Utopian System

"MICAH!"

Time seemed to stop. Elio watched, paralyzed, as his friend's head fell to the ground.

The monster, for the first time, showed something close to surprise in its black eyes.

The realization that it had lost its source of information hit the creature quickly. With a roar of fury, it launched itself at Elio, determined not to lose its last informant as well.

Elio barely registered the movement.

His eyes remained fixed on Micah's body, on the smile that still remained on his lifeless face. The same face that years ago had helped him overcome his father's death, that had taught him to transform pain into something else.

Today he would have to transform this pain into something else too.

FURY!

The damned monster would die by his hands.

The monster's claws almost reached him when he finally reacted, entering his book at the last second.

♢♢♢♢

The familiar start of the challenge tunnel welcomed him, dark and silent.

But Elio didn't move, didn't begin the challenge.

Instead, he fell to his knees, a heart-rending scream escaping his throat.

The sound bounced off the tunnel walls, mixing with his sobs. The tears fell freely now, with no witnesses to his pain in the solitude of the challenge.

"Idiot," he whispered between sobs. "I was supposed to be the martyr..."

In the tunnel's darkness, Elio cried for his friend, for the boy he had known, for the man he had become, for the hero who had died protecting not just the information, but Elio himself.

The echo of Micah's last words resonated in his mind: He never let Elio say he was the "Von" bearer... Until the end, he had been thinking of him, protecting not just the city, but his friend.

The tears kept falling, but something began to change inside Elio.

The stabbing pain in his chest transformed, crystallizing into something harder, darker.

Every memory of Micah, every shared moment, every smile, every lecture... all became fuel for a burning hatred.

"I'll kill you," he whispered in the tunnel's semi-darkness, his fists clenched until his skin bled under his fingernails' edge. "I swear I'll kill you."

Red lines running along the challenge tunnel's walls Ironically provided an unnatural illumination, which exacerbated the thirst for vengeance. The red tunnel extended as far as the eye could see, marking a path that, for now, he couldn't follow.

Without mana, trying to advance would be dangerous, even suicidal.

And he couldn't die without having the damned spawn's head.

Elio sat, his back against the cold wall, and began methodically analyzing his encounter with the creature.

Its speed was supernatural, at least double that of the King Locus. Its movements weren't just fast, but precise, calculated. And worst of all: it was intelligent, capable of planning, of negotiating... of torturing.

He closed his eyes, replaying each movement in his mind. The way it dodged, how it anticipated his attacks, the pattern of its movements. He had managed to wound it once, even if superficially.

That meant it wasn't invulnerable.

"Forty points of speed," he murmured, making mental calculations. "I need to find a way to counter that advantage."

The red lines pulsed, as if responding to his thoughts. "This time will be different," he promised to Micah's memory. "The next time we meet, I'll be ready."

The pain was still there, latent beneath the surface, but now it had a purpose.

Each tear shed became determination, each memory another reason to fight. The monster had made a fatal mistake: it had given Elio something to become stronger...

Something he could never forgive.

♢♢♢♢

Lucien studied the urgent reports with growing concern.

Something had changed drastically in the last few minutes.

The anomalies in the Locus sea near the tunnel area were too specific to be coincidence.

"Call Selene," he ordered, his voice conveying an urgency that made the messengers move with unusual speed.

Minutes later, both Summoners were at the wall's top, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers in formation.

The gaps in the barrier had been expanding day by day. Although they hadn't yet reached the point of no return at 5 seconds, the three-second duration of today was concerning.

But more importantly...

In the distance, an extraordinary phenomenon developed before their eyes.

The monster sea began to separate, as if an invisible force was parting the waters. A red glow emerged from the separation's center, forming what appeared to be an inverted triangle, its thinner point aiming directly at the city.

"What do you think it is?" asked Selene, her eyes narrowed while studying the pattern.

It wasn't natural, of that she was sure.

Lucien observed the phenomenon in silence for a moment. "I'm not sure," he finally responded, "but it seems the Locus have stopped emerging in that specific area."

He pointed to the movements at the triangle's edges. "Look how the Locus on the sides are gradually occupying the empty space. It's as if something was... refilling the monster source in that area."

The triangle's base continued expanding, confirming Lucien's theory. A small smile formed on his lips. "It seems Elio and the others have achieved something significant there."

But the satisfaction was short-lived. A commotion arose among the nearby soldiers, and a messenger came running toward them, his face pale.

"Lord Lucien!" The soldier could barely speak, terror evident in his voice. "You... you have to see this."

Lucien and Selene exchanged looks before following the messenger.

What they found froze their blood.

A soldier lay dead on the wall's stones, his level 4 armor pierced as if it were paper right in the heart. The weapon was a maximum level dagger.

But who could do something like this?

Could there be more people from Cassandra's or Angela's faction?

Before they could investigate further, another commotion erupted in another section of the wall. The soldiers' screams guided them to the new disturbance.

"Lord Lucien! Lady Selene! There!" The soldiers pointed toward the wall's exterior.

When they reached the spot, Selene stifled a cry. "Lucien," her voice trembled, something rare for her, "what is that thing?"

Floating on the other side of the barrier, suspended in the air as if the laws of physics didn't apply to it, was a being that defied human comprehension. Its vaguely humanoid form and dead flesh-colored skin were disturbing enough, but it was its eyes, black as bottomless wells, that caused true terror.

The being observed them with almost scientific intensity, as if cataloguing every detail of their reactions.

In its claws, it held daggers, a spear, and something familiar caught Lucien's attention: a system's book.

The book's title was...

Elio Elian

"Is that...?" Selene began, but Lucien had already noticed the name on the cover.

"Elio's book," he confirmed, his voice grave.

The soldiers around them began to murmur, fear spreading like a plague.

The creature tilted its head in a disturbingly human way, and then, to everyone's horror, smiled. It wasn't a human smile, but something that seemed a grotesque imitation of one, as if it had learned the gesture from observing its victims.

In a movement almost invisible to Lucien's sight, the monster threw another dagger and another soldier fell.