Calamity

Just as the executioner pressed the trigger, the heavy blade of the guillotine swiftly descended, severing Richard's head from his body. The crowd erupted in a mix of shock, and horror because of the loud noise made by the machine.

But they quickly went back to what they were doing. They couldn't waste any time on anything, because if they didn't kill someone, they would be the ones to get killed.

A frenzy had overtaken everyone's minds, dyeing the world in a shade of red. The killing was the path to survival. They had to do it even if they didn't want to.

Licht's heart sank as he watched the executioner carry out the act. The weight of his failed plea crushed him. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for being the catalyst in this tragic turn of events.

As Richard's lifeless body lay before them, the executioner turned his gaze towards Licht, his eyes filled with a newfound resolve. "I didn't have a choice," he said, his voice filled with sorrow.

Licht's fists clenched, his own emotions spiraling within him. He couldn't shake off the feeling that he had played a part in this irreversible tragedy. His choices weighed heavily on his shoulders, yet he wouldn't stop there.

If his conjecture was correct, then today he didn't kill just one man, but two. Something was stuck in his throat. His voice wouldn't come out, it refused to come out.

Taking deep breaths, he finally called out the command told by the blue screen, "Progress bar"

As if the blue screen was omnipotent, a blue light flashed before him, startling him somewhat but he quickly adapted to it and saw the words written inside.

--Ding!

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[First Trial]: Depravity is just a thin line away

[Category]: Main (Not possible to reject)

[Difficulty]: Mortal

[Clear Conditions]: Kill one or more creatures.

[Time Limit]: 8 minutes

[Compensation]: Survival, entry into the dimension of wandering souls

[Failure]: Death

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The trial has been completed with the user killing two beings:

[One human]

[One Ladybug]

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[The calamity souls will be distributed at the end of the trial.]

[One minute before the trial ends.]

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[You have now been integrated into the Pantheon Sequence. Say status to check information about your stats, titles, and more.]

››

Gazing at Licht for a while after sorting his mind, the executioner followed suit, calling out the progress bar. But what he saw made him lose strength in his legs. The bar was empty, and he hadn't killed anything…

"How is this possible?" He murmured in disbelief.

"Didn't I kill him by pushing the button?" Just after saying this, realization dawned on him. The kid had fooled him!

His eyes again darted towards Licht. Disbelief and rage were apparent in his eyes. But more than that, he had an expression full of hopelessness.

There wasn't any time left.

"Ahhhhhhhhh" he screamed at the top of his lungs, death was upon him while fisting the ground beneath him, and his tears didn't stop.

"It is all because of you!"

"All because of you!" The despair in his heart turned into rage. He couldn't even feel the pain from his fists, which were bloody after all the banging on the floor.

He ran as fast as he could, just nearing Licht when it all stopped. Everything in the world turned into stasis. Nothing could move, but Licht could see the executioner's face, his tears frozen as if time had stopped.

Both of his hands trying to reach his neck, they were just in front of him. If the executioner had reached Licht, maybe he would be dead by now.

At that moment, the lives of both Licht and the executioner were forever changed. Their paths intertwined in a tragic dance of fate and consequence.

The way he got the kill and not the executioner was all his plan. Just before the blade could come by itself and kill Richard, Licht had forced the unconscious body up.

Essentially changing the killer. If he was slower or couldn't force the body up, then he would have been the one to die now.

'Even this was a gamble on my part,' he thought, still frozen in place.

Licht didn't know the working of the system or anything about what this all was, he just knew one thing, that he had to kill to survive and he followed that instinct.

Yet his mind was full of guilt. His hands were shaking when doing all this. This was a curse that will make him suffer till the end of his time.

'I have killed not one, but two humans…'

'This is my sin to bear, but I don't regret it, if it means that I have to do this again to survive. I will do it again!' His mind was filled with determination more than guilt.

He had finally gotten the fire to live back again. He won't part ways with it this early.

The world trembled again, quaking under an unknown force. Dark red energy suddenly erupted from the ground, geysers of it flowing from the earth. But the most fascinating thing about all this was that no holes were there.

The energy moved as if it was phasing out of the ground, coming from something far deeper like the core….

The energy started coating everything in a reddish hue, the buildings, the road, animals, and most importantly, humans. The energy selectively chose those living beings that had passed the trial, and it left those that didn't.

As if this was all planned, the comet in the sky was also coming down with greater intensity.

The thing was too close to the earth now, and everyone could see the real face of it. What had seemed like a comet at the start was a monster far bigger than Earth.

It looked like a big whale with even the smallest teeth being far bigger than countries, it enveloped the whole earth in entire silence, its maw going down while thousands of tentacles emerged from its body. Enshrouding the planet and moving it into the mouth.

Hundreds of blobs of masses came down from its mouth, with gas blacker than the outside space spewing out. The gas floated on the ground, hiding everything knee-deep.

And they finally crashed. The amalgamation of monsters emerged from the fallen meteor that had rained down from the calamity's mouth, yet nothing happened to the people in the red hue.

There was no explosion or anything from the crash. It was like throwing a ball at jelly. It just wiggled but got back to its original shape later.

Instead, the red hue started to glow brighter, as if fighting these monsters, but the same couldn't be said for the ones that weren't under its protection. They were slowly corrupted with darkish, gooey liquid, slowly being absorbed by it.

Licht's heartbeat raised when he saw the desperation in the eyes of the executioner. His face couldn't change because of the power that put everything in stasis, but the same couldn't be said for his eyes.

They begged for mercy as his body started dissolving, the amalgamation grew eyes all over its body after the eating process as if it had digested and taken something from the human itself.

The black mass shrieked in anger and leaped towards Licht, enveloping his body but not bypassing the coating that covered him.

A sense of extreme fear came from inside Licht. He felt as if he was staring into the abyss.

'I will die! I will die! I WILL DIE IF IT TOUCHES ME!' That was the only thing he could think of right now.

The extreme dread was enveloping him, he was sweating too hard just from looking at the horror in front of him.

But as if the gods had heard his call, a beam of light hit the planet. It pierced the calamity in its path, and the world just for a moment, turned white.

Every calamity blew up when the rays of the white light enveloped it, bursting into bubbles and then disintegrating into nothingness.

Under the power of that light, the earth suddenly got transported somewhere.

The sun's light stayed in the atmosphere for a few seconds, but then it all became dark, not even the white light that had started this all.

The world was enshrouded by tangible darkness, and nothing could be seen around.

Slowly, Licht lost consciousness while still being surrounded by darkness.

(This comment will have how calamity looks)