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Agony jolted me awake.
Pain exploded in my gut like molten fire. My fingers clawed at the ground, not dirt, but ash-soaked soil damp with blood and moonlight. Silence pressed in. Skeletal trees loomed overhead. The air reeked of decay and iron. I scanned my surroundings, desperate to understand.
The torment in my abdomen was unbearable, clouding every thought. One moment I had finished a ruined route in my favorite game, [Sinner Academy: Love At The End Of The World]. The next… I was pulled into the TV and torn apart?
No, no, no—this can't be real! Ugh! Why does my stomach hurt so much?! Why am I on the ground? Where am I?!
Then I saw it. A twisted, serrated knife protruded from my stomach, pulsing with purple venom. Black veins festering from the wound. I gasped, gagging as unfamiliar memories flooded inside my mind, images, visions, voices that weren't mine.
"…He's still alive," a voice murmured. "I thought he died when he collapsed…"
I turned toward the sound and saw an armored knight in pitch-black plate wielding a long mechanical spear.
"He won't last long. The venom is designed specifically to kill dragons like him."
Another figure approached, clad in sleek gray armor etched with serpentine patterns. A glowing insignia marked his shoulder: Vultarn High Dominion.
"H-Help me…" I pleaded. "I-I'm not who you think! I don't know what's happening! Please, you have the wrong person!"
I assumed it was a case of mistaken identity, some criminal mix-up.
"What is he babbling about?"
"Ignore him. He's as good as dead."
"A-Ah…! W-Why?! Why—Ugh?!"
I glanced down at a small pool of silver liquid on the ground. In its reflection, I saw a face that wasn't mine.
Delicate and pale as death, with faint yellow eyes, long curly white hair, and spiraling horns rising from each temple.
Shock rooted me in place. My hands trembled as they touched my face and horns, confirming the impossible. Foreign thoughts surged, regal memories of pride, war councils, noble burdens, a world ravaged by Fantasy, bitter frustration at my own lack of talent despite draconic blood.
I blinked.
A name resonated deep in my soul.
Prince Louis Drakeheart Yggdrasil, Heir of Frostbane, Bloodline of Dragons, Grandson of the Dragon King.
Flashes of battles, a smile not my own, a crown steeped in ice and hatred. I was trapped inside another body.
No, I had become someone else.
There's no way…
A game memory surfaced: Prince Louis, the mid-game antagonist. Ruthless. Charismatic. Born of cursed dragon blood. The villain players were meant to hate—the one who opposed Mirai.
I turned into this mid-game boss? This guy? Louis? Seriously?
I—no, Louis—clenched my fists. Disbelief warred with the searing pain in my gut. Without it, I might have convinced myself this was a nightmare. But the agony was too real.
Louis Drakeheart was the child of an Anomaly from Yggdrasil and a Scientist-Esper from the VPI—the first known hybrid of otherworldly being and human.
As son of Benladra Drakeheart, eldest daughter of Yggdrasil's Dragon King, Louis inherited her bloodline. Everyone placed high hopes on him.
Yet his blood was cursed. Human and dragon did not mix well. His draconic powers never awakened. He could not transform or forge a Dragon Heart.
Raised under constant disappointment, he developed a deep inferiority complex, growing resentful toward the world, especially those with natural talent, like the protagonist Mirai. He antagonized her at every turn.
Using drugs to force growth, Louis pushed his limits and eventually challenged Mirai and her party, seeking to kill her, claim her Fantasy Heart, devour her Spiral of Incarnations, and overcome his curse.
But like any mid-boss, he fell to Mirai's group. He wasn't even difficult. I remembered how easily Louis died, a memory that now stung the merging Louis ego as both minds clashed.
Ahhh… Ugh…
My vision blurred. A pounding headache split my skull as memories from two lives collided, slowly fusing into one.
I tried to stand but collapsed, I felt weak and exhausted. Even the stomach wound barely registered anymore.
I just wanted to sleep.
This has to be a dream… I'm a human from Earth… I'm… human… Ugh…!
The armored men stared at me with contempt as I mumbled incoherently. Foam bubbled from my mouth. My body convulsed until my eyes rolled back, fixed on the eerie forest.
Then I went still, lips twitching as if trying to speak.
It felt so unfair. Why me?
I had no idea Louis was meant to be poisoned or stabbed. Was this even part of the original story?
I just arrived… and I'm dying again…?
Poison coursed through my veins as I drew my final breath.
My empty eyes stared at the blue sky.
The last thing I could remember were the armored men regarding my corpse coldly before dragging it away.
♢♢♢♢
I drifted in eternal darkness, surrounded by the screams of billions of tormented souls. A river of shadows pulled me deeper.
"Where… what is this?"
My eyes opened. And then I saw something.
Above stretched an endless void faintly lit by five glowing thrones, each radiating meanings I could not comprehend.
I averted my gaze from those brilliant, mind-corrupting beings and looked down at the purgatory below.
Millions of souls wailed in horror and pain. Thousands of shadow claws reached for me. I stared in disbelief, struggling to grasp the nightmare.
After hearing a trusted rumor of a Resonance Heart forming in the First Layer of the Dimensional Labyrinth—the Forest of Hollow Salt—I had rushed to the coordinates, desperate for anything to awaken my dormant powers.
The foolish prince walked straight into a trap. Ambushed by Vultarn High Dominion soldiers, beaten senseless, then stabbed with a dragon-slaying poisoned knife.
Now I fell deeper into purgatory, shadow claws dragging me down as tormented screams filled my mind.
"No…!"
Panic consumed me. I fought the souls, but it only enraged them further. Flames licked at my essence.
My soul tore open. Claws burrowed into my existence. Memories fragmented. My sense of self faded.
Black claws gripped tighter, ripping a hole through my chest.
CRACK!
"NO, NO, NO! NOOO!"
In horror, I peered into the wound.
Something was inside.
Revulsion flooded me at the sight.
An ashen creature emerged from my shattered soul.
The wailing specters recoiled, screaming at its presence.
Tall and skeletal, with elongated limbs like a mummified corpse, it unfurled desiccated black butterfly wings, as if I had been merely its cocoon.
Both Louis and I knew what it was.
"An Anomaly?! W-What…! Why is an Anomaly inside my soul?!"
The entity stared at me. Its bony face twisted into a smile. Empty sockets flickered with faint red light.
"I am thou, thou art I…"
This was neither me nor Louis.
Something monstrous dwelled within, a horror beyond imagination.
The entity seized my soul and soared upward, escaping purgatory.
"Oh my dear prince… we cannot die yet… not yet…"
"We?"
"Not until I destroy your family and claim vengeance against your grandfather."
"Who…! Who are you?!"
I struggled, but I was powerless.
The thing smiled and hurled me back into the river of abyssal and golden light shimmering through time and space.
"Let's go back, shall we?"
"Wait…! What's happening?! What are you doing?!"
I screamed as agony wracked my soul. Broken pieces filled with strange ethereal liquid.
"AAAAGGGHHH!"
Through excruciating pain, Louis and I awoke as one.
Our egos no longer fought. We had truly merged.
At the same moment.
Sharp pain in my gut jolted me awake. I found myself in the same spot as moments ago, before purgatory and the shredding of my soul by vengeful specters.
I gasped, struggling to comprehend. I looked around and realized I had truly returned.
"That thing revived me? No…"
I saw the two soldiers speaking.
"…He's still alive. I thought he died when he passed out."
"He won't last long. The venom is designed specifically to kill dragons like him."
The exact same words as before.
I had regressed back in time.
My first reaction was to smile.
"Hah… Hahah… Hahahahaha!"
The soldiers stared in shock as the blood-soaked prince laughed.
I screamed in agony as I yanked the knife free, blood and black poison splattering across the ground. I collapsed to a sitting position, glaring at the two soldiers with burning hatred.
"Has this bastard lost his mind?"
"What the hell? Does the venom do that?"
The soldiers stared in disbelief. Before poisoning me, they had beaten me senseless, breaking two ribs and my right arm.
Yet the blood-soaked prince was laughing.
"Hey…"
I fixed my gaze on them. The armored men stepped back instinctively, sensing a chilling, ominous aura rising from within me.
"I'm going to kill you… no matter what it takes. I won't forgive you. I'll tear you two limb from limb! You hear me? Limb from limb! Then I'll parade your corpses through your hometowns and burn your families at the stake! And you know what? I'm going to enjoy every second. I'll listen to your parents beg for mercy, smile at them, and then behead them too… no, wait. Stab them. Over and over. With venom-coated knives. Just like you did to me!"
"…?!"
"T-The fuck are you talking about?!"
The soldiers clenched their fists in fury at my deranged rant. Both drew their weapons.
"Maybe we should end you right now! Why bother with the poison?"
"That venom was meant to seal his dragon abilities… We were merciful letting him die slowly… but this bastard wants it quicker."
"Hah… Hahah…!"
I laughed louder, backing up until my spine pressed against the tree behind me. My eyes darted everywhere.
Where the hell was the Resonance Heart?
I could swear I had glimpsed it before the ambush. The rumor hadn't been completely false.
These two bastards probably planned to harvest it for themselves.
It was small, but I wasn't sure it would even help…
Yet I had no other choice.
"Come on, what are you waiting for?! Going to kill me or what? Cowards! Come at me!"
The soldiers exchanged glances. I was known as a weak, crippled failure, but the Drakeheart Dragon Family's fearsome reputation lingered. Even these men hesitated, unsure if the prince hid some hidden trump card.
Truth be told, I had nothing. I was bluffing to provoke them. My plan was simple: force an attack, trip one, and seize a gun from their belts.
It was a desperate gamble. Running was impossible, I had no possessions left, no Innate Abilities.
Well… except one now.
Regression, Time Loop, Death Loop.
Whatever the name was, this was my only hope.
But was it a one-time gift?
I didn't know.
Gripping the knife that had pierced my gut moments ago, I glared with eyes brimming with madness.
Standing still meant death. Crawling away meant death. Fighting meant probable death.
Every path ended the same.
So I chose the only one with even a flicker of hope.
"I'm not dying pathetically again… I will take you down with me."
"Kill him!"
"Die, disgusting noble!"
Both knights charged, my face twisted as I stumbled back, flinching.
A mechanical spear aimed for my head, another for my chest.
I dropped to the ground, dodging the head strike while thrusting my knife into the gray-armored knight's neck.
"Wha—"
The knight couldn't react in time. I grinned viciously, seizing him and driving the blade deeper.
"DIE!"
Madness consumed me. I stabbed repeatedly.
The black knight struck from behind, piercing my right shoulder. My grip slipped.
I groaned, clenching my teeth. The shoulder wound hurt, but it paled against the fire raging through my entire body.
I roared like a beast, kicking the black knight down, snatching the gun from the dying man, and firing at the helmeted head.
The helmet saved him from instant death. The knight scrambled to escape while the stabbed one clung desperately to my legs.
"You're still alive?!"
"Guuugh…! Guaaaarrrgh!"
I gasped, trying to shake free, only to notice black miasma seeping from the wounds I had inflicted.
The knight was dead yet still moving.
"This bastard just turned into a zombie?!"
I kicked frantically, but the undead grip was iron-tight. I fell, the creature crawling over me, jaws snapping against its own helmet.
"Get off!"
Then, at that moment, I spotted it, a glowing white crystal to the east, behind a salt tree with a distinct pink hue, impossible to miss now.
"T-The Resonance Heart…! It's there! I need it! I—"
CRASH!
Before I could finish, a mechanical spear pierced my skull, ending me instantly.
♢♢♢♢
I floated once more between Void and Purgatory.
Disbelief and frustration twisted my face.
"I almost had it…! That bastard—I missed him! He came back to finish me even after his partner turned zombie?!"
Lost in bitter thoughts, I noticed my soul already torn wide open. The same "thing" emerged again, staring at me.
"You're so pathetic, little prince… Hahaha… Your struggle is truly disgustingly delightful, just like your grandfather's…"
It mocked me.
"What did you expect me to do?! There were no other options… So this is it? A one-way ticket? I wasted my second chance…"
"Who said that?"
"…?"
"I told you, Louis… This won't stop until your family is ruined… So let's go back. Let's have fun together."
"What? My family? I've only ever met my mother…"
"That doesn't matter to me. I'll kill her too."
"…?! Who the fuck are you?!"
"Oho, the prince has learned some colorful words… What's gotten into you? It's like you're a different person."
"Have you been spying on me, you fucking creep?"
"Yes. In fact, I've been here since you were born, waiting…"
"Who are you?! Tell me!"
"Shhh, it's time. Try not to die so quickly this time, little prince."
"Like hell I will."
I was pulled back through the familiar river, the entity smiling.
"Grow strong—as strong as you can, little prince. Without it, we can't kill your family, after all!"
We?!
♢♢♢♢
I returned.
This time I didn't gasp. I surveyed my surroundings in silence.
The two guards were talking.
If I stayed perfectly quiet, their dialogue shifted slightly.
I scanned the forest carefully.
"Where is it?"
I searched for the Resonance Heart.
The pink tree—where?
"The… east, right?"
There, behind a cluster of crystalline salt trees.
It was well concealed, barely visible from my position.
"Can I sprint in this body? I can hardly stand… I'll crawl. My legs lack the strength to run… I can kill one, but the other will flee and strike from behind… The first will turn zombie too."
I began my performance again, screaming, laughing, provoking the soldiers.
I repeated my previous rant word for word.
I even elaborated on tormenting their younger siblings, if they had any.
Rage consumed the knights.
How could a noble from the revered, feared Drakeheart Dragon Family behave like this?
They expected dignified death, not a rabid beast fighting to the end.
And they indulged me.
"Die, pathetic noble!"
A mechanical spear rushed toward my head.
This time, I dodged with greater precision and agility.
Gripping my knife, I stabbed the gray knight's neck three times before the body crumpled.
Another spear aimed for my shoulder, but I avoided it by a hair's breadth.
The black knight retreated under a hail of bullets. His armor held quite fine I suppose, but fear drove him to flee.
"Now!"
I seized the mechanical spear but abandoned it, it was too heavy, would only hinder me.
Clutching the gun, I staggered toward the tree, using trunks for support.
"Almost… almost there!"
My trembling hands drew closer. I glanced around nervously, ensuring no pursuit.
"Is this it?! T-The Resonance Heart! Finally…! Finally in my grasp!"
Resonance Hearts were dense accumulations of highly radioactive Fantasium, the reality-warping substance that had reshaped Earth over the past fifty years since entering the atmosphere through Dimensional Rifts connecting to Parallel Worlds and the Dimensional Labyrinth.
To ordinary humans, the crystal was lethal. But to me—a hybrid Anomaly, half-dragon from the Fantasium-rich Yggdrasil—it was salvation.
As a "Sinner," a cross between Anomaly and human, I could naturally absorb and refine Fantasium.
Yet I had never obtained a Resonance Heart, the special Fantasium Crystal capable of directly awakening a Sinner or Anomaly's Fantasy Heart.
Fantasy Hearts were inner pocket worlds born from madness and delusion, shaped by Fantasium, able to alter reality.
A powerful bearer could expand their Fantasy Heart and impose their Fantasy World on reality, bending it to their will.
This was perhaps the only force, besides Esper Psychic Power, that could challenge the Grievances, Anomalies, and Otherworldly Entities invading Earth.
For me, inheritor of the dragon bloodline, it was my sole chance to awaken my crippled body and ignite a true Dragon Heart.
"It's mine…!"
I gazed at the Resonance Heart in awe. Its pale blue glow pulsed rhythmically, as if beckoning me. My hand reached out. After three deaths, I was finally claiming what I sought.
However.
"He found the crystal! Stop him!"
"Graaaarrr!"
"Damn it! You again?!"
The zombified soldier seized my legs, trying to drag me down. The black knight hid behind a tree.
"So it was you! You manipulate corpses! You're no ordinary human! Why wear all that armor if you're a Sinner like me?!"
I confronted the black knight, who stood silent, shaking his head.
"N-No! I can't touch Fantasium! It's dangerous! J-Just die already! Die! Kill him! Tear him apart!"
"GRAAAHH!"
I kicked the zombie away with every ounce of strength and lunged for the Resonance Heart.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A second before contact, gunshots riddled my body. I collapsed onto the Resonance Heart. Its light flared as vast quantities of Fantasium poured into me through every wound.
"Hey? A-are you dead yet?"
The black knight approached cautiously, watching from afar before advancing.
My body lay motionless over the glowing crystal.
Blood painted the crystal crimson. My consciousness was fading into the void once more.
Ah, am I going to die again?
I clenched my teeth in fury, hands twitching, still grasping the crystal even as death closed in.
No…! I can't rely on that bastard…! If possible… I have to live… as long as I can! Whatever that butterfly wants, it won't grant endless reincarnation freely. There's a trick…! I cannot…! Die so easily again!
The soldier noticed the movement and panicked, aiming his gun.
"How are you still alive?!"
I began absorbing the Resonance Heart. Its energy dispersed and flowed into me. The zombie roared, attacking again, trying to pull me away. But I held tight, fingers locked around my final hope.
"You think I'll let go?! I won't! No matter what! No matter— Ugh?!"
Then it happened.
In an instant, I stood on a vast stage.
If I hadn't merged with whom I was now, I wouldn't have recognized this place.
This is… the game's event when someone awakens their Spiral of Incarnations?
Spiral of Incarnations, a manifestation of one's Fantasy, Madness, and Delusion.
Every character experienced a different event.
And now, I am standing in the center of a vast stage.
This was the stage of my life.
Ah… that's right…
I saw countless faces, some familiar, others barely remembered.
Yet all of them, every single one, represented my "connections," no matter how fleeting.
Enemies, friends, family, it didn't matter.
"Louis…"
A gentle voice echoed behind me. My eyes widened as I turned to find a tall, beautiful woman gazing at me with warm golden eyes.
Pale blue skin, long silvery-white hair, shimmering golden scales on her hands and neck, bright golden horns, feathered wings, and a long tail.
This was my mother.
"Mother…"
The eldest daughter of the Dragon King of Yggdrasil, one of the first peaceful visitors from another world to Earth.
She lay bedridden now, gravely wounded and cursed after battling a powerful Level 5 Entity three years ago.
My mother, once so strong, able to dispel any curse, poison, or disease with her Holy Magic… now unable to heal herself.
Her condition had slowly worsened, and I had done everything possible to help my father find a cure.
"Son."
Another voice rang out, serious, strict, almost emotionless.
A tall, young-looking man stood there, messy black hair, short black beard, glasses framing tired eyes with dark bags beneath them.
He wore a white lab coat, my overworked father.
A powerful Esper who dedicated his life to studying the Hintergrid, Anomalies, Parallel Worlds, and the Dimensional Labyrinth.
A pragmatic man I had once resented for his lack of emotion.
"Father…"
My parents, from utterly different worlds and species, loved each other despite everything. I was the miracle born of that love.
"…"
I sighed, gazing at the countless figures before me.
The Soul Stage was a mysterious Mindscape.
Anyone awakening a Spiral of Madness remained here until they accepted their flaws and cried out their hopes, dreams, and obsessions with the world.
To unite with the Spiral of Incarnation, one had to embrace their madness, devour it, and transform it into power.
"No matter what, I promise you all… I will avenge our family. I won't forgive those bastards who have tried to assassinate us all these years."
"I will burn them to the ground, no matter the cost!"
"Mother, I will find a cure!"
"Father, I will ask if you truly feel anything."
"And above all…"
I looked down. In the shadows far away, a young girl with black hair and glowing red eyes stared at me.
"I will ask why you brought me here… And then take revenge."
I sighed, a twisted smile forming as I gazed at the bright sky bathed in white light.
My face contorted with countless emotions.
Colors swirled and converged into a black heart. I pierced my chest and tore it free.
Holding the still-beating heart, I began devouring it piece by piece.
Blood dripped from my jaws with every grotesque bite.
I consumed my own heart of madness.
My obsession.
What was my deepest obsession?
I want to become stronger… at any cost… stronger than anyone…
More than revenge, more than vengeance…
I needed to prove I wasn't the useless failure the world believed me to be.
I craved strength to push back against a merciless world that never gave me a moment to breathe.
Above all, I needed power to one day shatter this endless loop.
In this horrible world, without strength I was nothing.
"Magnificent."
A voice echoed from the light, unfamiliar to me and unknown even in the game I had played.
"Thou hast proven worthy."
Frozen light burst in every direction. The poison stopped. Blood flowed backward. My irises shifted, silver and sapphire flames flickering deep within.
The ground cracked. Frost spread in jagged runes, blooming into flowers and trees.
"By devouring thy madness, thou hast proven worthy of the crown."
"Crown…?"
"Receive it, oh grandson of mine."
"…?!"
An interaction that had never occurred, the enigmatic Dragon King of Yggdrasil, who never appeared in the main story or spoke to anyone…
He was addressing me now.
FLASH!
Amidst the pillar of light, a crown forged from white ashes materialized, floating above my head.
From within emerged a silhouette of ash, a tall, slender, fragile figure.
Half dragon, half human.
"Hold the crown of ashes, oh hollow prince…"
"The Ashen Heir."
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
There it is!
I laughed as I felt my heart finally beat.
A false dragon heart, born from ashes and regret, manifested within me.
I did it…
Laughing maniacally, I rose, surveying my surroundings, ice and white light everywhere, ashes drifting from the sky like snow.
"W-Wha…?! I shot you a dozen times! How are you still alive?!"
The necromancer stared at me in disbelief, hands trembling.
Dozens of silhouettes shambled from the forest—walking corpses infested with corrupt miasma.
"What is that?! What is that thing?!"
Despite his army, the necromancer retreated in horror. Something stood behind me now.
"At long last… it's mine."
I had reached Tier 9, the First Step Toward the Pinnacle.
Then another voice resonated gently within my soul
{The Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm}
["When the First Dragon died, its soul did not ascend—it coiled inward, forming a Spiral of ash and memory. Those who walk its path do not live. They persist."]
[A forbidden Spiral born from the corpse of a dying world-serpent. It is the only Spiral that begins at death and spirals inward, not upward. Each tier is a descent into deeper metaphysical hollowness, where the soul is slowly devoured by the Spiral itself. Yet, paradoxically, this devouring grants power, if the bearer can retain identity long enough to reach the Spiral's core.]
[You have become the {Ashen Heir}, born of dragon flame and human fragility. Fated to become the {Fate Bearer}'s antagonist, you instead seek to rewrite the Spiral itself. Each death you suffer feeds the Spiral but also reveals a deeper truth. You cannot awaken your dragon powers because they were sealed by the Spiral itself, until you reach its core.]
[You Are The Ninth Spiral, The Flicker of Ash.]
[Your Spiral Incarnation is The Gravewalker.]
[Your Ability is {Ashen Frost (Tier 9)}: Grows stronger by absorbing Despair in the atmosphere, malleable.]
"I finally… have something…"
I smiled, clutching my face as my hair cascaded down. The soldier hiding behind the tree unleashed his dozens of undead, I had no idea where he had even obtained them.
"Thank you… you've brought quite the audience…" I said gently. "Truly… I am so grateful."
I stepped forward, wounds healed, and my vitality restored. My true draconic power remained sealed, but I had gained something else.
Something I desperately needed.
Strength.
"Come, Gravewalker. Let me feed you his soul."
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