Darkness wasn't just the absence of light anymore.
It had weight.
It pressed down on me like a soaked blanket thrown over a corpse—thick, suffocating, smelling like rust and old copper. Blood. My blood.
I was slumped against the cold stone wall of the Black Cell, legs bent in directions legs really shouldn't bend. My hands were shackled above my head, anti-magic cuffs digging into my wrists. The metal had fused with torn skin by now. Every tiny movement peeled something open again.
I tried to blink.
Only one eye closed.
The other…
There was nothing there.
Just a hollow, throbbing emptiness on the left side of my face. A wet socket, sticky with dried blood and exposed nerve endings. If I focused hard enough, I could still feel it—the phantom twitch of an eye that didn't exist anymore.
'I look like a monster.'
The thought floated through the haze.
If Sarah saw me like this, she'd scream.
If Edwin saw me, he'd probably throw up.
I wasn't a person anymore. I was broken bones and shredded flesh stitched together by sheer stubbornness—and a system that just wouldn't let me die properly.
Anyone else would've snapped by now. Bit their tongue off. Begged for the end.
But I couldn't.
'Alisia.'
Her name hooked into my skull and refused to let go.
'I promised. I said I wouldn't leave her behind. I said I'd handle this.'
If I lost myself here—if the pain chewed through my mind until I was just some drooling shell—then that promise would turn into a lie.
And I hate liars.
But God… holding on was getting harder.
The pain wasn't just physical anymore. It felt spiritual. Like someone had pulled my soul out, unfolded it like a map, crumpled it up wrong, and shoved it back inside me.
'Why?'
The question circled my brain like a vulture.
'What did I even do?'
Did I burn villages?
Did I slaughter innocents?
Did I sign some demonic contract for power?
No.
I fought.
I stood in the dungeon when that A-rank demon descended.
I held the line when demons flooded the Academy.
I killed thousands of them to protect students who couldn't even hold a sword properly yet.
And where were the SS-rankers then?
Where was the Council?
Up in their ivory towers. Drinking wine. Debating policy. Playing politics while kids bled out on stone floors.
I protected them.
'And this is my reward.'
A black cell. A torture rack. A hole where my eye used to be.
It would've been funny if it wasn't so disgusting. Somewhere along the line, I'd forgotten what kind of world this really was. I'd gotten comfortable. Thought maybe this fantasy world ran on logic. On karma.
It didn't.
This place was a meat grinder. A machine that crushed people to fuel the ambitions of the powerful. They didn't care that I saved the Academy. Gratitude? That was for fairy tales.
They only cared about control.
Was the anomaly useful?
Could it be leashed?
If not, could it be dissected?
They decided I was a villain before I ever committed a crime.
'Did I ask for this?'
Did I ask to be transmigrated?
Did I ask for a system?
No. I just wanted to live.
My broken fingers curled into a fist against the wall.
Clank.
The heavy iron door groaned open.
Blinding white light flooded the cell, slicing through the dark like a blade.
I didn't flinch. Didn't have the energy.
Liam von Ravel walked in.
He moved like he was entering a ballroom, not a dungeon. White suit immaculate. Not a speck of dust. White gloves. A silk handkerchief pressed lightly over his nose as his eyes narrowed at the smell of my blood.
He stopped a few feet away and looked at me like I was roadkill that had failed to rot on schedule.
"You're still alive?"
He sounded genuinely surprised. Not impressed. Just… confused. Like he'd forgotten about a toy he left outside and couldn't believe it still worked.
Absurd.
He was the one ordering the Healer. The one breaking me, then patching me up, over and over.
And now he acted like my survival was a personal decision.
I forced my cracked lips into something resembling a smile. It probably looked horrifying.
"Because of your care," I rasped, voice scraping like gravel in a blender, "I feel… wonderful. Like I'm in a garden. Morning sun. Birds chirping."
I tilted my head. The shackles rattled.
"Want to switch spots? The view's… breathtaking."
He stared at me.
"Hahahahaha!"
Then he laughed.
Loud. Genuine. Like I'd just delivered the punchline of the year. It bounced off the damp stone walls and made my skin crawl.
He stepped closer and patted my shattered shoulder.
"You're good at joking," he said, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye. "I don't even feel hungry anymore. Your spirit feeds me enough."
And then—
The laughter stopped.
Just like that.
His face went blank. Cold. Analytical.
"You're interesting, Alden."
He paced slowly.
"Logically speaking, it's impossible for one body to hold two souls. The Authority of the World—the laws of existence—don't allow redundancy like that. When a foreign soul enters a vessel, rejection happens. The body rots. The mind fractures. Mana cores explode."
He stopped in front of me.
"But you? Broken. Flayed. Mentally shattered… and yet perfectly aligned. No rejection. No instability."
He leaned closer.
"Like you always belonged here."
His head tilted.
"Like this world was meant to have you."
He crouched until our faces were level.
"Tell me, Alden. What are you? A homunculus? A god's error? A glitch in reality?"
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"Maybe if you tell me… I'll give you an easy death. A hero's death. For saving the Academy."
I looked at him.
This man who thought he understood the universe because he could crush it with gravity.
"Heh.heh-heh..."
And I laughed.
Weak. Wet. But mine.
"Hero?" I coughed. Iron filled my mouth. "You think I care about a title? You think that matters when I'm sitting in my own blood?"
I leaned forward as far as the chains allowed, staring into his dead-black eyes with my one remaining eye.
"I'm not dying," I whispered. "Not until I keep my promise."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? A vow? Even while you're being unmade?"
He sighed.
"Sad. To see such a pretty promise about to be destroyed."
He pulled off his gloves slowly. One finger at a time. Dropped the white silk into the dirt.
His bare hands were pale.
The veins underneath weren't blue.
They were dark purple.
He stepped closer.
"Do you know what the other SS-rankers call me?"
Silence.
He leaned in, hand hovering inches from my chest.
"The Arcane Leech."
He smiled.
And touched me.
[WARNING]
[WARNING]
[CRITICAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED]
The scream didn't come from my throat.
It came from my soul.
This wasn't pain. Pain had structure. Pain was a signal.
This was chaos.
It felt like someone opened a drain at the bottom of my existence.
A red light spiraled out from his hand, wrapping around me. Heavy. Suffocating. SS-rank authority locking me in place. Freezing time around my body. I couldn't pass out. Couldn't die. Couldn't escape.
He started feeding.
"Yes…" Liam moaned softly. "There it is."
My mana didn't drain.
It was ripped out in chunks.
[Mana Capacity Decreasing…]
[Rank Dropping: A+ → A → B+...]
Then my authorities.
My connection to the Void.
To the Stars.
Threads snapping one by one.
[Stellar Mana Authority: Stolen]
[Void-Walker Authority: Destabilized]
"More," he whispered.
I went limp.
A husk.
Life force flickering, siphoned straight into the monster above me.
Helpless.
Absolute, crushing helplessness.
'Is this it?'
'Is this how the anomaly ends? Eaten by a leech in a basement?'
But he didn't stop.
He had the mana. The power.
He wanted something else.
I felt him digging. Past my core. Past my mind.
Into the foundation.
He froze.
His eyes snapped open, manic delight exploding across his face.
"Oh my…"
He saw it.
Deep inside my soul's architecture—glowing gold.
My Innate Ability.
[Growth Acceleration]
"How?" he whispered, trembling with greed. "An innate ability at this tier… it defies conservation laws."
'He's going for it.'
Terror hit harder than torture ever had.
Innate abilities are bound to the soul's origin. They aren't transferable.
But Liam didn't care about impossible.
He reached in.
Grabbed the golden light.
[ERROR...]
[ERROR...]
[SYSTEM INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]
My soul screamed.
A paradox being forced into existence.
He pulled.
"It's mine!" he shrieked. "The power to grow without limit!"
Darkness closed in.
'I'm sorry, Alicia.'
'I tried.'
And then—
The universe noticed.
Not a sound.
Not a spell.
A correction.
He had touched something that didn't belong to this world.
Tried to steal a cheat code from a system outside his jurisdiction.
And the System…
was possessive.
[SSS+ Luck Triggered]
[Causality Manipulation: ACTIVE]
[Threat Assessment: EXISTENTIAL]
[Countermeasure: DIVINE JUDGMENT]
The ceiling didn't break.
It stopped existing.
Space tore open. Not a portal.
A wound.
And from that wound—
Heaven answered.
A pillar of blinding white wrath slammed down.
Not lightning.
Weaponized karma.
The sky deciding Liam von Ravel had overstepped.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The sound bypassed ears. It shook souls.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHH!"
Liam didn't dodge.
He was launched.
His Anti-Magic coat disintegrated instantly.
His flawless skin charred black in a heartbeat.
The connection snapped.
He slammed into the far wall, cracking enchantments, smoke rising from half his body.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" he screamed, clutching his burnt face. "WHAT IS THAT LIGHT?!"
He scrambled backward.
Terrified.
Like I was some radioactive singularity.
I lay there unconscious.
Broken.
But free.
The red binding light faded.
The System spoke one last time.
[Host Condition: CRITICAL]
[Location: UNSAFE]
[Emergency Protocol: INITIATED]
[Instant Teleportation Processing…]
The air twisted.
Shadows rose—not to bind me.
To protect me.
Liam looked up, horror widening his one good eye as space warped around me.
"No!" he rasped, reaching out with a trembling, burnt hand. "You belong to m—"
Pop.
Air rushed inward.
The shackles fell to the empty floor.
I was gone.