The Ascent of Wrath: The Awakening of the Ruin

I never considered myself someone special. In fact, if you were to look up the definition of "mediocrity" in a dictionary, you’d probably find my name: Arthur. A generic name for a generic life. I was the kind of person who ordered the daily special without looking at the menu, who avoided eye contact on the subway, and whose only ambition was for the morning coffee not to be too burnt.

... But destiny had a rather twisted sense of humor and decided to go mad.

In the world before, I was simply Arthur, a man whose name was forgotten before it was even finished being spoken. But now...

<<—Onward, my brave knight! Wield the sword of justice and purge the evil from these dark lands!—>>

There was no choice. There was no contract. One day, quite simply, that damn voice began to resonate in my head, dictating my fate as if my life were a poorly written script.

Back then, at first, I thought I had gone mad, but then I saw that the entire world shared my insanity.

From that moment on, reality changed forever; people began to glow with strange auras, cities filled with monsters, and, suddenly, the world became a dystopian fantasy...

<<—Ah! A new world to save! My faithful knight, you cannot wander about in such plebeian garments!—>>

I didn't understand anything, and I knew nothing in those days.

☆ [Character Development Options]

[Path of the Holy Hero (Spend all prestige points)]

[Path of the Average Citizen (Ignore system - 99% probability of death)]

But even so, despite that, deep down I think I understood one thing as I looked at those options before my eyes.

<<—Ah! A new file! This shall be my Knight of Truth!—>>

... In that moment, I didn't know that my life would be overturned... in a way I never could have imagined...

☆ [ 1. Chosen Hero ]

At first, since it was "already decided," I had no choice but to try and become a hero.

[ 1. Work overtime (Minimum economic improvement) ]

[ 2. Basic exercise routine (Start of physical development) ]

[ 3. Browse web forums (Information improvement) ]

However, my routine surprisingly didn't change much; instead, it became more productive and healthy, within what one could expect from a magical dystopia.

<<—Fine, let's start with the basics. This file has dismal stats, but with patience, we can make something out of it. Step 1: Physical condition.—>>

From that point on, my routine began to be optimized.

☆ [ 2. Basic exercise routine (Start of physical development) ]

I didn't get strong overnight... In fact, everything ached... But...

[ 1. Ignore the exhaustion ]

[ 2. Rest (Fatigue recovery) ]

Despite that, it was a gratifying experience, and in the end, I think I was one of the luckiest ones among those affected by that phenomenon.

☆ [ 1. Ignore the exhaustion ]

Although my days became a cycle of constant minor improvements, compared to others I eventually met as I gained power, I came to realize how horrific my fate could have been.

<<—It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. We have to start raising the combat skill level from scratch.—>>

In that process of growth—slow and tedious—as time passed and more "players" appeared, I began to realize the anomaly in our world.

[ Equip item: "Rusted Metal Rod"? ]

[ Yes ]

[ No ]

I remember seeing a man in the middle of downtown, completely naked, wielding a rotten wooden stick against a goblin.

☆ [ Yes ]

He had no armor, no common sense, but he moved with a suicidal confidence.

[ Select dialogue line ]

[ 1. "Evil shall not prevail as long as I breathe" ]

[ 2. "My sword is the shield of the weak" ]

When asked why he was doing something so ridiculous, his answer was as hollow as his gaze: "It has already been decided."

<<—That’s it! A bit more passion! A hero must inspire the masses!—>>

Then there were the women. Some, who previously dressed with the sobriety of an executive, now walked through the mud of the lower districts in clothing so sparse it bordered on impractical, or behaved like madwomen, shouting proclamations into the air.

☆ [ 1. "Evil shall not prevail as long as I breathe" ]

I saw beggars speaking with the eloquence of philosophers and politicians behaving like street thugs. People whose appearance and social status clashed violently with their actions, and when asked, they always gave the same answer: "Because it had already been decided."

"Evil shall not prevail as long as I breathe!"

At first, I couldn't stop complaining. I found it irritating to have to walk with my chest puffed out and speak in that dramatized hero’s tone, spouting lines about "valor" and "justice" when all I wanted to do was sit down and rest... However, since "it had already been decided," I couldn't simply stop... In that regard, I could understand what was happening to those people...

"It's the hero!"

"Kyaaa~!!"

"So manly!"

My case, compared to others, was acceptable—even enviable to the rest.

[ File Status: Severe Exhaustion ]

[ 1. Force endurance limit (+2 STR, -10 SAN) ]

[ 2. Ignore tissue damage ]

Of course, the training I was constantly exposed to was soul-crushing for my body. There was no rest. If my body pleaded for a truce, an Option Window would appear to overwrite my fatigue with a burst of synthetic adrenaline.

☆ [ 1. Force endurance limit ]

Thus I spent months striking steel beams with my metal rod until my hands were covered in sores that later turned into stony calluses, growing stronger and stronger through repetition.

<<—What a disgrace! How could anyone reach such a degree of depravity?!—>>

However, while I endured my own optimization, the rumors on the forums that my "Master" complained about painted a much darker picture than I had imagined for others.

<<—Abandoning a file with such potential in that manner is unforgivable! As heroes, we shall not tolerate injustice!!—>>

Back then, the most recent victim turned out to be a name that always topped the headlines as the "winner," Raina.

[ 1. End training and rest ]

[ 2. Force muscular system (Increased risk of injury) ]

No one knew who controlled her, but the details that leaked regarding her situation were of an extreme nature.

☆ [ 2. Force muscular system (Increased risk of injury) ]

The descriptions of her state were extensive and focused on the total destruction of the one who used to be the invincible Rank S psychic. It was said that Raina had been transformed into a husk of flesh designed for the most absolute degradation. They spoke of a woman whose body, endowed with supernatural endurance, was forced to endure a systematic and brutal pregnancy, turning her womb into a heavy burden she had to drag while serving as a high-end prostitute for anyone who found her.

[ 1. Focus on the physical pain ]

[ 2. Accept Chivalric Delusion (Mental health protection) ]

The details were extreme: they spoke of how she experienced pleasure regardless of what was done to her, with spasms of pleasure reaching climax even at a touch, or how she was weighed down by cursed equipment fused with her most intimate areas; stimulation and restraint devices that never turned off.

☆ [ 2. Accept Chivalric Delusion (Mental health protection) ]

At that time, that woman spent her days in a state of perpetual lassitude, preñada, with a hollow gaze and her body marked by the constant use of hundreds of hands, as if it were just another task.

However, the perception we all held of her was shattered in a single heartbeat of reality.

It was as if someone had torn the veil of a collective lie, and overnight, the rumors of the broken and pregnant prostitute were replaced by a physical truth that shook the very foundations of our altered world.

[ Global Event Notification: Awakening of Anomaly "Raina" ]

Raina had not just awakened; she had hatched with a fury and power unprecedented since everything changed.

It was said that the efficiency with which she began to operate from then on was cold and brutal. As a result, those who had abused her condition or tried to continue treating her as an object of flesh suffered fates worse than death.

Even worse, the rate at which she grew and gained ever more power was terrifying.

Since then, it was hard to understand; everything was falling apart. Raina began to sweep through entire zones, and her figure—once recognized as a heroine, that same figure which had transformed into the epitome of ruin—now radiated a pressure that did not seem to belong to this world, capable of bringing anyone to their knees regardless of distance or location.

She was a force of nature that, if left unchecked, would continue to rewrite the laws of the world with every step she took.

(GRRRRR-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!!)

Yes... She was a monster... I thought I knew it... But now that I am here...

(CRACK-OOOM-KRA-KOOOOM!!)

... I see that I knew nothing at all.

<<React! We must fight with honor until the end!!>>

Her power is such that even my perception—filtered until that moment by the "Chivalric Delusion" that made me see marble where there were only ruins—began to flicker and tune into the brutality of the present.

(Fwoooooosh! Sssssshhhhhh!)

Suddenly, the golden pillars vanished. The polished stone floor transformed into cracked, burning asphalt.

"Guaaaaak!"

I fell to my knees, feeling a knot of iron in my stomach that forced me to double over.

"Do you want to die...?"

A stream of thick, hot blood erupted from my mouth, splashing the metal rod that had now returned to what it had always been: a piece of rusted iron.

(It’s impossible... It’s impossible, it’s impossible, it’s impossible, it’s impossible, it’s impossible... Impossible, it’s impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible!!!)

My vision blurred, the edges of my visual field tinged with a dark red as the atmospheric pressure surged.

"Because if so..."

I looked up, trying to focus my clouded eyes. The sky was not blue; it was an open wound of violet light. Everything I had accepted as "training" was a mere trifle compared to the war deployment sprawling before me.

"I shall grant you something much worse!"

To attempt to stop that woman—that "Raina" who had ceased to be a victim and become the end of the world—the Coalition had gathered all its members, growing ever greater in number, and prepared them to face her.

(Zzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt! VROOOOOM!!)

The preparations were of a scale bordering on the absurd. It wasn't a battle; it was an existential mobilization. Around me, I saw ontological siege machines—gigantic containment towers vibrating with an energy that made my ears bleed. Thousands of consciousness-suppression specialists were plugged into terminals, sacrificing their own minds to generate an interference field that barely managed to slow Raina’s progress.

(FRRRR-BOOOOOMSHHH!!)

Millions of absolute-grade barriers had been deployed, one after another, forming a tunnel kilometers deep intended to be a slaughterhouse.

"...Then why?"

And then, there was the number.

"Now that I think about it... After considering it... In fact, the timing is right..."

As my vision cleared second by second, I could see the endless rows that had been summoned. A human tide that vanished into the horizon, covering every square inch of the war zone.

"I no longer need this world."

Six hundred and fifty million people. Half a billion souls harvested from every corner of this altered world, from Rank Es like myself to the few Rank As still standing. We were all there, lined up like cannon fodder against a single woman.

<<—Move, Arthur! I haven't invested this much in you for you to die before the combat even begins!—>>

Entire cities had been emptied, economies sacrificed, and resources burned that would not be recovered for centuries, all just to buy a few seconds against her fury.

☆ [ Force Consciousness Stabilization (Cost: 50% Max HP) ]

I felt an electric shock that made me scream.

"...Since it's already been decided... there is nothing... that can be done..."

My muscles tightened with an artificial force, forcing me to my feet even as I continued to spit threads of blood.

(KRRRR-WHOOOOOOOOOOO-SHHHHHH!!!)

I looked straight ahead.

(...There's no way... That something like this... Something like this!!)

There, at the end of everything, in the midst of a psionic typhoon of fire among the ruins, stood...

(BWAAAAAA-HROOOOOMMM-GZZZZT!!!!)

The incarnation of ruin, burning in fury.