"DON'T BE RUDE TO YOUR MOTHER, BOY!"The woman's voice boomed, shattering the glass tubes around the room. The Mother of Winter flicked her wedding dress. The white fabric turned into a storm of spinning ice blades, slamming into Rara's body.CLANG! CLANG! SLASH!Rara was thrown back. Her marble skin was deeply cut in dozens of places. Black blood dripped, freezing instantly upon touching the floor."She's strong, Je!" Rara got back up, licking the wound on her arm. Her eyes stared wildly at her fake mother-in-law. "She controls the temperature of this room. My blood is slowing down!"Je was still kneeling. His eyes were fixed on the woman's face. His mother's face. The face that always smiled gently while feeding him mung bean porridge, now stared at him with cold hatred."You let me die, Je," Winter whispered through Mother's mouth. "You ran. You coward. And now, you bring this corpse whore to our house?"Those words were sharper than any ice blade. They were needles stabbing right

"DON'T MOVE, DARLING. THIS WILL ONLY HURT FOREVER."The Weaver laughed, her sighs bouncing off the metal corridor walls. Her six hands moved at dizzying speeds, firing sticky blue light threads.Je tried to slash the threads with his Claymore, but the threads weren't solid matter. They passed through Je's sword, then wrapped around his wrists.ZAP!"Argh!" Je groaned.The threads didn't cut skin, but instantly stung nerves. Je felt a burning sensation traveling from his hands to his brain.[Mental Attack: Memory Overwrite]Suddenly, Je wasn't in space. He was in his cramped, dark childhood bedroom. He saw his father raising a leather belt."Useless child..." his father's voice echoed."Get out of my head!" Je yelled in the real world. He fell to his knees, clutching his head. The light threads began wrapping around his entire body, forming a tight shibari cocoon, pressing his muscles until they bulged.The Weaver crawled down from the ceiling, her beautiful face right in front of Je's

The white light faded, replaced by the scent of... apples?Je opened his eyes. The floor beneath his feet was no longer the bloody iron of the arena, but soft green grass. The sky above was bright blue with a warm sun."Are we... on earth?" Guntur touched the grass with his robot hand. "Damn, this is real grass! There's dew!""Don't be fooled, Gun," Sinta plucked a rose near her feet. When she crushed it, the flower didn't crumble into petals, but shattered into binary numbers `0` and `1`. "This is Eden Simulation. 8K resolution. Ultra-realistic texture pack.""A resting place for winners," The Game Master's voice was heard.The figure in the golden robe sat on a marble park bench under a giant apple tree. He took off his smiling mask, revealing a face that was... empty.His face was flat. No eyes, nose, or mouth. Just a static screen hissing softly."Welcome to the Green Room," the voice appeared directly in their brains. "The waiting room before you meet the Board of Directors."Je

SWOOOSH!The purple energy scythe sliced through the air, cutting the steel cargo crate next to Je into two neat halves with glowing edges."You missed, Goat Bone!" Je taunted, rolling on the cold metal floor. His naked body was covered in sweat and oil, muscles tensing against the chill."SILENCE. DIE."The Lunar Reaper spun the scythe handle. The weapon hummed, creating a mini gravitational vortex sucking Je closer."Je! Watch out!" Rara jumped from the top of the crate stack.Rara landed on the black-robed creature's shoulder. Her claws gripped the goat skull mask."Take off your mask!"CRACK!Rara pulled forcibly. But the mask was fused with flesh. Rara tore the monster's face instead. Behind it, there was no bone, but a black void filled with tiny stars.This creature wasn't biological. It was a Cosmic Construct."VERMIIIN!"The Reaper shook its body. Purple energy exploded (Nova Burst)."Argh!" Rara was thrown off, hitting the wall. Her ribs cracked again."Rara!" Je ran, activa

"ALL IN!"The simultaneous shout of the undead Gamblers broke the casino's silence. Their pale, wrinkled hands moved in unison, throwing playing cards into the air.The cards weren't paper. They were sheets of dried human skin sharpened like razors.SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!Hundreds of cards flew like a shuriken storm."Protect your heads!" Je yelled, spinning his Claymore in front of his body, creating a steel propeller that deflected the card attack.TING! TING! TING!Cards that failed to penetrate Je's defense embedded themselves in marble pillars, cutting the stone two inches deep."They're using Cheats!" Guntur yelled, taking cover behind an overturned Blackjack table. "What kind of cards can cut stone?!"Kirati didn't take cover. She ran on the walls, her body curving to dodge the card trajectories."Mana-reinforced cards!" Kirati replied. She jumped into the middle of the gambler crowd, her energy scythe (looted from the Moon) glowing purple.SLASH!Kirati decapitated three gambler