The 1st Universe...Year 2055.

Inside a dark cave with the rays of sunlight never reached, a figure was sitting soaking inside a poisonous bubbly pond.

The murky green waters kept bubbling gently around him, seemingly attempting to comfort and heal him instead of killing him.

The figure had slightly short hair with an unnatural shade of green, hanging damp over his face.

His eyes glowed with an eerie emerald light, matching the hue of the toxic pool. His body was beaten and broken, covered in cuts and bruises while blood dripped from his wounds and mixed with the poison below. Despite the pain, he seemed calm as if in a state of deep meditation.

The pond itself seemed alive as the thick and venomous liquid moved towards him, wrapping around his wounds and seeping into his skin.

"As expected of The Venom Doctor! Such potent poison that can kill a human by a mere touch was helping him treat his injuries!"

Meanwhile, a man wearing flamboyant clothes was commentating from high above on a metallic platform.

His commentary was directed at the sea of spectators, cheering thunderously in a fully packed virtual arena.

"Unfortunately, the Shadow clan members are closing on his tracks." The MC sighed sadly, "I am afraid to say that the tale of the Venom Doctor will end prematurely."

As he said this, the camera switched focus to three individuals with long dark hair and pitch-black eyes as they jumped from one tree to another.

Sometimes, when the shadows connect, they go through them and emerge on the other side.

In a short while, the three individuals stopped before a cave.

"He is here." The leader Jeffrey said coldly, "I can sense the presence of the mark in his shadow."

"Be careful, we might have wounded him, but he is still a vicious adversary," Gregory warned with a solemn tone while touching his right shoulder.

He was forced to sever his arm after it was poisoned, fearing that it would spread across his body and take him out.

"Don't be a wuss, we have opened his chest wide open, even if he was Deity God Doctor, I doubt he can still move a finger." Jose licked his lips murderously.

"Enough chitchat." Jeffrey waved his finger inside the cave, "Let's move, we are giving him time to recover."

Under the anticipated eyes of the crowd, the Shadow clan members sank themselves into a living shadow and entered the cave, hiding their presence completely...Or that's what they thought.

'Here they come.'

Felix opened his eyes slowly and gazed in the direction of the entrance. Then, he gazed at the massive hole in his chest, which was slowly closing.

'This cave is my tomb.' He showed a slight helpless smile, accepting that his fate was already sealed.

The game he was playing was called -The Hunter and The Prey-

It was those kinds of games where only one player could survive. It was this extreme because it was a promotional game for the Diamond Rank.

Right now, Felix was marked as the prey, which boosted his speed and survival instincts, but reduced his strength and powers.

Meanwhile, the Hunters received no boost or debuff, leaving them with their own powers.

The goal of the prey was to not get caught until the duration ends of the hunt and the roles switch.

Unfortunately for Felix, his vicious reputation marked him dead the moment he was classified as prey.

All the nearest hunters focused exclusively on him, understanding that the moment he became a hunter and his powers were unsealed, hell would break loose in the forest.

Still, he turned to be a monster and took out half of the players before finally failing to an ambush from the Shadow clan members when he was weakened.

'Oh well, I lived an eventful life...' As Felix sighed with a content smile, he said out loud, "Make it quick."

"You aren't in place to give us orders, Venom Doctor."

Suddenly, the three Shadow clan members emerged from the cloak of darkness. Their eyes glinted with malice as they circled Felix.

"You know, Doctor," Gregory sneered hatefully, "The bounty on your head is enough to set us up for life. One good strike, and we can retire after this game."

"I have to respect the guts it took to poison and wipe out the entire Fire Crow Clan," Jeffrey added with a hint of admiration in his voice. "Takes a special kind of crazy to pull that off."

"Crazy? There is nothing crazy in what I did..." Felix replied with a carefree tone, "I just did what had to be done."

"Tsk, still trying to sound cool even with a hole in your chest."

Jose snickered spitefully as he hurled six shadowy daggers at Felix, each one aimed precisely at his open wounds!

Slice! Slice!...

Felix grimaced as the daggers pierced his injured flesh, fresh pain blooming across his body.

"That's a more fitting grimace," Jose smirked.

Felix let out a weary sigh with his gaze half-lidded.

"All you had to do was make it quick..." He murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

Then, his gaze shifted, his green eyes locking onto each of them with an emotionless intensity that made their shadows falter for a brief moment.

Before the shadow clan members could react, Felix uttered with a voice devoid of emotion. "Final Technique: Nine Venomous Clouds..."

In an instant, Felix's body exploded into nine different blood-misty clouds, every one carrying a grim dark color as they engulfed the entire cave!!

'AVOID IT!'

Although Jeffrey shouted telepathically while holding his breath, the nine poisonous clouds were propelled with such great intensity that they touched their protective clothes...

Just as they tried to retreat to the shadows, they found their armored artifacts to have melted almost instantly like they were sunk inside a tank of acid!

With horrified looks, the Shadow clan members could only scream in pure agony as the mist made contact with their skin.

"Arghh! ARGHGHHHH! IT HURTS!!"

"ARGH!!"

"HEEELP MEE!! I AM MELTING!!"

Those pained screeches were the only thing echoing outside of the cave...But, a second later, just as the MC was about to voice his commentary, time seemed to come to a halt.

Silence covered the whole battlefield as reality started unraveling from within the cave, an endless void consuming everything in its path.

The same scenario was going from the hiding place of Felix in the authentic world, kicking off the reset of the universe at a ruined city on a deserted planet.

It took less than a second before the entire universe was consumed by the void, deleting everything from existence...

Once the process was done, the seven celestial hearts joined together again and recreated Felix's body and soul before them.

It might have been called simulated reality, but the moment the trial started, Felix's body and soul were erased until the trial ended.

In other words, there could never be two Felixes and every encounter Felix went through it was real!