I never expected to be reborn.
To enter a new world.
A new life.
And the most impossible thing became possible.
I, Ryan Ashford, formerly known as Asset 9 of The Monolith, bear witness to the most impossible thing.
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The sun was beginning to set as I moved forward, the fading light casting long shadows over the quiet village.
I entered the village and headed straight for the nearest house.
Knock! Knock!
I rapped my knuckles against the wooden door, standing still as I waited for a response.
The door creaked open, revealing an elderly woman in her late sixties. Her wrinkled face wore a kind, yet cautious expression as she peered at me from behind the doorway.
"Yes, dear? How may I help you?" she asked, her voice soft and welcoming.
"Are you alone?" I asked, my tone steady, but carrying an underlying tension.
"Yes, I am. Why the sudden question?" she replied, her brow furrowing slightly as she studied me with growing suspicion.
"Good."
Without warning, I coiled my fist like a spring and unleashed a brutal blow to her face.
The force of the strike sent her flying backward, crashing into the wall with a sickening thud. She crumpled to the floor, her body collapsing in a heap.
The impact had crushed her face inward, leaving it mangled and unrecognizable. Blood poured from the gaping wounds, staining the floor around her.
With a thug of my will Mana begins to leave her body and being absorb by me. Her mana condense and shape like a swirling green line. An attribute color of the wind element.
Satisfied, I moved on, heading toward my next target.
Slipping around to the back of the house, I noticed an open window. I entered quietly, my footsteps silent as I made my way through the darkened kitchen. Inside, I found a family of three—completely unaware of my presence.
I grabbed the nearest knife, the cold steel fitting perfectly in my grip. Without hesitation, I struck, slicing their throats with precision, the blood spraying in an instant. They dropped silently, one by one, collapsing to the floor without a sound.
Raising my arm, I began to siphon their Mana. The energy flowed through me, their lifeless corpses starting to wither as I drained the last remnants of their essence.
As the last of their power merged with mine, I couldn't help but feel a flicker of boredom.
"It's getting a little too easy like this," I muttered, a smirk creeping onto my face. "Time to raise the chaos."
Leaving the house, I raised my left arm, gathering my Mana. I unleashed a spell [Hellstorm]. A concentrated burst of flame erupted from my palm, a fiery explosion that spread with terrifying accuracy, engulfing the houses in the village. The flames roared as they consumed everything in their path, the heat searing the air, setting the village ablaze.
"What's happening?!"
"Fire! Fire! Help!"
"SOMEBODY HELP! MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE"
"My children!"
Panic erupted as the fire tore through the village, the screams of the desperate and helpless filling the night air
My face remained emotionless, indifferent to the pain and terror of the villagers. I was untouched by their suffering.
With a burst of speed, I rushed toward the nearest man desperately trying to put out the flames. Before he could react, I drove my foot into his jaw. The sickening crack of his neck snapping echoed in the chaos, his body collapsing lifeless to the ground.
I stood over the man's crumpled body, his lifeless form twitching briefly before going still. The chaos around me continued unabated—screams, the crackle of burning wood, the frantic shuffling of those trying to escape. None of it mattered. The destruction I had unleashed was just beginning, and I was savoring every moment.
I moved swiftly through the village, each step calculated, every action precise. Another scream tore through the night as a woman attempted to flee the burning building. Without hesitation, I reached out, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her back into the inferno. She struggled, her face contorting with pain, but it was useless. Her cries were silenced as the flames consumed her.
As the fire continued to spread, I could feel the energy around me growing stronger. The Mana I absorbed from each death, each desperate act, fueled my power further
"PAPA! PAPA!" A boy's frantic cries echoed from within a burning house.
I snapped my head in the direction of the scream, my attention fixated on the source.
"Don't worry, son! Just stay put! I'll get you out!" The father's voice cracked with desperation, but it was laced with false hope, too late to matter.
Without a second thought, I grabbed a jagged, flaming piece of wood and hurled it with deadly precision toward the father, who was desperately trying to reach his child.
"AAAGGGGGHHH!!" His scream was cut off as the fiery wood impaled him. Blood poured from the wound, staining the flames as he crumpled to the ground.
"PAPA!" The boy cried, his face streaked with tears and snot, his helplessness suffocating.
I moved faster than he could react, grabbing the boy by the mouth, my fingers digging into his skin. In one brutal motion, I ripped his face in half, the sickening sound of flesh tearing filling the air.
"NOOOOOOO!!!" The father's scream was full of agony as he witnessed the brutal end of his son, his final breath escaping as his body slumped, lifeless.
Looking toward the distance, I spotted a woman in her late twenties, huddled with a group of terrified children. They were desperately clinging to her, their eyes wide with fear.
I moved forward, each step deliberate, my heart devoid of empathy. Reaching her, I grabbed her by the face with an iron grip. Before she could even react, I slammed her head into the ground with brutal force. The impact was sickening—her skull caved in, and her head exploded in a gruesome display, the blood splattering everywhere.
The children shrieked in horror, their innocent cries echoing through the village, their faces twisted in terror as they watched their protector meet a brutal end. Fear paralyzed them, their survival instincts drowned out by the shock and despair of their last moments.
My hands hardened and sharpened as I augmented them, the skin becoming like stone, the edges honed to a deadly precision.
With ruthless efficiency, I sliced through the children, one by one, leaving no room for mercy.
I continued my carnage, showing no regard for life. No one was spared, none of the villagers were left standing.
Stepping toward the center of the village, I felt the weight of my power growing. Mana began to leak from the lifeless bodies around me, the air shimmering with an array of colorful lights—reds, blues, greens, and browns—each one representing a different elemental attribute. The air itself pulsed with the raw energy of the fallen, the elements swirling around me, ready to be consumed.
A voice broke the stillness.
"YOU! YOU DID THIS! YOU MONSTER!" The Village Elder, or what was left of him, staggered forward. His left arm was burned and bleeding, but his eyes burned with a fire that could not hide his despair.
I paused for a moment, meeting his gaze with cold, detached indifference.
"Aren't you the real monster here, old man?" I replied, my voice cutting through the air, devoid of any remorse, a sharp retort to his futile accusation.
Before he could respond, I took another step closer, my presence suffocating.
"Not just you," I continued, my tone growing colder, "but every one of you in this village. Even the children. You are all monsters."
I let those words hang in the air for a moment, giving them time to sink in, then continued, my gaze unwavering.
"I already know the sins you've committed, the darkness that runs through your veins. You thought you could hide your actions, but it was always there, festering. And now... now I'm here to deliver your reckoning."
I stepped even closer, my bloodlust fully unleashed, suffocating the old man under its oppressive force.
"You killed the innocent who passed through your gates, stealing their lives and their belongings—people who were nothing more than travelers, looking for a fleeting moment of peace. You thought you could erase their existence without consequence."
I leaned in, my voice dropping to a deadly whisper, each word punctuated with pure malice.
"Children, men, women... it didn't matter to you. You took their lives, and worse, you corrupted the very blood you've claimed as your own. Even the children—they've already been indoctrinated into your wretched ways, taught to revel in murder and deceit. They were no better than you. You've made them monsters."
I let the silence hang between us, the weight of my words drowning him in the realization of his complete annihilation. His hope, his last shred of resistance, shattered.
Without warning, my hand blurred, and in an instant, I moved. The limbs of the old man fell to the ground with sickening thuds, his body convulsing as the severed appendages hit the dirt.
"AAAAAAGGGHHH!!!" His scream of agony pierced the air, raw and desperate, as tears streamed down his face, his body wracked with pain and fear.
"Please, stop! Stop! Don't kill me!" His voice cracked, his words a fragile plea that hung in the air, the once proud figure of the elder now reduced to a trembling, pleading husk, begging for mercy that would never come.
I stepped forward, placing my foot on his chest. With a slow, deliberate motion, I pressed down, feeling the bones beneath give way. His chest caved inwards with a sickening crunch, blood spraying from his mouth in a grotesque burst, staining the dirt beneath him. His eyes bulged with horror and disbelief, the last remnants of his defiance utterly crushed.
The array of lights began to fade as the last remnants of Mana were absorbed into my body, merging with me in a violent surge of power. The energy hummed within me, its intensity overwhelming, as I fought to maintain control.
Pain rippled through me, sharp and relentless. I felt my bones crack and my muscles tear, the blood rushing from my nose and eyes, staining my vision. The consequence of absorbing this much Mana was hell, yet I refused to yield.
I pushed through the agony, enduring each excruciating change.
My bones began to reform, the shattered pieces knitting together and strengthening, becoming denser and more unyielding than ever before. It felt as though my body was no longer flesh and bone but forged from the hardest steel. My muscles stretched and twisted, becoming harder, more solid—no longer composed of water, protein, fat, or glycogen, but reinforced with unrelenting strength.
The myofibers and connective tissue tightened around my bones, locking in place with an iron grip, the transformation complete. The sensation was maddening, but I stood taller, stronger, and more lethal than ever before. The transformation had granted me power, but at a brutal cost.
I gasped for air, my breath ragged and desperate, as if the very act of inhaling had become a battle. My lungs burned, struggling to adjust to the intense strain my body was under. Each breath felt like a jagged shard of glass scraping against my ribs. The transformation had twisted every fiber of my being, pushing me beyond human limits, and the toll it had taken was immense.
The power surged through me, suffocating in its intensity, but I refused to let it break me. My body had become an unforgiving machine, and even as I fought for control, the raw energy within me thrummed with life, aching to be unleashed. Despite the burning in my chest and the wild, frenzied beating of my heart,
I collapsed to the ground, the weight of my transformation bearing down on me, yet I refused to surrender to it. My breath came in ragged gasps, my chest rising and falling violently, but I shut out the suffocating chaos around me—the crackling of the flames, the foul stench of scorched flesh. None of it mattered now.
With a deliberate effort, I closed my eyes, retreating into the silence. The world outside faded, the pain and the surge of raw power threatening to consume me receded into the background. I centered myself, diving deep within, seeking the core of my being, the place where my true will lay.
Every fiber of my body screamed in protest as it fought to adapt to the unimaginable force coursing through me. My muscles trembled, my bones groaned under the strain, but I held my ground, refusing to let it break me.
I focused inward, turning my attention to the tumultuous flow of mana coursing through me—chaotic, wild, like a storm barely contained. It was a force I had to master, a beast I needed to tame. Slowly, with precision, I guided the energy, coaxing it into submission. I felt it settling, stabilizing, finding a rhythm that matched my will.
The burning in my chest, the searing pressure in my limbs—it all began to fade, the intensity easing as I meditated through the agony. My body, once overwhelmed, now slowly regained some semblance of control. The storm within me quieted, and I found balance in the chaos.
Time passed, and I gradually achieved equilibrium. I took a deep breath, inhaling slowly, and then exhaled, the air filling my lungs with a sense of clarity that had been absent only moments before.
Standing up, I surveyed the devastation around me. The dark sky above was choked with smoke, its once-starry expanse now a canvas of blackened ash and haze. The flames continued to rage in the distance, their orange glow a stark contrast against the suffocating darkness.
I stood there for a moment, letting the weight of the scene settle over me. The destruction was complete, the silence after the storm deafening. Yet within me, there was no regret—only the hum of power, the steady pulse of my will driving me forward.
"Time to go home," I murmured softly to myself, the words hanging in the air as I turned and began to walk away from the ruins, each step echoing with finality.