---
"w_k u_p…"
"wAke Up…"
"WaKE UP!"
"WAKE UP!!!"
"Aughhh! Am I still alive?"
Isaac was once again woken up by the voice.
He was surprised he wasn't dead again after getting knocked out in the hellish landscape.
The glaring light of the colossal star above bore down on him, casting its eerie, ethereal glow over the barren, treacherous ground.
"Hello, Mr. Colossal Star," he muttered, facing upwards and squinting at the blinding celestial body.
His head and body ached so profoundly that he would have preferred a week of unrelenting torture to this ceaseless, agonizing pain.
"Owwww, my head," his voice was hoarse and weak, the words barely more than a rasp as they left his dry throat.
His legs, in particular, felt like they were made of jelly, each movement sending waves of excruciating pain through his body.
"It hurts even more compared to last time," he groaned, trying and failing to shift his position.
His entire body was in such bad condition that any attempt to move was met with a searing pain worse than anything he had ever endured.
So he lay there, helpless, staring up at the gigantic star that cast its pale, indifferent light across the cursed landscape.
The thought of a monster dragging him away to an even worse fate crossed his mind, but the silence around him suggested otherwise.
"I'm surprised no monster came to drag me into an even more miserable place and eat me," he said, incredulous.
The absence of any predators was a small, unexpected mercy in this nightmarish world.
"It's probably because of the black stone forest," he guessed.
"No creature would be stupid enough to approach that place, not with the schemer's control over an army of the damned and those shadow devils."
"Haha..." He managed a weak, bitter laugh.
"Well, I guess I was stupid enough to approach," he muttered to himself, the joke a hollow comfort amidst his pain.
His thoughts darkened as he remembered the ordeal.
"Well, I guess I should thank you for your amazing act of protecting me from danger," he said mockingly, addressing the schemer as if they were in the room with him.
"Yeah, actually, fuck you," he spat out, the sarcasm in his tone giving way to raw anger.
The same bastard who had nearly killed him didn't deserve any thanks.
If not for his quick thinking and sheer determination, he would have been dead already.
He felt the rage surge within him, an intense, burning hatred that threatened to consume him.
"Sadistic bastard," he growled, his voice gaining strength from his fury.
"I will one day come for you for trying to take my life. You will pay for every moment of fear, every ounce of pain you inflicted on me."
His eyes, filled with a fierce determination, glared into the star-streaked sky.
He drew a shaky breath, mustering the strength to voice his promise.
"You think this is over?" Isaac's voice was venomous, echoing his seething rage.
"You think you can toy with me and get away with it? Think again. You hide behind your horde, pulling the strings from your dark little hole, but your day of reckoning will come. When I am stronger, when I have the power to face you, I will hunt you down like the vermin you are."
He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms as he poured every ounce of his hatred into his words.
"You'll see what true despair feels like. I'll tear apart your illusions of control, crush your pathetic schemes, and drag you from the shadows into the light. You will beg for mercy, cry out for an end to your suffering, and I will be there, watching, as you realize all your power means nothing."
Isaac's voice dropped to a cold whisper, a promise as unyielding as the land around him.
"You will know fear, pain, and helplessness, just as I did. I will break you piece by piece, strip away your arrogance, and show you what it truly means to face despair. You will regret the day you crossed paths with me."
"Enjoy your victory while you can, because it's your last. I will grow stronger, and when I return, I will bring your world crashing down. I will show you the meaning of hell."
For the first time in this desolate land, Isaac felt true hatred like never before.
He lay on the floor and tried to rest for a while to recover his strength and energy to get up and walk.
He stared into the inky black sky as he waited.
All the while he lay on the ground, he only had one thought, and that was revenge.