In a world Emmanuel could never have imagined...
In a world where there were no weaker people for him to save, no souls awaiting his heroism… only emptiness, survival, and cruelty.
The world he was thrown into without warning was colder than ice,harsher than iron, and quieter than death itself.
From behind his iron helmet, he breathed with difficulty, panting inside it as if the air couldn't find its way to his chest. He let out ragged breaths, his hand trembling as it touched the edges of the helmet before he slowly removed it.
He looked around.
"Where in hell am I?"
Only the wind answered him.
Its long whistle cut through the silence as if the sky was bleeding air:
Whoooosh... whoooosh...
The sound of the wind permeated the rocks and dilapidated doors around him.He called out again:
"Is anyone there?!"
But the void was the most eloquent reply.
Then suddenly, at his wrist, the strange bracelet he inherited from his grandfather began to emit a faint glow. A transparent screen shot out from it into the air, illuminating his face with that cold blue light. He froze in place, reading the words he didn't yet understand:
[System Active]
<><><>
[Door Rank: E]
<><><>
[Cleaner Rank: -E]
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[Mission: Kill the Bull]
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[Actual Power: Stubbornness]
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[Mission Power: None]
He blinked several times, staring at the letters as if they were a riddle written in a language he didn't understand. He muttered in a low voice:
"What is this... what's happening here?!"
He lightly pressed the small button below the screen,and a new box appeared:
Weapon Choice: Sword of Darkness
Companion: Unavailable
He laughed lightly, a laugh filled with both confusion and despair.
"Even here... no companion? No powers? But the sword was always my only dream companion, and stubbornness too?"
But deep inside,he knew—stubbornness was the only thing that had never been taken from him.
He walked, following a strange path of glowing yellow stones that stretched before him into infinity. His footsteps echoed in the unknown expanse.
Bam... bam... bam...
Each step produced a heavy echo,as if the earth itself acknowledged his existence.
At the end of the path, he found a door, and with a look devoid of a companion, he knew it was the desired door, carved with symbols unlike any writing he had ever known. He entered the door curiously, and his eyes opened onto another world—a bright, hot world, teeming with a mysterious energy.
The world he entered was none other than the Colosseum—a massive amphitheater whose end he could not see. The stones shone with heat, and light glowed from above as if the sun was trapped inside.
Emmanuel stood alone in the center of the arena,his shadow trembling behind him with his breaths. He raised his head and heard strange sounds coming from the stands:
Screams?Cheers? Applause?
But when he turned,he found no one. The stands were empty. Only the echo repeated the sounds.
He gripped his sword tightly and said to himself:
"How do I get out of here?"
He tried to remove the bracelet from his wrist.It didn't budge.
He tried to search with his eyes for another door...he found only the high walls.
And suddenly,a heavy breathing sound, like the exhalation of monsters, reverberated through the space:
Whoooooooooosh...
The ground shook beneath his feet,then the great door at the end of the Colosseum opened. A beast shrouded in black smoke emerged—a giant bull, with horns like swords of fire, and eyes blazing with the color of blood.
The bull struck the ground with its hoof,and the entire Colosseum shook:
Craaaaaaack!
Emmanuel retreated, raising his trembling sword before him.
"Why am I trembling?"he asked himself in a voice barely audible.
"Isn't this my dream?Fighting? Honor? The sword?"
But reality was heavier than the dream.
Inside him,a conflict raged:
Fear versus Resolve.
Cowardice versus Courage.
Steadfastness versus Trembling.
As the bull struck the ground again, emitting a roar that shattered the air:
Moooooooooooo!!!
Sand rose,stones ignited around it, and it charged towards Emmanuel with insane speed.
The first thing Emmanuel's body did was flee.
He ran nimbly,dodging the successive blows, and each time the bull's horns came near him, he heard the whistle of the wind cutting the air a hair's breadth from his face:
Fshshshshsh... Booom!
One of the blows shattered a massive stone pillar beside him,and dust scattered everywhere.
But he wasn't just fleeing out of fear;he was fleeing to think.
His mind was working rapidly.
"If I have no power,then my enemy must have weaknesses... He must have a weak point."
He paused for a moment behind a weathered pillar,sweat pouring from his brow, then smiled.
"Found it..."
He ran directly towards the beast, not away from it, but towards it.
Bulls cannot see what is between their feet.That was the blind spot.
He slid between the bull's four legs and screamed as he drove his sword into the inside of its hind leg:
Craaaaaaack!
Black,scalding blood gushed from the wound, and the bull's roar rose to the sky:
Moooooooooooooooo!!!
Emmanuel didn't stop. He climbed the beast's leg with insane speed, the sword between his teeth, the ground shaking beneath his feet as the bull tried to shake him off.
A blow...a leap...
Finally,he reached the top, standing between the beast's shoulders.
The wind slapped his face,the heat burned his chest, but he didn't retreat.
He raised his sword high,screaming with all his might:
—"Forgive me, my friend... but it's the only way!"
And he struck with all his strength at the testicles between the bull's legs.
Squiiiiiiish!
The beast let out a strange scream,a scream not of a bull, but of something dying...
Like a cat screaming in childbirth,not a beast perishing.
A scream that shook the entire place.
The bull staggered back, its feet crashing heavily to the ground:
Booooooom... Booooooom...
Its massive body bent and collapsed in the middle of the arena.
Emmanuel approached with heavy steps,his arm bleeding, his knee trembling.
He raised his sword for the last time and slowly drove it into the beast's skull,whispering in a tired voice:
"I'm sorry... but it was the only way..."
Craaaaack...
Silence.
Then a small flash of light shot from the bull's chest and fell before him.
It was a small copper key.
He picked up the key with his trembling hand.
Then the final line appeared on the floating screen:
Mission Accomplished
Door Keys +1
Exit Available
He lightly pressed the word "Exit"...
And in a moment,the light went out, the Colosseum dissolved, and the world plunged into blackness.
He woke up drenched, lying on the floor of the abandoned house.
His breaths were ragged,his hand still clutching the very key, and droplets from the house fell on his face.
He raised his head,looked around; everything was as he had left it. No Colosseum, no beast, no light. Only dampness and the smell of mold.
He sat on the floor,looking at the small key as if it were a riddle he didn't want to solve.
He muttered in a tired voice:
"Did that really happen? Did I fight a giant bull? Or was I dreaming?"
The walls didn't answer.Only the water droplets from the ceiling fell slowly.
Drip... drip... drip...
Then he lifted the key again, smiling lightly, that smile resembling the determination of one who is never defeated.
"Whatever it was... I will search for the truth."
The sky outside was raining, and its sound mixed with his exhausted breaths.
The night swallowed London,and Emmanuel stared at the key that changed everything.
"Power? Is there a power that defeats... Stubbornness... a person who never gives up is the only thing humans need."