Where the hell am I? Who is this woman? What is she talking about?
These were the questions that Alex wanted to ask, but he couldn't.
Not because he wasn't able to talk, but because he was in shock.
The woman before him... was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her beauty simply didn't belong in the mortal realm. It shouldn't exist anywhere that sane minds could reach.
Long raven hair cascaded over her shoulders like liquid night, reaching all the way to the cold stone beneath her. Her flawless skin seemed to glow with a soft radiance, untouched by age or imperfection. Eyes of deep violet held an ancient wisdom within their depths, a wisdom that promised both pleasure and pain in equal measure.
Her lips, full and painted a deep crimson, curled into a knowing smile that sent a shiver down my spine—a smile that could launch a thousand ships, and sink them just as easily.
Her body, what I could see of it past the chains that bound her to the altar, was a masterpiece of divine creation. Perfect curves, flawless skin, and an aura of raw, untamed power that was both terrifying and intoxicating.
She was a goddess.
Another one.
'Oh fuck me!' Alex thought.
However.
Golden chains wrapped around her wrists, ankles, waist, and neck, disappearing into the altar itself. Strange runes pulsed along every link, each symbol radiating enough power to make the air tremble. The woman wasn't just on the altar; the altar had her.
She was imprisoned.
And yet...
She somehow looked more like a queen upon her throne than a captive.
Alex finally managed to swallow.
"...Who are you?"
The woman smiled.
"Straight to the important questions. Good."
Her voice carried an odd quality. It was soft enough to soothe his nerves, yet every word echoed inside his mind as if reality itself wanted him to hear it.
"My name..."
She paused.
"...has been forgotten."
"What?" Alex blinked.
"It has been a very long time." Her smile turned wistful. "Names fade. Kingdoms crumble. Stars die. Eventually, even the gods stop using your name."
That...
...was not the answer he had expected.
"So... you're a goddess?"
She chuckled.
"I was."
"...Was?"
"I've held many titles." She looked down at the glowing chains around her wrists. "Conqueror. Destroyer. Mother. Queen of a thousand worlds."
Her deep violet eyes met his once more.
"And finally... Prisoner."
A chill ran down Alex's spine.
The casual way she said it somehow made it even more unsettling.
He looked around.
The platform floated alone in an endless cosmic sky. There was no sun, no moon, no horizon. Only countless nebulae drifting through infinite darkness.
"So..." Alex scratched the back of his head. "I'm dead... again?"
"You were."
"And now?"
"You are alive."
"...That doesn't answer anything."
"I know."
"..."
"Hehehe..." The woman laughed softly. "You humans... so impatient."
She shifted slightly, the chains rattling.
"I like you." Her smile returned, warmer this time.
"No, you don't." Alex frowned.
"Oh?" One perfect eyebrow raised. "And why not?"
"If you brought me here, you want something."
"Clever." Her smile widened.
"I've dealt with enough executives and politicians to recognize that smile."
"And?"
"It says, 'I'm about to ruin your life while pretending I'm doing you a favor.'"
For the first time since arriving, the mysterious woman looked genuinely surprised.
Then she burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA..."
It wasn't cruel laughter.
It was warm.
Honest.
As if she hadn't laughed like that in centuries.
"You truly are different." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I've spoken to countless chosen ones over the years. None have seen through me so quickly."
"Chosen ones?"
"Every thousand years or so, when the stars align, and fate weaves itself into a new tapestry, I can extend my reach through the void." She looked at her chains. "Briefly."
"I can reach into the space between life and death. And if I'm lucky..."
She smiled.
"...I can catch a stray soul before the wheel of reincarnation claims them."
Alex stared at her.
"I thought you said you were a prisoner."
"I am."
"Then how are you doing all this?"
She winked.
"Every cage has a lock."
She raised her bound hands.
"And every lock has a key."
That... made no sense.
"But why me?" Alex asked. "There must be billions of souls."
"True."
"Then why?"
"Because you've already met that goddess," she said, her voice suddenly turning cold. "The bitch in an office lady's suit."
"Don't remind me." Alex almost cursed out loud.
"I can see she made an impression." The chained woman smirked.
"She kicked me in the nuts." Alex deadpanned. "My soul still hurts."
"HAHAHAHA..." She burst out laughing again. "As intended."
"You know her?" Alex asked.
"Oh yes." The woman's expression darkened. "We go way back."
"..."
"Let's just say... she was responsible for my current situation."
The casual way she said it...
"You want revenge."
"Let's first talk about you, my dear Alex." The woman changed the subject. "Your situation is..."
She paused.
"...well, you're the unluckiest person who ever had the privilege to be reborn into a world full of monsters and magic."
"What do you mean?" Alex started to panic.
"The goddess who sent you here... she wasn't just angry."
"She was creative."
Alex didn't like the sound of that.
"Let's see..."
She closed her eyes for a moment.
"Ah..."
A cruel smile formed on her lips.
"Oh, she's good."
"..."
"She didn't just give you a normal reincarnation." The woman opened her violet eyes. "She put a curse on you."
"Curse?" Alex's blood ran cold.
"Yup... three of them."
His heart sank.
"What kind of curses?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"Oh, she's quite twisted." The woman laughed softly. "Very cruel."
Alex just stood there, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Let me show you," the woman said as a small blue screen appeared in front of Alex.
Ding!
...
[Curse of the Withering Soul
Rank: Divine Curse
"Mana has been forever denied to you. Let your very existence become the fuel for your ambition."
Description: All spells, skills, and active abilities shall no longer draw from the gentle river of mana.
Instead, they will consume your very life force — your vitality, your years, your soul's flame.
Warning: "Every spell you cast shortens your life."]
...
[Curse of the Forgotten Hero
Rank: Divine Curse
"No matter how hard you struggle, your growth shall forever crawl behind the chosen."
Description: All experience gained from slaying monsters, beasts, or any foe shall be reduced by 99%. What others claim in days, you will earn in decades. What takes them weeks will take you lifetimes. Even if you bathe the world in blood, true power will forever remain just beyond your grasp.
Warning: This curse cannot be bypassed through blessings, titles, artifacts, or skills.]
...
[Curse of Absolute Hostility
Rank: Divine Curse
"May the world itself reject your existence."
Description: Your soul has been branded with the ultimate divine rejection, projecting an invisible aura of pure malice. Upon first contact, all living beings—whether human, beast, or monster—will experience instant, absolute hatred toward you. They will be driven by an instinctual, unyielding urge to seek your immediate and brutal death.
Warning: "You shall never know peace. Every meeting begins with your death sentence."]
...
Alex stared at the glowing blue text floating in the void. He read it once. He read it twice.
The words didn't change.
No magic. No leveling up. And the entire world was hard-coded to want to rip his spine out through his throat the second they looked at him. The office lady hadn't just stacked the deck against him; she had replaced the deck with a live grenade and glued it to his hand.
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the platform.
Then, Alex let out a long, slow breath. His shoulders slumped. The sheer, overwhelming absurdity of it all crossed the threshold of terror and landed squarely in the realm of dark comedy.
"99% experience reduction," Alex muttered, his voice eerily calm. "I couldn't even level up if I spent a century farming slimes. And if I try to use magic to defend myself, I literally age myself to death."
The woman watched him closely, her violet eyes scanning his face for the inevitable breakdown. When it didn't come, her smirk softened into genuine fascination.
"You aren't screaming," she observed, tilting her head. The golden chains chimed softly. "Most mortals would be weeping, begging for mercy, or throwing themselves off this platform into the void."
"I've had my life ruined by a vindictive woman before," Alex said, thinking briefly of Sarah, though his ex-wife's betrayal felt like a minor inconvenience compared to a cosmic death sentence. "The scale is just a bit bigger this time. Besides, screaming won't change the formatting on those blue boxes."
He paused, taking a deep breath for a moment.
"Can I just... kill myself?" he asked the chained woman. "No point in starting if the game is rigged to be unplayable from the start."
The woman let out a soft, sad chuckle.
"No, my dear. Your soul is marked. Death here would simply return you to the cycle, and the office bitch would be waiting. I imagine she has... 'creative' ideas for your next life. A slime, perhaps. One perpetually on fire. Or a sentient rock doomed to watch others live the life you were supposed to have."
Alex's jaw tightened. He wasn't getting out of this.
"All of this because I took revenge on my ex-wife and her lover?" He couldn't help but feel a bit of regret. Was it worth it? At the end of the day, he did get a small piece of mind, and he did get to spend the rest of his life with Emily.
"Could you explain what you did in a bit more detail?" she asked.
Alex told her everything. Not the emotional, tear-jerking version, but the cold, methodical one. He explained the twenty-year plan, the slow erosion of their lives, the manipulation of Emily's parentage.
He expected judgment. Disgust. Or perhaps even admiration for the sheer, meticulous cruelty of it.
But what he got was silence.
When he finished, the woman didn't speak. She simply stared at him, her violet eyes unreadable. The cosmic nebulae above seemed to dim, as if holding their breath. The platform itself felt unnervingly still.
Then, she began to laugh.
It started as a low chuckle, a deep rumble in her chest. It grew louder, richer, until it was a full-throated, uninhibited roar of pure, unadulterated amusement. The chains rattled violently with the force of her laughter.
"HAHAHA... oh, by the forgotten stars... that's... that's magnificent!"
She threw her head back, her raven hair cascading over the stone.
"Not a single blade to the throat. Not a single vial of poison. You didn't just kill them, my dear Alex. You unmade them. You took their legacy, their love, their future... and you rewrote it all with a pen dipped in their own bile."
Her laughter finally subsided, leaving her with a wide, brilliant smile. It was the most genuinely delighted expression he had ever seen.
"I spent eons conquering galaxies, snuffing out suns, and watching civilizations crumble to dust. But you... you did something far more elegant. You destroyed two souls from the inside out, over a lifetime, using their own daughter as the final, exquisite twist of the dagger."
She leaned forward as much as the chains would allow, her violet eyes burning with an intense, almost manic light.
"That's not simple revenge, Alex. That's art. A masterpiece of sustained psychological warfare."
She shook her head, still chuckling.
"No wonder she's furious. You, a mortal, managed to wield a tool—karma and consequence—with more precision and cruelty than most gods ever bother to. You didn't steal her champion's luck; you hijacked the very concept of fate and used it as a weapon. For a creature of order and rules, that is the ultimate blasphemy."
Alex was stunned. He had spent forty years after his revenge feeling a quiet emptiness, a hollow victory. He had never considered it 'art.' He had just called it 'finished.'
"So," he said slowly, "you understand why I did it?"
"Understand? My dear, I 'applaud' it." She grinned. "Which is precisely why I can't let you fail."
The smile softened, turning predatory. A lioness sizing up a particularly interesting, potentially useful prey.
"I offer you a bargain, dear Alex."
"My soul is already cursed," he countered. "What more do I have to offer?"
"Mine too, is chained." She gestured to her bindings. "But even in this prison, I have influence. I can... bend things. I cannot remove the curses placed by my esteemed colleague; her mark is divine law, and I am in no position to challenge it directly. But I can offer you a way to work 'with' them. A loophole."
She paused, letting the word hang in the cosmic void.
"Alex, you will die the moment you set foot in that world. The 'Curse of Absolute Hostility' will ensure that. The nearest squirrel will try to gnaw your throat out. The grass will probably try to strangle you if you stand still too long."
She wasn't joking.
"And I already used the last bit of my magic to pull your soul here. So... you and I are in the same boat."
She said that with a straight face, which made it even more absurd.
"But I have a plan," she said with a mischievous smile.
"What plan?" Alex spoke cautiously. The last time a beautiful woman had a 'plan' for him, he ended up with a soul-crushing trio of curses.
"Your soul and mine become one."
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