Razeal tapped 'Yes'.
A breath caught in his throat. Excitent flared hot in his chest, like adrenaline spiking too fast. He was ready. Or he thought he was.
he'd get to et the Ex-Rank boss villain only ten in all realities.
What would he look like? A beast cloaked in hellfire? A cold, godlike figure radiating death?
His heart thundered.
Then ca the pull. Black space folded around his concious like a vacuum. His consciousness stretched no, yanked sowhere deep and directionless. A mont of weightlessness, a sense of falling without air.
Then release.
His breath snapped back in his lungs.
Eyes opened.
"...Huh?"
He was...
Back? Huh?
Razeal blinked. Once. Twice. The stone courtyard, the ancient sculptures, the oddly serene atmosphere around him all of it looked exactly the sa. Nothing had changed. Not a single grain of dust had shifted. He turned his head, scanning the surroundings again.
Weren't... weren't things supposed to be different? Hadn't he just agreed to transfer into the System Space?
His thoughts stuttered.
"Didn't I... just click Yes?"
His eyes flicked toward the System Screen hovering a few inches from his face.
There it was again. Sa interface. Sa flickering tab.
[Enter EX-Rank System Space?]
Yes / No
His throat went dry. "Ehhh?? Didn't I just click Yes? What the hell happened?"
Was this a glitch? Was the system lagging out? That wasn't supposed to happen. The System was supposed to be absolute. Infinitely reliable.
He stared at the screen like it had personally betrayed him.
"System. Did you finally lose it? Did you start glitching or sothing?"
[Umm noooo, Host. So I guess you didn't even feel it, huh? You did enter the System Space of EX-Rank Villain Valley... but you were killed. Matter of fact, you've died 521 tis. So I pulled you back to not waste your ti.]
Silence.
Razeal's face was frozen. His lips parted, but no sound ca out. His eyes twitched.
"W—What?"
He Blinked.
"Died?! 521 tis?! How the HELL? It's not even been a second! That doesn't even make any sense!"
[Well... 21 milliseconds passed outside. Inside System Space, 42 seconds. Ti runs double speed there.]
[But yes, you died 521 tis. And were revived 521 tis.]
The words felt like lead dropping into his brain.
"No no no no no hold the hell on," Razeal muttered, waving both hands in disbelief. "Even if it's 42 seconds... that's like... what, getting killed once every 0.08 seconds?! That's not even enough ti to MOVE. Or THINK. Or or even blink! How can soone get killed that many tis in a row?!"
He started pacing. Mind racing. Limbs twitching like they were trying to escape the horror on their own.
"So what, the mont I entered that place I just boom dead? On loop? What kind of monster is that EX-Rank Villain?! Is he so mass killer? I didn't even see him! Didn't feel pain! Nothing! Did he attack the mont I arrived?! How?! HOW?!"
[Umm. No. No no no, Host. You've got it all wrong.]
[It's not the EX-Rank Villain who killed you. He didn't attack. Matter of fact He didn't even notice you were there. He wasn't even looking in your direction. You were just... crushed. By the aura. Or more accurately, the sheer pressure of the space shaped by his existence. His intent. His... presence.]
Razeal stopped breathing for a mont.
He felt a chill crawl up his spine, colder than any winter he'd ever known. A slow, sinking dread that made his stomach hollow out but the sheer Bullshit of Logic.
"Wha... what do you an 'crushed'?"
[Let try to explain in a way that even your empty garbage bin of a head can understand.]
[Imagine the System Space like... the core of a star. No, wait. That's still too complex for your micro-noggin. Let's say... imagine you're suddenly teleported millions of miles down into the ocean, where pressure is so absolute it can crush reinforced Holy Armors like Pinching an ant. Now imagine that, but worse. That's what walking into that Villain's System Space was like.]
Razeal's Mouth agape.
"...I died. Not because soone killed . But because I existed sowhere I shouldn't have."
His voice was hollow. Ashen.
"I wasn't even worth noticing... I died like a bug... and he didn't even swat ."
For a long mont, Razeal didn't move. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it was trying to climb up his throat.
He replayed it in his head or tried to. But there was nothing to rember. Just a blur. An empty second. A blank.
"I thought I'd make an entrance. Thought I'd piss him off by respawning repeatedly. Y'know, be annoying, ss with him until he cracks... and make (convince in his language) him give so but he didn't even look at ?."
The realization burned. Sharp.
"I guess clicking Yes thinking I'd confront a monster atleast i can ask his na or atleast see the face atleast... but turns out I can't even breathe the sa air."
He shook his head slowly, eyes glazed with sha.
"I really wanted to et that person... didn't even say hello...Sighh"
"Are all EX-Rank Villains this... like, strong? That I can't even et them? Or should I try another EX-ranked person?" he whispered.
[Yes and no... EX is a rank that cannot be judged by any tier or scale. Think of the ranking system like a glass S, SS, SSS. All of those fit inside the glass. The more power, the fuller the glass is with water. But EX? EX is when the water spills out of that glass entirely. It escapes the asurent itself.]
[Now, imagine that overflowed water. Whether it's a bucketful or maybe it's an ocean, there's no telling. It could be barely over, or vastly beyond. But the glass is no longer useful. Whether it's a bucket or an ocean, you can't asure either using the glass. That's what EX-Rank is. So EXs may be overwhelmingly more powerful than others, but because they've all left the asurent system behind, there's no rank to sort them. They exist outside. And that's why even the weakest EX-Rank is still far beyond what your system can grasp.]
[So no, don't compare. Don't assu you'll find a 'weaker' one. You won't survive any of them... not yet.]
[All in all, take it this way: you're too weak to even stand in places like that. Whether it's the strongest EX or the weakest, they're all... beyond. So I'd recomnd: don't touch this rank until you're strong enough.]
Razeal bit his lip hard. Knuckles clenched, eyes stinging. Deep within, it was hurting his ego being referred to, or taken as an example, as a bug. Being directly called insignificant... no one would like it. Even a normal person wouldn't, let alone soone like him, whose character was literally defined by eternal pride.
"So I'm just that weak..."
There was no comfort. No warm hand on his shoulder. Just cold silence and the dry whir of the hovering System Screen.
[Yes. But hey, bright side: you didn't feel anything. So, not too traumatic, right? Be happy you at least stood in that presence.]
He glared up. "System. Shut. The hell. Up."
[Noted.]
He sat down, stewing in humiliation. His thoughts swirled.
"If that was just aura... then what the hell happens when he does decide to attack? Or when he fights soone on his level? Does the entire dinsion implode?"
"If he never noticed , then I didn't even register as a threat. I wasn't even a blip. Not a presence. I was... less than background noise."
The System had known. It had expected this.
"You anticipated this... didn't you?"
[...Yes. But you needed to see it. Not just hear it. Experience it. At least know where you stand currently.]
Razeal didn't respond.
He just sat on the cracked stone ground in silence, feeling smaller than he ever had.
But sowhere, buried in the cold ashes of his ego, sothing flickered. A pulse. A twitch.
A spark.
Because if that was the bottom... then there was only one way left to go.
Up. One day, he will. He definitely will fight that thing and not only make it notice his presence, but defeat it.
"System. Open SSS-Rank Villain Space for . Put choosing candidate as random."
Their presence won't kill , right? he asked, just to avoid being embarrassed.
[Yes and no. Every SSS-Rank Villain is enough to kill you just by their presence but not like EX-Rank Villains, who do it unknowingly or permanently. So use it all the ti, and so just don't.]
"Hm."
"Alright. Use it."
[Would you like to enter SSS-Rank Villain Valley System Space?]
[Yes or No]
He was sitting down on the ground, crossing his legs obviously, only his consciousness goes into that System Space while his body remains as it is.
Well, so might wonder how can he just sit down in the open like this? Isn't he afraid that a monster or sothing could co? Isn't it unsafe to sit around in a place like this, where everything screams danger?
No. It is safe.
Because well, everyone knows about this place. Or at least, maybe only he knows the truth about it. The truth that this is actually the most dangerous and worst place in all of the Trial.
But to everyone else?
They think of it as useless. As if it has no value. No purpose.
Just trash.
The Graveyard of Forgotten Stone a place where there is nothing.
Nothing except stones. Broken, dusty, useless stones. Crumbled statues lying everywhere. No land, plants, vegetation or life.
Just statues. Dust. And silence.
Even monsters don't co here.
Since all candidates know there are no monsters, and nothing of interest, no one ever cos here.
And so it'll be just... empty. All in all.
And that's why he was calm.
"Do it," he said.
And the sa exact feeling hit him. That disorienting pull, as his consciousness was taken away.
After a few seconds, he finally opened his eyes.
And as he did
He finally saw the different space.
---
User Comments
0 comments from readers