The man's eyes were sharp. Too calm for someone who just found a blood-covered stranger in the middle of nowhere.
Ken didn't move. His legs were still weak, and whatever power had brought him back hadn't given him strength. Just the ability to suffer again.
"You can drop the act," the man said, voice low. "I know what you are."
Ken's heartbeat spiked. "What…?"
"You're cursed," the man said, drawing his sword. "Soul-bound. Reset-marked. I've killed your kind before."
Ken's breath hitched. "Wait, I don't even know what that means!"
But the blade was already rising.
Ken stumbled back, tripping over ash and rubble.
Too slow.
The sword flashed.
Pain exploded in his chest. For a second, it felt like fire.
Then—
Darkness.
When Ken opened his eyes again, everything was moving.
He was lying in a small wooden boat, the wood creaking beneath him, rocking gently on dark blue waves. The sky was overcast, a sickly gray. Cold wind blew across his soaked clothes.
He blinked. Sat up slowly.
No land in sight.
No oar.
No idea how he got here.
"…What the hell," he muttered.
A chill ran down his spine — not from the cold, but from the silence. The sea was dead quiet.
Until the boat rocked harder.
Something brushed against the bottom.
Ken's stomach sank.
The water around him rippled. Then shifted.
A massive fin cut through the surface like a blade.
"No, no, no—" Ken scrambled to one side of the boat, heart pounding.
The shark circled once.
Then, it struck.
The wooden planks exploded with a crack. Ken was thrown into the water, flailing, gasping. Salt burned his eyes.
And then — teeth.
Something sharp tore into his leg, dragging him down.
Ken screamed, bubbles rising as cold swallowed him whole.
His vision dimmed again.
This world doesn't want me to live, he thought bitterly.
Then — nothing.
Somewhere far away, Soul Reset activated again.
Another life. Another body.
And still, no answers.