Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom - Chapter 9: Sentenced

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension

Under a crimson moon,Brian discovered that just like some rare extreme psychopaths, he also acquired a miraculous ability: to fulfill the lingering attachment of the remains and receive gifts from the corpses.While he felt joy, there was also a bit of confusion.Being of good conduct and benevolent to others, why did he also receive the crimson moon's gift?This was the greatest insult to his noble character!!!

Apocalypse had descended!Strange creatures sprung out from the earth bringing calamity upon the world, the earth was twisted beyond measure and even the moon was engulfed by the chaos.But it was only for a time, up until all waves of beasts would be cleared and the torment would lift, pending it's re-descent—in a never ending loop.A judgment from the gods.Their sins?No one had a clue.Their path to forgiveness?Even more unclear.Their only salvation was the Curse Bearers, people who could bend the wind to their will, move objects with as little as a thought and call mythical beasts to their aid.Ark was one of them, albeit with a little quirk.He was cursed to die, his curse set to consume his soul.But it was going to take far more than that to kill one born with the Heritage of a god!—————————————>R18 is for gore and Dark themes.Note: This is not your typical Apocalypse novel, the apocalypse is a well represented theme among many others.Just give it a read, I’m sure you’ll like it… or so they all say ;)Additional Tags:Two Worlds, Unusual system

I, a HIKKI-NEET, suddenly reincarnated in another world as a prince, and was immediately deemed the weakest ever, with my life already in a pinch after being abandoned as a baby, being stared down by a huge beast!?

However, I could only use one kind of magic. It was close, but I was able to avoid a “dead end” in my first few days of being born using that magic.

Anyways, I just want to live a lazy shut-in life as an adopted noble with my one all-purpose magic, but…?