The world celebrated New Year's Eve with fireworks and laughter, but for me, it was the night the sky bled.
My name is Rudra. At seventeen, I am what society calls an anomaly—and not the good kind. Standing at five-foot-three with a voice so soft it's often mistaken for a girl's, I've spent my life being a target. But I wasn't just a victim. I was the curious kid. While others ran from trouble, I watched it. I studied the way shadows moved, the way people's eyes twitched when they lied, and the way the world functioned in its dark corners.
That curiosity was my only weapon in a world that saw me as nothing.
Then, The Glitch happened.
As the countdown to midnight began, the neons of the city didn't just flicker—they shattered. The sky, once a deep velvet blue, fractured like a massive digital screen hit by a hammer. Real-time reality was being overwritten by something cold and systematic.
I found myself drawn to a narrow alleyway, far from the celebrating crowds. The air smelled of ozone and ancient dust. There, resting amidst the filth, was a jagged shard of stone. It wasn't just a rock; it pulsed with a hypnotic, dual-colored glow—a swirling mixture of Deep Purple and Bloody Red.
It was beautiful. It was terrifying.
I reached out, my fingers trembling. The moment my skin touched the surface, the coldness of the stone turned into a searing, white-hot agony.
[Initialization Complete...]
[System: Murderous Ruin Stone detected.]
[Host: Rudra synchronized.]
A scream caught in my throat as a tattoo of Bloody Flames began to etch itself into my right forearm, burning my flesh with the weight of a thousand sins. The system's voice echoed in my skull—mechanical, devoid of mercy.
But the pain of the tattoo was nothing compared to the sound that followed. A cry. A familiar, defiant roar of pain.
"Aryan!" I choked out, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Aryan and I were more than just neighbors. We grew up sharing the same old wall between our houses, communicating through rhythmic knocks when our parents were asleep. To the world, Aryan was a selfish bastard. He was cold, calculated, and wouldn't lift a finger to help a stranger. But for me? He was my fortress. He had spent seventeen years taking every hit intended for me, shielding my curiosity with his own body.
He was a skilled fighter, a man who knew how to handle himself in a brawl, but as I rounded the corner, I realized even a lion can be brought down by a pack of hyenas.
Aryan was on the ground, his face a mask of crimson. Four thugs, their eyes gleaming with sadistic joy, had him cornered. Aryan was still fighting—his knuckles were raw, and his eyes were wide and conscious—but he was losing blood fast. Every time he tried to stand, a heavy boot would find his ribs.
"Is that all you've got, hero?" one of the thugs sneered, spitting on the concrete where Aryan's blood was pooling.
Aryan didn't beg. He just looked at me, his one good eye flashing a warning: Run.
My vision turned red. If I didn't have this stone, if I didn't have this system, I would have still jumped into that fray with my bare teeth. I would have died for him because he had lived for me.
Suddenly, the purple-red glow of the stone flared in my mind. A holographic screen manifested in front of my eyes, casting a ghostly light over the alleyway.
[Notice: Primary Bond 'Aryan' detected in critical condition.]
[Generating Quest: The Debt of Blood.]
[Objective: Neutralize the threats in 5 Minutes.]
[Reward: 2000 Crystals + 1 Lower Health Potion.]
[Penalty: Death.]
Health Potion. The words burned into my brain. If I won, I could save him. If I failed, we both died here in the dirt.
"You made him bleed," I whispered. My voice didn't sound like mine anymore. It was low, vibrating with a thousand years of malice.
The thugs turned, laughing as they saw a 5.3-foot kid standing there. "What are you gonna do, princess? Cry us a river?"
I took a step. No sound. No vibration.
[Activating Mode: Silent Killer.]
[Core Skill: Gluttony is starving.]
"For every drop of blood he lost," I said, my gaze locking onto the leader's throat, "I will give you a hundred times the pain. I will get that potion, and I will watch you crawl."
The air in the alleyway turned frigid. The laughter died in their throats as they felt it—the suffocating weight of a predator who no longer knew fear.
[5 Minutes Countdown Starts Now.]