Dancing on the golden ashes

I could feel every single soul rush into me, their essence flowing through me like a torrent. They were the ones summoned to this world, the ones born into it. Most likely, the majority had never even heard of the planet Earth—they only knew of this world, where you were born with powers. Powers strong enough to shape your own fate, to carve your own path. Yet, there were always those like me, those who crushed dreams, those who brought an end to it all.

Why? I didn't have an answer. I didn't know. But this was how the world treated me, and so, I acted in the only way that made sense to me. After all, I wasn't about to offer my own neck to these people and say, "You can kill me if you want." No, that was never me. Never.

I knew that if the system was still under the control of the one who gave it to me, I would be dying right now—only to revive in nine days. But with the system now in my control, a new system message echoed in my mind, my own voice sounding back at me.

[Master, would you like to undergo the rebirth? The amount of absorbed souls is enough to reach the Soul Immortal stage on your path]

What an interesting shift... No, I would save that for later. I wanted to use most of the souls for something else—something far more destructive. I gathered them in my palm, forming an idea.

[Very well]

[Time until attack is ready: 10 minutes]

The system, now more a loyal subordinate than a tyrannical boss, was no longer the one that dropped useless promotions or caused constant frustrations. It was obedient, bending to my will without question.

My eyes never left Jeong Suhan's. If I had to buy some time, then I would make sure to kill him in that time—or at the very least, I could torture him a little. Whatever caused more pain to a human being was the right answer to me. The fear, the agony, the helplessness—those were my tools now, and I would wield them until he begged for the end.

I moved at lightning speed, my scythe dancing through the air, a seamless extension of my will. The air around me cracked with the energy that surged through my veins. With a flick of my wrist, I summoned an afterimage of the blade, a perfect replica that appeared to hover in my arms. The real one, a shadow, lingered just behind me, rushing into the void itself, waiting, patient. I had no need for it to be seen yet. It would strike when the moment was right, when the time came for me to land a sneaky blow on my sworn enemy, ending it in a flash.

I could see that the fear that had once paralyzed him had melted away, replaced by something far worse—arrogance. His sword, glowing with blinding white light, was readied in his hands. It pulsed with so much power it could have torn through any darkness. Any darkness... but not mine. I knew that, and I was the darkness he couldn't touch.

He rushed at me with a blur, his movements a deadly streak, his blade aiming for my neck in a swift, clean kill. It was a move that would've killed almost any enemy in its path. His speed was astounding, his strength undeniable—yes, that's how strong he was, but not against me. Not today.

With a single thought, I summoned what could be called wind magic—or at least, something like it. The system, now a part of me, blurred the lines between skills and reality. I barely had to focus on the magic; the power surged through me naturally. The winds grew fierce, coiling around my body, a tempest in the making. What was once a simple gust became a violent storm, a vortex of energy that lashed out in every direction, sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone. The winds converged on Jeong Suhan, sending a deadly barrage aimed directly at his neck, his heart—every part of him that could die.

He snorted, dismissing the attack with contempt, his movements almost too fast to follow. But I had already seen it—his arrogance, his belief that he was untouchable. He moved faster than the wind, evading my strike, but I was ready. My fake scythe swung at him, and like a fool, he fell for it. He couldn't reach me, not because he wasn't fast enough, but because fear gripped him—the fear of dying, of making a mistake.

He stepped back, just for a second, just enough for me to strike. From the void, my true scythe emerged, its blade shimmering with darkness, its edge sharp enough to cut through the air itself. It slashed across his back in one smooth motion, leaving a deep, jagged wound. Blood poured from the gash, staining his flesh with a crimson trail.

The two of us exchanged attack after attack, each one a deadly dance, an intricate exchange of power and strategy. I held the advantage most of the time, but I couldn't deny the truth—I was fighting not just him, but the world itself. The world had chosen him, supported him with everything it had. Whenever I would land a fatal hit, the very air around him seemed to bend, and he would heal almost instantly, as if the universe itself reached out to save him, to deny me my victory. But when I received an attack, I felt the weight of something foreign, something unnatural, pressing down on me. My body became sluggish, as though an unseen force was trying to invade, to break me down from the inside.

But who did it think I was?

I was the woman who gave her own heart to stand here, at the very top of this broken world. I had bled and sacrificed to reach this point, and no foreign force, no system, no cosmic hand would push me back. Even if I wasn't the strongest in the universe, I was close—how close? I didn't know, but I couldn't have been too far off. After all, after the next two realms, it was all unknown. Perhaps there was nothing, perhaps the end of all things, or perhaps the realm where gods and immortals clashed in eternal struggle.

"You will never reach my stage, Suhan. You don't have what it takes to kill me. You never did," I said in a flat, emotionless tone, the words coming out as if they were nothing more than a simple truth. "You call yourself the main character, but somehow, I always beat you. The only reason you're still breathing is because of that fool of a master of yours."

He wiped the blood from his lips, smiling wildly as if my words only fueled his insanity. "You say that, but you have nothing. You never did. As for me, I have the strongest person in the universe watching my back, and if his realm body came here, you would be trembling in fear, hahaha! I want to see you piss yourself, Gaon. How about you take your pants off, let me fuck you until you lose your mind, and then I'll have you taken to him to kill you. I want to see you suffer. I want to see you destroyed and turned into a slut… ahaha!" His smile was wide, grotesque, and disturbingly honest.

"How utterly disgusting…" I muttered, my voice cold and devoid of any real emotion. "You don't even deserve to be called human. You're worse than the demons they say we are."

I didn't feel any hurt from his words. They were beneath me—empty, meaningless. But what struck me was the vile, twisted nature of his mind. He had lost it, or maybe, just maybe, he had always been like this behind the scenes, his mask just slipping now as the real monster inside him came to the surface. Without hesitation, I launched another attack, my scythe cutting through the air with a vengeance, aiming to claim his life once and for all.

Eventually, the ten minutes passed, and Jeong Suhan and I exchanged over a million moves, I knew the time had come. The time to finish this battle, to end it, once and for all. To end him and to move on with my life, to seek out a new home, a place to rebuild, a place where I could finally escape this never-ending conflict. This broken world had nothing left for me anymore.

It was time. Time to end it all.

A massive surge of energy rushed through my meridians, flooding into my left palm. From the overwhelming power, a small white orb began to form at its center. At first, it seemed insignificant, almost fragile, something that lacked any real power. But as I stared at it, my eyes narrowed, my instincts sharpening. Then, I saw him—Jeong Suhan—fleeing. He darted away from me, his desperation clear as he soared toward the sky, doing everything he could to escape the inevitable.

"Coward…" I muttered under my breath, and then, with a flick of my wrist, I released the attack. But not at him. No. It wasn't meant for him.

It was meant for the world.

A massive beam of light tore the hole in the magma, rushing deep into the core…