《Cursed》 The Cycle Begins Again The sky was bleeding. Crimson clouds twisted above, churning in the shape of an unholy spiral that stretched across the heavens. Ash rained from above like snow, soft and silent, settling over scorched earth and shattered bones. The world trembled, as if mourning alongside him. He knelt in the ruins. Blood dripped from his fingertips. It painted his arms, soaked his chest, and pooled beneath his knees. His breath came in ragged gasps, each one scraping his throat like broken glass. He didn''t blink. He couldn''t. His gaze was locked on the body in front of him. A scream. His scream tore through the dead air, shattering the silence like brittle glass. It wasn¡¯t just pain¡ªit was grief, rage, and guilt woven into a sound not meant for mortal throats. It echoed across the ruined field, across the mountains, into the Void itself. It wasn¡¯t human. Not anymore. He stood at the heart of it all. A man¡ªor what remained of one. Barefoot on a field soaked in blood, his trembling body wrapped in blackened muscle and scorched veins pulsing with something unholy. Shadows coiled around him, tendrils of writhing void that pulsed with hatred, madness, and grief. His mouth was wide open mid-scream, the sound raw, endless. His fists dripped crimson, nails cracked and embedded with bits of flesh. Beneath him, blood rippled outward like an ocean tide. Not a drop of it was his. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. His eyes were hollow. Empty. Gone. Whatever soul once lived behind them had been scorched away¡ªreplaced by a roaring void. Around him, the battlefield was silent. Dozens lay scattered. Mangled. Torn. Their bodies told the story of what had happened here. The massacre. The fury. The madness that was unleashed. He clenched his fists, hard enough for his nails to dig deep into flesh. Blood poured from his palms, but he didn¡¯t feel it. He didn¡¯t feel anything anymore. Not grief. Not pain. Only rage. Only fury. Something inside him snapped. Not like a crack. Not like glass breaking. No. It was the kind of snap that leaves nothing behind. Like a string pulled too tight, shredding into dust. And in that moment¡­ something else opened. The air around him convulsed. The ground split with a sickening crunch, void energy gushing from the cracks like black fire. His scream returned¡ªlouder than ever¡ªshaking the ruins, shattering what was left of the shattered world. His shadow twisted into something monstrous, and the sky above him screamed back in answer. The system echoed.
[CORRUPTION: UNLEASHED] [VOID LIMIT EXCEEDED. HUMANITY¡­ NULLIFIED.] [AWAKENING: ???]
The Void came to greet its child. Veins of black lightning split the sky. The ground around him cratered. Mountains in the far distance began to crumble. And from the shadows, creatures began to kneel. Abominations. Wretches. Voidborn horrors that once hungered for his flesh... now bent to his presence. He was no longer like them. He was worse. The light that once flickered behind his eyes was extinguished. In its place¡ªabyss. He stood slowly. No more tears. No more screams. Just silence. Deafening, absolute silence. Even the world held its breath. "They took everything," he muttered, voice raw and low. "So I''ll take everything back. And when there''s nothing left to take... I''ll take them." His shadow stretched unnaturally behind him, twisting into tendrils that devoured the light. The world would remember this moment. The man who had once stood there¡­ He was gone. What rose in his place wasn¡¯t a man at all. Not anymore. Not ever again. The cycle begins again. Chapter 1: The Void’s Grasp Darkness. Thick, suffocating, endless. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above¡ªjust an eternal black, pressing in from every direction. He felt weightless, like drifting through a sea of tar. The silence was deafening, yet somehow... alive. A single whisper cut through the void. ¡°You are cursed...¡± The voice came from nowhere. Cold. Hollow. It didn''t echo, it lingered, crawling through his skull like a parasite, embedding itself in the marrow of his mind. Then came pain. A flash. His heart lurched as images surged through him¡ªfaces he couldn¡¯t name, voices he couldn¡¯t recognize, blood on hands that might have been his. Flashes of light. Screams. A burning sun swallowed by shadow. Then, silence again. He tried to move. Nothing responded. His body felt like it belonged to someone else. Even the act of breathing¡ªif he was breathing¡ªfelt foreign. ¡°You are cursed...¡± The voice came again, closer now. More deliberate. Each word fell like a nail in his coffin. He wanted to deny it, to scream back, but there was no voice. No sound. Just that ever-present pressure in his skull. That presence watching him from beyond the veil. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Suddenly¡ªimpact. His body slammed against something solid. Cold. Hard. A floor, maybe? He gasped, his lungs finally taking in air¡ªthick, dry, and reeking of ash. The sensation overwhelmed him, a violent return to awareness. He was no longer drifting. He lay still, staring into the endless dark above, his vision hazy. Faint shapes stirred at the edge of his sight¡ªtwisted, shifting things that had no form. The shadows moved with a will of their own, as if alive. His hand scraped against rough stone as he pushed himself upright. His muscles burned with strain, every movement heavy. He didn¡¯t know where he was. He didn¡¯t know who he was. But something inside him pulsed¡ªlow and faint, like a heartbeat that wasn¡¯t his. A foreign rhythm, buried deep within his chest. A strange energy. He staggered to his feet, breathing hard. The darkness around him wasn¡¯t empty¡ªit was watching. Then it came. A flicker in the air. Like a crack in reality itself. [System initializing...] A soundless chime echoed in his mind. Words formed in the air before him, glowing faintly in pale, ghostly light. A message¡ªno, a command. [Please enter your name.] He stared at it. Name...? His mind reached into the void, clawing at fragments. There was something there¡ªbroken pieces, names, faces, something important. But nothing stuck. But something inside him stirred¡ªsome broken instinct clawing its way to the surface. The name came to his tongue uninvited. A whisper from a time long buried. ¡°...Mephisto.¡± The name slipped from his lips like a curse, swallowed instantly by the darkness. The system flickered. [Processing...] Silence. Stillness. The name echoed into the dark. And something deep within the Void¡­ paused. No words. No voice. But a shift¡ªsubtle, suffocating¡ªlike the weight of a thousand eyes turning toward him. [Name registered.] The light dimmed. The presence faded. But something... remained. Watching.