Reborn To Conquer The Malivic World

CHAPTER 6

Lein felt himself plummet. Air roared past his ears, and the world twisted in spirals of light and shadow. 

His stomach lurched as gravity seemed to stretch and snap in impossible ways. The portal, the one Asera had commanded him to enter, had shattered, leaving nothing but emptiness to catch him.

He was falling into… nothing. Panic gripped his chest. “NO! THIS, THIS ISN’T HAPPENING!”

The void twisted around him, flaring with colors he didn’t recognize, purple, gold, green, all bleeding together like oil on water. 

His limbs flailed, but there was nothing to push off. No ground. No walls. Only infinite space and a deafening silence, broken occasionally by the echo of distant, alien whispers.

Then he heard it. A low, guttural growl. Not behind him.  Not in front. But inside him.

Lein froze mid-fall, heart hammering. Something ancient, something alive, had taken notice.

[WARNING: HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED]

The words appeared in his mind like a scream, overlaying his panic with cold, mechanical precision.

Lein’s chest heaved. He had no control, no footing, no plan. But the System, merciless and ever-present, chimed again.

[ACTIVATE DEATH LOOP: SURVIVAL MODE]

[DEATH COUNT: 5]

[DEATH PAIN MULTIPLIER: x3]

[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 12%]

Lein groaned. Five deaths. Three times worse pain each. And survival… barely possible. He clenched his fists. “If I die again… fine. I’ll get stronger. I’ll.”

The growl roared louder, vibrating through the void. Then a shadow passed him. Not a figure. Not a humanoid. A massive, undulating form.

It had scales like molten metal, eyes like burning coal, and teeth that gleamed with predatory precision. Tentacle-like limbs waved around it, stretching endlessly in every direction.

Lein’s stomach sank. This was no Abyssal Hunter. This was something… older.

The creature’s gaze fixed on him. Time itself seemed to slow. Lein felt an unbearable weight pressing against his chest.

[SURVIVAL MODE OVERRIDE]

The System screamed in his mind. Not words. Not commands. Only pure urgency. “Move. Now.”

Lein’s instincts took over. He spun mid-fall, flailing toward the creature’s blind spot, or what he hoped was a blind spot. 

His hands grasped at the void, but there was nothing to hold onto. His mind screamed, his heart shouted, every sense straining to break free.

And then the creature struck.

A tendril shot out like lightning, wrapping around Lein’s torso. He felt the pressure first on his chest, then his spine, then every nerve at once. 

The pain was absolute. He screamed, lungs tearing with the effort. This was worse than any Abyssal Hunter. Worse than Graknor. Worse than the Dire Crawler King.

The System buzzed with activity:

[DEATH COUNT: 6]

[PAIN CONVERSION IN PROGRESS]

[STAT BOOST: +3 STRENGTH, +3 ENDURANCE, +2 REFLEXES]

Lein gritted his teeth, teeth digging into his own tongue as the tendril constricted. “You want to kill me? Fine. But I’ll come back stronger.”

He reached into himself, mentally, and triggered Rewind Memory.

The world snapped back five seconds. The tendril had not yet latched. Lein twisted violently mid-fall, narrowly avoiding the strike. 

Pain flashed anyway, he felt the echo of the near-crushing even in his muscles, but he was alive. 

He landed, or something approximating landing, on a jagged plateau of ethereal rock that hadn’t existed a moment ago. 

The creature’s massive body undulated above him, circling, sizing him up. Lein coughed blood. 

His legs were trembling, his body screaming in protest, but he forced himself to rise. “This… this isn’t real,” he muttered.

But it was real. And it wasn’t fair. The creature lunged again. This time, Lein was ready.

He dodged, then lashed out with his fist. Nothing but air. Pain screamed along his shoulder where he had grazed a previous fall. “DAMN IT!”

The creature roared in response. Its eyes flared violet. The void around them distorted. Lightning ripped across the infinite sky of colors.

Lein staggered back. Every instinct screamed to run. Every fiber of his body ached. But the System, cold and precise, whispered in his mind:

[YOU HAVE SURVIVED LONGER THAN EXPECTED. CAPTURE FRAGMENT REWARD UNLOCKED.]

Lein’s gaze shifted. A flicker of golden light, tiny, almost imperceptible, hovered near the edge of the plateau. A fragment. Of his soul. Of power. Of survival.

He didn’t think. He ran. The creature’s tendrils whipped around him. He ducked under one, rolled over another. 

The void itself seemed to resist him, a force pushing against his very momentum. He lunged for the fragment.

And then a tendril lashed, snapping at his ankle. He fell, rolling across the jagged plateau. The fragment drifted farther.

Lein groaned. Pain surged through every nerve. Every bone felt broken. “I can’t die here. Not like this. I’ve survived too much.”

He activated Rewind Memory. The world snapped back. He landed upright this time, closer to the fragment.

He grabbed it, and felt something change. Power. Strength. Awareness. Pain, yes, but also control.

The creature froze mid-attack. Its eyes widened, something in Lein had shifted. “Not prey. Not victim. Not weakling.”

Lein’s heart pounded. Fury replaced fear. Rage burned through him like fire in every vein. “I survive… and I grow stronger!” he screamed.

The fragment dissolved into him. Light flooded his senses. Memories, feelings, raw strength coursed through him. Pain surged, then became fuel.

The creature hissed, recoiling. Its tendrils flailed in confusion. Lein’s body pulsed. Rewind Memory glowed across his vision.

He could anticipate the creature’s next strike. He dodged its massive claw, rolled under a swing, and struck with his fist. Not hard. But precise. Enough to make it pause.

The creature’s eyes widened further. Fear.

Lein had never seen a beast of this scale hesitate. But now it did. He seized the moment. He ran. Toward the edge of the plateau. Toward the unknown. Toward survival.

But the void itself wasn’t done with him. A massive crack opened beneath his feet. The rock shattered like glass.

Lein tumbled. He screamed. The fragment’s energy surged around him. His body twisted in midair. He braced himself. And landed. 

On solid ground? Not quite. Floating rock, fractured pieces of reality suspended in a maelstrom of colors and chaos.

The creature followed, furious. Lein’s breath came in ragged gasps. Pain shot through him with every movement. His vision blurred, but he refused to fall.

Then he heard it: A whisper. Soft. Almost human. “Lein… choose wisely.”

He looked around. The fragment had shown him multiple paths: Left, toward the void’s edge, dangerous but possibly a shortcut to the next safe zone.

Right, toward the center of the maelstrom, where the creature seemed to move slower but where reality itself was breaking apart.

He had less than a second to decide. Lein gritted his teeth. “Right. Always right.”

He charged. The creature lunged after him, claws extended, teeth bared. A shard of floating rock exploded in front of him.

Lein vaulted, twisted midair, and landed on the next platform. The distance between him and the creature grew… but it was still fast. Too fast.

The void began to collapse around them. Colors bled, rocks shattered, chunks of floating terrain fell endlessly. 

The creature roared. Lein screamed. Reality itself seemed to scream with them.

And then, a massive, violet lightning strike shot across the void, slicing through the creature’s flank. It screeched.

Lein froze. A figure. Someone else was here. The figure hovered on a floating platform, obscured by violet energy, weapon glowing.

Lein’s heart froze. Not just the Abyssal Hunter. Not just the void. Not just the unknown. Someone had come for him.