"I'm... still alive?"
Rhys struggled to climb out of bed, staring in disbelief at his own hands.
Those dry, calloused hands—worn and rough from years of hardship.
The pain of having his heart pierced by a dagger still lingered in his memory.
That soul-tearing agony, even now, continued to throb faintly in his chest.
It hurt. It hurt like hell!
The veins on Rhys's forehead bulged as he instinctively clutched at his chest, gasping for breath.
Only after several deep, ragged inhales did the stabbing pain begin to subside.
"So... I've come back? Back to the day before the game descends upon reality?"
Looking at the familiar yet strange decorations of the room around him, Rhys made the guess.
When a man is killed, he dies.
Let alone Rhys—his heart had been stabbed through from behind.
He had almost certainly been reborn.
Yet there was no joy of rebirth on Rhys's face.
Instead, what filled his expression was a heavy, aching sorrow.
"I never thought... the one who would betray me in the end... would be you."
Rhys simply couldn't believe it.
The little sister he had raised since childhood, who in the eyes of others was kind and sunny—
Could she really have done such a thing?
Even more unbelievable—
He had evaded assassination attempts from enemy guilds,
Endured the trials of impossible dungeons,
Only to die... at the hands of his own.
At the hands of the very person he cared about most—his sister.
"Willa... you really are a wonderful little sister, aren't you?"
There is no despair greater than a dead heart.
Aside from Willa's long-deceased parents, no one else knew—
Rhys and Willa were not related by blood at all.
Rhys was a transmigrator.
After arriving in this world, he was abandoned as a newborn in a public restroom.
Fortunately, Willa's parents had rescued him.
Only because of them had he survived.
At the age of eighteen, the elderly couple died in an accident.
Rhys took on the burden of life.
He was supposed to attend a prestigious university in the capital,
But instead, he gave up that opportunity and let Willa go in his place.
He went out to work and provide for them.
A girl's expenses were always higher than a boy's to begin with.
Not to mention, as she got older, Willa developed more and more interests.
New phones, new clothes, dinners and outings—
All of it fell on Rhys's shoulders.
It was an insanely expensive burden.
Rhys had tried to talk to Willa about it.
But every time he brought it up, Willa would throw a tantrum.
He had thought of giving up.
But out of guilt toward Mr. and Mrs. Lin,
Rhys gritted his teeth and bore it.
To support Willa's increasingly extravagant lifestyle,
Rhys had to cut his own expenses to the bone.
Skipping meals and surviving on just two per day became routine.
He would always console himself:
Once Willa graduated, things would get better.
And in the year Willa was about to graduate—disaster struck.
It happened after the launch of The Epoch of Endings.
A game said to reflect reality, a "second world" where in-game power could be brought back to the real world—
It forever changed the fate of humanity.
The first humans to enter the game were shocked to discover—
This wasn't just a simple game.
Power, lifespan, wealth—everything humans ever desired—
Could all be obtained within the game.
And at the cost of lifespan,
They could bring it all back into the real world.
The strong could shatter mountains and tear open the earth—
With the flick of a finger, they could sink entire continents.
Powers once found only in DivineMythic legends had reappeared in the world.
The world was driven into madness.
Might became chaos.
And once people gained power, humanity's ambition and desire caused the world to spiral into abrupt upheaval—disasters spreading like wildfire.
In order to pay off his sister's debts, Rhys missed the first window to enter the game.
He missed countless opportunities.
Yet even so, in the midst of catastrophe, he still protected his sister,
And later, through exceptional talent and a ruthless drive far beyond ordinary men,
He fought his way up in The Epoch of Endings, climbing into the top one hundred!
Later, in a desperate dungeon run, Rhys obtained a Unique-tier item—
The Primordial Core.
Just hearing the name "Unique-tier item" was enough to understand how incredibly rare and valuable the Primordial Core was.
And not only that—
Rhys had already held onto the Primordial Core for quite some time.
But forget using it—
Even figuring out how to activate it had proven completely impossible.
So as he leveled up, Rhys also studied relentlessly, trying to unlock the Primordial Core's secrets.
But somehow—
The fact that he had it got leaked.
The Bloodmoon Pack once again set their sights on the Rhys siblings.
They had no choice but to go on the run.
But this thing wasn't for himself in the first place.
Rhys hadn't been among the first batch of players to enter the game.
To have made it this far was already the limit of what he could achieve.
But his sister—she was different.
Willa had extraordinary talent.
If there was any way to activate the Primordial Core,
She would no doubt reach the summit of power.
But unfortunately...
After braving countless dangers, enduring endless pursuit and life-threatening trials—
Willa betrayed him.
That poisoned dagger pierced through Rhys's heart.
Already on the brink of exhaustion, he had no strength left to resist the lethal toxin.
All he could do... was wait quietly for death.
As life slipped away from him, Willa stood before him—
Her face devoid of even the slightest trace of guilt.
She spoke calmly:
"Brother, don't blame me... You were too strong.
So strong that I've lived in your shadow my entire life."
"They said... if I take your Primordial Core, I'll finally get a chance to surpass you...
A chance to no longer be known as 'Rhys's little sister'!"
"I'll give this Primordial Core to the guild.
You can rest in peace.
I'll carry on your will and keep living."
Looking at this unfamiliar version of his sister,
Rhys laughed.
"You're still just as stupid...
You want the Primordial Core?"
Rhys lifted his right hand,
Tapped lightly on the dialog box that appeared in front of him.
"Not even worth feeding to a dog."
As he hit the Destroy button, the Primordial Core disintegrated instantly,
And Rhys's consciousness plunged into silence.
Then—
He returned to the day before the game descended on the real world.
Thinking of all this, a glint of ice-cold resolve flickered in Rhys's eyes.
Living in his shadow?
Just because of that ridiculous reason,
Willa had chosen to betray him?
"The one who ran three kilometers at 3 a.m. to bring you food... was me."
"The one who stood guard at your logout point for three days and nights, just so you wouldn't get scared by malicious PvP in the game—was me."
"The one who gave up top-tier gear and skill books again and again so you wouldn't get sidelined by the guild for being too weak—was me."
"The path that needed to be walked, I walked it. The principles that needed to be upheld, I upheld them. The debts that needed to be repaid, I paid them in full."
"And in the end, all you ever saw... was my 'shadow'?
All you ever saw was me 'controlling' you?
And just for that pathetic bit of vanity and jealousy... you turned your blade on me?"
"And then there's the Crimson Direwolf guild..."
That was the first guild founded on Earth after the game descended.
Come to think of it, Rhys had only gotten into conflict with Crimson Direwolf because of Willa in the first place—
Yet in the end, that foolish girl chose to believe Crimson Direwolf and turned against Rhys.
"If you really saw my protection as a prison, my strength as a shadow, and my existence as an obstacle..."
"Then so be it."
"This life, your path is yours to walk.
Whether you live or die, rise or fall—has nothing more to do with me, Rhys."
Rhys was looking forward to it.
If he had also been part of the first wave of players to enter The Abyss,
How far could he have climbed?
And just then—
A cold, synthesized mechanical voice rang out beside Rhys's ears.
[Primordial Core has been destroyed.]
[Resurrection ritual complete. Timeline has been reversed.]
[Holder, you have cast aside your own greed and passed the trial of the Primordial Core.
Primordial Essence initializing...]
[Activation complete... You have obtained the Unique Authority: "Cosmic Finality."]
Primordial Essence?
Cosmic Finality!
A flash of light appeared in Rhys's eyes.
A bold idea sparked in his mind.
"So... the real way to use the Primordial Core—was to abandon my greed for the Unique item and destroy it?"
"No wonder I couldn't figure out how to activate it in my last life..."
"And it was this... that gave me the chance to come back?"
Blessings and misfortune go hand in hand.
Who would've thought—
That his final act before death would be what triggered the activation of the Primordial Core?
A Unique-tier item so rare in the game world, one that he had studied endlessly in his past life but could never unlock.
Thinking of this, Rhys drew in a deep breath—
And opened the interface for Cosmic Finality...