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Kamigan answered the voice with eerie confidence. A normal person would have been struck with fear at the sound of such a voice—but Kamigan was anything but ordinary. In fact, it would've been weirder if he remained sane after dying thousands of times.
After Kamigan replied, the clouds in the night sky over the vast desert dissipated, revealing a clear sky. From within those parting clouds, thousands of lightning bolts surged forth, converging and taking the form of a great dragon.
Kamigan muttered to himself,
"Ah… what kind of horror is going to kill me now?"
With the speed of light, the lightning dragon dashed toward Kamigan, a thunderous roar trailing in its wake. Kamigan didn't even flinch. Death had become such a common occurrence to him that it barely sparked a reaction. But just as the dragon was about to obliterate him, it stopped—right in front of him.
"AH, EVEN IN THE FACE OF DEATH, YOU STAND UNSHAKEN," the dragon bellowed.
Kamigan replied in a playful tone,
"Ah, it's one of my, uh… good qualities… or was it strengths they call it?"
The dragon let out a hearty laugh before its lightning form dissipated. Sparkles of light fell gently to the ground, then began to spin into a glowing whirlpool. The whirlpool rose into the sky, spun faster and faster—and then vanished.
From its center, a man fell.
Clad in a long black robe, his pale white skin seemed to glow with an ethereal light. His black hair, tinged blue at the ends, flowed down to his waist. His face was soft, beautiful, almost otherworldly. Calm, blue irises stared down with a strange serenity. His presence felt like a storm yet to begin—calm, but crushing in its weight. Though Kamigan saw a man before him, every part of him screamed: this is something far from human.
The man spoke.
"You must be Kamigan."
Kamigan raised a brow.
"Ahh, it seems I've gotten quite popular… But if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of dying, so I'd really rather not involve myself in anyth—"
Before he could finish, an immense pressure crushed down on him, slamming him flat to the ground.
"What kind of pressure is this…? It's coming from him, but he's not even touching me…"
The man looked down at him and smiled. Suddenly, the pressure lifted. Kamigan gasped for air, coughing up saliva before glaring up at the man.
"Are you willing to talk now?" the man asked.
Kamigan smirked.
"If I say no… are you perhaps going to kill me?"
The man sighed.
"To think a mortal would stress me this much…" he muttered to himself, then glanced back at Kamigan. "Well, he lacks something the others have… the fear of death."
Kamigan grinned.
"I told you—it's one of my strengths."
"Strengths?" the god-like figure echoed, unimpressed. "Apart from that and your uncanny ability to annoy me, what other strengths do you have?"
Kamigan looked him over—man, god, whatever he was—and answered,
"Um… um… uhhhh… hmmmm…"
The man sighed in exasperation.
"Oh please, enough. Don't think anymore."
But at that moment, a chilling thought struck Kamigan.
(Wait… this is most likely a place created by my subconscious to represent my current state of mind. That's why my assailants have always acted in such a one-track manner… So then, why is there a being as sentient as this one here?)
The man narrowed his eyes.
"Your thoughts are noisy. You're basically telling me everything, you know."
Kamigan staggered back in shock. (Can he read my mind? Or was I just being too obvious…?) His expression turned serious.
The man stepped closer.
"You're on the right track… but not quite. This place wasn't created by your subconscious. Rather, it was created by your essence."
Kamigan furrowed his brows.
"Essence? What's that?"
"I'd love to explain," the man said, "but it seems your friends are back."
Kamigan turned and saw an entire army rushing toward him, descending a great mountain.
"So it hasn't reached ten thousand yet, huh…" he muttered, his tone dull.
"The curse isn't exactly what you think," the man added.
Kamigan turned.
"Curse?"
"It's not that you must die ten thousand times," the man clarified. "It's that you are to be killed ten thousand times."
Kamigan blinked.
"You do realize that what you just said makes no sense, right?"
The man scratched his head sheepishly.
"Uhhh… yeah. But that's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is—if you manage to kill all your… uhh… whatever they are to you, you wouldn't have to die anymore."
Kamigan thought about it.
"Yeah, that's true… But nah. That sounds way more stressful than dying. Plus, I don't think I'm capable of killing them all."
The man's eyes widened in shock before he composed himself again.
"Well… there is someone around here who could undoubtedly do it."
Kamigan turned, curious.
"Is that so? Where is he?"
The man stared at him, dumbfounded. (Is this guy brain-dead…? Just because he's not dead physically, doesn't mean he's right in the head…)
"Who else?" he said, exasperated.
"Ummmm… I don't know."
"Me, of course!" the man shouted.
"Oh. Okay. Well, thank you!" Kamigan replied cheerfully, and immediately ran past him, waving. "I'd like to say I'll repay the favor, but… umm, I'm never gonna fight an army for you, okay?"
"I was never expecting you to!!" the man yelled, clearly annoyed.
Then he took a deep breath. (Calm down… Calm down. Deep breaths… He's just a mortal. A foolish mortal. Now, to the task at hand…)
He looked into the distance at the incoming army. His eyes turned completely white, his black hair burst into pure white flames, and his black attire transformed into robes of white fire. He stretched out his hand.
A massive sphere of white flames—larger than a grand castle—appeared, then gradually shrank until it was the size of a marble. With a flick, he sent it hurtling toward the army.
The resulting explosion flattened the great mountain and left behind a crater with a radius of over three hundred kilometers.
The flames receded from his body, and he returned to his former form.
Kamigan, in awe of the destruction, stared at him.
"Who… no, what are you?"
The man smirked.
"A primordial god."
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