The air was thick with intense emotions.

  On one side was Alex, blazing with fury, frustration, and righteous killing intent—

  and even more so, a need to prove something.

  For it all to have some kind of meaning.

  On the other side was the doctor, following what he believed to be his personal truth.

  Both men were unrelenting and wanted nothing more than to kill the other.

  Expectedly, Alex was the first to move, and he swung the blazing sword fiercely, aiming to cut the doctor in half with one strike.

  The doctor, in his inhuman appearance, moved to dodge.

  But Alex would not allow that, as a horizontal line of flames burst forth from the sword.

  Alex wasn’t one to let his enemy have even a little breathing space, as he ruthlessly followed with another vertical slash toward the direction in which the doctor dodged.

  The doctor wasn’t ruffled, the same maddening smile etched on his face.

  Amidst the onslaught of flames, he brazenly rushed to the side in a blur.

  The flames brushed his side as he disappeared amidst the rubble.

  Alex stood warily in his position, glancing around.

  But the only sight before him was death and destruction, the person who caused it was nowhere to be seen.

  His ears listened intently for any sound.

  Yet it was silent, as if he had vanished from the building.

  But Alex would never doubt that the madman was not here.

  He could feel the doctor waiting and watching from somewhere.

  Enjoying Alex squirm while feeling superior.

  But Alex wasn’t anxious—just very annoyed.

  He hated cowardly tactics the most.

  Those people who would attack ruthlessly and persistently like a dog with rabies,

  only to slink into a hole the moment they encountered even a slight disadvantage,

  then watch their prey from a dark corner, just waiting for it to let its guard down,

  only to resume their persistent attacks.

  Annoying. Very annoying.

  Even more so when it was someone like the doctor.

  “Are you going to hide all day?” Alex shouted in frustration, looking around with anger written all over his face.

  Of course he was acting to lure the doctor out by thinking his plan was working.

  “Do forgive me, I’m in a bit of trouble,” the doctor’s voice echoed calmly from all sides.

  “Yes, in trouble of getting your ass handed to you by me,” Alex snorted.

  “It seems your flames are a bit tricky. That thing in you has grown impatient with me,” the doctor chuckled.

  “It’s definitely not the only thing,” Alex said sharply.

  “Yes, yes. You hate me because I’m the cause of all your sorrows, blah blah blah,” the doctor said sarcastically.

  Alex’s veins bulged as his hand gripped the knife tightly.

  “It’s honestly getting old, don’t you think, Alex?”

  As his voice faded, a figure lunged at Alex.

  He swung his sword.

  Metal met flesh, and Alex clearly felt the blade cut it in half.

  Yet the decayed, mottled flesh of the zombie continued its forward motion.

  A web of rotting flesh held the two halves together, and its white eyes were forever fixed on Alex.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Alex didn’t panic and set the zombie ablaze with another slash from his flaming sword.

  The zombie screeched as Alex moved away from the flaming mass.

  The flames were hotter than usual, and the zombie turned to a charred husk a minute later.

  “That looks painful. It seems it wants me dead quite thoroughly,” the doctor said mockingly.

  Aside from the jabs in his voice, Alex found that the doctor was right.

  The flames were at a higher temperature than he remembered.

  ‘System,’ he called in his head.

  [ The system rewarded the host with an upgrade of his flame skill for completing his hidden mission. ]

  Alex remembered that he was given a hint to investigate the doctor’s words.

  He completed it, but what was the point of finding out the truth?

  He couldn’t save anyone… especially Paul.

  So did he really complete the mission, or did the system pity him?

  “Really pitiful,” Alex heard the doctor’s voice amidst his contemplation.

  The doctor sighed, yet five zombies sprang up from random places and lunged at him.

  Alex didn’t have time to think anymore as he fought zombie after zombie,

  all while guarding against the doctor.

  Sometimes he would feel his presence draw close just as Alex’s hand faltered slightly.

  Then Alex would recklessly aim toward the direction of his presence, only for the doctor to retreat once more.

  This back and forth continued for five minutes.

  To any other person doing something normal like reading a book, five minutes is nothing.

  But to someone fighting for their life, five minutes feels like five hours.

  That’s how Alex felt.

  And his patience snapped.

  It felt all too familiar—to be struggling in the grasp of someone’s palm.

  That same casual act of shoving a person into the abyss over and over again.

  With no regret or emotion.

  [ Flame skill has undergone evolution due to resonating with the host’s emotion. ]

  [ Flame of Fury activated. ]

  The flames started from his feet and spread outward to his surroundings until the zombies around him were charred into black masses.

  But it didn’t stop there.

  It spread across the building.

  Turning everything in its path to ash—except the corpses of the fallen.

  Alex was furious, but he hadn’t forgotten those he failed.

  The least he could do was leave a full corpse behind, even though he failed them so miserably.

  The building that held a great tragedy crumbled as Alex stood in the middle, watching it burn.

  The wreckage turned to ash before it could even touch the corpses.

  Alex controlled the flames as easily as using a limb.

  It felt like an extension of him.

  He used the flames to sweep the grounds and spread out his senses.

  It didn’t take long for Alex to detect the doctor’s figure.

  Though the building had come down by then, its sacrifice was not for nothing.

  The doctor was surrounded on all sides by a circle of scorching flames.

  Their edges danced dangerously close to his body, constantly teasing him.

  Alex walked forward step by step, unruffled before the madman.

  His posture was straight, his mood solemn.

  His demeanor resembled that of a hunter enjoying the prey struggling in his grasp.

  The doctor calmly scanned the flames, testing the heat by stretching out a hand.

  The flames brushed his palm as if to caress it.

  Yet the burn was so severe that his skin and muscles melted away, leaving only scorched bone.

  The doctor hissed but retracted his hand carefully to study it.

  No further expression of pain appeared on his face.

  “It seems that my time is up,” the doctor chuckled.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make it as miserable a death as possible,” Alex replied calmly.

  The doctor bowed slightly and gave his thanks.

  Alex ignored the madman’s theatrics and asked a very important question.

  “Does that thing regret it?”

  The doctor tilted his head in confusion, as if he couldn’t understand what Alex was talking about.

  “Or even acknowledge what it did to me… to this world?” Alex pressed.

  “Well, the process got hindered by a lot of annoying things, but there’s always a chance for reversal,” the doctor shrugged.

  He spoke of death with such careless indifference that the flames burned even hotter around him, responding to Alex’s emotions.

  “My name is Alex… my real name, that is. And I am the one who stopped you.”

  Alex was numb to it all.

  If the evil entity refused to acknowledge it, then he would make sure his name was burned into it.

  “Have you found Shae Harris yet?” the doctor asked, ignoring his last statement.

  Alex pursed his lips, remembering that she wasn’t detected by his flames.

  “I see. If so, then that’s enough.”

  The doctor used his bony hands to stab into his own heart.

  He ripped it out and held it in his skeletal grasp.

  Blood spilled from his mouth, trickling down the sides of his lips.

  Yet that didn’t stop the smile on his face.

  Pure amusement.

  Alex had a bad feeling.

  The flames lunged at him fiercely and swiftly.

  “Honestly, I wish I could see your face the day you figure it out. But I find my death far more enjoyable if I get to watch you dance around,” the doctor said as he slowly crushed his own heart.

  The flames were a step too late as they consumed his figure holding the crushed organ.

  “But letting you kill me would have soothed your wounded soul.

  So, Alex… tell the doctor where it hurts~”

  The doctor laughed maniacally as the flames melted him into ash.

  And he was right.

  Alex felt no sense of accomplishment.

  No relief.

  He was numb.

  And tired… very, very tired.

  [ Game instance cleared. ]

  [ The player will return in 30 seconds. ]

  [ Rewards have been distributed. ]

  The blood-red panel of the instance appeared.

  Alex glanced at it and said nothing.

  As expected, he still felt detached from reality.

  [ Congratulations, host. I wish you a happy life. ]

  The blue system panel appeared.

  Alex grunted in response, feeling like he forgot something.

  “Wait… what about Shae Harris?” Alex frowned and asked the system.

  It was of no use anymore.

  His vision darkened.

  He woke up in a familiar room that somehow felt distant.

  It was his room in the real world—the one that had plagued his dreams the first time, along with the memories of this life.

  “It’s time for breakfast,” he heard his mom’s voice from the other side of the door.

  His dad grumbled that he was probably still hungover.

  His mom walked away, berating his dad, their muffled conversation fading down the hall.

  It was at that moment, hearing his parents bicker, that he realized he was finally back.

  He was home.

  Alex lay down on his bed and sobbed as quietly as he could, fearing his parents would hear.

  If they asked about it, he didn’t think he could answer without scaring them with his anguish.

  So he curled onto his side and vented all his emotions beneath the blanket, hidden and shaking.

  In the safety of his home.

  His real home.