The woman eyed my body for any other wounds than the one on my hand but found nothing. Then she noticed the small bulge in my chest and touched it, burning her hand in the process. Then she checked under my shirt, and her eyes widened as she saw black plates with gaps that illuminated dark red light start to spread all over my body.

She put my shirt back down and looked at me in shock, only to get more terrified by the unexpected event as she saw a wide smile appear on my face with my eyes still radiating murderous intent.

As expected, she didn't have any methods to kill me in this situation, and she decided to float away back where she came from in order for her to think up a strategy after seeing the extent of my capabilities from a safe range.

The plates of armor spreading across my body that felt like they were glued on with magma started taking up all my attention after the woman was out of sight and the pain-nullifying enchantment was long gone.

However, control over my body was now back in my hands.

I stood up slowly, picking up my dagger on the way. Every movement made me endure an incredible amount of pain, but the state my body was in couldn't be described with a better word than intoxicating.

As I took in the feeling of incredible power, I wondered how this was all possible.

Before this moment, every fight I had fought had been for myself. For my own life. I had fought with something on the line that would not matter anymore if I lost. If I lost this time, however, my reason for fighting wouldn't disappear. The anger I felt towards this thing that had taken away my chance to no longer be lonely would disappear with me, but my desire for revenge wouldn't since Calvin wasn't like me. He had people he cared about and people who cared about him, which led him to let his guard down and become a victim of this ruin.

That's why my reason to fight mattered more than ever. It wasn't just me that wanted this, so even if I died, the reason I fought would remain. The desire for revenge against anyone who harmed Calvin was ingrained deep down in the hearts of the people who cared for him, which meant that my reason for fighting was immortal.

For once, I was fighting for something greater than just the desire of a single miserable soul.

This was a feeling I had subconsciously desired ever since the day I was born. I finally cared for the world outside myself, and it felt like the world cared for me.

I couldn't possibly lose.

My whole body felt like it was being burned by the armor that stuck to my skin, but the surge of power I felt was so great that I could do nothing but embrace the feeling and smile.

After the armor spread to my feet and arms, ripping my clothes to shreds in the process, it spread to my neck, and before long, two vertical plates of the armor covered my face, creating a sharp edge in the middle of my face, and the burning sensation spread. Immediately, I closed my eyes out of instinct but realized that I had to open them eventually, or I wouldn't be able to defeat that being.

Carefully, I opened my eyes, and the burning shifted from my eyelids to my eyes, which went completely dry in an instant, after being exposed. The burning sensation then went through my eyes, and I felt like my brain was being fried. A few indescribably painful seconds passed before I could see again. However, after regaining my sight, I noticed that my vision had turned infrared and that the details in my vision were much more vivid. It felt like it was the first time in my life that I could actually see.

It was time.

I turned, raising my heels off the ground and leaning my upper body forward before launching myself toward the mirrors, which were bouncing from one to another on all sides at speeds that were incomprehensible even to me. I wasn't even quite sure how I could generate the necessary power to launch myself off of a broken surface, but I had no time to really question it since in just a second, the mirrors had all been shattered to pieces, and I was heading toward the woman who was hiding behind the mirrors.

In utter shock, the woman could only lean her upper body back and open her eyes wide as she shrieked, "Stop!"

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My muscles flexed, and for a second, it felt like I was a statue in midair, flying towards the woman.

"Dream!" The woman followed up.

Suddenly, the muscles that had been flexed turned limp, and it started feeling like I was just a projectile. But my eyes stayed wide open. I knew that all I needed was a single strand of power to pull on. I was so close to breaking free.

With some effort, I managed to tense my forearm muscles, gripping my dagger that had been on the verge of falling, and started moving it towards the woman. As I was gliding through the air, time felt like it moved slowly, and I could see the mirror pieces all around me return to their places as my hand moved forward in a strained manner, starting to move faster and faster every single moment.

Once I was within hand's reach of the woman, the muscles in my shoulder finally worked, and my movements were completely free again.

The woman didn't even attempt to dodge and seemed focused on something else, but then her eyes flew open.

"What... commandment?" she muttered as her last words before my dagger cut through her diagonally from shoulder to waist.

It wasn't enough for me, though. I didn't necessarily want her to suffer. I just wanted to make sure not to leave any recognizable remnants of her existence behind. That was my revenge.

"Disappear," I spoke with difficulty created by the tightness of my jaw, my voice muffled by the armor.

Then I gave my right arm a command, and it obeyed faster than I could perceive. When I finally understood what had happened, the woman had been reduced to hundreds of pieces, cut by my dagger.

Eventually, my momentum stopped, and my airtime came to an end as I landed onto the black platform, finally able to relax.

I summoned my dagger, and the armor seemed to recognize that the situation was over and simply reduced itself to dust, freeing me of the pain it inflicted on my mind and body.

My chest moved as I breathed deeply, and I looked down at my hands, pumping them into fists a few times before raising my head and looking up at the darkness.

"I see now. My head is clear."

That was strength. Fighting for a worthy cause. That was it, wasn't it? Had I really been fighting all my life for something that was unworthy in my own eyes, or was there another explanation?

'I'll never find out, will I?' I thought.

"Hah," I exhaled quickly, sounding a bit like the start of laughter, and brought my gaze down before looking behind me and seeing the dead body of Calvin.

I swallowed dryly as my gaze softened and revealed some genuine sadness.

I was then transported, and the whiteness of the preparation room blinded me.

'It seems this place favors those who have nothing. A place made for me. A place where only the worst of the worst survive,' I thought, and started looking around the room.

It didn't take long for me to notice a detail that made my eyes and mouth open wide. 'Two chairs? Again? How?'

I looked everywhere but found no signs of people until I saw a head rising in the distance. He had been lying on a couch and now seemed to have woken up.

At that moment, I was reminded of my future deaths.

Even though it had been a traumatic experience, after I had avoided so many of the deaths I had seen on that day, those images started to fade from my mind, but one of them had been too deeply etched in for it to fade away.

That image of myself at the mercy of that white-haired man was one I couldn't forget.

My whole body shook as a shiver traveled through my spine and sent fear signals all around as the man with white hair on the couch turned to look at me with glowing eyes similar to mine, except for the fact that the red dots in his eyes had grown so large they now took up most of his eyes.

"Hmm, another person who survived," the man said with an impressed expression and licked his dry lips.

I gulped and stayed silent.

Then he tilted his head with an unnaturally violent and rapid movement before asking with genuine curiosity in his voice, "Have I met you before?"