Empire Ascension: The Rise of the Fated One

86  Chapter86-I died in a unfortunate way!

Urgh, damn it! That woman spilled everything!

I cursed under my breath, realizing I should have spoken to her before coming up here.

I sighed deeply, feeling the weight of the situation.

"So, you've finally figured everything out," I said, letting go of any pretense.

I had decided to stop pretending, though I had no idea...

 That this small mistake would set off a series of major events in the future.

I took a deep breath, letting my frustration wash over me.

"Well," I said, trying to adopt a more serious tone, "since you know everything, we might as well talk this out."

I could understand what was going through his mind. His voice was filled with pain, and his clenched fists showed just how angry he was.

I didn't want to take the aggressive route, like some villain who would simply end things with a violent finish.

Even though taking that path would be easier, I refused to go down that road because I didn't see myself as that kind of person.

I took a deep breath and said again, "I know I messed up, but... Look, man, let's try to work this out without any fighting."

Just as I finished speaking, Alex suddenly bolted toward me.

"I swear, I'll kill you, you bastard!" he growled, his voice trembling with anger.

His teeth were gritted so tightly that his jaw was visibly strained, and his eyes blazed with fierce rage...

Fuck it...

My instincts kicked in, and I quickly braced myself, preparing to defend against whatever was coming.

Alex drew a black dagger from his belt, its sleek blade gleaming ominously in the sunlight.

I was momentarily taken aback, but I didn't hesitate.

From my inventory, I pulled out both of my daggers, ready to counter his attack.

His eyes widened in surprise, but before I could react further, his expression shifted.

He was smiling...

What?

Why is he smiling?

A chill ran down my spine as I watched his grin.

I didn't like it at all.

My instincts screamed at me to run, but my brain knew the truth...

It was too late.

Instead of attacking, Alex threw his dagger aside and, with a desperate look, lunged at me, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace.

I was stunned.

My mind raced as I realized his intention too late—he was trying to throw me off the rooftop.

I struggled, but Alex's grip was too strong.

Suddenly, we were both falling off the edge.

I couldn't think any more given

The fall was a wild blur.

As we dropped, everything around me spun into a mix of colors and shapes.

The ground rushed up toward us fast, and the wind roared so loudly it was hard to think.

My heart raced, pounding with fear and confusion.

I looked at Alex, whose face showed a mix of pain and resolve.

He tried to hold onto me, but the force of our fall pulled us apart.

I could see the city below getting closer, the once-busy streets now a chaotic mess of broken buildings and debris.

"Alex!" I shouted over the wind, but the sound was lost in the roar.

My voice was barely a whisper against the howling air. "You fucked me har!"

He didn't answer.

But, I didn't care about...

I looked at him for a few seconds...

Instead, he seemed to brace himself for impact, his eyes closed tightly as if hoping for some miracle.

The sensation of falling was overwhelming—every second felt like an eternity.

The ground grew nearer, and I could see the jagged edges of the ruins below.

My stomach twisted with fear, and a cold sweat drenched my body despite the rushing wind...

In those moments, my mind raced through everything that had led up to this point—the confrontation, the misunderstanding, and the mistakes that had brought us here.

It was common. Every human fears death. Only the bravest embrace it as if it's nothing.

A quote came to mind as I was falling. Someone once said, "Death smiles at us all, but all a man can do is smile back."

**Sigh**

I closed my eyes, just like Alex, and finally smiled.

In this life, I had lost my virginity.

All I could focus on now was the impending impact, bracing myself for the inevitable collision.

Suddenly, I hit the ground with a violent jolt...

 "Uuchk!"

The impact was bone-jarring, and a blinding pain exploded through my body.

I was thrown violently against debris, my vision darkening as I hit the hard surface.

The air was knocked from my lungs, and I struggled to breathe or speak...

Everything went black for a moment.

When I regained some sense of awareness, the cityscape was a disorienting blur, and the pain was a throbbing agony all over my body.

I could barely make out Alex lying nearby, his own condition as bad as mine.

I lay there, struggling to move, every breath coming with difficulty...

Am I dying?

Judging by the blood flowing from the back of my head, I believe so.

My condition was grim.

Pain radiated from my head to every part of my body, an unbearable pain.

A system screen kept flashing in my blackening mind, filled with countless warnings.

[Warning, host! Your hit points are reducing at a tremendous rate.]

[At this rate, you will die within two minutes.]

[Assessing Forbidden book &$!"?"!]

Book?

What kind of book is that?

Why is it named that way?

I didn't know, nor did I want to.

All I felt now was pain.

Time moved smoothly like a waterfall.

Huh?

Let's count for the last time...

1

2

3

4

5

Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching, but before I could comprehend what was happening, I finally lost my life.

A system screen appeared in my mind, delivering the final message.

[System Error! Host has died!]

Suddenly, it felt as if I was being yanked into something, my surroundings blurring into a whirl of colors and sensations.

The sensation was so rapid and disorienting that I couldn't grasp what was happening.

One moment I was standing still, and the next, it was as though I had been hurled through a tunnel of shifting light and shadow, my senses overwhelmed by the speed and force of the transition.

Darkness surrounded me, a thick, oppressive void that seemed to swallow every sound and sensation.

I felt weightless, suspended in an endless abyss.

"Where... am I?"

I muttered, my voice echoing strangely in the emptiness.

I could talk?

That's surprising, given that I just died a minute ago...

Where am I?

I strained my eyes, searching for any sign of light, but there was nothing.

The fuck is going on with my heart...

My heart was pounding loudly in my chest...

Why is it beating so fast?

I reached out, hoping to find something solid, something real to anchor myself to.

Huh?

My hands flailed in the darkness, grasping at nothing but air.

The silence was deafening, pressing in on me from all sides...

"System! System!" I called out over and over, but there was no response.

When no answer came, I realized the system wasn't present in this place.

"Hello?" I called out again with a expressionless voice. "Is anyone there?"

No answer.

Just the suffocating silence.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. "Okay, think," I whispered. "You have to get out of here."

But to get out, I need to find a way, which is not obvious here...

What should I do? How can I escape from this place?

After a minute of thinking, I suddenly realized something...

Hey! Wait a minute, isn't this just like those situations where the main protagonist gets trapped in some weird place?

I looked around at the void surrounding me.

I think so...

So, what do they do?

They run and find a source of light to escape...

But, the main problem is they always manage to see the next day, but I might not...

And finding a source of light seems pointless when all I see is darkness for miles.

I couldn't even see my own body... Nôv(el)B\\jnn

But given my current situation, with no system or any knowledge, running might be my best option.

Sure, I might get exhausted, but if I stay here, I'll die within a few days.

Trying is better than just sitting around doing nothing.

I forced my legs to move, taking tentative steps into the void.

Every step felt heavy, as if the darkness itself was weighing me down.

I stumbled forward, desperate to find a way out, to find any clue about where I was or how I got here.

After hours of running, I finally saw something...

Suddenly, a faint light flickered in the distance.

Wow, that cliché was actually real. I was wrong.

Hope surged through me as I quickened my pace, moving towards the light.

It's working...

It grew brighter with each step, illuminating the darkness bit by bit.

The light felt warm, comforting, a stark contrast to the cold Void I had been trapped in.

A little more...

Just as I was about to reach it, a sharp pain shot through my head.

Why my head?

I doubled over, holding my temples as the world around me twisted violently.

The darkness turned into a blinding light, and I felt like I was falling again, spinning through a wild mix of colors and sounds.

Shit!

I gasped and opened my eyes, blinking rapidly to adjust to the sudden brightness.

I was no longer in the void.

Instead, I found myself lying in a bed, the soft sheets tangled around me.

Sunlight streamed through a window, casting a warm glow on the room.

I sat up slowly, my head still throbbing from the fall. "What... was that?" I whispered, trying to piece together what had just happened.

The room was familiar, the layout and furniture all too real.

I glanced around, my heart still racing. It was my room.

No one was present..

I quickly touched my forehead and murmured, "There's no blood."

There was nothing on my head.

The wound was completely gone.

Next, I examined the other parts of my body that had been injured and covered in blood just a few hours earlier.

I was safe.

The fall, the pain and, the darkness—it had all been a dream.

I took a deep breath, triing to calm the lingering confusion.

"So, It was just a dream," I told myself.

Despite everything, I still had doubts. The pain from the fall had felt so real, the emotions and those system messages were vivid.

System?

I thought, "System."

A system screen appeared before me.

[Yes, host?]

So, the system is actually active...

I asked, "Did you save me from that fall?"

[What do you mean by 'fall,' host? What are you referring to?]

Hmm... Based on how the system responded, it seems it was all just a dream.

But what if the system is actually lying to me? Though the chances seemed slim, it was still a possibility I couldn't ignore.

As I pondered this unsettling thought, another crucial idea suddenly came to mind...

Time?

What about the time?

I clearly recalled the time I saw in the dream.

If I check the current time and compare it to the dream time, I might be able to figure out what's going on or learn something important.

With a sense of urgency, I looked at my smartwatch that could give me the current time.

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Pervert_Human