The rain fell in heavy sheets, washing the blood from the marble floor. Kyle staggered, his chest split open where the sword had driven clean through. His hands, slick with his own blood, trembled as he clutched the hilt still lodged in his body. The taste of iron filled his mouth, and every breath felt like fire burning through his lungs.
Before him, the one who had struck—the one Kyle had trusted most—looked down with cold eyes. A smile, thin and venomous, spread across the betrayer's face.
> "It's nothing personal, Kyle," the man said, voice soft as silk, cruel as a blade.
"The world doesn't need a hero. It needs someone useful."
The sword twisted. Agony ripped through Kyle's body. He gasped, choking on his own blood, eyes wide with disbelief.
Memories assaulted him—long nights training side by side, laughter shared over firelight, promises sworn before battles. The man who now drove the steel into his heart had once sworn to die for him.
Why?
Kyle's knees buckled. He fell. The cold stone embraced him as darkness claimed his sight.
---
Yet, death did not come.
In the void, something stirred.
A hum. Low at first, then rising like a thousand voices whispering in unison. Symbols ignited in the dark, runes of silver fire coiling around his broken body. His heart, which had stopped, gave a violent shudder.
> [Initializing System…]
[Recalibrating Player Parameters…]
[Welcome back, Kyle Ardent. Your death has been recorded.]
Kyle's eyes flew open.
He gasped, drawing in a breath so sharp it felt like razors in his lungs. His vision cleared—and the void was gone.
He lay not on the blood-soaked marble, but upon a vast field of ash. Black skies churned overhead, and crimson lightning split the horizon. The air reeked of sulfur, the ground cracked with faint, glowing veins of molten light.
"What… where am I?" His voice was hoarse, broken.
> [You have died. Standard death protocol activated.]
[New Mode: Regression Initiated.]
[You have been granted one additional chance.]
Lines of text flickered across his vision, as if written upon the very air. A translucent window hovered before him, shifting like smoke yet sharp as steel.
Kyle reached out with trembling fingers. The letters rippled at his touch, confirming the horrifying truth—this was real.
"…A system?" he whispered.
> [Title Granted: The Betrayed One]
[Skill Unlocked: Eternal Regression – Lv.1]
[Warning: Enemies marked as 'Betrayers' will persist across timelines.]
His heart clenched. Betrayers.
The word struck him like a blade. The image of his friend—the sword twisting in his chest—flashed behind his eyes.
"No… not again. Never again."
A chill settled over him, colder than death itself. Rage bloomed within, sharp and consuming. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms until blood welled.
---
The ash shifted.
From the horizon, figures emerged. Their shapes were wrong—limbs twisted, jaws unhinged, eyes burning with crimson light. A dozen… no, a hundred. They stalked forward on all fours, claws scraping against stone.
Kyle stumbled back. He had no weapon, no armor, only the clothes torn by betrayal.
A soft chime sounded in his ear.
> [New Quest Generated]
Quest: Survive the Ashen Plain.
Objective: Endure for 300 seconds.
Reward: Basic Weapon Acquisition.]
Kyle's breath caught. His gaze darted between the horde and the glowing quest window.
Three hundred seconds? That's all I have to do?
The first of the creatures shrieked—a sound like glass shattering in his skull—and leapt.
Kyle's body moved on instinct. He threw himself aside, the monster's claws raking where his throat had been a second before. His lungs burned, his chest still aching with phantom pain, but adrenaline drove him forward. He ran, ash kicking up beneath his feet.
Another shriek. Another leap.
He dodged, barely. His foot caught a crack in the scorched earth, and he crashed hard, scraping his palms bloody.
The creatures closed in, circling now, patient hunters savoring the kill.
Kyle's heart pounded. His vision blurred. He could hear the countdown ticking faintly at the edge of his perception.
> [Survival Time Remaining: 287 seconds…]
Rage flared again. Rage at the betrayal. Rage at the weakness. Rage at fate itself.
He forced himself to his feet, trembling but unbroken.
"If the system wants me to survive," he growled, teeth clenched, "then I'll survive. And I'll make them pay. Every last one of them."
Lightning ripped across the sky. The creatures screamed as they lunged.
---
[Survival Time Remaining: 284 seconds…]
And Kyle, fists clenched and eyes burning with fury, charged to meet them.
The true game had just begun.
---