"Erwin! Get back here right now! I'm not done with you!" His father's voice boomed across the dusty courtyard, but Erwin was already halfway to the gate, his massive backpack bouncing against his shoulders. Einstein, his petite sparrow perched on the shoulder straps of the backpack, dug his tiny claws in tighter. "You know the rules!" His father thundered. "No talking to villagers about the food. No shortcuts through the woods. And absolutely no—" "Yeah, yeah, I got it!" Erwin spun around, walking backwards with a cocky grin. "Don't worry, old man. I'm eighteen, not eight. I know what I'm doing." "That's exactly what worries me," his mother called from the balcony. "Last time you 'knew what you were doing,' you nearly got caught smuggling grain to the Henderson family." "But I didn't get caught, did I?" Erwin shot back, giving them a thumbs up. "Trust me. I'll be back with water from Kingdom Avalanche in five days. Maybe four if I take my shortcut." "No shortcuts!" both parents

"Congratulations, Einstein, the Immortal Dragon Incarnate. You will be teleported into Realm X shortly..." That was the last statement that came from the portal before Erwin's body was hurled into it along with Einstein—the sparrow... no, the Immortal Dragon Incarnate, apparently. The words didn't make sense, but then again, nothing about the last few minutes had made sense. A blinding white glow consumed his vision for a moment after phasing through the portal. The sensation was so odd he nearly felt sick. Then he was greeted by a strange atmosphere, calm and peaceful. [ENTERING REALM X] [Dimensional Essence System - Adapting] [New Environment: Cosmic Assembly] [Warning: Power levels here far exceed current user capabilities] When he finally felt his feet touch solid ground, and when he vision finally cleared from the blinding light of his teleportation, what he saw first made his jaw drop in shock. It wasn't just what he saw first, either. It was everything he was seeing as

[BATTLEFIELD #47 - THE SHATTERED LANDS] Erwin materialized in chaos. The battlefield was a nightmare landscape of floating rock platforms suspended over an endless void. Some platforms were big enough to be compared to city blocks. Others were barely large enough to stand on. Chains of dark energy connected the platforms like bridges that looked solid. The sky above was a swirling mass of purple and black clouds, occasionally split by lightning. This was like a freaking horror movie. [Welcome to Battlefield #47] [Overall Participants: 10,000] [Participant in Battle Field: 50] [Current Safe Zone: All platforms] [First Zone Shrink: 29:47] [Kills: 0] [Points: 0] [Current Rank: 5,000/10,000] Erwin landed on one of the mid-sized platforms, his knees bending to absorb the impact instinctively. Around him, other participants were materializing in flashes of light. Some landed gracefully. Others stumbled. One unfortunate creature materialized at the edge of a platform and immed

The battlefield had become a nightmare of floating debris and collapsing platforms. What had started as a sprawling arena of hundreds of rock formations was now reduced to maybe twenty stable platforms, all clustered toward the center. The black fog had consumed everything else. Erwin crouched behind a jagged outcropping, his breathing labored. Blood dripped from a gash across his shoulder as evidence of the aftermath of a particularly vicious reptilian creature he'd barely managed to kill ten minutes ago. [HP: 56/100] He'd leveled up three more times, but the increased health pool didn't mean much when he kept getting injured faster than he could heal. He had one health potion left. One. And at least four more hours of this hell. "Your rank is good," Einstein said, hovering beside him. The sphere's usual blue glow had dimmed, even he seemed exhausted by the constant violence. "687 out of 10,000 according to your token. You're almost in the top 500 now, but you must kill one high

[Time Remaining: 00:03:47] [Participants Remaining Overall: 512/10,000] The final minutes ticked down with agonizing slowness. Erwin sat against the rock, watching the timer on his token count down. His whole body ached with bruises, cuts and exhaustion. But he was alive. The lunar elf sat nearby, her silver eyes closed in meditation. Ironclad Vex remained kneeling, its sensors dimmed to conserve energy. "Three minutes," Einstein said softly. "Just three more minutes." Erwin didn't respond. He was too focused on the projection from his token—his parents, still human, still safe. His mother was reading a book. His father watching the balcony with lost gaze. Everything was normal. [System Notification - Global Announcement] [FINAL COUNTDOWN INITIATED] [Current survivors: 512] [Required survivors: 500] [12 participants will be eliminated at time expiration] [Participants ranked 501-512 are currently in elimination zone] Erwin's blood ran cold. Twelve people were about to los