"Hah…" Calus looked at his blood-colored arms.

Glitch…

Reality warped as new memories flooded into his mind. His body trembled as tears streamed down his face.

Thud.

"Aaaah!" Calus knelt on the ground as he grabbed his face. His nails dug into his skin, piercing it as blood seeped out.

"How could this be?"

Calus shook violently as he shook his head. No… no…

---

Calus POV

This isn't possible… this isn't supposed to be possible… why… why did—

No… no… was Eva a lie? Was Lina a lie too? Was everything I had with Mabi a lie?

No, wait… there's truth there, but… no… no…

I can't… I won't…

"Who am I?" I gasped as an intense cold gripped my body.

I didn't expect this, but with each memory instilled in my mind, my expression turned into one of horror… for I knew what I did.

And this life I lived… and the last life…

Glitch…

The surroundings changed once more, but my mind felt hollow… as if it had shut down.

The truth is…

Everything was a lie.

I was no hero.

I was the very monster I swore to kill.

As it turns out, in my last life… I tried to take over the world… but I failed. I wasn't strong enough.

Mabi and Arie worked together to kill me.

Fre… was murdered by me.

I died in a pool of blood, surrounded by tens of thousands of corpses. The organization led its army to battle me…

But before I died, I self-destructed… and took everyone with me.

And now…

I did the same.

I am evil… and always have been.

Everything I thought was my life… was a lie.

Lisa was truly Fre's twin sister… and I killed her.

I killed her.

And Mabi… she was truly pregnant… she gave birth to a child named Eva…

Her head…

I used her skull to drink wine.

I murdered my own daughter.

What I saw Fre doing to me… was the opposite.

I did all of that to him.

I tortured him.

My head slowly rose as I looked at Fre in chains, even his neck bound…

Yet my best friends still stood against the world with me.

My wife, Mabi, tried to change me…

Even Arie… her mother died by my hands…

The organization remembered the past life and tried to kill me multiple times, but Mabi, Arie, and Fre still stood up for me.

I tortured them… not physically, but emotionally.

I killed Fre's family… destroyed their graves… killed his beloved twin sister.

I married Mabi… pretended I loved her… and had a child with her… a lovely daughter…

Tears fell from my eyes as my hands trembled.

I killed her…

Not quickly… but slowly.

I watched her struggle… her legs kicking, her hands gripping mine as I choked her neck.

She cried…

I still remember her last words.

"Da…d… I… can't… breathe…"

"Fuck!"

I smashed my hands into the ground.

Boom!

The ground split as a small earthquake formed.

And still… even knowing all this…

Mabi loved me… gave everything to me.

Arie still treated me as a friend… even after knowing I was a monster…

Even when the organization told them about my past life… those three still stood by me.

Even when I killed Arie's father…

Is there any greater love than this?

Or is it pure stupidity…?

But after all this…

Only one question remains…

"WHO AM I?"

---

Back to reality…

Calus wept as he grabbed Fre. His body trembled, his eyes reddened with tears. He felt sadness… grief… regret… for realizing everything too late.

For not connecting the dots…

Would Fre really change that much?

The friend who wouldn't hesitate to lay down his life for him… could he suddenly hate him?

Calus felt devastated.

But it was too late.

All that remained… was silence.

Have you ever witnessed a silent world?

A world where all humans have been killed?

This was the final battlefield…

The last war he fought… and won.

Why good does winning do after all , he lost everything.

All that remained were corpses…

Those who stood against him…

And those who stood with him…

He killed them all.

The ground was dyed red with blood.

The stench of flesh filled the air. Limbs were scattered everywhere… some bodies incomplete, torn apart.

Calus dragged the three bodies to his side and sat down.

He hugged them…

…and sang.

"Oh baby doll, I love you…" "Go to sleep, I will be there…" "Life is so short, but you are here…" "I will keep you safe, so shh…" "Oh baby doll, close your eyes…"

"Go to sleep…"

And so… a day passed as Calus grieved.

---

(Ding… Host has recovered his memory. Connection to the main body is being established.) (1% / 100%)

Calus saw the system message as his hollow eyes flickered back to life.

Main body?

Who… what… why?

Was he… a clone?

Then his thoughts raced.

An Outer God… was invading.

Was that him?

And the system…

"Who are you?" Calus asked, his expression cold.

(Just a tool to help you—the clone—defeat these beings and allow the main body to devour everything.)

(At first, my master believed you would kill them all easily… but you failed the first time, so he created a second and gave you a system. Oh, right…)

(To him, this is the second attempt… but to you, you have lived hundreds of lives.)

(In some, you fell in love and became good.) (In most, you died.) (In some, you became good through your friends.) (In others, your parents successfully changed you.)

The mechanical voice of the system slowly became more human… and with each word, Calus remembered fragments of past lives that had been locked away.

(After all these failures, Master realized you had been contaminated. Since you are only his clone and not an Outer God like him, no matter what he tried, you always failed.)

(So Master decided to create me, to help you grow stronger easily… and to make you hallucinate.)

(This was the only way you wouldn't fail… wouldn't fall in love…)

(But look at you… even within the hallucination, you failed. You fell in love… even had a family.)

(Pathetic.)

Calus felt his entire existence crumble.

He couldn't cry.

He couldn't feel sadness.

He was empty.

(Connection at 20% / 100%)

"If I was in a hallucination… who was controlling my body?" Calus finally asked.

(I did.)

Boom.

Calus felt dizzy as he collapsed.

The first rays of sunlight spread across the battlefield, their golden hue reflecting off blood and ruin.

The metallic scent of blood filled the air.

The rotten stench of flesh lingered.

The earth smelled of dirt and death.

Discarded weapons lay scattered, still radiating terrifying auras…

Now mixed with something darker…

Malice.

Grief.

The lingering emotions of their fallen owners.

(Connection at 50%)

Calus didn't know what to think… or what to do.

Everything was a lie?

No… that wasn't even important…

He was a clone…

Of an Outer God.

(Connection at 70%)

Every feeling…

The kisses… the touches… the laughter…

Eva's voice…

Was even his grief over their deaths a lie?

(Connection at 80%)

He killed his friends…

His family…

His goal was this… and he had finally completed it.

He had failed hundreds of times…

(Connection at 99%)

"Is this a glitch… or a dream?"

(Connection at 100%)

Calus's eyes darkened.

His body went still… completely stiff.

Then—

His body withered.

The trees withered…

The plants…

Even the sun… began to wither.

"Aahh… finally awake…"

A faint, devilish voice echoed as the new Calus smiled.

He looked around… then nodded.

"You did well," Calus said.

(Thank you, Master. Glad you are back.)

"Hahaha…"

"I am too. The battle with the protector of this world ended in a draw… but sadly, he didn't know…"

"…the world he was protecting had already been compromised by me."

(Yes, Master. Your plan was brilliant… and it was a success.)

"Hahaha… then let's begin."

"This delicacy has been far from me for millions of years…"

"This sweet, high-quality dish…"

"…it's time to eat."

Calus said as his body floated into the sky.

His peak God Realm aura erupted, causing the sky to crack.

"Open…" Calus laughed wildly.

Crack—

Suddenly, the planet began to wither, turning into pure energy essence.

Lightning struck.

Thunder roared.

The sky fractured.

Crack— BOOM!

The sky shattered.

A suffocating darkness spread everywhere.

The Outer God had no fixed form…

Yet its massive body dwarfed the entire world as it began feeding.

This world…

The one Calus had tried so hard to save…

The world where he made friends…

Built a family…

The world he promised to protect…

The people he swore to save…

All gone.

He had failed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

And with that failure…

Came the destruction of the world.

---

Thousands of years passed…

And the world was finally swallowed.

Calus floated as he merged with the Outer God's body.

"Now… time to go devour the protector… hahaha…"

The Outer God spoke, its voice ancient.

Space cracked.

Creatures unfortunate enough to hear it across the spacetime continuum went mad instantly.

*********

Bang..

"Checkmate!."

"I… I was always in the palm of your hands?"

"All my struggles… my plans… were all predetermined?"

"Did I ever have free will?"

"Was this the destiny of Calus…? Could it never be changed?"

Trul looked up at Alayot.

His eyes were filled with tears as he stared at the chessboard…

Black and white lights swirling across it.