CHAPTER 58: I DECLARE THIS STORY A FAILURE

W-what did he just say? My head jerks up, and our eyes lock. There’s a flicker of reluctance in his gaze—but colder still, there’s no hint of remorse.

"No... don’t you dare..." I whisper, my finger twitching, aching to twist into the quill, ready to fight to the death for my team.

And yet—

The world freezes. I’m too slow.

Light flares—too fast to follow.

Three thuds crash against the dirt. Four sprays of blood paint the ground red.

NO—! I want to scream until my throat rips apart, but the sound catches deep inside me, sealed like a cork I can’t force free. Rage boils in me, hotter than a volcano straining against its own walls, ready to explode.

"How dare you? How dare you? How—why?" I mutter, words spilling broken, my eyes glazing over. I can’t even see the ground anymore—just blur, just heat.

Suddenly, the mist thins and fades, revealing them all. Amara—the one who once called herself immortal—is gone. Dead. All because she followed me into this world...

Powder’s sobs fall silent.

The blood of the three women who loved me spills warm across my skin, soaking me, branding me for the fool I am. The useless leader who couldn’t protect them. The party I created—the adventure we dreamed of—ends here.

All because of me. Because I provoked Glorius. Because I chose this damn quest.

...Shit.

My fingers slip free of Roxy’s cold, fading hand, and it falls limply to the ground. I’m sorry...

"Pitiful... he’s already lost it. I don’t see why Glorius would need someone like him..." A voice drifts past. I can’t tell who.

"Just knock him out and bring him with us. Nox, do it," Auror’s voice barks, faint but clear.

"Why me? You’re the bulky one—carry him on your shoulder or something. So unfair..."

"Stop whining and knock him out already. I feel something dangerous coming. We need to leave now."

"Hehe... knocking him out, I can do. Carrying him—hell no!" That laugh. That disgusting laugh.

[Warning! Unable to control the user! Mentality—unstable]

[Fourth wall is dangerously close to collapse]

[Attempting to strip away the powers]

[...]

[Failure... User refuses]

Of course I refuse... you stupid system. I haven’t had my revenge yet. Did you really think you could dictate how the author writes his own story?! I can feel it—I’m unraveling, slipping past the edge, and I don’t even care anymore.

My chest burns. The gem inside me thrums with every pulse, feeding on my fury, pushing me forward. It tells me not to fear, not to bend. It screams that I hold a power so great... that no one, not even fate itself, can stop me.

I clutch my quill, knuckles bone-white, as the air thickens with a bloody mist. It coils around me, heavy and alive, pulsing with a will of its own. My hand trembles as something impossible blooms inside me. This power feels different... darker, terrifying. With my quill, it’s as if I could do anything.

Is this... the third power Big Boss kept hidden from me?

"Halt!" Auror suddenly shouts, slamming his shield down as a massive barrier flares before him. His party stares at him, confused, nervous.

"Look at your system! The goddess herself is warning us not to go further—turn back now, Nox!" Auror’s scream cuts through the chaos, his voice laced with a fear I had never once thought possible from them.

Again... that goddess. Just who is she? The one behind Glorius. The one who forged his party. The one responsible for my friends’ deaths. That’s right... it isn’t just Glorius I have to kill. It’s her. That goddess must be destroyed.

"Him? Hahaha! If he’s the danger, then I’ll just end him myself!"

With a flash of black light, everything suddenly becomes so slow and cold, as if I’m a sheep and a wolf is already circling me. And when I turn, its fangs are there at my throat...

A blade flashes. A dagger plunges into my neck. Pain scorches white-hot, my throat floods with blood, air ripped from me. I can’t breathe. But... whatever. It doesn’t matter. I’ve already lost everything.

[WARNING! MAIN PLOTLINE IN DANGER!]

[HALT USER! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KILL THE ONE FROM—]

Piss off, you damned system... Just die... everything... everyone...

My arm erupts into a storm of blood-mist, reshaping into a colossal quill. It hurts like hell, like my entire arm is being torn apart and rebuilt into a weapon of both destruction and creation. Its power surges through me, pulsing in my veins, and I know—one stroke is all it would take. Just a single wave and—

"Watch out!" Auror roars.

But it’s too late.

Nox’s body disintegrates into crimson ash, erased from existence.

My heart sinks into a cold kind of relief, but it isn’t enough. It still hurts—maybe even more than before I killed him.

"How—how dare you?!" Auror’s voice cracks, and in the next instant, they all rush me at once.

I’m tired of them. All of them. Just disappear.

I sweep my arm—the quill’s tip carving through the air like a blade, leaving a black scar across the sky—and their bodies scatter like dust, swallowed by crimson ash. If I still had a voice, I’d spit the words in their faces: rot in hell.

But I’m dying too. Isn’t that ironic...? I could heal myself with just a thought... yet I won’t. Somehow... it doesn’t feel right.

My eyes drag across what remains of my party. The lives of my friends—snuffed out. Their bodies lie still, unnervingly cold.

Pain burrows deeper than the wound in my neck. Hate burns hotter than my blood.

I hate this world.

I hate everyone.

Just die.

I stare into the empty space for a long while before finally making up my mind. I know I’m about to do something incredibly stupid—but it’s the only thing I want right now.

I wave again, and the sky splinters like shattered glass. Crimson ash bleeds into the air as reality itself begins to tear apart at the seams.

I am the author.

And I declare this story a failure.

So, dear readers...

Allow me to rewrite it.