My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst. My chest heaved, my breaths shallow and desperate. My legs gave out, and I hit the ground on my knees, my hands clutching at my head to stop the flood of images.

  These are the memories I forget, and I am happy I don't remember them anymore. But why in the heck I have to remember that hopeless feeling now.

  "Why... why am I remembering this now? Why?" I asked in panic. I have a very bad feeling about this.

  "[Memory pyback complete. Bloodline awakening procced. You can't escape Fate]"

  Bloodline? Awakening? No, no, no, no, no! I didn't want to hear it. I didn't need this. I wasn't ready for it. Hell, I didn't want it! My fists smmed into the dirt as I forced the words out.

  "[Incorrect. User's blood and G are tied to Kurosawa bloodline. Initialization required.]"

  Fuck that, fuck this kurosawa and all the rubbish. All I need to know is Miyako is my mother, and I have two sister, and my clubmates.

  The voice didn't care. It never cared about me. I knew it has ulterior motives, but I was so invested in the hope of harem life and mainly I wanted to escape the boring normal everyday life. So I took the risk and then put everyone's lives on line.

  And now I am keeping myself on danger.

  I gritted his teeth as the power coursed through him, it didn't feel like it was mine.

  That damn voice. That damn system. It never cared about me—just its own agenda. And I let it. I let it manipute me, push me around, because I was too much of a coward to admit what I really wanted.

  At first, I told myself it was just for fun, for some excitement to escape the dull, repetitive routine of normal life. I wanted to create something special, a dream life surrounded by people who'd actually give a damn about me. A harem, my harem. But I never said it out loud, not to anyone. I evaded the truth about what I wanted like an idiot, letting the system exploit me.

  I gritted my teeth, the frustration bubbling up. "What the hell am I doing?" I muttered under my breath.

  I watched Yumi's father sp her, and I didn't step in when I wanted. Worst of all... I wasn't even having fun anymore. The whole point of this was supposed to be fun.

  I gnced at my reflection in a nearby windowpane. My face looked... sharper. My eyes were darker, more intense. I looked like someone who'd been through hell and wasn't done. Someone different. Someone I could admire staring at. It seemed like a different person.

  My senses expanded, picking up the smallest details— Nervous systems, the shift in footing, the faint hesitation in the timid follower's movements.

  I thought to myself. "Okay... maybe this isn't completely bad."

  The chains shuffled as I pulled, I felt strength in myself that didn't feel like mine. I didn't just pull the chains—I shattered them. Metal splinters flew through the air, catching the faint light of the ritual fmes.

  I stood up while my senses are still burning. Their leader stumbled, she faltered. I smirked. For the first time, I felt confident in my life

  My senses are in high state. Hype perception, Ultrainstinct, Drugged. Only god knows

  The leader growled, stepping forward. "What is this? Resistance? You are not supposed to resist. Your role is to submit, not to—"

  I lunged forward and pushed her away, I hit in the white spot where her liver was and replied. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize we are praying to your god. Let me just lie here and wait to die. Like Hell—no."

  The system Responded"Weakness detected. Target: Cult leader. Recommendation: Subdue with precision strike to pressure point."

  "Nah fuck you " I replied, ignoring the system and . I am never trusting it again.

  The other members of the cult were stunned and they slowly pulled their dagger and tried to restrain me, but their reactions are slow.

  Their daggers fshing in the dim light, it was probably due to my eyesight. I prepared myself.

  The first girl lunged, her bde aimed for my throat. She was righthanded and leaning towards left

  I sidestepped right. She was unsteady, I gripped her wrist and twisted it. A quick twist, and the dagger fell from her hand and the next moment her throat was sshed. Wait! When she was sshed. I looked down to see my dagger filled with her blood.

  She gurgled, blood spraying out of her mouth before she crumpled to the floor like a discarded doll. I see

  One down.

  Why do I feel so calm!

  The next one came at me screaming, her face filled with fury. She sshed wildly, her movements sloppy. I can see her strikes and I parried one.

  I feel like a Touhou pyer

  I grabbed her by the back of the head, and smmed her face into the nearest wall. I heard bone crushing noise through the chamber, and she slid down to the floor, limp and lifeless.

  Two down.

  Another darted from behind, I simply turned and caught her dagger plunging toward my ribs. Plunging attack! Just like I did it with aslyum demon in Prepare to die edition.

  I shoved her dagger aside and I grabbed her by the throat. She struggled, her dagger falling from her trembling fingers as her eyes screamed in panic.

  I smmed her down onto the cold stone floor, the back of her head bouncing with a sickening thud. She twitched once, then went still.

  Three down.

  How I did it?

  My breathing was steady, and I move easily. It felt strange, it was like my hands moved on their own, my body responding to threats like it knows how they attack.

  I think my body automatically registers what will happen based on senses.

  I felt like these girls were smaller, weaker, desperate. It didn't matter that their screams echoed in my ears. They were, threats, enemies, dangerous.

  And they had to die.

  No! That's not true I have to kill them. If I let them they will sacrifice some innocent guy in my pce. Either way I have choose to do it. No half-measures now, sughter!!.

  One of them rushed me from behind, trying to take advantage when I was busy thinking . I could feel her breath, the shuffle of her steps, the shift in the air as she raised her dagger. I spun around and grabbed her arm mid-strike, driving my bde into her chest.

  Her eyes widened, her lips parting as she gasped in shock. For a moment, her body hung there, suspended on my bde. Then I pulled it free, and she colpsed like the rest. It looks like her brain has not registered the attack.

  Four down.

  Fear fshing across the cult members faces as they slowly realized it was hopeless.

  I wasn't the prey.

  They were..

  I could see it in their eyes. I love their faces filled with fear. Maybe it was what I wanted all along, I don't know it.

  No! I know how I am but refused to accept it, so that I can fit better in the society.

  How I am going to lead a normal life, do I even lead one. No point in thinking.

  They screamed and lunged together this time, hoping their combined effort would be enough. It wasn't. My senses picked them apart, every step, every swing of their daggers pying out in my mind like a perfectly choreographed dance.

  I dodged the first one's strike, sidestepping her bde and grabbing her wrist. A sharp twist, a sickening snap, and her arm hung limp at her side. She screamed in agony, but I silenced her with a clean ssh across her throat.

  The final girl barely managed to swing at me, I pushed her club away hitting her arm and I grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back to expose her neck. My bde cut through flesh and bone with brutal efficiency, and she fell at my feet in a pool of crimson.

  Six down.

  What I am doing now!!

  The one on the left took a shaky step forward, her dagger raised, her lips trembling as she tried to prepare to attack.

  Her bravado shattered instantly as she gazed at my eyes. She staggered back, nearly tripping over herself as her partner pulled her arm, whispering something frantic. I didn't need to hear it to know what she was saying. "Run. We have to run."

  No guilt. No regret. Just the faint hum of satisfaction in the back of my mind.

  I let them run.

  For a moment.

  Then I moved.

  They weren't fast enough. I closed the distance before they even realized I was coming. My bde caught the first one between her shoulder bdes, her body jerking forward as she let out a strangled cry. She crumpled to the floor, her blood pooling beneath her.

  The other girl stumbled, skidding to a stop as she turned to see me standing over her fallen comrade. Her breathing hitched, her face pale, her dagger slipping from her trembling fingers. She fell to her knees, shaking her head as tears streamed down her face.

  "P-Please..." she whimpered. "Please don't—"

  I knelt down in front of her, tilting my head as I studied her tear-streaked face. My senses burned, picking up every detail—the way her lips quivered, her breath, the way her hands clutched the floor like she could sink through it and escape.

  "Please don't?" I repeated, my voice almost mocking. "What about me, huh? What about when you and your little friends dragged me into this hellhole? When you were ready to carve me up for your god?"

  She didn't answer, just sobbed harder. Just fucking answer

  I leaned closer, my voice dropping to a whisper. "Tell me... did you beg then? Did you cry for the people you've killed?"

  She shook her head, her breath coming in shallow gasps. "I... I was just following—"

  "Orders?" I cut her off, my smile broke off. "Funny how that works, huh? Orders got them killed." I gestured to the bodies around us. "And now it's your turn."

  I slice her throat. It was quick, so quick that my brain didn't register it, even though it was my hand which moved.

  I stood awake there, surrounded by the bodies of the cultists, my breathing was calm and even. Blood dripped from my bde, pooling on the stone floor. My hands were steady, my senses still returning.

  I felt... nothing. Killing them felt like slicing tomatoes, and I felt as much as guilty as killing ants. To be frank, it feel scared of myself

  "Wait....What happened. How did I? " I asked myself the question. How the fuck I managed to kill this many people?

  I stared at my bloodstained hands, at the bodies strewn around me. "What the hell...?" I muttered. My voice was ft, detached, like I wasn't even speaking to myself.

  The cult leader, still clutching her side from the liver blow, snarled at me from across the chamber "You... you monster! You'll rot for this! You'll rot in hell!"

  "Monster?" I barked, my voice louder than I intended, echoing off the chamber walls.

  I took a step toward her, gesturing to the bloodied dagger in my hand. "I'm the monster? You're the one running a death cult! You're the one who kidnapped me, tied me up like some sacrifice, and summoned—what—the system, the powers, this... thing inside me!" I jabbed my finger into my chest, my voice rising with every word. "You did this! All of it! You made me like this!"

  The cult leader winced, clutching her side tighter as her breathing grew more ragged, but her eyes never left mine. And then, to my shock, she ughed. It wasn't a full ugh—more like a weak, bitter chuckle—but it hit me harder than anything she'd said so far.

  "You think this is my doing?" she spat, her voice dripping with disdain. "You think I have that kind of power?"

  "How come a normal human like me could kill cult-crazed manics like tomatoes otherwise" I demanded, taking another step forward. "Of course it was you! Who else could it be? You're the one who kidnapped me! You're the one who summoned that voice in my head!" The st part came unexpectedly. Why did I accuse her of that?

  The cult leader's lips curled into a pained smile, her teeth stained red with blood. "Oh, poor Haruto Kurosawa," she sneered, her voice filled with a twisted satisfaction. "You have no idea what you are, do you?"

  She knows my name? I think she is hiding something.

  I faltered. "What I am? What the hell does that even mean?"

  She didn't answer. Instead, she lifted her hand, blood smearing her fingers as she drew a symbol in the air. I tried to lunge in to restrain her before she did something, I am not taking any chances.

  A faint glow flickered to life before I kicked her, and the air around her shimmering with dark energy pushing me away. I tensed, my senses snapping back into high alert as a low hum filled the chamber.

  "You think you can bme me for what's inside you?" she said, her voice rising as the glow intensified. "You think I made you into this... thing?" She coughed, blood dripping from her mouth, but her expression twisted into something triumphant. "No, Haruto. This is who you've always been. You are the one who revealed what you are?"

  Her words stabbed into me like daggers, but I didn't have time to process them now. The glow around her hand changed, casting the chamber in a sickly bck-and-red light. The air turned heavy, oppressive. I felt the sound of metel

  "What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.

  The cult leader smiled through bloodied teeth. "If I can't kill you with my followers... then I'll call on something you can't beat."

  The light fred, it was too bright, I closed my eyes around her. The sound of grinding metal grew louder, sharper, until it was almost unbearable. When the light finally dimmed, the figure standing in front of her made my stomach drop.

  It was massive, at least twice my height, its body encased in jagged, bckened armor that seemed to devour the faint light of the chamber. Its shoulders were broad, its hands gripping a bde so massive it looked like it could split the earth in two. Its helmeted head turned toward me, glowing crimson eyes burning like twin coals of hellfire.

  Now it was troublesome

  The cult leader stepped back, leaning against the altar for support as she grinned weakly at me. "Let's see how brave you are now, Haruto Kurosawa."

  Her eyes burned with hatred as she spat, "You're a curse! A stain on this world! Just like your damned family! You can't escape it—you'll always be a Kurosawa!"

  I tightened my grip on my dagger, my senses fring as the knight took its first thunderous step toward me.

  "Great," I muttered under my breath. "Just when this day couldn't get any worse."