I lay beneath a dark, lightless sky.
Each flash of lightning cutting through the black clouds briefly illuminated my blood-soaked body. Every breath I took felt as if a sharp arrow was tearing through my chest. Poison flowed through my veins, gnawing at my heart.
'What kind of poison is this? I can't use magic.'
I clenched my teeth hard.
Suddenly, lightning tore across the sky, and in the afterimage it left behind, a silhouette appeared above me.
"The poison's effect seems to be getting stronger," the figure said, glancing down at me.
The voice rang clearly in my ears, sharp like the toll of a bell.
I recognized it instantly.
Dark.
The man who had been my friend… my companion… until this very day.
Despite the poison's agony tearing my muscles apart, I raised my hand and reached toward him.
"Why…? Wh—why…?" I asked, my voice choking in my throat.
"Why did you do this?"
He looked down at me with an emotionless face.
"This is all your fault," he said quietly.
"You protected people and made them weak. You made them dependent on you. I will free them."
He snapped his fingers.
"I will correct this mistake. As long as you exist, humanity will never be able to truly grow."
His words dragged me into deep thought.
'What did I do wrong? I only saved people. I helped them. What was so wrong about that?'
While I was lost in those thoughts, I heard footsteps.
Two burly men appeared behind him. One of them carried a woman's corpse over his shoulder. The wounds on her body clearly bore the marks of brutal violence.
They threw her body down beside me.
At that moment, my gaze fell upon her ring finger.
The instant I saw the ring, my entire body froze.
Memories surged before my eyes—
The time I had spent with her.
Her bright smile.
The way her fingers gently brushed through my white hair.
'She… is gone.'
"Why did you kill her?!" I shouted in rage.
Dark replied in a cold, emotionless voice.
"I never wanted to kill her. She forced my hand. I asked her to poison you—but she refused. So I eliminated that weakness."
"Weakness?!" I growled, grinding my teeth.
"Yes. Trust is weakness. Believing in someone and forgetting your own future is also weakness."
The pain inside me was no longer physical.
It was fury.
I fell silent. My breathing grew shallow. My heart pounded violently.
Then… I felt nothing at all.
I even forgot that I was breathing.
With a scream, I forced myself to stand.
"DARK!"
I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.
He did not resist. He simply looked at me calmly.
"You can't kill me. Don't waste your effort," he said, gripping my wrist.
"Death doesn't frighten me. I possess power beyond it."
His composure made me hesitate.
'Does he really have such power?'
At that moment, the poison reminded me—my time was running out.
"Power stronger than death? Then let's see."
I gathered every last drop of mana within my body.
I used my final spell—
A unique magic no one in this world had ever witnessed.
With everything I had, I began forcibly draining all the magic from Dark's body.
His mana flowed into mine. As it poured in, I felt strength swelling within my arms.
But the poison betrayed me.
It began destroying the mana as quickly as it entered my body.
Dark's eyes widened in shock as he felt his magic being taken away.
"Hey! What is this?! How are you doing this?!" he shouted, struggling.
But it was too late.
Suddenly, a burning pain tore through my throat. Blood burst from my mouth with a bitter taste. I covered it with my free hand and stared at my palm, dyed crimson.
'My body is burning. My breathing is failing. I can't endure any longer.'
I realized I was living my final moments.
'But… I still have enough strength to kill Dark!'
Driven by sheer will, I continued holding onto him. I had already taken nearly half of his power.
Then—
The masked figures behind him lunged forward, plunging their swords into my abdomen. My blood splattered onto the ground. My spell faded, and my body went limp.
I collapsed.
As I lay there, barely alive, my ears could no longer hear anything.
My fading vision caught sight of Dark shouting in panic.
Suddenly, Dark drew a dagger.
He raised it high above his head — and drove it straight into my heart.
My body slowly grew cold. I felt my final breath leaving me.
My life began to replay before my eyes—my loved ones, my adventures, my journeys.
As those memories passed before me, a single thought surfaced.
'My life was not meaningless.'
My heartbeat slowed…
Slower…
And within seconds, it stopped.
Everything vanished into silence.
Then darkness took over.
***
Darkness. Endless silence.
Only me—and a faint light radiating from my own existence.
I didn't know how much time had passed. From the moment I opened my eyes again, I had been drifting through an endless void.
"Where am I? What kind of place is this?" I muttered in confusion.
No answer came—only the echo of my own voice.
'This power… I never had it before. Who did I take it from?'
As I thought about it, Dark's face surfaced in my mind.
But I could do nothing.
I could only drift through the darkness.
Days passed. Days turned into years. Years became centuries.
'How much time has passed?'
There was no way to tell. Time itself had lost meaning here.
'I'm surprised I haven't gone insane yet.'
Then, one day—
A faint light appeared within the darkness, shining like a tiny sun.
'What is that?!'
I drifted toward it.
'Light? How can light exist here?'
The moment I touched it, my consciousness faded.
Then I saw it—
A newborn child inside a mother's womb.
At that instant, I understood everything.
"The power Dark spoke of… reincarnation."