The Hell Path was different.
The Animal Path had broken the body.
The Hell Path broke the mind.
The demons never killed him quickly. They dragged it out. They turned each death into an ordeal. After only ten rounds, Ethan felt himself standing at the edge of mental collapse.
He could not adapt to it.
Not like this.
This time, he decided to change strategy.
When one of the thin imps came toward him with a grin, Ethan suddenly tore one hand loose from the frame. His palms were nearly shredded in the process, but compared to everything else, that pain hardly mattered anymore.
The imp was too careless.
Too used to helpless victims.
Ethan lunged and snatched its knife.
Before it could react, he slashed its throat.
The head fell.
For the first time in that place, Ethan laughed.
A harsh, half-crazed laugh.
"Whoever made this Six Paths system must be an idiot!" he shouted wildly. "If this is divine punishment, then your god is a fool!"
The imps swarmed him in fury.
Scythes, hooks, axes, chainsaws, and all kinds of vicious tools came at him from every direction.
Ethan fought with the stolen knife as long as he could, but in the end he was overwhelmed and died.
And when he revived again, he noticed something.
The progress had not gone from ten to eleven.
It had gone to twelve.
For a moment, Ethan stared.
Then understanding lit up his eyes.
The death of the imp had counted too.
That changed everything.
This was not just torment.
This was an opening.
A weakness in the system.
A chance to escape faster.
From that point on, Ethan stopped acting like prey.
Every reincarnation became a hunt.
He stole weapons whenever he could. He ambushed careless imps. He released other prisoners to create confusion. Sometimes he fought with knives. Sometimes with chains. Sometimes with whatever broken object he could get his hands on.
He killed again and again.
Every kill pushed the progress forward.
Every kill gave him a little more hope.
And hope, in a place like that, was more valuable than life.
Death still came often.
Sometimes by torture.
Sometimes in battle.
Sometimes through sheer exhaustion.
But Ethan no longer faced it passively.
He had turned hell into a battlefield.
And in that endless burning world, his rage became his only weapon.
At last, after more than twenty deaths and countless kills, the long-awaited prompt appeared once more.
Six Paths of Reincarnation
Hell Path
Progress 100%
Ethan nearly wanted to scream with relief.
He had done it.
He had clawed his way out.
And then, unexpectedly, two more prompts appeared beside it.
Six Paths of Reincarnation
Hungry Ghost Path
Progress 100%
Six Paths of Reincarnation
Asura Path
Progress 100%
Ethan stared at the words, stunned.
Three paths had completed at once.
That meant he had somehow skipped entire layers of torment.
For the first time since this nightmare began, he felt something close to real relief.
A white light rose around him.
The flames, the screams, the demons, and the endless heat all began to fade.
And at long last—
Ethan left the Hell Path behind.
-------------------------------------------
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