Rayden wandered for three days after the cave. Each night, he dreamed of flames. Cities in ruin. Screams that weren't his own. His hands always came away soaked in blood — but it wasn't his victims' that haunted him.
It was his.
On the fourth day, he arrived at a dead forest. Charred trunks, ash-covered soil, and an eerie silence blanketed the land. Something had happened here long ago — something powerful, something wrong.
And in the center of the forest stood a crumbling stone obelisk, cracked down the middle, but still pulsing faintly with red energy.
As Rayden stepped closer, the Berserk System stirred.
[WARNING: Memory Shard Detected]
[Engaging Memory Link Protocol…]
[Prepare for Neurological Overlap]
His knees buckled.
The moment his fingers touched the obelisk, the world shifted.
He wasn't in the forest anymore.
He stood on a battlefield.
Mountains in the distance. Rivers of fire. Skies black with storm clouds. Thousands of soldiers in shining armor faced a lone figure — the First Berserker. Towering, wrapped in chains that he wielded like whips, eyes glowing with madness.
Rayden watched — helpless — as the Berserker screamed and everything fell apart.
Armies shattered.
Mountains cracked.
Time bent around the fury.
And amidst the carnage, one phrase echoed from the sky like a divine curse:
"This system must never awaken again."
Then… silence.
Rayden collapsed to the ground, vision swimming, ears ringing.
[Memory Shard 1 Acquired]
[System Expansion Progress: 1/3]
[Corruption Threshold Increased]
He sat there for hours, barely able to breathe.
That wasn't just a vision. It was a warning. The First Berserker hadn't lost control.
He had become the system.
And Rayden was walking the same path.