Gacha System in a Game-Like World

As the Generals approached each other, Tony’s instincts screamed that nothing about this current development was right. Yet, for some reason, he, as well as Kratos, remained calm and watched.

The moment the three mutated Generals reached one another, every muscle in his body tensed.

"What are they doing?" he muttered, the words coming out in the briefest intervals one after another.

As expected, there was no answer to his question. Instead, what happened next answered his question.

The swollen bodies of the three monster Generals moved like puppets whose strings were being pulled by an unseen hand. Black blood dropped from their grotesque limbs as they stepped into position.

The rabbit, the goblin, and the arachnid — all three of them — each stretched out trembling hands towards themselves as their claws clashed against each other.

CLANG!

A defeating metallic chime sounded immediately after they clanged, reverberating throughout the temple. Beneath the feet of the monsters, a gigantic triangular matrix erupted into existence.

Unlike every magic circle Tony had seen until now, this one didn’t possess any rune or look like it was a formation. Its three sides, instead, continuously shifted and shifted, forming symbols that vanished before his eyes could understand them.

This process continued until the symbols’ appearance seemed to steady, and the entire hall trembled.

"Kratos!" Tony barked.

Kratos didn’t respond, the fury in him still pushing his actions as he shot forward first. His twin katanas blurred as he unleashed a cross-shaped slash toward the trio.

Tony nodded. Kratos had acted accordingly.

A heartbeat after Kratos moved, Tony followed, thrusting his sword straight toward the center of the triangle. However, neither of their attacks was effective... or simply put, neither attack landed.

Just as they descended upon the monster Generals, the triangular matrix beneath their feet pulsed once and—

BOOM!

The world around them shattered.

***

Tony staggered the moment his feet touched solid ground.

"Huh?"

He looked beneath him to see that this was no ordinary solid ground. At least, it didn’t belong to the temple hall they had been in seconds ago. His surroundings had entirely changed.

An endless plain of polished white marble stretched in every direction, reflecting everything above it like a perfect mirror.

Suspended above his head was a crimson sky, and at its center hung a black sun, whose surface was slowly rotating while crimson lightning crawled across it without producing a single sound. More like a toothless gear.

That wasn’t all.

His eyes flashed, and his gaze narrowed at what was happening.

Broken temple pillars were floating upside down throughout the sky, drifting lazily here and there in an unorganized fashion.

And, the air was warm but unusually heavy. It smelled strongly of fresh blood.

The moment Tony finished taking in these details, his breathing almost ceased.

"What..."

His words halted themselves unwillingly as he spun around to see that the temple was really gone. Everything had vanished in an instant, including—

"Kratos?" he called and received no answer.

"...Kratos!" he called again, his voice echoing endlessly before being swallowed by silence.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Once the echo of his voice receded, he had creeping footsteps approaching from nowhere in particular. Instinctively, his grip tightened around his sword.

The air distorted before him. Black mist gathered into an enormous silhouette, and from the mist, the creature-owner of the footsteps slowly emerged.

Tony’s pupils shrank.

"What. The. Hell?"

Everything about this creature was nothing but creepy in every sense.

It stood nearly four meters tall, its head resembling that of an enormous rabbit skull that was stretched into a horrifying grin, exposing rows upon rows of jagged fangs instead of the former herbivore teeth.

Two crimson rabbit eyes burned at the center of its face. Surrounding the eyes were another eight smaller emerald eyes that constantly shifted independently, leaving no blind spot.

A crystalline black horn protruded from its forehead, leaking smoke-like darkness.

The more Tony studied the creature that had materialized before him, the more weariness he felt. And yet, he continued to take note of every description since he thought it would help him defeat the monster if he would be able to.

The black mist cleared, making it visible enough.

Its upper body was grotesquely muscular, covered by overlapping black chitin that merged seamlessly with dark green flesh.

Four massive arms extended from its torso. Each of them ended in ugly, goblin-like claws but long enough to even tear a steel apart.

Tony gulped.

Behind its back sprouted six gigantic spider legs that stabbed into the marble floor with a sharp metallic click despite supporting no visible weight. Its abdomen too seemed to be protected by thick armored plates while crimson veins pulsed beneath them like living snakes.

When the creature inhaled, its chest expanded. However, when it exhaled, three different sounds escaped simultaneously from its maw: a rabbit’s shriek, a goblin’s malicious laugh, and the clicking hiss of a monstrous spider.

’Three in one?’ Tony surmised, the combined voices sending chills racing down his spine as he took some steps backward.

’I definitely can’t let this thing have any sort of advantage against me. That will be my end. Ew.’

His heel clicked into a halt as he looked around one more time.

Then—

"Keh... Keh... Keh..."

The fused monster laughed a laugh that echoed endlessly across the white world.

"So, you truly believed that you have defeated us!"

Tony chose to listen silently for now.

The monster slowly spread its four arms like an orchestral director and continued.

"What admirable confidence. What magnificent stupidity."

Certain that only he — and this monster — was alone in this white world, Tony summoned the courage to regain his cracked composure and asked.

"What did you do?"

The monster put its arms down and tilted its head to the creature speaking to him. The human who was standing barely over to its knee.

"What happened to my mate?" Tony asked again. "What happened to Kratos? Where is he?"

For a brief moment, the monster blinked. Whether out of surprise for Tony’s question or the sheer courage to even speak, it was not clear what its reason was. However, it burst into a louder laughter the next instant.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Humans You lots truly are the most confusing race."

It lowered one claw, pointing it directly at Tony.

"One moment, you slaughter one another over greed. The next minute, you pretend to cherish each other’s lives."

It revealed every one of its countless fangs.

"Young ladling, will you deny this fact?"

Tony stood rooted to a place, the chills still running down his spine.

But something hit him.

This monster was correct.

Was that not how life had been in his previous world? Had even his parents not done things, pretending to care for him so that he could take over them when he grew? Had they not done that all out of their own selfish interests?

Was it not selfishness that made some girls chase after boys because of money, all in pretense? Were all these not actually true?

He lowered his head as the thoughts rigmaroled in his mind.

But... but he met a different life here.

The two people surrounding him — Sandra and Kratos — are different. It was still shocking until this moment how Sandra remained with the previous Tony even with all challenges, but still...

The monster’s reverberating voice interrupted his thoughts. Its emerald eyes glowed brighter.

"Worry about yourself."

"But still..." Tony attempted to mutter with jittering eyes, still fixed to the ground, when he was interrupted again.

"I shall grant you one final reward before your death," it said with a grin widened impossibly further. "Remember the name of the one who shall devour your existence.

"It will be an honor, won’t it? To be bestowed such a blessing by this beautiful being!"

Tony’s eyes were still shaky and looking to the ground. He was not paying rapt attention anymore. A cloud of thoughts had now fogged his mind.

In that moment the monster finished speaking; its killing intent erupted. The white marble beneath Tony’s feet exploded into countless cracks.

"I am..."

"Wait!" Tony spoke all of a sudden, slowly raising his head up to look up at the monster.

***

Elsewhere, there was silence.

Kratos stood motionlessly while his gaze did the motion as they swept across his surroundings.

Unlike the temple, this place possessed neither walls nor a ceiling. Instead, endless black stone stretched beneath his feet.

Above him hung an endless white sky. It shone with a brilliant light that illuminated everything, and at the center of the sky floated a dazzling white sun.

And the air was cold and silent. So silent that even his own breathing seemed swallowed by the strange world.

Just like that of Tony’s, fragments of ruined temple pillars floated overhead. Only they were inverted. Every ruin pointed downward toward him.

Kratos’ grip around his twin katanas tightened.

’...Another dimension.’

Tap.

Something landed.

Standing dozens of meters ahead was the same grotesque fusion that was facing Tony — unbeknownst to Kratos yet.

But instead of the talkative version of the other, this one remained silent. Its crimson and emerald eyes stared at him without blinking.

Probably out of boredom for silence, it slowly raised one claw. A sharp talon pierced its own palm, and black blood flowed.

Using that blood like ink, it began writing across the empty air.

Stroke after stroke, ancient symbols appeared and floated in the air before it.

Kratos remained calm nonetheless and studied the monster. His expression remained cold; however, he was no longer the playful Kratos of before.

Now, that fury from moments ago still burned fiercely fiercer in him. His aura quietly leaked from his body as a result.

The monster paid him no attention either as it continued writing until the strange letters formed an entire sentence suspended in the sky.

Kratos narrowed his eyes.

"What..."

Just as he looked up to read it, the symbols trembled. Every letter melted. Black blood dripped from the floating words then—

The blood expanded, twisted, and split apart.

One creature after another emerged. Grotesque beasts crawled out from the words themselves, their distorted bodies landing upon the black stone with ravenous growls.

The silent, boring world instantly became filled with monstrous eyes.

"After him," the monster’s voice was subtle but authoritative in every sense as it commanded its minions.

Kratos slowly inhaled. His leaking aura erupted.

BOOM!

White energy exploded from his body like a raging storm, causing the monsters to freeze for the briefest instant.

Lowering his center of gravity, his gaze settled upon the horde before him.

He was not holding back this time. His aura — at its peak — pressurized the surrounding weak monsters, and he was going to fight this fight like the Kratos of old.