Martial Online.

Amaterasu, Immortal Dojo.

"Aaaargh!" Konrad finished a pushup; his arm straightened up while his other arm was tied behind his back.

"S-so, why am I doing one-hand pushups?" He turned to look at the scary-looking man, who watched him do pushups.

"You aren't allowed to question his training methods." Ken said, grabbed his training sword tight, and then whipped it across Konrad's back.

"Argh!" Konrad let out a scream of pain and continued doing pushups while his body shook in fatigue.

"S-so, when am I meeting the boss man?" He asked while pushing his body up and down.

"Whenever he returns." Ken said and narrowed his eyes. "You better impress us before he tests you. For now, you aren't looking that impressive."

"Ugh, a-all right!" Konrad breathed loudly with fatigue and pain. 'T-the fate must've brought me here for reason, and it must have something to do with the boss guy!'

…

"Haaah…"

"Haaah…"

"Haaah…"

A black-haired man sat cross-legged in the middle of the empty room. His skin had turned scarlet red as if he were on fire inside, and his purple eyes had turned red at some point in time.

"Aaaaargh!" A strange, transparent figure jumped out of his body as if it were trying to escape.

It was Ambrose's soul!

The soul was covered in transparent blood, and it was wailing in agony. It was trying to break out of the mortal body of Ambrose but was clearly unsuccessful as it got sucked right back into his body.

"Aaaargh!" This time, Ambrose screamed, and all his bones broke at the same moment, and the broken pieces were trying to break through his flesh.

It looked like he had turned into a porcupine for a moment, but because of his Starborn physique, the broken bones didn't manage to burst through his body.

"Aahhhh!" His eyes rolled back into his skull, and he was about to pass out, but at the last possible moment, he managed to stay conscious.

"F-fuck, h-how long have I been here…" With his exhausted, broken arm, he opened the inventory and saw the current time and date.

As he saw that, he let out a mocking laughter.

"I-It's only been two days, hahahaha…"

He had a hallucination that it had been a month already, but he was now brought back to reality.

"F-five more days… five… five…"

…

Nocklund, Saward Residence.

Amber observed her servants, who were putting up the decorations in the dining hall.

They were getting ready for the early Christmas gathering that was going to happen in less than a week.

"Mom." Emily, the daughter of the Saward family, walked over to her mother with a letter in hand. "Lady Anna sent a letter."

"Oh, she did? Thank you, my dear daughter." Amber accepted the letter, opened it with a paper knife, and read it inwardly.

Emily looked at her curiously.

"She is coming to the dinner with her son." Amber said, but her expression was strange.

"With Zach?" Emily asked curiously.

"No, with Jesse, the stepson." Amber folded the letter and tapped the paper knife against her cheek.

"With him?" Emily tilted her head, trying to remember, but she only had a faint memory of the new stepchild of the Rothsmith family.

"The kids of High Society ain't the friendlist bunch." Amber said. "Anna is being very optimistic that they will accept him into their circle."

"Are you surprised that Anna seemed to be fine with Jack's new child?" Emily asked. "Not many would."

"Anna is a very kindhearted individual. It's very surprising that she survived in this environment this well." Amber looked at her daughter and said, "She married Jack when she was still a young woman, and she married into the Rothsmith family.

"No one expected her to survive even a year, but not only did she survive, she became a proper woman of the Rothsmith family.

"Maybe Jesse's current situation is familiar to Anna. For some reason, she believes him to be able to handle it as well. She must have a reason to have such high hopes for him."

"Hmm…" Emily nodded thoughtfully, but from what she remembered about Jesse, he didn't seem too special.

She even thought he looked quite disappointing. That's why she hardly remembered him, as he wasn't very memorable.

…

The night fell on top of Amaterasu.

"Tch, another one!" A cigar-smoking gentleman looked down at a small creature that was falling dead on the dark alleyway's pavement.

It was a rat, and its stomach was open.

"Did the rat eat itself?" A clean-shaven man in a clean brown suit asked as he poked the rat's corpse with a small toothpick.

"Another victim of the Berserker Epidemic." The nice-looking gentleman put the cigar between his fingers and removed it from his mouth.

"This was the first victim who killed itself because of the immense pain. It means the Berserker Epidemic has become even stronger."

"My lord." The clean-shaven man, named Hale, drew a cross against his chest. He just hoped the epidemic wouldn't spread to humans.

"Hmm…" The gentleman, named Blaise, tapped his foot against the pavement rhythmically.

Since he witnessed the first victim of the Berserker Epidemic, he felt like it wasn't an ordinary epidemic. There weren't any signs of physical injuries or signs of a virus.

Clang—a strange sound reverberated from behind the corner as if the garbage can had been tossed over.

"Hmm?" Blaise turned around and ran to the corner, then peered over to the alleyway.

A long-coated, shadowy figure hovered his hand above a cat-looking creature.

The cat's peaceful purring soon turned into screeching, and its fur stood up and its tail puffed up. It's claws scratched the pavement below, and its screams turned very painful-sounding.

"You there, hands up!" Blaise walked from the corner and showed his investigator badge towards the shadowy figure. "Do not move!"

"Shit…" The shadowy figure turned his head towards the gentlemanly-looking figure, and his head was covered in a mask.

He grabbed the cat, threw it towards the gentleman, and ran in the opposite direction, accidentally kicking over a few garbage cans.

The cat released a mad-looking cry and scratched Blaise across his face.

"Urgh…" Blaise tossed the cat away; half of his face was covered in scratches, and one even went over his left eye, and it would seem like he was going to have a scar.

"Boss, are you all right?" Hale came right away after hearing his shout.

"Yeah, go after him!" Blaise shouted.

"Yes!" Hale sprinted past Blaise and started chasing after the shadowy-looking figure, who was running down the maze-like alleyways.

"Damn it…" Blaise touched his bleeding face and looked back at the screeching cat.

He crouched in front of the cat, who was clearly in a lot of pain, and tried touching it, but the cat scratched across his hand.

"This is a clear sign of the Berserker Epidemic." He looked at the cat's red eyes. "It is indeed man-made."

He looked in the direction where Hale went to pursue the shadowy-looking figure.

Blaise narrowed his eyes and dashed forth, but soon he arrived at the crossroads. He looked back and forth, not sure which direction he should go; therefore, he guessed and started running in the left direction.

He kept running in one direction, which was covered in the night darkness, and for a moment, he thought he went in the wrong direction, but then he saw a slouching figure on the ground.

"Aa… aah."

"Hale?!" Blaise saw his subordinate slouching on the ground, holding his waist.

"B-boss!" Hale screamed in pain. "I-It's so painful!"

"W-what happened?" Blaise crouched in front of him, examined his eyes, and saw that they were as red as the cat's.

A bad premonition came to him.

"I-I don't know… He touched me, and I suddenly started feeling agonizing pain!" Hale screamed. "H-help me, boss!"

"T-the Berserker Epidemic…" Blaise's eyes widened in fear. "It can be given to humans as well…"