Pain came first.
Not sharp.
Not sudden.
Just… there.
Vinh opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Then metal.
Cold. Close. Suffocating.
He didn't move.
His body felt heavy—like it didn't belong to him anymore.
Memory returned in fragments.
Claws.
Teeth.
Something screaming without a voice.
"...Demon…"
The word slipped out before he could stop it.
Demons.
That was the closest thing his mind could reach.
But even as he said it—
he knew.
"…Not really."
A sound.
Metal scraping against metal.
The door opened.
They stood there.
Tall.
Distorted.
Wrong.
Their bodies didn't follow any shape Vinh could understand. Like something forced into existence… but never meant to exist.
One of them moved.
Fast.
A hand—if it could be called that—grabbed him.
Vinh didn't resist.
He couldn't.
The world snapped.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then—
movement.
He was running.
The ground beneath his feet shifted like it was alive.
The air vibrated.
Something was behind him.
No.
Not something.
Two.
One—
silent, but heavy. Like pressure.
The other—
loud.
Too loud.
Sound tore through the space.
Not noise.
Not just vibration.
It was… direction.
Every step he took—
it followed.
Vinh staggered.
Fell.
Rolled.
Got up again.
"Move…!"
His own voice sounded distant.
The sound closed in.
Closer.
Sharper.
It wasn't chasing him.
It was locking onto him.
Vinh stopped.
For the first time—
he didn't run.
His breathing slowed.
Not because he was calm.
Because there was nowhere left to go.
"…Then come."
The space trembled.
The sound surged forward—
Vinh moved.
Not away.
Forward.
The moment it struck—
he twisted.
Wind exploded.
Small.
Unstable.
But real.
A spiral.
A pull.
The sound distorted.
For a split second—
it broke.
Vinh saw it.
Not a body.
Not a form.
A point.
The center.
He didn't think.
He moved.
The blade in his hand drove forward—
Contact.
Silence.
Everything stopped.
The world cracked.
And collapsed.
Vinh opened his eyes.
The cell.
The same walls.
The same cold air.
But something was different.
His breathing.
Uneven.
Heavy.
"…My…"
His voice shook.
Images flooded back.
The sound breaking.
The moment of impact.
His hand trembled.
"…I killed it?"
No answer came.
He already knew.
That was the problem.
A cold feeling ran down his spine.
Not fear of them.
But—
of himself.
Vinh stared at his hands.
The same hands.
Nothing had changed.
But it didn't feel the same.
"…No way…"
He didn't feel stronger.
Didn't feel in control.
Only one thing remained.
Fear.
Not of the world.
But of what he had just done.
A deep vibration echoed through the ship.
The door opened.
Light spilled in.
Vinh was dragged out again.
This time—
he didn't resist.
He looked.
And saw it.
A planet.
Split.
One side—
frozen.
White.
Endless ice stretching across the surface.
The other—
burning.
Flames tearing through the land like it was alive.
No transition.
No balance.
Only division.
The ship descended.
Vinh's eyes narrowed.
"…What kind of place is this…?"
The system flickered.
System Notification:
New Planet Detected
A pause.
Planet Registered: Dejteo
Vinh stared at the name.
"…Dejteo…"
His voice was barely a whisper.
Something about it—
felt familiar.
But wrong.
"…What does that mean…It resembles something …"
He stopped.
"…But not the same."
The ship landed.
The ground trembled.
Heat.
Cold.
Both at once.
Vinh stepped forward.
And understood one thing.
This world—
was not meant to be survived.
It was meant to consume.
This world didn't observe… it devoured.