Miz woke.
Not from sleep—but from something deeper. A place without sound, without thought. A void that had swallowed time itself.
His eyes opened slowly.
The ceiling stared down—cracked, unchanged. A fly buzzed somewhere nearby.
He sat up. Still. Silent.
And remained like that.
One minute passed. Then ten. Then sixty.
He didn't blink. He didn't breathe deeply. He just… existed.
The buzz of the fly drifted near his ear, its presence jarring, almost offensive.
"I'm back…" Miz whispered. "This is real."
That simple truth felt heavier than any memory.
He ate in silence.
The kitchen was quiet—too quiet. The toast dry, the milk lukewarm. His fork scratched the chipped plate, echoing louder than it should have.
Afternoon was a haze.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, back against the wall, his battered phone in hand. He played Snake, like he always did. The screen cracked further with each press, but he didn't care. The snake died. He restarted.
Again. And again. Until the battery died too.
By evening, Miz stood in the local park—a broken stretch of concrete and tired trees. No one else was around. Even the wind felt distant.
It was there—surrounded by rusted benches and silent branches—that the realization crept in.
"He hasn't come."
No voice in the dark.No Judge cloaked in shadow.No new skill after the dream.
The pattern had been broken.
He clenched his fists.
"System," he called out in his mind. "Where's the Judge?"
For a moment, nothing.
Then—
[Judge of Death: Sealed.]Skill Acquired: [0]– Erase your presence for 1 minute.– Cooldown: 1 hour.
Miz's breath caught.
"...Sealed?"
The word didn't make sense.
He didn't understand how something like him could be sealed. What did that even mean?
But there were no answers. Only the sound of wind through empty space.
And then—another sound.Footsteps.
Miz turned.
A man approached from the far edge of the park, stepping with deliberate calm. He wore a long green coat over a clean white suit. His aura hummed—not with menace, but with purpose.
"So this is the Vessel Death left behind," the man said.
Miz didn't respond immediately. His eyes narrowed.
"Let me guess," he muttered. "You serve one of the Judges."
The man nodded, eyes unreadable.
"The Judge of Existence."
Miz barely had time to react before the man blurred forward.
Fast. Inhuman. Precise.
Miz tried to activate the Arts of a Deity, reaching inward for the power—
Nothing.
The world didn't shift. His limbs stayed sluggish.
Then came the screen:
[Transferring Authorities and Memories, along with Agony of the judged]
Miz's eyes widened.
And he stayed there, still. eyes blank.
While the man came with his blade aimed at Miz's neck.