ShadowBound: The Need For Power - Chapter 12: Nystra City

I was some twenty-something woman dying of stage four cancer.I got obliterated by the “Truck-kun” you nerds are always joking about. Turns out it's a lot less funny when it's your guts splattered on the pavement. Crap.Next thing I know, I'm floating in the dark and this thing pops up in my face.[A choice is now available to you.][Option One: Fade.Cease to exist.][Option Two: Reforge.Begin anew.]You think you can just erase me? Hah. As if.Fueled by pure, uncut spite, I slammed the reforge button. Turns out the universe has a totally sick sense of humor, though.I woke up as a male elf. A seriously hot elf —a mage, of all things. Let's just say I was working with some… unfamiliar hardware downstairs.And Jonny? My best friend, my bro, my lifelong meat shield? The universe decided he'd look better as Yael—a stunningly beautiful elf chick with a charisma stat that was probably maxed out.For a while, we weren't just getting by. We were crushing it. It was awesome.Our new life was shattered by the arrival of Vex, an overpowered demigod who saw our world as a resource to be harvested. He was a cosmic-level threat.My pride, the same stupid pride that always gets me into trouble, wouldn't let me kneel. So I told him where he could stick it.Big mistake.The price for my big mouth was paid in her blood. Vex decided to make an example of her. He didn't just defeat her; he shattered her legs into pulp right in front of me.After that, she just… erased me. Walled me off. I went from being her best friend to a ghost she looks right through. Her hatred isn’t loud; it's a permanent debuff, and the silence is a thousand times worse than her screaming would have been.Broken by my failure and rage, the System offered me another choice.I accepted. The System laid out the cost in cold, hard code:The friendly blue “Overwhelming Pride” interface shattered, overwritten by a brutal, blood-red OS running one program: The 'Overlord Slayer'. My personality was stripped for parts. My charm and pride were forged into an 'Aura of Dread.' My guilt became a damage buff called 'Pain Eater.' My grief is now, literally, my mana pool.My quest is no longer about survival. It is brutally simple: Kill Vex. Absorb his power. Fix what I broke.But to become strong enough, I have to grind this new 'Slayer' class, and every level up feels like I'm deleting a piece of myself.The real question is, by the time I'm strong enough to squash him, will there be anything left of the person Yael knew?And even if I can fix her legs… what's she going to think of the monster who comes back?

Lucas was the last human in the universe.A cosmic-scale war had consumed humanity in massive destruction. As collateral damage, there were no longer any habitable planets. Lucas Alhamera, a scientist, attempted to terraform a planet resembling Earth called Antroseda but continuously failed.Overwhelmed by despair and the crushing weight of loneliness, Lucas attempted to end his own life using a euthanasia capsule. However, just before his life could be taken, he was abruptly awakened by a notification.[As the last of the dominant species, you have been chosen as the new Overseer of this universe.][The cycle of life must continue to preserve balance.][Select planet as the birthplace of the new species (default)][Select another planet...]With the Overseer System he had obtained, Lucas began what he had failed to do for hundreds of years: reviving a dead planet and creating a new race to succeed humanity.

In a distant future, the empires of mankind span the galaxy, and glorious Earth has devolved into a peripheral backwater.

In Shanjing city in the Asian region, Wang Zheng’s dreams of becoming a mech pilot are crushed when his college entrance exam genetic score turns out a pathetic twenty eight, barely above an animal.

To make things worse, people get the impression he attempted suicide after being rejected by the campus beauty.

Then the closest thing to a family he has, the old man in the book store across the road, goes missing, leaving him only a mysterious birthday present.

After enduring the wreckage of a broken marriage, Gabriel Williams finally made the decision to let go of his unfaithful husband. But letting go didn't mean forgiving and it certainly didn't mean forgetting. No, Gabriel craved something darker. He craved revenge.And that revenge came in an unexpected form: a dangerously attractive therapist.Someone who was supposed to heal broken marriages. Someone whose job was to mend, restore, and save love. Instead, this so-called savior became the very man who would tear Gabriel's marriage apart even further.“Make me moan, Mr. Therapist.”______Warning: This novel contains heavy smut and when I say heavy, I mean unapologetically explicit, raw, and relentless, r19. If erotic content is not your cup of tea, kindly look away now.For everyone else… welcome.