After Betrayal, I Awoke as the Game's Final Boss

"Alright! Alright! I'm fine... Stop shaking me, you'll break me!" Lloyd rasped, his voice low as he tried to suppress the intense pain radiating from Gorlam's powerful grip.

Still, it was a testament to the Tower Supervisor's incredible finesse. He had masterfully controlled his strength, reining it in just enough to avoid obliterating the young master before him. A single sneeze from a being of his caliber could have wiped Lloyd from existence.

"Ah? Right... My apologies," Gorlam stammered. He tried to resume his formal posture, but a deep sense of embarrassment clung to him. His heavy gaze darted between the floor and Lloyd's face, as if he couldn't quite process what was happening.

"I... I didn't expect you to be... like this," Gorlam finally managed, his tone a mixture of bewilderment and apology. He seemed at a loss, confronted with a situation so far removed from his expectations.

Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"Whatever. I'll figure it out later. Right now, I have to deal with this monster in front of me."

"So I get to keep it, right?" Lloyd murmured, unable to tear his gaze from the gleaming, blood-red jewel.

Something within it called to him, a whisper in his mind, a breath that matched his own, a pulse that seemed to beat his name.

To be fair, he wasn't the only one ensnared. Even Gorlam couldn't wrench his eyes away, as if the gem were drawing the very spirits of all who saw it into its crimson depths.

"Ahem... Young Master..." Gorlam began, his voice hesitant as if the words were a great weight. "Ordinarily, the Duke of Eastern Chaos would have been the one to bestow this item upon you. However, for some reason... there has been a change of plans."

Lloyd raised a single eyebrow, his voice laced with faint mockery. "Oh? You mean the First Master of the Training Tower? A change of plans, you say?"

Gorlam nodded slowly, as if gathering the courage for his next words. "Yes, Your Grace... In truth, you were never meant to be on this planet at all. The summons was scheduled to place you near 'Millennium'... the true capital of the Legacy. But the Legacy—" he hesitated, then continued in a low voice, "—it acted of its own accord. In a way that cannot be explained."

"Huh? Isn't that a good thing?" Lloyd asked, looking up toward the gray sky visible above the tower. "I mean, I don't understand everything, but the System told me a few things. From the sound of it, I think it made the right call, don't you?"

A heavy silence descended.

Lloyd turned his eyes back to Gorlam. "Come on, man... spit it out," he said, his tone weary, but beneath his ribs, his heart hammered. He had a feeling... that what was coming was anything but simple.

Gorlam finally sighed. "On the one hand... yes. You could say the System defied the will of the Ancestor 'Amora' to a degree... and saved you from a host of terrifying troubles. But on the other hand..."

"It messed with your plans?"

"...And with the plans of the Leaders," Gorlam finished, his voice laced with concern.

"How?" Lloyd asked, a cold dread creeping in. The troubles he had escaped might be nothing compared to what awaited him now.

"You were supposed to undergo a series of trials tailored specifically for you, in a controlled environment, under our watchful eyes, and with the support of an elite retinue of Legacy Masters. A place filled with treasures, yes... but also with ancient nightmares, creatures that have slumbered for millennia, waiting for you and you alone."

The air between them seemed to freeze, and goosebumps rose on Lloyd's arms.

"But now, with the System's intervention... all those things... are no longer waiting in their designated places. Some of them, Your Grace, have begun to move."

"..." Lloyd didn't reply. His gaze was no longer on the jewel, but fixed directly on Gorlam.

"You mean I'm... being hunted?"

"I mean that some nightmares... don't need an invitation to wake up. And now, with you off the designated path, no one truly knows which door might open first."

Lloyd glanced at the jewel again. It wasn't just gleaming anymore. Now, it seemed... to be smiling.

"Now what?" Lloyd muttered under his breath. His eyes were still nailed to the jewel, but his mind was in another place entirely.

A volatile mix of anxiety and rage began to boil in his chest, like a ladle of magma poured onto an already smoldering fire.

He was furious.

Furious at this damned "game" that refused to give him a single moment to breathe.

A game?

No... this absurd world!

Every time he thought he understood something, a new truth would emerge to flip the table, turning him into a tiny chess piece moved by forces far greater than he could imagine.

Even after all this? After the bloody battles and the blood he'd shed? There was still something worse?

"Actually, Your Grace..." Gorlam began quietly, as if trying to soften the coming blow. "This planet... is not as weak as you believe."

Lloyd turned slowly, his voice taut but chillingly calm. "What? The System... it explicitly told me this planet doesn't even rate half a star. So... is it a one-star?"

His whisper was barely audible, but it landed like a dagger in Gorlam's ear. He hesitated before answering.

From the information the System had flooded his mind with when he turned sixteen, "Aurora" was supposed to be a fledgling planet on the fringe of the Nascent Planetary Belt. At its absolute peak, it might reach a one or two-star classification. That was its ceiling, and most of its inhabitants barely reached the fourth stage of transcendence.

And him?

He was a prince of the "Silent Night" clan, a power that controlled seven three-star planets and was based in the heart of the Central Planetary Belt. His mere presence on a planet like Aurora should have been a form of exile, or even a punishment.

But now? It was even worse!

He was a fugitive!

A damned fugitive! On the run not just from Millennium, but from the entire Central Planetary Belt!

The idea that Aurora could surpass a two-star classification and join the Central Belt had never even crossed his mind!

Didn't that mean he was somehow close to the Silent Night clan?

"Damn it..." he snarled under his breath. "Are you kidding me?"

Gorlam looked away for a moment, as if unable to meet Lloyd's eyes. "The System... wasn't entirely lying. The planet is still classified as part of the Nascent Belt... but it is currently experiencing a tear in its planetary matrix."

Lloyd's brow furrowed. "A tear?"

"Elemental bleed, sub-gates opening, the emergence of relics whose energy levels do not belong here... None of this is natural. The planet has begun to awaken, Your Grace."

Lloyd fell silent for a long moment, tasting his own words, imagining the scale of what was happening.

Slowly, an idea sparked in his mind.

"That means..." he said, his voice faint, "I'm not the only outsider here, am I?"

Gorlam gave a silent, grim nod.

"How many?"

"We don't know yet. But the Legacy believes... that at least two other major beings were summoned to this planet along with you. Perhaps more."

Lloyd's hand clenched into a fist.

"Interesting... A planet suddenly evolving to a two-star class or less... means more excitement... don't you agree?"

"Fine... So be it," he finally declared, pressing the gem into his chest, where it slowly dissolved into his flesh.

"Then let's play."