Lee Han had died one hundred and thirteen times.
No—more precisely, he had watched the only people who ever treated him like a human die one hundred and thirteen times, and each time he stole a fragment of their souls just to keep breathing.
Name: Lee Han
Class: Servant
Rank: E
Current Master Count: 113 → 114 (Today)
The Abyss had no sky.
It possessed instead a ceiling—writhing black clouds pressed so low they felt like a lid on a coffin. Violet lightning bled from them in sluggish veins, dripping down like plasma from an open wound.
The ground was a graveyard of eras past. Shattered armor. Powdered bone. Bent weapons half-swallowed by shadow.
Every breath tasted of rust.
SFX: crk—crsh
Lee Han knelt, palms pressed flat against cold metal shards, head bowed. Waiting.
He always waited.
SFX: THUD… THUD… THUD
Bootsteps approached. Heavy. Deliberate. Each one carried the certainty of violence.
A mountain of black iron stopped before him.
Two crimson eyes ignited behind a helm shaped like a dragon's skull.
The new master.
Name: Kargan
Class: Berserker
Rank: A+
Temper: Catastrophic.
The Berserker looked down at Lee Han the way men looked at a used rag—something already discarded, just not yet burned.
"So," Kargan rumbled, voice like gravel dragged across steel, "you're the famous Servant that refuses to stay dead."
Silence.
"Fine." He spat to the side. "From now until you break, you're my shield. Stand up."
Lee Han's body obeyed before his mind could protest.
The chains carved into his soul tightened.
SYSTEM LAW — PROTOCOL #2:
▸ A Servant must obey every direct order.
He rose.
Kargan snorted. "Name?"
"Lee Han, Master."
"Don't call me that. Makes me want to puke." A tusked grin split the helm. "Call me Lord Kargan."
"Yes, Lord Kargan."
Satisfied—or already bored—Kargan turned and began walking toward the distant screams of war.
Lee Han followed.
Three steps behind. One step to the left.
The position of a Servant.
Close enough to intercept a killing blow.
Far enough that no one would ever mistake him for an equal.
They crossed a plain littered with yesterday's dead.
Some corpses twitched. Shadows took longer to die than humans.
Lee Han stepped over a Soldier-class shadow with its face caved in. Hollow eyes tracked his movement.
He knew that stare.
He had worn it for the first thirty masters.
Kargan stopped abruptly.
"Listen up, rag," he said without turning. "The Winged Monarch's legion is pushing again. We're the rearguard."
A pause.
"That means we die first so the important people can retreat. You understand?"
"Yes, Lord Kargan."
"When I say 'block,' you block. When I say 'die,' you die." His voice dropped, sharp as a blade. "You hesitate even once, I'll carve the Protocol out of your soul myself and feed it to the hounds. Clear?"
"Crystal clear."
Kargan laughed—deep, feral—and kept walking.
Lee Han followed.
He had done this one hundred and thirteen times.
He would do it again.
The battle began without ceremony.
One moment—silence.
The next—
SFX: SKRRRRR—BOOOOM
The horizon split open.
An ocean of white-winged shadows poured forth.
Seraph Knights.
The Winged Monarch's elite.
Each worth a hundred of them.
Kargan roared with laughter and charged.
Lee Han ran after him.
Holy fire rained from the heavens.
SFX: FSSSH—FSSSH—FSSSH
Kargan batted the arrows aside with a greataxe the size of a cow. Lee Han stayed in his literal shadow, his body flickering between solid and smoke.
That was the sole privilege of the Servant-class.
He cost almost no mana.
A Seraph Knight dove—six wings blazing. Its spear aimed straight for Kargan's heart.
"Block it, Servant!"
The Protocol snapped Lee Han's spine straight.
His legs moved on their own.
He threw himself into the path of the spear.
**SFX: SCHLKK—! **
The spear punched through his chest.
Pain was old news.
He had catalogued it. Indexed it. Memorized every variation.
Lee Han grabbed the spear with both hands, locking it in place.
The Seraph Knight's eyes widened behind its porcelain mask.
It had not expected resistance.
SFX: WHUM—CRRSH
Kargan's axe removed its head a heartbeat later.
Black blood sprayed across Lee Han's face.
His blood.
Its blood.
It all tasted the same.
He collapsed.
HP: 3 / 1200
The hole in his chest steamed as shadows slowly stitched flesh together.
Slowly.
Only masters received instant healing.
Kargan didn't even look back.
They kept moving.
Ten minutes later—it happened again.
Then again.
Then again.
By the time the main army finished retreating, Lee Han had died four times in miniature.
Each time, Kargan used him as a wall.
Each time, Lee Han crawled back together just slowly enough.
Slow enough that Kargan didn't notice.
Fast enough that Lee Han did.
Because every death taught him something.
Every corpse whispered its final skill into his ear.
He hid the growth.
He always hid the growth.
If they ever realized a Servant could steal power—
They would erase him completely.
Only nineteen shadows remained.
Kargan stood soaked in blood, laughing, drunk on slaughter.
Then came the final wave.
Bigger.
Heavier.
At its head rode a Seraph Captain.
Rank: S.
Six wings unfurled.
A halo burned like a dying star.
Kargan's laughter stopped.
The Captain raised a lance of pure light.
Kargan's voice cracked.
"Servant—block it!"
Lee Han stepped forward.
This time—
He did not let the Protocol move him.
He chose.
His body flickered, half-solid, half-smoke, and he planted himself directly in the lance's path.
SFX: VVVVVVVV—BOOOOM
Light consumed everything.
White.
Then black.
Then the familiar cold.
Lee Han opened his eyes in the place between deaths.
A void lit by floating purple runes.
The System spoke—cold, genderless.
⊳ Shadow Designated "Kargan" has perished.
⊳ Commencing Memory Inheritance Sequence…
⊳ 1% transfer authorized.
⊳ Skills Acquired:
«Blood Rage»
«Iron Skin»
«Reckless Charge»
⊳ Unique Memory Fragment Obtained:
"The first time I held my daughter."
The memory burned.
A tiny shadow girl tugging on Kargan's cloak.
"Daddy… will you come home this time?"
Kargan kneeling. Tusks hidden behind a clumsy smile.
"I always come home, little flame."
A lie.
Tears Lee Han shouldn't be able to shed slid down his cheeks—evaporating before they fell.
The void spat him back onto the battlefield.
Lee Han rose from Kargan's corpse.
The greataxe lay beside a severed arm.
The Seraph Captain was already turning away.
One more dead barbarian meant nothing.
Lee Han picked up the axe.
It was heavier than sin.
A small notification appeared—only for him.
⊳ Master Count: 114 → 113
⊳ Current Rank: E → E+
⊳ Hidden Achievement Unlocked: «One Who Carries Regret»
Lee Han looked at the retreating Seraph host.
Then at the axe in his hands.
Then at the sky that had never known mercy.
"…Thank you," he whispered, voice breaking, "for your memories."
Next time, he would not block.
Next time, he would charge.
He tightened his grip and began walking toward a war that would never end.
Behind him, Kargan's corpse dissolved into black mist—ready to be reborn somewhere else, with no memory of his daughter.
Lee Han did not look back.
There was no one left to apologize to.