Kyle staggered the moment he received the reward.

A violent pulse tore through his veins, blurring his vision as the world around him dissolved

Not into darkness.

Into something deeper. A place where darkness itself had yet to exist.

There was no sky, no ground, no stars. Only endless stillness stretching in every direction.

And within that stillness...something enormous.

Kyle couldn’t fully perceive it. Every attempt made agony lance through his skull, his mind instinctively rejecting the sight.

Yet despite that, he understood one terrifying truth.

That existence was someone familiar....eerily familiar.

Ancient pressure drifted through the void, timeless and boundless, carrying a loneliness so vast it made his chest ache.

Then, suddenly, a spark appeared.

Tiny and barely surviving.

The first light.

Kyle’s breath caught as the colossal presence slowly approached it, not with dominance or indifference, but with quiet wonder—as if it had finally discovered something beautiful after an eternity of emptiness.

The fragment shattered.

Kyle gasped sharply, only for another memory to crash into him before he could recover.

Countless figures knelt beneath an endless silver horizon. Some carried spears, others wore crowns, while a few radiated storms, flames, oceans, and stars themselves.

Though their faces remained blurred, Kyle

instinctively understood what they were.

Higher beings.

And every single one of them had bowed their heads toward the figure seated above them.

One by one, the gods rose and departed toward different corners of existence like children leaving the home of their origin.

Yet before the last one disappeared, it turned back.

Fear lingered in its eyes.

Not fear of cruelty.

Fear of what would happen if that tranquil existence ever lost its composure.

The memory splintered apart.

"Agh—!"

Kyle stumbled back, clutching his head as unbearable pain tore through his skull.

He looked ahead and saw the ghost Melissa advancing toward him in slow motion.

"What...is this?" Kyle muttered, golden light burning within his eyes.

The subconscious fragment of Melissa’s mind failed to notice the change in him. In truth, even Kyle himself hadn’t realized what he was doing.

For the first time, he was using God’s Eye at its full potential.

And without the system’s support.

He watched the creature approach, its half-regrown, fragile arms stretching toward him, ready to pierce through his body.

Kyle narrowed his eyes and raised a hand.

Golden energy flowed from his fingertips.

Genesis.

And it was obeying his command.

The energy surged forward and wrapped around the creature’s shoulder, suspending it in midair.

With casual indifference, Kyle pushed it aside as though the thing that had nearly torn into his throat moments ago was nothing more than an annoyance.

Discarding the ghost without another glance, he walked toward Melissa who remained seated on the ground

Kneeling before her, he stared silently into her lifeless eyes for a brief moment.

Then instinct took over.

Kyle leaned forward until his forehead touched hers, his eyes slowly closing.

A pulse of Genesis echoed through his consciousness before his voice followed.

’Melissa...listen to me. This isn’t about you anymore.’

’Who...are you...?’ she finally responded, her voice broken and hesitant.

’That doesn’t matter. What matters is understanding the consequences of what you’re doing. Your blessing is being misused, and I can take it away from you.’

Those words sent a violent jolt through her body, making her visibly flinch.

’You’re lying... you can’t do that.’

’You know I can. That’s why you’re resisting me in the first place. Because you don’t want to let go of this flashy power.’ Kyle’s voice remained calm. ’But Melissa, your gift has brought destruction and slaughter. And if this continues, it will keep destroying lives.’

He paused for a moment before adding firmly,

’You don’t deserve to wield a power like this.’

There was a long silence before she finally revealed the true reason behind her hesitation.

’But then... Father would discard me. He would be disappointed... and throw me away.’

Kyle understood immediately.

Her father was the root of it all.

From everything he had heard, the man was cunning, greedy, and consumed by ambition. And now that his company had finally begun to rise, there was no way he would willingly let go of the daughter who made it possible.

Melissa was nothing more than a golden goose to him.

That was the source of her fear.

She was terrified of becoming meaningless again.

But Kyle refused to let her keep believing that.

’Melissa... you’re wrong to think your worth depends on validation from anyone, even your father.’ His voice softened slightly. ’I grew up in a house where I was constantly reminded how undeserving I was just to exist. And it hurt even more because those words came from the people who were supposed to stand beside me through everything.’

He lowered his voice slightly before continuing.

’But I didn’t let them decide where my life would end up. I took risks. I defied them. I chose to do something with my own life.’

At some point, Melissa had opened her eyes.

She stared directly into Kyle’s unwavering gaze.

Moisture gathered at the corners of her eyes as her lips trembled.

’But... I’m not like you or Amanda. I don’t even have the confidence to step outside the house.’ Her voice cracked. ’And if you take this away from me... Father will cast me aside.’

Kyle gently cupped her cheeks and looked into her trembling eyes.

"Then would it really be abandonment... or freedom?" he asked softly. "Who would want to stay beside a man who only calls you his daughter because you benefit him?"

Melissa sniffled and lowered her gaze.

She couldn’t find anything to argue with anymore. Every word he spoke, every reason he gave, slowly melted the lingering reluctance inside her.

Truthfully, she had never loved this gift after learning what her creations were being used for.

She loved the craft.

Not the destruction it brought.

And the final fragile strand connecting her to that blessing finally snapped when Kyle told her,

"Your fate belongs to you, Melissa. Don’t let someone else control it."

The ghost in the distance, which had been struggling against Genesis, had already vanished.

Kyle, meanwhile, was beginning to lose control over the absolute magic he had temporarily attained through the blessing.

The surrounding space blurred and darkened, clear signs that this mindscape was collapsing around him.

"Kyle..."

Just as his figure began fading from the realm, he heard Melissa’s voice.

He looked back and saw a beautiful smile gently lifting the corners of her lips.

"Thank you."

It was simple.

Yet the sincerity behind those words was so overwhelming that when Kyle finally opened his eyes in the real world, he realized he was smiling too.

He looked at the gauntlet and found the circle filling with the shade, signifying that he has finally extracted the blessing from the girl.

The sharp claws left her skin and when Kyle raised his hand, he was holding a glowing white orb in his hand.

This...was it.

The cause of this whole chaos.

The blessing of a divinity.

[Host, you can store the blessing in the gauntlet for just six hours. After that, it will pop out automatically.]

Kyle nodded...he would discern what he was going to do with it by that time.

°°°°°°°°

A/N:- Thanks for reading. Drop a comment.