[: 3rd POV :]

Cells after cells, corridor after corridor—Daniel pressed on.

With every step, he became a beacon of salvation in that cursed place.

For every child he rescued, every broken man or woman he healed, he gave them more than just safety.

He gave them something they hadn't felt in a long time: hope.

Their tears of gratitude, the way they whispered his name with reverence, it all etched into him like wounds of a different kind.

But he didn't stop.

The slavers, guards, and tormentors who dared raise a hand to stop him were annihilated without mercy.

Some were burned alive in an instant, others were turned to dust without even realizing they'd been condemned.

Daniel didn't flinch.

He didn't hesitate.

Anyone who had taken part in the horrors of this place—anyone who had enjoyed it—was erased from existence.

But then he found a room.

It was different and silent.

Its entrance was unlike the others—no screams, no scratching, no muffled sobs.

Just silence and cold metal.

The hallway opened into a wide, dimly lit chamber.

At the far end stood ten enormous metallic doors, each one bolted shut and covered in complex seals.

Thick, rusted locks adorned them, yet Daniel instinctively knew these weren't for show.

The air was heavy—oppressive—as if reality itself had warped around this place.

Each door was labeled with a large number, engraved deep into the metal:

01.

02.

03.

...

10.

Daniel's expression darkened.

His brows furrowed deeply.

His Void senses, honed to perfection, screamed at him—no, warned him.

There was something behind those doors.

Not people.

Not beasts.

Something... wrong.

Something that shouldn't exist.

He slowly approached Door 01.

As his hand reached out to touch the surface, it began to tremble.

Slightly.

Barely noticeable.

But it did.

His breathing slowed as he stared at his own hand, confused.

'Why am I shaking?'

It wasn't exhaustion.

It wasn't hesitation.

No.

This was something far more primal.

Was it fear?

"…Why?" he whispered to himself.

His voice echoed faintly in the vast chamber.

There was no answer—just silence, and the cold, dull thrum of something behind those doors.

The moment his fingers brushed the metal, a jolt shot up his arm. Not pain. Not energy.

A sensation.

A presence.

He jerked his hand back.

His heart beat faster. He clenched his fists.

It wasn't the fear of death.

It was the fear of what he might find if he opened one of them.

The fear of something so twisted, so unholy, that it could make even him lose himself.

His lips tightened.

Not yet. Not without knowing more.

Daniel stepped back, eyes narrowing at each door in turn.

He knew, without a doubt, that the door couldn't be opened through any conventional means.

It was reinforced by something more ancient than mere technology or magic.

But that didn't matter.

He extended his palm forward, his eyes narrowing.

A small, black flame sparked to life in the center of his hand.

It wasn't just fire—it was Destruction incarnate.

The flame flickered for a second… and then shot forward.

It glided toward the door silently, and the moment it touched the metallic surface, the reaction was instant.

BOOM

The entire structure was devoured in an instant—melted, unraveled, atomized and erased as if it had never been built at all.

And beyond the door… lay a sight that made even Daniel take a step back.

He froze.

His eyes widened ever so slightly.

The scene before him was not something language could properly describe.

It was taboo and blasphemous.

It violated the natural order of things.

A mockery of life and death.

"What... is... this...?"

Daniel whispered, his voice barely audible—shaky and hoarse, as though speaking it aloud would solidify the horror in front of him.

His eyes were wide with disbelief, mouth slightly agape as if he wanted to scream, but couldn't.

The words were lodged in his throat like jagged glass, cutting into his composure.

His entire body trembled—not from fear, but from a wrath so deep it couldn't even rise to the surface.

A silent wrath, born not from hatred, but from sheer disbelief and anguish.

His fists clenched, yet his arms wouldn't move.

His blood boiled violently, searing through his veins, but he remained rooted in place.

All around him, the room was a grotesque display of forbidden science and sacrilege.

Tables and walls lined with dismembered body parts.

Both human and inhuman organs preserved in distorted glass tubes, twitching faintly as though they still remembered pain.

Strange surgical tools with twisted shapes, jagged ends, and unknown runes were scattered across the floor.

Mana Stones glowed with unnatural light, humming with bound essence.

Machinery pulsed with a rhythm like a heartbeat—except the beat was wrong.

Artificial. Malicious.

And then… the capsule.

Right at the center of the room, a towering, cylindrical tank filled with an eerie greenish fluid stood surrounded by cables and chain.

Floating within it was something that should not exist.

A creature, no, a being.

Its form twisted and pulsed, unable to settle.

Claws, wings, fangs, tendrils, scales, feathers—all trying to manifest at once but failed.

Limbs fused then split apart again.

Eyes opened and closed across its body.

The skin shifted like melting wax, like something was forcing creation and destruction to occur simultaneously inside one single vessel.

Daniel's mind screamed to comprehend it.

But it was the voice that truly shattered his silence.

"…K̷̢̝̖̖̞̱̻̬͎̔̍̿͠͝í̶̟̮̖̰͛͑̾̔͂͝l̸̢̨̢̢̮̤̩̫̳͛̄̅̍͗̆l̷̡̡̡̢̛͈̼̱̗̯͍͔̯̺̹̖̙̪̒̔̍̈́͌̌̕͘͝… m̷̢̢̨̡̪͎̼̥̘̞̞̗̪͉̹̮̳̠͇̪̎̈́̋̾̓̄̐̎̈́͐̅̑̆̀͑͘͘ẻ̶̥̲͙̰̖͈̱̜̘̼̹́̓̅͘͘͝…"

Daniel blinked. His breath caught.

The creature—barely conscious, yet aware—turned its only stable eye toward him.

It was glowing, sorrowful, and begging.

"…K̶̤͇̫͈̠͚̺̠̄͗̄͊̐̎̚i̵̡̢̛͇̹̠͖͍̹̺͙͖̖͑̈́̓̈́̍̑͘l̴̢̛̦̝͎̤͎̺̠̱͕̘̺̮̺̰̜̱̲̅͐̓͋̿͗ĺ̷̡̡̛͉̪̺͉̱͇̲̳̎̄̐̂͌͋̅̇̈́͋̕͘͝͠… m̷̢̨̡̨̛͈̳̞̲̹̮̬̲̩̹̦͓͉͈͎͙̼̼͊͒̽͂̋͐̐̍̆́̍̽̕̚͝e̶̡̦̻͓̞͔̖̲̹̯̙̪͚̙̬̤̦̍͗̈́̌̐͊͌͜…"

It wanted to die.

It wanted to be released.

Daniel stood in silence, the weight of the moment sinking like a boulder into his soul.

His trembling hands dropped to his side as the unspeakable reality solidified within him.

"P-Please... K-Kill me... I-It hurts so much... Please..."

The voice echoed through the chamber—not as a single cry, but a chorus of agony.

Daniel froze.

It was as if multiple beings were speaking through one tortured body.

A young girl's voice wept.

An old man groaned.

A mother cried.

A child whimpered.

Each tone distinct.

Each one filled with unbearable pain.

The creature's lone eye, massive and sunken in the middle of its deformed head, stared directly at Daniel.

It wept—not blood, not water, but a silvery essence that shimmered with grief.

Around its form were scales like a dragon, horns like a demon, soft patches of fur from demi-human lineage, and ancient-looking runes etched into flesh that once might've belonged to a dwarf or fairy.

Wings broken and mismatched hung limply behind it—one leathery, one feathered.

Daniel's heart slammed against his chest.

"W-What...?" he breathed, unable to step closer.

His hand trembled at his side, the air around him growing heavier.

His instincts screamed. Not out of fear—but denial.

"N-No… D-Don't tell me..." His voice cracked as he reached out with a trembling hand and activated his skill.

[: Status View :]

Name: ???

Age: ???

Species: Unknown Amalgamation

Status: Terminal / Unstable

Description:

An artificial existence created through the forced fusion of multiple races—Demon, Dragon, Human, Demi-Human, Dwarf, Fairy, Beastkin, and many more.

Over one hundred souls were carved, erased, and trapped within.

Daniel's vision blurred for a moment—not from magic, but from pure shock.

His knees weakened.

"...H-How could they..." he muttered, barely containing the bile in his throat.

He gritted his teeth.

Rage and sorrow twisted within his chest like two blades scraping against bone.

This wasn't a monster.

This wasn't a creature.

This was a prison made of stolen lives.

"This... c-can't be…!"

Daniel screamed, stumbling backward as the truth crashed down on him like an avalanche of broken souls.

His mind reeled, struggling to accept what stood before him.

A fusion… a grotesque amalgamation of dozens—no—hundreds of lives.

All forcefully merged… all still alive… suffering.

The creature inside the capsule whimpered again, its lone tearful eye pleading.

"P-Please… kill me… save me…"

But to Daniel, those words didn't sound like a death wish.

They sounded like a cry for salvation.

He clenched his fists, trembling.

"I can save them. I have to save them. I just need to heal them. I can do it," he muttered, placing his hand forward as mana began to circulate.

[: Stop Host :]

He froze. "Why are you stopping me, System?" His voice cracked.

[: You're going to hurt the existence rather than healing it :]

Daniel's eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"Why? Isn't healing supposed to fix broken things? Revert their forms?"

[: You're wrong, Host. In fact… healing will do the opposite :]

[: Their body is not surviving naturally. It is being forced to live by an embedded Heart Gem—an artificial core designed to chain fragmented souls into one shell :]

[: If you heal them, it will attempt to 'restore' an impossible form and cause every soul inside to suffer even more :]

Daniel's breath hitched. "T-Then what do I do...? Don't tell me—killing them is the only way?"

A long pause.

Then the system spoke, not coldly, not with robotic indifference—but with sorrow, as though it understood what Daniel was feeling.

[: …Yes. By killing them, you're saving them :]

[: Host, you don't have the required system points or abilities to undo the fusion :]

Daniel's legs nearly gave out.

His knees touched the floor.

His hand trembled as he gripped his head. "No… no, there has to be a way... I can't just… I can't do that..."

The creature in the capsule cried softly.

It wasn't screaming anymore.

It had accepted its fate far before Daniel had arrived.

Now, it was Daniel who couldn't let go.

[: Host, you must do it :]

"You're insane… there's no way I can kill them!"

Daniel shouted, his voice raw.

[: Host :]

"No, shut up—there must be something else!" He banged the floor.

[: Host, ple-

"There has to be a way, something that I can do"

[:No Host, you need t-

"I just can't kill them!"

[: HOST, YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO ME :]

The system's voice suddenly surged in volume—no longer calm, but desperate.

Daniel panted, barely able to breathe.

"I can't… I just… can't," he whispered, gripping his chest.

His soul felt like it was tearing in two.

"They… they were people. Children. Parents. Warriors. Mages… They had lives…"

[: Host… there is no salvation left for them. Not here. Not now. :]

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Daniel turned his gaze to the capsule.

The eye stared at him, still crying, but now peaceful.

Still, it whispered, "P-Please… I want to go home…"

He swallowed the scream that wanted to escape his throat.

But he had accepted the fact that he can't do anything.

And the least he could do was to release them from their pain.

Slowly, shakily, Daniel raised his hand—his palm glowing faintly with destructive essence.

He couldn't feel his own heartbeat.

His face was pale.

His body refused to move.

But his soul… his soul reached out.

He took a breath, eyes glassy, voice soft yet shaking, "I'm sorry... I should've come sooner."

The creature's lone eye blinked slowly, as if relieved.

It couldn't smile, but Daniel could feel it—a faint warmth of gratitude.

"…I'll set you free."