《The Origin of Gravity - Dominion's End: The birth of an Origin》 tOoG - Dominion’s End 00 - End. Takanawa Junichiro, the name that I was known by before the summoning incident happened. The 10th of August, day of the summoning incident, started like any other day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Person (Junichiro) ¡°Get Up!¡± [???] With an angry voice, the blanket I was wrapped up in was mercilessly tugged away, exposing my body to the cruel coldness. Due to the abrupt change in temperature, I jumped to my feet. ¡°Wooooah, The enemy is here!?¡± [Junichiro] ¡°What the hell are you fighting?¡± [???] With a cold voice, what came into my vision was the face I am most used to seeing, my sister, Takanawa Mana. Her glossy long black hair, unblemished pale white skin, well featured outline and a tall nose, straight vibrant lips and stiff and angled eyebrows radiated a feeling of anger. ¡°Good morning, Mana.¡± [Junichiro] ¡°Good Morning, hurry and get up, everyone is already on the table.¡± [Mana] Saying that, she left the room, leaving the door ajar. At least close the door¡­¡­.it¡¯s cold. Looking at the clock above my manga shelves, it was 0700hrs. As a high school student whom had no morning practice, it was rather early, though I was used to this timetable. Or looking back at how I woke up later than usual today, maybe I wasn¡¯t. Well, that wasn¡¯t important, I thought as I put on my uniform. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Person (Narrator) Monday, the most melancholic of all days had just started. At this time of the week, most people would sigh, as the previous day was like heaven to them. This was not an exception for Takanawa Junichiro, who was resting his chin tiredly on his desk. ¡°Why is the lesson so mentally draining?¡± [Junichiro] ¡°Stop complaining, idiot. It¡¯s the same for everyone.¡± [???] As Junichiro complained, a lazy voice drawled from his left. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Who are you calling an idiot, when you are the last in class?¡± [???] The one, whom covered for Junichiro, was Yanagi Inaba, whom sat in front of him. The lazy one was Isayama Masaru, Junichiro¡¯s self-proclaimed best buddy. With this opening line, the two started to chat it up, ignoring the one right in the middle. Junichiro continued to enjoy the atmosphere, melting away into the scenery. ¡°Teeh, that¡¯s not what I wanted to say. Hey Junichi¡­¡­..¡±(Inaba) ¡°He melted¡­¡± (Masaru) As Inaba turned her head to face the one whom she really wanted to talk to, both of them notice their friend had melted into a puddle of contentment, a strand of hair flapping in the cool autumn wind. ¡°Pff¡­ hahahahahaha¡± (Masaru) ¡°Junichiro, you look so ridiculous.¡± (Inaba) [And cute.] She silently added on, with no one hearing what she said. ¡°Nii-san, I came to get you¡­ what are you doing nii-san?¡± (Mana) Mana, whom came to meet her brother, was puzzled at the sight. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, come on Mana, it¡¯s time to go.¡± [Junichiro] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Person (Junichiro) As I, Junichiro was about to reach for my bag, I was frozen. In front of my eyes, a complex array of blood red circles appeared before him. The other students also noticed this weird phenomenon. I watched as the patterns shined, and an intense pain suddenly attacked my head. While clutching my head and wincing from the pain, I noticed the other students also doing the same thing, some of them even screaming in pain. I crawled over to Mana, the only immediate family that was here, and hugged her. Even she was affected by the magic circle, and was crying. ¡°Are we going to die?¡± (Mana) Mana asked as tears flowed down the edge of her eyes. I just hugged her tighter as she returned my embrace. I don¡¯t want to die¨C Was my last thought as the world faded to darkness. tOoG - Dominions End 01 - Captured 1st Person (Junichiro) As I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on something hard. As I opened my eyes, I found myself seeing¡­ Nothing. The room was pitch black, was it still nighttime? Somehow, my body was feeling extremely sore. No, the bed I¡¯m sleeping on is too hard, causing the pain from the soreness of all parts of my body. Did I fall off my bed and sleep on the floor or something? As I thought of getting up to return to my bed, my body¡ªdidn¡¯t move. I realized that I was completely paralyzed from my head to foot, not even my fingers could twitch. Was this the legendary lucid dream I had heard about? This is my first experience, but I would have been glad if this happened while I was at least lying on my bed, because even though I can¡¯t move my body, the sensation of the hard floor is perfectly transmitted. As I was at a loss on what to do, my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and the surroundings became clear. Where the hell is this? I finally realized that this was not the room I grew up in. Somehow, although I was unable to move most parts of my body, including my neck, my eyeballs were still able to move. I took a quick scan of the room. It was a completely empty room. I¡¯m probably lying in the middle of the room, and nothing existed inside this room, other than me. Not a single door existed either. A fearful thought flew into my mind, that maybe I¡¯m trapped in a room with not a single opening. What is this? Seriously, where the hell is this? Why am I in this kind of situation? A bad dream, is what I wanted to think, but every sensation I felt is too realistic. And VR helmets only existed in light novels. I was unable to refute the fact that everything was real. As I continued to try and escape from reality, some of my memories came back to me. I was in the classroom, watching my friends bickering with each other, and Mana came in¡­ That¡¯s right, as we were about to leave, blood red magic circles suddenly appeared on the classroom floor and caused everyone to have an extreme headache, and I was hugging Mana. That magic circle, what the hell was¡ª-my further incoherent thoughts were suddenly interrupted. Oh shit, too bright!! The room was suddenly filled with light, and due the instant change from darkness to light, my eyes temporarily stopped working. However, I was able to get used to the light in a few seconds. It seems that lights were not the only thing to change in this room. I felt the presence of other humans. Not some vague sounds, but the clear sounds of boots tapping on the hard floor. The fact that someone came cleared the fact that I was not locked in an airtight room. But that relief was also instantly blown away. Maybe, it would have been better if it were an airtight room. The person who came into my view, his appearance was too extraordinary. Clad in something like a white mantle and his head was also covered with a hood. It would have been fine if it was just that. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He¡¯s wearing a white mask. That looks totally suspicious. Not a gas-mask, but the type worn in operas, simple yet the whole surface was covered with abnormal designs. What the hell? These guys are definitely dangerous! There were three people in my line of sight, all of them whom were wearing similar outfits. Are these guys running some kind of weird cult or something? However, I still lay paralyzed and I could do nothing but look around restlessly, unable to move even a finger, and to even moan. I felt cold sweat trickling down my cheek. I don¡¯t really understand the situation but I¡¯m definitely in a very bad situation right now. ¡¸??? ??¡¹[Masked Man] Suddenly, one the masked men said something. ¡¸?? ?????, ??? ???? ?????? ??????¡¹[Masked Man] To that, another one answered. Even though I was already in despair, I was further pushed into even more despair. That¡¯s because I don¡¯t understand a single word of what these masked men are talking about. At the very least, it is not English or Chinese or any other foreign language that I might be familiar with. Although, I, who barely got average marks in Chinese might not have been able to understand it too. At least it¡¯s not Chinese, that¡¯s for sure. Completely ignoring me who was totally in panic and chaos, the masked men continued their conversation. That conversation suddenly, or so I thought, when one the masked men brought out a white ring. It looked like a fluorescent lamp in the shape of ring, but that¡¯s not it. Then again, that special ring without any ornaments was not something I knew of. A tool I have never seen before. As I wondered what they would do with it, suddenly from inside the ring, thin needles came out. Total of 6 needles came out. With a *kashing* sound, I certainly saw them coming out. I thought they were pretty, but at the same time I also had a bad premonition. Similar to how it came out, they went back in an instant and the ring returned to normal. And then the masked man who held the ring brought it towards my head¡ª Wait, wait a minute, don¡¯t bring something dangerous like that, where needles fly out, towards my head!!! Unable to neither move my body, nor produce any voice, other than restlessly moving my eyes and sweating from the whole body, I could not give out any other reaction. The masked man, without any hesitation, with practiced hands, stuck the ring to my head. Stop it, seriously stop it! If the needles came out now, what is going to happen to my head? With that length, they definitely reach my brain, and there are 6 of them! I¡¯ll die, I¡¯ll surely die. The fear of death instantly overcame me, but I had no way to put up any resistance. Even crying or shouting while shivering in an unsightly manner was not allowed to me. In what was barely a few seconds, the ring was set on my head. Stop, please stop¡ª Unable to speak out, mercilessly, from my head, came a *kashing* sound. And at the end, I lost my consciousness. tOoG - Dominions End 02 - Lab Rat 1st Person (Junichiro) ¡°Urgh¡­¡­ pain¡± [Junichiro] As I awoke, I found myself lying on the cold, hard floor once more. Hello, cold hard floor that gives me pain every day. I immediately noticed that I wasn¡¯t paralyzed anymore, and started to clench and unclench my fist. ¡°Was it all a dream, I guess not¡­¡± [Junichiro] Looking around, I noted that the walls around me were white, with a heavy metal door right in front of me. The number ¡®56¡¯ was displayed on a crude metal sign, hanging right above the door. As I peeped through the small bars on the heavy door, I can only see a long white corridor. I tried banging on the door, but steel is steel, how the hell do I even break it. If I continued my actions, I could potentially achieve the state of what most worlds should know as [Broken Arms]. Which was definitely not something I needed. Although, the pain from breaking my arms might help alleviate part of the headache that the ring is giving me. That¡¯s right; the ring with the six needles is still stuck on my head. It constantly gives me a minor headache that was barely bearable, but when I even start to think of plucking it out, the pain it gives was intense. This would probably be something a Masochist would kill for? I focused my train of thoughts on something else before something bad happens. Now to think of it, where the hell was everyone? Inaba? Masaru? Mana? Before I could continue, the steel door opened with a clunk, and the one whom opened it were as expected, the masked men. ¡¸??, ??? ?? ???, ????? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????¡¹[Masked man] As usual, I was not able to understand anything of what the masked man is saying in his lingo. On hearing it again, it does give somewhat of an English-like feel, but¡­¡­¡­ No, rather than that, I should pay attention to their movements. Although I had put myself on guard, but the masked man seemed to worry more about whatever was behind him, than me. It seems there were other masked men behind him too. Another 2 masked men entered the room, and I crawled backwards, towards the wall to distance myself from them. And then another one came in, or so I thought, but I became unable to look away from his face. That was because he was not wearing a mask and showing his bare face. Realizing that he wasn¡¯t Japanese in a single glance, he was a white-skinned old man with a finely chiseled face. His hair was hidden inside his hood, but it was probably completely white, and his eyes were blue. His age looks easily above 60. And he also had a proud white beard to top it off. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Could it be that this old man was the leader of those masked men? Wait, they aren¡¯t going to start calling him a living god or something, right? As I sent him a doubtful gaze, that geezer (since he made me face such hardships, I¡¯ll call him geezer) looked at me with suspicious eyes. At that moment, I was attacked by an intense headache. ¡°Uuwaaaaahh!!!¡± [Junichiro] To have your head break must be something like this. No, I really had thought that it might have broken. Pain strong enough to think you are about to die, but what was actually giving me pain was the ¡®will¡¯ of somebody else that kept on resounding inside of my head. It hurts ¡ª¡ª¡ª hurts ¡ª¡ª¡ª pain ¡ª¡ª¡ª death ¡ª¡ª [ring] Inside of my head, a different train of thought started rampaging on its own. The cause of the pain was, without a doubt, this train of thought, and I understood that the source was this geezer in front of me intuitively. As I fell on the hard floor I looked towards the geezer with teary eyes. Not with anger, but purely of begging in an unsightly manner. ¡ª¡ª no-resistance ¡ª¡ª¡ª submission [ring] Right before I could faint, the aching stopped, and at the moment, I realized what the ring was for. Mind control¡­ ¡ª¡ª stand [ring] With the effect of the headache still remaining, I was unable to stand immediately when the thought came into my head. ¡ª¡ª stand [ring] Once again, the headache slowly started to come back. I forced myself to stand up unsteadily. It was a feeling worse than vomiting, but it was better than being attacked by that headache again. With a horrid cough, I stood up and faced the geezer. ¡¸??????? ????? ???? ????.¡¹[Geezer] The geezer, like all the others, said words that I was unable to understand. ¡°.....¡± [Junichiro] I just stood there, unable to give any sort of reaction. The geezer could send me thoughts, but it was a vague image that could not be put into words. I was unable to understand their purpose. But that said, I don¡¯t think I want to have a smooth communication with them even if words could be said. ¡ª¡ª Walk As the thought was relayed, the geezer turned back and started walking. Unable to resist, with staggering steps, all I could do was follow the back of the old man. As I crossed the door, I saw the tunnel continuing in darkness. As if ominously predicting that compared to the hell that lay in my future, it might be much better to just commit suicide right now. tOoG - Dominions End 03 - Life as No. 56 1st Person (Junichiro) It has been a few days, or months, since the day the mind-controlling ring was attached onto me. In this place, there was no way to track or record time, and as every hour seems that long anyway, I decided to not bother to count. In some movies, the criminals in their jail cells uses a piece of stone to mark lines into the stone wall, counting the days they were stuck there. It is perpetually bright here though, so the days and nights made no difference. In fact, I am not even sure if there were days and nights in this world. I hope it did, for it would be helpful for the day I escape. ¡°Aaaargh¡± [Junichiro] The ring was acting up again, it must be due to the thoughts of escape I had before. Hugging my knees in the corner, I wiped the tears away from my eyes, and tried to stay determined. The white ring was extremely versatile in usage. It causes pain to the target it was attached from, and forced the target itself to either follow the instructions of the user, or continue to feel the pain until you do. On top of that, it was also able to completely paralyze the target¡¯s body, causing the target to not be able to do anything, but flop onto the ground. All my body is belong to them. Sitting in the corner of the room, as far away from the door as possible, I slowly recalled the experiments the geezer¡¯s minions did to me during the period of time. What this people kept me here for, was nothing simple, like the testing of side effects caused by new drugs. My whole body was completely restructured by them, not even the toes were spared. Sounds really like some sort of evil underground organization. And above all else, the biggest problem is that these restructuring experiments were not done through some kind of state-of-the-art technology, but instead are based on magic. The first experiment they did to me, around two days after attaching the ring, was to make my body be able to contain, and manipulate mana. Would it be more accurate to say that they pumped mana into me? I don¡¯t really remember the details, but as a result of that, I was able to perceive a new type of energy, both flowing in my body, and outside in the world. It might sound amazing, and even fun to be able to manipulate mana, but out of all the experiments that were done to me, this was the most painful one. It was as if some stuck an intravenous drip into me, and slowly let molten aluminum flow into my blood vessels. Moreover, the ring caused my consciousness to be kept awake forcefully, so I had to endure every second of it. Now that I think about it, it¡¯s amazing I had actually survived that ordeal. Even after that experiment, the burning sensation took quite some time to just lessen. Due to this experience, I became aware of the phenomenon known as , brought about by , without any problems. However, to understand and to control it were two different concepts. The types of magic I was able to use was still unknown, since I have not tried it even once. Since that control ring is also made with , I¡¯m certain the effects should be able to be nullified by . Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Ever since then, I whom had gained the ability to control , was forced to undergo many more experiments, each one as disgusting as the one before. What meaning, or results each and every experiment held, a test subject like me wouldn¡¯t know. After confirming the presence of in my body, the next experiments involved injecting various liquids of a flashy color into me. Watching the funnel of liquids slowly emptying itself into my veins was nerve-wracking, even without the pain. There was even one time, where they tried drowning me in a bucket of silvery grey liquid, which looked like Mercury, but stank tens of times worse than the public toilets, and the dump truck. On other experiments, they opened up my body to embed a wide range of assorted metal parts, and gem-like stones, each one infused with a huge amount of stagnant mana. The side-effects of each experiments, usually ignored by the brilliant scientists, included headaches, stomach aches, nausea, high fever, breathing suspensions and many other fatal symptoms, which made the maintenance of life activity doubtful. However, no matter how lethal the experiments, or the side effects may appear, my body was still able to return to a healthy state after I slept. During the endless cycles of reconstructing my body, I started to hallucinate that maybe, I had already died multiple times, and was brought back for more experiments. After all, there was magic in this world. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising, no matter what they do to me. I began to wonder how much of my body was still me, after all of these experiments. The only visible results to me were the ability to feel , and the words spoken by the masked natives started to sound like Japanese to me. And I don¡¯t think those are hallucinations. That, and also the times like now, where my self-consciousness was clear, slowly dwindled. This was not me falling asleep randomly, but me losing control of my body, and entering a dreamy state. My sleeping hours were ironically, not even near two hours. But in the first place, I was too tired to notice the difference between daytime and nighttime. After being summoned here, I have not seen anything but white walls. Even if the grass was blue in this world, I wouldn¡¯t know. Still, inside this empty prison room of mine, as long as I kept on remembering those peaceful school days of the distant past, I¡¯ll remain myself in my mind. Today, my condition is pretty good. Neither head nor body hurts anywhere, the sensation of the tears flowing on my cheek can also be felt clearly. Aaaaauuuuu, I want to go back, I want go back home¡­¡­¡­ ¡°No. 56, get out now.¡± [Masked man] Opening the door, the masked man called me. No. 56, this is my name here. I dread to think about the other experimental subjects. ¡°Hurry up.¡± [Masked man] Stand¡ª¡ª Come¡ª¡ª Walk¡ª¡ª [ring] Before the headache could become worse, I climbed to my feet, clutching the wall by my side for support, and stumbled out to beyond the white corridor. tOoG - Dominions End 04 - Combat Experiments [Pt. 1] 1st Person (Junichiro) What is going on? As usual, I was brought out from the dreary cell, out into the white corridor, following the masked man. However, it seems that we are not going through the usual route. Could they have a new experiment room set up? I was brought into a huge, hexagonal hall, complete with white walls. As compared to the cell, lab, or even the corridor, this hall had a huge amount of space and a high ceiling, which makes it look overly spacious. Glancing backwards, I saw that masked man that led me here was quietly shutting the metal door. Well then, I wonder what torture are they going to do to me here? Judging from the look of this place, it doesn¡¯t seem to be body modifications. It would be nice if they held a dance party in this redundantly spacious hall instead. Good grief, it feels like if I don¡¯t keep thinking up of more stupid jokes, I might go insane. I wonder, maybe I would have been better if I had gone insane? While stupid thoughts flooded by brain, from a door opposite of the one I arrived from, came a loud clanking of metal. Something¡¯s coming. The one who came looked like the usual white masked man, but his outfit was completely different from the ones up till now. What covered his whole body was not a cloak, but a shiny armor. That outfit makes him look like a knight, with the helmet changed for a mask. The difference is that knights protect innocent civilians, but that guy is fighting one, mainly me. ¡°With this, we shall initiate No.56¡¯s combat experiments. No.56, use your Dark Magic to destroy the doll in front of you.¡± For the first time, I had an explanation of the experiment, and it does not sound good. What I basically had to do, was to fight this armored freak with my fists? Must I reiterate the fact that I am just a normal high-schooler with a forced body upgrade, and not some shounen-manga protagonist with some background with an ancient martial art design to kill people? What could be being able to see blue energy streams, do to an armored freak? ¡°Oh shit!?¡± [Junichiro] The golem, which was already in front of me, raised its clenched fist overhead. I am just a completely normal high school student. The only combat experience I had ever had, was punching a classmate in elementary school, whom destroyed my majestic pinwheel, which I had painstakingly made during the summer holidays, in anger. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I must say, damn those protagonists with a martial arts background. Why do I not get one too? Is it because I am not one, or this is reality? Stumbling backwards, I managed to somehow dodge the punch. It is really obvious, but the golem is obviously not going to stop at just one punch. ¡°Sssshit¡­¡­¡­¡± [Junichiro] I, whom retreated timidly backwards, soon hit the traitorous wall. Use your magic, was what those bastards said, with that geezer watching above all, but how the hell am I supposed to do that? ¡°Guuaaaah, Aagh!¡± [Junichiro] The iron fist of the golem connects with my solar plexus. Due to the hardness and shock of the fist, I thought I would faint with just that one attack, but after actually getting hit once, it wasn¡¯t that bad. It could be because of my intensively modified body. Or it could just be the effect of the cursed ring, keeping me awake, but that is not important. This also gives me a opportunity to counterattack. ¡°Haah!¡± [Junichiro] I gave the golem a solid punch, while in a combat stance. Or so I would like to think. As I had mentioned earlier, I had not any experience in fighting, and only imagined that a combat stance would look like this in Mangas. The results however, were astonishing. The golem, without even trying to dodge, accepted my blow. I felt an impact on my fists, and with a dull impact, the golem was blown backwards. ¡°Hhhow¡¯s that.¡­¡± [Junichiro] Sweating profusely, I wiped my forehead with my left arm, trying to catch my breath. It looked as if the golem was really weak, with it being sent flying so far. It would be nice if the golem were to stay down. As if to spite me, the golem immediately stood back up. The only comforting thing was that the mask, which withstood my blow, displayed a huge, web-like crack on it. ¡°Damn it, looks like this wouldn¡¯t be easy.¡± [Junichiro] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s note: Sorry about the lack of chapters recently, to those whom actually read this. I was busy working for my school project, and had finally completed what I had to do last Wednesday. Then, I took a short break, to play a little XCom2 and watch Deadpool. And maybe a bit of miniature painting today. But yeah, no excuses. I was slacking off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tOoG - Dominions End 05 – Combat Experiments [Pt. 2] 1st Person (Junichiro) I raised both of my fists, to protect my face, while thinking of what the masked bastards had said earlier on. ¡¸With this, we shall initiate No.56¡¯s combat experiments. No.56, use your Dark Magic to destroy the doll in front of you¡¹[Masked Bastard, earlier] How the heck am I supposed to do that in this situation? As I continued planning, the golem slowly trudges over once more. ¡°If this keeps up, I won¡¯t have time to think. I need to stop it first, somehow.¡± [Junichiro] I should force it down, incapacitate it so that it could not resist. Grappling it is the only way. Fortunately, this golem behaves like a programmed robot, and is only capable of throwing large swings. This should be good. ¡°Here we go.¡± [Junichiro] The golem gave its signature move once more, a large right hook. Dodging the blow easily, I circled around the golem and gave it a sweeping kick, causing it to fall flat on its face. Jumping onto its body, I forced it down with my own weight, and gripped both of its arms, rendering it immobile. ¡°What, did you really think I am going to just stand there, and take your blow?¡± [Junichiro] After saying that, I remembered what happened before, and blushed. Focus, myself. I am able to see the mana particles, but how do I move them? Some light novels mentioned communicating with the particles to tell them what to do, but others were about controlling them mentally, as if they were a part of your body. I am, going to try controlling them directly. It sounds really cool to talk to mana in novels, but looks really stupid in reality. ¡°Urgh¡­¡± [Junichiro] As the golem struggled in vain, mana started to circulate around by body, before accelerating its speed, and condensing further. I could feel the magitech, embedded within me, starting to resonate with the mana. I don¡¯t actually feel anything uncomfortable about the mana. That¡¯s probably because it is not in contact with my body. As if it were sensing the flow of mana, the golem started creaking, and started to thrash around much more violently. At the same time, the mana had finished condensing into a gauntlet. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. With this, it¡¯s over. ¡°Take that!¡± [Junichiro] The moment the golem succeeded in throwing me off, I threw a straight hook with my right fist, coated with the black gauntlet. The gauntlet pierced through the hard armor like a drill, and punched through the golem. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± [Junichiro] Not seeing any movement from the golem, I threw myself down on the floor, just like that. ¡°I, I actually did it¡­¡­¡± [Junichiro] I was able to condense the mana into a black colored gauntlet, which also somehow strengthens my arm. And the golem has completely stopped moving now. That is good news. *clank* ¡°Huh?!¡± [Junichiro] Wasn¡¯t the golem already deactivated? Why are there still clanking sounds? I sat up to take a peek at the golem. Yup, definitely deactivated. It is not even trying to move. So where are the sounds coming¡­ *clank**clank**clank* The answer turned out to be really simple. There were more than one of these golems. *clank**clank**clank**clank**clank**clank* ¡°¡­¡­¡­Shit.¡± [Junichiro] The gate, where the clanking sound had been coming from, slowly creaked open. Beyond the gate, were a dozen golems, waiting to swarm into the hall. All of them looked similar to the one I had just destroyed, with one small, but really important detail. Every single one of them, wielded a double-edged longsword in their hands. The golems entered through gateway in a single orderly file, lined up in front of me, and stared eerily at me, whom was still lying on the ground. ¡°What the fuck??!!¡± [Junichiro] Up till now, under the effect of the various experiments, I had resolved myself for death countless of times, but never had I did so as much as I have now. With unsteady movements, the golems held up their swords, as if to salute their combatant. With that, all of them started to slowly march towards me. ¡°¡­¡­Fuck this shit.¡± [Junichiro] tOoG - Dominions End 06 – The Last Straw [Pt. 1] 1st Person (Junichiro) It has been a while since the day I had first used magic. Ever since that day, which I faced those 10 sword golems, and barely survived, there had been a slight change to my daily timetable. As to be expected, this change was towards a bad direction. Of all the changes they could make to my timetable, why couldn¡¯t they change the amount of sleeping time I had, or maybe even that shit-like porridge, soup, gruel, or whatever that weird liquid-like thing is. And the thing that was changed, was the magical restructuring and modification routine. They had deemed it complete, and I am now forced to face horrifying monsters, in the name of combat experiments. What is this, M**ster Hu*ter? I had only found out later, but the golem I faced on the first day, was known as a . Golems had always appealed to me as massive stone giants, not having sentience. Never thought they could take that form. I had found the aforementioned rock golems however, and was also forced to fight it. Basically, the geezer and his masked lackeys, forced me to fight various types of creatures in this world. Or, should I say, monsters. They started it off easy from the beginning. Goblins, then cyclops, werewolves, twin-headed chimeras, a dinosaur-like dragon. There was even that one time when I had to fight a real fire-breathing dragon. Those things certainly lived up to their name as monsters. I almost became food more than once, even had a large hole punched through my abdomen, and my limbs were torn off as well. However, as long as I had won the fight, those masked lackeys would give me the minimum level of healing, and I somehow was able to live up till now. Even so, I still can¡¯t help thinking that they would use my corpse as monster feed, if I happened to fail even once. After all, I am but No. 56. With fifty-five numbers in front of me, how special would I be? I don¡¯t even have a name anymore, I am but a test subject. With all this, I still refuse to die. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Every day may be worse than death, but I still refuse to die. One day, I might just go free, and meet everyone again. Mana, Masaru, and Inaba, I wonder how are they right now? They are probably in the same situation as me. Apart from happy delusions of freedom, another difference I had noticed, that ever since having a ring planted into my forehead, the time where I was ¡®conscious¡¯ was a lot lesser. I tend to fall into an ¡®unconscious¡¯ state every once in a while. In this state of ¡®unconsciousness¡¯, I was aware of what I was doing, or what I had done, but it had felt as if everything was not done by me at all. It was as if I had relinquished the driver¡¯s seat to another operator. If this continues, I am afraid that I might stop being me. Not Takanawa Junichiro, the carefree student, but No. 56, the obedient test subject. The fact of me losing my sanity being not far away from reality is extremely frightening¡­¡­¡­ ¡°No. 56, come out.¡± [Masked Man] And once again, I am called out of my cell to fight more monsters in the arena. I wonder what will they send to fight me this time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What? During the first test, I was forced to fight with 11 light golems. It was a really harsh battle, but I had already succeeded in proving that I could take down multiple light golems. So why the hell are they making me fight another one? And only a single golem. Doubting that the masked bastards were that stupid, I examined the golem once more. This particular golem was adorned with an onyx-black armor, as compared to the standard white armor plating. Did it particularly mean anything? Maybe it was a new series, that they had to test out. What better test subject than me? It was also not armed with any sort of weaponry, just like the first golem I had fought. I was also able to feel a faint trace of dark mana. This golem is able to use dark magic? Well, since the spectator-sama isn¡¯t saying anything, I¡¯ll take the first blow. tOoG - Dominions End 07 – The Last Straw [Pt. 2] 1st Person (Junichiro) I confidently raised my right hand, fingers poised, as if I were about to flick a coin at the enemy, like a certain famous Railgun. However, I do not have any coins to flick, and it is annoying to do all this nonsense when I don¡¯t even have a way to conjure lightning. What I had in mind, was something different. In front of me, multiple black bullet-shaped projectiles appeared, and ignited at the same time. They were all launched towards the golem in front of me. Although I had called it ¡®buckshot¡¯, it looked nothing like a shotgun blast, it just looked like I fired off multiple bullets at the enemy. When I had used it earlier against the other monsters, the small fries like goblins and kobolds were easily massacred. However, this golem doesn¡¯t seem to go down that easily. ¡°Hmm, a strong technique. This would be annoying.¡± [Junichiro] I had thought my would at least crack the golem¡¯s , but that magic golem was completely unfazed. ¡°Let¡¯s go for... Whoa shit!¡± [Junichiro] Before I could attack again, my opponent struck first. Without any sort of incantation, the golem shot a black fireball magic at me. ¡°Woah, he can even do something like this?¡± [Junichiro] I had not thought of creating a black colored flame yet. A black flickering flame completely covered my surroundings in an instant. But if the opponent is a dark magician, I am also one. Resistance towards dark magic is not a property of other elements. ¡°Pathetic!¡± [Junichiro] My body is covered in black flames. It¡¯s not as weak as I declared, but it was not enough to leave any fatal burns. After all, it¡¯s over once I defeat my opponent. The flame disappeared without dealing any damage¡­ ¡°Shit!? That was a decoy!¡± [Junichiro] Due to myself also being a dark mana user, I was able to detect and evade the attack at the very last second. ¡°That was close.¡± [Junichiro] As the black fireball flew past me, I realized that I wouldn¡¯t have just gotten away with minor burns if it hits me. However, even if it hits, this is still insufficient to defeat me. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I started constructing a black rifle chamber, one that looks like the barrel of a sniper rifle, with one end sealed. With an enclosed space, the force the bullet gets from the explosion will become stronger. An image of a bullet, created with a much harder shell, was created in my head. This would turn ordinary humans into meat paste. With that, I constructed the bullet, based on the image, in the floating gun barrel. *bang*!! I ignited the dark mana inside the barrel, and made the bullet fly. Already predicting my counter attack, the opponent had already deployed a stronger . However, with a bullet solely focused on punching armor, the barrier was not as effective as before. The was able to drill into the barrier, but was unable to punch through completely before dissipating into thin air. The shield, without the bullet to stop it, started to regenerate itself, however¡ª From the beginning, I had never expected the first shot to punch through. The best part about this technique, was that the can be used again, and the trajectory of the bullet would be exactly the same. With a shattering sound, the barrier fell apart to my mighty shot. And the shock from the bullet sent the opponent stumbling backwards. Another would be able to take him down at this point, but with this short distance it is more efficient to strike him directly rather than constructing another bullet. On the battlefield, fast decisions are necessary. Before the opponent recovers, I¡¯ll destroy it first! The first magic I had created. The very one that pierced through the back of the first golem. The activation for this magic is the simplest, and therefore also the fastest. Before it could fix his posture, I struck it in its torso. With a compressed density even above , the steel armor which is not enchanted with magic is nothing but paper in front of my sure-kill focused in my right hand. And without any resistance, my fist drilled through its armor. At that moment, blood spurted out the air. tOoG - Dominions End 08 – The Last Straw [Pt. 3] 1st Person (Junichiro) ¡°What the hell¡­¡­¡­¡± [Junichiro] Red blood entered vision. My opponent is supposed to be a light golem, which I had destroyed countless times. They do not contain any form of red fluids in them. When I strike them, they just shatter like ceramic bowls. Then, whose blood is this? ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡± [Junichiro] I don¡¯t have a single injury. It¡¯s my body, so I know that the best. But blood is still flowing out even now. That¡¯s right, from the chest of the light golem I pierced with my . ¡°No, this can¡¯t be¡­¡­¡­.¡± [Junichiro] At that point in time, I got a really bad premonition. Calm down, there¡¯s no way; if this is not a light golem then it must be some other humanoid monster. That¡¯s right; most monsters do have red blood after all. This guy must also be one of them. ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡± [Junichiro] Assuming that, I should have just returned to my prison. However, before I realized, my hands reached for the mask of this golem, whose blood still flowing out of his chest. ¡°What have I done¡­¡­¡­¡­¡± [Junichiro] Removing the mask, what appeared was black hair and black eyes similar to me, a Japanese. To make it worse, it was a face that I recognized. ¡°NO!!!¡± It was Masaru; he laid there with a smile on his face. I killed him? No way, that¡¯s not it. I didn¡¯t mean to do it. After all, if I had not defeated him, I would have been killed, and I didn¡¯t know it was him. I didn¡¯t know my opponent was a human, and my best friend. As I made more excuses to justify myself, I glanced into the soulless eyes of my friend, whom had been with me for at least 8 years. ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHH¡± As I cried my heart out, a sudden thought entered my mind. It was all part of their plan. These masked bastards, I¡¯ll kill them all. As these thoughts continued to rampage in my head, I felt a sharp pain. The ring started acting up again, trying to quell my resistance, but the murderous thoughts just kept coming. The ring continued to try and suppress the uprising murderous thoughts in vain. A wave of killing intent surged outwards, scaring those bastards in the viewing chamber. I will butcher these pigs. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.An obsidian black sword materialized in front of me, and I grabbed the handle, releasing another wave. As I was prepared to jump upwards to smash the windows of the chamber, I heard the geezer¡¯s sudden commands to his subordinates. ¡°End the experiment now, and shut down the subject!¡± [Geezer] As he said that, wave of nausea overcame me, and sent me to dreamland. The last thing I heard before my eyes closed, was the geezer¡¯s voice, saying: ¡°Take No. 56 and throw him back into his cell.¡± [Geezer] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Person (Masked Employee) ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHH¡± [Subject #56] As Subject #56 saw the face of Subject #62, whom was once his friend, he let out a loud wail of despair. Today¡¯s experiment was not the same as the ones before. The experiments before were to let the subject get used to, and imprint combat experience into its body. The experiments were largely successful, with some near-failures here and there. With these scores, we were intending to let #56 to become a leader of the evil god squad. Although the scores produced were inadequate, as compared to subject #49, whom had escaped a month ago, it was the best of the current batch. The bad news, however, was that this subject had incredible mental strength, even when compared to Subject #49. I was worried and informed Sir Ganache, the regal old man whom was in charge of this facility, and he gave me thanks for the heads up, before giving some instructions for the final test. The final test was not designed as a combat experiment. It was more of a procedure, rather than an experiment. All subjects, whom had fought and won all the combat experiments, will go through this phase, to break their mind, or ego, to assist the ring in taking full control of the host. This is usually done by sending another subject to fight this subject. When this procedure ends, the subject would be subjected to mental torture from their own guilt, and would try to avoid the world. Using this point, the ring will take control of the host¡¯s body, and slowly erode the existing soul. Although Sir Ganache had already been informed, and had made preparations to counter the subject¡¯s strong willpower, I still felt a strange sense of unease during the procedure. God, please give us your blessings, and let not the unthinkable happen. tOoG - Dominions End 08.5 – Interlude: The White Room 1st Person (Junichiro) I woke up in a white room, which had almost like the cell I was in. However, as compared to the cramped cell, there was a distinctive, and disturbing difference. There was neither a door, nor any walls in this space, and it looks as if the space would go on forever. As l surveyed my surroundings, I noticed that the constant headache, which I had been enduring ever since I arrived in the cell, was gone. ¡°Holy shit!¡± [Junichiro] I turned around to look behind me, and jumped back in surprise. A teenage-girl was staring at me. Not from afar, as in our lips almost touched. She had long blonde hair, deep blue eyes, pale white skin, and a strikingly well-proportioned body. As I jumped back in astonishment, the girl started laughing. ¡°Who are you?¡± [Junichiro] The girl slowly calmed down, and sat on a white chair that appeared out of thin air. ¡°My name is of no importance, but please, Junichiro-san, take a seat first.¡± [Girl] A similar white chair appeared in front of me and I sat down on it. ¡°How did you know my name?¡± [Junichiro] She shook her dainty head, her face adorned with a business-like smile. ¡°I know much more than that, but first, I have an important question.¡± [Girl] As she said that, her eyes glowed golden with power, and she radiated a white, comforting, but heavenly aura. ¡°Do you wish to gain power?¡± [Girl] If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I stared at her as if mushrooms suddenly grew on her head, and a squirrel was munching on one of them. ¡°What?¡± [Junichiro] ¡°You do remember your current situation right? Don¡¯t you wish to escape this predicament?¡± [Girl] I looked down at my foot and stared for a while, thinking of what she had said, before looking up. ¡°Yes.¡± [Junichiro] I answered, my eyes burning with determination. ¡°Good answer. Now then, will you still accept this power even if it will take away your humanity?¡± [Girl] The teenage-girl smirked at me. To me, ever since I had been confined in that white cell, and had my body messed around with, I had already lost my humanity. ¡°They forced me to kill my best friend, and I want every single one of those trash to be buried with him as compensation.¡± [Junichiro] I gritted my teeth with hatred. The girl smiled, and a small, white circle opened between our feet. ¡°The contract is complete, be warned however, that it will be much painful than anything you had experienced before.¡± [Girl] ¡°You will be sent back into the world, where you will have to deal with the pain while you are conscious. This process will help to forge your willpower, and give you a new body. One that can even slay the Gods.¡± [Girl] She waved her hands to send me off. ¡°Wait, I still do not know your name!¡± [Junichiro] She laughed. ¡°My name is Sisty, and I¡¯ll wait for the success of your awakening.¡± [Sisty]