"The surge of information slammed into me, a tidal wave of power and knowledge that left me reeling. Then, blinding light. A window popped into my vision, a stark, digital display: 'A MALEVOLENT ENTITY HAS CHOSEN YOU. RANK: EQ+++.'
EQ+++?! That was... insane. That was top tier. But before I could process it, I was back. Back in the alley. Back to the moment the spear pierced my stomach. But something was different. The pain was gone. I could move. And Grand... Grand was glowing. A golden aura shimmered around him, radiating power. He looked like a goddamn paladin. And then I saw it. The lizardman. Lifeless. Its reptilian eyes were glazed over, its massive body crumpled on the grimy pavement. I was alive. Grand was glowing. And the lizardman was dead. What the hell just happened?"
"Grand noticed me then, his golden aura flickering slightly. His eyes widened, shock and disbelief warring on his face. "Rack! How… how did you survive?" His voice was a shaky whisper. And then, just like that, the killer's edge vanished. The golden aura dimmed, and his posture shifted, becoming almost childlike. "Rack, you're okay! Oh my god, you're okay!" He rushed towards me, his earlier ferocity replaced by an almost giddy relief. "I thought… I thought you were…" He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. It was a bizarre whiplash. One moment, he was a glowing warrior, the next, he was my scared, slightly goofy friend again."
"I laughed, a little too loud, a little too shaky. "Me? Die? From one measly stab? Please, Grand. I'm the best apocalypse-type player there is! I'm practically invincible!" I clapped him on the shoulder, trying to sound confident. But inside, my head was spinning. EQ+++? A malevolent entity? It had to be a mistake. A glitch in the system. Some cosmic error from the reaper. I mean, seriously, even a direct miracle from God himself wouldn't have saved me from that spear. It had to be the reaper screwing up. What else could it be?"
Then, just as I was about to ask him if he'd gotten any weird windows or system alerts, anything at all out of the ordinary...a horde of lizardmen burst into the alleyway. Grand, his eyes widening, started counting, his voice rising with each number. "Forty... fifty... sixty... eighty! We're dead!" But I just chuckled, a low, dangerous sound. "Eighty? Grand, please. I'm EQ+++ rank. We're not dead. They are.
Then, just as I was about to ask him if he'd gotten any weird windows or system alerts, anything at all out of the ordinary, I felt this strange urge. This… power. EQ+++. 100 trillion times stronger than a normal human. Instant mastery of mythical elements. I stretched out my hands, and this immense, swirling dark energy erupted from me. It was raw, untamed, and… mine. Before me, the energy coalesced into a strange formation: a triangle, a circle, and a square, all nested within each other. It was… familiar. Disturbingly so. It was then that a weird thought popped into my head. Squid Game. What the hell did squid game have to do with this?