This shouldn't be happening.

  The thought crossed my mind, dry and absolute, as my breath came out in ragged gasps.

  For a moment, I felt the urge to vomit, but I held it back.

  Disgusting and terrifying would be the best way to describe this scene, ripped straight from a horror movie.

  The air was saturated with the thick scent of blood and burnt flesh. The corpses around me still crackled, their bones snapping under the heat of the fmes. Grotesque creatures fed on the remains of the fallen, their maws filled with fangs tearing through flesh and armor as if they were made of the same material.

  And at the center of it all…

  The main vilin of this world y on the ground, unconscious, a pool of blood slowly expanding beneath his body.

  Around him, figures that should have been pilrs of history were on the brink of death.

  A warrior who, in the future, would become a legend and be regarded as an absolute nightmare.

  And an unorthodox mage whose name would echo in bardic songs for centuries.

  All of them reduced to shadows of what they were meant to be. And it hadn’t even been the true protagonist who had done this.

  Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!

  I couldn't hold back the curses in the face of such a scene.

  To hell with the damn etiquette of nobility!

  This was all wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. For real.

  Was this some kind of butterfly effect caused by all my actions?

  Could this have been avoided—or even confronted—if I hadn’t taken advantage of my prior knowledge?

  However, many other things would have gone wrong, right? I mean...

  A crack ran across the surface of the translucent barrier around me.

  My mana was slowly running out.

  The bde of my rapier trembled in my hand. Not from fear, but from exhaustion.

  Could any conviction save me now?

  I stared into the distance just to see him.

  At the edge of the battlefield, he watched me.

  A small, but malevolent smile stretched across his crimson lips.

  He seemed amused, as if he were toying not only with my life but with everyone else's as well.

  The brutal loose end.

  Someone like me… but fundamentally different.

  It was hard to believe that we were the demons here, given all the circumstances.

  Tall, slender, but with an overwhelming presence. His skin was pale, his disheveled bck hair matted with blood. His eyes—cold, expressionless, terrifyingly human—contrasted with the horror surrounding him.

  A single, terrifying human.

  He wasn’t part of the original story.

  He wasn’t even an extra character, for god’s sake! The bastard had never been mentioned, nor had he ever made an appearance in the game!

  Not even as cannon fodder!

  At first, he was never supposed to exist.

  A roar split the air.

  Just in time, I turned to see a beast charging at me.

  Its eyes gleamed with a ravenous red glow, and its serrated cws—still covered in the remains of another victim—glinted as they cut through the fire and smoke.

  My body moved on instinct.

  The rapier slid into my palm as I twisted my wrist. I spun, dodging at the st second, and the bde slid cleanly along the creature’s fnk.

  Something akin to flesh tore apart. A piercing shriek.

  Without giving it time to retreat, I buried the tip of the bde between its ribs. I twisted. The monster exploded into ashes, but I didn’t stop to watch.

  Another one lunged. This time, it wasn’t alone.

  Two beasts, dark as living shadows, their fangs gleaming under the flickering light of the fmes.

  I took a step back. Feet firm. Shoulders rexed.

  I waited. Without much fuss, that was always the key.

  One.

  The first one lunged, its muscles contracting before the leap. My legs bent, and the bde was already moving before my thoughts could even catch up.

  The tip of the rapier pierced its skull precisely. A clean strike. Ashes scattered in the wind.

  For a moment, I inhaled some of the residue and let out dry coughs. However, I didn’t lose my composure.

  Two.

  The second was already upon me.

  It was retively rger and faster than the other.

  These summons were strange. I had never seen them before in my life.

  I rolled to the side, but I felt the heat of warm blood gushing down my arm. My already tattered clothes became even more ragged.

  The pain burned through my nerves, but I ignored it.

  My hands twisted the bde at the st moment.

  The rapier slid across the beast’s throat.

  A clean cut.

  The body colpsed with a dull thud before dissolving into dust.

  My breathing was heavy, the metallic taste of blood clinging to my tongue. I turned my head and spat.

  Each breath burned violently, as if my lungs were lined with bdes.

  Bruises covered my body—smoke lightly emanated from them as my wounds healed at an unnatural speed.

  The blessing of the Blood River still ran strong in my veins. A blessing in times like this.

  Or an exhausting curse, depending on how one looked at it.

  But I couldn’t stop.

  My eyes scanned the battlefield, searching for someone.

  One of my allies—that is, if I could actually call him that.

  The original main vilin of the game’s plot. Vaelion Noctis.

  He remained unconscious, defenseless.

  The shadows around him slithered, like hungry wolves catching the scent of fresh meat.

  One of them, rger than the others, rose from the darkness and shot toward him, fangs bared, crimson eyes bzing with hatred.

  My body moved before my mind even processed it.

  Dust and debris rose as my feet exploded against the ground, propelling me forward.

  — Velum Aeternum.

  Magic flowed from the tip of my tongue.

  It was one of the few spells I could use effectively.

  The air around me twisted. Silver lines emerged, tracing intricate patterns in the space.

  And then, the veil fell. It was simir to the thin yer that protected me from the scorching heat of the fmes.

  A translucent circle formed around the vilin’s unconscious body, pulsing as if made of liquid gss.

  The shadow creature’s cws struck the barrier and were immediately repelled, the force of impact sending ripples of light through the space.

  Another monster emerged from the shadows to my left, lunging without hesitation.

  My eyes caught every movement.

  The angle of its leap. The tension in its muscles. The exact moment its cws began to descend.

  I let out a short breath.

  The rapier spun in my hand.

  A single step to the side. Precise. Controlled.

  The bde found flesh before the cws could touch me.

  It slid between the beast’s ribs, piercing its chest with the ease of a knife through silk.

  The monster froze.

  For a moment, its mouth opened in a roar that was never voiced.

  And then, nothing.

  Only ashes.

  I looked forward again. I might have killed a few beasts, but the battlefield was far from silent.

  He was still there.

  The human who wasn’t supposed to exist.

  Full of confidence, he met my gaze once more, unshaken, treating everything around him as nothing more than a passing breeze.

  I was certain...

  Certain that if he remained alive…

  Then, even if the protagonist—the long-awaited hero of the human prophecy—never awakened, even if that fate was rewritten…

  This world was doomed.