The 1000th Reincarnation

Late at night, three men are in a room plotting for someone's downfall. An old man stands at the door guarding the room. A young boy sits at a desk, directly facing the door holding a devious smirk, one hand fidgeting with the pen in his hand, whilst his head rests on the other. A man dressed in black kneels on the floor in front of the young boy greeting his presence. 

"My lord, are you sure you want to go through with this?" the man in black asks. 

The boy chuckles. "I don't know how that boy hasn't killed himself yet, but I guess I'll just do it for him. If I have to see him at the entrance exam I might have to rip my eyes out after seeing something so repulsive."

The boy pauses as if he expected a reply from the assassin but continues, "Go, if I see him alive tomorrow morning consider yourself dead." 

The assassin disappears, not leaving a single trace behind. 

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Zephyr was panicking. It was almost impossible to breathe and it felt like he was sinking in cold, muddy water. Everything around him was dark but he could see an outline of something or someone moving towards him. Zephyr tries moving closer to it with no avail. In a split second the figure dashes towards Zephyr. 

"Zephyr, I've been watching you for a long time now. I was waiting for when you would try to meet me," the figure said in a cold, raspy voice. 

"Who are you and where did you bring me?" Zephyr screamed, the darkness drowning the sound. 

"Don't you want to be free, free from the cycle of death and rebirth?" the man in darkness asked whispering into Zephyr's ear. 

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll get straight to the point. I am the only one who knows who started the calamity. I can help you free the curse binding you to the Goddess."

"You know about the Goddess?"

The dark figure walks around him in circles, "This world used to have no god or religion. After she appeared, she treated this world as something she could play with, a toy of some sorts. Everyone here is at the palm of her hand. Except..." He extends his hand out pointing at Zephyr, "You" then points at himself, "And me". 

"The Goddess has been watching you all this time thinking of ways to keep you here, on this planet, forever. You're never going to break this cycle by yourself Zephyr. That's why you need me."

"Is the Goddess the one starting the calamity?" Zephyr asked. 

"Not exactly, but that's not important right now. The most important thing right now is for you to escape the grasps of the goddess. Grab the book, kill the man heading to your residence and pour his blood over the book to free me."

The man disappears into the abyss as Zephyr returns back to the cavern coughing out black liquid and catching his breath. 

There's no other option. If I want to get stronger I need to get this strange power and disappear from the goddesses gaze. 

Before heading back to his residence, he remembered that he still needed to absorb the Divine energy stone before returning back. He opened the box on the shelf, grabbed the colorful stone and sat down in the lotus position. With both palms of his hands clasping the stone, he felt the energy start to head from the bottom of his fingertips to the top of his head.

After a couple of minutes he stood up. Zephyr felt like he had obtained a whole new body. Now, not only could he use the martial arts abilities of the Cult, but he had obtained an insane amount of divine energy. Zephyr grabbed the book and ran back to his residence. 

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The assassin swiftly but quietly approached Baek's residence. Without making any noise, the assassin opened the window next to his bed finding nobody. In confusion, the assassin dashes inside the house desperately searching for Baek until something grabs his shoulder with a blade leaned right against his neck. 

"As soon as you move a muscle you die and if you don't answer the question you die. Who are you and who sent you here?"

The assassin recognizes this voice, a voice very familiar to him. 

"Baek?"

The assassin breathing begins to get faster as his heart rate dramatically increases and steadily tries grabbing the knife on his waist. 

As soon as the assassin touches the knife he jerks his arm, Zephyr slices his throat with no hesitation. With a rope Zephyr finds in one of the drawers, quickly he ties up the assassin, hanging him upside down from the celling. Finding a bucket used to wash clothes, he put the human skin textured book inside placing the bucket right under the body. 

After the blood completely submerges the book, a dark aura releases from the book forming a pungent smell around the room. After the aura clears out, Zephyr reaches inside the pulling out the book. Now, the book's skin feels smooth but more awake. Before when Zephyr tried to open the book, it wouldn't budge. But now, as if the book was breathing, hot air came out of the book as if it sighed a breath of fresh air. Zephyr curiously examining the book containing language all written in blood.

Is this a form of martial arts, or a spell of some sorts?

But Zephyr had no time to think as two hands emerge from the book pulling his body into it, sending Zephyr back into a void.