The throne room was crumbling. Once filled with heavenly light, now only cracks of darkness bled through its fractured pillars. At the center, sprawled across her throne, sat a goddess—her breath ragged, her divine aura flickering like a dying flame.
"Damn it…" she muttered, clutching her chest as blood, faintly golden, trickled down her lips. "I can't… hold on much longer. Those bastards… they actually forced me this far…"
Her eyes, dim yet defiant, scanned the void beyond her shattered realm. It was then that she saw it—a flicker. A wandering soul drifting through the void, lost and untethered.
Her lips curled in a bitter smirk. "Heh… fate, you cruel bitch. Tossing me scraps when I'm on my last breath."
With the last shred of her divine command, she dragged the soul into her throne room. The light flared, and in the middle of the broken hall, the soul took shape.
A man's voice echoed, calm yet sharp. "Where… am I?"
The goddess chuckled, though it sounded more like a cough. "My throne room… what's left of it. And you, little soul, you're mine now."
The figure steadied, his presence oddly composed for someone freshly torn from death. He looked at the goddess with calculating eyes. "You're desperate."
Her expression stiffened. "What did you say?"
"You're fading. Weak. If you had other options, you wouldn't have dragged me here," he replied coldly. "I was a businessman in my old world—Blue Star. Deals were my life. And right now, you need one."
The goddess barked a laugh, though her body trembled. "Tch… sharp little bastard, aren't you?"
He stepped closer, his incorporeal form flickering. "So let's talk. You need me, and I… I need a second chance. Reincarnate me. Give me power, give me the tools to survive in this world of yours. In exchange…"
He paused, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "…you'll live on through me."
Her crimson eyes glimmered with both rage and amusement. "You dare dictate terms to a goddess?"
"You're not much of a goddess right now," he said evenly. "You're just… desperate."
For a long moment, silence filled the throne room. Then the goddess let out a bitter chuckle, leaning back against her throne. "Fine. Damn it all, fine! You'll get your chance, soul. But don't forget, you carry my mark. If you fall, you drag me down with you."
Raising her trembling hand, she summoned a blinding portal of swirling light. The throne room groaned under the strain, shards of marble falling as her divine essence burned away to fuel the spell.
"Go," she whispered hoarsely, her voice softer now. "Take this chance… and carve a path I no longer can."
The wandering soul was pulled into the portal, his laughter echoing faintly as he vanished into the unknown.
The goddess exhaled, slumping fully into her throne, her eyelids heavy. "Damn mortal… you'd better not waste this…"
And with that, the last light in the throne room flickered out.