00D: 00H: 10M: 20S

King and Eli had just had dinner and were now seated on the mansion rooftop. The tiles pressed cool beneath them.

Eli’s spirit eagle circled overhead, cutting through the evening air as it patrolled the building’s perimeter. The translucent bird glowed faintly, as it scanned for movements below.

Eli gripped the Calamity Long-Shoulder across his lap, resting his fingers near the trigger guard, while king leaned back against the sloped roof, with one knee bent as he opened his interface. The private chat with Vi sat at the top of his message feed, timestamped hours ago.

He said one last message.

KING: It’s near, hand in there Vi.

Then closed the chat without waiting for her reply.

The First Penance wasn’t the toughest challenge if you knew your way around it.

King had survived it dozens of times across different playthroughs, while using different classes and character builds.

It wasn’t an impossible feat, but it reshaped everything.

Entire topographies would be rewritten, different NPCs would flood the world, taking over infrastructure and settlements.

The world map itself would fracture and reform, merging cities, shifting landmasses, splitting oceans.

Seven distinct regions would emerge, six outer regions surrounding one central elevated zone. Each one, the size of a continent.

The barriers separating starting zones would shatter, granting players free movements between zones. And the monster population would explode.

King had told Vi everything. Shelter locations, safe zones if her crib got compromised and he hadn’t arrived. What creatures to avoid. How to recognize environmental triggers before they killed you.

Now all he could do was wait.

He opened his profile one last time, scanning his remaining rune count.

[RUNES: 31,100]

The count had dropped after his recent purchases, but it was still enough for two more level ups.

King navigated to the level-up prompt, clicked it twice and confirmed, the system deducted 11,000 and 12,000 runes for both level ups.

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 12]

[+20 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE]

He distributed them quickly.

[+5 STRENGTH | +5 SPEED | +5 CONSTITUTION | +5 MIND]

The stat boosts settled into his body immediately, spreading warmth through his limbs, and his character details displayed before him.

CHARACTER DETAILS

NAME: King

RACE: Human

SKILL: God’s Hand: 100x Reward (SSS)

CLASS: Mage

RANK: F

LEVEL: 12

ITEMS:

-Grand Magus Oathcloak (equipped)

-Basic Construct Spelbook

-Arcbearer’s Hello

-Gauntlet Of Ruin [Legendary-Grade]

-Arcbearer’s Medallion [100]

-Basic Health Potions [5]

-Basic Mana Potions [5]

-Antidote Vial [3]

ABILITIES:

-Basic Construct Spell (C)

-Ruin’s Touch (S)

_____________________

STATS

Strength: 35

Speed: 35 (+5)

Mind: 45 (+10)

Constitution: 35

____________________

HP: 350

MP: 450 (+100)

Runes: 8,100

POWER POINTS: 1,300

POPULAR POINTS: 1,000

FANDOM LIST: 1

King observed his new stats, his power points had increased as well, he closed the interface and looked up at the sky, waiting for a sign.

Then,

It came...

TUNNNNNNNNNN.

A deep hum tore through the air.

The sound reverberated throught the entire game world, thrumming in King’s chest and rattling his bones.

Eli tensed immediately, snapping the rifle up.

[DING]

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FIRST WOE BEGINS IN...]

The countdown timer appeared in King’s vision, burning red.

00:00:10

00:00:09

00:00:08

00:00:07

00:00:06

00:00:05

00:00:04

00:00:03

00:00:02

00:00:01

...

CRACK!

A red line tore through the sky.

It split the horizon from east to west, jagged and glowing, carving through the clouds with a sound that made King’s ears ring.

RUMmBLLLllEEEE!!!

A hard earthquake began.

The rooftop shuddered beneath them. Tiles rattled loose, tumbling down the slope and shattering on the ground below. King braced himself, pressing his hand flat against the roof to steady his balance.

Eli dropped into a crouch on one knee, holding the rifle tight.

The red crack widened.

More lines began to appear, spreading outward and fracturing the sky in every direction.

Then, like a curtain, the heavens parted.

The barrier tore open.

A scene familiar to King as he recognized it immediately.

The sky had always been false placeholder. The game’s way of containing the starting zones before the real world map activated.

Now it was breaking.

The cracks spread wider, peeling back layers of simulated atmosphere to reveal what lay beyond.

A dark, strange heaven.

Vast and endless, dotted with faint points of light that looked nothing like burning stars.

And then they fell.

A third of the stars cast down, descended as massive balls of flame streaking through the torn sky, their path trailed in arcs that painted the world in deep crimson. They burned bright, trailing smoke and embers as they plummeted toward the earth.

DOOOM! DOOOM!

The first impacts hit.

The ground vibrated violently. King felt the shockwave roll through the mansion’s foundation, quaking the walls.

One fireball struck somewhere to the east. Then another to the west.

They kept coming.

Dozens of them, then hundreds, crashing into the earth with enough force to crater roads, flatten buildings and ignite forests.

King had seen it all before.

And in time, he knew the occurrences varied by region. Some areas got floods. Others typhoons. Lightning storms. Earthquakes. Blizzards. Plagues and pestilence.

But they all served the same purpose.

Seeding the world with new dominant species.

Monsters, that thrived in the new habitats.

King opened the World Chat, as it was he regular information hub on world news.

It was already filled with numerous messages.

"HOLY SHIT FIREBALLS EVERYWHERE"

"The entire city is flooding wtf is happening"

"Lightning just struck my apartment building twice"

"ZOMBIES. ACTUAL ZOMBIES. THEYRE COMING OUT OF THE GROUND"

"typhoon winds just ripped my roof off"

"I see green monsters. theyre killing people"

"WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE"

"This is the end lads, God’s judgement is upon us"

King scrolled through the messages, scanning for useful intel.

As he’d rightly thought, each region was different.

But the outcome was the same.

The world was being overrun.

"Master King."

Eli’s voice cut through the noise in all urgency.

King turned to him.

"Twelve o’clock."

King looked up.

A massive fireball was descending directly toward them.

It burned brighter than the others, larger, roughly the size of the mansion itself. Flames roared around its surface, trailing smoke that blackened the sky behind it.

FROOooaaAAAHHH.

The sound was deafening.

It was heading straight for the compound.

"Master King?"

Eli’s voice called out again. He slid his finger near the trigger, but his posture remained unfazed.

King didn’t move. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He kept his expression neutral, his gaze calm.

He’d seen this before.

CRASH!!!

The fireball slammed into the ground just meters from the mansion’s front entrance, carving a deep crater into the earth. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, flattening grass, cracking stone, shaking the entire building.

Smoke billowed upward.

And the flames began to die out.

Eli aimed the barrel directly at the center of the target.

The flames began to cool.

Slowly.

The smoke stirred.

And then, something moved inside.

Two massive wings parted from the top of the smoke screen, each one charred black.

A hammer emerged from the left side.

A massive, brutal weapon. The head alone was the size of a car, forged from dark iron and wrapped in chains that clinked and rattled as it moved.

The smoke cleared further.

And the figure stood.

Twelve feet tall.

Humanoid, muscular on he arms and back, but bloated on the belly. Its skin burned red and cracked, glowing faintly from within as if molten blood flowed beneath the surface. It stretched its wings wide, the feathers were burnt and patchy, their size, although large for a human, was disproportionately smaller for the giant.

It gripped the doom hammer in both hands, the weapon’s weight causing the ground beneath it to crack.

And then it raised its head.

Two eyes burned crimson, locking directly onto King’s gaze. Above its head, a floating name appeared.

Written in deep, blood-red text.

[FALSE NEPHILIM]