The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

”Emy! You forgot the boss’s mid-grade Soul Stone — how did you let me leave without—” Max stepped through the ruined doorway with two members of the Black Crow Gang at his back.

Ravian went still.

In his current state, he couldn’t move a single finger.

[Process completion: 50%]

The moment Max and the others entered, they froze as well.

A corpse lay sprawled across the floor. From the clothes alone, it was easy to tell who it had once been.

Emy.

Their companion had withered into something almost unrecognizable — no color left in her flesh, no warmth, no trace of life. She looked as though every last drop of vitality had been wrung out of her entirely.

And on the bed, an eighteen-year-old young man sat quietly, holding the boss’s mid-grade Soul Stone in his hand.

Most of its power had already been drained.

”Damn it — Emy!” Thomas, one of the two men behind Max, lurched toward the body with a strangled shout. But the instant his fingers brushed her skin, the corpse collapsed into ash.

His face went the color of old chalk.

A heartbeat later, he scrambled backward on all fours, terror pulling his features apart.

”H-He drained her, Boss — he drained Emy completely until she turned to ash. He’s a monster—” His voice cut off.

Because Max’s expression was far more terrifying than the corpse had been.

To Max, Emy had never been just another member of the gang. Seeing her reduced to a lifeless husk made something dark and murderous ignite in his eyes — and it was all he could do not to rush forward and tear the boy apart with his bare hands right then.

Ravian watched them in silence.

Somewhere deep inside him... there was regret.

Endless, immediate regret.

He had been careless. Too impatient, too greedy. He had destroyed his own opportunity with his own hands.

And now Ravian was fairly certain his fate had already been decided.

[Process completion: 70%]

Still, there was hope. Thin, fragile, almost laughable — but it was there.

And Ravian did not give up.

At last, Max tore his gaze away from Emy’s remains.

”Lucas,” he said, his voice low.

The second man flinched.

Lucas seemed newer than the others. He was shaken — not so much by Emy’s death as by what Ravian had apparently done to produce it.

”Yes, Boss Max?”

”Take Thomas and Emy’s remains. Leave.”

[Process completion: 80%]

”Y-Yes, Boss.” Lucas nudged Thomas with his foot, snapping him out of his stupor. Then he wrapped what remained of Emy in Ravian’s bed sheet, hauled Thomas upright, and hurried out with the remains.

Only Max stayed behind.

His eyes never left Ravian.

”What did you do—” He stopped.

”No. Why did you do it?”

’Better self-control than I expected,’ Ravian thought. ’That works for me.’

Although he still couldn’t move, his voice came out steady.

”You’re asking why?” Ravian tilted his head slightly. ”Where should I even begin?”

His gaze drifted toward the ashes on the floor.

”Emy was never loyal to you. She smiled at your face, took advantage of your trust, and came to me whenever it suited her. Don’t you think someone like that deserved a fitting end?”

Max stared at him.

”...What?” For the first time since entering the room, something in him wavered.

Ravian was not lying. Fragments of the previous Ravian’s memories were clear enough to confirm it. Emy had approached him more than once — each time wearing a different mask, each time wanting ’something’ different.

[Process completion: 90%]

Ravian watched the confusion spreading across Max’s face. The man looked as though something inside him had cracked along an old fault line he hadn’t known was there.

So Ravian smiled, and pushed a little further.

”Did you truly never notice? Or did you simply choose not to look? Didn’t you wonder why she came to me alone as often as she did? Didn’t you ever ask yourself what for?”

His eyes swept across the ruined room before coming back to Max.

”Forget that. Tell me something else.” The smile deepened.

”How do you think someone as weak as me managed to kill her so easily?”

Max’s pupils trembled.

”It’s simple. She let her guard down. She was careless. She came closer than she should have.” Ravian’s voice softened.

”I’m sure you can guess the rest.”

Max looked as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The worst part was that every word sounded entirely possible — and that only fed the thing burning behind his eyes.

”You bastard...” Max’s voice cracked under the weight of his own fury.

”You turned her against me — and then you killed her?!”

He drew the sword at his waist and lunged.

[Process completion: 100%]

[Awakening process complete.]

[The host has fully awakened.]

[The first Gate of Sovereign Pride has opened.]

All at once, the paralysis binding Ravian vanished.

Max’s movements slowed in his eyes — not because Max had become slower, but because his rage had made him too direct, and Ravian’s newly awakened senses could now read the full arc of the attack before it arrived.

Ravian shifted slightly to the left, clearing the descending slash with a precise, minimal movement.

Then he caught Max’s sword arm with his right hand, pulled it forward, locked it in place with his left—

And drove his knee upward.

Crack.

The impact landed directly in the center of Max’s arm. The limb bent inward at an angle it was never meant to reach.

”Argh—!” Max’s scream tore out of him.

Ravian stripped the sword from his loosened grip and raised it.

Shlick.

He drove the blade straight through Max’s throat — through the front and out the back.

”Hrk—!” Max choked, both hands flying to his neck, fingers wrapping uselessly around the steel.

Ravian watched him stumble. Watched him spend his final seconds crawling, as though distance from the wound could somehow change what was already done.

”Next time,” Ravian said quietly.

”Don’t waste time talking to someone you’ve already decided to kill.”

He scratched the back of his head.

”Ah. Right. I forgot.” A faint smile.

”There won’t be a next time. My mistake.”

Max’s body twitched once.

Then it went still.

Silence settled back over the ruined room.

For a moment, Ravian simply stood there looking at the blood spreading slowly beneath Max’s body. His awakening was done. His first real fight was done. And somehow, against the particular odds of the last several minutes, he was still alive.

Then the system spoke again.

[Ding!]

[The bearer of Sovereign Pride has entered the Tenth Rank and become Awakened.]

[As a result, the host has obtained the Sovereign Pride Physique — Basic Grade.]

[Ability obtained upon entering the Awakened rank: Sovereign Pulse.]

[Description: Allows the host to release a sovereign pulse that uses soul power to permanently build and strengthen the body. Can be used once per day.]

[The first page of the Gate of Awakening has been completed.]

[Host is advised to consume sufficient resources and study the Book of Sovereign Pride in order to reveal the conditions for opening the second Gate.]

[Next Gate: Ninth Rank — Walker.]

Ravian read through the words inside his mind.

And honestly — he understood almost none of them.

The names sounded important. Extremely important. But importance without understanding was worthless, and before he took another step forward, he needed to learn about this world’s power system properly — its ranks, its rules, its limits, and whatever dangers were hidden behind every title the system had just shown him.

However — that did not mean he would refuse an extra reward.

His gaze shifted in the direction the other two gang members had fled.

Then it came back to Max’s corpse, still face-down in its own blood.

Ravian moved quickly — crouching beside the body and searching it without hesitation. A moment later, his fingers closed around the leather pouch tied to Max’s waist. He took it and stood.

His newly awakened body felt light in a way he hadn’t expected. As if even the air had become easier to move through.

He glanced back at the room one last time.

Ashes. Blood. A ruined bed. The remains of a life the previous owner of this body had never managed to escape.

His expression turned cold.

He couldn’t afford loose ends. If Lucas and Thomas reached the Black Crow Gang with a clear story, every alley in this district would become a hunting ground — and Ravian would be the prey.

He stepped over Max’s corpse and walked to the door.

Then, without looking back, he went after them.