Aaron groaned, looking at his left leg lying not far from him. His whole body was numb from pain as his consciousness slowly slipped away from his grasp.
Still, he raised his head despite the intense pain coursing through his veins. He could barely make out a ten meters tall figure slowly closing in on him through his blurred vision.
He wanted to do something, anything, as his last struggle, but he couldn't even muster an ounce of strength.
It was already a miracle he hadn't died yet. After all, half of his torso was obliterated and his lower part was completely separated from him.
If it wasn't for his Awakened physique, he might have died way sooner.
As he lay there, hopeless, Aaron remembered how he had ended up in such a state.
A few years ago, the Apocalypse descended on Earth, bringing Rifts, dungeons, and harrowing, unimaginable monsters with them.
As a webnovel enthusiast, he was very excited about becoming the protagonist in the apocalypse. Sadly, he was slapped hard by reality.
Not only did he lose his precious friends, he also experienced the true nature of humans. He was gutted, mutilated, and so many things that he had never imagined he would ever experience.
After years of constant struggle for survival, he made a little mistake. He trusted his best friend who coveted his Dawnblade, a Tier 6 Holy Sword.
That led to a series of events which resulted in his current state.
Even at his death, Aaron only felt regret that he wouldn't be able to accompany his family and the only few friends he had left.
He had pursued power blindly, leaving him with regrets of not making upto his loving family.
'Ah! What a nice way to die!'
In the next second, a heavy impact severed his head from his bloodied torso.
....
'Aghh! Where am I? Did that bastard spare me?'
'Impossible! Corrupted Creatures know nothing but madness and hunger. They wouldn't take mercy on even themselves, let alone others.'
As a veteran of being in the worst situations the world had to offer, Aaron only panicked slightly before calming down when he regained his consciousness. He simply analyzed his situation.
It wasn't like he had encountered such a situation for the first time.
'Was I saved by someone? That's impossible. Kevin had planned this for so long, so he wouldn't allow such a mishap. Then, what?'
'Hmm, my body is utterly weak as if some monster has sucked my life essence. Wait! I wasn't saved by some succubus, right?'
He tried to joke around with himself, which was yet another method to keep himself calm.
He couldn't even open his eyes, as if something had sealed them shut for years. His body was devoid of Soul Essence, so he couldn't use it either, not to mention his withering weak body.
'So, basically I'm in a completely hopeless state. I can only wait....'
He decided to wait and focus on his surroundings, hoping to find some clues.
After a few seconds of waiting, he heard the creaking noise of a door opening, followed by the loud noise of two people talking.
"Oh! He's still alive?"
"I told you he's a stubborn fool."
"Haha! It's fine, Margaret. Now that the ritual is completed and I have his Unique Skill, his body would soon deteriorate."
'Huh? Who the hell is Margaret and my unique skill? I don't think I had any to begin with. All of my skills were pretty common.'
Aaron was confused, so he continued to pretend to be unconscious to learn more about his situation.
'Not like I can do anything anyway.'
"About that, Young Master Wu, I have done everything you told me, so can you help me?"
"Don't worry. With me having two Unique Skills, my status will rise in the Church, and Bishop Armond has also promised benefits to your family."
"Thank you, but why are we here anyway?"
"I can't stand the fact that this guy is still here, so I'm here to dispose of him. Guards! Throw him in the Hellaric Labyrinth. Heh! Even his soul would be destroyed there."
Aaron panicked. Although he didn't know anything about this labyrinth, it didn't take a genius brain to know that he was going to die.
'If my guess is correct, then I have probably transmigrated into this cliched trope of talent being stolen. But weren't you supposed to leave the poor guy alone so that you can humiliate him more? I don't want to die a second time so quickly!'
Aaron calmed down to not show any signs of being conscious to them. He tried to think of ways he could get out of this situation.
Soon, he felt strong arms picking him up but they were far from gentle. They treated him like a sack of trash, ready to be thrown aside.
The action made him groan, or at least that was what the guards thought. In fact, Aaron groaned because he suddenly felt a splitting headache, as if someone was hammering down on his head.
He couldn't think straight, and even keeping himself from losing consciousness was proving to be an impossible task.
'Damnnation!'
After what felt like an eternity, the pain receded, giving him a moment of rest before his physical body was sent tumbling away.
He once again experienced terrific pain, but this time it was manageable, so he tried to stop the fall. But he found himself tied by thick ropes.
'Great! If I'm really that weak, then why the hell did you take so many precautions?'
In the end, he could only wait while feeling his body falling down into some deep hole. He still couldn't open his eyes, so he wasn't clear about his situation.
His speed increased with every second as gravity pulled him down, making him sigh in defeat.
'A second death it is then. I hope there's a third time at least.'
Aaron guessed that he had been falling for over a minute already, meaning the hole was too deep.
Even his awakened body wouldn't survive such a fall, let alone this weakened body he had acquired.
The only good thing was that for some reason, he wasn't experiencing the air pressure around him.
It was only then he realized that there was another set of memories jumping up inside his brain. They felt familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.
He felt a stranger to them, yet he felt nostalgia toward them as if he had lived through them.
'Are these the memories of the original guy?'
Since he had nothing to do while falling, he began to go through them and soon understood his situation.
The owner of this body, named Mike, was from a relatively rich merchant family. At the age of eighteen, he had Awakened a Unique Skill called "Sanguine Regeneration," which gave him powerful regenerative ability equal to that of high-class Vampires.
'So Vampires and other races exist in this world. A fantasy world indeed.'
The news spread wide, and he was soon engaged with Margaret, daughter of an influential family who had produced many powerful experts for the human domain.
Sadly, it was just a transaction where his family sold him to her family, so he was forced to live with them.
'Poor guy was delusional enough to believe that his good days had come and he would rise to the top.'
Aaron mentally gave a self-deprecating laugh, as he had been the same naive fool back then.
Margaret pretended to be in love with Mike, which boosted his ego, and he ultimately fell into her trap.
The last thing Mike saw was being cornered by Knights of the Church of Dawnfire. Then, he lost consciousness, unaware of his eventual fate.
But Aaron could guess what happened after hearing the conversation back when he woke up.
'That woman had an affair with someone named Wu. He must have quite a status in the church for him to do all of this. Hmm, he did mention Bishop Armond and he is quite famous.'
Wu had used some forbidden techniques to extract Mike's Unique Skill for himself, killing Mike and leaving his body in such a state. He didn't even let him rest in peace even after doing all of that.
'The Church of Dawnfire believes in hope, purity, and whatnot while having betrayal and unfaithfulness as the greatest sins. What a joke!'
"Are you done with your flashbacks?"
Aaron stiffened hearing an ancient, powerful masculine voice in his head.
"Still not responding?"
'I can't even open my eyes, my guy,' Aaron sighed, feeling that his death wouldn't be by falling but because his silence would offend this ancient existence.
There was a rumor around the Solvana Highlands that Saint Churchill had sealed an evil being in the Hellaric Labyrinth.
Nobody had met that being so far because the Labyrinth was too dangerous, so it wasn't explored fully yet.
But as if Aaron had attracted all the bad luck across the world, he had even managed to meet this never-seen-before evil being and had even offended it.
'This is the worst transmigration!'
"You're still doing that? You think too much!"
In the next second, a warmth filled his whole body, surprising him greatly. Before he could understand the situation, his body was healed completely.
"Now we can talk."
Aaron finally dropped onto the hard ground, feeling the light impact on his butt, but he didn't pay any attention to it.
His whole attention was on the being who had healed him.
He opened his eyes for the first time in this world and saw the majestic scene before him that left his heart shaken.
Before him was a beautiful transparent boundary that shimmered in and out of existence. He could make out a giant figure behind the boundary.
It was a towering dark figure with four wide wings that seemed to cover the entire world under them. At the top of it's dark head burned two purple vertical slit eyes.
He wanted to look more, but that split second made his heart scream in danger and his hands began to swell up. His mind buzzed with an otherworldly tune, making his thoughts slow and hazy.
"Do not look at me, boy."
With that majestic voice that seemed to command the world, his body returned to normal and he could think straight again.
Yet, all he felt in that moment was intense fear alongside curiosity and boundless excitement, so much that even the being before him was surprised.
"Oh! You're the first one who's actually excited to meet me."
Aaron smiled, his thoughts churning as plans took form in his mind.
"I want to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"How do I end the apocalypse?"
There was a slight pause, making Aaron wonder if he had asked the wrong question and made the being angry.
Then, he received the answer.
"Become a God."