Haruto stood in the cramped shack, his mind spinning as he stared at the cheap blue HUD. A strange, twisted smirk suddenly tugged at the corner of his lips. Maybe something went wrong with the system... but honestly? This is way too exciting.
Deep down, a thrill cut through his despair. He had seen poverty before in fleeting glimpses, but his inner core stubbornly refused to accept that everything he had achieved was truly gone forever. It felt like a massive, high-stakes game—a glitched run he just needed to beat.
"I'll be right back," Haruto muttered quickly to Toya.
Before Toya could even process what he was saying, Haruto bolted out the door, sprinting full speed away from the slums.
Driven by instinct and fragmented memories of his old life, he navigated the sprawling labyrinth of Grand City until he reached an upscale district. Pushing past his fatigue, he rode the transit lifts straight up to a high-end residential complex, stopping dead in front of Daisy's private apartment on the 312th floor.
He hammered his fists frantically against the sleek, reinforced door. Knock, knock, knock.
Silence. Nobody answered.
Haruto frowned, pressing his ear against the metal. He tried again, pounding harder. "Daisy! Open up! I know this is the right place—I remember it!"
Still, nothing. The hallway remained completely dead and empty.
With a sinking heart, Haruto stepped back, his shoulders slumping as the crushing reality began to bleed back in. He turned around, his head bowed in defeat, and slowly walked away as night began to fall over the neon-drenched city.
As the cold evening wind bit through his tattered clothes, a desperate thought crossed his mind. Maybe... maybe Lilith just made a mistake. If I go back to the mansion and apologize to her, maybe she'll fix everything and things will go back to normal.
Driven by that fragile hope, he wandered back through the sectors until he stood before the familiar, towering iron gates of the luxury mansion—the exact spot where he had been thrown out earlier that day.
Without wasting a second, Haruto lunged forward and slammed his fists desperately against the massive gates.
Haruto spun around sharply at the sound of footsteps, a sudden spark of hope igniting in his chest. But the moment he turned, his breath caught.
Standing right behind him were Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, and Seraphine, each of them carrying sleek, futuristic bags and equipment.
Haruto's face lit up with overwhelming suspense. did... Did they remember me?
Before he could rush forward, Seraphine stopped dead in her tracks, looking him up and down with a cold, completely blank stare. "Who are you?"
Haruto blinked, his smile faltering. "W-What do you mean, who am I?! It's me—Haruto! I know my appearance changed, my hair and eyes are different, I don't even know why, but I'm Haruto! I remember all of you—Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, Seraphine!"
Before any of them could respond, the heavy iron gates clicked and swung open. Rutherford stepped out into the night air, taking a brief look at the group before his eyes locked onto Haruto. A tight, welcoming grin spread across Rutherford's face.
"Welcome back, Miss—"
Before Rutherford could finish his sentence, Seraphine cut in sharply, her voice devoid of any warmth. "We don't know any Haruto."
Without missing a beat, Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, and Seraphine brushed past Haruto, walking straight through the gates and disappearing into the mansion grounds.
Desperate not to be left behind, Haruto lurched forward, trying to slip through the open gates after them. "Wait, stop! Rutherford, it's me! You remember me, right?!"
Before Haruto could cross the threshold, Rutherford's expression turned ruthless. With a brutal, lightning-fast strike, Rutherford slammed a heavy, reinforced kick straight into Haruto's chest.
CRACK.
The impact sent Haruto flying backward, crashing hard onto the concrete outside.
"Get the hell out of here, you filthy pest," Rutherford snarled, glaring down at him with pure disdain. "This is a high-tier elite estate. People like you don't belong here—you're nothing more than a stray bug. None of these people know you."
Haruto coughed, clutching his bruised chest as pain flared through his ribs. He looked up in sheer agony and disbelief.
Just then, the heavy double doors of the mansion porch opened. Lilith stepped out into the cool night air, walking down the steps to join them. She looked down at Haruto sprawled out on the pavement, her expression completely unreadable.
Rutherford instantly straightened up, turning to Lilith with a deferential nod. "Do you happen to know this piece of trash, Lady Lilith?"
Lilith looked down at Haruto with a cold, unbothered gaze, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "Oh, him? I've seen that stray around before. Wait, you're still alive? I'm honestly surprised."
Haruto clutched his bruised chest, his voice cracking with desperation. "Look, Lilith, let's just talk about this—!"
Before he could finish, Lilith flicked her wrist, giving Rutherford a sharp signal to close the gates.
CLANG!
The massive iron barriers slammed shut right in front of Haruto's face, locking him out completely in the cold night air.
"Get lost and never come back," Lilith's voice echoed distantly through the intercom before she turned on her heel and walked away with the rest of the group.
Inside the safety of the courtyard, Rutherford fell into step beside Lilith, glancing back toward the gates with a frown. "Ma'am... was kicking him that hard really necessary? We almost went too far."
Lilith didn't slow her pace, her expression as hard as stone. "I know it was harsh. But we need him to be angry."
She glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes burning with calculated resolve. "That rage, that hatred—we're going to use it as fuel to force him to claw his way back up. Let him burn."
Lilith stopped in her tracks, her expression turning dead serious as she glanced back toward the sealed gates one last time. A faint, knowing smile touched her lips.
"Just remember," Lilith murmured softly to the empty night air, "fact of the day for you: an idiot in motion moves faster than a genius at rest."
She turned away, letting her words hang in the cool wind. Haruto might have technically retained his baseline Level 18 from the system reset, but numbers on a screen didn't mean a thing without experience. Right now, stripped of his overpowered items and cosmic hacks, he could easily be beaten by someone at Level 5.
True strength wasn't just about raw stats or glowing tiers—it took real capability, grit, and survival instinct.
And that was precisely what this brutal descent was going to force him to learn.
Haruto stood alone in the dark, brushing the dirt and gravel from his clothes with trembling hands. A hollow, crushing despair weighed heavy in his chest as he stared up at the night sky. Is this really it? Have I lost everything?
High above, three distinct moons hung in the midnight sky, bathing the city in a pale, eerie light. Haruto stared at them, a bitter ache twisting his heart. There was a time when he had been the absolute master of those three moons—when their celestial paths were his to command.
A sudden thought flashed through his mind. The rings...
He frantically raised his hands, staring down at his fingers. He couldn't take them off before, but now—now, his fingers were completely bare. Not a single one of the six rings remained.
Haruto froze, a cold shock shooting through him. He reached out, touching his bare skin, completely unable to comprehend how they could have just vanished. Yet, as the bizarre reality truly set in, a strange, half-crazed laugh slipped past his lips. He let out a breath, fell backward onto the damp grass, and stared up at the triple moons, muttering to himself.
"Guess I really unlocked hard mode..."
"Hey... are you lost?"
Haruto blinked, turning his head sideways. Sitting just a few feet away in the shadows was a ragged, wild-eyed beggar wearing filthy, tattered green rags, staring at him with a crooked grin.
"Go away, man. Leave me alone," Haruto groaned, rubbing his throbbing temples.
The beggar tilted his head, his wide, eccentric eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "Come on, tell me. Are you lost?"
Haruto let out a humorless laugh, staring back up at the sky. "Yeah... I guess I'm lost in this damn world."
The beggar burst into a sudden, echoing fit of laughter, slapping his knee. "You're actually the luckiest guy in the world, you know!"
Haruto frowned, pushing himself up on one elbow. "What are you talking about? I don't have a single thing left. I've lost everything."
The beggar grinned wider, his voice dropping into a strangely poetic whisper as the wind rustled through the grass:
"The beauty of being lost is that every direction is a new possibility."
Haruto's eyes lingered on the beggar, the strange, eccentric words echoing deeply in his mind. A heavy, complex knot of frustration and bitter realization twisted in his chest, sobering him up faster than any cold water could.
The beggar chuckled, pulling his tattered green rags closer around himself as he looked right at Haruto. "Look, you young folks really need to learn how to take rejection. If you don't know how to lose, you'll never truly know how to win."
Haruto blinked, a wry, dry smile pulling at the corner of his lips. "Oh, is that what you think?"
"Damn right!" The beggar laughed, throwing his hands up dramatically. "If I fall flat on my face every single day—hell, even if I fail a thousand times—I'll still look right at myself and say, 'Well done, me.' Then I'll dust myself off, look in the mirror tomorrow, and say, 'Let's see what you've got today.'"
Haruto pushed himself up from the damp grass, the strange weight of the beggar's words settling deep into his bones. He wiped the dirt from his knees, his eyes hardening with a cold, fierce resolve.
"I don't know why my heart suddenly changed," Haruto said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, focused whisper. "I need to beat them. I need to dominate them all."
The beggar burst into a raspy, delighted laugh, pointing a dirty finger at him. "Ohh! Someone finally showed their true colors! So you've decided to fight back?"
Haruto gave a slow, deliberate nod.
The beggar grinned widely, his eccentric eyes flashing in the moonlight. "Then you really are lost... but in the best way possible. Though, before you go chasing ghosts, let me tell you something."
"Yeah, whatever," Haruto muttered, turning away. "Go ahead, spill it."
"Hey, don't walk away when a man's trying to give you life advice!" the beggar called out, chuckling. "Just remember—whenever you feel like giving up, go down by the gas station near the old district. Look under the iron plate, you'll find a gun. And shoot yourself"
Haruto scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, like I ever do that."
The old man shrugged, a melancholy smile suddenly touching his weathered lips as he looked down at his own worn hands. "Go on, go. I'm just an old fool anyway... I brought this on myself."
Haruto paused, glancing back with a frown. "Why do you always blame yourself?"
The beggar let out a quiet, knowing sigh. "Because losers blame others to feel better... and winners blame themselves to get better. That's the difference."
Haruto let out an annoyed huff, waving a hand dismissively. "Whatever, man. Talk about nonsense. I'm getting out of here."
"Go on, then," the beggar shouted as Haruto started walking away, his voice echoing eerily through the empty streets. "Just remember: hurting someone is as easy as throwing a stone in the sea... but you'll never know how deep it will sink!"
Haruto tried to brush the words aside, quickening his pace into the neon-lit night, but the old man's cryptic warning echoed relentlessly in the back of his mind. No... I don't have time for this.
Haruto stood before the towering iron gates of the mansion once more, his knuckles white as he prepared to slam his fists against the metal. But the moment his hand hovered near the threshold, a sharp, violent ringing pierced through his mind.
ZING!
A blinding flash of fragmented memories violently tore through his consciousness. Flashes of ivory hair, Bellona's sharp laughter, Lustra's knowing smiles, Seraphine's quiet presence, and Lilith's deep, piercing gaze flooded his brain all at once. Every intimate moment, every battle fought side-by-side, every shared laugh—they rushed back like a tidal wave.
He remembered them. He remembered everything.
And then, just as quickly as the memories surfaced, the illusion of their warmth shattered. In his mind's eye, their faces morphed, twisting into cold expressions of absolute disgust. He saw the way they looked at him now—not with love, not with loyalty, but with profound revulsion, treating him like a pathetic pest, a stray bug crawling in the dirt beneath their feet.
Haruto's breath hitched, his knees buckling as a suffocating wave of humiliation and rage crashed over him.
Deep within the darkest recesses of his fractured psyche, a cold, distorted voice echoed directly into his consciousness, hissing like venom:
"Kill them all. They are toying with you. Slaughter them. Become powerful."
A dark, dangerous grin spread across Haruto's face. Without waiting to knock, he slammed his shoulder against the iron gates, snapping the internal magnetic locks with a sudden burst of raw, volatile force, and stepped right onto the mansion grounds.
Inside, the grand drawing room was buzzing with activity. But as Haruto scanned the room, he noticed two notable absences—the Professor and Marena were nowhere to be seen.
"Well, look at this. The playtime is over," Haruto announced, his voice dripping with a chilling, unsettling calm. He raised his hands slowly, a dark smile fixed on his lips. "If I made any mistakes along the way... feel free to forgive me."
Daisy immediately stepped forward, crossing her arms as she rolled her eyes in sheer annoyance. "Has this guy completely lost his mind? Who let this mental case wander back in here?"
Lilith didn't blink. She turned her head slightly, giving a single, cold nod. "Rutherford. Lock him down."
Before Haruto could even react, Rutherford moved with lightning speed, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him toward them.
"Beat him," Lilith instructed flatly, her voice echoing coldly through the hall. "Make sure he takes enough damage that he can barely stand."
Rutherford hesitated for a fraction of a second, a flicker of doubt crossing his face. But at Lilith's unyielding stare, he hardened his expression. Releasing a heavy sigh, Rutherford unleashed a brutal, bone-crushing punch straight into Haruto's stomach.
CRACK!
Haruto doubled over, coughing up blood, but his eyes locked desperately onto Lilith. "Lilith... do you... do you really not know me?" he wheezed, his voice trembling. "Just... just drop the act already. Tell me the truth right now, and I'll forgive you for all of this!"
Lilith stared down at him, her face an impassive mask of ice. "Never seen you before in my life. Get him out of my sight."
Rutherford wound up for another devastating punch, but this time, Haruto's eyes flashed with a sudden, desperate surge of adrenaline. With a sharp jerk, he threw his hands up, catching Rutherford's heavy fist dead in his palm.
The room went dead silent.
Slowly, Haruto pushed the fist away, standing tall on his own two feet despite the severe injuries. He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand, gave Lilith one final, unreadable look, and let out a quiet breath. "Alright... enough's enough."
He turned around to head toward the exit, but stopped just before the doorway. Looking back one last time, his gaze swept over the faces in the room.
"Ivory... Bellona... Lustra..." Haruto's voice cracked slightly. "Geeli... Philo... Daisy... do you seriously not remember me? Seraphine... do you really not remember who I am?"
Silence hung heavy in the air. Not a single one of them flinched or offered a hint of recognition. Their expressions remained completely blank, devoid of any warmth or memory.
Haruto's shoulders dropped. Without another word, he turned his back on them and walked out into the night, leaving Lilith and the others standing in the quiet, suffocating tension of the hall.