A world with no horizon. It was a place where the background seemingly merged with the foreground. In here, there existed no ends, breaks or interruptions, just the same empty white that permeated throughout the area like an endless frozen fog.

It felt both infinitely vast and terribly cramped.

Within this world, there stood a single man.

A set of dark-brown leather armor covered his upper body. Despite the lack of any discernable wind, a billowing black cape flapped behind him. On normal occasions, he would have looked like a valiant adventurer. Unfortunately, he currently had the appearance of a beggar.

The leather was badly damaged, to the point where it was held together only by the loose sinew-like threads that ran along its outer lining. The linen clothes that he wore underneath were in an even worse condition. Much of the fabric was torn, while the bits that still remained were caked in dried splotches of scarlet red.

Aside from that, a bird’s nest of scraggly black hair covered his youthful face.

Right now, he was posed somewhat weirdly. His legs were shoulder-width apart while his left arm was stretched out in front of him. A soft murky glow pulsated from his open palm, although the light appeared almost indistinct amidst the white background. His other hand firmly gripped onto his left wrist.

The man slightly trembled, a bead of sweat dangled at the end of his chin.

A croaked laugh leaked out from his parched lips. The man who resembled a cosplaying beggar revealed a sinister smile.

“That damn bastard trapped me in here for who knows how long. With this, I can finally get out!” His words reverberated throughout the empty space. Unfortunately, there was nobody here to hear him.

Edsel Emeroy, the resident Hero of a little world called Regalia.

Edsel was a man with a somewhat… difficult life.

For the better part of seventeen years, he lived a fairly standard existence within a fairly modern world. He went to school, played videogames on the weekends, got along decently well with a few acquaintances, he even had a loveable little sister who he often liked to tease from time to time. Really, it was as ordinary as ordinary can get.

At this point, his journey through the winding streets of life could be considered boring and uneventful.

Of course, for the man in question, he did not particularly mind. Edsel was the type of guy who preferred boring and uneventful. Unfortunately for him, such a life did not last long.

On one fine evening, his whole world suddenly changed.

To be more precise, he was directly displaced from his old world and brought to a new one.

Someone somewhere summoned him to Regalia, a fantasy world filled with swords and magic. Regalia was a horridly savage land where the might of one’s fists quite literally decided a person’s life or death. Naturally, Edsel, with his normal modern-day sensibilities, was understandably quite shaken.

Factor in all the grief and fear swirling within his heart like a chaotic maelstrom and you end up with a shell of a man who desired nothing more than to wake up from this unholy nightmare.

Unfortunately, as Edsel would quickly come to learn, in Regalia, he did not often get what he wanted.

The kingdom that initially summoned him gave some grandiose speech about protecting the world from the clutches of an evil demon king. To be honest, the memories of his summoning were kind of blurry. The only big takeaway from that event was the fact that the kingdom in question perished the very next day.

They were attacked by a horde of monsters. Fortunately, by the virtue of the ‘protagonist aura’ that had unknowingly gathered around him, Edsel somehow managed to escape just in the nick of time.

After that, a bunch of stuff happened.

He met with some people, visited a few places, got a bit stronger, the usual standard fantasy-style progression. A few years passed and Edsel was eventually crowned the world's fated Hero by some important looking guy with a glass crown.

After another grandiose speech, he was once again sent off on his merry way, this time, with the express objective of slaying the demon king. He would have liked to decline the offer, but unfortunately, Edsel was in no position to refuse. After all, the Demon King threatened to destroy the whole world and he just so happened to be one of the dumbasses living in that world. Instead of picking a fight with another force, it was much better to just abuse their ‘generosity’.

Thus, the second act of Edsel’s grand adventure started.

Of course, like with any cookie-cutter template, he met with plenty of roadblocks along the way.

Betrayals, defeats, near-death experiences, Edsel lived a life that few could ever even begin to imagine.

And without fail, the worst of these experiences happened whenever he got lost. Regalia was a big place with a sprawling terrain. Not only did its mountains and rivers hide a plethora of dangerous monsters, but there also existed quite a few sub-spaces as well.

Sub-spaces were like little pocket dimensions loosely connected to Regalia via unstable spatial passages. Hidden within one was a completely separate world filled with its own unique set of oddities.

Throughout his time in Regalia, Edsel visited no less than two dozen sub-spaces. As with all things, some sub-spaces were better than others. The worst of the bunch were the ones that he had affectionately named ‘No-man Realms’.

No-man realms were regions of timeless space. Usually, these types of sub-spaces were empty and devoid of life. What’s more, once one entered, it was nearly impossible to leave.

His worst encounter ended with him being stuck inside the damn place for nearly 10,000 years. Due to the nature of the realm, Edsel did not age a single day. Still, the time that he had spent in there was forever seared into the deepest recesses of his mind.

To be quite frank, it nearly drove him insane.

The empty space around him could also be considered a No-man Realm.

He had been stuck in here for close to seven months now. While it wasn’t nearly as extreme as his other encounters, the endless foggy white was already starting to get to him.

“…”

Recalling the series of events that had led to his current predicament, a weary sigh leaked out from his throat.

Seven months ago, Edsel finally arrived at the Demon King’s castle. After countless trials and tribulations, it was now time to raid the last dungeon.

Mustering up all of his gusto, Edsel carved a bloody path straight across the Demonic army and directly killed his way into the Demon King’s throne room. Once there, the climax of his story quickly kicked off.

One destructive last battle later and the Demon King finally died.

Edsel completed his life’s purpose. He slew the calamitous threat and brought peace to the land. Everything after was supposed to be a happy ending but, as Edsel had long since learned, Regalia was absolutely terrible at giving him what he wanted.

That old bastard was truly an insidious and stubborn Demon King. Even with his heart pierced and half of his skull liquified, he still refused to go quietly into the night.

Was it hatred? Frustration? Maybe he just wanted to get the last laugh? Edsel did not know what sort of emotion fueled that damn devil, but using the last bit of his remaining strength, the Demon King forcibly trapped him inside an isolated sub-space.

Even with all of Edsel’s numerous accomplishments as Regalia’s premier Hero, escaping from this sort of place was all but impossible.

This particular sub-space was special. It was not just some nameless tumor of a world attached to Regalia like all the other places that Edsel had visited. This one was different. It had meaning; it had purpose.

At first glance, it appeared to be a prison, but in truth, its true identity was that of a shelter.

A specially built realm designed solely as a last escape. Once activated, it was a space that not even a God could break through. Unfortunately, it was not without its flaws. For one, escaping from this place was impossible. This applied not only to him, but also to the Demon King himself. It was the main reason why that damned devil chose to confront Edsel in a final battle instead of retreating to his little safe haven.

To escape, Edsel was left with only two options: either force his way out or decipher the laws that governed the inner-workings of this sub-space. He first attempted the latter. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that the code behind this particular world was all but impossible to solve.

This sub-space… it was actually created from the corpse of a God!

Edsel had absolutely no clue how the Demon King managed to get his hands on a divine body, but as a result, this sub-space contained the trait of life. Now, life was fickle. It was one of the few things within this universe that constantly adapted and evolved.

This sub-space was similar. The laws that governed it constantly adapted to his escape attempts.

The final result was a near-endless goose chase with no foreseeable conclusion.

Left with no other option, Edsel could only rely on brute force.

“…”

Thus, time passed.

It took him nearly seven months to gather all of his strength into a singular point. Right now, the mass of compressed energy that rested on the palm of his left hand was so heavy, that it almost felt as if he was cupping the very core of the sun.

Edsel’s expression was dark.

Not only had this been a very time-consuming feat, but it was also quite damaging. Edsel was essentially stuffing several lifetimes’ worth of mana accumulation into the palm of his hand. If this did not leave him permanently crippled, then at the very least, his strength would definitely experience a severe and rapid drop.

Edsel would have liked to not willingly throw himself into such a dangerous situation, but unfortunately, there really was no other way around it. Under normal circumstances, breaking through the corpse of a God was all but impossible. It was essentially like asking him to kill God for a second time.

Naturally, Edsel could not do such a thing, especially in a place like this, where there was absolutely zero mana flow whatsoever. The things he could rely on were strictly limited to the reserves hidden deep within his body.

The mana within his palm pulsated like a weakly beating heart. His entirety trembled, almost as if in response. The lump of pure energy in his body began to destabilize. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

If he wanted to escape, then Edsel needed to act and he needed to act fast.

“…”

Despite the urgency of the situation, he momentarily stopped. At the very precipices of success, he could not help but recall his past.

All the people that he had met on his journey… all of the destruction that he had seen, all of the friends that died, all of the villages destroyed, all the wars, all the soldiers and civilians… every single tragedy on this planet could be traced back to one sole individual.

“…”

After what felt like an eternity, a strange glint danced across his irises. In truth, Edsel was a petty fellow. No matter what, he refused to let that bastard have the last laugh.

Without hesitation, he took a decisive step forward. Edsel stretched out his hand and thrust forward.

CRACK!

The sound of breaking glass reverberated throughout empty space. For a moment, the dim light in his hand formed the faint silhouette of a treasured sword. It lasted for a second before it quickly scattered into a cascade of shimmering light.

Edsel breathed out a soft sigh.

With this, I’m finally fre—

Unfortunately, his thoughts stopped there. At that moment, he heard something quite unexpected.

HA HA HA HA HA…

Hoarse laughter. A hollow and lifeless voice. It was not his own, but it did sound familiar.

“…”

Almost immediately, Edsel’s expression darkened.

He gritted his teeth. “This damn bastard! Even going this far just to fuck with me…”

In that moment, he understood the gist of the situation. Unfortunately, Edsel was powerless to change anything. He had walked right into the Devil’s trap and he was far too invested to back out now.

Without warning, the space around him suddenly shrank.

The world was collapsing in on itself and Edsel felt as if his lungs were about to cave in.

In one last act of defiance, the Demon King had placed the sub-space within an honest-to-god gap between dimensions! Often referred to as the ever-encroaching void or turbulent chaos by the informed, a dimensional gap signified the boundary between two known realities. It was the type of place where no man, animal, or god would ever dare step into.

Edsel’s mind whirred. Before the sub-space could fully collapse, he hurriedly took control of the chaotic energy that rampaged across the area and redirected it into his body. A rush of mana flowed through his veins like molten lava.

He refused to die here.

“I refuse to die here!” He hoarsely shouted.

Betting everything on the line, Edsel activated an instant-teleportation technique.

“…”

“…”

“…”

A fraction of a second passed. The sub-space fully collapsed in on itself. Everything disappeared without so much as a bang or a whimper. In its wake, it left nothing behind but black, formless void.

Still, unbeknownst to the eye, just before it completely blinked out of existence, a dim flash of light in the shape of a man streaked across the darkness like a comet amidst a starless night. It disappeared somewhere within the realms of reality; its destination completely unknown…