[One Hour Later.]
{Altering completed.}
{Gained a New passive skill: Overlord Blessing.}
{Overlord Blessing: With each kill, you gained +1 defence points.}
{Due to the Royal Bloodline advantage, Overlord Blessing have been maxed.}
{With each kill, you gained +100 points.}
"A hundred points of defense... with every single kill," she muttered, her voice low and edged with a tremor of awe. She stood up, the dust of the dungeon floor clinging to her clothes, and looked at Cupcake, who was similarly rising.
"We both got it," she confirmed, clenching her fist. The raw power felt almost oppressive, a sudden shift in the scales of her existence. "My defense is effectively settled. It's an iron wall now. But the sheer timing..."
Her excitement curdled into frustration. "The Wind Dungeon is our next target, and it's in the Dragon Empire. It means leaving the Beginner Zone." She sighed, the air hissing between her teeth.
"Okay, Cupcake, our next plan—"
[Alert!!]
The sudden, piercing sound froze her. A phantom soul, unmistakably Galaxy Fall's Ai, shimmered into existence.
[Player Spectral, your powers are currently above the Beginner Zone's established power threshold.]
"So? I worked for it," Mirabella retorted, her brow arching in challenge.
[Galaxy Fall cannot grant a free pass around the system's foundational rules. Player Spectral, you will be temporarily removed from Galaxy Fall. You can only return after three days have elapsed in your world.]
"What the?!! Are you insane?! Three days is an eternity! I can grow a lot in this three days!!" Mirabella's voice was sharp, a genuine snarl of rage. This wasn't just a setback; it felt like a calculated, hostile move.
'Are they trying to isolate me? Is someone behind this, betting on my vulnerability on a post-apocalyptic Earth?' The thought sent a cold shiver of paranoia down her spine.
[This is the established system rule, and it must be followed. Get ready, Player Spectral. You will be removed in ten seconds.]
[Ten. Nine. Eight.]
Her internal rage instantly gave way to cold, survival-driven efficiency. Rushing to the Metal Ogre's massive corpse, she tapped her Galaxy Bracelet, sucking the precious loot chest into her storage.
"Cupcake."
Her companion, sensing the urgency, shrunk instantly and leaped into her arms.
'Reputation. That is the key. I need my reputation with all three empires maxed out, or I can become a Ruler.' She sighed in resignation.
'For now, this AI, the cold, implacable rules of Galaxy Fall, held absolute power over me.' She took a deep, steadying breath as the countdown reached zero.
SWOOSH!!!
A blinding white light enveloped her, and she vanished.
__
Mirabella reappeared in the same small, tiled bathroom. The room was bathed in a surreal, deep crimson, the only source of light being the hellish red sky visible through the grimy window. The air was thick with the metallic scent of old blood.
'Earth.'
Her prison for the next seventy-two hours.
"Fucking galaxy fall rules, this have never happened before." she spat, placing Cupcake gently on the sink's edge.
"All my plans—the immediate raid schedule, the push for the next zone—utterly useless."
Her gaze fell upon the slow, viscous flow of blood seeping under the bathroom door from the hallway.
"How many were here? How many survived the first waves?" she whispered, the grim reality of the school's fate sinking in. On Earth, she was almost a demigod to the first wave of monsters but a mere human to the Galaxy Fall's rules.
'No health point stealing here... This is just getting more irritating.'
She quickly checked her storage. The world boss loot, though meager in quantity, was exceptional in quality:
{Skill scroll.}
{Active Skill: Dash: Marked a target and gain the target's full agility speed. 1,000 spirit energy per use.}
{Maxed: Marked ten targets and gained targets' full agility speed. 500 spirit energy per use.}
{Metal Dagger: Attack: +5,000. Agility: +1,000. Legendary class}
"Dash. Gaining the speed of ten targets for one attack. And this dagger..." She drew the weapon. It was sleek, a black, obsidian-like blade with a chilling red handle. Just holding it made her feel faster, sharper.
"Attack and Agility bonuses. Perfect for a rogue build... Seems as a mage I can still use such weapons."
She turned to Cupcake, the white cat's large eyes reflecting her own internal conflict. "Galaxy Fall forced a three-day break. Fine. Then we're not just surviving, we're stocking up." She gave a grim, lopsided smile.
"A whole day without candies is a crime. We'll hunt for supplies."
Cupcake stared at her in reproach, not uttering a word.
"What? I earned it," Mirabella insisted. "New skills, new weapon, new candies. Let's see what we can break."
__
Mirabella gently turned the knob and pushed the door open. The hallway was a scene of apocalyptic carnage. Countless bodies—students she had passed in the halls, faces she knew by name or sight—lay mangled, a river of blood forming a stagnant, horrific tide. The sheer scale of the massacre was numbing.
"So many..." she whispered, the silence of the scene more chilling than any scream. It was a stark reminder of the fragile line between the game world and this devastating reality.
GRAAA!!
The sound tore through the silence. At the far end, two monstrously distorted figures, recognizable as zombies, lifted their heads from the bodies they were devouring. They had found new prey.
"Piff!"
A faint noise caught her attention. From a barricaded classroom, three panicked faces were partially visible through a gap, desperately gesturing for her to hide.
"....?!"
Mirabella blinked, assessing the situation. If she fled now, the zombies would follow, discovering the survivors' hiding spot. The fate of these people, these last few students, now rested on her shoulders. She gripped the Metal Dagger firmly and started walking towards the two zombies.
Inside the classroom, panic escalated. "What is she doing?!" a student hissed, peering out.
"Fighting them? Wait, isn't that Mirabella, the school beauty?" a guy whispered, shocked.
"She's crazy! There's no way she can take them!"
A beautiful girl with long, black hair, clearly the leader, snapped at them. "Are you mad? If they see all seven of us, we're all dead! Stay back!" She was protecting them, but her voice was tight with terror.
She slowly, agonizingly opened the door. "Wait for me," she commanded, before slipping out into the hallway.
Mirabella had stopped. More zombies, lured by the noise and the scent of fresh meat, shambled out of the adjacent classrooms. Ten of the Lv5 creatures now stood between her and safety.
A predator's smile touched Mirabella's lips. "The more, the merrier."
Cupcake soared above her head, not planning on assisting.
"Watch the show, Cupcake."
As she entered the ten-meter zone, she activated her new skill.
WHOOSH!!!
The world blurred. Mirabella's speed was terrifying, an instantaneous surge of power derived from the combined agility of her ten targets. She was a dark blur slicing through the air. The black blade of the Metal Dagger was precise, a flash of black and red as it met the exposed throats of the zombies. It wasn't a fight; it was an execution. In a mere moment, all ten Lv5 zombies collapsed, their HP—snuffed out.
{Gained: +50 Exp.}
{Gained: +1,000 in defense.}
The girl stood frozen, her jaw slack. She had expected a scream, a bloodbath, a last, futile stand. She had witnessed a massacre committed by a small, indifferent student.
Mirabella turned, wiping the black blade on a dead student's uniform before putting it away. She walked past the Class President.
"Why are you out here?" Mirabella asked, her tone flat, judgmental.
The girl stammered, recovering from the paralyzing shock. "I... I thought you needed help."
"Help?" Mirabella stopped, turning to face her. "You're unarmed and you don't know how to fight. How did you expect to help anyone? Did you expect me to shield you?" The words were cold, pragmatic.
"Sentimentality gets you killed."
"I don't know," She admitted, her voice deflating. "But we are all humans... If we don't look out for each other, we lose. I didn't want to lose one more of us." She closed her eyes.
"It was stupid. I could have waited for help."
Mirabella stared at the junior student—the Class President who, despite her obvious fear, had stepped out to save a senior. It was a kind of bravery Mirabella had long discarded: selfless compassion. She simply exhaled.
"There is no help," she stated, her words a hammer blow of reality.
The class president flinched, then looked up at the sound of soft wings. She shrieked, seeing the white, winged feline. "A monster!"
Cupcake, annoyed, landed on Mirabella's shoulder.
"Screaming will draw more," Mirabella warned, not breaking her stride. "Do you want that?"
"No! No!" She scrambled after her, rushing to the classroom door which the other terrified students were holding ajar.
"What's your name?" Mirabella asked as the girl closed and locked the door behind them, while the other students frantically resealed the gaps.
"Grace." she replied.
Mirabella nodded, observing the seven students who had survived—all huddled, scared, and surprisingly organized.
"Why aren't you all in Galaxy Fall?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.