The world was on fire.
Skyscrapers once towering with pride now lay in shambles, their skeletal remains reaching for a sky perpetually choked by black clouds. The stench of rot, blood, and ash clung to everything. Insects buzzed over corpses long since drained of meaning. The wind howled—not with nature's voice, but the cries of a world undone.
Ren Kurozawa opened his eyes to this chaos, but unlike before, he wasn't broken. Not anymore.
"...It worked."
The words escaped his lips, raw and uncertain. His fingers dug into dirt—warm, solid, real. He clenched his fists. The pain was real. The cold. The wind. The gravity of a second chance.
> [Doomsday Survival Protocol Initializing… Syncing Host Data… Complete.]
A transparent blue screen hovered in the air. Familiar. Comforting. Haunting.
Ten years of hell, betrayal, and pain.
Ten years of building the last human stronghold while monsters evolved, cities fell, and humanity became prey.
Ten years… all erased.
He was back. Back to the moment the world first began to burn.
> [Welcome, Ren Kurozawa. System recognizes you as: Survivor Zero. All core privileges unlocked. Loyalty and Beauty thresholds active. Optimization begins.]
Ren stared at the screen for a full minute, breath shallow, heart cold. This wasn't a dream. This was the restart.
The memory came crashing back: Ayame's betrayal. Her family's knife in his back. Humanity's hope shattered by greed and envy.
"I'll burn them all… before they ever rise."
He stood.
His limbs ached, but his body was whole. Young. Pre-apocalypse. Pre-war. No more cybernetic limbs. No more scars. Just the vessel of his youth — hardened by knowledge from a future gone wrong.
> [Daily Mission Unlocked: First Contact. Locate and secure a Beauty-rated Female (90+). Bonus: Loyalty Bonding triggers skill awakening. Reward: +1 System Expansion Slot.]
Even now, the system pushed him toward his destiny.
He pulled his hoodie over his head, stepping out from the alley ruins into a street untouched by full collapse — yet.
People bustled past, unaware of what loomed on the horizon. Soldiers laughed. Vendors shouted. Lovers clung to each other.
She must be nearby.
He remembered this day. This street. The girl.
Ayaka.
> [Target Match Detected. Ayaka Fujihara – Beauty Rating: 92. Loyalty: Undefined. Warning: Initial encounter is crucial. Approach with calculated interaction.]
She stood by the vending machine, her long silver hair shimmering even under the gray sky. Eyes alert. Posture defensive.
She hadn't yet awakened to the world's truth. But Ren had.
He approached.
"Careful," he said, stopping just beside her as a can jammed halfway in the machine. "Machines are the first to betray."