The soft hum of the engines, the gentle sway of the airplane, and the cold air conditioning created an almost sleepy atmosphere.
Dante Armstrong, leaning back in the window seat, was scrolling through his phone while reading another chapter of his favorite novel.
He was silent, detached from the real world, completely immersed in the story of a protagonist with a system, a harem, and supernatural powers.
It was supposed to be a peaceful trip.
A well-deserved vacation after months of a monotonous routine.
"Just one more chapter and then I'll sleep."
But then… something strange happened.
Out of nowhere, Dante noticed that the flight attendants were suddenly rushing through the aisles. One of them stumbled while trying to reach the intercom, another was tightening her seatbelt so hard her fingers turned white.
Their faces were painted with tension.
Dante looked up from his phone, frowning.
"What the fuck…?"
He looked around. Most of the passengers were still chatting or sleeping, completely unaware of the tension hanging in the air. But he was alert. Very alert.
Just as he was about to call a flight attendant to ask what was going on, the airplane speaker crackled to life with a sudden burst of static.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts. It's nothing serious, just some turbule—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
The plane shook violently, rocked by a force that rattled the overhead luggage compartments.
Dante was slammed back into his seat. Screams erupted from every direction.
A loud bang ripped through the air.
Lightning and thunder lit up the sky outside, wrapped in black clouds that hadn't been there seconds before. It was as if the plane had flown straight into a storm — with no warning, no preparation.
Dante's eyes widened as he pulled open the window shade beside him…
And froze.
One of the plane's engines had exploded.
Smoke and fire spread rapidly, and chunks of metal were flying off like leaves in the wind.
"Shit… this plane is going down. I'm going to die, he whispered, pale, his heart pounding.
The plane tilted sharply to the right, destabilized. The spin in the air was brutal. Passengers were screaming, crying, praying. Some oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Chaos had taken over.
Dante's stomach twisted as the aircraft spun out of control. The ceiling became the floor. The floor became the sky.
The world was upside down.
His final thought, as the ground rushed closer at a terrifying speed, was neither heroic nor profound.
It was just… sad.
"So that's it. I'm going to die... a virgin."
And then, everything went black.
But death wasn't as final as it seemed.
There was no hell, no heaven.
No light at the end of the tunnel, no divine judgment.
There was only… the void.
Dante no longer felt his body — only floated in a space without form, without sound, without time. A place where not even thoughts seemed to exist.
Until a presence manifested — warm, comforting, passionate.
A soft voice filled the void, like a whisper between the beats of a heart:
"You heard me..."
Dante couldn't tell if the voice was male or female.
It was everything. It was nothing. It was... Love.
"So many died today... But only you called to me."
"Me...?"— his mind mumbled.
"Yes. You wished not to die. You wished for something more. You wished to feel."
Lights began to swirl around him.
They weren't stars — they were feelings. Desire, sadness, hope, frustration, lust, pride...
All pulsing like memories in spinning, colorful spirals.
"I am Love. Not the romantic, shallow kind — but the true one. The one that builds and destroys. The one that devours all."
"What do you want from me?" Dante asked, confused.
"Nothing. Or maybe everything. But today, I give you a gift. A… legacy. A system no god controls. A hidden code layered between the folds of the world. With it, you will devour everything you feel. Everything that feels you."
Then the voice became clearer, more intimate:
"Devour hearts. Devour monsters. Devour worlds, if you desire. This will be your rebirth."
And then, everything went dark again.
---
Dante awoke with a gasp caught in his throat.
He was lying on damp ground, covered in moss and leaves. The forest around him looked like something out of a fantasy RPG — towering trees, glowing mushrooms, and a sky with two bright moons overhead.
"Is this a dream?"
But his fingers felt the grass.
The air smelled fresher.
And then… a translucent screen appeared before his eyes:
---
[CODEX OF PREDATION — ACTIVATED]
Origin: Primordial Reincarnation
Granting Entity: Love
Status: Independent from Falna
[Vital Predation] — Active
Allows absorption of attributes from defeated monsters.
[Emotional Predation] — Dormant
Will activate upon forming the first genuine emotional bond.
---
Dante blinked.
"Is this… real? I got a system?"
But before he could process it, the sound of snapping branches echoed to his right.
Something was moving through the trees.
He turned slowly… and couldn't believe what he saw:
A two-meter-tall wolf, part of its body covered in black bone-like plating, and a third eye glowing in the center of its forehead.
Its fur bristled like spears, and its jaw opened at an unnatural angle, drooling a green, steaming saliva.
"What the hell is that…?" Dante muttered, frozen.
---
[Codex Alert: Mutated creature detected. Threat level: Moderate]
[Magical anomaly: Mana instability in the area — residual rift active]
---
The beast let out a low growl. It was smart enough to sense weakness.
And Dante — naked, unarmed, and freshly reincarnated — was all instinct. No defense.
"I just woke up, for fuck's sake..."
The wolf leapt toward him.