Episode 1: The Monster That Fell from the Sky

How many times had he heard those words, anyway?

“Oh, hero summoned from another world! Please save us, the human race!”

How many kings had knelt before him?

How many goddesses had offered him magical chains disguised as blessings, their faces adorned with smiles full of false compassion?

Ten times?

Fifty times?

A hundred times?

Tom no longer knew.

Not even his real name.

Not even his family.

Not even Earth itself.

Those memories had long since dissolved and vanished into a sea of pain, blood, and betrayal that had repeated itself over hundreds of years.

His mind was no longer human.

It was a mirror shattered into pieces—one that no one could ever put back together again.

*—If you want me to save the world that badly… I’ll put an end to it all.*

That was the only thought left in the void of his consciousness.

And then—

Tom shattered the barrier between dimensions.

**BOOMMMM!!**

A mechanical roar and an explosion of elemental energy shook the sky over the endlessly vast continent.

The air of this new world carried neither the scent of flowers nor the smell of pure magical power.

What was there instead—

Sulfur.

The stench of fresh blood.

Burnt iron.

And the smell of swirling dust.

Tom opened his eyes.

His descent speed—over 500 kilometers per hour.

The scene spreading out below him was nothing short of hell.

There were no peaceful cities.

No tranquil rural villages.

The horizon, stretching far into the distance, had been transformed into a vast battlefield spanning thousands of li.

Countless armies were waging a war where blood was washed away by more blood.

Legions of High Elves firing arrows of light.

Facing them were the armies of the Galactic Orcs and the Giants of Fire.

High above them, wyverns and black dragons clashed with six-winged angels and demon-hunting warriors.

Complete chaos.

The entire planet was devouring itself.

Looking down upon it—

Tom laughed.

A twisted smile.

A cold smile.

There wasn’t a shred of human warmth in it.

“…This is the best.”

**BOOM!!**

The very next moment.

Centered on the spot where Tom had landed, an entire hill was blown to smithereens.

A massive crater, thirty meters in diameter, opened up right in the middle of the front lines.

The swirling dust completely obscured his vision.

The clang of swords.

The roar of magic.

In that area alone, everything fell completely silent for a few seconds.

And then—

A man walked out from the depths of the crater.

It was Tom.

All he wore were tattered black rags, torn to shreds by the dimensional transfer.

No sword.

No sacred armor.

No magic active.

The strain of crossing dimensions had completely drained his magical power.

“What the hell is that…? A human?”

A colossal figure over three meters tall.

The orc commander, gripping a blood-soaked axe, bellowed.

“How come such a lowly vermin didn’t fall from the sky and get smashed to pieces!?”

The orc charged forward.

His massive axe came crashing down.

A blow powerful enough to cleave a mountain in two.

But—

Tom didn’t even blink.

*—Analyzing the movement.*

*Distance.*

*Mass.*

*Angle.*

He didn’t need any magic.

For hundreds of years, Tom had mastered dozens of different combat systems.

The memories etched into his body—

were now on the level of a god of war.

He shifted ever so slightly to the left.

The massive axe sliced through the air.

At that instant.

Tom took a step forward.

Straight into the orc’s guard.

Then, extending two fingers—

he thrust them into the monster’s Adam’s apple.

At the same time, he kicked the orc’s knee with his heel.

**CRACK!!**

“――!?”

The orc’s knee buckled in an impossible direction.

He didn’t even give it time to scream.

Mid-air, Tom grabbed the handle of the axe the orc had been holding.

He spun his body around.

The massive blade—

In a flash.

Severed the orc’s head.

Furthermore, it sliced through all five soldiers who happened to be in its path.

**Splash!!**

Blood spurted up like a fountain.

“T-The commander… was killed in a second!?”

“It’s a monster!!”

“Kill himmm!!”

Hundreds of orcs, goblins, and even dark elves forgot their own war and rushed toward Tom all at once.

But—

The black-haired young man simply continued walking quietly.

One step.

Another step.

A fist pierced the enemy’s solar plexus.

He dodged a spear by a hair’s breadth.

He disarmed an enemy.

Then, in one fluid motion, he severed the heads of three enemies simultaneously.

There was not a single wasted movement in the sequence.

It was as if—

A dance of death.

Utilizing his enemies’ strength while minimizing his own, he dispatched them one after another.

And then—

In less than three minutes.

Over eighty elite warriors lay dead at Tom’s feet.

But.

This world was far too chaotic.

“—Dieeeee!! Intruderrrr!!”

A furious roar echoed from the heavens.

Eight wings.

Golden armor.

A being shrouded in sacred light.

A general of the Heavenly Army—

An Archangel.

He had spotted the anomalous presence that had appeared on Earth.

“Vanish!!”

The Archangel raised his hand.

The very next instant.

A spear of compressed holy light was unleashed.

At the speed of sound.

Its target—

The top of Tom’s head.

A complete ambush.

It was a strike that was mechanically impossible to dodge.

Tom sensed it.

Death was approaching.

*—Now.*

At that instant.

His left eye changed.

The dark brown pupil instantly turned golden.

Inside his eye, countless gears were rotating counterclockwise.

**[Eye Power—0.005 Milliseconds of Precognition + Instant Teleportation]**

Activated.

The world—

froze.

Time around him slowed to the absolute limit.

Tom could see it.

0.005 milliseconds later.

The exact spot where the beam of light would pierce the ground.

The trajectory of the sacred explosion that would erupt from there.

And—

Behind the Archangel in midair.

His only blind spot.

Everything.

He could see it all.

The very next instant—

**FLASH!!**

The holy spear completely obliterated the crater where Tom had been standing.

But.

At that very moment.

Tom was nowhere to be seen.

And then—

“Wh—!?”

Behind the Archangel.

In midair.

Tom was standing there.

“What…!?”

The Archangel tried to turn around.

But—

It was too late.

In Tom’s hand was a simple sword he’d taken from a goblin.

He thrust the blade—

into the back of the Archangel’s head.

Thud.

The blade pierced the back of his head and shot straight through his throat.

“――!”

The Archangel’s body went rigid.

And then.

His massive, lifeless form plummeted from the sky.

Before it even hit the ground—

he was already dead.

**Thud!!**

Tom, too, dropped to his knees on the ground.

“…Haa… Haa…”

His breathing was ragged.

His blood vessels felt as if they were burning.

His heart was pounding so violently it felt as if it might burst at any moment.

At that instant.

A cold message flashed in his mind.

**[Side Effect]**

**[Total Magic Power—94% Decreased]**

The magic he had finally managed to gather, albeit in a tiny amount, from the atmosphere of this world.

Even that vanished completely in less than a second.

The strength drained from his entire body.

His muscles trembled.

Right now, Tom was—

as defenseless as a newborn baby.

Even so.

Tom raised his head.

He looked at the army surrounding him.

Thousands.

No, more than that.

Orcs.

Elves.

Goblins.

Demons.

Angels.

All of them—

were frozen in terror.

A single young man.

In an instant.

Had killed the general of the Heavenly Army.

Seeing that,

Tom—

“Heh heh…”

chuckled softly.

And then—

“Haha…”

Soon after.

“Hahahahahahaha…!”

A maniacal laugh echoed through the air.

Amid the dust.

Only his left eye still glowed faintly with a golden light.

Tom stood up.

And, looking out over the army of thousands—

he said quietly.

“…Next guy, step forward.”