Kairos Veyne's fingers danced across the mechanical keyboard, rapid and precise, as he pushed his character through the Final Raid of Eternal Dominion, the game he had worshipped since childhood. His level 999 Archmage, clad in celestial robes, weaved through a battlefield of demons, dodging apocalyptic spells with the grace of a war god.
His heart thundered in his chest, excitement overriding his body's desperate cries for rest. He was so close.
"Just a few more hits... Almost there..."
A final SSS-tier spell, Aether Cataclysm, detonated across the screen, reducing the Demon Overlord to pixelated ashes.
YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE FINAL BOSS OF ETERNAL DOMINION!
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE ACHIEVED THE RANK OF SUPREME RULER!
[REWARD: SECRET ENDING UNLOCKED]
Kairos grinned, his face illuminated by the screen's golden glow. He had done it. After fifteen years, after thousands of hours, after sacrificing what little remained of his social life—he had conquered the greatest RPG ever made.
"Hell yeah," he whispered, opening a mystery loot chest that had appeared post-victory. The game flickered for a moment before the screen displayed something strange:
"DO YOU WISH TO EXPERIENCE TRUE DOMINION?"
[YES] / [NO]
Kairos chuckled. Secret endings always had some weird gimmick. He slammed his mouse down on YES, expecting some post-game lore dump.
Instead, his vision blurred. His chest tightened. A sharp, unbearable pain stabbed through his ribs like a red-hot blade.
"Nngh—what the hell?!"
His hand jerked away from the mouse as black spots clouded his vision. His body seized, every nerve screaming in agony. His mind panicked, but his body refused to respond.
His heart was failing.
"No way—" He gasped, his breath caught in his throat. He had ignored years of health warnings, dismissed his high blood pressure, laughed off the absurd amounts of junk food and caffeine he consumed daily. There's no way—
A final, sharp pang shot through his chest like a bolt of lightning.
Then, everything faded to black.
Kairos wasn't sure how long he floated in the abyss. There was no pain anymore—just an eerie nothingness.
"Is this what death feels like? A loading screen that never ends?"
He couldn't see his body. Couldn't feel anything. Just a vast, endless void stretching into infinity.
Then, a window appeared in front of him.
SYSTEM INITIALIZING…
Kairos blinked. What?
CALIBRATING HOST… SUCCESS!
DETERMINING NEW WORLD… SUCCESS!
APPLYING CHARACTER TEMPLATE… SUCCESS!
His mind spun. This was way too much like an isekai game intro.
"Wait—WAIT—"
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF ETERNAL DOMINION!
A sudden, overwhelming force yanked at his very existence.
He was falling.
Not through space. Not through air. Through reality itself.
His screams were swallowed by the cosmos as light and shadow blurred around him. The world itself was resetting—and he was being dragged along for the ride.
Kairos awoke gasping. His eyes fluttered open, greeted not by the familiar glow of a computer screen, but by a sky so blue it looked unreal. Sunlight spilled through scattered clouds, casting golden rays over an unfamiliar land. A warm breeze brushed against his skin, carrying the scent of earth, steel, and—
Blood?
He bolted upright, and his first thought wasn't about his surroundings.
It was about himself.
His body felt light, ridiculously so. His movements were fluid, effortless. There was no sluggishness, no struggle to breathe, no stiffness from years of a sedentary lifestyle. As he lifted his hands, his breath caught.
"Holy... Is this really me?"
Gone was the soft, poorly maintained body of an unhealthy gamer. Instead, he was... perfect.
His arms were lean but powerful, with toned muscle sculpted to absurd precision. His hands—once calloused only from excessive keyboard use—looked sharp and elegant, like they belonged to a master swordsman. His clothes, though simple, fit perfectly, hinting at broad shoulders and a tapered waist that could put male leads from otome games to shame.
Kairos ran a hand through his hair—silky smooth, long enough to brush against his neck.
Then he caught his reflection.
A small puddle nearby revealed a face that wasn't his—but also, somehow, was.
Sharpened jawline. Unnaturally vivid crimson eyes that shimmered like polished rubies. Black hair streaked with hints of silver that made him look otherworldly. He wasn't just handsome—he looked like someone sculpted by the gods themselves.
A flicker of disbelief crossed his mind before it was immediately interrupted by something even more insane.
SYSTEM INITIALIZED!
Name: Kairos Veyne
Race: Human? (??? Tier Potential)
Class: [???]
Level: 1
HP: 999/999
MP: 999/999
STR: 999
DEX: 999
INT: 999
SKILLS: [UNIDENTIFIED]
SPECIAL ABILITY: Elemental Transmutation – Convert raw materials into weapons, armor, or items of any rank.
Kairos's eye twitched.
What the actual hell is this?!
His stats weren't just high—they were broken. He had barely existed in this world for five minutes, and he was already stronger than 99.9% of all RPG protagonists. Even the ability—Elemental Transmutation—sounded like an insane crafting cheat.
But before he could even begin processing it all, a deep rumbling filled the air.
Kairos turned, finally taking in his surroundings.
The once-beautiful plains were scarred by battle. Smoke curled into the sky in thin wisps, and the remnants of a crumbling stone wall stood in the distance, barely holding together. Corpses—human and monster alike—littered the bloodstained ground.
At the heart of it all, a small kingdom teetered on the brink of annihilation.
A massive war beast prowled near the ruins, its massive body covered in obsidian-like armor, its eyes glowing with an unnatural light. Surrounding it, a handful of battered knights held their ground, gripping broken weapons, exhaustion written on their faces.
One of them—a young man clad in a half-shattered silver breastplate—glared at the monster through bloodied lips. His royal-blue cape, though torn, still marked him as someone of importance.
This kingdom… Kairos frowned. The layout, the banners, the architecture—
Lysvein.
He knew this place.
It was one of the weakest starting kingdoms in Eternal Dominion.
It had one of the worst opening scenarios, destined to be swallowed up by larger nations within the first five years of in-game lore. This attack—it had to be one of the events that led to its downfall.
The war beast roared, sending a shockwave of force that knocked the knights back. They barely managed to scramble to their feet, but it was clear—
They weren't going to last much longer.
Kairos exhaled.
His heart should be racing. His mind should be panicking.
Instead, a familiar fire ignited in his chest.
This was just like the final raids in Eternal Dominion. A battle against impossible odds. An enemy that couldn't be defeated by sheer brute force alone. And Kairos…
Kairos had never lost a final raid.
A grin curled at his lips.
"Alright," he muttered to himself. "Let's see just how broken I really am."
He extended a hand, instinct guiding him as he activated his Special Ability.
ELEMENTAL TRANSMUTATION ACTIVATED!
The air around him crackled. The ground trembled, responding to his will as raw materials surged toward him. Metal, earth, fragments of shattered weapons—all of it gathered into a swirling mass before solidifying in his grip.
In an instant, he was holding a weapon that should not exist.
A greatsword forged from black diamond, glowing with crimson veins of raw magic. A weapon of SSS-tier caliber, created on the spot.
The system chimed once more.
WEAPON FORGED: NIGHTFALL—CALIBER: SSS-TIER
ATTACK: ???
ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: [ARMOR PENETRATION] [MANA CONSUMPTION NULLIFICATION] [CRITICAL DAMAGE x10]
Kairos's smirk widened. "Oh. Oh, this is going to be fun."
With a single step, he shot forward, his new body moving with supernatural ease. Wind screamed past his ears as he crossed the battlefield in mere seconds, raising Nightfall as the war beast turned its burning gaze toward him.
The knights barely had time to react as a black blur flashed past them.
"What—?!"
"Who—?!"
But Kairos wasn't listening. He had already swung.
A single, effortless strike cleaved through the beast's armor like paper.
It had no time to roar. No time to react.
Because the moment his SSS-tier greatsword met its flesh, the monster ceased to exist.
A wave of silence rippled across the battlefield as the knights stared in utter disbelief.
Kairos cracked his neck, watching as the system displayed its final notification.
BOSS MONSTER DEFEATED!
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
His smirk deepened.
Yeah, this world was definitely going to be fun.