In this game, no, in this world, there were two ways to advance the story.
One was Missions.
The other was Sudden Trials.
Missions were simply what quests were in an ordinary game. And Sudden Trials were, how do I put it?
'Kind of like surprise quests.'
As I said before, no one knew when or where a Sudden Trial would appear. They also tended to be far more dangerous than Missions.
So most people hoped no Sudden Trial would come along. Some even planned their routes to avoid them however they could.
But on the flip side, there were people who went looking for nothing but Sudden Trials. That was me.
'Sudden Trials pay out big, after all.'
But even someone like me didn't want to face Sudden Trials back to back like this.
Least of all somewhere I wasn't familiar with.
But since a Sudden Trial couldn't be refused, I was on my way to the Emperor for now.
Step—
As I headed to where the Emperor was, two feelings shared my heart.
'It's just a meeting with the Emperor, but if it showed up as a Sudden Trial, there has to be something to it.'
Worry.
And.
'The Emperor, huh.'
Wonder.
Of the two, the latter was stronger.
I couldn't help it.
'The game hardly ever mentions the Imperial Family.'
So at one point, I got so curious that I spent a while digging up nothing but records on the Imperial Family.
Come on, it makes you curious.
Ruling from the very top.
Yet everything about them kept secret.
Isn't that exactly the kind of thing that piques anyone's curiosity? That was why I dug into it once, too.
Everything I knew about the Imperial Family now, I had learned back then.
Well, not that it amounted to much.
Fewer than 10 records, all told......
Anyway, among them was one record that stuck in my mind more than any other.
A record about the reigning Emperor, the Sovereign Dragon Emperor.
-It was one day, back when I arrogantly believed my martial prowess had reached the heavens. I went to the Forbidden City.
-And pounding on its firmly shut gates, I said this.
-'O Emperor, who hides away in his palace while the balance of the world crumbles, can you truly be called the Son of Heaven?'
-'If you would call yourself the Son of Heaven, then lift that heavy backside of yours and show yourself to the world. And convince us. Me, and the world.'
-I was hot-blooded then. A time when I thought myself the best and believed only my own convictions were right. It was a childish mistake I made back then.
-Yet looking back, I think that were it not for that childish mistake, the person I am now would not exist.
-It is still vivid in my mind. The Emperor's voice that day.
-And the look in his eyes as he gazed down at me. Decades have passed, and still it will not leave me.
-He was a monster. An incomprehensible being. There was no other way to describe him.
-Merely glimpsing a fragment of him for a moment sent me into qi deviation. And it took me decades to climb out of it.
-That is why I give this stern warning to all who read this.
-Never look into the Emperor's eyes. No, never face him at all.
-And if you do face him, beg. Beg him to spare your life. Tell him you were wrong.
-For that is the only thing you can do once you have faced the Emperor.
That was where the record ended.
I had only read it through a screen, but back then, it scared me.
'Because what the writer felt came through all too clearly, even through a screen.'
Terror.
Fear.
Despair.
That memory must have left a deep scar, because those feelings came through in every single letter.
Step.
Honestly, even now, on my way to the Hall of Supreme Harmony where the Emperor was, I was scared.
'What kind of being is the Emperor, that someone called the Martial God would tremble in fear like that?'
But the more my fear grew, the more my curiosity grew with it.
I even thought hard about it, wondering whether something might come back if I tried to recall it.
Parent and child as we were, I figured I must have some memories of my father.
But no memories of the Emperor came to me. The same went for my brothers.
All that came back were memories of 'me.' Of them, still nothing. As if they were buried under static.
So I steeled myself all the more.
'Whatever happens, don't panic. Don't be scared.'
I kept hypnotizing myself. It helped more than you'd think.
'Just get the Vault Key.'
While I was hypnotizing myself like that.
"We have arrived, Your Highness."
At last, we arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where the Emperor was said to reside.
Lost in thought as I walked, I hadn't even noticed we had arrived.
"His Majesty is beyond this door."
With that, Baek-no stepped aside. My eyes went naturally to the door.
'It's huge.'
The door blocking my way looked to be well over 10 meters tall.
A door of the deepest black.
And embroidered across it, a yellow dragon.
I felt an inexplicable pressure.
Gulp—
I swallowed dryly.
Then I asked.
"Should I go in?"
But at my question, Baek-no tilted his head.
"Hm? Ah, now that I think of it, unlike the other princes, Your Highness the Third Prince would not have been here before."
Then he smiled— a faint, pleasant smile.
"There is no need to go in. In fact, it would be better if you did not."
What was that supposed to mean?
Better not to go in, he said.
'Then how am I supposed to talk to him?'
But the question soon became pointless.
No.
To be exact.
I had no time to wonder.
Why, you ask?
[ It has been a long while ]
A low voice suddenly came from beyond the door.
And at the same time.
[ Warning! ]
[ You are facing a being of a stature you cannot withstand. ]
[ Leave this place at once! ]
BOOOOOOM—!!
Because a tremendous pressure came crashing down on me.
***
THUD—!!
The tremendous pressure crushed my whole body.
It was a feeling hard to put into words.
Like an invisible mountain had settled on top of my head?
THUD—!!
Thump—!
Unable to bear the pressure, my body gave way.
CRRRACK—!!
My knees split the hard floor of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and sank right into it. But I felt no pain.
No.
I had no room to feel pain.
[ Warning! ]
[ Your body is collapsing. ]
[ Collapse 10% ]
I couldn't breathe.
The overwhelming pressure wouldn't even let me breathe.
Ba-dump—!
My heart was pounding like mad.
But my body wouldn't move at all.
As if the entire world were pressing down on me.
'......What the—'
My mind went blank.
I couldn't understand what on earth was happening.
It was nothing.
Nothing more than......
[ Hoh— how curious. ]
A single remark. Yet the power in that one remark was beyond imagination.
This was power on a level that could never be called human.
I wasn't even face-to-face with him.
I was only hearing a voice through a door.
[ Warning! ]
[ Your body is collapsing. ]
[ Collapse 30% ]
[ Leave this place, quickly. ]
And yet the system was screaming warnings. My body was about to collapse.
I had been through countless playthroughs, but this was a first, hands down.
-He was a monster. An incomprehensible being. There was no other way to describe him.
The record about the Emperor suddenly came to mind. Now I understood why its writer had said that.
The Emperor wasn't human.
A monster.
Something incomprehensible.
I couldn't define exactly what.
[ I wondered who had twisted Heaven's Design. So here you were. ]
Somehow, his voice seemed a little like the voice I had heard in that dream.
But it was clearly different.
[ I thought you were fated to struggle a little and then crumble. To think you found a way to twist that fate yourself. ]
If that voice had been somehow holy, this one was terrifying.
[ Raise your head ]
My body moved on its own.
My bowed head lifted.
And there, a pair of eyes.
[ The body is the same, yet the soul has aged. ]
Hallucination or not, I could see golden eyes just like mine staring at me from beyond the door.
Eyes so terribly clear.
That they seemed to see straight through me.
[ Collapse 40% ]
[ Collapse 50% ]
[ Collapse 60% ]
The moment I met those eyes, the Collapse shot up.
'......At this, rate, I'm dead.'
I clenched my teeth— hard.
I couldn't die like this.
Forget the Vault Key.
This was no time to think about that.
A way.
I had to find a way to live.
[ Can you, as you are now, truly be called my blood? Aged though it is, the soul remains, and you have awakened an Authority besides. So I suppose it can be said. ]
I wasn't listening to the Emperor.
To be exact, I couldn't hear him.
[ Collapse 70% ]
The only thought in my head was that I had to live.
[ But it is not enough ]
My mind raced.
Searching for a way.
[ Prove it. That the way you found is right. The reason I must let you, who twisted Heaven's Design, live. ]
And then I found it.
A way.
"......A way, to live?"
I opened my eyes wide.
I stared into the golden eyes watching me from beyond the door.
"Where's, a thing like that?"
And I thought to myself.
That man who had put me through this agony.
Who was trying to kill me.
'I want to kill him.'
It didn't matter whether he was my father or the Emperor.
Right now, he was nothing but my enemy. One who meant to take my life.
And so.
[ Collapse 80% ]
With a single thought of killing him, harboring murderous intent, I glared with my eyes wide open.
[ Authority Activation Conditions Met ]
[ Collapse 90% ]
In my crumbling vision, I found it.
A single line, rising up.
GRIP—!
I clenched the Life Thread in my fist and snapped it.
[ Authority activated. ]
"......Fuck, I live, because I want to live...... Prove what—"
That was my last memory.
***
[ The target is immeasurably above you in stature. ]
[ The Authority has no effect on this target. To protect its master, Instant Kill seeks the way to deal the target as much harm as possible. ]
......
[ The Emperor, the Sovereign Dragon Emperor, begins to take an interest in you. ]
[ You have safely completed the Sudden Trial. ]
......
[ The price of using the Authority comes due. ]
1. Lifespan: 1 year
2. Faint killing intent