The [Main Scenario #1] window hung in the sulfurous air, a stark, unwelcome reminder of their new reality.
Kim Dokja, ever the reader, stared at it with a practiced cynicism.
"Seven days," Kim Hajin muttered, his mind already in high-speed calculation mode. 'Seven days in an unfinished, hostile setting I know nothing about. This is the worst.'
He was already checking his [Stigma's] inventory. His Desert Eagle and Bow was there. His armor was on. He had his bullets. But his communicator was still just a glorified clock, showing the [44% Synchronization] —a number that filled him with a unique, personal dread.
Klein Moretti, on the other hand, was ignoring the 'scenario' entirely. It was just text. The real threat was the environment. His Spirit Vision was active, painting the dark, gnarled forest in a tapestry of auras.
"This spirituality," he said, his voice low, "it's corrupted. Tainted."
Kim Dokja translated, just as Spartan landed on Hajin's shoulder, chirping a warning. Hajin nodded, his expression grim.
"He says there are figures approaching. Ten of them. Fast."
"Already?" Dokja sighed, drawing his [Unbroken Faith]. "The 'welcome wagon' is right on time."
Almost before he finished speaking, they emerged. Ten figures, stepping out from behind the black-barked trees. They wore dark, hooded robes that looked vaguely clerical, a style Klein found uncomfortably familiar.
Both Kim Dokja and Kim Hajin tried to use their skills simultaneously.
[Character List]
[Observation and Reading]
Both skills succeded, but in new, informative ways.
[The 'Fourth Wall' is shuddering at an unknown narrative!]
[Confirming status... Two individuals are 'Incarnations'!]
[Constellation 'Ruler of Revenge and the Apocalypse' is sponsoring Incarnation 'Ralf'.]
[Constellation 'Sleeping Lady of the Brocade' is sponsoring Incarnation 'Eliza'.]
"Incarnations," Dokja reported, his eyes narrowing. "Two of them have Sponsors and Stigmas." He saw which Stigmas they had through his skill.
Hajin turned to Klein:
===
[Target: ???]
[Sequence: 5]
[Pathway: Error]
[Status: Hostile, Stolen, Ready]
…
[Target: ??? (Incarnation)]
[Sequence: 4]
[Pathway: Red Priest]
[Stigma: Claws of Black Light]
[Status: Hostile, Sponsored]
…
[Target: ??? (Incarnation)]
[Sequence: 4]
[Pathway: ■■■■■■■■■■■]
[Stigma: Heavenly Charm]
[Status: Hostile, Sluggish, Sponsored]
…
===
(all the others skipped)
"Klein, you mentioned something called 'Sequence'. Is Sequence 4 and 5 powerful?"
He saw through his skill an additional variable he never seen before.
Klein didn't need a system window. Even without Hajin's unknown language, his Spirit Vision told him everything. "There are two demi-gods," he said.
The ten figures fanned out, their intentions clear. There was no 'misunderstanding trope' this time. This was a hunt.
"Take the one in the middle, he's a Beyonder!" the only woman in their group yelled.
Five of them rushed at Klein.
Three at Dokja and two at Hajin.
The attack began.
One of the 'Sponsored' Incarnations—a tall man whose [Stigma] was called 'Claws of Black Light' —stepped forward. He raised his hand, and a dark, malevolent fire gathered.
The other 'Sponsored' Incarnation stepped forward. She was a beautiful woman
[Incarnation 'Ralf' has used Fiery Bombardment!]
One of the 'Sponsored' Incarnations—the 'Red Priest' —stepped forward. His Stigma, 'Claws of Black Light', flared not with demonic energy, but with a strange, [Star Stream]-fueled power. He raised his hand, and a dark, malevolent fire gathered.
A massive, compressed ball of flame, amplified by the [Star Stream]'s power, shot toward them. The sight, the sound, the smell of it... it threw Klein back in time. Feysac fleet, the sky raining fire. Air raid sirens, the screams of the dying.
"A 'Red Priest's' attack," he breathed. Strangely, the Incarnation seemed sluggish, as if fighting his own motions, but the attack was launched.
The 'Red Priest' Incarnation stared, his mind for some reason sluggish, he was in no hurry to attack.
The other enemies didn't wait. One of them—a 'Marauder' —stole the concept of "distance" and appeared instantly behind Kim Hajin, a dark blade aimed at his back. A third, the other Incarnation, exuded an aura of pure corruption and madness—an 'Abyss' pathway.
The 'Marauder' appeared behind Hajin. A perfect ambush.
"Too slow," Hajin muttered.
His feet, clad in boots made from Kurukuru's Claw, flashed with fast light.
He vanished, teleporting thirty meters to the side, his Desert Eagle already in his hand. The Marauder's blade hit empty air.
Hajin clicked his tongue. 'Flashy, but predictable.'
He aimed. The Marauder, a Sequence 5, realized his mistake and tried to steal the 'bullet' from Hajin's gun.
Stigma: a quarter of streak into anti-magic
High-grade Anti-Magic Bullet infused with medusa's Poison
Bang.
A single, clean shot. The Marauder's conceptual ability to steal slammed against the bullet's Anti-Magic property and failed. The bullet, its first 'setting' having won, delivered its payload. It struck the Beyonder in the chest.
The man didn't bleed. He just... froze. A wave of ashen gray spread from the impact point, his expression of shock permanently etched onto his face. In less than a second, he was a perfect stone statue.
'One down.'
Another attacker, a Sequence 5 'Hunter' type, saw his opening and charged.
Hajin didn't even bother with a special round. He ejected the clip, slammed in a new one, and activated the gun's modification. Shotgun Mode.
He didn't know what was it but he threw an iron-black… Something, it flashed across his ear, it looked like a big iron coin.
Hajin's [Observation] had named it: [Charm of Shrieking].
The man muttered a word in ancient Hermes, "Shriek!"
The charm suddenly cracked and vanished, completing the sacrifice.
An invisible sound wave swept outwards like a tsunami, almost successively drilling into the ears of everyone around.
Hajin's mind buzzed, he has never experienced something like that. It was a spiritual attack, a piercing, painful confusion. But still, all he had to do is pull the trigger.
BOOM.
The Aether-infused blast was overwhelming. The 'Hunter' was reduced to a fine, red mist.
'Two down.'
His face twisted in a painful expression, he took out Orb of Regeneration, the healing magic soothing his mind.
Kim Dokja's target were two Beyonders of Abyss and one of Demoness Pathway.
Abyss's danger premonition screamed that their enemy was no less weaker than Saints or even Angles! But if they could win they would complete the Scenario.
Incarnation. "A darkness-type? You remind me of demon kings."
He didn't even hesitate.
[The exclusive skill 'Bookmark' is activated!]
[The 5th bookmark, Kyrgios Rodgraim is selected!]
[The exclusive skill 'Electrification Lv. 23 (+13)' is activated.]
[Your current body configuration is different from that of the character.]
[Your status has overcome the penalty of the physical conditions.]
He became a white-gold blur, his [Unbroken Faith] sword drawn. The [Abyss] Incarnation recoiled, raising a shield of shadow.
[The Fable 'Watcher of Light and Darkness' has begun its story!]
All of them froze, the immense status pressing at them.
The Girl of the Demoness pathway was only Sequence 7 – Witch, so all she could do is just try to use her curses and dark magic. But all of it crashed under the weight of 'His' status.
Two of the Sequence 6 – Devil used their monster transformation.
[Constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' looks at you]
Dokja's attack wasn't just a sword; it was a concept. The 'light' from his new, Giant Fable—a story of the Great War of Constellations and Demons —warred with the Beyonders.
His blade, wreathed in white-gold lightning, struck the three; Electrification and the Power of his Giant story evaporated them, as if the very concept of 'darkness' was being erased by a superior narrative.
'Star Stream?' Dokja thought, a thrill running through him. He wasn't shocked by his new Giant Story power, he was rather wary of why Star Stream allowed such amount of probability, 'That's suspicious.'
He blitzed straight through the three Incarnations, bisecting them at the waist, white lightning dancing at the tip of Unbroken Faith. The Incarnations flared, trying to dodge, but it was too late. Dokja was already past them, skidding to a halt.
That left the 'Red Priest' Incarnation, the 'Unknown' one in the back, and four other Sequence 5 fodder.
Klein smiled. It was the calm, gentle smile of Mr. Fool. A performer's smile.
He grabbed on air.
He immediately began to attain control through the Spirit Body Threads, the 'Red Priest's' [Fiery Bombardment], which was just about to be deployed.
"Gah!" one of them, a 'Conspirer', tried to deceive and misdirect Klein, but the threads were already attached. Another, a 'Psychiatrist' , tried to mentally 'Pacify' Klein, but the threads only tightened.
"Who… Are… You…" the 'Red Priest' Incarnation muttered, his body spasming.
There was no way someone would know Klein's real face.
The other Beyonders tried to resist.
[Fiery Bombardment has been forcibly terminated!]
'Bruh, how do I turn off this annoying messages?'
From Historical Void appeared Will Auceptin. The Red Priest's [Stigma]—his connection to the sponsor —flickered. A Probability storm gathered... and then dissipated, its target "unlucky" enough to be lost.
Then came Arianna, the Matriarch of the Evernight Church. A cone of absolute, primordial cold and slumber washed over the group of Beyonders. Their Sealed artifacts, star relics froze, their mind filled with the terror of eternal slumber, their bodies falling into a Slumber from which they would never wake.
But the Beyonder of Unknown Pathway to Klein somehow fully rewined the effects of Klein's spirituality and tried to escape.
Klein felt how his Worm of Spirit literally looped back into him through the Body Thread stretching out from her.
In less than 10 second all 4 were under his control.
[Stigma 'Heavenly Charm' activated!]
She used her Stigma.
But there was no use.
All four were already under Klein's control.
They chased after the last escaping enemy.
'This... is easier than I thought,' Klein mused, 'I didn't even need your help, buddy.'
He then raised his left hand, the Creeping Hunger glove still clinging to his skin.
He instinctively moved his right hand to his chest, his fingers beginning to trace the triangular symbol of the Evernight Church... and stopped midway.
He lampooned himself internally.
'Ahem. No. Bad habit. I'm becoming far too religious.'
WHISTLE-CRACK.
A sound, faster than a bullet, whistled past Klein's ear. He jumped, spinning to see Hajin, who was now holding a sleek, black sniper rifle, smoke curling from its Aether-infused barrel.
Far in the distance, the beautiful woman who was escaping collapsed, her head disintegrating.
Hajin only smiled and hid his weapon back in the inventory.
Silence.
Ten enemies, gone in less than a minute. It was, as Kim Dokja would have called it, a complete 'curb-stomp'.
The three of them stood in the clearing, the air thick with the smell of ozone and death.
Hajin clicked his tongue.
"I didn't know you had such abilities."
He looked at Klein
Dokja retracted his Fable, breathing a little hard.
"Very interesting, heh."
Klein, in turn, was analyzing them.
They were, all of them, impressed.
The battle was over. The bodies of dead Beyonders began to dissolve... but not completely.
Where the 'Marauder' (who was still a statue) and the other Beyonders had fallen, their forms dissolved into light, leaving behind... objects.
Shimmering and condensed. They looked like solidified light, pulsing with a spirituality that was now pure.
Hajin and Dokja stared.
"What... are those?" Dokja asked, poking one with his sword.
Klein's eyes widened. "The... Characteristics ."
Just as he said it, his gaze snapped to the last enemy. The 'Unknown' one, the one his spirituality had warned him about, had been caught in the crossfire of the explosion. His body was also dissolving.
And from her chest, a single, brilliant, and horrifyingly powerful Characteristic floated up.
The danger Klein had sensed... it wasn't the man. It was his Characteristic.
'That's... that's a Sequence 4 Characteristic. But... what pathway? I don't recognize it at all. I wish I could do a divination above the gray fog. Now it's too dangerous.'
At the same time, Hajin activated [Observation and Reading].
===
[Item: Beyonder Characteristic]
[Pathway: ■■■■■■■■■■■]
[Sequence 4: Circle Inhabitant]
[Description: ???]
===
"Dokja translate for Klein," Hajin said, looking up from his mental window. "What does 'Sequence 4: Circle Inhabitant' mean? Is it a powerful 'Beyonder'?"