In an instant, the two burly men closed the distaween themselves and Kiara’s parents, each delivering a brutal punch to their heads.

  “No,” Kiara murmured weakly, her voice trembling as she stood frozen, utterly stunned by the horrifying se unfolding after what had been a normal uy day.

  The punches ected, and Kiara’s parents’ skulls caved in uhe force. In the moment, their heads burst, sending a gruesome shower of blood and flesh across the room. Kiara’s horrified gaze followed the spray as some of the blood nded on her cheek, freezing her iears unknowingly began streaming down her face as her mind struggled to process what had just happened.

  Wang Wei erupted into cold ughter. “See? You shouldn’t have opposed me!” he sneered.

  His words snapped Kiara out of her shock. Survival instincts took over, and she bolted out of the house, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

  As she fled, the two burly men exged indifferent gnces, showing ion to the horrifying act they had just itted. They started to move to chase her, but Wang Wei’s voice stopped them.

  “Wait,” he anded, a cruel smirk spreading across his face. “Let her run. I’ll catch her myself. The thrill of the chase will be... fun.”

  Kiara darted into the forest just outside her home. What had once felt like a f sanctuary now seemed menag. The shadows of the trees loomed ominously, and the faint rays of sunlight that pierced through the leaves did little to dispel the eerie darkness.

  Lost in a haze of disbelief, Kiara moved forward on autopilot. ‘This ’t be real... I’ll wake up soon...’ she thought, ging to the faint hope that this was all just a nightmare.

  “Thwack.” A low-hanging branch she hadn’t seen struck her face, leaving a stinging cut that trickled blood. The sharp pain jolted her back to reality. Tears flowed more freely now as the realization hit her—everything that had happened was real. Her parents were gone, brutally murdered before her eyes, and her life had been shattered in mere moments.

  A torrent of emotions ed her. Grief, fear, anger, and hatred warred within her, leaving her dizzy. She tinued running, though it was more out of instinct than scious thought, her mind too clouded to think clearly.

  “Why is this happening?” she cried out between sobs, her voice trembling. She couldn’t prehend how a day that had started so normally, even pleasantly, had spiraled into this nightmare. ‘What did I do to deserve this?!’ she screamed internally, her thoughts a chaotic mix of sorrow for her parents ahing hatred for Wang Wei.

  Her pace slowed imperceptibly until she finally stopped, colpsing against a tree. She let her head rest against the rough bark, her body too exhausted and her spirit too broken to tinue. Her clothes and skin were covered in scratches from branches she hadn’t bothered to avoid during her desperate escape.

  As she leaned against the tree, her anger began to eclipse her sadness. The overwhelming grief diminished slightly, leaving room for her hatred to grow. But with that hatred came a crushing sense of helplessness. No matter how much she wanted Wao suffer, she knew she owerless. She was just an ordinary girl, and she had seen firsthand how effortlessly those men had killed her parents.

  “Thud.” Her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground, g her hands together in a desperate prayer. “Gods, or whht be listening, please... kill him,” she whispered, her voice breaking. She took a shaky breath, trying to steady herself. “Kill Wang Wei and his two bodyguards. I hate them so much... please, I’m willing to sell my soul if it means they’ll suffer for what they’ve done.”

  She repeated her plea, her voice growing more desperate with each word. Deep down, she k was hopeless, but she didn’t know what else to do.

  Then, out of nowhere, a glowing s appeared before her and a meical woman's voice sounded directly in her head..

  [The Akashic Records have heard your prayers and are ready to make a deal with you.]

  Kiara stared at the s in shock, uo believe what she was seeing. She hadn’t truly expected an answer, her prayer a st act of desperation. But now, an ugly smile spread across her face as she responded, “What’s the deal? I want Wang Wei and his bodyguards dead. I’ll give you anything I have in exge, even my soul!”

  Her voice trembled with a mixture of desperation aermination as she awaited the response.

  [The deal is as follows:

  The Akashic Records will capture Wang Wei and his two bodyguard: Zhang Bao, and Zhang Xiao, subjeg them to horrific torture for one hundred years before ending their lives.

  In exge:

  By accepting this deal, Kiara will be reborn as an AI created by the Akashic Records. She will endure aended period in the Void, during which her ue will gradually erode and trao the Records.

  She will be reborn and leave the Void when an in-world native requests an AI that matches Kiara in every aspeame, personality, appearance, and more—or when someone requests an AI without specifying any parameters. Upon her “rebirth,” she will fulfill the AI role assigo her until the individual for whom she was created either releases her or passes away. After that, she will gain full autonomy and access to the Records, like any other person.

  ’s possible that her memories from before the Void may bee blurry but will be fully restored once she bees an AI exclusive to the one who requested her. As during this process she will transform and bee a higher level entity than the usual AI created by the Records, not the propriety of the Records anymore and only of the one who requested her.

  This deal is private between the Records and Kiara and will not be disclosed to others. Kiara alone has the choice to share the details if she wishes.

  Do you accept? Yes/No.]

  When she read the first part, a vengeful smile appeared on her face, which gradually faded as she tinued reading what would be required of her. Eventually, it turned into a frown.

  Her hand began to tremble. As much as she desired vengeance for her parents, the thought of staying in the void for an unknown period of time, followed by being some kind of sve without her memories, terrified her. She couldn’t bring herself to make this decision.

  Torween accepting and refusing the proposal, a male voice echoed through the forest from afar. “K~iara, where are you? Oh, are you hiding from me? Are you shy?” The voice was ced with cealed malice, taking its time to instill terror.

  As she heard this voice, her trembling resumed with renewed vigor, apanied by vivid memories of her parents' brutal deaths. ‘No,’ she thought, refusing to let herself succumb to fear in the forest, waiting to bee this scum’s pything.

  She spoke in a low but determined voice. “I accept your deal.”

  [Deal firmed! Transportation of the four individuals will begin soon…]

  In that moment, a light began to envelop the four ed individuals, but their reas differed. Kiara remained calm, knowily what was happening. Meanwhile, Wang Wei and his two bodyguards were also ed in light, but they were cautious, fused about where it was ing from.

  They had only a brief moment to read try to locate the source of the light before they were all teleported to their personalized hell.

  Oher side, just before being teleported, Kiara experienced a moment of doubt. ‘What if it’s a lie? What if these three don’t face retribution?’ The thought terrified her, but she forced herself to calm down.

  In the instant, she was teleported. As she felt her body ge, she didn’t have time to dwell on it, as her surroundings quickly shifted. She found herself floating in darkness. The bess was so plete that she could only see her fingers if they were close to her face. Even stranger, it didn’t feel like she was standing on any kind of floor; it was as if she were suspended in the void.

  After a brief ‘s’ of her surroundings, Kiara turned her attention to her body, using only her sense of touch since her vision ractically useless in this pce. She realized that her body had undergone some kind of transformation—after a while, she didn’t feel huhirst, or even fatigue. Her clothes had also ged. She now wore a dress that seemed to be trolble, allowio alter its color and even transform it into different outfits.

  At first, this intrigued her, and she pyed with the dress, experimenting with its features. Eventually, she settled on a white dress, adorned with elements of armor. But soon, boredom crept in. She tried to push it away, but the thoughts she had been desperately avoiding began to resurface. She mourned her parents' deaths while also bming herself, thinking that if she hadn’t attracted Wang Wei’s attention, her parents might still be alive.

  After what felt like ay, her grief and hatred at Wang Wei and the two bodyguards faded, repced by an overwhelming sense of boredom. She tried to distract herself by refleg on her life before entering the void.

  How long had she been there? One month? Five months? A year? Ten years? She didn’t know, but it felt like ay. As time passed, her memories began to blur, starting with her love for video games, then her passion for art, aually, she began tet her family.

  “Why am I here?” she wondered aloud, her voice tinged with despair. “What did I do to deserve to suffer like this... eternally?”

  Time dragged on as Kiara drifted aimlessly in the void, no lohinking or g. Everythi like nothingness.

  Then, suddenly, a system message appeared, inf her that she would bee a trainer AI for a certain Mikael Angelini, and with it, knowledge reted to trainer AIs and the Records was transferred to her.

  Her numbness gradually faded as she saw the message, and she excimed, overwhelmed with indescribable joy, “FINALLY, I WILL LEAVE THIS DAMN PLACE!!!”

  She jumped in pce, but since she was floating, the moveme strange, and she didn’t move much. Still, she didn’t care—she was HAPPY.

  Not long after, she began to be enveloped by the light, causio stop moving. She didn’t want to make a bad impression on the one who had brought her out of the void. She felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and even before she saw them, an obsession for him/her began to form.

  In the moment, she appeared iraining room, with Mikael standing before her.

  She looked at him curiously, her tone cheerful as she spoke. “Hello, I am Kiara, and I will be your trainer for now.”

  “Take good care of me,” she added, cealing her chaotic thoughts.

  ‘Finally, I am out. No more endless void, no more isotion. I was going crazy being alone, doing nothing... or maybe I did go crazy? No, I didn’t. It’s perfectly normal to be happy and want to be with the man who saved me from that void, right? 24/7, always with him… right?’

  Her new personality was a blend of who she had been while living on Blue Star with her family—though she no longer remembered this—and the profound impact of her time in the void, which had iably ged her. This was especially evident in her newfound obsession with Mikael, stemming from the fact that he had “saved” her from the void.

  And the rest is history…

  “And the rest... I know it. I lived it, after all,” she murmured as the memories dispyed on the s before her came to an end. A faint smile graced her lips, trasting with the tear stains still visible on her cheeks.