The world trembled around Nymera Vaelis.
She stood over the wounded hero, Lucien Draegaris, blood slipping between her fingers where the blade had sliced her palm.
In the distance, the ruins of the battlefield groaned, fires eating through the broken siege towers like starving beasts.
The NyxCore System buzzed faintly inside her mind, its voice low and urgent.
[System Alert: High-Level Entity Detection Nearby.]
[Recommendation: Prepare for Combat or Flee Immediately.]
Nymera's body screamed for rest, but instinct — or perhaps the ghost of her stolen memories — urged her to move.
Lucien coughed weakly at her feet. His green eyes, once burning with certainty, now flickered between confusion and suspicion.
He was too weak to be a threat — for now.
The real danger was still unseen.
Nymera stiffened, her bloodied hand flexing.
The wind shifted.
And from the smoke emerged a figure — tall, cloaked in armor black as obsidian, moving with predatory grace.
A knight, but not any ordinary soldier.
His presence bent the battlefield around him like gravity, a silent herald of death.
The NyxCore chimed again:
[Warning: Target Class — Predator Knight. Power Rating: High.]
[Probability of Survival Without Assistance: 14%.]
Fourteen percent.
Nymera almost laughed aloud.
Some things never changed — even with second chances, fate still loved stacking the odds against her.
The knight slowed as he neared, sword dragging lazily through the blood-soaked ground. His helm hid his face, but the way he moved — deliberate, patient — spoke volumes.
This wasn't a berserker.
This was a hunter.
And she was the prey.
Nymera stepped forward, shielding Lucien's collapsed body behind her.
Her voice, when it came, was low and mocking.
"I suppose you're not here for polite conversation."
The knight tilted his head slightly, like a predator studying a cornered animal.
From somewhere deep inside her mind, Nymera's stolen memories whispered:
The Predator Knights... enforcers of the Sovereign Houses. Silent executioners. Unstoppable.
If he was here, it meant someone — perhaps even her own family — had sent a death order.
She smiled grimly.
Good.
Let them come.
The Predator Knight charged.
Faster than a thought, he crossed the distance, his massive blade arcing toward her head.
Nymera barely threw herself aside.
The ground where she had stood exploded into mud and blood.
Her body moved on instinct — sharp, desperate. She had no weapon, no armor, just her torn dress and the burning system in her skull.
[Emergency Skill Activation Unlocked: Survival Instinct Lv.1]
[Effect: Reflex speed increased by 20% for 60 seconds.]
A jolt of raw energy coursed through her veins.
Nymera gritted her teeth and lunged to the side again as the knight's blade whistled past, slicing air inches from her face.
She needed a weapon — anything — or this would be a very short second life.
Her gaze snapped around the battlefield.
There.
A fallen soldier's dagger, half-buried in the muck.
Without thinking, Nymera dove for it, rolling as the Predator's sword smashed into the ground behind her.
Her fingers closed around the hilt — cold, slippery with blood — and she spun, dagger raised.
The knight swung again.
This time, she deflected the blow, barely, the impact numbing her arm to the shoulder.
She staggered but stayed standing.
The Predator Knight paused, evaluating her.
She knew why.
He hadn't expected resistance.
After all, she was just the "villainess" — spoiled, cruel, incompetent.
A puppet of power.
He didn't know about the System.
He didn't know she was no longer the woman he thought he was facing.
Nymera smirked, lifting the blood-smeared dagger in a mocking salute.
"Come, then," she rasped. "Let's see whose fate is heavier."
The knight moved — faster, harder.
A flurry of brutal strikes rained down on her.
Nymera weaved, ducked, parried, feeling the Survival Instinct burn through her muscles like liquid fire.
Still, she was slowing.
Every clash of steel against steel sent shocks up her bones.
Every breath burned her lungs raw.
The dagger was too small, too weak.
One slip — just one — and she would die again.
[Skill Upgrade Available: Accept Emergency Evolution? (Y/N)]
Nymera's mind whirled.
Accept — or stay normal?
She had seconds to decide.
"Yes," she hissed.
The System flared.
[Emergency Evolution Accepted.]
[New Skill Acquired: Blade Bind Lv.1 — (Upon successful parry, chance to lock opponent's weapon for 2 seconds.)]
Perfect.
The knight swung in a heavy downward strike.
Nymera didn't dodge.
She met it — dagger to sword — with all her strength.
For one heartbeat, the weapons clashed.
Steel screamed against steel.
And then —
A spark ignited.
The knight's blade locked against her dagger, frozen by invisible force.
Two seconds.
Her chance.
Nymera twisted, using the knight's own momentum, and drove her knee hard into the joint of his armor.
The Predator Knight stumbled backward — just enough.
Nymera lunged.
With a roar that ripped from her soul, she plunged the dagger between the plates of his side armor — the only weakness she remembered.
The blade sank deep.
The knight convulsed — a low, inhuman sound tearing from his throat — and crashed to one knee.
Blood poured from the gap in his armor, black and steaming.
Nymera staggered back, panting, her own blood dripping from a dozen shallow cuts.
The NyxCore System chimed sweetly:
[Battle Outcome: Victory.]
[Reward: +120 Fate Points.]
[Title Unlocked: Predator Slayer.]
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, eyes never leaving the knight as he collapsed into the dirt.
One enemy down.
A thousand more to come.
But she was still alive.
And this time, Nymera Vaelis would not die screaming.
She would tear destiny apart, one battle at a time.