Kieran Vale died screaming.
Not because it hurt—pain was brief—but because he understood, in the last fraction of a second, that the world had measured his worth and found it insufficient.
Steel pierced his chest. Warmth flooded out. His knees buckled.
Too weak, he thought as the light vanished.
Then the darkness shattered.
[SOUL EXTRACTION COMPLETE]
[ERROR: RESISTANCE DETECTED]
[FORCING REINCARNATION PROTOCOL]
Kieran inhaled like a drowning man dragged back to shore.
Air ripped into his lungs, sharp and metallic, carrying the stench of ash and old blood. His body convulsed as he collapsed onto cold stone, fingers clawing instinctively for ground that felt far too real to be a dream.
He gagged. Coughed. Rolled onto his side.
Above him stretched a sky that shouldn't exist—fractured layers of violet and black drifting like broken glass, stitched together by veins of glowing script. Floating islands hovered in the void, chained together by massive runes that hummed with oppressive power.
Kieran lay there, shaking.
"I'm… alive?"
His voice echoed wrong. Thinner. Sharper.
He raised his hands.
They weren't his.
Lean muscle. Scarred knuckles. Long fingers etched faintly with symbols that pulsed once, then faded beneath his skin.
Panic surged.
He tried to stand and nearly blacked out as pain lanced through every nerve in his body—pain that felt measured, precise, like it was being administered rather than experienced.
Then it appeared.
A translucent screen unfolded in front of his eyes, sharp and intrusive, its glow cutting through the void like a blade.
WELCOME TO EIDOLON RIFT
STATUS CONFIRMATION COMPLETE
NAME: Kieran Vale
SOUL STATE: Reincarnated (Irreversible)
COMPATIBILITY: S-RANK
ERROR FLAG: ANOMALY
Anomaly?
His heart slammed against his ribs.
"What the hell is this?" he whispered.
The screen flickered.
[NOTICE]
Confusion is expected.
Panic is inefficient.
"I didn't agree to this," Kieran snapped.
[NOTICE]
Consent is not required.
Cold crawled down his spine.
Fragments of memory slammed into him—not learned, but uploaded. Knowledge forced directly into his mind.
Eidolon Rift.
A realm layered atop reality, where selected souls were reincarnated after death to fight in endless wars against manifestations born from collapsed worlds. Power here was survival. Survival was currency. And death—
Death was permanent.
Kieran pushed himself upright, breath ragged.
"So this is some kind of afterlife?"
The System paused.
[NOTICE]
Incorrect.
This is a filtration process.
The ground trembled.
From the edge of the floating platform, something pulled itself into view—armor fused to bone, joints stitched together with glowing ether. Its hollow helmet turned toward Kieran, violet light burning where eyes should have been.
Then another.
And another.
[HOSTILES DETECTED]
ENTITY TYPE: Wraith Construct
FORMER DESIGNATION: Player (Failed)
Kieran's stomach dropped.
"Former… player?"
The first Wraith lunged.
Kieran barely reacted in time, throwing himself sideways as spectral claws tore through the air where his head had been. The impact shattered stone, sending shards spiraling into the abyss below.
He scrambled backward, heart pounding.
"I don't have a weapon!" he shouted.
[NOTICE]
Correct.
The second Wraith struck him across the chest.
Pain exploded—real, vivid, overwhelming. Kieran screamed as he was thrown across the platform, skidding to a stop near the edge. His ribs screamed in protest. Something cracked.
Blood pooled beneath him.
The System chimed softly.
[HEALTH: 23%]
WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE]
"You're just going to let me die?" Kieran gasped.
[NOTICE]
Survival increases data accuracy.
The Wraiths advanced.
Something snapped.
Not fear.
Anger.
Kieran forced himself to his feet, vision swimming. As the first Wraith raised its claw for the killing blow, a pressure surged from deep inside his chest—like a door being torn open.
Darkness poured from his right arm.
The air screamed.
A blade formed—not forged, not summoned, but remembered. Jet-black, slightly curved, its edge swallowing light instead of reflecting it. Runes ignited along its length, pulsing in rhythm with Kieran's heartbeat.
[UNIQUE CONDITION MET]
SOULBOUND WEAPON MANIFESTED]
VOIDBLADE – "NIHRA"
STATUS: Bound
RANK: Dormant
TRAIT: Devours Defeated Souls
The Wraith froze.
Then Nihra moved.
Kieran didn't think. He cut.
The blade passed through armor, bone, and ether like they were illusions. The Wraith screamed—not in sound, but in feeling—and collapsed into fragments of light that were pulled screaming into the blade.
Kieran staggered as warmth flooded his arm.
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
SOUL ABSORBED]
The second Wraith attacked.
This time, Kieran stepped forward.
The fight was ugly. Brutal. Desperate.
By the time the last Wraith fell, Kieran was on his knees, drenched in blood that steamed against the cold stone. His hands shook violently around the hilt of the Voidblade.
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL UP]
The System chimed again—but now, there was something else beneath it.
Whispers.
Faint. Broken. Angry.
Kieran clutched his head as чуж voices scraped against his thoughts.
"Make it stop," he whispered.
[NOTICE]
Soul residue accumulation is normal.
Adjustment will occur.
The whispers didn't fade.
They settled.
Kieran looked at the blade in his hand.
For the first time since waking, he understood the truth.
This world didn't reward heroes.
It consumed survivors.
And somewhere, far above the fractured sky—
Something ancient took notice.
[FACTION INTEREST DETECTED]
MONITORING INITIATED]
Kieran rose unsteadily to his feet.
"If this is hell," he said hoarsely, "then I'll break it."
The Voidblade pulsed.
And the System listened.