The End Of The Beginning

"If that is a joke, it isn't funny."

Ark smacked Marx's hand away and glared at him.

At his reaction, Marx gritted his teeth and spat. "What date is today?"

"...Oct 26, 2154."

"What is your current educational level?"

"Senior High"

Ark answered Marx's question. He didn't understand the old man's intention behind these questions. However, he answered nonetheless.

Finally, Marx asked. "Where is Anna?"

"At her job."

"Sigh, the dates and other information are correct. Why are you only forgetting selective knowledge?"

He held Ark's wrist and spoke menacingly.

"What have you been doing while I wasn't here? Why has your condition worsened?"

"What are you talking about?!"

Ark shouted and retreated away from Marx. However, Marx moved with surprising agility, despite his age, and caught Ark.

"Anna is dead."

His words caused Ark to lash out. Ark respected Marx for all the help he gave to him, but saying his sister was dead was crossing the line.

"Old man, get out. You—"

"Did you forget why you trained for [High-Heaven Online]?"

When Marx cut Ark and spoke, his words caused Ark to flinch.

An acute pain surged in Ark's head and he started to have trouble breathing.

"Because I want money." spoke Ark through the increasing pain.

"Wrong! It's because you wanted revenge for Anna's death and to correct the wrong!"

Ark fell to his knees. He was sweating heavily and his vision was spinning. Each time Marx spoke, his head felt like it would burst.

"Move" Ark stood on his trembling legs. "Anna is late. I'll bring her back from her workplace. That will prove you are lying."

"You aren't leaving this apartment, Ark. I can't let you go outside in your current condition."

"I won't repeat it a third time. Move."

Ark's body swayed with each step. He walked like a drunken man. Marx stretched his arm to catch Ark when suddenly, Ark counterattacked.

He caught the old man's arm, slid his feet and kicked the back of Marx's knee, knocking him down.

Without allowing Marx to rest, Ark twisted his arm while looking down at him with cold eyes.

Marx didn't seem uncomfortable from the grapple. He was staring at Ark with disbelief instead.

"Y-your movements. When did you reach 'Void Realm'?"

"Void Realm? What is that?"

"The third martial real—"

Cluck!

The door opened and a man wearing a black overcoat along with a mask entered.

"Sir Marx, is that your candidate?" asked the man with the mask.

"Yes."

The intruder removed his gloves and walked toward Ark with calm steps.

"We don't have much time. I'll take the interview here itself. Ark, if you can remove my mask, you will be allowed to join the Resistance, and we will help with your goal."

Ark's brows furrowed. It was clear that the intruder was colluding with Marx. However, he didn't understand the current situation.

Before Ark could speak, the intruder was already in front of him. His fist was quickly approaching Ark's face.

Ark dodged the punch with minimal movements and kicked the man in his chest, before retreating.

"Cough..Cough…" Marx stood up after being freed.

"It was a good kick," said the intruder while dusting his shirt where Ark kicked. "You reached the 3rd martial realm in 2 years, while most take 7-8 years at the minimum. Quite an impressive speed, I must say."

Despite the praise, Ark wasn't happy.

'Did he say Resistance? Isn't that the terrorist organization working against the World Government? Why does Marx have ties with them?'

"Cough…Cough… Helios, don't bother explaining it to him. His condition has relapsed. I doubt he even remembers the deal with the Resistance." spoke Marx.

Helios, the masked intruder, rubbed his chin.

"I can't do anything about it, Sir Marx. We don't have time anymore. I can't wait for him to recover to take his test."

Bam!

Helios kicked the ground and dashed. He planted his right foot like an immovable mountain on the floor and whipped his left foot toward Ark's head.

BANG!!!

Ark's body flew and crashed into the wardrobe. His arms shook heavily. 'What was that? I'm sure I blocked his kick perfectly, so why wasn't the force behind the attack reduced at all?'

'I need to run away and ask for help from the authorities.'

Another punch was already heading in Ark's direction. Ark's rolled on the ground to dodge. His eyes widened when cracks appeared on the wall from Helios' punch.

"Are you even human?"

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Helios continued to attack regardless of Ark's condition. Ark felt as if a truck was hitting him each time.

Suddenly, Helios stopped and spoke.

"Is that it? Is that the extent of your resolve for your revenge?"

"Wh..what are you talking about?"

"Didn't you say you were going to take revenge for Anna's death? Isn't that why you caused the 'Jamica Incident', which garnered the attention of the whole world?"

"Stop…"

"Your sister is dead, Ark. Don't delude yourself into believing otherwise."

"Stop…"

"She was–"

"I said stop!"

BANG!!!!!

Ark punched Helios' chin. While Helios was disoriented, Ark kicked his right kneecap, intending to cripple him for lifetime.

However, Helios avoided the kick easily.

Due to missing the mark, Ark was in an awkward posture. At that moment, Helios raised his foot and smashed Ark's head with his heel.

Ark collapsed on the ground. He felt blood dripping from the place he was hit by Helios and his consciousness started dimming.

"He failed. If he can't control his emotions, his martial mastery is useless. Let's return, Sir Marx."

"I'll come back after patching him up," said Marx.

Helios retorted.

"Sir Marx, he has failed the test. Please stop getting involved with Ark from hereon, it's the leader's orders."

He then left the room.

Marx bandaged Ark and left after a few minutes. "Sigh, this is goodbye, Ark."

He didn't want to leave Ark when he was mentally unstable. However, the Resistance was about to start their operations.

The time was up the moment [High-Heaven Online] was released. Resistance had to gather their forces before the World Government did.

Marx's presence would only bring unwanted attention to Ark and put him in danger.

***

"Haah! Haah! Haah!"

Upon waking up, Ark clutched his chest and looked around while breathing heavily.

"You woke up at the right moment. The dinner is almost ready."

A familiar voice entered his ears.

"A-anna? You are alive?"

Ark gulped audibly as he saw Anna preparing dinner.

The corner of Anna's lips twitched. "Could you please stop killing me in your dreams? I'm very much alive."

"That was a… dream?"

Ark touched his head and found the bandages Marx applied before leaving. Before Ark could speak, Anna questioned.

"Did you hit your head somewhere? You were bleeding profusely when I returned. I cleaned your wound and applied first-aid."

"You did?"

Ark grabbed his head and tried to recall everything that happened before he lost consciousness.

'I was with Marx when an intruder appeared in the room and then…'

"Wash your hands. I'll serve the food." Anna's words interrupted his thoughts.

The two of them ate in silence. Throughout the dinner, Ark was secretly staring at Anna. He even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

'She is alive. Was everything a dream?'

When he tried to recall the earlier events, Ark found that he was having trouble. It was as if a fog was covering his memories.

'Maybe it was really a dream.'

Later, Ark used the internet. Most of the news was about the legendary class and the new update which was about to start in a few hours.

Ark couldn't erase the sense of eeriness he felt whenever he looked at Anna. Even though she was in front of him, he couldn't dismiss that dream.

"How about 'that'?"

In his dream, Ark had caused an incident called 'Jamaica Incident' according to the intruder.

He opened the search bar and typed.

[Jamica Incident]

The search results came up. He read them but Anna suddenly snatched the smartphone from him.

"Staring at screens for too long is harmful."

Ark nodded absentmindedly. 'I couldn't read anything.'

"I'll play [High-Heaven Online] for a bit before sleeping."

He stretched and wore the headgear while laying on the mattress. Anna didn't stop him as today was the release day.

'Dammit, that dream messed my head. Why am I suspecting Anna?'

Before entering the game, Ark spoke.

"Anna, you won't disappear when I wake up, right?"

"Of course." Anna chuckled at his strange question. "Even if I die, I'll return as a ghost to haunt you."

"I'd rather not meet the ghost of a gorilla."

Ark also laughed and shook his worries off. He was overthinking too much. Perhaps, meeting Marx was just a dream.

"Link start."

Ark's body went limp.

Anna caressed his forehead. Her other hand moved toward Ark's chest as her eyes carried unknown emotions.

"Sorry for lying to you, Noah."

With a swift thrust, Anna's finger penetrated Ark's chest. She grabbed his heart and….

Crush!

Ark's body spasmed before coming to a stop. Blood spilled from the hole in his chest as he lay on the mattress, dead.

Five days later, Ark's corpse was found in his apartment.

It was reported that he was brutally murdered, with his crushed heart being the cause of death.

And, with this, the story of Ark came to an end.