Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke opened his eyes to chaos. His mind was a tangle of information, a storm of static that refused to settle. Everything was scrambled. But one fact cut through the confusion like a blade: The Baumanns were gone. The Fifty One had triggered early.

He tried to move and smashed his shoulder against something solid. Darkness pressed in from every direction. No light, no space, not even the faint feedback of his perception. It was like being blindfolded and deafened at once.

A notification flickered into existence, the only point of light in the void.

[Your island’s challenge will begin in 1 minute. Be prepared… or don’t.]

He pushed against the walls closing around him, but it felt like he was trapped inside a coffin.

“Damn it,” he hissed, kicking hard. Nothing budged.

He tried summoning a throwing knife to break out, but the skill fizzled before even forming. Useless. Charlie had vanished with the others. So fast he hadn’t even thought to pull her into his soul space. He opened his interface, hoping for anything familiar, and was greeted by a giant error message.

What?

The system looked scrubbed clean. Everything was gone. All his info, his menus, even the little icons of Charlie and Angie that always sat in the corner of his screen. Wiped.

[Do you wish to unlock additional information about the Stages of the Planetary Event 51?]

The words Planetary Event glowed faintly. He couldn’t even open his notification history. With no other option, he clicked the only message left.

Event Stages: Sunken Realms

Three monumental stages will shape the fate of all participants in Sunken Realms. Each phase is a crucible of survival, strategy, and courage. As survivors advance, they approach the climax of the event, along with the fate that awaits them.

(Warning: These stages do not include details of the Special Event reserved for the 49% of humans originally non integrated or for Rank C participants in the frozen waters.)

The system separated us.

Stage 1: Island Challenge:

All system integrated humans belonging to the 51% and below Rank C will be scattered across unstable islands within the archipelago. Each island holds its own rules, dangers, and internal events. These islands are sinking, slowly being swallowed by an oceanic abyss. Only the strong survive.

Solo, cooperative, or team challenges await in each location. Every island contains a unique treasure, obtainable only by completing its signature event.

Survive the challenge and escape the island to advance to the next phase.

My island’s event is… Battle Royale.

He remembered that part. Right before blacking out, the challenge notification had been the last thing he saw besides the blue planet below him. He tried scrolling for the next stages, but they were locked. Then more notifications began dropping like falling guillotines:

[Your Level has been reduced to 50!]

[Your Rank has been reduced to F!]

“What?”

[Your Skills are being disabled!]

[Your Bloodline Skill is being disabled!]

[Your magical organs have been disabled!]

[Your Title has been disabled!]

[Eye of Sariel is locked!]

[Your Second Core is locked!]

[Your equipment has been removed!]

Line after line of system messages stripping him bare.

[All participants on the island have had their power levels adjusted to ensure equal footing during the event. Good luck.]

His hand shot to his neck, but the Artemis necklace was gone. He tried channeling mana, any mana at all. Nothing.

[Remainder: 5 seconds until Island Challenge begins!]

Luke clenched his teeth, rage, fear, and clarity slamming into him all at once.

“Where the hell is my family?!”

Island Challenge: Battle Royale

In this challenge, three thousand participants will be dropped from the sky onto the island below. Scattered across the terrain are countless loot chests containing weapons, armor, food, potions, and even power ups capable of granting new skills. There is only one objective for this first day: when the next twenty four hours end, no more than 2,500 participants may remain alive. If even one extra person survives, everyone on the island dies.

Good luck.

A deafening horn blared, and the hatch beneath Luke’s feet snapped open. He plunged into open air. Clouds swallowed him, cold wind tearing at his clothes. He glanced upward and caught a glimpse of a massive rectangular container fading out of existence the moment he dropped from it.

He tried to pull his cloak from his inventory. Nothing happened. “Damn system!”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

As he broke through the cloud layer, the world revealed itself, hundreds of shapes plummeting alongside him, some clustered together, others scattered across the sky like falling debris. On the horizon, endless ocean glimmered beneath the rising sun. Below him stretched a dense jungle dotted with ancient structures.

I’m going to die from fall damage?!

The ground rushed closer, then, suddenly, his descent softened. Some invisible force slowed his speed just enough to make survival possible. Luke angled his body toward the nearest rooftop, hit the surface hard, rolled, and stopped just shy of the edge.

All around him, other participants slammed into buildings, trees, or open dirt, some screaming all the way down. One fell past him and crashed onto a lower structure with a sickening thud.

Charlie, Eleanor, Evangeline, Jack… all gone in an instant. Are they here somewhere? Were they dropped too?

A translucent pane of light flickered to life in front of him.

His system interface had opened.

Name: Luke

Level: 50

Race: Half-Demon

Rank: F

Core: [Unavailable]

Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 50)]

2nd Class: [Arcane Witch (Lvl 50)]

Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 50)]

Titles: -

Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]

Health Points (HP): 4240/4240

Mana Points (MP): 4950/4950

Stamina: 2650/2650

Stats:

Strength: 373

Lethality: 681

Agility: 489

Dexterity: 285

Endurance: 265

Vitality: 424

Toughness: 142

Perception: 448

Wisdom: 495

Intelligence: 227

Willpower: 535

Free Points: 0

Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Basic Archery (Common)]

Second Class Skills: [Advanced Magic Conjuration (Uncommon)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)]

The interface hanging in his vision was hers, but warped, rewritten, gutted. Everything was gone. Completely wiped. Luke heard screaming erupting from different directions.

Objective: Remain among the living.

Living Participants: 2999 / 2500

(Warning: The number of living participants must reach 2500, or all of you will die when the 24-hour timer ends.)

Luke heard screams coming from all directions. He looked down and saw a corpse. Looks like one participant had already died.

On the street beneath him, three people sprinted toward a chest sitting out in the open.

“That chest is mine!” the one in the middle shouted.

“I saw it first!”

“Screw both of you, it’s whoever gets there!”

They shoved and tripped over each other like frantic animals. The middle one actually jumped on the guy ahead of him and bit his ear, while the third slipped past them and lunged for the chest.

“It was mine, you bastards!” he yelled, flipping the lid open—

A single arrow punched straight through his face. The man collapsed backward, dead before he hit the ground.

“He’s dead!” one of the others screamed.

“They killed him!”

More arrows rained down, and the two bolted in panic.

“Shit!” one yelled, hobbling as he dove into a nearby house.

“Help me!” the other cried, collapsing as an arrow tore through his leg, then two more found him in the next heartbeat.

Luke scanned the chaotic scene. People sprinted through broken windows, rustling through alleyways, stabbing each other, screaming. A miniature city tearing itself apart. He stepped back from the edge of the roof.

These clothes aren’t mine. My gear’s gone. The damn system nerfed me.

He wore something that reminded him of the training camp outfit from long ago. Utterly basic. Utterly useless. He shoved open the rooftop door and ran down the stairwell. The whole building shook with echoing screams and crashing footsteps. It felt like one of those old Maine towns he’d seen, except dropped into a forest and filled with lunatics.

A chest. I need a damn chest. Right now.

His skill list flashed through his mind. The only skills he still had were the most primitive versions: knife and dagger proficiency, archery basics, the ability to cast through a catalyst like a wand, and Identify. That was it. Everything else sealed.

Charlie is a vampire. If the system nerfed her too… how the hell is she supposed to handle this?

But something else gnawed even harder at him as he kicked open another door in the stairwell.

Is Charlie even on this island?

Three thousand participants. That’s all this challenge originally allowed. He had no guarantee she was here. No guarantee she was anywhere he could reach. And no guarantee she was alive.

Damn it, Charlie is weaker during the day. I need to find her fast if she’s even on this island.

And if she ended up somewhere else… in a challenge like this, would she even survive in daylight?

He clicked his tongue in frustration. This was the eighth door he’d checked, and every room had been empty. As he stepped toward the last one, someone burst out of it. A tall, broad man with a lumberjack beard and a shard of glass in his fist.

“It’s kill or be killed, I’m sorry!” he shouted as he charged.

Luke slipped past the first swipe, then the second, the jagged shard whistling past his face.

“I promise I’ll make it quick!” the man yelled.

Luke backed into a room, slammed the door into him, then yanked it open again and kicked him hard enough to throw him against the wall. The man tried to stab him, but Luke caught his wrist, forced it down, snapped the shard’s tip, and drove it straight into the man’s eye.

“You bastard! I’ll kill you slow!” the man screamed.

Luke answered with punches. One, then another, then another. When the man finally toppled backward, Luke tore the shard from his limp hand and stabbed his throat again and again.

[You have slain a Human…]

No soul fragment. Even that was blocked.

He rose, gripping the blood slick shard.

“I’m not dying here,” he muttered, sprinting down the hallway.

He descended another flight of stairs. Through a broken window he spotted houses below. One burned in bright orange flames. In another yard, a man drowned someone by forcing his face into a water barrel.

Objective: Remain among the living.

Participants Alive: 2973 / 2500

Luke kept moving. The entire building was empty. Whenever he heard screams or metal clashing in the distance, the conclusion grew clearer: everyone here was like him.

Killers. Veterans. People with systems, probably level fifty or higher, forced into a nerfed state but still used to butchering their way forward. They were used to death.

He tried to parse the challenge’s logic. He’d been thrown into a pool of predators. The odds of running into someone like Jack are tiny. He reached a room where a fallen tree trunk bridged the gap between two buildings. He climbed it and dashed across.

Crouching inside the next room, he pressed his ear to the door. Someone was out there, rummaging through rooms. Luke waited silently while the person drew closer. When they reached his door, he braced. The door burst inward with a kick.

“Damn it, where’s the stupid chest?” the stranger complained. As he turned, Luke grabbed him from behind.

“No, no, wait!”

Luke jammed the shard into his neck and stabbed until the body went limp.

[You have slain a Human…]

Angie was on the other side of the planet when the damn Event 51 started. What’s going to happen to her? Is she going to be just as far away here too? And my family, are they somewhere dangerous?

He needed to get off that island.

Outside, it’s a damn ocean. So now what?