The sky wasn't bleeding.
It was gone.
The atmosphere had been ripped away ten minutes ago. Replaced by the suffocating, cosmic static of the Outer Gods.
Gravity? A suggestion.
Physics? A memory.
Hope? Error 404.
And Arthur? The Chosen Hero? The Beacon of the West? The man carrying the fate of 8 billion human souls in his inventory?
He was crying.
He was actually, physically, sobbing.
"I... I can't do it!" Arthur screamed. His voice cracked like a pre-pubescent streamer losing a ranked match. "He has a soul too, Seraphina! If we kill him, we're no better than the monsters!"
I lay twenty meters away.
I was currently buried under a pile of radioactive rubble that used to be the Tokyo Tower.
My legs were crushed. Paste. Red jelly inside cheap, clearance-aisle denim.
I tried to laugh.
It came out as a wet, hacking cough that sprayed black blood onto the shattered concrete.
[HP: 0.01%]
[Status: Critical Failure. Bleeding. Poisoned. Cursed. Mocked by Fate.]
"Are you..." I wheezed, my lungs filling with fluid. "Are you kidding me?"
Twenty years.
Twenty years of hell.
I spent two decades carrying this idiot's bags.
I carried his potions. I sharpened his sword. I cooked his vegan meals while he flirted with the Saintess. I managed his PR. I did his taxes.
I threw myself into a goblin pit to buy him five seconds to cast a spell.
And now?
At the Final Boss? At the End of the World?
He wants to debate ethics.
BOOM.
The ground shook. Tectonic plates snapped like dry twigs.
The Demon Emperor didn't care about Arthur's moral dilemma.
A towering mass of obsidian scales, burning hate, and cosmic indifference. He looked at us like a programmer looks at a bug in the code.
He raised a hand the size of a city block.
Mana gathered.
It wasn't magic. It was a Deletion Command.
[Warning: Extinction Event Detected.]
[Skill:
"Arthur!" The Saintess Seraphina shrieked. Her golden armor was cracked, useless, revealing the panicked girl beneath. "Strike him! Use the Excalibur! It's the only way!"
Arthur lowered the sword.
The glowing holy blade dimmed. It vomited light, reacting to his pathetic will.
"No," Arthur whispered, tears streaming down his flawless, K-Pop idol face. "I can change him. The Power of Love is the strongest stat!"
I watched from the floor.
My vision was blurring.
You absolute potato.
You waste of oxygen.
You SSS-Rank disappointment.
The Demon Emperor didn't monologue. He didn't offer redemption. He didn't wait for the anime flashback.
[Activation.]
He snapped his fingers.
A beam of pure, concentrated "NO" descended from the heavens.
It hit Seraphina first.
She didn't even scream. One second she was a Saintess, the next she was red mist and a statistic.
[Party Member 'Seraphina' Status: DEAD.]
"Seraphina!" Arthur wailed, falling to his knees.
He didn't raise his shield. He didn't parry.
He just stared up at the beam, mouth open, looking like a surprised fish.
Then the light took him.
The Chosen One. The Hero. The Trillion-Dollar Investment of Humanity.
Vaporized.
Burned away like a grease stain on a cheap frying pan.
[Party Member 'Arthur' Status: DEAD.]
[Quest Failed: Save the World.]
[Result: Total Planetary Wipe.]
Silence.
The roar of the beam faded. The dust settled.
There was nothing left.
Just me.
Cain Cross. F-Rank Porter.
The trash. The extra. The NPC.
I dragged my broken body forward, clawing at the dirt with fingernails that were already peeling off.
Why was I still alive?
Simple.
I was so weak, the Demon Emperor didn't even aim at me.
I wasn't a threat. I was an ant watching a boot crush the rest of the hill.
"Hey," I croaked.
The Demon Emperor paused. He looked down.
Those eyes were like dying stars. Infinite. Cold. Bored.
"You missed a spot," I spat.
I hated him.
But I hated Arthur more.
I hated the Guilds who sent us here with under-leveled gear because they wanted to save money for their quarterly reports.
I hated the Gods who watched this like a twitch stream, spamming emotes while we burned.
[Synchronization Rate Increasing...]
I looked at the broken Excalibur lying in the ash.
It was ten feet away.
My legs didn't work.
So I crawled.
Pull. Drag. Scream. Repeat.
My skin tore off against the jagged rocks. I left a trail of meat and blood behind me like a slug.
The Demon Emperor watched.
He looked... amused?
"Verming," the Emperor's voice boomed. It bypassed my ears and vibrated my skull, liquefying my molars. "The Hero is dead. Do you think you can slay a God with a broken stick?"
I reached the sword.
My hand wrapped around the hilt.
SIZZLE.
It burned. Holy energy rejected me. It cooked my palm like bacon on a grill.
[System Warning: You are F-Rank.]
[You cannot wield a Divine Weapon.]
[Your arm will explode in 3... 2...]
"Shut up," I snarled.
I squeezed harder.
My bones cracked. The flesh blackened. The smell of my own cooked meat filled my nose.
"I don't want to save the world," I whispered to the sword.
The Demon Emperor raised his hand again. The final blow.
I stared at him. I didn't blink.
"I just want to kill everything that put me here."
Something snapped.
Not my bones.
The World.
[Alert: Anomaly Detected.]
[User 'Cain Cross' possesses trait:
[Willpower exceeds System Parameters.]
The Demon Emperor flicked his finger.
A shockwave of death rushed toward me.
I didn't care.
I saw the "Game Over" screen flickering in the air.
If I had another chance...
I wouldn't be the Porter.
I wouldn't be the "Side Character."
I wouldn't help the Hero.
I would stab him in the throat and take his job.
I would hoard every item. I would steal every skill. I would memorize every walkthrough.
I would burn the Guilds. I would enslave the Kings.
I would turn this whole damn apocalypse into my personal ATM.
[Conditions Met.]
[Secret Achievement Unlocked:
The shockwave hit me.
My body disintegrated.
Pain?
No.
It felt like... victory.
——————————————————————————————————————————
[Initializing...]
[System Reboot.]
[Loading Save File: "Day One".]
[Error. Soul corrupted by Timeline Residue.]
[Compensating...]
[Trait Awarded: The Usurper of Flesh & Soul (SSS).]
——————————————————————————————————————————
GASPPPP!
I sat up.
Air. Sweet, polluted, smoggy air.
I wasn't in the wasteland.
I wasn't bleeding out on a rock.
I looked at my hands.
They were unscarred. Small. Weak.
But whole.
I looked down.
My legs. They moved.
I wiggled my toes.
[Dopamine Spike: 100%.]
I scrambled to my feet.
I was standing on a cliff.
Below me, a crowd of thousands cheered. Banners waved in the wind. The smell of cheap hotdogs and expensive perfume filled the air.
"All Hail the Awakened!"
"The Age of Heroes begins today!"
I knew this place.
The Whispering Cliffs.
Twenty years ago.
Today.
I turned my head.
To my right, standing on a podium, wearing pristine white silk robes, waving to the adoring masses.
Him.
Arthur.
He looked young. Hopeful. Stupid.
He was smiling that same, arrogant, punchable smile. The smile of a man who has never worked a day in his life.
"Isn't it beautiful, Cain?" Arthur beamed at me, not realizing the monster standing next to him. "Today, we get our Classes! I hope I get something cool, like a Paladin! Don't worry, if you get 'Farmer', I'll protect you."
My hand twitched.
I could feel the phantom weight of the Excalibur. I could feel the ghost of the fire burning my palm.
I checked the time on the holographic clock floating above the square.
[11:58 AM.]
Two minutes.
In two minutes, the System initiates.
In two minutes, the Mana Wave hits.
In two minutes, a Level 50 [Dungeon Boss: Void Spider] spawns right on top of this crowd and eats half the village as a "Tutorial Event."
In the original timeline, Arthur survived by hiding behind me.
I lost my kidney. He got the kill. He got the XP. He became the Hero.
Arthur clapped a hand on my shoulder.
"We're going to save the world, buddy!"
I looked at his hand.
Then I looked at his throat.
A dark, twisted grin spread across my face. It felt foreign. It felt right.
"No, Arthur," I whispered, stepping closer.
I reached into my pocket.
I didn't have a sword.
But I had a rusted iron dagger I used to cut apples.
"I am going to save the world."
[Time until Impact: 00:00:10]
"You?" Arthur laughed, tilting his head back. "You're just—"
SHUNK.
The sound was wet. Soft.
Intimate.
I drove the rusted blade into the soft spot between his collarbone and his neck.
Arthur's eyes went wide.
He tried to scream, but only a gurgle of blood came out.
"C-Cain?" he mouthed.
I twisted the blade.
"Shh," I soothed him, bringing my lips to his ear as he slumped against me. "Don't fight it. You were going to fail anyway."
The crowd was cheering too loud to hear the murder.
They thought we were hugging.
A brotherly embrace before the ceremony. How touching.
Arthur's knees gave out. I held him up. I needed him alive for ten more seconds.
[Time until Impact: 00:00:03]
The sky darkened.
The mana gathered.
[Time until Impact: 00:00:01]
[System Online.]
[Welcome to the Apocalypse.]
A purple crack tore open the sky directly above us. The Void Spider shrieked, descending like a nightmare made of chitin and hunger.
The crowd screamed. Panic. Chaos.
But I didn't look at the monster.
I looked at the text appearing in front of my eyes.
[Target: Arthur Pendragon (Unawakened Hero).]
[Health: CRITICAL.]
I ripped the knife out.
Blood sprayed across my face. It tasted like copper and profit.
Arthur fell.
[You have killed a Key Story Character.]
[Destiny Shattered.]
[Effect of Trait
My left hand began to glow with a crimson, hungry mist. It felt cold, like reaching into a grave.
I reached down and grabbed Arthur's dying face.
"Thanks for the tutorial, meat shield."
[Stealing SSS-Rank Talent: 100% Drop Rate...]
[SUCCESS.]
The world froze.
I stood over the corpse of the savior, covered in blood, smiling at the incoming spider that was about to slaughter everyone I knew.
"Let the loot shower begin."