?Dawn, her heart racing in her chest, forced herself to speak with a calm she didn't feel. "Xander, can I have a moment before we continue?"

  ?Without a word, Xander nodded and sat in a nearby chair, pulling out his phone and tapping away. Dawn turned and hurried to her room. Once inside, she took several deep breaths, trying to quiet the frantic thoughts in her mind. Her gaze fell on her phone, and she grabbed it, opening the Cosmo app.

  ?The familiar home page displayed her stats:

  ?Welcome, Legend Dawn.

  ?Incarnate Rank F.

  ?Situations Completed: 3.

  ?Dawn quickly switched to the attributes screen. Most of her stats were the same, but three had new, glowing green additions. Her Speed, Defense, and Arcane stats each showed a small +1 increase. It was a minor gain, but she knew every bit would help.

  ?Next, her thoughts shifted to the equipment Xander had given her. She tapped the Stash screen, and two items appeared:

  ?Magician's Quiver Rank A: An empty quiver with an infinite supply of arrows.

  ?Phantom Arc Rank A: A weapon that works with both physical and elemental projectiles. Its description stated that when fully drawn, it would boost the strength of the attack and lessen the burden on the user. Below the description, a section was grayed out with the text, "Passive Skill: Desperate Measures." This was followed by several question marks, showing it was currently unavailable.

  ?Dawn's jaw dropped in awe. What Xander had so casually called "junk" was Rank A equipment. She shook her head, wondering what he might call F-Rank gear. She then refocused on the glove. The name, Phantom Arc, seemed to fit what she was aiming for: a phantom that rids the world of evil without needing to be seen a precise and stealthy killer.

  ?With a new resolve, Dawn navigated back to the home screen and tapped on her name. A question popped up: "Edit Legend Name?" A wave of confidence washed over her as she typed her new name, solidifying her commitment. She didn't feel her nerves calming, and she knew she couldn't rest. All she could think about was what plans Xander had for her. Giving up on trying to calm herself, Dawn walked back to the living room.

  ?Xander was still on his phone but looked up casually as she entered. With a heavy sigh, Dawn sat down and looked him in the eyes. "Alright, what details can you give me on this Calamity I must do?"

  ?Xander put his phone down before speaking. "Before that, do you know what happened during your first situation?"

  ?Rage and uneasiness swelled inside Dawn. She looked at him, and with a harsh tone, she spoke. "Of course I do. Why would you ask?"

  ?"I think you misunderstood," Xander replied, his voice flat. "I'm not asking what happened to you. I'm asking if you know what I did to make that count as a clear for you."

  ?Dawn looked down and thought about it. She was left in the dungeon, then felt a massive rumble before everything faded to white. She realized she had no idea what happened after he left. She looked back up at him and shook her head.

  ?Xander's lips curled into a smile. "That arrogant king wanted power to defeat his rivals, so I gave him a Rank C draconic sword."

  ?Dawn's vision started to blur from the tears welled up in her eyes. "After what they planned to do, why would you help them in any way?" she asked in a voice filled with sorrow.

  ?The smile slipped from Xander's face. "You are mistaken. The sword I left can only be wielded by someone who possesses dragon blood. That realm was too low-ranked to have any draconic inhabitants. The sword I left is unusable to anyone in that realm."

  ?Dawn’s head recoiled as she took in Xander’s words, her eyes darting back and forth. The silence stretched between them, thick with shock.

  ?Xander broke the tension. "I know you must think of me as some kind of monster, Dawn. But I do what's necessary, for reasons you'll come to understand. Just as I'm sure you're finding your own." He paused for a moment before his tone shifted. "Now, let me ask you. Did you mean what you said that day?"

  ?Dawn's confusion was plain on her face.

  ?Xander let out a sigh. "I'm talking about when you spoke of revenge. You said if you had power like mine, you'd take your revenge."

  ?Rage flickered in Dawn's eyes, but it was quickly replaced with regret. "What I said was out of rage. Yes, people like that, I believe I could kill, but that's in the past. I want to just forget about it."

  ?A sinister grin spread across Xander's face. "What if I told you there was a way for you to repay the exact king that ordered your imprisonment?"

  ?Dawn shot to her feet, adrenaline and fury coursing through her. "Are you saying that king still lives?"

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  ?Xander simply nodded.

  ?"How is that possible?" Dawn demanded. "It should have been centuries to them by now!"

  ?"I bookmarked the situation just for you," Xander replied, a cold finality in his voice. "With it bookmarked, it's only been a few years since we left. I have already made arrangements with Cosmo to reset the realm. Your Calamity will be of that kingdom while I prepare the realm for a full reset."

  ?He leaned forward, his gaze intense. "I do not take what they did lightly. Any realm willing to do such things so early in their stages is nothing but trouble as they grow. This is why I said this is an easy out for you. You get your revenge and a taste of Calamity, all in a situation where your morals won't be broken."

  ?Dawn was stunned into silence, her mind reeling from the revelation. She simply sat there, staring, as her world tilted on its axis.

  ?Xander, trying to snap Dawn out of her stupor, asked, "When would you like to start?"

  ?Dawn's eyes, wide and unfocused, slowly settled on Xander. Without a word, she simply held out her hand. Xander's face lit up with a pleased grin. After a few taps on his phone, he reached out, grabbed her hand, and pressed the final button. In an instant, everything was replaced with the bright white light of the lobby.

  ?A familiar robotic voice rang out in the silence. "Welcome, Legend Agent X. Welcome, Legend Phantom."

  ?Agent X turned his head to Dawn. "Phantom?" he questioned. "It's not the worst I've heard."

  ?Dawn felt a blush creep up her neck, embarrassed by her new code name. Trying to ignore the comment, she focused on the character creation screen in front of her. Unlike the other modes, the list of available races and abilities seemed endless.

  ?Confused, Dawn asked, "Hey, Agent X? Why is the list so much larger than normal?"

  ?Still selecting his options, Agent X replied, "In Calamity situations, there are very few regulations. The main goal is to kill, so it doesn't really matter what avatar you use. As long as it's strong."

  ?Dawn returned to looking at her panel. Her eyes immediately locked onto one ability called Draconic Transmutation. She thought back to the sword Xander said he had left in that kingdom, and her choice almost felt made for her. With a new sense of grim determination, she clicked the option and confirmed her loadout.

  ?Cosmo's voice rang out, startling her. "Legend Phantom loadout confirmed. Legend Agent X loadout confirmed. Start situation?"

  ?Without hesitation, Agent X said, "Confirm."

  ?The word "Confirm" felt like a point of no return. The world around Dawn warped into a dizzying white light, a familiar but no less jarring sensation. It was as if she were a particle being scattered and reassembled, torn down to her very essence and re-formed in a new reality. The feeling was instantaneous, lasting no longer than a single heartbeat, but the sheer force of the transition made her stomach lurch.

  ?One moment, she was in the sterile, high-tech lobby; the next, a rush of cold, night-chilled air filled her lungs. She and Xander appeared high above the ground, standing on a jagged, stone spire that jutted out from the mountainside. The wind whipped at their clothes, carrying with it the distant sounds of a city below.

  ?Dawn's eyes, still adjusting, widened as she looked out over the landscape. It was unmistakably the same kingdom. The same sprawling stone walls, the same towering castle in the distance, the same scent as before. It was the place where she had been trapped in that terrifying dungeon, where she had been humiliated by a mad king. Her fists clenched at her sides. It was real.

  ?Yet, a closer look revealed subtle changes. The castle's banners, once red and gold, were now a somber black. The city below had expanded, its outer walls stretched wider to accommodate new districts and homes. A few of the towers she remembered were now crumbling ruins, a testament to the passage of time. A heavy layer of moss and ivy clung to the stone walls of the castle. She felt a chill that had nothing to do with the wind. To them, only a few days had passed, but to this realm, years had clearly gone by.

  ?"You're right," she said, her voice a low growl. "He's not a King. He's a monster."

  ?Xander simply shrugged. "He is what he needs to be. Nothing more, nothing less. Your target is this kingdom, not just the king."

  ?Her eyes scanned the courtyard of the castle, which was lit by a dozen braziers and torches. A massive crowd had gathered, their faces turned toward a courtyard where, at the center, a sinister-looking sword could be seen. Hope and desperation were etched on their faces. Dawn felt a pang of confusion. What was going on?

  ?Then she saw it.

  ?Driven into the stone was a sword. Its blade was a deep, swirling black, like solidified night, and it hummed with an almost audible power. The hilt was intricately carved to resemble a dragon, its maw open and its eyes glowing with a faint crimson light. The very air around the sword seemed to shimmer, and Dawn could feel the raw, untamed magic radiating from it, even from this great height. It was the draconic sword Xander had left behind. Dawn could feel the sword calling her forward.

  ?"What are they doing?" Dawn whispered, unable to look away. "Why are they all gathered around it?"

  ?Xander folded his arms across his chest. "After a week of being unable to remove the sword, the king decided to make a public announcement. He gave all the bravest warriors an opportunity to try their hand at claiming the sword. Every year they have a contest to see if anyone can pull the sword out. They started the contest in hopes of finding one able to use it, but not a single warrior has been able to even so much as budge the sword. They are here because the King calls it a sword of Calamity."

  ?Dawn watched as a man with broad shoulders and a powerful build stepped forward. He wrapped his hands around the hilt of the sword, his muscles coiling and straining as he tried to pull it from the stone. His face turned a deep red as his efforts proved futile, and he finally collapsed in defeat. The crowd groaned in disappointment.

  ?"They don't know they have zero chance at using that weapon. It was left to show how weak they really are," Dawn said, the reality of the situation settling in her mind. "He left it there for this very purpose, for them to keep failing. To be reminded of their weakness year after year."

  ?"That's what these fools needed to learn, Phantom," Agent X said, a chilling smile on his face as he watched the scene unfold below. "It’s a situation of their own making. We are both the source of their salvation and their demise. What I showed them is the exact thing they cannot have. It leaves a festering wound that grows within them. It’s what I call a lesson. Now they will all start blaming each other as they grow weaker and weaker, leaving them to be nothing more than a kingdom of squabbling peasants."

  ?A new emotion, cold and clinical, took over Dawn. It wasn't rage or sorrow. It was a terrifying sense of understanding. She had found her revenge, but it was not the one she had imagined. It was a cold, cruel, and with a powerful act of manipulation. She looked at the castle, at the pathetic squabbles of the crowd below, and a new plan began to form in her mind.