"Damn it!"
Ethan shot up from the bed, the sheets flying as his feet slammed against the floor.
"What the fuck do I do now?!"
His voice cracked, raw with panic.
Outside, Almsworth was already unraveling, distant shouts, hurried footsteps, the clang of armor and steel bleeding through the walls. The System's message still burned behind his eyes, its cold words drilling straight into his skull.
A Grand Quest. Death sentence wrapped in glowing text.
He clenched his fists, his nails biting into his palms. There was no escaping it. No loophole or delay.
If he stayed....., he'd be dead in less than ten minutes.
Either way, the clock was ticking so Ethan pushed the door open but the corridor was chaos.
Bolivia stood at the entrance, fury blazing in her eyes as she faced Mr. Han. The seasoned soldier blocked the doorway like an iron wall, arms crossed, unmoving.
"Let me through," Bolivia snapped, her voice sharp and commanding, there's no trace of the noble daughter, only a warrior's defiance. "Now."
"I'm sorry, my lady," Mr. Han replied evenly, though tension tightened his jaw. "But I will not allow it. Those are your father's orders."
"And since when did orders outweigh common sense?" she fired back. "My father is walking into a demon legion and you expect me to sit inside and pray?"
Ane hovered between them, hands raised helplessly. "Bolivia, please, both of you, calm down, this isn't helping... "
But the argument had already grown teeth.
Ethan didn't stop anyway, he stepped past them slowly, shoulders slumped, eyes distant, moving as though none of them existed, as though the world around him had already faded into background noise.
He took a step, then another.
He was almost at the stairs when...
"And where do you think you're going?"
Mr. Han's voice cut through the air like a blade.
Ethan stopped. For a brief moment, silence hung heavy in the courtyard. Even Bolivia turned, looking surprised.
Ethan didn't look back right away as the countdown echoed in his head.
'Nine minutes.'
Finally, he spoke. "I'm heading home."
His tone was flat and empty. Then he turned his head slightly, just enough for his cold eyes to meet Mr. Han's.
"Got a problem with that?"
Mr. Han narrowed his eyes, studying him, really looking this time. The boy before him didn't just look injured anymore. He looked… seriously hunted.
Ethan, meanwhile, barely registered the man in front of him, his mind was elsewhere. On the glowing numbers burning into his vision.
DING!
— GRAND QUEST —
[Objective: Kill the Demon Empire]
[Quest Begins In: 9:11]
[Failure to Comply: Sudden Death]
Nine minutes and eleven seconds.
That was all the time left between him and oblivion.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
Run or fight, he thought bitterly. Either way… he was going to die.
And deep down, he already knew....
The System would not accept cowardice.
For a moment, Ethan stood completely still then he ran.
He bolted toward the gate, his boots slamming against the stone floor as he slipped past Mr. Han's reach like a shadow.
"Come back here this instant!" Mr. Han shouted.
Too late.
Ethan slid through the door, the cold night air hitting his face as the gate slammed shut behind him. He didn't look back, not once.
He leapt onto his small horse, fingers trembling as he gripped the reins.
"Move… move!" he hissed.
The horse surged forward, hooves pounding the road as Ethan raced toward his father's mansion. Wind tore past him, but it did nothing to cool the fire raging in his chest.
In his past life, he had known pressure, deadlines, expectations and fear of failure.
But this.... This was different.
This was a blade pressed to his throat.
A true, unforgiving life-or-death situation.
By the time he arrived, the mansion was already on edge.
Maids ran in panicked clusters, their faces pale. Royal guards stood shoulder to shoulder outside the estate, armor gleaming under the dim light, blades ready for blood.
The moment one of them spotted Ethan, he was pulled inside without question.
"Hurry—this way!" a maid urged, dragging him down the hall and straight to his room.
The door shut behind him with a heavy thud.
Ethan leaned against it for a second, breathing hard.
He wasn't worried about demons. Royal guards, barriers, his father's influence, those could handle demons.
But the System, however…
That was something no wall could stop.
He stumbled to his bed and collapsed onto it, hands clutching his head. His thoughts raced in circles, crashing into each other, refusing to settle.
What do I do?
What am I supposed to do?
Sweat soaked into the sheets beneath him, his heart hammering so loud it felt like it might shatter his ribs.
[Quest Begins In: 5:32]
Five minutes. Thirty-two seconds.
That was all he had left. He had no plan, no strength or an escape Plan. Ethan swallowed hard, his breathing uneven.
"The time to think…" he muttered shakily, staring at the ceiling.
DING!
The sound rang through Ethan's skull like a death knell.
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[Emergency Option Detected]
[Executioner Mode Available]
[Percentage of Power Enhanced: 1%]
Ethan frowned, lifting a hand to scratch his head, confusion tightening his expression.
"Now?" he muttered. "You picked now?"
This wasn't the time to gamble with an ability he couldn't control, an ability that had already dragged him to the edge of losing himself. So why had the System even bothered to surface it?
Then his eyes caught on a single line.
[Percentage of Power Enhanced: 1%]
His breath hitched. "…What?"
He had never seen that before. Not once. As if sensing his confusion, the System responded instantly.
[Explanation: Power Enhancement refers to the amount of Executioner Mode energy the user is permitted to access safely.]
"One percent…?" he whispered.
A hollow laugh escaped his throat.
"What am I supposed to do with that? Kill a fly?"
But the humor faded just as quickly as it came.
If this was one percent…
Then what had he unleashed before?
His mind reeled back to the forest.
To the goblins. To the screams, the blood, the massacre he barely remembered.
How many percent had that been?
His thoughts drifted further, nine months back, to the first time the System had appeared.
To the System–User Sync.
Then hours ago, the Executioner Sync.
Realization struck him like lightning.
"So that's it…" he breathed. "The sync wasn't about power."
It was about compatibility. It's about reshaping his body, his soul, to endure the System without breaking apart.
The purple eyes.... weren't a curse, they were proof of the sync. His fingers curled into the sheets beneath him. Fear crept in, cold and heavy.
The Executioner Mode was dangerous. He knew that now better than anyone. One wrong emotional spike and he could lose control, lose himself. Worse still, if the Binding Relic shattered…
His soul would be consumed again.
The memory of the Flores estate surfaced unbidden—Wills' blood, Ane's terrified voice, Bolivia's shaken eyes.
Idon't like who I become when I use it.
His fire magic wasn't enough. His swordsmanship wasn't enough. His archery wouldn't matter against something that could wipe out an entire territory.
And yet...
[Quest Begins In: 2:56]
The countdown pulsed in crimson.
Two minutes. Fifty-six seconds.
Ethan stared at it in silence with no clever plan, no miracle would arrive. There was nothing left to weigh.
Fight, and maybe die, refuse, and die for certain.
A slow breath left his lips.
"…So this is how it ends," he murmured.
Then his eyes hardened.
"No."
He lifted his head, gaze sharp and unblinking as the seconds bled away.
"Activate it." "Now." He said calmly as he rested his shoulders on fate to decide.
DING!
— SYSTEM WARNING —
[User Consent Required]
[Cost: None]
"Go ahead," Ethan said quietly, his gaze locked on the merciless countdown hovering before him.
[Quest Begins In: 1:00]
The air around him twisted.
Black shadows seeped out from his body like ink spilled into water, coiling tightly around his limbs. His mana surged violently, then snapped back into place, restrained by the Binding Relic before it could spiral out of control.
The darkness obeyed, shaping itself into a cloak of absolute black, flowing and alive, its hood pulling low over his face. Only his eyes remained visible, no longer purple, but an infinite, glowing crimson, staring out like the gaze of a god of slaughter.
[Executioner Mode: Activated]
Ethan straightened.
He no longer looked like a boy. He looked like an assassin carved from shadow itself, the bearer of true darkness, silent and inevitable. The power fit him disturbingly well, as though it had been waiting for him all along.
Inside his chest, something burned; Rage, bloodlust. A cold, vicious desire that didn't feel human.
For the first time, Ethan understood what it meant to feel like a villain. The screen flickered again, heavy with intent.
— GRAND QUEST —
[Kill the Demon Empire]
[Begin Now!]
His lips curled faintly beneath the hood.
He felt… wrong.
As though if he didn't leave now, if he didn't find something to kill, his blade might turn inward, toward the living souls around him.
And worst of all.... He liked the feeling.
DING!
[Explanation: Executioner Mode is an ancient hybrid class of destruction, forged solely to slay demons.]
[Warning: Continued usage erodes the user's humanity.]
[If power enhancement exceeds the permitted threshold before full synchronization, loss of control is inevitable.]
Ethan scanned the warnings in a heartbeat.
"Alright," he muttered. "One percent. No more."
His fists clenched beneath the cloak.
"And not for long."
Using the stairs would cause panic. Guards and their questions and the delay. He locked his door, moved to the back window, and leapt.
The world blurred.
Only when the mansion vanished behind him did he realize...
I'm fast.
Far faster than he had ever been.
The wind screamed past his ears as rooftops flashed by beneath his feet, his body moving on instinct alone, guided by the hunger of the Executioner.
At the gates of Almsworth, steel and resolve stood shoulder to shoulder.
Mr. Wills and the village's strongest defenders had already formed their line, blades drawn, magic humming in the air. Their faces were grim, because they could see them now.
The Demons, legion stretching across the horizon, from horned heads to clawed feet, their presence choking the land itself. The ground trembled beneath their march. And still, Zane was still nowhere in sight.
This would be the second Calamity Almsworth had ever faced.