Painting of the Nine Immortals - Chapter 31: The Completion of a Dan

The smell of blood invaded my nostrils. I watched helplessly as the woman standing over me raised her sword. I was completely drained, I had no mana left, no items, nothing. As the crimson tendrils held me down by my arms and legs, all I could do was wait for my death.

As the sword drew near, I felt the last bit of courage I had disappear. I was going to die. Alone. In this god forsaken place filled with evil. And for what? To protect those ‘friends’? The same people who mocked me, took advantage of, and used me?

Oh, who am I trying to fool? I was here only because of my own greed. Because I wanted to be useful to someone. Because I wanted to that group to need me. To value me. To have a reason to keep me around. How naïve I was, thinking that power would grant those wishes. All it did was help build a wall between me and everyone else.

The sword approached. I saw the purple light reflect off the sword’s blade. After everything I went through, I hadn’t expected my death to be by the hands of another player. I saw her smile, but this time I didn’t think it was beautiful. It was an ugly smile because it was genuine. She was enjoying watching me die. She was enjoying killing me.

The sword struck my chest and pierced my heart. I let out a scream of pain and agony. The pain was so real, all of this was so real. It shouldn’t be, but it was. What should have been a simple game had become my new reality – all of our new reality. A reality filled with magic, war, blood, and death.

My vision darkened as the pain slowly faded. I felt the last of my vitality leave my body. It felt cold. I wondered to myself, when would I stop being? When would my thoughts disappear?

Soon, I saw those words I feared for all this time appear before me. “DEATH”, in the pale blue font the game always used. They remained suspended in the air for several seconds. It was over. After a long time of fighting, grinding, and exploring, it was finally over. I had died. This was the end of my story.

Suddenly, words before me shifted and changed into something different. I took a shallow breath as I heard a faint heartbeat.

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Ten years ago, Joseph Cassian was thrown into a maximum-security prison for crimes he didn’t commit framed by the very family whose blood runs through his veins.Now, at twenty-eight, he walks free into a world where the city’s mafia empires have mysteriously crumbled. Their leaders, slaughtered. Their empires, burned.All while Joseph sat in silence behind bars... no one can prove he did anything and yet it all happened as if he planned it.Was he just a wrongfully imprisoned scapegoat, a man who survived injustice?Or is he a mastermind a Don who orchestrated revenge so flawlessly that not even he had to lift a finger?Now that he’s free, Joseph stands at a crossroads.He can leave the blood behind, walk away from the ashes of an empire that once owned the city.Or he can claim what’s left of his legacy and become the very Don the world has feared all along.

He was a wealthy and mysterious financial backer who had appeared before her when she needed money the most. After the courtship, she took the money and left.

[mafia, crazy love, abusive love]She was reborn, returned to the age of 18, when she already possessed a colossal fortune. In the previous life, she was executed on the street and died tragically merely due to a dangerous man she'd encountered once.After being reborn, she decided to change her fate. As she pondered how to avoid him, she unexpectedly discovered his name on the list of beneficiaries of the charity.“Can I kill someone?” She asked her assistant.“No. The law binds you!”So, to survive in this life, she tricked him back home. Initially, she believed it to be a means of repayment.Until one day, she felt his gaze become terrifying. She saved him, but accidentally led him down a more terrifying path. Everything had spiraled out of control…When they meet again, he is already a terrifying demon. With blood on his face, he forced her into a corner and said, “Be my mistress, or let me be yours.”She threatened him with a knife, but he laughed even more brightly and held her hand, saying, “You're afraid of me? Ok, I'll teach you how to hurt me the most.” And he guided her hand to hurt himself.She suddenly understood that she should have left him alone. He was injured, bleeding, but still laughing.She said lovingly, “I am indeed afraid, but I don't deny that I love you...”