Dancing on the golden ashes

"What the hell do you mean, unknown user? Me?!" I stared at those words, disbelief twisting inside me like a knife. I should have been happy, right? Wasn't this what I always wanted — to break free from the system's chains, to finally escape its control? Yet now, standing at the edge of that freedom, I felt nothing but cold dread clawing at my mind. The system was supposed to be my enemy — a force I had spent so long trying to resist — yet right now, I needed it more than anything. Without it, I was powerless. Without it, my path forward was nothing but a gaping void. The system held answers — answers I desperately needed. Without it, how would I resurrect my friends? How could I manipulate the flow of souls without the system's guidance? How could I summon my beasts without that connection anchoring them to me? The one thing I had sworn to reject, the one thing I had once cursed and despised... I was now terrified to live without it. I hated myself for it — for this twisted dependency — yet right now, I felt as though my world had shattered. "Is this... the end of my journey?" I muttered under my breath, my voice thin and fragile, barely louder than a whisper. But then, a thought struck me — a flicker of hope buried beneath my confusion. If the system was truly gone, then how had I managed to access it in the first place? Even now, those cursed words — [Unknown user] — still burned in my vision. That alone didn't make sense. If the system had been erased entirely, I wouldn't have seen anything at all. Maybe... maybe this is just a bug... Perhaps the Creator was injured, not just his clone, but his real body as well. Maybe that battle had left him weakened, forcing him to loosen his grip on the world itself. What if... what if it wasn't just me? What if everyone had lost access to their system? Wouldn't that make us... ordinary? No longer empowered beings bound by the system's rules, but just simple cultivators left to struggle with whatever strength we had left. But even then... something still didn't feel right. My body — the same body that should have healed rapidly without the system's influence — was still barely holding itself together. In my realm, I should have recovered within minutes. The system would have been faster, but even without it, I shouldn't have been in this miserable state for so long. It didn't add up… None of it did… This is making me pissed… I clenched my fists, forcing myself to focus. Feel the world around you, I told myself. Feel the laws... Closing my eyes, I reached out to the unseen forces that governed this world — the ancient laws that dictated life, death, and existence itself. They were still there, lingering like faint whispers in the air, weaving through the sky and soil. That was good... that meant I could still harness them. But the moment I tried to grasp them, a searing pain shot through my chest — sharp and sudden, like a burning dagger twisting behind my ribs. My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, it felt as if my heart might burst from the sheer pressure. "Did my cultivation container... get injured?" I gasped, clutching my chest as my heart pounded violently beneath my ribs. The pain lingered, cold and biting, leaving me feeling weaker than before. I staggered, struggling to steady myself. If my cultivation core — my very foundation — had been damaged, then this was far worse than just losing the system. This was something that could cripple me entirely... or worse, leave me powerless forever. But that was the price I had to pay for survival. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, the truth lingered painfully in my mind — this was my fault. I should have run when I had the chance. I should have turned away instead of challenging the Creator, and if I had, none of this would have happened. She would still be here… alive. I wouldn't have lost her, and I wouldn't be standing here now, broken and weakened, with my cultivation crippled and my path uncertain. I would have still been able to grow… still been able to carve my way forward without carrying this unbearable weight. But regrets no longer mattered. That time was over, and no amount of grief or guilt would change what had already happened. The past was gone, and all I could do now was accept my fate — face the consequences of my failure and move forward with what little strength I had left. Yet there was one thing that still gave me purpose — one final truth that kept me standing. Through all this chaos, I had learned something far greater than I ever could have imagined. Secrets that reached far beyond me, beyond this world, and even beyond the Creator himself had been revealed. Now I knew what I had to do. I couldn't just escape this world; that was no longer enough. I had to kill the Creator — tear him from his throne and shatter the twisted power he wielded. And when that was done, I had to find my way to the demon world... to uncover what truly happened there, to learn who I was, and to understand how my world — the one that had once been destroyed — had returned, along with every human that once lived within it. The fire within me, long smothered beneath doubt and pain, began to burn once more. My gaze hardened, and in that moment, I made a promise to myself — one I would carve into my soul if I had to. I would recover. I would grow stronger — far stronger than I had ever been before. And when that day came, when my power was enough to turn the world upside down with a flick of my hand, I would challenge the Creator again... and this time, I would end it for good. But for now... It was time to retreat and to find a quiet place where I could mend what was broken and gather the strength I would need for what was to come.