Prologue.

"Rigel Eclair DeMargt! Where are you?!" A middle-aged man with his hair that had turned a bit gray. He wore knight armor even though he had guns on his waist and back.

"I'm here, Sir," A young tall man with a lot of scars on his face walked to the front of the crowds of people wearing knight armor and melee weapons on each of their hands.

"Our Intel informed us that the mist has been lifted off, it's time for you to scout the area," The middle-aged man pointed out and looked at Rigel with high hopes. "Prepare yourself and report to me once you're done preparing," he added and then dismissed Rigel to prepare.

Rigel left the crowds and people looked at him with various expressions that he never thought people would show any pity and hope for him. He remembered when he was nothing but a good-for-nothing kind of guy, and how he was treated worse than trash.

"It has been five years..." Rigel stared at the tall tower that pierced through the clouds. "And yet not a single sign of them coming back," he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists furiously.

Rigel came back to meet with the commander to report that he had prepared to leave. He only brought a ransom for a week in his backpack, a sword hanging on his waist, and two pistols placed on his thighs. From hundreds of people around him, he was the only one who was going to leave to the unknown.

"Commander, Hugo. I came to report," Rigel stood in front of the tent where the middle-aged man stayed.

"Come in," The voice of a middle-aged man filled with worries, fear, and anxiety could be heard from inside the tent.

Rigel came in and saw Hugo standing in front of the table with a big map on it. The man who not only saved his life but the lives of thousands of lives but as a normal human being like him, had a limitation. The remaining men and women that he saved were the ones whom Rigel had seen earlier.

"How long has it been that we went through this nightmare together, Rigel?" Hugo asked as he put his hands on the table and kept staring at the map.

"In a few weeks, it would be five years, Sir," Rigel answered and looked at Hugo respectfully.

"Time flew by really fast, and so the death of our people..." Hugo said and his eyes were still focused on the map, but his voice on the other hand was the voice of someone who was on the brink of giving up. "I don't really want to send you there, but you're the only person I know who still has a burning flame in your eyes," he pointed out as he closed his eyes.

Rigel stood there in silence, didn't know what to say or respond to what Hugo said. He knew that Hugo carried all the burdens on his shoulders, and didn't want to share it with anyone.

"You can have this..." Hugo grabbed something under the table and it was a bottle of whiskey, unopened.

"Sir?" Rigel looked confused as his eyebrows furrowed.

"Just accept it, and you can give me the rest once you're back," Hugo responded with a smile, hiding his sadness. "That's all I can give to you, so take it and I wish you the best of luck, soldier," he changed the tone in his voice, showing his position as the commander that emotions and feelings were nothing but disturbance.

Rigel took the bottle of whiskey and then saluted Hugo without any fear but respect and admiration. He then left the tent without looking back or hesitation, showing his confidence to ease Hugo's guilt.

Rigel left the camp with people seeing him off, wishing him luck that none of them even believed in. The world had been so harsh to them that they didn't believe in miracles or luck anymore because there were none of them.

Rigel looked at the skyscrapers and the roads that used to be filled with people and traffic jams. Now, everything was nothing but scrapes, decoration in a world that had been turned into chaos by extraterrestrial beings that had invaded their world.

Three days had passed ever since Rigel left the camp to scout the area that was covered in black mist. He was already in the area that had been covered in mist for the past months, the only path that they could use to meet the main force on the other side.

"No sign of them, and the silence is worse than the screeches and roars of those creatures..." Rigel mumbled as he held his sword tightly and looked at his surroundings where skyscrapers were his fortresses to protect himself from those creatures.

The moment Rigel stepped his foot outside, a gust of wind hit his nape, and in an instant, a scythe-like tail pierced his back and all the way out of his chest. He was being carried by a flying creature into the air, and then mercilessly whipped the tail and sent him down to the ground really hard. It all happened in less than ten seconds and he was already in a state where he couldn't even move his body anymore.

Rigel stared at the creature like a demon flying around above him, the one that put him in that condition. He wasn't angry or sad, he was petrified when the creature that was categorized as Level-5 that even a whole artillery couldn't defeat, there were a bunch of them sitting on top of the skyscrapers.

"(Just one of them is already an imminent catastrophe, and now there are dozens of them)" Rigel thought. "(This isn't a path to survival, this path is a death door)" he added as he tried to reach his pants' pocket.

Rigel managed to grab the flare gun from his pocket and used every last bit of his strength to lift the gun. He then shot the red flare into the sky to inform the intel that the path wasn't safe and that it was too dangerous.

The blinking flare made Rigel remember his past and everything flashed in front of his eyes. The moment he was abandoned by his own parents, living like a slave, and treated worse than trash. The ray of hope when he was chosen as a Player that only a tenth of the world population could have.

The moment the flare disappeared, it was the same as his past where he got his Player status revoked by the system. He realized that a ray of hope was nothing but a lie, the world had abandoned him the moment he was born, stealing everything that could give him hope.

"I don't want to die like this..." Rigel's trembling voice because of the mix of emotions that ran through his mind, lying in the middle of a desolate street, his gaze fixed on the ominous creatures soaring through the sky. "My whole life has been a nightmare. It has been relentless, and now, dying like a rat..." he continued, his body trembling from broken limbs as he fought to endure the excruciating pain.

"If there's anyone... anyone that can hear my pain, please grant me a wish..." Rigel's voice weakened as his eyes started to shut off. "I want the world to feel my pain..." He said as he started to lose consciousness.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped him, transporting him to a forbidden and forgotten pocket of reality.

"I will grant your wish. I will take you back to where it all began," a soothing woman's voice whispered into Rigel's ear. "But what can you offer in exchange for this wish?" Her words sent shivers down Rigel's spine.

"Everything. I will give you everything," Rigel responded, his determination unwavering, even in the face of the unknown abyss.

"Rigel Eclair DeMargt. I want your soul and your body..." The woman's voice carried a sinister tone, and Rigel could almost sense the grin on her face. "I will make you invincible, immune to death's touch. In return, the more you faced death, the less of you would remain, yet you would grow stronger," her words were chilling, yet strangely comforting.

"I don't care..." Rigel declared with unwavering determination.

"Then follow my voice, and you will have your wish granted," The woman's voice was going away from Rigel's ear.