Level-Up Apocalypse

A lone, blue planet orbited a star. The planet was several times bigger than Earth. One-third was water, while the rest was dry land—a vast expanse of deserts, forests, mountains, and plains. Three moons hung in the sky, casting their silvery glow.

Despite these differences, the civilization on this planet was almost identical to Earth. Humans.

...

Year 2096, August 19, 14:49.

The sun burned high in the sky, scorching the city. The high skyscrapers protruded from the ground up into the sky.

Luxurious hotels rose dozens of floors high in the sky. On the roofs of such hotels, prosperous figures drank cold drinks, swimming in the pools and bathing in the sun rays, while others hid underneath the shade of the palm trees, sipping cocktails.

The ground burned. Rarely did anyone dare roam the streets at this time of day? Cars flew by on the roads, their drivers comfortably seated while the AC worked at full capacity to cool them.

As one got further from the city center, the skyscrapers gradually became less and shorter.

"Come, fresh vegetables!"

"Vegetables at half the price!"

"Don't miss out. Red tomatoes!"

On the outskirts of the city, the voices of vendors echoed through the air, seemingly competing who would shout louder.

A marketplace existed in a network of alleys. Curtains spread from the houses, covering the tops of the alleys and shielding the vendors and customers on the ground from the sun.

The vendors shouted, and the people pushed through the crowds. Some were beautiful ladies wearing high heels, reeking of cheap perfume, and wearing revealing clothes. Everyone could smell a fishy business from them.

Others walked home from work, and while some carried several bags of vegetables and fruits, others didn't. Some people passed by the stalls, while others stopped to look at the prices, creating even more of a crowd.

The smell of sweat and rotten vegetables lingered in the air.

But everyone had their life, full of challenges and hardships. They were too focused on themselves to stop for a moment and realize that everyone around them had a complex life, no one more than the other.

Several alleys away, where the marketplace didn't reach, a run-down house existed—an old house on the brink of collapse. The wooden door looked fragile as if a gentle knock would break it.

Inside the house, a man lay on a bed. The mattresses and the pillows were dirty, and the place stank of cigarettes.

The man lay on the bed, his head hanging down the bed. His face red as all the blood flowed down his head.

The AC on the wall blew straight at him, cooling him.

He had a dirty and oily, shoulder-length brown hair. His stubble beard and big dark eyes made him look several decades older.

Buzz-zzzt!

Suddenly, the AC on the wall powered off.

The man raised his head and looked at the AC.

"Great, they cut my electricity," The man muttered.

He raised and got down the bed, leaning against a wall. He reached into his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes.

He put a cigarette in his mouth and lighted it, taking a few puffs.

"Ahhhh..." He released a long, tired sigh. "Vincent, oh, Vincent," He shook his head. "How low have you fallen?"

Growl!

His stomach growled as if in response to his question.

"Now, you don't even have money for food," Vincent muttered helplessly. "I knew I should have put everything on red!" He exclaimed regretfully.

"The debt collectors would be here soon," He looked at the door. "2.5 million Solars. How am I supposed to come up with that much money?"

Vincent could only sigh in acceptance as he took another puff of his cigarette.

"I can't delay those bastards anymore. I delayed them three times already. This time, they would come and take me away to sell my organs."

Gathering strength, Vincent slowly stood up.

"Well, might as well go and end my life." He muttered, his eyes void of feelings. He has already grown dull to the hardships of this world and his mundane life. The way he saw death was freedom.

"Better than to let those bastards profit from my body."

Vincent walked to the door and left the house. As soon as he stepped outside, a heat wave hit his face.

He threw his almost smoked cigarette and put a new one in his mouth, lighting it. As he took puffs of his cigarette, Vincent walked towards the nearest bridge.

He passed through the alleys and reached the main road. All sweaty, he walked by the side of the road.

The horns of the passing cars filled the air, but Vincent ignored them all as his destination was within sight. The bridge, his final destination.

A deep river flowed under the bridge.

Click!

The clock hit 15:00.

Rumble!

"W-What is this?" Vincent looked at the ground in shock, struggling to regain his foothold on the shaking ground. "An earthquake? At this time?"

Vooooom-BOOM!

The sound of something shattering rebounded throughout the whole world.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Vincent looked at the sky, his eyes widening in terror and disbelief. The half-smoked cigarette fell off his mouth, hitting the ground. "You gotta be kidding me,"

Terror filled his whole being. A sublime feeling attacked him as the hairs on his body stood up, and tears welled in his eyes. Tears of fear came from the depths of his soul.

Crash!

Boom!

The sound of the cars crashing on the road rang. But no one of the drivers minded that they crashed or the damage to their vehicle. They all got out of their cars and looked at the sky. The kids in the backseats had their faces stuck to the window, staring at the sky.

A huge rift has appeared in the sky.

The rift was a swirling vortex of chaotic energy, its edges shimmering with an eerie, iridescent light that defied the typical spectrum of colors. It flickered between deep, obsidian black and a piercing violet with streaks of electric blue rippling through its core.

The center of the rift seemed to twist and distort, pulling at the very fabric of reality as if it were a tear in the universe itself. Around the rift, the atmosphere crackled with raw energy, distorting light into a disorienting blur. The rift sent goosebumps to anyone who saw it, filling them with a primal sense of unease and fear.

The sky darkened as the rift devoured the sun's light. Though it was the middle of the day, when the sun was the highest in the sky, it became dark as if it were dusk.

The three moons became visible in the sky.

"W-What is going on?"

"What is that?"

"This gotta be a joke? Did the sky crack?"

"They must be playing with holographic technology." A man smiled bitterly, refusing to believe what he saw. "That's right. That must be it." He closed his eyes.

Panic spread throughout the people on the road. The whole traffic was stuck. The stuck horns of the crashed cars beeped continuously. But no one minded.

And not just between the people on the road. No human being on the planet existed that didn't panic or despair. From the homeless to the leaders of the nations, everyone was in terror.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Simultaneously, everyone felt a buzzing in their pockets. Their phones vibrated.

"Emergency Broadcast! Emergency Broadcast!"

A voice rang throughout the city.

The emergency broadcast activated on the phones of every citizen and on the holographic marketing screens on the more luxurious buildings.

The screens turned red with the words "EMERGENCY BRODCAST".

"This is not a test. I repeat. This is not a test!" A feminine voice sounded on the emergency broadcast.

Vincent had no phone as he had sold it long ago, but even so, he could hear the emergency broadcast from the phone of a nearby man.

"A rift has appeared in the atmosphere above our planet. The scientists detect astronomical amounts of unknown energy sweeping from the rift. From the readings of their equipment and their understanding, they claim this to be a dimensional rift."

The words "dimensional rift" rang through the citizens' minds. Not just in this city but every nation had similar emergency broadcasts. The whole world was in turmoil and disbelief.

"Scientists are using the satellite to monitor changes around the planet. Now, I am with the lead scientist in the Lunaris-03X satellite, which monitors the entire blue planet. What do you have to say on th..."

The woman's voice stopped halfway through the sentence.

If one looked at the dimensional rift from the blue planet, he couldn't notice anything, but the same didn't apply to those already in space.

"There is movement at the dimensional rift!" The woman exclaimed hastily. "A creature has come out of the dimensional rift. The lead scientist is now observing the creature through a telescope."

"Such a magnificent creature." The scientist's voice sounded, admiring the creature from the rift.

In space.

A dark creature came out of the rift—a creature with a humanoid shape and dark, smooth skin. A pair of dark horns grew vertically up from its forehead. It had a humanoid face, with the only distinctive feature being the pitch-black skin.

The creature had broad shoulders and muscular arms. The chest and the eight-pack abs looked harder than steel. The spine ended in a dark tail that gradually became thinner, ending in what resembled a sharp trident head.

The muscular legs of the creature ended in black, slightly curved hooves, giving them a menacing look.

The creature floated in space, almost blending with the darkness. It released a primal, evil aura that could drive an ordinary person mad in fear just by looking at it.

Swoosh!

The creature sharply turned and looked at the Lunaris-03X satellite thousands of miles away. Its gaze passed through the telescope's magnifying glass and met the scientist's eye.

"Aghhh!" The scientist backed away from the telescope. His heart skipped a beat. "T-The creature looked at me."

The voice of the scientist rang on the emergency broadcast.

"What do you mea..." Just as the woman reporter was about to extend the scientist's statement, three objects came out of the rift.

Swoosh!

Three towers flew out of the rift. Towers made of dark, never-seen-before material to humanity.

"Just now, three unidentified objects resembling towers came out of the dimensional rift. They are heading toward the moons." The woman reported.

Vincent and everyone in the city looked up in the sky. Indeed, they could see three tiny objects moving towards the moons.

"Wha..." the reporter's shocked voice sounded on the emergency broadcast. "Do you hear that? The creature is speaking? It is saying..."

Swoosh!

The creature moved. Almost instantly, it covered thousands of miles and appeared before the satellite.

Before the woman could report anything else, the creature acted.

It extended its long arm at the satellite.

Dark energy gathered in the form of a sphere at the creature's palm.

Soundlessly, a dark blast fired from the creature's palm. The blast hit the satellite, exploding and creating a hole.

"Aghhhh!"

The screams of the reporter and the scientist were the last things broadcasted through the emergency broadcast.

The dark blast threw the satellite out of orbit and started falling toward the blue planet.

As the satellite entered the planet's atmosphere, gravity pulled it down. It sped up and, facing the air resistance, flamed, turning into a giant, metallic mass of fire.

Boom!

The three towers crashed on the respective moons of the planet.

As the towers landed, a large cloud of moon dust and moonstones flew into the atmosphere, creating huge craters.

"What happened?"

"What happened to the reporter and the scientist?"

Panic spread among the civilians.

"Look!" Someone pointed in the sky.

What looked like a fiery ball of flames descended from the sky.

BOOM!

The satellite crashed into the highest, most luxurious skyscraper in the city center.

Boom!

The remains of the skyscraper flew around as it was destroyed almost instantly. The radius of destruction spread for several kilometers, destroying the buildings and everything around. All the civilians in the radius of destruction met their end. The lucky ones met their ends instantly, while the unlucky suffered serious wounds, fated to suffer till their last breath.

'What is going on?' Vincent stared into the distance as the highest skyscraper, the symbol of wealth, prosperity, and honor, vanished. All the buildings collapsed, and a huge dust cloud rose. However, being dozens of kilometers away, he could not know the actual extent of the damage.

In space.

The dark creature looked at the three moons. After seeing the three towers stationed on the moons, it shifted its gaze to the blue planet.

With its sharp eyes, it saw where the satellite had crashed.

Swoosh!

The creature disappeared from space and rapidly descended towards the blue planet. It only accelerated as it got caught in the planet's atmosphere, and gravity pulled it down.

Surprisingly, the creature had no trouble resisting the resistance of the air with its pure physical body.

BOOM!

The creature arrived in the air above the city where the satellite crashed. It only needed a few seconds to reach here.

A sound barrier broke as it suddenly stopped in the air, sending ripples through the air. It hovered in the air, arrogantly watching the humans below it.

"Creatures,"

A voice rang in the mind of every citizen of the city.

'What is this?' Vincent looked around.

"Where is he speaking from?"

"How can we hear him when he is so high in the sky."

The citizens looked around in fear.

'It's speaking directly into our mind.' Vincent realized. 'Could it be telepathy?'

"I am the vice-commander of the demon army, Gallion the Shadowweaver!" The menacing, arrogant voice of the demon rang in the minds of the citizens. "Behold! Behold the might of a high demon! Behold the might of my demon race. Behold the might of the army of my king!

Pitiful creatures! We came to conquer your world. Run, hide, struggle! Flee! Tiny insects! You can't survive!"

Swoosh!

Dark objects flew out of the dimensional rift and approached the blue planet. As soon as they entered the atmosphere, they engulfed in flames.

Civilians knelt in fear while others stared at the sky, expressions filled with nothing but pure terror.

"W-What's that?" A civilian pointed in the sky.

Dark objects engulfed in flames covered the sky of the blue planet.

As the objects got closer, everyone could see them. Towers.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The objects fell all over the globe.

Terrifying earthquakes erupted all around the planet, causing prosperous and magnificent cities to collapse.

The towers that fell in the middle of the oceans caused massive tsunamis, which ravaged the coastal cities to the ground.

The whole world was in chaos. But this was just the beginning of a new era—the era of Towers—the End Days.

Swoosh!

Everyone stared into the sky with terror as a tower was right above their city.

BOOOOM!

The tower crashed in the city center, where the collapsed skyscraper was. A massive shockwave erupted as the tower crashed, sending waves through the ground and air, ravaging the buildings to the ground.

The radius of destruction was far more than what the satellite did. It span for dozens of kilometers.

What the civilians thought impossible to achieve happened in just a few seconds. The magnificent city and prosperous buildings vanished, ravaged to the ground. Now, only the outskirts of the thriving city remained, and only the buildings on the outskirts survived.

The shockwave was too weakened when it reached the outskirts.

"Ahhhh!"

As the shockwave hit, it threw Vincent back in the air.

He crashed down on the ground.

"Just what is going..." His words stuck in his throat as he looked at the tower in the city center.

The tower reached high in the sky—higher than any building humanity has ever built. When it fell, it released a dark, eerie mist that surrounded the area of the crater it created—a crater with a radius of more than a kilometer.

Rumble!

Dark clouds gathered at the top of the tower.

Forty-six towers fell all over the world, including the three towers on the moons: 49 towers in total left the dimensional rift.

Gallion, the vice commander of the demons, observed the situation down in the city as he floated near the top of the tower.

All the buildings that collapsed, including the skyscrapers, took a lot of lives. Barely a third of the city population managed to survive.

"Creatures!" Gallion spread his arms wide open. "LET THE PANDEMONIUM BEGIN!!!"

Creeeach!

ROOOAR!

Screeeech!

As soon as he spread his arms wide open, he disappeared from the sky.

Immediately after his disappearance, demonic screams rang from the tower. They echoed the city, intensifying the terror of the civilians.

Not long after the screams, holes opened in the tower, and demonic monsters ran out.

Monsters resembling hounds ran on all four. Flying monsters flew, covering the sky. They ran from the tower, killing and devouring every human in the way.

The monsters spread throughout the whole city.

The screams of the humans echoed the city as they ran for their lives.

Creeech!

A monster the size of a human flew in Vincent's direction. The monster had featherless dark violet skin and a downward beak almost 1 meter long full of hollow holes. It had bat-like wings with holes through them with a wingspan of 3 meters.

Just now, Vincent wanted to die. But seeing the terrifying, approaching death, his survival instincts kicked in. If that monster got him, he would die the most horrible death.

But he found his legs frozen in fear when he wanted to run. The other civilians around him just stared at the incoming certain death.

"RUN!" Vincent snapped out of his fear. His body released adrenaline, increasing his heartbeat and pumping more blood throughout the whole body.

He immediately stormed back, running for his life. His roar snapped everyone else out, and they ran for their lives.

The parents ran to their cars, took their children from the backseats, and, dragging them, ran for their lives.

'I don't know what the fu.ck is going on!' Vincent thought as he ran with all his might, not looking back. 'But the world is in chaos. Those debt-collector bastards won't come for me. It means that If I survive now, I'm a free man!'

Vincent was no different from the others. He had a hard time believing what was happening. However, as someone who had gambled more than 2.5 million, he was given a reality check too many times. He denied reality too many times.

So now, he knew better than to deny reality. He quickly suppressed his disbelief and ran for his life. Everything else could wait until he was on safety.