The ninth chapter of the Apocalypse descended.
A challenge unlike the previous eight chapters, which had gradually pushed humanity to the brink of extinction.
The aftermath of this mission was laid bare.
The sky was crimson; neither moon nor sun could be seen anywhere above.
The topography of the earth was littered with gore.
Corpses of millions of humans and tens of thousands of mighty heroes were scattered everywhere, mixed among tens of millions of hellish beasts.
The metallic stench of blood was so thick it felt almost visible.
High above the battlefield, where smoke choked the sky and the dead lay uncounted, a single figure watched in silence.
They called him the Red Rider.
One of the Four Horsemen.
War.
The final boss of the ninth chapter of the Apocalypse, whom humanity had to conquer to move on to the next chapter. An impossible mission.
With hundreds of millions of beasts in its army, humanity stood no chance.
For two months of endless battle, humans had struggled against its army, yet they were ultimately slain.
Now, only a single man still clung to life.
Draven lay among the corpses of his comrades, his lover, and the people he had sworn to protect.
No words could fully explain his sorrow, his despair, or his anger toward the heavens that had created the fifteen chapters of the Apocalypse.
Dragging his wounded body forward, Draven moved slowly toward the corpse of a red-haired woman whose torso had been cleanly cleaved into two halves.
His lover, and one of the Prime Legion, the Phoenix Princess.
She had loved him regardless of his weakness and his reputation as the weakest player, ranked lowest among the low due to his useless talent, Shovel Operator—basically one who digs graves and pits, with no combat prowess.
His gaze lingered on her face. Though sorrow filled him, no tears fell, his eyes had long since lost the ability to cry.
He reached out, using what little strength he had left, and gently shut her eyelids.
Then his gaze lifted toward the sky.
The Red Rider still loomed above.
For a brief moment, their eyes met.
The Red Rider's eyes glinted with an intimidating light.
Yet Draven remained unfazed.
His death would come sooner rather than later. With the ghastly wound in his stomach, he had only a few minutes, perhaps seconds, left to live. There was no reason to fear a quicker end.
Instead, he felt anger rise within him.
'It was all a fraud from the beginning. They never wanted Earth to survive and evolve. Their goal was our extinction from the start.'
He clenched his bloodied fist as the thought echoed in his mind.
'I always had my doubts. I shared them with the Prime Legions, yet they dismissed them.'
Even so, what could they have done?
Even if they had survived this chapter, how would they have endured the next?
It had taken only one Horseman of the Apocalypse to bring them to ruin.
The top ten strongest players had been unable to match even one Horseman.
Clenching his fist, he slammed it into the blood-soaked ground, ignoring the splatter that followed.
Pain coursed through his body. His vision began to darken, and numbness crept in slowly.
He glared at the Red Rider, who remained floating above, unmoved by his outburst.
"If there is a second chance..." he spoke weakly.
"I would conquer all fifteen chapters of the Apocalypse and slaughter the creators," he said, his voice filled with quiet rage.
His vision dimmed further. He could barely see the Red Rider now, yet he could still feel its overwhelming, sinister presence.
As his breathing grew heavy and uneven, death closing in, he suddenly felt a grip on his leg. Summoning the last of his strength, he turned toward the source.
A man lay there, barely recognizable. His face was disfigured, his facial skeleton exposed.
The man's mouth opened, and two broken words followed.
"P..Pick the middle package this time, please, brother."
His voice was faint and fractured, yet Draven heard him clearly. More importantly, he recognized that voice.
His older brother, Magnus.
Before Draven could respond or question him, the Red Rider appeared before them.
The Red Rider spoke in a loud, terrifying voice, but the words could not be heard.
What followed happened in an instant.
Magnus was pierced and killed by the biblical-accurate greatsword of the Red Rider.
Then, just as quickly, Draven felt the scorching blade drive through his chest. He drew his final breath.
All sound vanished.
====
And just as all sound vanished, another sound took its place.
He recognized it immediately. It was familiar.
The calm voice of a middle-aged woman narrating the myths of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and their role in the end of the world, accompanied by the low muttering of restless teenagers.
For a brief moment, he thought he was reliving his memories after death.
Yet that seemed unlikely, as he could somehow still feel his body.
His eyes fluttered open instinctively, greeted by the sight of his black leather shoes and clean tiled floors.
There was no blood, no sand, no gore.
It was a classroom.
Draven lifted his head abruptly.
"This..."
It was impossible.
He was back in his classroom.
His head snapped to the right, where he saw his best friend, Rowan, grinning while making a ridiculous face and pointing his middle finger at him.
Draven's eyes widened slightly.
'This must be a dream. I saw you die trying to save Christina.'
He turned to the left. Christina, a beautiful blonde-haired girl, sat there. She frowned when she noticed his gaze lingering on her.
With his eyes still wide, he looked toward the front of the classroom.
There stood his teacher, the same woman he had once seen turn into a feral beast after failing the first test of the Apocalypse.
He shifted his attention past her, focusing on the whiteboard.
Six words were written clearly.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE
The same topic Mrs. Bennet had been teaching on that fateful day.
Mrs. Bennet began scolding Rowan for not paying attention.
'No... no.'
If his memories were correct, the Apocalypse would begin right about... now.
And it did.
It came without warning.
Seven trumpets thundered, and the entire earth changed.
As terror spread through the once peaceful classroom, Draven accepted reality.
An opportunity to start over. To change his fate.
Yet even then, he could not stop thinking about his brother's words.
And the reaction of the Red Rider to those words.
...
A/N: Welcome to my new novel.