Around the morning, as the fake sun rose again,
The battle, which was supposed to be over, was still ongoing because something unexpected happened.
As the 'melee' fight started and things became slightly chaotic, the newborns discovered their Boss was changing.
After an hour, he seemed to be so focused that nobody could touch him.
He was in the middle of an area with thousands of participants around him, yet he was cutting them down like grass.
The combination of his short stature and precise movements made him a target that nobody could deal with.
Each strike of his sword flows seamlessly from one opponent to the next, a perfect blend of offense and defense.
Every step of his was calculated, each swing tracing elegant arcs through the air, striking vital points with unerring accuracy, as if his blade itself knew exactly where to land
As time passed, his movements became even smoother and almost otherworldly, as if he were breaking the power limit of this planet.
At the same time, as if lost in this trance-like state,
He no longer heard the newborns around him who kept shouting at him to be careful, as if he were changing into an Emotionless killing machine.
His eyes became more and more indifferent, while his fighting style changed, too.
At first, he never let a drop of blood from his enemies splash on him, and his only targets were the participants.
But when he 'changed', he didn't care about the blood, and he started attacking anything that moved, participants or newborns all the same ...
The elderly group, who saw this, tried calling him a couple of times but didn't receive any response.
so they immediately asked the newborns to increase their distance from him.
They wouldn't die because of the invulnerability card, in case any mistakes happened, and it was the same for him.
But as more participants were sent to the waiting room, and the number of them on the battlefield became fewer,
the newborns didn't have any choice but to retreat and make room for the rampaging underworld minion, which was now covered in blood from head to toe, to move freely for himself.
And at this moment, they were all back to their original formation, watching the participants, who numbered less than 1000, getting slaughtered.
Everyone could feel it.
Something was really wrong with him right now!
Far away, the newborns on the Queen's side, which were responsible for protecting the Princess and the citizens, were as pale as a sheet of paper.
They didn't know who this small monster was that even the Demon King's army avoided.
He was like an unstoppable killing machine, cleaning up the battlefield.
When the last participant died, and all the newborns in the Queen's city turned back to cards,
Little Mortal finally stopped and looked around, as if looking for his next target.
His gaze first moved to the sky, and made the Queen and the Demon King shiver.
But they didn't move at all.
Little mortal, as if recognizing the two main characters, moved his gaze to the Demon King army.
The whole army, instinctively, took a step back.
This time, he recognized the 'side characters' and didn't show any hostility towards them either, until his eyes locked with one of the elderly.
This peculiar one was standing there with a messy suit that seemed to be damaged in the battle.
As if he registered the elderly as a target, Little Mortal started moving towards him while dragging his swords on the ground.
The elderly almost had a heart attack, and kept looking left and right to see if anyone could tell him why he suddenly became a target?
And everyone's answer was the same.
'Fix your uniform !'
The old man, who found the reason, immediately fixed his suit with a repair kit.
And sure enough, Little Mortal stopped.
Whoever else had a problem with their uniform immediately started fixing it so they wouldn't be the next target.
It was like a commander suddenly starting an inspection of his army.
Not finding any problem, little Mortal's gaze turned towards the city.
While far away, all the citizens felt his gaze and instinctively took two steps back before running to their houses to hide.
Little mortal who didn't find the panicked citizens as a 'registered character' in his current form,
starts walking that way while leaving a trace of blood behind him.
The two elderly in the sky knew that a mess was going to start.
If he was really out of his mind, and he was doing everything only by instinct now,
Then he wouldn't stop killing until every single unregistered character in the city is killed too.
But how could they, the newborns, let that happen?
So they would rebel, and a fight between them was unavoidable in that case!
And naturally, he would be the last man standing because of his king card!
The two looked at each other and immediately found a way to stop this unexpected disaster.
They needed to end the secret event, and the system would change everything to cards.
That way, without any target for him to kill or defend in their case, they should be fine!
And so, the Queen made her move and smashed the Demon King to the ground.
Little mortal who was going towards the city, suddenly saw something fall from the sky and crash to the ground in front of him.
The 'thing' was the Demon King, in a 'miserable' state, as if he had lost the battle.
The crowd on both sides was dumbfounded.
The army of the Queen lost, but unexpectedly, the Demon King himself lost to the Queen!
What would happen now?
The demon king, who tried to stand up with 'difficulty', suddenly found himself grabbed by the neck and being picked up.
The crowd that saw this scene was speechless.
'Is the Queen blind ?'
The Queen was naturally the one who picked up the Demon King by the neck.
but why couldn't she see the real danger behind her?
The little monster was just a step away from them!
But as if really blind, she said,
"Any last words, dear?"
And the Demon King, who tried to say something, but couldn't, 'died'!
The crowd of newborns and citizens was shocked again!
The demon king died just like that?
Except for the two elderly, nobody knew about the ending that Little Mortal 'wrote' for them.
At the end, the Queen was supposed to kill the demon king, and the secret king was supposed to kill the Queen.
So basically, there was no winner between them, and the 'democracy' he was talking about was all nonsense.
Either way, if they wanted him to come back to his senses, they need to show him something that he 'recognizes'.
*Woosh*
And sure enough, a sword 'pieced' the Queen's body from behind, and while looking back with difficulty and disbelief, she 'died' too.
What just happened was so unbelievable for both sides that no one saw that the sword didn't really 'pierce' her, but just went under the Queen's arm.
The two elderly, after dropping to the ground, secretly opened one eye to check if the other was fine, and became speechless when they saw the other party doing the same ...
Then they heard a familiar voice muttering to himself,
"hmmm... Why do I feel these people didn't know I was just joking?"
The two elderly,
"-_-"
Lilith, crystal, and notebook, who didn't know he was acting either,
"O_O"
The system,
[ - SYSTEM MESSAGE-
Planet 2 season has officially ended.
Calculating the participant's final score...
System Error ...
Total base points accumulated: System Error
No point granted.
- Special Event multiplier -
Time remaining multiplier: System Error
Days left until the end of the planet's event: System Error
Participants multiplier : 1 participant survived.
Citizens multiplier : System Error
[ Analyzing for possible cheating...]
[ Scanning participant's activity logs...
Cross-referencing actions with event data...
Checking for unauthorized behavior or system exploits...
No signs of cheating detected.
Verifying participant identity...
No presence found.
Proceed to facial verification...
Facial recognition confirmed.
Database match found:
Participant, the annihilator of realms, Mortal, the strongest
Reviewing historical records...
No cheating attempts recorded.
Congratulations!
Participant , the Annihilator of Realms, Mortal, The Strongest, has achieved 1st place and successfully completed the Special Event.
All remaining cards and retrievable items will be sent to your inventory.
You may now choose to:
1. Travel to Planet 3 and continue your journey into the next season.
2. Enter the Waiting Room and remain until the season officially concludes.
Awaiting your decision...]
Little mortal nodded,
"Alright..."
Then checked his infopad inventory.
There were two cards with 'living creatures' inside that he needed to take care of.
One from Queen City and the other from Demon King territory.
Plus, the newborns that were 5 million of them now, with the added 3.5 million from this planet.
He needed to 'equip' them with a soldier pack and transfer them to his own storage card.
After seeing those sneaky bounty hunters communicating with the cyborgs outside using the infopad, he knew this thing couldn't be trusted at all.
The cards at least had a mark that he could remove, allowing him to take ownership.
But the infopad wasn't like that, and it was connected to Hypermind itself as Admin.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
After he finished his 'chores' and noted down his activity in his notebook,
He chose the first system option, and like before, a tower of light descended from the sky to take him away.
[ First planet ( survival and hardship ) ?
Bullet used :
1 for the silly bounty hunter at the beginning
1 for the special bounty hunters
1 for that stupid berserker who scared me
2 for that ugly monster who impersonates my adorable, chubby deputies
5 in total.
--------
Second planet ( Love and hatred ) ?
Bullet used :
1 for Queen and random targets
1 for Demon King and random targets
1 for testing the limit
3 in total.
.......
999,999,992 bullets left ]
The Crystal and Lilith,
"You can do this !"
Little mortal that two people stole his line at the same time,
"O_O"
The angry fanatic notebook that his boss's line was stolen,
< ò﹏ó >
A moment later, the pillar of light disappeared, and so did Little Mortal.
Only an empty planet left behind with butterflies and red rabbits flying and jumping around.
Now, the second planet, without anyone noticing, had a secret guardian.
....
Meanwhile,
Level 3 civilization's mainland.
In a security room, Xyron was looking at the last report he received from the second planet.
"Power shortage?
How did it affect the whole system on every planet then?"
Xyron was extremely puzzled.
3 days ago, after finding out that the season was cleared on the first planet, and with the information gained from the 'waiting room',
They already knew the underworld minion was done with the first planet, and he wasn't a cheater!
So they sent a message to all of their bounty hunters to be aware of his progress and the sun card he likely had now.
Because they could easily tell if a sun card they gave to the bounty hunters was used or not, and if it was still intact,
They were sure that the sun card was not used by the bounty hunters on the First planet.
So it was naturally with him.
They even made preparations at the First elevator for this to deal with the sun card if he was kicked out of the planet due to cheating.
While the cards bought inside the planets from the system could only be used in the events and not outside, the special cards were different, and they could be used outside too.
Either way, because they didn't see him getting kicked out of the first planet, they knew the possibility of him going to the next one was close to 100%.
And sure enough, the same day, they received a message from their bounty hunters.
They said an anomaly happened, and the city suddenly lost power.
While it seems a coincidence, Xyron told them to investigate it immediately.
After that, the system crashed, and they lost not only access to all of their bounty hunters but also to the 'waiting room'.
Now they couldn't even see what was happening inside the waiting room, let alone reading the loser's memory.
At first, they thought Hypermind was going to take action to see what was happening inside its planets that caused the system crash.
They knew it wouldn't take action personally because its own existence would be in danger,
But it could take less risk and act indirectly through the system it installed on those planets.
But no, Hypermind didn't do anything at all.
They didn't know Hypermind was looking at Fate all day, every day,
And from all of the inevitable futures that it saw, it knew whatever was happening inside its planets wasn't anything serious or related to Fate.
It even checked the system log that it programmed for the 10 planets and saw there was no cheating or exploiting involved.
Everything there was subject to its information law.
This crazy minion from the underworld, while not gaining any ability because of his origin,
could use an original ability from the underworld that allows him to see through sinners, or the participants, to be exact.
So, Hypermind counts it as a random ability for him and lets him be.
Going to the lower dimension and risking its own existence for something that even Fate didn't care about wasn't worth it in its calculations.
The reason it could peek into Fate was that it pretended to be part of the dimension 'Fate' was in, thereby affecting the 'information' related to its own existence.
After billions of years of experimentation, it knew the only way to stay connected to Fate was to limit its connection to lower dimensions to 3 times per year, and only as a simple message, or it would be exposed to Fate.
And in this case, it knew the only Fate-related existence from the underworld was Lilith, not this little minion of hers.
And not only that, Hypermind already gained what it was looking for from those planets, and didn't care about their futures anyway.
Even if this minion from the underworld continued like this to the end, anywhere in this realm was under its surveillance.
There was not even a lava sea for it to run, and his Fate was already sealed.
Hypermind, who saw him gathering newborns and buying so many 'soldier packs', calculated that it would be beneficial to them in the end.
In its eyes, he was recycling newborns and various cards and materials from those higher beings.
In the end, when he went to the 10th planet, he would become a puppet under its control.
Hypermind was even recording his fighting style constantly.
He was cunning if needed, and fearless or crazy if needed.
Especially at the end of the second plant, when it saw how he was fighting so many participants, and his power never exceeded level 2,
It found his fighting style to be really interesting.
It was as if he really wasn't a law user, but a martial arts master from a normal type 1 civilization.
If the notebook knew what was happening out here, and Hypermind locked onto its boss from the beginning when he started his chaos on the level 3 civilization,
It would surely think that the passive fate skill's ultimate goal was Hypermind itself, to be deceived and ignore its boss, or even find his act of carnage beneficial!
A complete and perfect smoke screen for their final goal to be accomplished successfully.
Either way, an opportunity was made for a secret guardian, and another opportunity for Hypermind.
......
Inside the light pillar,
On the way to the third planet, Lilith sent the living creatures from the second planet to planet Lubo, like last time, and came back.
After a while, they finally reached their destination.
[ Welcome to the Third planet, Mortal.
Please check your infopad for season information .]
Little mortal nodded in approval,
"Alright, I smell some changes in quality this time !"
And looked around.
He was now standing in a simple room with a door, a bed, and a lamp hanging from the ceiling.
There was nothing else here.
He didn't care about this eerie room and brought out his infopad,
"Let's see if I can get a proper season introduction this time!
I'm tired of listening to those grandpas and grandmas ..."
And sure enough, this time was different.
[ - SYSTEM GUIDE: WELCOME TO NOCTIS -
Planet Designation: Noctis — The Planet of Dread
Current Population: +1,500,000 Participants
Setting:
The event takes place on a small, cursed planet veiled in eternal twilight.
Theme: Fear
WARNING :
A participant's emotions can manifest physically.
- The season goal :
Survive for 30 days after the start of the main event.
(+490 days cool-down time for the First planet, and +2 days for the second planet have been applied as a delay, to start the 30-day main event on this planet .)
Current date: Day 12 of the new season
- Monsters:
1. Crystalline creature
Characteristics: Fear reflection
(Destroy them with force, or if a Participant's fear level is zero, they will shatter naturally, and leave behind Fear shards. )
WARNING :
Fear shards can boost your power, but warp your mind.
The more fear shards you use to boost your power, the more monstrous you slowly become under the fear effect.
2. The Hollow Queen
A planet-wide, looming presence — never seen directly.
She feeds on fear and influences the world passively, creating massive "fear storms" that sweep across the planet, warping the land and spawning new horrors.
Every time a participant dies, her power grows.
3. The Unborn
Monstrous abominations formed from participants who succumbed to fear.
Season Mechanics:
- Fear Level: A visible meter showing your current fear in your infopad.
Low fear: You stay human.
Moderate fear: You gain combat boosts, but start hearing whispers and hallucinations.
High fear: Your body starts mutating — more powerful but closer to becoming an Unborn.
- Death & Transformation:
If a participant's fear reaches 100%, they don’t die — they transform into an unborn, permanently switching teams to hunt the living until the end of the season.
- The season-end event :
After 30 days (+480), the Hollow Queen awakens.
Participants must either:
Face the Queen as participants.
Or
Fight for your Queen as an 'unborn'.
- Season-end Rewards: Evolution card
[Final System Message]
You are not alone. You are never alone.
The planet watches. The monsters listen. Your fear feeds them.
Survive… if you can.
Good luck, Mortal, the strongest. ]
Little mortal, after reading the whole thing, gulped nervously.
After a while, he took a deep breath and said,
"Is this still the same system?
How did the quality change so much all of a sudden?
Can I change my 1-star review to 4 stars ?"
Looking around, the room was kind of scary now.
"S-so I am on the planet of fear ?"
And said while chuckling nervously,
"Hehe... But I fear nothing, so..."
*Ding*
The infopad suddenly reminded him of a notification.
Little mortal flinched,
"What the-"
And almost throw the infopad away.
He coughed embarrassingly and read the notification.
[ - System Notification -
Participant: MORTAL
Rank: 1 (Previous Season winner )
Congratulations on securing the top rank last season.
As a reward, you have been granted Safe Room Access located in the Depths of the planet.
You now face two choices:
1. Begin the Hunt Early :
-Access the Underground Map.
-Explore freely near the Heart of Fear.
-Collect Fear Shards before the main event begins.
2. Remain in the Safe Room and Stay protected :
-Await the start of the main event for 480 days.
Choose wisely. Your decision will shape your path.]
Little mortal's breathing, after reading the 'rank 1 privilege,' turned heavy.
The corner of his eyes starts twitching.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the ceiling.
"So... I am under the ground now?
In a safe room, in the depths of the planet?
And you call this 'reward' for rank 1?
You stupid system, don't you think this is a reward for the other participants that I was going to hunt, but now I can't ?"
Lilith on his shoulder chuckled,
"I really want to see how your fear manifests in those so-called crystalline monsters."
Little Mortal snorted arrogantly and muttered to himself,
"In the underworld, I feared nothing!
I was the source of fear in everyone's heart!
Here, nothing has changed!
I still fear nothing!"
And with a trembling hand, he took out his handgun, not scared at all, and walked to the door while mumbling,
"I will find my way up and just uphold justice!
Who cares about this 'Fear nonsense'?"
And opened the door.
Outside, there was only darkness.
It was so dark that Little Mortal stopped immediately, not going a step further.
He was going to bring out a flashlight-card, but he heard some weird noises from the darkness.
*gasp*
"What's that noise?"
And pointed his handgun in a random direction in the darkness.
The sound got closer and closer.
It was like the sound of glass hitting the ground, but with the rhythm of footsteps.
It was as if something made of glass was walking.
Lilith, who knew he couldn't see in the darkness, said with interest,
"Oh, it should be one of the crystalline monsters.
It is changing to a human-like figure now...
Partner, I think you need to calm down, this thing is actually trying to reflect your fear!"
The Crystal and notebook watched with interest!
There was actually a person out there that this little monster was scared of?
It was impossible in their minds!
If the image of planet Lubo's destruction, for example, appeared on a crystalline monster, that would be believable, but a person?
That was new!
As the crystalline figure got closer, it suddenly started lighting up the darkness.
First, two sources of light appeared at a height of around 3 meters.
Then the sound of footsteps changed to a graceful rhythm, as if the Fear reflected into the crystalline monster originated from a female with high authority.
The Crystal and Lilith, who could see the figure in the darkness, frowned because it wasn't fully formed yet.
But Little Mortal was already trembling!
As if he could already tell who the other person was exactly just from her way of walking!
As he submitted to his fear, he lowered his gun and dropped his head, as if scared to even look at the figure, let alone point his gun at her!
His infopad turned on at this moment, and a fear meter appeared on the screen.
51% was filled already.
Lilith's frown deepened.
"Partner, get yourself together!"
But it seems he couldn't hear her at all.
At this moment, the dark scene outside suddenly brightened.
The figure formed completely in a moment.
Seeing her now, Lilith's jaw dropped.
The Crystal was stunned.
And the notebook almost started clapping for his boss.
A tall and beautiful lady, eyes on fire, literally, with flaming hair dancing around her,
At least 3 meters tall, in a beautiful red dress that seems to be made of 'lava',
And two curved horns with liquid lava dripping from them brightened the darkness.
Who could this lady be if not the Queen of Hell, Lilith the Infernal!
The fear meter was now close to 70%, and some unknown changes were taking place around Little Mortal.
The sound of whispers could be heard all around.
At this moment, he suddenly snapped!
"AAAAAAH!
I never go back to your Hell, you Dictator Queen!"
And slammed the door shut!
Lilith and Crystal were speechless.
They understood what had just happened, but with a delay.
The fanatic notebook, though, released it on the spot.
It knew his boss fears nothing, so if something is out there that scares him at this moment, it should be related to his current disguise.
He was disguised as a minion from the underworld, and any minion is always scared of the real boss in Hell.
Which is the Queen of Hell, Lilith the Infernal.
The notebook was going to 'clap' because even the world itself was playing along with its boss, and showed how real his acting skill is, which affects the world itself!
Lilith shook her head helplessly.
"Even Hypermind's information law and the Original World law are affected by his nonexistent illusion..."
She knew everything on these planets was affected by information law based on the participant's data, but even that couldn't counter her partner's nonexistent illusion.
The room turned silent after the door was closed.
The fear meter slowly went down to 0.
Little Mortal gritted his teeth in frustration,
"T-This is a grown-up game!
How could I play such a scary game?
And I'm not even on the surface..."
Then he went to bed, wrote a note, and placed it on his chest before closing his eyes.
"ZZzzz...".
In just a moment, he fell asleep.
Lilith looked at the note curiously to see what it said.
[ Mr. Morelone, this one is on you. ]
But she didn't recognize who this Morelone is.
She only thought it might be another personality.
To be sure, she asked the Crystal about it, and after a brief moment, she received an answer,
< He is someone Boss asks to take care of illegal matters, or he shows up by himself when Boss is in trouble. >
Lilith frowned,
"Do I need to pay attention to anything when 'he' is around?"
< Well... Just know that he is scary for no reason...
Oh, and we never saw him run around like Boss, or get angry and throw tantrums.
He is always calm and composed, like a real gentleman. >
Lilith nodded and didn't ask anything else.
He seems like an interesting character...
....
3 hours passed.
He finally woke up.
Lilith was going to say something, but her heart skipped a beat.
This Little Mortal seems different... He was indeed scary for no reason.
Lilith understood what the Crystal meant just a second after he was awake.
Little Mortal, or Little Morleone, to be exact, first looked around in confusion, and then his gaze stopped on the paper with the message for him.
Then he took out the notebook and read everything Little Mortal had noted over the past few days.
After a while, he nodded and brought out the infopad.
He read the introduction about the planet and its event, followed by the notification about where he was.
Knowing everything necessary, he put away the notebook and the infopad, stood up, and walked to the door.
The moment he opened the door, something shattered behind it even before it opened completely.
*Ding*
And he received a notification.
[ System Reminder:
Retrieving the first 'Fear shard' will register your name in this planet's ranking.
If the 'Fear shard' is not retrieved, it stays on the ground until someone takes it. ]
Little Morelone, after reading the message, activated the map of the underground area specific to rank 1 participants and took a look.
On the map, he could see all the places with different crystalline monsters and some white dots marked as 'safe room'.
The whole map was like a big circle, with a circular path that started from one point and kept circling down towards the center, like the patterns on a lollipop.
But the path was going towards the depths of the planet in this case.
And the 'safe rooms' were at the beginning of the path.
After looking at it for a while, he put the infopad away and walked out of the safe room.
A couple of steps farther, he saw some shattered crystals on the ground that seemed to be the former crystalline monster.
Because of his 0 fear meter, the crystalline monster that turned to Lilith not long ago shattered on the spot this time.
In the middle of the shattered crystals on the ground was a big purple one, which was obviously the so-called 'Fear crystal'.
He walked to the Fear shard, tapped its tip with the tip of his shoe, and the Fear shard jumped up for him to catch it.
After inspecting it curiously, he started crushing it with his hands.
The notebook and Crystal nodded to themselves.
They knew what he was doing.
But Lilith watched in confusion.
Wasn't he supposed to gather these things?
Why is he crushing it?
After a brief moment, the crushing sound stopped.
He opened his palm, and a 'Fear-cigarette' was now resting on his palm.
After nodding in approval,
He placed the Fear-cigarette between his lips and inhaled slowly while walking towards the depths of the darkness with one hand in his pocket, as if going for a night stroll.
The notebook thought to itself,
One hand entered the pocket!
The journey begins... now!>
Not long after, only a trail of purple smoke, swirling and dancing in the air, was left behind, that if anyone inhaled it, his or her fear meter would jump up to 50% in a moment...