Chapter 8: The Final Five Minutes

[ 05:00 ]

The system timer burned bright red in the corner of everyone's vision. Five minutes. Just five damn minutes left to either kill or be killed. Five minutes that would decide who lived and who became nothing more than a corpse on the street.

Jakarta wasn't a city anymore—it was a war zone. Screams echoed from every direction, mixing with the sickening sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking. The smell of blood was everywhere, thick and metallic, making people gag even as they fought for their lives.

Everyone had lost their minds. The polite office workers, the sweet grandmothers, the innocent kids—they were all killers now. No one cared about laws or being a good person anymore. There was only one rule left: kill or die.

A woman in an expensive dress grabbed her stiletto heel and drove it straight into some guy's eye. Blood exploded everywhere. The man screamed, but his voice cut off when someone else smashed a brick into his skull. She didn't even flinch—just kept looking for her next target.

Across the street, a skinny teenager swung a metal pipe like a baseball bat. Every swing crushed someone's head or shattered their ribs. His eyes were wild, completely insane. This wasn't the same scared kid from an hour ago. Now he was a monster who loved the sound of bones breaking.

Bodies were piled up everywhere. Some had been trampled to death, others beaten with whatever people could find. Their faces were frozen in shock and terror, still clutching their phones like that would somehow save them.

[ 04:30 ]

The countdown kept going. Every second felt like torture.

[ 04:29 ]

The fighting was getting worse. A middle-aged businessman crawled on his hands and knees, blood streaming down his face. He held a broken piece of glass like a knife, his eyes completely desperate.

In front of him, a woman who used to be somebody's mom was laughing like a psychopath while she swung a butcher's knife around. She'd already killed three people, and each kill had made her stronger, faster, more insane.

She wasn't a mother anymore. She was a killing machine that only cared about spilling more blood.

Gunshots cracked through the air—not just one, but several. People with guns were firing randomly into the crowds, hoping to hit someone and trigger their awakening. Bodies dropped like flies. The panic got even worse.

Some people tried to run away, but there was nowhere to go. Every alley was filled with corpses or more brutal fights. There was no escape from this nightmare.

Golden light kept flashing throughout the city. One by one, the people who managed to kill others were transforming, their bodies glowing as they became something more than human. Some screamed in agony, others laughed in pure joy. Their bodies convulsed and changed, becoming stronger, faster, deadlier.

Each new flash of light meant another killer had been born. Another monster added to this hellscape.

[ 03:00 ]

Three minutes left. The pressure was crushing everyone who hadn't killed yet.

[ 02:59 ]

People who had been trying to stay human, trying to keep some shred of decency, were finally breaking. They watched their friends and family turn into monsters. They saw the power that came from taking a life.

The fear of being left behind, of staying weak and defenseless in this new world, was stronger than their horror at what they had to do.

A father who had been protecting his kid watched helplessly as his child got trampled by the mob. Something inside him snapped. His eyes went dead, empty of everything except rage. He grabbed a rock and smashed it into the nearest person's skull. Blood splattered across his face.

He was different now. The light in his eyes had gone out, replaced by something dark and hungry.

High above the chaos, Julius watched it all with a cold smile that never wavered. He wasn't trying to hide how much he enjoyed this. To him, all the screaming and dying was like beautiful music. The blood flowing through the streets was his masterpiece.

This was what he'd always known humans really were—animals who just needed the right push to show their true nature.

Claude was still unconscious, wrapped in that golden cocoon of light. His body kept twitching as the power changed him from the inside out. Julius stared at him with curious golden eyes.

What would this boy become when he finally woke up?

[ 01:00 ]

One minute. Just sixty seconds left.

[ 00:59 ]

Pure panic exploded across the city. People who still hadn't killed anyone were running around like rabid dogs, attacking whoever they could find. Old people, kids, it didn't matter anymore.

They laughed hysterically as they beat people to death. Some cried while they did it. Others went completely silent, their eyes reflecting the same darkness that Julius carried.

This was the end of everything good about humanity. What was left was just the animal instinct to survive no matter what.

The final seconds ticked by like hammer blows to everyone's hearts.

[ 00:05 ]

[ 00:04 ]

[ 00:03 ]

[ 00:02 ]

[ 00:01 ]

[ 00:00 ]

The timer disappeared, replaced by two words that made everyone's blood run cold: [ TIME EXPIRED ].

Instantly, everything stopped. The screaming cut off like someone had flipped a switch. The sounds of fighting died away. The silence that followed was somehow more terrifying than all the chaos had been.

Thousands of survivors stood frozen among the carnage they'd created. Bodies everywhere. Blood pooling in the streets. The smell of death thick in the air.

And above it all, Julius started clapping.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

His applause echoed through the dead silence like he was congratulating actors after a performance. A terrifying smile spread across his pale face—a smile of pure satisfaction and victory. His golden eyes blazed with wild joy as he looked down at the destruction.

"Bravo," he whispered, but somehow everyone could hear him clearly. "You've proven what I always knew you were, you pathetic insects. What an absolutely beautiful performance."

His smile grew wider, more horrible.

"And this... this is only the beginning."

He was right. Tonight hadn't just killed thousands of people. It had killed the soul of humanity itself.

The real nightmare was just getting started.