The Tale of the Void Emperor - Chapter 693: High-Profile

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.

In a world where everyone is a slave, someone is born who cannot be controlled. At the same time, an unstoppable villain rises on a quest for revenge. But the truth is darker than he ever imagined, and now he must face an unbeatable enemy — including himself.***Bruno was a young man born on Earth, the son of an influential modern Emperor. Despite having everything money could buy and receiving the best and most rigorous training to succeed his father, he chose the opposite path, defying his family’s ruthless rule.The price of his innocence? A merciless death and the complete erasure of his existence by the deity controlling his fate. On Earth, the law of the powerful was absolute; a slave could never rebel.But then, he wakes up again.He’s reborn in a world of cultivation, where freedom was promised to those strong enough to claim it. Now, he could soar like a free bird and carve his own destiny... or so he thought.The harsh reality of this new world soon showed him how insignificant he still was. He realized he had only changed masters.The freedom he sought was an illusion. The heavenly laws treated everyone as servants, and their rules were unbreakable. Bruno learned this bitter truth after losing everything that made him happy due to an unjust rule.But who was he to question?Hopeless, Bruno died... and was reborn as Alm, an unstoppable villain. With a soul poisoned by pain and vengeance, he sowed chaos across the universe. Planets were destroyed, countless lives taken, and his name became synonymous with terror.A hero rose to oppose him, wielding a sacred sword of hope. People from all corners of the universe united against Alm, raising their voices and weapons to stop the villain who defied the heavens.But Alm was no longer just fighting for revenge. He was challenging the heavenly laws that sought to control him, fighting fate and all living beings.And against all odds... the sacred sword shattered. The alliance of the entire universe was defeated.The villain won!Now, Alm found himself alone in the empty void of a dead universe, facing his own inner demons. Who could be more ruthless to him than himself?“What have I done?”At that moment, the doors of truth opened to him.Everyone was a puppet of a supreme figure, an entity that manipulated minds and even the heavenly laws.“I will find you, no matter where you are!”Thus, the last emissary of the true Heaven’s Will awakened. Alm, who once only relied on his sheer will and rage, now had a system to guide him. But his opponent was an immortal existence, above even the heavens.The villain who destroyed an entire universe now faced a new beginning. He discovered that the universe he devastated was just a tiny grain of sand in an infinite cosmos, where countless other universes existed.And so begins the legendary tale of the villain’s rise... and the Sacred Round God? A strange Duality of Shadows existed within one person.But this time, he wouldn’t be alone.***To clear up any potential confusion or frustration, here are some key points about the story. I’ll avoid major spoilers, but a few things will be revealed.You might find this concerning at first, but just check the book cover—it shows the main character and his only partner. She first appears at 10 years old, but rest assured, there’s no inappropriate content or early romance.At around 13, SHE starts developing feelings for the protagonist, but he doesn’t respond until she’s an adult. With her determined personality, she tries to seduce him at 17/18, but it doesn’t work. Their relationship only happens much later.The book has nods to other works, with my own spin on them, and focuses on avoiding elements I find problematic in other stories.Lastly, the beautiful book cover was commissioned and created by HDIArt.

[WSA 2025 Entry]Ivan Mendoza, a world-renowned robotics engineer, met his end at the hands of those who feared his genius. But death was not the end. Awakening in the body of Kael Valtieri, heir to a destitute border territory in the magical kingdom of Ardania, Ivan finds a second chance in an unfamiliar world driven by arcane forces.In this realm, magic reigns supreme, yet it is woefully inefficient and bound by antiquated traditions. Armed with the knowledge of advanced robotics and engineering from his past life, Kael sets out to merge science with sorcery, aiming to revolutionize the very fabric of magic. His quest? To uplift his impoverished territory and safeguard it against the lurking dangers beyond the border.But Kael’s journey takes a thrilling turn when he stumbles upon the remnants of an ancient, forgotten civilization. Hidden within their ruins lies golem technology—astonishing constructs far superior to anything Earth’s science could fathom. Driven by curiosity and ambition, Kael deciphers their secrets, melding ancient ingenuity with his modern intellect to forge unprecedented defenses.As Kael uncovers the dark history of this world, he learns of rifts that once unleashed monstrous beings from other dimensions, nearly annihilating humanity. Though a powerful artifact sealed these rifts, its strength is waning, and an impending cataclysm looms.Now, with time running out and the continent teetering on the brink of another monstrous invasion, Kael must wield his hybrid mastery of science and magic to confront the rising tide of darkness. Can one man, armed with the knowledge of two worlds, avert a catastrophe and carve out a new destiny?Prepare for an epic tale of innovation, mystery, and survival in a world where the past and future collide.

Carn wakes up from a vivid dream where he spent a thousand years as a gargoyle, guarding a demon lord's tomb.In this dream, he possessed supernatural powers, including the ability to teleport and instantly kill anyone within range who broke eye contact with him. Heroes, saintesses, adventurers, all fell before him.When he returns to his normal life, things take a strange turn. Carn realizes he still has the gargoyle’s powers, and the world he has woken up to seems different.But adjusting to the new reality is not the real issue. Carn brings back something nobody in this world has imagined. Not only he imports his powers to this alternate Earth, but he also carries over his gargoyle instinct and his hobby. He loves snapping human necks.Whether it's ordinary humans, explorers, super soldiers, cyborgs, mutated beasts, monsters, or mysterious entities from other dimensions, Carn eagerly anticipates snapping their necks, one neck at a time...In secret, of course.