The sky hung dark, almost metallic, weighed down by heaps of smoke that choked out the sunlight.
"Hold the line! Don't let them breach the perimeter!"
Kael shouted orders through the roar of exploding shells. Crouched low behind a chunk of shattered concrete, his gear soaked - mud mixing with sweat and the blood of those he'd fought beside for years. Not just soldiers - he saw them as family. Named leader of the Ghost Squad, handpicked from the toughest fighters around. Supposed to be unstoppable.
Yet now, they're dropping fast.
Chief! We've got no bullets left!" a kid soldier named Jax shouted from the ditch nearby. His shaky fingers clutched the useless gun. "Where's that rescue rider? Shoulda showed up way before now - been over twenty minutes."
Kael bit down hard, then jabbed at his comm piece. Crackling filled his head - sharp, sudden, relentless.
"Command this Ghost One," Kael barked into the mike. "We're pinned down in Sector 4. Casualties are at eighty percent. Immediate evac needed, over!"
For what felt like forever, nothing broke the stillness. After that wait, sound came - flat, steady, showing no care at all.
"Ghost One, this is Command. Negative on extraction."
Kael stopped cold. A shot zipped by his head, slamming into the brick at his back - yet he barely blinked. "Again? They're swarming us. Get us out right now or we won't make it."
"That is the plan, Commander," the voice on the radio replied. General Halloway, a man Kael had trusted with his life, "The peace treaty with the rebels requires a show of good faith. We agreed to hand over the 'war criminals' responsible for the northern raids. That means you and your squad."
Cold teeth of fear sank into Kael's ribs - sharper than the icy gust outside. "So you turned on us? Despite all we gave?"
"Just politics, Kael. You are a soldier; you know how to play this game. Your sacrifice will ensure safety for millions. Do not resist."
To hell with your politics!" Kael roared, fury blazing in his gaze - stronger than any dread of dying. He glanced toward Jax, frozen there, eyes big, full of quiet expectation. Then he stared at the lifeless forms of his team, dumped like trash in the muck.
"I will come back for you, Halloway," Kael growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Even if I have to crawl out of hell itself, I will kill you."
"Goodbye, Commander. Checkmate."
The connection suddenly dropped.
Upward, Kael's eyes went. Overhead, past the haze, a soft whistle grew - slowly turning louder, harsher, till it screamed raw fear into the air. Not a rescue craft at all. Just cold steel aimed from above.
Jax, move!" Kael shouted while lunging at the kid soldier.
Yet it happened past fixing.
Light flashed, flipping everything upside down. The blast cooked the ground - stone, dirt, bodies - all gone in a flash. He never sensed hurt. Just fury, raw and sharp, no trace of being scared.
I won't go out this way - no way I'm finishing up just some piece on their board.
Then came silence.
[System Initialization...]
[Scanning Soul Signature...]
[System Alert. Spirit Power: Top Tier. Determination: Unstoppable.]
[Mistake. Flesh body gone. Starting urgent transfer mode.]
[Target World: The Celestial Martial Realm.]
[Target Ship: Kaelen Vance. Condition: No longer alive.]
[Synchronizing...]
"Gah!"
Kael's breath ripped apart - each gasp a jagged noise, like shattered windows crunching under boots.
His eyes flew open. Instead of flames below or endless white, he saw sky - clear and wide. Above that, sunlight poured through fresh green leaves stretching up from tall trees around him.
Trying to shift, his muscles shouted no. Each part ached like it'd been torn apart then glued together again.
"Where... where am I?"
It hurt like hell just to sit up. The room kept spinning - his mind wouldn't settle. Far from any fight now. No smoke filled the air, no shots cracked nearby, nothing reeked of charred skin. Leaning against a rough cliff wall, he stayed still. Beside him, a small cascade poured into a bright pool, clean and untouched.
He glanced at his palms.
Kael stopped cold. Those couldn't be his hands.
My hands - belonging to a guy in his thirt0s who fought for years - felt tough, marked up, worn down from gripping guns nonstop. But these ones? Pale, thin, smooth… like some kid's mitts that'd dodged real work their whole life.
He glanced at what he wore. Not armor or military gear - just a huge loose robe, bright blue, silky. Ripped here and there, smeared with dirt, soaked in old blood.
This ain't me inside this skin," he murmured. Out came a soft, fresh tone - nothing like the rough sound he knew so well.
He moved slowly near the edge, then glanced at what showed up on the surface.
He looked amazing - sharp cheekbones, pale skin, dark hair flowing past his shoulders. Like a royal from a dreamy film. Yet those eyes…they felt known. Same icy focus Kael once had.
A sudden stab at his temples - like fire searing through his thoughts.
"Argh!"
He grabbed his head when strange memories rushed in. As if seeing a film sped up, stuffing decades' worth of moments into just a few heartbeats.
My name's Kaelen Vance - yeah, that Vance family. The third young master, if you care about titles. We're one of the big four noble houses in the Azure Dragon Empire. Seventeen years on this rock they call a planet. Thing is… I'm useless. Worth nothing.
Kael - now Kaelen - saw it all plain as day. Out here, power came from tapping into "Qi," some hidden force floating in the air and earth. If you mastered Qi, you turned into a warrior feared by many, treated like a legend; if you failed, people brushed you aside like dirt underfoot.
Kaelen Vance came into the world with meridians that didn't work - like a leaky pail, no power stayed inside. His frame just spilled everything out, right from the start.
He remembered his dad staring at him like he was nothing. "You're a disgrace to the family."
He remembered his brothers hitting him, while staff snickered. "Watch the Third Young Lord gobble mud just like a mutt!"
At last, he remembered dying.
He'd been strolling close to the cliff, picking plants - hunting for something that might fix what was wrong with him. Then out came his cousin, Darius, smirking like he knew a secret no one else did.
"You're just wasting space, Kaelen," Darius had sneered. "Do the family a favor and disappear."
A push. Yet the breeze tore through his hearing. Though hitting the waves felt sudden. While everything turned black.
The ache in his head eased bit by bit, till Kael lay gasping on the wet ground. Everything clicked suddenly. Back home, he'd passed - then, right after this kid breathed last, something shifted - he slipped into the corpse instead.
"Two lives," Kaelen muttered, wiping a streak of blood from his forehead. "Both betrayed by people they should have been able to trust."
His hand balled up tight. Shaky arms quivered, yet determination held strong.
"Darius... Halloway..." He spoke the names as if tasting poison. "It seems the universe wants to test me. Fine. I accept the challenge."
He pushed himself up. But his legs shook - thin, useless. This frame? Weak. Zero strength, zero stamina, barely any spark left. If he showed up at Vance's door now, Darius would finish him once more.
"I need power," he said to the silent forest. "If this world respects strength, then I will become the strongest thing in it."
Right after he spoke, a robotic tone pinged inside his head.
[Ding!]
Kaelen jerked his head up, eyes darting side to side. "Anyone around?"
[System Integration Complete.]
A bright blue rectangle popped into view, hanging in midair just before his eyes. Slightly see-through, it stayed put - like a ghost image stuck in space.
Kaelen blinked. From Earth, he'd read books - played games too. This? He recognized it right away.
"A System interface?"
Welcome, Host - God-Slayer System just activated
[Current Status:]
Name: Kaelen Vance
Race: Human
Cultivation Level: None (Mortal)
Health: Critical (Internal injuries detected)
Strength: 3 (Average Adult Male: 10)
Agility: 4
Defense: 2
Kaelen snorted - rough, hollow. "Toddler-level numbers. Just great."
[Notice: Found a beginner's gift pack in your bag. Want to check what's inside?]
Kaelen eyed the words hanging in midair. That's what kept him alive. A tool - his only edge - in a world where everyone fights to stay breathing.
"Open it," he said, keeping his tone calm.
[Opening Starter Gift Pack...]
Congrats - you got this:
Full Body Recovery Potion (x1)
Technique: Eyes of Truth (Level 1)
Top-Level Guide: Old-School Dragon Strength Training Method.
[Would you like to learn the 'Ancient Dragon Body Tempering Art' now?]
Kaelen jumped right in - sure, absolutely
A bright gold flash burst from the display, shooting straight into his ribs. Not sharp or harsh like those old recollections. More like heat, strength, filling him up fast. Info slammed into his thoughts - old ways to breathe, moves that shouldn't work, even how to make his body tough like a beast's hide.
Yet above all, he sensed that power - the life force around him, once distant from his form, now surging close, almost crashing into him like a storm-driven sea.
His blocked pathways didn't simply open - they burst apart from the force, then rebuilt themselves broader, tougher than earlier.
Kaelen breathed in slow - but suddenly, inside this form, strength showed up. It was new. Nothing like before.
He glanced toward the edge of the rock wall, his deep-colored eyes shimmering just slightly with gold.
"Darius," Kaelen whispered, a cruel smile touching his lips. "I hope you're ready. The trash you threw away is coming back to take everything."