Apocalypse Rebate System: Rise of the Supreme King

The first c***k appeared at exactly 8:17 a.m. No one noticed it. People were too busy complaining about traffic, rushing to work, and staring at their phones to look up. Ethan Cross leaned against the crowded subway door, earbuds in, his eyes half-closed as the train rattled toward downtown. The morning announcements echoed overhead, but he barely listened. Another Monday. Another ten hours buried beneath spreadsheets and impossible deadlines. His phone vibrated. Mom: Don't forget your sister's birthday this weekend. A small smile tugged at his lips. "I won't," he typed back. The train slowed into Central Station, and a wave of commuters flooded the platform. Ethan was swept along with them, shoulder-checking strangers and apologizing out of habit. Outside, the city buzzed with life. Street vendors shouted over one another. Taxis blared their horns. Office workers hurried across crosswalks with coffee in one hand and briefcases in the other. Everything looked painfully... normal. Then someone screamed. At first, Ethan ignored it. Cities were noisy places. Someone was always screaming. But then another cry followed. Then another. The crowd slowed. People began pointing toward the sky. Ethan looked up. His breath caught. A jagged black line stretched across the clouds. It looked as though someone had taken a knife to reality itself. The c***k widened. A deep, thunderous groan rolled across the heavens—not like thunder, but like the sound of an ancient stone door grinding open after centuries of silence. "What... is that?" someone whispered. No one answered. The sunlight dimmed. The temperature dropped so suddenly that Ethan could see his own breath. His phone lost signal. Every electronic billboard around the plaza flickered at once. Then they all went black. Silence. For one impossible second, the entire city froze. The c***k exploded. BOOM! A blinding pillar of blue-white light burst from the sky, striking the financial district several kilometers away. The ground lurched violently. Buildings swayed. Windows shattered. People were thrown off their feet as the street buckled beneath them. Ethan crashed into a traffic light, pain shooting through his shoulder. Car alarms erupted. Smoke billowed into the air. Before anyone could recover, another beam of light descended. Then another. And another. The city became a battlefield in less than a minute. "What the hell is happening?" "Run!" "It's an earthquake!" "No—look!" The c***k in the sky continued spreading until it stretched from one horizon to the other. Dark shapes emerged from within. At first, they looked like birds. Then they grew larger. Much larger. One of them dove. It crashed through the roof of a skyscraper as though the steel and concrete were made of paper. The entire building leaned sideways before collapsing into a mountain of dust. People scattered in every direction. Panic consumed the streets. Ethan forced himself to his feet, coughing as ash drifted through the air. His instincts screamed one word. Run. He sprinted with the crowd, weaving between abandoned cars and fallen debris. A little girl stood in the middle of the road, crying. Her balloon floated away into the smoke-filled sky. She couldn't have been older than six. Cars swerved around her. No one stopped. Ethan did. "Dad!" she sobbed. He grabbed her hand. "Come with me!" A deafening roar shook the street. Ethan turned just in time to see a creature land atop a city bus. It resembled a wolf—but no wolf had six crimson eyes, obsidian scales, or claws long enough to slice through steel. The bus split cleanly in half beneath its weight. The monster lifted its head and sniffed the air. Its six eyes locked onto Ethan. His blood turned to ice. "No..." The creature lunged. Ethan shoved the little girl behind an overturned delivery truck just as the beast slammed into the pavement where they had been standing. Concrete exploded. Dust blinded him. The impact hurled him backward. Pain erupted through his ribs. He rolled across broken asphalt, struggling to breathe. The monster advanced slowly, saliva dripping from rows of dagger-like teeth. Its growl vibrated in Ethan's chest. There was nowhere left to run. He searched desperately for anything he could use as a weapon. Nothing. Just shattered glass. Broken bricks. And fear. The beast crouched, muscles tensing for the killing strike. Then— The sky spoke. Not with sound. With words. Brilliant silver letters appeared above every living person in the city. WORLD INTEGRATION COMPLETE. THE FIRST TRIAL HAS BEGUN. Every survivor stared upward in stunned silence. Even the monster paused. Then a second line of glowing text appeared. SURVIVE. EVOLVE. CONQUER. The world would never be the same again. The glowing words dissolved into countless silver motes that drifted through the air like dying stars. For one heartbeat, everything was still. Then hell resumed. The six-eyed beast released a roar so powerful it shattered every remaining window along the street. Glass rained down like deadly hail. Ethan threw an arm over his face. The little girl was still crouched behind the overturned delivery truck, sobbing quietly, her tiny hands covering her ears. "Don't move!" Ethan shouted. The creature lunged. Its massive claws carved through the asphalt where Ethan had stood a fraction of a second earlier. He rolled away, gravel tearing through his shirt. His lungs burned. His heart hammered so violently he thought it would burst from his chest. I'm going to die. The thought flashed through his mind with terrifying clarity. He wasn't a soldier. He wasn't a martial artist. He was an accountant who spent most of his day staring at computer screens. Against a monster like this... He had no chance. The beast turned, its crimson eyes gleaming with cruel intelligence. It wasn't simply hunting. It was enjoying itself. A deafening explosion echoed from the next block. Someone screamed. Gunfire erupted in the distance. The city was becoming a battlefield. The monster ignored everything else. Its prey was Ethan. He staggered backward until his heel struck a fallen traffic sign. There was nowhere left to retreat. The creature lowered its body. It was preparing to pounce. Ethan clenched his fists. If he was going to die... He would at least die fighting. Just as the monster leaped— A streak of blue lightning crashed into its side. BOOM! The beast was hurled through a row of parked cars, twisting violently before smashing into a storefront. The building collapsed around it. Ethan stared in disbelief. Standing twenty meters away was a young woman dressed in a dark business suit, her right hand wrapped in crackling blue electricity. She looked no older than twenty-five. Her long black hair whipped wildly in the wind, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She looked just as shocked as everyone else. "I... I did that?" she whispered. Her hand sparked again. Electric arcs danced across the pavement. "So people really are getting powers..." Ethan muttered. The woman didn't have time to celebrate. The rubble exploded. The beast emerged, injured but very much alive. One of its eyes had burst, black blood dripping across its scaled face. Instead of retreating, it roared louder than before. It was furious. "Oh no..." the woman breathed. She raised her trembling hand. Another bolt of lightning shot forward. The monster dodged. It crossed the distance in an instant. Ethan's eyes widened. "LOOK OUT!" The warning came too late. The creature slammed into her, sending her crashing through the window of a nearby pharmacy. Shelves collapsed. Medicine scattered everywhere. Silence followed. No movement. No scream. Only dust. The monster slowly walked into the ruined building. A predator finishing its meal. Ethan's legs trembled. Every instinct told him to run. No one would blame him. He had already saved one life today. But as he looked toward the delivery truck, he saw the little girl peeking over the edge. Her eyes met his. They were filled with terror. She was waiting for him. Trusting him. Ethan let out a shaky breath. "Damn it..." He couldn't leave. He searched desperately through the wreckage around him. A broken steel pipe. Too short. A brick. Useless. Then his gaze landed on the shattered remains of a fire emergency box fixed to a nearby wall. Inside hung a bright red fire axe. He sprinted toward it. The glass had already shattered from the explosions. His fingers wrapped around the handle. It was heavy. Far heavier than he expected. But it was better than empty hands. Ethan swallowed hard. "This is either the bravest thing I've ever done..." He tightened his grip. "...or the stupidest." Step by step, he approached the ruined pharmacy. The shelves inside had been overturned. Broken bottles covered the floor. Blood stained the tiles. The monster stood with its back to him. It was sniffing through the debris. Looking for the woman. She wasn't dead. Ethan heard it. A faint cough. Somewhere beneath the collapsed shelves. Still alive. The beast heard it too. Its ears twitched. It began walking toward the sound. Ethan's pulse thundered. If he waited another second... She would die. He lifted the axe with both hands. Every muscle in his body screamed. He had never held a weapon before. Never fought for his life. Never imagined he would. The beast stopped. Slowly... It turned its head. Six crimson eyes locked onto him once again. A low growl echoed through the ruined pharmacy. Ethan inhaled once. Then he charged. With a desperate yell, he swung the fire axe with every ounce of strength he possessed. The blade flashed through the dusty air— —and the moment it descended, a cold mechanical voice rang inside his mind. "Compatible lifeform detected..." "Unknown Origin Authority responding..." "Synchronizing..."Chapter 1: The Day the Sky Broke (Part 3) The axe cut through the air with a desperate whistle. The monster twisted. Instead of splitting its skull, the blade bit deep into its shoulder. Black blood erupted across the ruined pharmacy. The beast howled in rage. Its claw lashed out. Ethan barely managed to throw himself aside, but the impact still caught him. He was flung into a shelf, the force driving the breath from his lungs. The fire axe clattered across the floor. Pain exploded through his ribs. He struggled to rise, only to collapse onto one knee. "So... this is it..." The monster stalked toward him, one crimson eye fixed on the wound in its shoulder. Black blood dripped onto the cracked tiles, hissing like acid wherever it landed. It was injured. But far from defeated. Behind the shattered counter, the woman in the business suit slowly regained consciousness. She saw Ethan standing between her and the beast. For a moment, she simply stared. He didn't know her. He had no reason to risk his life. Yet there he was. The beast roared and charged. Ethan clenched his fists. "I won't let you have them." Something inside him answered. Not a voice. A heartbeat. A deep, ancient pulse that seemed to echo from the earth itself. The world froze. A circle of faint golden symbols spread beneath Ethan's feet. The air shimmered. Invisible threads of light stretched outward from him, connecting to the frightened little girl outside... to the injured woman... and to dozens of terrified survivors scattered throughout the city. Then a single line of silver text appeared before his eyes. FIRST VOW ACCEPTED. Those who choose to protect shall never stand alone. A surge of warmth rushed through his body. His aching muscles steadied. The fear clouding his mind vanished. He wasn't stronger. He wasn't faster. But he was calm. The beast leaped. At that exact moment, blue lightning erupted behind it. The woman had risen to her feet. With both hands extended, she unleashed everything she had. A brilliant spear of electricity pierced the creature's side. The monster screamed. "Now!" she cried. Ethan didn't hesitate. He snatched up the fallen axe and charged. This time, he didn't swing wildly. He waited. One step. Two steps. The wounded beast stumbled as electricity raced through its body. Its neck was exposed. Ethan brought the axe down with every ounce of strength he had left. CRACK! The blade buried itself deep. The creature staggered. A second strike followed. Then a third. Finally, the six-eyed monster collapsed with a thunderous crash that shook the pharmacy. Silence. No one moved. A second later, the creature's body dissolved into countless motes of black light that drifted upward before disappearing into the fractured sky. A crystal the size of a marble rolled across the floor and stopped at Ethan's feet. Before he could pick it up, the silver words returned. First Trial Progress Updated. First Elite Monster Defeated. Survivors Protected: 2 Reward Granted. The crystal floated into Ethan's hand. The instant his fingers closed around it, a torrent of memories that did not belong to him flooded his mind—ruined kingdoms, impossible towers, armies marching beneath broken stars, and a colossal gate standing at the edge of the universe. Then everything vanished. Only one message remained. The Sanctuary Core has chosen its first Keeper. Build. Protect. Endure. The screen faded. Sirens wailed somewhere beyond the smoke-filled streets. The woman slowly approached him, still breathing heavily. "You saw them too... didn't you?" she whispered. Ethan looked toward the city skyline. The c***k in the heavens had grown even larger. Beyond it... Something enormous was watching. Its golden eyes opened in the darkness between worlds. And they were looking directly at Earth. Ethan tightened his grip around the glowing crystal. The apocalypse had only just begun.