They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World

I lunged, putting every single ounce of my unnatural, edited momentum behind the thrust. Oathstorm’s tip actually pierced the bone-white armor, burying itself an inch into the swirling black miasma of its chest.

The demon froze.

Then, its hand snapped out, faster than my neural processing could even track.

Its scythe-like fingers clamped around my throat, lifting me effortlessly off the ground.

As I kicked my legs, choking for air, I watched the wound I had just made seamlessly knit itself back together in a fraction of a second.

Fuck!

The demon tilted its head, bringing its blank face uncomfortably close to mine.

"Wait..." the entity murmured, a flicker of genuine curiosity echoing in my skull.

"You are one o—"

"Get away from him!"

Scarlet materialized from my blind spot, launching herself high into the air. Her eyes burned with absolute desperation as she aimed her obsidian claws right for the demon’s violet halo.

But the entity didn’t even flinch. Its free hand shot upward, catching Scarlet by the throat mid-leap.

It held us both suspended in the freezing air, its grip slowly, agonizingly tightening. Scarlet choked, kicking wildly as the demon began to crush her windpipe.

"Filthy low-life," the demon sneered. "Die."

"No you don’t!" I rasped.

Twisting my grip on Oathstorm, editing the absolute sharpness of the steel, and violently stabbed down into the joint of the arm holding me.

The demon flinched, its grip loosening just enough. With an annoyed hiss, it violently threw us both away.

Scarlet and I slammed hard into the cavern wall. The impact knocked the wind completely out of my lungs, and I slumped to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of hot blood onto the frost.

I looked up, my vision swimming. The demon had already turned its back on us, gliding effortlessly toward where Garf and Mira were scrambling back to their feet.

"Scarlet," I coughed, clutching my bruised ribs as I forced myself onto one knee. I gripped Oathstorm, channeling my remaining mana directly into the blade.

"Make an opening for me... just one."

Scarlet didn’t argue. She spat blood onto the floor and charged the entity’s flank.

The cavern devolved into a desperate, suicidal melee.

Mira fired point-blank shots, aiming for the joints in the armor. Garf threw his entire massive weight behind his shield, trying to pin the creature’s arms. Scarlet darted in and out, tearing at the miasma.

But it wasn’t a battle.

It was a slaughter.

The demon sidestepped Scarlet, batting Mira aside.

Garf roared, stepping in to cover the archer, raising his massive iron shield.

The demon’s scythe-hand came down in a brutal, dismissive arc.

It cleaved right through the reinforced iron shield as if it were wet paper. The blow didn’t stop there. It crushed downward, entirely caving in Garf’s massive chest cavity with a sickening, wet crunch.

Garf’s eyes went completely blank. The veteran tank hit the floor, dead before he even stopped sliding.

"GARF!" Mira screamed, her mind completely snapping.

She abandoned her bow entirely, drawing her hunting knife and throwing herself at the demon in pure, unadulterated fury.

But the entity didn’t even look at her. Its hand flickered.

Blood sprayed in a perfect, horrifying arc.

Mira let out a blood-curdling shriek as both of her arms were cleanly severed just below the elbows.

As she stumbled backward in shock, the demon casually snatched one of her fallen arrows from the air and drove it straight through her shoulder, pinning her sobbing, mutilated body to the cavern wall.

The demon turned lazily, raising its blood-soaked scythes toward Scarlet, who was completely frozen in horror.

"Scarlet! Get AWAY!" I roared.

My voice snapped her out of it.

She dove frantically to the side, tumbling across the ice.

I launched myself off the wall, my body glowing with unstable, destructive energy. The mana core felt like it was physically cracking open, bleeding raw power into the steel of my sword.

"ROLLING THUNDER!"

I didn’t hold a single drop back.

An absolutely terrifying, blinding torrent of pure black lightning erupted from my body, completely illuminating the massive cavern in a strobe of destructive violence.

The lightning slammed into the demon like a tidal wave, engulfing it entirely in a sphere of chaotic, corrosive plasma.

The recoil instantly tore through my own body. Blood vessels burst in my arms and legs. My skin charred, my muscles ripping themselves apart under the sheer output.

[MP: 0/813]

I depleted all of my MP.

Then eventually, the lightning died.

I landed heavily on my boots, immediately swaying. Blood poured from my nose, my ears, and the corners of my mouth.

My entire body felt numb, hovering on the absolute edge of total collapse.

I blinked through the settling smoke, my heart praying for a miracle.

Did I get him?

Slowly, the smoke cleared.

And... the demon stood perfectly in the center of the blast radius. Its bone-white armor gleamed flawlessly.

Not a single shard was out of place.

"Impressive," the demon noted calmly.

What the—?

It raised its leg and kicked me squarely in the chest.

My ribs instantly shattered. And I launched backward like a cannonball, flying dozens of feet through the air before violently slamming into the upper corner of the cavern ceiling.

Cough!

I peeled off the rock, free-falling toward the icy floor below.

My vision began to blank out, the cavern fading into a tunnel of dark, blurry shadows.

I couldn’t feel my arms or legs anymore. The pain was completely gone, replaced by a cold, drifting numbness.

And as I fell, I saw the demon slowly walking toward Scarlet.

She was on her knees in the frost, her head bowed, having completely surrendered to the inevitable end.

I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t save Tessa. I couldn’t even save myself.

The rushing air roared in my ears. The ground rushed up to meet me.

This was it, no one could save us. We’re bound to doom.

This life... I thought, my eyes slowly fluttering shut as the final fragments of my consciousness slipped away.

It wasn’t bad.

THUD!

Then, the absolute darkness swallowed me.

...

[Ding!]

[Rank Up!]

[Congratulations, Host!]

[Administrator Mode — UNLOCKED]

[Emergency Override Initiated...!]

[Administrator Mode Activating!]

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