Chapter 7: No. More. Mercy.
The world was broken. A cursed fusion of every genre, every era, every story forced together under the hand of the Narrator but to other people, It's Anonymous X.
And in this ruined world, Yara walked alone.
She had once been a mere sniper, a girl with steady hands and sharp eyes, but she was no longer that person.
She was something else now.
The air was thick with smoke and screams. The sky was painted in shades of blood and fire, the ruins of a once-thriving city stretching into the horizon. A battlefield.
Heroes and villains clashed, their powers tearing through buildings, bodies littering the streets. Some wielded magic, others brandished futuristic weapons, and some fought with nothing but raw strength and conviction.
None of them mattered.
Yara moved through the chaos like a ghost.
She didn't fight for sides. She didn't care about ideals, justice, or revenge. She didn't care about the cause only the consequences.
And the consequence of standing in her way? Death.
A swordsman from a fantasy realm charged at her, his armor gleaming with holy energy. His blade burned with divine fire a hero's weapon, meant to vanquish evil.
Yara shot him between the eyes.
The light in his sword flickered, then vanished as his body collapsed in a heap.
A cybernetic mercenary from a cyberpunk world spotted her next, his augmented limbs twitching as he aimed a plasma rifle at her. His metallic voice barked out something, but before he could fire.
BANG.
A single bullet tore through his skull, and his body jerked violently before going limp.
She walked forward.
More enemies. More obstacles. More lives to erase.
An esper from a sci-fi universe tried to read her mind he screamed in agony as his brain was ripped apart by something he didn't understand.
A demon general from a dark fantasy world tried to strike her down with cursed flames he was dead before he even finished his incantation.
An assassin from a modern thriller the kind of killer who operated in shadows, a legend in their world their throat was slit before they even realized she was behind them.
She left no survivors.
No words. No mercy.
Just silence.
The Narrator watched.
It leaned back, fingers pressed together, grinning with satisfaction.
"Ohh… Now this is a fascinating transformation." it watches Yara execute yet another soul without hesitation. "She's so… detached. So utterly beyond redemption now."
Its eyes gleamed.
"No more emotions. No more hesitation. No more humanity."
It tilted its head, addressing the unseen audience.
"My my.. Don't you find it amusing? How quickly she changed? How easily she cast away her old self?"
It chuckled darkly.
"What a beautiful.. beautiful tragedy."
Meanwhile.
Renji Sato walked through a manhwa city, its towering skyscrapers and neon signs flickering with a strange, eerie glow.
The Korean metropolis was one of the few places that hadn't been completely torn apart by the war. Here, the survivors ordinary protagonists, side characters, and even background extras hid, trying to wait out the chaos.
Renji didn't give a damn about them.
He had come for information.
Unlike Yara. who carved her way forward with bullets and blood, Renji had a different approach. He preferred to observe first, to understand the pieces before making his move.
He wasn't a hero. He wasn't a villain.
He just wanted to know the truth.
But there was a problem.
The moment he entered the city, the moment they saw him.
"IT'S HIM! HE'S ONE OF THEM!"
Shit.
Renji barely had time to sigh before half the city erupted into panic.
People screamed, doors slammed shut, and countless figures emerged from the shadows hunters, vigilantes, rogue protagonists, and forgotten antagonists.
They thought he was a threat.
To be fair, sitting on a mountain of corpses didn't exactly make him look friendly.
"Welp.." Renji muttered, rubbing his temples. "Time for Plan B."
He suddenly threw himself onto the ground, clutching his chest.
"AAAAHHH! HOLY SH**! I'VE BEEN SHOT!" he screamed dramatically, rolling around. "OH NOOO! MY BLOOD! MY PRECIOUS BLOOD!"
Everyone stopped.
"…Huh?"
Renji flopped like a dying fish, groaning in exaggerated pain. "It's over for me… Tell my nonexistent wife and kids that I fought bravely…!"
Silence.
The people who were about to attack him… hesitated.
"W-Wait… is he actually hurt?" someone muttered.
One of the manhwa protagonists stepped forward cautiously. "잠깐만. 방심하지 마세요! 그 사람은 분명 거짓말을 하고 있는 게 틀림없어-"
(Translation: Hold on. don't let your guard down! He's obviously faking-)
POOF.
Renji instantly bolted.
"SO LONG~~ LOSERS!"
"GET HIM!!"
The entire city erupted into chaos as he sprinted through the streets, dodging gunfire, magic blasts, and energy waves. He leapt over cars, crashed through glass windows, stole a motorbike, and barreled down the neon-lit streets at full speed.
A psychic hero tried to lift the bike with telekinesis Renji jumped off mid-air, flipping over their head, and landed on another rooftop.
A martial arts prodigy tried to punch him
he ducked. kicked them into a noodle stand, and kept running.
A sorcerer cast a binding spell Renji tore a street sign out of the ground and used it as a bat to deflect the spell back at them.
Everywhere he ran, chaos followed.
And despite everything despite the entire city trying to kill him Renji just sighed, muttering to himself:
"…Goddammit. I just wanted to ask some questions."
The Narrator laughed.
"Ohhh.. now this one is a delight as well."
It leaned forward, watching Renji cause absolute mayhem just to avoid a fight.
"So different from Yara. So amusing in his own way."
A sinister smirk curled across its lips.
"Don't you see.. my dear Watchers? Every path leads to the same end."
It gestured toward the fractured world on the screen.
"No matter how they struggle… whether through violence or wit… I hold the pen."
The screen cracked, distorting.
"They can run. They can fight."
The cracks spread.
"…But they cannot escape my story."
And then-
The screen shattered.