?The sky wasn't blue anymore. It hadn’t been for three years. It was a bruised, swirling purple—the color of pure, concentrated Mana.

  Amari Malik, the 9th Circle Grand Mage, the "Sovereign of Humanity," and the last living soul on Earth, floated above the ruins of the Academy. Below him lay the corpses of his guildmates. Jada. Kael. He had promised to save them. The Tank, who could block a nuclear warhead, lay broken. The Healer, who could cure death itself, was dust.

  ?They had all fallen to It.

  ?Floating opposite Amari was the calamity. It didn't look like a monster. It looked like a tear in reality, a human-shaped void of white light. The Mana God.

  ?"Is that all, Sovereign?" the entity whispered. The voice didn't come from the air; it vibrated inside Amari's skull. "You have reached the pinnacle of magic. You have 99,999 Intelligence. You have infinite Mana. And yet..."

  "And yet," Amari thought, "I was still too stupid to see the cage."

  Amari spat blood. "Shut up."

  ?He raised his hand. The atmosphere screamed. Amari didn't just cast a spell; he rewrote physics.

  ?[Spell: Hellfire Supernova]

  ?A sun, literally a miniature sun, formed in his palm and launched forward. It was an attack that had vaporized continents. It hit the Mana God dead center.

  ?There was no explosion. No heat.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ?The entity simply... inhaled.

  ?The sun vanished. The Mana God glowed slightly brighter.

  ?"Delicious," the entity mocked. "You humans. You build your castles out of wood and are surprised when the fire eats them. Did you never wonder, Amari? Where does Mana come from? It is not a gift. It is my blood. And you have filled your bodies with it."

  Amari froze. The realization hit him harder than any attack.

  ?The Mana Cores. The Awakenings. The System. It wasn't a tool to save humanity. It was a farm. By leveling up, by growing their mana cores, they were just marinating themselves for this moment.

  ?I am not a warrior, Amari realized, looking at his glowing hands. I am just a juice box.

  ?The Entity raised a finger. "Harvest."

  Amari felt his insides convulse. His core—the SSS-Rank heart he had spent twenty years cultivating—began to vibrate. It wasn't just vibrating. It was writhing. Amari felt his veins tighten, pulling inward like drawn strings. His core wasn't his heart anymore; it was a parasite trying to claw its way out of his ribcage to join its master.

  Amari fell from the sky, crashing into the rubble of the old gymnasium. He couldn't move. The magic he loved was killing him.

  ?His hand brushed against something in the dirt. A rusted, heavy dumbbell. A relic from the days before magic, when humans lifted weights to get strong. The Old Way.

  ?With his last ounce of will, Amari gripped the iron. It felt cold. Solid. Real. It had no mana. Because it had no mana, the Entity couldn't control it.

  ?If I had no mana... Amari thought, blood leaking from his eyes. If I was empty... you couldn't eat me.

  If I had the Void Body... I could have punched your teeth out.

  ?The Entity descended to claim him.

  Amari didn't pray. He didn't beg. He channeled every ounce of his infinite mana into a single, paradoxical wish. He didn't wish to win. He wished to be empty.

  [System Error: Livestock Unit Compromised.]

  [Asset Recovery Protocol Engaged.]

  [Rebooting in Safe Mode: Year -20.]

  ?"Next time," Amari snarled, gripping the rusted iron as the white light consumed him. "I'm not using your magic. I'm going to beat you to death with my own two hands."

  [System Notice: Asset "Amari Malik" flagged for observation.]