Solo Ascension

Lies

The Abyssal Death Knight was a creature born from the deep nightmares of the dungeon. It stood over ten feet tall, a walking catastrophe of rusted iron and swirling black miasma. Just a few minutes ago, this S-Rank anomaly had scared away an A-Rank Tank like a fly. It had brought Killian, the so-called Golden Boy, to his knees in terror. But right now… The monster was trembling.

Damon Silverstar stood in the center of the shattered boss room, bathed in a crimson light. The heavy, unpleasant air of the dungeon had been overwritten by a divine pressure. In his right hand, the Mythic tier scythe, Severance of Destiny, thumping with a rhythmic heartbeat. The blade was made of crystallized, crimson blood. It felt ponderous in his grip, yet it emitted a power so precise that the space around the curved edge seemed to warp and obscure.

A transparent crimson screen hovered at the edge of his vision. The text scrolled fastly, ignoring all standard system formatting.

[Goddess of Fate]: It dared to stand above you.

[Goddess of Fate]: It dared to make you bleed. That silver haired pest did the cutting, but this filthy shadow tried to finish the job.

[Goddess of Fate]: I hate it. I hate it so much. Kill it for me, Damon. Rip it to pieces.

Damon stared at the chat log. The words sent a crawling cold shiver down his spine, but they also ignited a thrill in his chest. For three years, he had been nothing but scrap under the boots of the elite. He had been told to look down, to stay quiet, to know his place.

Now, an Obsessive Goddess was begging him to slaughter his enemies.

"You want to see it die?" Damon whispered, his voice echoing in the silence of the cavern. 

'Killing....' Damon thought, a fearful pale grin crawling across his face. 'I never meant to be like this... But the contract... Goddess of Fate... gave a living chance to me, but I can't kill'

Suddenly a memory flashed in front of his vision. It's his sister. 'I need to do this for my sister, I need to overcome... I need to live... I need to make sure she is always happy. Damon was scared, but a confident look flared in his eyes. 

SCREEECHHH!!

The Abyssal Death Knight let out an unnatural screech. Filled with the dungeon's core instinct to destroy threats, the monster lunged forward. It slashed its massive, miasma coated greatsword in a horizontal arc, intending to cut Damon in half. The attack was so fast, but Damon saw everything, his newly awakened mana channels rushed power through his body. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. He saw a faint, gray thread connecting the Death Knight's weapon to its arm.

'Severance of Destiny,' Damon realized. 'The scythe didn't just cut matter. It cut the threads of probability and existence.'

Damon didn't dodge. He simply stepped forward and lashed the crimson scythe upward. There was no sound of metal clashing or shockwave. The crimson blade passed through the enormous black greatsword as smoothly as a hot knife cut through butter. The scythe carved an elegant, blood spilling arc through the air, cutting diagonally through the Death Knight's torso, from its armored hip all the way up to its opposite shoulder.

Damon followed through with the swing, swinging gracefully before coming to a halt, his back turned to the monster.

For three seconds, nothing happened. Then, a jagged, shimmering red line appeared across the Death Knight's rusted armor. The monster dropped its severed greatsword. It looked down at its own chest. A brutal sound echoed through the chamber as the top half of the S-Rank catastrophe slowly slid off its bottom half and crashed to the stone floor.

The black miasma holding the creature together frantically tried to reconnect the two halves, but it was useless. The wound inflicted by a Mythic weapon couldn't be healed by dungeon magic. The crimson energy ate away the shadows like acid. 

GROANN!! SCREEE!!

The Death Knight let out one agonizing shriek before its form shattered into a million pieces of black ash.

Damon stood calm, letting out a long, slow breath.

'I... I did that?' he thought, staring at his hands with fear-filled glare. Just ten minutes ago, he couldn't even lift an A-Rank sword. Now, he had one-shotted a boss that required a raid team of S-Rank Hunters to defeat.

The crimson system screen burst with notifications.

[Target Eliminated: S-Rank Abyssal Death Knight.]

[Calculating Experience...]

[Error. The level gap is too large. Adjusting parameters...]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have Leveled Up!]

...

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You have reached Level 45!]

[All stats increased exponentially. Mana Core upgraded from F-Rank to A-Rank.]

[You have obtained the Title: 'Sovereign's Executioner'.]

Before Damon could even process the power surging through his veins, another wave of notifications appeared in his vision. This time, they weren't the standard blue. They were the obsessive, burning red of his only viewer.

[The Goddess of Fate is shivering with pleasure.]

[The Goddess of Fate has donated 5,000,000 Karma Points!]

[The Goddess of Fate has donated 5,000,000 Karma Points!]

[Goddess of Fate]: Beautiful. Perfect. You are a masterpiece.

[Goddess of Fate]: The way you moved... no one else is allowed to see that. Only me. If you ever swing that scythe for the entertainment of another god, I will pick their eyes out from their skulls.

[Goddess of Fate]: Pick up your reward, my love. It is time to leave this filthy cave.

Damon swallowed hard. Ten million Karma Points. Most A-Rank Hunters streamed for months, risking their lives in dozens of dungeons, just to earn a hundred thousand points to buy a decent health potion from the system shop. Damon had just become a multi millionaire in sixty seconds. He walked over to the pile of black ash left behind by the boss. Resting in the center, there was a shining, pitch black gemstone of the size of his fist.

An S-Rank Monster Core.

In the real world, this single stone was worth enough credits to buy a luxury skyscraper in the center of the city. More importantly, it was enough to pay off his sister's hospital bills ten times over. Damon picked it up, the smooth surface cold against his skin. He tossed it into his inventory, a spatial storage feature he had just unlocked by reaching Level 10.

He asked the Severance of Destiny to vanish. The crimson scythe disappeared into red mist, sinking into the palm of his right hand, leaving behind a faint, tattoo-like mark of a severed thread. Damon turned and began the long walk back toward the dungeon entrance. The journey was eerily quiet. Usually, an A-Rank Gate was swarming with leftover monsters that the vanguard party had missed. But the terrifying aura of the Goddess of Fate had destroyed the cavern. The lower-level monsters like goblins, shadow wolves, and cave trolls were either hiding in the corners or they had died of fear from the divine pressure.

As Damon walked, he passed the spot where the raid had initially gone wrong. He saw the crushed shield belonging to Daren, the A-Rank Tank. A pool of blood stained the floor. 

Thud.. thud..

Damon’s heart began to throb so fast with intense fear crawling through his spine. Hundreds of thoughts flooded into his brain, the way they got into the dungeon, his own party members betrayed him as bait, and he also knows some of his party members are alive and they are outside. ‘Why.. Why did it all happen?’ Damon questioned himself. ‘How should I face them now?’

Also, Damon was saved by the exclusive contract from the Goddess of Fate, and he remembers his only reason and responsibility for living. He slowly regains his confidence and remembers his chance of living, and starts walking towards the exit.

"Killian and Myra..." Damon muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing. "They used a return crystal. They think I'm dead. They're probably outside right now, shudding fake tears to the Association reporters, talking about how the heroic F-Rank porter sacrificed himself so they could escape."

The thought made his blood boil.

[Goddess of Fate]: Do not be sad. Your dullness ruins your pretty face.

[Goddess of Fate]: I know where they are. I can see their strings of fate. Do you want me to snap them? I can give them both a heart attack right now. Just say the word.

Damon stopped walking, staring at the red text hovering in the air. The casual way she offered to murder two high ranking people in the real world was chilling.

"No," Damon said out, his voice cold. "Don't touch them."

[The Goddess of Fate is confused.]

[Goddess of Fate]: Why? Are you showing mercy? You belong to me, Damon. You cannot be soft.

"It's not mercy," Damon replied, stepping into the blue circle of the dungeon exit portal. "If they die quietly from a mysterious attack, they die as heroes who survived a tragedy. They keep their honor. They keep their wealth."

"I don't just want them dead. The world should know the truth. I want to take everything from them, just like they tried to take my life. Let them sleep peacefully tonight. I'll handle them myself."

[The Goddess of Fate is staring at your smile.]

[The Goddess of Fate is breathing harshly.]

[The Goddess of Fate has donated 1,000,000 Karma Points!]

[Goddess of Fate]: Yes. Ruin them. Show no mercy. I will watch every second of it.

Damon stepped through the portal. Outside the A-Rank Gate, Central Tokyo District. In the area surrounding the whirling blue portal, there was a scene of chaos. Police barricades had been erected, holding back a crowd of anxious civilians and hungry journalists. Floodlights illuminated the night sky.

Inside the security perimeter, a medical tent had been set up.

Killian, the Azure Dragon Guild's Golden Boy, sat on a supply crate, a thermal blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He was putting on the performance of a lifetime. He stared blankly at the ground, his face pale, hands trembling.

A few feet away, Myra was sobbing into the shoulder of an Association Guild Manager.

"It... it happened so fast," Killian said to the reporter holding a microphone in front of his face. "The intel was flawed. It was an S-Rank anomaly. An Abyssal Death Knight. Daren... Daren fell instantly."

Killian choked out a fake sob, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "But Damon... our porter. The kid was only an F-Rank, but he had the heart of a lion. When the monster charged us, he threw himself in front of the blade. He yelled at us to run. He bought us the ten seconds we needed to activate the crystal."

The reporter looked moved. "A tragic, beautiful sacrifice. The Azure Dragon Guild truly inspires loyalty, even in its lowest ranking members."

"We will be establishing a memorial fund in Damon Silverstar's name," Killian said solemnly, looking into the camera. "He died a hero's death."

"Is that right?" The voice was calm, but it cut through the noise of the crowd like a razor blade.

Killian froze. The blood drained from his face. Myra stopped crying mid sob. She turned her head toward the blue portal of the dungeon gate. The entire camp fell into silence. Reporters, medics, and armed association guards all turned their heads.

Stepping out of the blue light, there was a young man. He wasn't wearing the cheap, tattered cargo pants of an F-Rank porter. He was wearing a sleek, black coat that seemed to absorb the surrounding light. He looked healthy, and his right leg, which Killian had personally severed, was flawless.

Damon Silverstar casually brushed some dust off his shoulder and looked around the camp.

"Funny," Damon said, his crimson eyes darting towards Killian's terrified face. "I don't remember yelling at you to run. I remember you slicing my leg open from behind and kicking me into the boss room as bait."

The crowd gasped. The reporters shoved their microphones forward, sensing the scandal of the century.

Killian scrambled backward, tripping over the supply crate and falling into the mud. "You... how... you can't be alive! It was an S-Rank! Your leg is gone!"

Myra screamed, pointing a trembling finger at Damon. "M-Monster! He's possessed! He died there, the dungeon took his body!"

Association guards immediately raised their assault rifles, aiming them at Damon's chest. "Halt! Do not take another step! Identify yourself!" a captain shouted.

Damon didn't raise his hands. He just stood there, relaxed, bathed in the lights of the cameras. He opened his system interface and tossed an item onto the wet ground.

THUD!!

A shiny black gemstone rolled across the dirt and stopped at the boots of the Association Captain.

The Captain looked down. His jaw dropped open. "Is... is that..."

"An S-Rank Abyssal core," Damon said simply, looking back at Killian, who was currently breathing heavily in the mud, staring at the gemstone as if it were a ghost.

Damon smiled. It was a cold, cruel smile that promised nothing but suffering.

"I cleared the dungeon, Killian, and now, I'm clocking out. You can keep my ten thousand credit porter f*e." Damon turned his back to the terrified Killian, looking at the camera. "Because you're going to need it for your funeral."

Lingering silently in the air, invisible to the rest of the world, the crimson chat box scrolled open beside Damon's head.

[The Goddess of Fate is cheering.]

[The Goddess of Fate wants you to step on his throat.]

[The Goddess of Fate has donated 2,000,000 Karma Points!]