Lian spoke under his breath, a faint laugh escaping him.
"Now I remember… what happened in that fragmented domain."
He stared out at the falling snow, his eyes remained distant.
"It was almost exactly like this."
Silence followed.
"But instead of ending up somewhere else like now… I was thrown onto an entirely different planet."
A red pyramid stood in the middle, surrounded by an endless stretch of dead grey soil that looked like ash scattered beneath a burned-out sky.
Almost like the surface of the moon.
"The previous Lian got pulled there from a fragmented domain. He made it through most of the trial… barely."
"Instead of fighting it or even facing it head-on… he just ran. used everything around him, every trick and every tool he had, to somehow survive for hours."
"And right at the end… when he was about to die…"
"Instead of finishing him, the black stone knight placed a hand on his head and spoke in a flat, mechanical voice."
Lian fell silent for a moment, recalling the memory.
"People who have the ability to deviate from fate… are chosen by the Conqueror."
He let out a slow breath.
"I guess the trial was never about winning or losing."
"It was about whether you had the ability to bend your fate with your own two hands."
Lian still had no idea what any of that fate nonsense actually meant.
But one thing was clear.
Right after the stone knight placed its hand on his head, the previous Lian had passed out—
and that's when the transmigration happened.
And right now, standing here, he felt more certain of it than ever before.
Lian couldn't hide it.
The excitement showed on his face, his lips curling into a wide smile.
"If I somehow made it out of this alive… I'm definitely going back there again," he said out loud.
A quiet breath.
"It'll probably kill me for sure."
The smile didn't fade.
"But just thinking about it... my adrenaline's already running wild."
Unlike his previous world, where the worst situation he could end up with was just rotting in a cell for the rest of his life… this world had countless things that could actually kill him for real.
But to him, that only made life more exciting.
Facing them, surviving them, and rising above them.
Becoming the strongest and ruling the world from its pinnacle.
This was the real excitement of life.
--
Lian turned back and started walking the same way he came in.
And as he was crossing the large hall again, something felt off.
The entrance he came through was gone.
He slowed, scanning the room, trying to find another way out.
Then—
a voice.
"Hey… what are you doing here, kid? It's not safe for your kind."
The voice felt unnatural, like some creature forcing itself to imitate human speech.
Lian's body tensed instantly. The hair on his arms stood up.
Something stood right behind him.
I'm still invisible… how did it spot me?
He turned slowly.
Then he saw something tall. Close to eight feet.
It didn't even look human.
Most of its body was hidden in darkness, so Lian switched on the torch.
Light spilled out, pushing back the dark just enough to reveal the room.
And the tall humanoid came into view.
A vulture-like head with a long beak. Curved horns rose from its skull, while a serpent-like tail coiled behind it. Its body was covered in thick, coarse hair, almost like some wild beast.
Four arms hung at its sides.
Lian froze.
Is this a monster? No, it could technically be an alien.
Are there other intelligent species here on this planet besides humans?
The thoughts came fast, piling over each other.
Lian pushed them aside.
"Are you real?" he asked.
The creature spoke.
"I am real. Why would you even ask that?"
It smiled—as it leaned in, like it was deciding whether to eat him.
Lian spoke awkwardly. "Thought you might've been a hallucination. I ate some weird mushrooms a few minutes ago."
Lian gave the creature a quick look.
"Also… I don't taste great. Just in case you're thinking about eating me."
"We humans take a lot of vaccines. Eat processed food. Not exactly healthy."
The creature let out a low chuckle, its serpent tongue flicking out.
It was unsettling—enough to make Lian's skin crawl—but his face showed no change in expression.
Then it spoke.
"You're a funny one, aren't you?"
"Don't worry. I won't harm you. Also, we don't eat other intelligent life forms… well, not all of us, but at least I prefer not to."
It tilted its head slightly.
"You shouldn't wander into places like this."
Lian let out a breath. "Yeah… sorry about that. Got chased by foxes and ended up in your home."
The creature leaned in closer.
Too close. Right beside his ear.
It hissed.
Lian reacted on instinct. He stepped back and unleashed pyromancy right at its face.
Flames roared.
Thirty seconds passed.
Nothing.
Not a scratch or even a slight burn.
Lian's heart dropped.
His strongest rune had done absolutely nothing. The flames might as well have been air brushing past its face.
Now his life was at the mercy of an unknown creature.
Still… it hadn't shown any real aggression.
Lian cut the flames immediately. "Sorry about that. You suddenly got too close."
The creature said nothing.
It just stared at him.
Five seconds passed.
The tension kept building.
Then it spoke.
"I saw your fate. It's… unusual."
A pause.
"Your fate looks… detached. Unmoved by the world around it. I see ripples—but no currents."
Lian just stared at it, confused.
"I don't believe in fate."
The creature gave a low chuckle.
"So you're one of those logic-and-science types. Fine. Call it converging probabilities if that helps. Use whatever terms make sense to you."
It straightened slightly.
"I believe everything in this world happens for a reason. You ended up here, in-front of me so I could warn you in advance."
"Your fate likely pulled you here to keep you alive. To stop you from making a choice that would end you."
Lian frowned. "What do you mean by fate? Does it have its own consciousness?"
The creature replied, "It's hard to put into words humans can comprehend."
"I can only see patterns in fate. And yours… is unlike anything I usually see among living beings. Detached and completely unnatural."
Its gaze lingered on him.
"Either you're someone with great ability, capable of shaping your fate with your own hands… or you're simply one of those Conqueror's pawns."
"What does 'pawns of the Conquer' even mean?"
The creature looked at him like he was a nuisance.
"The less you know, the better it is for you."
But Lian insisted on knowing.
"…Fine. The Conqueror of countless worlds is called the devil by many."
Its voice dropped slightly.
"He is the first and the last human in the entire recorded history who attempted to become a god."
"Although His attempt failed a million years ago, His arrangements still persist to this day."
"And no one knows when, or if, he will return from death to reclaim the throne."
"Even I know very little," the creature said. "Most people treat it as mythology now."
A pause.
"But it's real. And he plans to resurrect and attempt to become a god once again."
Its gaze darkened slightly.
"And along the way, he would use and sacrifice all of you—travelers from other worlds. There will be rivers of blood and destruction across the world. Everything will be burned away by the flames of his ambition."
Lian glanced at the creature in silence. If a monster this creepy thinks someone is a devil… then that person must be an absolute nightmare.
The creature tilted its head slightly.
"I believe you are a traveler from another world."
Lian nodded. "Yeah… but I don't even know how that happened."
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Lian could feel the monster's blood lust pressing down on him.
The monster hadn't moved a single muscle. Its expression stayed peaceful, unchanged from the beginning, but the blood lust leaking from it made Lian's skin tighten.
"If you are truly a pawn of the Conqueror, then that makes you my enemy. Not just mine, but the enemy of this entire world. Someone who must be hunted down and eliminated by any means necessary."
Lian frowned. "Hold on. What are you even talking about? How does that even make me an enemy to the entire world?"
The creature studied him for a moment.
"…Forget it."
The atmosphere became normal again.
"I don't feel like killing you."
A pause.
"I'll let you leave."
Its tone was almost dismissive now.
"You probably won't become a threat. None of you pawns have ever made it all the way to the end in the last million years. Honestly, most of you never even take the first step on that path."
Its gaze sharpened slightly.
"Just remember this—never let anyone know that you're a traveler from another world, if you want to stay alive."
A brief silence followed.
"Because once people learn what you are…"
"…the consequences won't be something you can even imagine."