Dragonheart Core - Chapter 99: Gravitas

One rule: Survive. Everything else is optional.Reika Kagetsu doesn’t want to be a hero. She just wants to feel—pain, fear, adrenaline—anything to remind her she’s still alive.Tenshiko Academy promised her that.What she got instead? Brutal training. No rest. No second chances. And monsters—inside and out.Now she’s fighting the Shikiban: creatures born from blood, madness, and buried secrets. But the deeper she goes, the more she begins to wonder...What if she’s one of them?Power always comes with a price. And Reika is about to pay it in full.

Set in the Shadow Slave world...a time before Sunny was born...this story follows a simple soldier who must survive in a dystopian, apocalyptic landscape where magic and gun warfare collide.In a far-off Quadrant known as North America, a young soldier named Hope is 16 years old when he gets infected by the Nightmare Spell. He passed! But...he feels a bit scammed...?A flaw that makes him fade from people's memories...A cursed attribute that makes him remember everything endlessly in eternal wakefulness...It's as if the Spell is twisting his future and existence into an almost improbable one.All he has ever known his purpose to be was to serve as a simple soldier. Not too powerful. But not so weak either. And maybe, just maybe like some others, become an Awakened. Although he never dreamt of being one.Now that his whole life is compromised after his First Nightmare, his first objective is to survive on his own. But as he tries to escape his fate, his actions seem to lead him further from his goal.He struggles against obstacles that slowly grow bigger and out of proportion.Maybe the Dream Realm and the Real World aren't so different than one may think.Hope's journey involves uncovering secrets and gaining knowledge about his true nature and his new role in the world.Is he fit to be a hero?Could he redefine it?***Please read the READER DISCLAIMER in Volume 0.This is my spin-off novel of “Shadow Slave” by Guiltythree.But please don't expect the same writing style, setting, and characters, especially the main character.This story reveals more about how people/cities/governments operate after the Spell’s arrival. I always find it interesting how maybe one country handles it fairly, but how others handle it with desperation to the point that you question humanity.There will be easter eggs pointing to the original novel either intentional for the plot or unrelated to it, but all for fun.I am a new author so props to all who bear with me and helps me improve my writing. If it is not for you, please don't leave outright hate comments. Eat wassabi instead if you want pain. Critique and advice would be great too.

He was the powerful and influential heir of B City, the merciless head of the commercial world, but the divorce papers made him lose his cool.

“Sign the divorce papers, daddy,” said the 5-year-old boy.

This man had the divorce papers thrown in his face by his wife six years ago, and was now being pushed by his own son to sign the papers.

“That would make you a single-parent child,” said Gu Juexi coldly.

“Mommy said unicorns don’t exist but men like you do,” the boy leered at his father and said.

Gu Juexi’s face fell. ‘That damned woman.’

“You haven’t signed the papers,” the boy reminded as the man left. As usual, the door shut in his face.

Good lord… Dad and mom are not getting a divorce and are giving him a baby brother? How worrying!

“So basically... I'm a Necromancer from my game... in this world?”“...And I'm useless?”“Yeah, right.”---Alexander never expected his dull life to change—until a single message appeared. What seemed like a prank or an ARG from his game became something far more real.He transmigrates.Now, in the body of Asher Morgan, a nineteen-year-old with a lonely past. His plan? Stay under the radar, play it safe, and live like he always had—a gamer, a slacker.But fate had other plans.At Velcrest Academy’s Inauguration Ceremony, where students awaken their powers, Asher receives the worst possible class.“Outcast. Worthless.”That becomes his new name—until fate decides to change plans.The system glitches.—[ERROR… ERROR… Recalculating Awakening Process…][Hidden Ability Detected—Reawakening Process Initiated][SSS-Ranked Ability Unlocked: Sovereign of the Dead][Secret Evolution Triggered—Job Upgraded: Lord of Draconic Souls]—At first, he is frustrated, but then, he remembers....if the old Asher had lived to see this moment, he would have been miserable, abandoned, and forgotten.He reluctantly accepts his fate, ready to prove them all wrong.