Chapter Text
Thud.
"Ugh!"
Her body landed on the hard ground.
Vision was blurry.
An annoying ringing in her ears.
There was only the light of the moon.
Hyuna's eyes widened.
Shoulders tensed.
(Where am I?)
She winced when the ringing finally stopped.
A whine.
She rubbed her eyes in a rush and glanced to her right.
"Blood..."she mumbled under a shaky breath.
A man dressed in black with a mask covering his face was badly hurt.
Her breath hitched.
But the real shock came when she spotted him.
He stood atop the church, tall and commanding.
His silver hair shimmered in the moonlight, framing a face with crimson eyes that locked onto her with unnerving intensity.
Even from above, his broad shoulders and confident stance radiated power and control.
A red mist curled around him, betraying the latent threat he carried. Calm yet magnetic, terrifying yet alluring.
(Red eyes? Silver hair?)
Their eyes met.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped. Her trembling ceased, replaced by a surreal wonder.
"Sylus?" she breathed.
A million thoughts ran through her mind.
( Isekai? Reicarnation? Possession? No way...)
She looked at her hands and clothes.
(I have possessed the main character?!)
She blinked in disbelief and could only meet his gaze with a dropped jaw.
Two voices distracted her from her thoughts.
"Kidnapping Onychinus's prey without letting us know...That is not very polite".
"She is ours , by the way. We called dibs a long time ago".
Hyuna scrambled to her feet, turning to face them.
They were indistinguishable.
Masked silhouettes of the same height and slender frame, all clad in matching, black leather.
(Luke and Kieran!)
"You!" The man raged, blood still running down his cheeks.
He lunged with a hidden knife but never reached her.
The red mist lashed out like a whip, slamming him back into the dirt.
The twins turned their full attention to her.
"I'm really curious," one said, the mask failing to hide the smirk in his voice.
"What will she do when backed into a corner?"
"What indeed?" the other echoed, punctuating the thought with a casual kick to the fallen man's ribs, drawing a wet grunt of pain.
Everything felt so unreal.
One moment she was doing her dailies in-game and the next she was looking at her fictional husbando, Sylus.
(...This...is...awesome! But how do I handle this?)
The twins approached her, their teasing tone evident.
"You are pretty bold for releasing information about the Aether core in the Nest like that", Kieran said.
Luke with a playful lean studied her face.
"Explains why boss is interested," he added.
Hyuna's eyes fell on the man.
"Ha..hah!" the man laughed hysterically and rose from the ground with a gun in hand.
He pointed it at Hyuna.
"But the Aether core is mine!"
Bang.
Hyuna knew what would follow. Her eyes closed shut.
(Sylus came down already! Enough aura farming!)
A chill wind whipped past her.
She opened her eyes to a display of pure, crimson power.
The bullet hung in mid-air, caught in a web of red mist.
With a series of sharp cracks, it shattered into a million pieces.
Her heart skipped a beat at the sight.
The man was being held above the ground , his hands and legs swallowed by the red mist.
She backed away with a loud gasp.
The twins were delighted and entertained by their boss's new plaything.
Luke waved while Kieran laughed it off.
The red mist covered more and more of the man's body.
"Ugh! Ngh!" he winced in pain.
Just like the bullet the next moment he was gone into thin air.
Just like in the game, the nearby bell of the church started ringing.
It was really him.
Her mouth was half open, her eyes full of awe, her heart beating out of her chest.
"He is..." she muttered.
(Dead...Just like in the cutscenes.)
Then Mephisto, his mechanical crow, flew above her head , making her watch his movements instead.
(My god...I almost forgot the sassy crow buddy.)
Sylus took two slow steps ahead but instead of falling he teleported at the ground, only a few meters away from her.
Her mind exploded.
(He is coming?! DADDY?!OMG! DADDY! OMG HE IS APPROACHING! HELP! HELP! AHHHHH!)
Internally, she was ascending to another plane of existence.
Externally, she clung to her years of customer service experience like a life raft, forcing her face into a neutral, slightly confused mask.
Sylus tilted his head toward the bird on his shoulder.
"Take out the vermin still running around," he ordered calm, elegant, commanding, magnetic.
His voice was everything the game promised.
"Yes, sir," Luke and Kieran answered in unison before vanishing into the night.
Mephisto flew past them to lead the way.
(I AM ASCENDING!)
His steps were slow and certain. His face unreadable. A huff escaped his lips.
Panic kicked in.
(Should I act like the MC? Think, Hyuna! Why was she here? The Core... the link... the experiments...)
Her brain, usually full of lore, was currently short-circuiting over his physical presence.
She straightened her posture, trying to find her voice.
"I came here for the Aether Core," she said, her voice steadier than she had any right to be.
He leaned closer.
"Even if you wanted to sell your soul , you still have to find someone who can pay the price," he said in a low tone.
Hyuna's spirit almost flew away this time.
The next thing she knew , he gently but firmly cupped her chin and titled her head to face him fully.
"Look at me," he commanded.
"A-Ah...Alright? I am looking."
In her mind she was totally barking like a dog.
His right eye flared brightly.
He attempted to look in her soul, her desire.
Hyuna felt a flush creep up her neck.
His hand was warm, his skin calloused and hard.
She hoped that he wouldn't see her internal fangirling.
His power made her feel hot. Too hot.
If she opened her mouth again, all her secrets would just spill out.
She knew that she needed to express something, anything , to distract him.
"I..."
But before she could answer to his call, a sting in her head shattered the connection.
"It hurts!"
It happened just like in-game.
Memories flooded her mind.
Voices started whispering in her mind.
"It's yours! Take it! Devour him! Devour him! You must....kill him!"
Her body was telling her to kill him. To hurt him.
(You are ruining my moment!) she roared back.
(I will never hurt him! Fuck you! This desire isn't mine! It is not mine!)
Her hand shook with a borrowed murderous intent.
She saw the knife of the unknown, dead man forgotten on the ground.
Hyuna grabbed it but instead of swinging at him, she drove the blade deep into the earth, her knuckles turning white.
Sylus's lips curled into a dangerous, magnetic smirk.
"Is this how you treat a new friend?"
He huffed with dark sarcasm.
"I guess you don't remember anything."
Hyuna took a deep , shuddering breath before meeting his gaze again.
She could keep pretending to be Mc but...
It would just buying her some time.
She didn't want to lie to him.
"That...is not it!"
(But...I also can't tell him the truth. He may lose it! I am just a stranger to him.)
He suddenly moved, his hand snaking out to catch her by the throat.
"Allow me to jog your memory," he rasped.
"From your past to your future...To even all the crimes you will inevitably commit. After all, you and I...we are the same. True kindred spirits."
It was a realization that settled into her bones with a heavy finality.
He wasn't looking at her.
Sylus was looking through her, searching for a ghost she wasn't.
Her hands flew to his wrist, fingers digging into the fabric of his sleeve as she struggled.
She knew that he did act impulsively like this at the start.
His expression was cold but his eyes betrayed him. There was anger, hurt, desperation for recognition, for control over something that he couldn't control.
It was not right but she understood why he lashed out this way.
Hyuna knew why.
She knew he would let go.
"You won't find... what you're looking for..." she managed to choke out, "if you just... attack me!"
(Bad dragon! Bad dragon! I will! I will...)
She felt the hand around her neck loosen but her consciousness was already fading.
The last thing she saw before the world went black was the glow of that single, searching red eye.