He wasn't a stranger to death. But this wasn't a hospital. This wasn't a quiet loss behind a closed curtain. This was something violent. Something that shouldn't have been real.
He stared at the corpse.
What the fuck is this?
The panel pulsed again.
[System Binding Progress: 85%]
A roar followed.
No not a roar. A howl.
Deep, guttural, impossibly loud. It wasn't the sound of an animal. It was worse. It was the sound of something trying to be an animal but failing. Something that had once mimicked a predator and now wore its voice like a costume.
Ren spun toward the source, heart pounding in his throat.
The building across from him exploded outward, concrete flying in chunks. A massive creature leapt through the wreckage, glass raining around it in slow motion shards.
The thing was shaped like a wolf, if wolves stood nearly three meters tall and were covered in patches of bone and iron. Its face was torn open at the cheeks, exposing twin rows of mismatched fangs. Its claws dug deep into the ground with each step.
It didn't look around.
It saw him instantly.
It charged.
Ren ran. He didn't think his body just moved.
His shoes skidded on the alley's slick pavement. He knocked over a trash bin and nearly lost his balance. The noise didn't slow the monster.
He heard the claws scrape brick.
The footsteps were fast. Too fast.
I'm going to die before I even figure out what the hell is going on.
A deep panic swallowed him whole. It wasn't the fear of pain. It was the fear of not understanding. Of being erased by something he hadn't even begun to comprehend.
His mind spiraled.
Then a voice entered.
Not the system.
Not internal.
A second voice. Clear. Resonant. Female.
It sounded like it came from everywhere at once.
"O Great Hero… awaken."
And just like that, the world vanished.
.
.
.
Ren wasn't sure when he lost consciousness, only that his next breath filled his lungs with air that wasn't air at all. It was too thick. Too warm. The taste of copper clung to the back of his tongue.
He opened his eyes.
The alley was gone.
He lay on something that felt like stitched leather. The surface rose and fell beneath him with a slow, pulsing rhythm. He pushed himself up on shaking arms.
The sky overhead was the color of raw muscle, streaked with branching veins that throbbed with every beat of something massive and unseen. Where clouds should've been, floating organ-like structures pulsed in the open air, tethered to nothing.
In the distance stood buildings Victorian in design, elegant and towering but their proportions were off. Some leaned forward, too narrow at the base. Others spiraled upward like corkscrews. One was slowly collapsing in on itself, yet it never reached the ground.
Ren stood.
The floor beneath him wasn't floor. It was an operating table. A massive one, easily the size of a basketball court, complete with rusted restraints and surgical hooks that hung suspended in the air, slowly rotating.
This isn't a dream. This is—
The voice returned.
"O Great Hero… please save those who suffer in the hands of nightmare abominations."
"If thou pass the trial, thou shall become Awakened… and return to thy own world."
Ren turned in place, trying to locate the voice. It wasn't coming from any one direction. It spoke into his skull, vibrating beneath his skin.
The air shimmered.
A tear formed in the sky long, jagged, like a wound splitting open.
From it descended mouths.
Dozens. Hundreds. Twisting shapes of flesh and teeth, each shaped like a scream.
They fell toward him like rain.
Ren froze.
A final system panel appeared corrupted at first. The words stuttered, then shifted.
[Initializing... ERROR.]
Genre Mismatch Detected: World is not recognized as a standard Hunter realm.
Analyzing the surrounding environment...
Dimensional layer breach confirmed.
The host has been transferred to an Eldritch Horror world by an unknown external force.
Adjusting system parameters.
Synchronizing with a corrupted narrative field...
Fixing genre alignment... COMPLETE.
[You have been chosen as the Host of the Doctor of the Ruin Gospel System.]
[Initializing.]
Ren stared at the screen.
Above him, the sky pulsed like flesh, veins throbbing in slow rhythm. Crimson clouds crawled across the heavens. The ground beneath him felt like old leather soaked in blood.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
He whispered, more to himself than anything else:
"This… I just got Isekai twice?"