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| The Cyber Ascension Arc 5 — " The Founder of Pheonix " |
Volume 5 | Chapter : " The Comeback That No One Expects " |
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Shinonu's voice trembled slightly—not from fear, but from the weight of memory. Jin Yuan and Queen Victoria Reona sat quietly, the room dimly lit by the gentle glow of golden crystals embedded in the walls.
Shinonu: "After Shimono died… the King and his soldiers threw him into the Tree Hole."
Jin Yuan leaned forward slightly, expression calm yet razor-alert. Queen Victoria Reona's brows knitted softly, anticipating the cruelty she knew was coming.
Shinonu inhaled slowly.
Shinonu: "And that… was only the beginning."
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THE PAST — WHEN A CORPSE FELL INTO DARKNESS
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The forest was cold that day.
The trees towered like ancient giants, their trunks twisting into the dark sky, their roots snaking over the earth like the bones of long-forgotten beasts. The King and his soldiers dragged Shimono's lifeless form through the mud—his body bloodied, pale, cold. They pulled him the way someone would drag garbage.
The King wiped dirt from his hands, annoyance twisting his face.
King: "Soldiers. He isn't worth a burial. Throw him away. And don't waste firewood burning this trash. Just throw him into the hole."
A chorus of smug snickers followed.
Soldier: "Yes, Your Majesty. We'll toss him into that deep tree hole. Maybe he'll fall straight to the bottom."
The King nodded with idle cruelty—his eyes empty, uninterested.
The forest wind carried the stench of rot and old death. The soldiers reached the massive ancient tree—the one whose roots formed a mouth-like opening, a hollow that breathed cold air from the abyss beneath.
They lifted Shimono's limp body.
One soldier grinned.
Soldier: "Goodbye, brat."
And they pushed.
Shimono's corpse slid into the darkness—falling.
Falling.
Falling.
The hole did not end.
It stretched beyond depth itself, swallowing light, swallowing hope, swallowing breath. His body spun weightlessly in a shaft of blackness that seemed carved between existence and something outside of it.
Then—
A black swirling vortex appeared below him.
It churned like a storm made of pure void—tendrils of purple lightning crawling across its surface.
Shimono's body dropped directly into it.
There was no impact.
Instead, it felt like falling into velvet darkness—silent, suffocating, eternal.
He landed softly, as if the darkness itself had hands.
A barren space stretched around him—an infinite void without sky, without earth, without life.
Except…
Something rolled toward him.
A shape.
Lightless. Formless. Terrifying.
A parasite—yet nothing like anything born on earth.
Its body was a mass of black and violet matter, a sphere that pulsed like a heart and writhed like a living nightmare. No eyes. No mouth. No bones. Just flesh and instinct.
It touched Shimono's chest.
And then—
It merged.
Veins of black-purple energy spread across Shimono's corpse, seeping into his skin, entering his bones, replacing blood, replacing weakness.
His dead heart twitched.
Then beat.
BOOM.
Shimono gasped—his first breath in death.
His wounds—deep, brutal, carved through skin and soul—healed within seconds. The holes where his eyes were stabbed sealed completely. His torn spine reformed. His broken ribs aligned perfectly.
He sat up slowly, confused, breathing heavily.
Shimono: "Where… am I?"
His voice echoed in the void, bouncing off endless nothing.
He touched his body. No scars. No burns. No blood.
Everything healed.
His eyes widened.
Shimono: "Am I… dead?"
He stood up. His knees no longer buckled. His limbs no longer trembled. A strange power thrummed inside him—fierce, cold, unbreakable.
His nails grew longer—sharp, shimmering faintly with black-purple energy.
His hair lengthened to his waist, flowing with unnatural strength.
His vision sharpened to crystal clarity—the darkness around him became visible, shapes forming within the void that no human eye was ever meant to see.
His muscles looked normal… but were far stronger beneath the skin. Unnaturally dense. Reinforced by something beyond human genetics.
Shimono slowly smiled.
A manic grin—one born from pain transformed into power.
Shimono: "Oh… I can feel it. I'm… stronger."
The void hummed in response, as if acknowledging his awakening.
Shimono clenched his fist.
Shimono: "It's time… for a comeback."
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THE SURFACE — WHERE MOCKERY TURNED TO TERROR
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Above, the King and his soldiers were walking away from the tree hole—laughing.
King: "Haha! What a pathetic life that brat had! I bet he's already been eaten by parasites!"
Soldiers cackled behind him, their laughter vibrating through the forest.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The ancient tree split open from within.
A shockwave blasted outward—dust exploding into the sky, birds scattering in terror, branches cracking like thunder.
From the trembling roots…
Shimono emerged.
He stepped out calmly, as if walking through a door—not a collapsed dimension.
His eyes were calm.
Dangerously calm.
He looked at the group of men who once tortured him, blinded him, tore his spine open, mocked his screams.
Shimono tilted his head slightly.
Shimono: "Ready to die?"
The King froze—his jaw dropping.
King: "N-no way…"
The remaining soldiers trembled, gripping their katanas with shaking hands.
Shimono smiled faintly.
Shimono: "Oh? Scared of this?"
They blinked.
He vanished.
SHHK!!!
A clean sound. Cold. Sharp.
Shimono reappeared behind one soldier—holding the man's katana.
The soldier's head fell.
Another scream—cut short—as Shimono slashed downward, splitting a second soldier vertically in half, from skull to waist.
Blood sprayed across the snow-like forest floor.
Shimono stepped through it without interest.
He looked at the remaining men—the same ones who ripped his flesh and stabbed his eyes.
Shimono: "Can anyone tell me… who tore the skin off my spine? And who stabbed my eyes?"
Silence.
Shaking.
Terrified breaths.
Shimono raised an eyebrow.
Shimono: "Quiet, aren't you?"
A sarcastic calm laced his voice.
He moved again—swift as a predator.
One soldier barely saw the motion before Shimono's hand pierced his back, fingers cracking bone as he tore open the spine the same way they once did to him.
The man collapsed, screaming until he no longer had breath.
Shimono watched him fall.
Shimono: "Oh? How sad."
Another soldier backed away, stumbling, dropping his weapon.
Soldier: "Y-You! YOU MONSTER!"
The King didn't wait.
He ran.
Shimono didn't chase him. He glanced at the last soldier—the one who stabbed heated needles into his eyes.
Shimono: "Come on. Let me return those precious gifts."
One clean slash—
SHHKK—!
He cut the soldier's eyes with the same precision, the same cruelty they used on him.
The man collapsed screaming.
Shimono wiped the blood off his blade with a calm flick.
He exhaled softly, almost bored.
Shimono: "Pathetic. Truly pathetic."
The forest fell silent again.
Even the wind refused to move.
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PRESENT — THE ROOM FALLS SILENT
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Shinonu closed the ancient book he'd been holding. His voice was low, thick with remembrance.
Shinonu: "That… was the moment Shimono returned. The comeback no one expected."
Queen Victoria Reona exhaled, one hand covering her lips.
Queen Victoria Reona: "He… he was powerful. But after what was done to him… there is nothing wrong in what he did."
Her voice trembled with empathy.
Jin Yuan sat back, expression unreadable, but his eyes gleamed with interest.
Jin Yuan: "Yeah… I'm more curious about what that parasite was."
Shinonu looked at him, eyes narrowing slightly.
Shinonu: "That parasite… was not from this world. Not from Heaven. Not from Hell. And not from Earth."
He paused.
Shinonu: "It is something… older."
Jin Yuan's fingers tapped lightly on the table.
His expression sharpened.
The first spark of anticipation flickered behind those cold eyes.
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END OF CHAPTER