Dimitri had no idea how much time had passed. He was in a dark vacuum, moving at a speed his brain couldn't even register.
Well, it wasn't like he even had a brain anymore, he was dead anyway.
'Died on the first day of regression.'
After what felt like an eternity, a speck of light appeared before his eyes. It quickly zoomed in, looking like a seed waiting to sprout.
He saw it become a sapling, then a little plant with a few leaves before transforming into a massive tree that stretched as far as his vision could reach.
Then the surroundings changed. The space shifted into a three-dimensional scene, with him as an omniscient observer.
He watched the tree's roots descend and coil around a beating heart. The branches extended in all directions, oddly resembling human veins.
Then his vision shifted again.
With the tree at the centre, countless bubbles of unnatural life energy floated in an endless space. Each bubble was connected to the tree's branches, wrapped in a protective embrace of leaves—shielded from whatever lay beyond.
Then the scene changed. Dimitri found himself staring into a mirror.
A stranger, but oddly familiar figure, stared back at him. Dark golden hair cascaded past his shoulders, and a pair of crescent-shaped golden pupils contracted in surprise.
"Diamantakos?"
Why was the man in the reflection following his lip movements?
Dimitri covered his mouth in terror as the man in the mirror repeated the action.
"How did I become you?"
Dimitri felt his world tilt, nausea rising in his throat. He glanced around, but there was only himself and this mirror, in a space that blurred and flickered like a hologram.
[It is your dream realm.]
"Wha…"
His eyes blurred again. The scenery around him changed.
Now he floated above a concrete building, watching someone turn and run in panic with a disgusted expression.
Wait…
Wasn't that someone himself?
How could he see himself running away from himself?
Again, wait…
His hands moved without his command.
Dimitri watched in horror as an arc of invisible spectrum rushed out of his fingers, slicing the fleeing version of himself clean in two.
"Shit, that hurt more the second time."
The world shimmered again, and he found himself staring at the figure in the mirror once more.
A bright light glimmered in his chest. Dimitri instantly understood what was happening.
'I'm forming an alignment…'
[Your heart is being connected to the Star Line.]
'I'm inside his body now…'
[Congratulations! You've formed an Alignment.]
'…And I'm going to have his alignment.'
[Alignment: Endless Death]
[Variable: N]
[Every death of yours will become your power. The more unique and gruesome the cause, the greater the power.]
'The power he had before… will become mine.'
Dimitri blinked. The mirror dissolved into shards of light, each spinning and orbiting around him like fragments of starlight.
They twisted in a way his eyes pained to follow, shaping into something square. A card.
[Congratulations! You have died once again.]
[Albeit your death wasn't special or gruesome, it's a death after all.]
[You have obtained a card.]
[Quality: Epic]
[Card Name: Spectral Arc Slash]
------> Original Quality: Legendary
------> Current Quality: Common (0/100)
------> MD: ×10
------> MM: ×10
------> Type: Attack (Psychology)
------> Aspect(s): [Mirror Execution] → Summon a spectral arc that targets enemies through their subconscious guilt and fear. Increases magic damage up to 2× with increased guilt and fear.
"Endless… death…" he muttered, letting the words roll off his tongue as if testing their weight.
He remembered the fear in the eyes of other players when they spoke about Diamantakos.
The Death Spiral.
The man who never lost a fight.
The one who fed on pain to evolve.
No one believed he was a player. He wasn't an inhabitant, and he wasn't a Mirage.
They thought he was a glitch in the Star Line. An NPC with bugged, overpowered strength. He disappeared after the merge of the game, stamping their assumptions as truth.
Was that true?
No. Dimitri was a hundred percent sure.
Because he saw him once… and he killed him once.
Dimitri trembled.
If that man had the [Endless Death] alignment back then, why didn't he appear again after that death?
That was the last time that man ever appeared in the world.
'So Diamantakos in the past had a different alignment…'
Dimitri took a deep breath.
'So the power I have now is… mine. Mine only.'
So then… who was he now?
He looked down at his hands, then up ahead to the dark space, his dream realm. A name suddenly came to his tongue, and he allowed himself to say it aloud.
"Dimitrios Diamantakos."
For the first time in either of his lives, Dimitri felt a quiet clarity.
He had lost everything before.
He had wasted his prophetic powers.
He had died, alone and meaningless.
But this time…
He had a second chance.
He had a power that grew stronger with every end.
He smiled.
It wasn't just a grin of confidence.
It was a promise.
"To die is to power… huh?"
He clenched his fists.
"And the power to kill..."
*<->*
[Dimitrios Diamantakos]
Alignment: Endless Death
Branches: N
Rank: Seeker
Ring (S): Red (0%)
Mana: 400
[Deck(s)]
------> Deck 1:(Name Pending)
{ 1: [Spectral Arc Slash]}
[Stats]
-------> Physical Stats
{ Strength (STR): 30
Defence (DEF): 30
Agility (AGI): 30
Endurance (END): 100
Perception (PER): 30 }
--------> Combined Stats
{ Health Points: 10* END: 1000
Magic damage: 10* STR: 300
Magic defence: 10* DEF: 300
Magic movement: 10* AGI: 300
Magic scope: 10* PER: 300
*<->*
With this his body was pulled by an invisible force. When he opened his eyes, he was on a room. A king sized bed lay behind him, but his eyes were on the mirror.
And on the patches of healed wounds.
"Is this body of a human?" was his last words before an overwhelming amount of memory rushed into his mind.