The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village - Volume 9, Epilogue: After the Prophecy

In the midst of the blue and purple neon lights, under the gray, metallic sky, it is the frontier of all data, the aftermath of a scientific revolution, also the border of fiction and reality.

Steel versus body; the past and the future.

Here, the Outer World and the Inner World exist alongside each other. It seems like the wall of time is right in front of your eyes.

Darkness gradually swallows the world.

But listen, my friend, we cannot use kindness to survive the darkness. We need fire.

Being a nobody from a poor district of the Federation, Nick is a sixteen year old boy just trying to find his place in the world. When he finally gets his shot to enter the Beast Domain upon turning sixteen, he jumps at the opportunity to finally make something of himself — to carve out his own future.His goal? Survive. Hunt. Earn enough money to finally support his little sister back home and bring them out of poverty.But to a naïve young boy like Nick, the world is far more sinister than it seems — leaving him no choice but to adapt or die.To a poor young man like Nick, though, there was only one choice he could make.Follow Nick as he navigates these obstacles and carves out a future for himself and his sister, all while uncovering the various mysteries that shroud his worldview in darkness.

Shion, the ‘Hero of Darkness’. He was said to be the strongest hero ever. He believed one thing, and that was his current party members.

“I’ll defeat the Demon Lord with this party!”

That is what he swore to do, but a tragedy occurs. He was painfully betrayed by the girls that he trusted.

He barely held onto his life, but the incident left a deep scar in his heart.

He gave up on living, and while he was wandering around in a forest, looking for a way to die, a single monster appeared in front of him.

“Will you kill me, please?”

The monster asked Shion, who was still strong, despite losing his powers.

What Shion, who wanted to die as well, did was―

What happens when you survive seven hellish years on an alien planet in the ultimate battle of the strongest in the universe—as a human?What happens when you give everything you have and more to defeat the final boss in a battle to the death… only to wake up the next second, back at day one?Going through it all over again?But something is wrong.The game in his hands isn’t Nyxfall 6: Dark End, the world he spent over seven years surviving. It’s Nyxfall 7: The Veilbreakers—the next installment.He won? So now he’s been given another game to play?And he’s not alone. There are others like him in every alien civilization. This time, it’s not just survival—it’s about who can lead their people best.That is… if they even care about their people at all.Why bother leading at all? With everything they have learned, why not exploit the system, amass unimaginable wealth, and live like a king in a game that pays in real money?