In the deep night, beneath the restless, bleeding glow of traffic lights and sleepless skyscrapers, a woman walked along the choked city street. She threaded through the crowd like a ghost drifting between physical bodies. Her long dark hair trailed like a shadow behind her, and her pitch-black eyes locked straight ahead, unmoving.
The woman, appearing around her early-twenties, wore wide-legged gray trousers that swayed lazily with each step and a light-green hoodie zipped halfway up—the fabric soft, but entirely indifferent to the winter chill.
Around her, car horns blared in an uneven, chaotic rhythm, fragments of passing conversations floated through the air like shattered glass, and the overhead streetlights hummed with low electrical currents.
Step—step—step.
Her footsteps were steady, unhurried, and holly from the bustling world around her.
What am I gonna do now? The thought didn’t carry a hint of panic; it carried only boredom. My family is wealthy enough that I wouldn’t have to work a single day in my hundred-year life. Even during my school days, exams were nothing more than trivial puzzles.
She paused at a crosswalk, waiting for the traffic light to shift. Tilting her head up toward a towering skyscraper, she let the falling snow drift down onto her beautiful face.
They call me a born genius, and they aren’t wrong… But the prize of being a genius with infinite wealth is having zero tension, zero thrill. There’s only fuckers trying to lick my boots to forge connections or worm their way into my pockets too. She clicked her tongue softly, turning her eyes back to the road. When everything in life bends so easily, it just gets so incredibly boring.
“H-hey! Get out of the way!” an irritated voice suddenly shouted from behind.
The woman blinked once before turning around slowly.
What is he talking about? I walk wherever I want. Why are you all looking at me like that?
The expressions of the people around her were mutating rapidly. Their faces stretched in sudden alarm, their eyes widening in exaggerated, pure horror as they stared past her.
“HEY! Shut u—”
THUD!
A blinding flash of light erupted from her peripheral vision the exact instant she opened her mouth. Then, the light vanished in less than a millisecond.
Or rather, it was she who had vanished.
The entire world collapsed into pitch-black silence. There was no agonizing pain—only a vast, hollow absence.
I don’t feel anything. Where am I? What happened?
Feeling a sudden, heavy numbness where her body should be, she tried to look down at herself, only to find absolutely nothing to look at. She had no mouth to speak, no ears to hear, no limbs to move. She existed merely as a floating, isolated consciousness wrapped in the dark.
…Right. I got hit by something.
“GASP!” She drew in a sudden breath, the sound echoing strangely in her own ears. “W-what was that?”
Just as quickly as the darkness had come, it shattered. The biting cold of the winter snow was gone, and so was the emptiness that had swallowed her after that brilliant flash of light.
This is… where is this place? Did someone move me here? She looked around, her mind racing with confusion. It isn’t a hospital, that’s for sure, nor is it a city street. In the first place… this doesn’t even look like Earth.
Confusion tightened around her thoughts like creeping vines, but the mental fog didn't last long as a translucent, glowing blue panel flickered into existence directly before her eyes.
[Error! System compatibility is below 10%! Danger to host detected!]
[Proceeding to forcefully adjust the system…]
[Failed!]
[Solution: Sacrifice future growth and system functions to ensure success.]
[Retrying…]
[Completed!]
[System synchronization: 32%]
[Warning! The host is in a state of confusion.]
What the hell…? Staring at the unfamiliar blue screen, she processed the bizarre reality with unsettling calm. Is this… a system?
“Why is there an error in ‘system compatibility’?” she muttered softly, her voice sounding thin and unfamiliar in the strange air.
[Error: Mismatch between host talent and system configuration detected.]
[Explanation: Continued synchronization under original parameters would have resulted in the host’s soul destabilization. An emergency override was executed to prioritize the host’s health.]
[Execution: System configuration forcibly altered to align with host specialization by sacrificing future growth and system functions.]
[Conclusion: Further synchronization is impossible. The host cannot gain any skills in the usual way. Most system functions are unavailable, though later recovery is possible.]
“So you can answer me through this panel…” She stared at the floating blue screen, and even passing her finger through it out of curiosity. “In other words, you and I were incompatible, and if the synchronization had kept going, it would’ve broken my soul. To prevent that, you forcefully changed yourself to match me by sacrificing your functions and my future growth?”
[Correct.]
“You noted that I ‘cannot gain any skills in the usual way.’ How does a person normally gain a skill here?”
[Answer: Skills can be gained in various ways. The most common methods are driven by a person’s will, repeated efforts, or intense emotional states.]
“Hmm, I see.”
It broke itself to fit me, not the other way around? She closed her eyes, weighing the situation carefully. I would be pissed off about losing my future growth just to be compatible with a broken system that can't do shit, but… A small smile formed on her face. A loyal friend is always better than an opportunistic one.
[Host, the Essence Fragment is capable of hearing your mind.]
Opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings. The room was grand, featuring aesthetics you would never commonly see on Earth. The bed she rested on was massive, and the pristine white walls were accented with deep, royal crimson red, decorated by high-end luxury furniture.
I need to find out exactly where I am.
“Uhhh—”
A sudden, agonizing headache pierced through her skull like a physical needle. Along with the pain, a massive torrent of memories flooded into her mind like dark ink bleeding into clear water. Places she had never visited, unfamiliar voices, names she had never spoken, high-end politics…
…And deep, intricate relationships.
“Crimvane… Vionette Crimvane,” she muttered to herself as the tidal wave of information finally settled.
The foreign name tasted strange yet deeply intimate on her tongue. Startled, she looked down at herself.
Her modern hoodie was completely gone, replaced by an elegant gown of unfamiliar craftsmanship. Her skin was significantly fairer, her fingers were soft and slender, her skin was paler, and even her voice possessed a lighter, more refined tone.
“Haaah… That was a bit painful. Who knew receiving memories would hurt like this?” She tapped the side of her head with her palm a few times, her eye narrowing in slight irritation.
[Host, you…]
“What?”
[Answer: The sudden transfer of at least 20 years of information into a brain would normally subject the victim at least to a three-day-long migraine.]
“Relax, dude. It’s really not that hard,” she dismissed, waving a hand casually toward the window. “Anyway, System, give me my current status.”
[Name: Vionette Crimvane]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 21]
[Affiliation: Ruler of Crimvane]
[Titles: —]
[Essence Fragment: Damaged]
[Synchronization: Stable Sync]
Attributes
• Strength: 30
• Agility: 39
• Endurance: 41
• Aether: 13
• Intelligence: 6
• Authority: ???
• Existence: ???
Skills
[Hyper-calculation (Rare)]
• Temporarily accelerates thought process by several times.
[Mind Fortress (Unique)]
• Reinforces the host’s mental integrity by several times and calms the host in severe times.
[Thought Communication (Uncommon)]
• Enables mental communication between allies.
[Sovereign (Unique)]
• Allows the host to manipulate the emotions or body of a victim.
• Most effective on those with negative thoughts.
• Direct contact is required for activation.
• Cooldown: 32h
[A Match Made in Hell (Unique)]
• Two souls written within the same forbidden paragraph of fate. Born in different worlds, shaped by different scars, yet aligned by a design that even the infinite world cannot ignore. If trust is given willingly, a pact may be formed surpassing the level of the soul itself.
• Before pact creation: Detect and locate your destined soulmate.
• After pact creation:
– If one perishes, the other follows.
– Enables communication and perception regardless of range.
– Allows compatible skills to be shared.
– Switch places with each other for every 24h.
• Pacts created: 0/1
[Mindrift (Legendary)]
• Passively allows the host’s mind to operate even while time is stopped.
• External time manipulation is required for activation.
“I don’t have physical skills… only mental ones?”
[Yes. It is detected that it’s because of the host’s lack of talent for physical combat.]
“Of course it is,” Vionette said, her expression twitching with mild irritation. Her gaze traveled down the screen until it locked onto one specific entry. “A Match Made in Hell… Well, now this is interesting.” A faint glimmer of genuine curiosity lit up her eyes. “Activate [A Match Made in Hell]!”
[A Match Made in Hell]
The moment the skill activated, the exact location of her destined counterpart engraved itself into her consciousness, igniting like a brilliant star suddenly lighting up the dark void of her mind.
“Let’s not rush into things. First, let’s make some proper preparations.” A cheeky, confident smile formed on her face as she interlaced her fingers. “Like forging a cool-ass sword. Oh, and designing a fitting outfit, too.” She nodded to herself, folding her arms across her chest. “Of course, it's purely for practical purposes. Absolutely!”
[-_-]
***
Present—
The bustling capital city of Veylith shimmered brilliantly beneath the daylight, its massive towers of white stone rising into the sky like frozen waves, while countless colorful banners danced lazily in the warm wind.
Noa and Vionette walked at the front of the group while Lina clung tightly to Vionette’s arm, her blue eyes sparkling with wonder as she whipped her head in every direction like an excited kitten experiencing the wide world for the very first time. Mara followed closely behind them, the armored knight and the green-haired medic trailed quietly at the rear.
“It’s not good if others happen to overhear this. Isla, can you…” Vionette trailed off, glancing back at the medic.
“Yes, my lady. I will deploy a sound barrier around us,” Isla replied with a firm nod, her lips instantly moving as she began to chant a low incantation.
…
“You couldn’t use your skills back at the church?” Vionette gave Noa a side-glance.
“Yeah. But as soon as I blew the place up, they came back… though I still couldn’t use them because my Aether was so low,” Noa sneered, his tone dripping with lingering annoyance. “Well, like I told you before, I couldn't use them four years ago either, not until my body finally stabilized into a decent state.”
Anti-magic spells only project a localized barrier around a desired area to purge the Ambient Aether—the raw, unowned energy existing naturally within the environment—making mages unable to cast spells. However, skills only use Intrinsic Aether—the refined Aether stored deep inside an individual’s own Aether Core—to be activated.
Because of this, it should be impossible for an anti-magic barrier to prevent skill usage, yet somehow, it had happened back at the church.
“They had two artifacts, you idiot.” Vionette reached over and rapped her knuckles lightly against Noa's head in a small, playful punch.
“Huh? But I saw only one, though.”
“It’s only a speculation on my part, not a one-hundred-percent sure answer.” She turned her face toward him, flashing a bright, smug smile as Noa aggressively brushed the spot she had just tapped. “But I can confidently say that I am exceptionally good at guessing stuff.”
Suddenly, Noa stepped inward and bumped her shoulder tightly with his own, a dull thud echoing between them.
“Covering your butt with fancy words, I see,” he teased, a smirk playing on his lips.
“Tch!” Vionette pointed a finger directly at his neck, her crimson eyes narrowing dangerously. “You better be ready to pay me back when it turns out to be true!”
While the two of them were lost in their own world, the group walking behind them watched the display with varying expressions.
“Look at these two,” Mara murmured, placing her fingers over her lips with a soft chuckle. “Flirting right in the middle of the crowded street.”
“The Princess looks to be enjoying herself,” Isla noted, nodding her head like a proud, satisfied mother.
“…And they already look like they have a child walking with them, as if she’s their own,” the knight added dryly, his eyes lingering on how naturally Lina clung to the queen.
As they continued navigating the crowded avenues, Noa’s eyes caught a glimpse of a distinct crowd filtering into a heavily guarded building down the road.
“I guess the teleportation circles here can’t get us to Crimvane?”
“They can.”
“They can?! Then why the hell are we traveling inside a carriage?”
Vionette paused mid-step. Noa stopped alongside her, turning his head to find a tightly forced smile stretching across her face, accompanied by a sudden, visible bead of sweat forming on her pale cheek.
“Because…”
“Because?” Noa pressed, raising an eyebrow.
“Because… umm… we will have a lot of work to do in Crimvane,” she explained, her smile turning entirely too gentle, almost unnaturally sweet. “We are going to be incredibly busy, so just enjoy while you still can… heheheh…”
…A lot of work?
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