Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

{Welcome to Fokay, Zaki Caelion, Child of Heavens.}

The cold, flat, emotionless voice of The Will echoed all around the pitch-black space Zaki suddenly found himself in.

A place of stillness and void, where every newcomer was first brought before officially entering Fokay.

{Deciding your spawning point…}

Zaki looked around cautiously, heart beating fast, his palms gripping tightly the hilts of his twin daggers—his mother's legacy, his lifeline—repeating his mantra again and again, grounding himself, bracing for what was to come, and seconds later:

{Spawning Point: The Underground Game of Freedom.}

Instantly, space warped and cracked around him, ripping him out of the black void and throwing him into—

"WOAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!!!"

His head was instantly assaulted by screams. Loud, frenzied, bloodthirsty screams from every direction, the sound crashing down like waves of madness, disorienting him, making his vision blur for a second as he instinctively raised his head to take in his surroundings…

…and his heart dropped.

He was in an arena.

A massive, circular arena filled to the brim with roaring spectators that looked like they hadn't seen peace in centuries. The stands went high, curling around the battlefield like a closed jaw waiting to snap shut.

The arena itself was old—ancient, even—but exuded strength and brutality, its walls covered in dry blood, its air thick with dust and violence.

And across the wide battleground, Zaki saw men, women, children, beastkin, elves, humans—of all races and ages, their clothes ragged, their bodies covered in cuts and bruises, standing apart from one another, staring with eyes full of wariness, hatred, despair… and something else.

Resignation.

And on every single one of them, a number was stitched into their clothing like a brand, marking them, reducing them to nothing more than players in a cruel game.

The crowd roared, their eyes glowing with insane delight, until suddenly…

…everything stopped.

Silence fell like a blade.

And every single pair of eyes—every deranged, laughing, twisted gaze in the stands—turned to Zaki.

He felt it.

All of them staring at him.

As if he was fresh meat thrown into a pit of starving beasts.

A voice exploded above, booming through the sky like thunder laced with cruelty.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! LOOK AT THIS, AN UNEXPECTED NEW PARTICIPANT IN OUR BELOVED GAME!"

"BUT WHO ARE WE TO DENY THE GOOD INTENTIONS OF THE WILL?!"

Floating in the sky was a man with soft, icy-blue hair and soulless black eyes, dressed in an outfit far too elegant for this savage world. He held a runic speaker that amplified his voice with every word, and the moment he spoke, the crowd went wild again—

"YESSSSS!!!"

"KILL! KILL! KILL!"

Zaki instinctively took a step back, but then he saw it.

A number appeared on the chest of his formerly pristine clothes, glowing red and sharp like it was carved with a blade.

11002.

His eyes widened.

He looked up.

And the blue-haired man was grinning at him with something cold and sick behind his eyes.

"You're quite lucky, number 11002. Today's game is a simple one."

His smile stretched. It was too wide, too unsettling.

"Survive the assault of a master-ranked beast for half an hour."

"Do that… and you step closer to freedom and to treasures beyond your imagination."

And with that, he snapped his fingers.

A massive cage dropped from the sky, slamming into the ground with a deafening clang that shook the arena and inside was a beast that made every participant in the arena freeze in dread.

It was a lion, but not any lion.

Its mane was fire. Its body was molten steel. Its eyes were glowing pits of rage and hatred, and the sheer heat radiating from its presence made the very air shimmer and bend around it.

The spectators?

"YES!!!"

"BLOOD!!! BURN!!! SLAUGHTER!!!"

They were screaming, laughing, drooling for carnage.

And then,

"BEGINS!!!"

The cage broke open.

The lion roared, a sound that shattered stone, and fire exploded in every direction as it lunged forward with a ferocity that ignored Zaki's shock, his rank, or his confusion.

'What the fuck is this—?!' Zaki barely had time to curse, let alone move.

But there was no time.

No grace period.

No protection.

A master-ranked beast was already upon him.

The Game…

…had begun.

…

"What did you just say to me, Meris?"

A voice, sharp and stern, echoed across a room unlike any other.

The walls constantly shifted, pulsing with the elemental essence of the world—cold one moment, blazing hot the next, then heavy like gravity itself had multiplied, then light and windy, then electrified, then drenched in water—it was chaos and harmony all at once, a room built to represent the convergence of all things.

And inside that shifting elemental sanctum, two women sat.

One was young, barely fifteen, her purple hair falling to her shoulders, silver eyes calm but burning with quiet resolve.

Meris Elamin, our dear second favorite.

The second was older.

Timeless.

A woman whose beauty defied words and whose presence made even the elements bow.

Purple hair darker than Meris's, eyes like storm-charged violins—deep, endless, laced with power and intellect and something fierce beneath.

Her silver dress clung to her body like moonlight wrapped in temptation, but it was her aura, not her body, that made it impossible to look away.

This was a matriarch.

This was a leader.

Mayari Elamin, Matriarch of the Elamin Family.

She stared at her daughter in disbelief.

But Meris didn't waver.

Because today, she was not backing down.

"I said that I love Kaden Warborn. And I want to be engaged to him."

The silence that followed was loud.

Mayari narrowed her eyes.

"Are you stupid?"

"I won't even ask how you came to love someone from that brute clan but you seriously think the Elamin can marry into the Warborn?"

"You think the powers in Waverith will allow that?"

"The Cerveau alone would burn down cities for less."

"Are you not thinking, Meris?"

She was furious and she had every right to be.

Because this wasn't just about love. This was about alliances. Power. Politics. Position.

Meris had already been warned as Lari had told her.

She knew.

But even so…

"There's no need to fear. With the Elamin and Warborn united, no one will be able to match us," Meris said confidently.

But her mother didn't even blink.

"I won't allow it."

Mayari leaned back into her chair, eyes sharp like blades drawn in court.

Meris bit her lip.

She knew it wouldn't be easy.

Her mother wasn't one to be moved by petty feelings. She moved for the family, for legacy, for strength.

So if she wanted to win her over, she had to make this logical. She had to give her reason—not romance. Strategy—not sentiment.

Because as it stood, all Mayari saw was a reckless girl chasing a boy who came from a clan of warriors and chaos that will cause her trouble more than anything else.

So Meris changed her approach.

"I still have one request left, don't I?" she said quietly, tilting her head.

Mayari raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Then I want to use it."

"I want to invite Kaden into this house. I want you to meet him."

"And don't say you can't. You swore to grant me one request for my evolution and you said you wouldn't refuse, no matter what it was as long as it didn't put the family at risk."

Mayari went silent.

Long enough that Meris started to worry.

But then,

"Fine."

"But it will be in secret. No one else will know. Only you and I. Understood?"

Meris nodded.

And with that, she stood from her seat, turning to leave, but just as she reached the door, her mother's voice echoed behind her, soft—but piercing.

"Do you truly love him?"

Meris paused.

A slow smile spread across her lips.

Then, without turning back, her voice floated like silk behind her.

"More than you can imagine, mother."

And then she vanished, leaving behind a mother with a heart filled with complicated feelings.

—End of Chapter 133—