Paintings of Terror - Chapter 64: Grazing and Being Grazed

Lanz Kuroda failed his Awakening Test in the most spectacular way possible, he didn’t just rank low, his ass got slapped with an FFF. He was locked out of the system entirely, and sent home like the rejected tutorial character that he is.But when a cracked relic crystal he bought from a sketchy street vendor activates, it boots up something the world shouldn’t even know exists, a hidden system that logs him into an old, forgotten alt account, one with no level cap, restrictions, and absolutely zero oversight.By day, Lanz is still the same guy that no one aspires to be.But at night? In the dungeons?He becomes Zero, an anonymous hunter operating outside the system, clearing high-tier raids solo, and slowly building a legend no one can trace.The world thinks he’s a joke.He’s about to become its biggest problem.

-Picture is not mine, I do not own the right for it, so if owner wants it to be put down, please message me on the comment-

In a usurped kingdom , amid a war-torn and blood-soaked Italy, Conradin's battleground is set. To reclaim his birthright the crown of Sicily, he must tread a path paved with blood, learning that he must do whatever it takes to ascend the throne.

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In the year 1266, the tale of Conradin, the last scion of an ancient imperial dynasty, unfolds. His once-great kingdom, Sicily, has been ruthlessly usurped first by his own uncle and now rests in the hands of the cunning French Count Charles. Through a treacherous plot involving the Pope, Charles managed to oust the Hohenstaufen from the Kingdom of Sicily and crowned himself as its king.

In the East, powers such as the Despotate of Epirus are keenly observing the instability in Sicily, poised to seize any advantage that may arise from the chaos. Meanwhile, the small Italian communes are caught in the political crossfire, aligning themselves with one side of the conflict or the other based on the prevailing political party in power and their vested interests. These shifting allegiances turn the Italian peninsula into a powder keg, where all-out war seems inevitable.

As the shadows of history close in around Conradin, the world watches with bated breath. Will he emerge triumphant, his name forever etched in the annals of Sicilian glory as the rightful king who defied insurmountable odds, toppling both the Pope and the usurper? Or will he, in his valiant struggle, become a tragic figure, a symbol of lost opportunities and shattered dreams? The future of Sicily hangs in the balance, and Conradin's destiny remains uncertain, poised on the precipice of history.

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In 2030, humanity faced its first true collapse…not by war, but by the sudden invasion of Nightcrawlers, creatures emerging from darkness itself with the desire to devour sunlight at all cost for their evolution.But, they could not absorb it directly since it was as deadly to them as to a shadow under the noonday sun. They could only absorb the sunlight from lifeforms or through signing a nocturnal contract to possess their bodies, providing them with direct sunlight immunity.Within twelve hours, over four billion people perished as Earth was split between eternal night and day.Just as extinction loomed, Holy Light Pillars descended from the heavens, purging one thousand cities from Nightcrawlers and offering humanity sanctuary under their divine light.A century later, in the Heliodor Region, an innocent child found his world turned upside down after two mysterious nightcrawlers invaded his home, slaughtered his parents, and ripped his eyes out of their sockets, leaving him permanently connected to the Shadow Dimension, the home ground of Nightcrawlers.Was it just a random feeding session for them, a planned assassination, or it goes deeper than this?Follow Levi’s journey as he weaves between darkness and light, chasing the truth hidden in both.

I was reborn into a chaebol family.Into a time with no cryptocurrency, no internet, and nothing else.