"I Reincarnated But Have No System? You Must Be Kidding Me!"

"Marissa! Where are you going!? And who is he?" Robert's voice rang through the burning trees as he finally skidded to a stop. His breath was ragged, chest heaving from the sprint—and yet none of that compared to the weight of what he was seeing.

There she was, just ahead.

But the woman beside the cloaked man wasn't the Marissa he knew.

He had expected soft brown eyes filled with warmth, a gentle smile that once healed every wound in his soul. But instead, what stared back at him was… wicked.

Her eyes now glowed an eerie crimson. Her once tender expression had twisted into something cruel, almost inhuman. Her smile curled like a demon's- sharp, venomous and mocking.

Robert's heart clenched.

This wasn't his wife. And yet… she wore her face.

"W-why?" His voice cracked. "Why do you look like Marissa… but feel nothing like her?!"

He instinctively drew his blade, the steel humming with his sword aura. Light flared across its length as his [Falcon Focus] skill activated, his eyes glowing faintly blue with heightened perception. Anger and sorrow churned in his gut like wildfire.

The woman gave a mocking smirk, eyes glinting like blood under moonlight.

"The Marissa you knew?" she said coldly.

"She's gone. She was never real to begin with."

Marissa's fingers curled around the silver ring on her hand- the very one Robert had slipped onto her finger years ago, beneath the fading light of dusk, in front of their modest home and a few close friends.

She stared at it, not with affection, but with revulsion. A gleaming symbol of a life she no longer recognized… or wanted.

"To give you an understanding, I was sent to infiltrate Runewood from the beginning," she said, her voice sharp with mockery. "And you? You walked right into my life and became part of my perfect disguise. That fake identity with a fake life, all part of it. Every smile, every embrace, every whispered word… all part of my mission."

With a cold glint in her eye, Marissa slipped the silver ring from her finger and let it fall.

Clink.

Crunch.

Her boot slammed down, grinding it mercilessly into the earth- erasing years of promises in a single motion.

"No…" Robert reached out instinctively, hand trembling in the air, as if he could somehow stop what had already happened. His eyes burned red, and tears streamed down his cheeks, silent and raw.

It wasn't just a ring being crushed- it was his heart.

"W-what are you doing..."

He stumbled back a step, breath caught in his throat, hand hovering near the hilt of his sword as though it could steady his world.

"What… What are you saying? Marissa… I thought we were a... family. I thought you loved me! I know you did-"

"SILENCE!"

Her voice cracked like a whip- sharp, cold, and final. It sliced through his words like a blade through skin, cutting deeper than any wound.

"I don't care what lies the imitation of me whispered into your ears," she hissed, her steps slow and deliberate as she advanced.

"But let me make one thing clear."

She tapped two fingers lightly against her glowing crimson eyes, the sound barely audible over Robert's pounding heart. Then, like a predator circling its prey, she began to move around him, voice dropping to a whisper—a secret meant only for him.

"The best spy… is the one who doesn't even know she's a spy."

She stopped just behind him, and the temperature seemed to drop with her words.

"I wasn't pretending, Robert. My true self, true memories… they were sealed. Locked away until the moment the true me was needed."

Her voice tightened, contempt curling around every syllable.

"The woman you fell in love with was never real. She was a mask. A hollow shell created to infiltrate the Runewood. "

She then chuckled lightly.

"An enchantress with amnesia... how poetic was that?"

Robert stood frozen, as if her confession had turned his limbs to stone. His breath hitched, heart cracking under the weight of truth.

Then, her gaze shifted- past him.

Toward the towering man standing silently behind him, as if none of this mattered.

Magnus. The Frozen Monarch.

Still. Watching and waiting for her.

Magnus, the Frozen Monarch, remained silent, his back turned, eyes fixed toward the distant woods as if the heartbreak unfolding behind him was beneath his concern.

His mind was deep into his own thoughts, as if an admiral were minding his own battle plans.

"And it was all thanks to him," she said, pointing toward the towering figure behind them.

"He's the one who shattered the illusion I built around myself. He restored my true memories… while extracting every valuable secret Runewood had to offer in the past seven years."

She raised her hand, fingers unfurling like a magician revealing her masterpiece. Behind her, the distant smoke and flickering destruction of Runewood painted a grim portrait of her handiwork.

"All those years of playing the fool… of pretending to be someone I wasn't- it was all for this moment, Robert! The day Runewood would fall in our own hands..."

Her voice hardened, almost triumphant. "Things may not have gone through our plans, but the goal remains: the rise of the Dark Fate is inevitable."

Robert staggered back, shaking his head violently as if trying to tear himself from a nightmare.

"No… no. You're lying. I don't believe you!" His fingers clenched tighter around the hilt of his sword.

"If you're not Marissa," he shouted, voice cracking with anguish as he raised the blade toward her, "then bring her back to me!"

She gave a dramatic sigh, rolling her eyes like his pain was little more than an inconvenience.

"Still so naive. I am Marissa. But the woman you loved? That was the illusion. She never existed!"

"No!" he roared, his voice raw- half fury, half heartbreak.

But she'd already started channeling her mana, her cape catching the wind like a curtain falling on a play. Killing intent swirling in her eyes.

"I don't have time for this pathetic little scene."

With a sharp breath, she released a burst of dark aura that made the air tighten. Mana swirled violently around her as her presence shifted- no longer his wife, but an enchantress of darkness.

"The memories you cling to are gone," Marissa said coldly. "Erased. Replaced by who I truly am. If you're still searching for the old Marissa…"She tilted her head slightly, her crimson eyes glowing brighter with malevolence."Then look for her… in your death."

"SHUT UP!"

Robert's scream ripped through the forest, raw and broken.

Tears streamed down his face as he collapsed to his knees, sword clattering to the ground beside him. His voice cracked with desperate, pleading sorrow.

"I don't care what you say… You're still her. I know you're still in there. Marissa, I am begging you. it's me- Robert. Your husband!"

His cry rose into the trees, echoing with grief.

"I AM YOUR FAMILY!"

For a moment, everything froze.

Marissa's hands that were holding the dark staff trembled.

Her crimson eyes flickered for a moment- uncertainty flashing like a crack in a dark mirror.

Something stirred deep inside her, clawing its way up from beneath the surface. Her breath hitched.

But she clenched her jaw, forcing it down. She squeezed her eyes shut in denial, in resistance.

Then, with a sharp motion, she raised her staff- its shaft gnarled and dark, crowned with a jagged obsidian gem pulsing with corrupted energy. The ancient weapon Magnus had returned to her after her "awakening."

She lifted it higher, magic surging, ready to strike down the man kneeling before her.

But Robert didn't flinch.

He didn't move.He didn't even picked up his sword.He just looked at her… and spoke from his shattered heart.

"Please… Marissa. Snap out of it. I know you're stronger than whatever he did to you. You loved me. You loved Auren. Don't you want to see him again? Our son is waiting. Auren needs you now!"

That name- Auren- hit something she didn't expect.

For a moment, a fissure cracked open in her mind.

Though Magnus had wiped that memory clean, some small ember had survived. A spark. A whisper of something once cherished.

Suddenly, an image flashed through her. Uninvited and unstoppable.

A newborn child, swaddled in bloodied cloth.His hair was deep red and his eyes were glowing gold, like tiny little suns.So small, so warm, yet when his hand touched hers, it was like the world itself shifted.

A life she never expected. A life she never asked for.A life… of a mother.

Then another memory struck- so faint, but piercing.

It was a quiet moment.Two hands joined and a silver ring slipping onto her finger.And then followed by a kiss. Tender. Certain. Passionate.That was not part of a mission. Not part of a lie.It was real... at least to the other one.

A flood of warmth washed through her.

The spell didn't break. But it shook.

Her lips parted in a silent gasp. Her knees trembled.

Unknowingly, tears began to fall- slow, hot, and uncontrollable. Her chest tightened as her heart, now numbed by darkness, began to ache. Not from pain. But from something deeper.

Loss. Longing. Love.

Her grip on the staff wavered. Her shoulders tensed, shaking slightly. A surge of something buried- warmth, pain, guilt- flickered inside her. Her mana, once stable and cruel, now pulsed erratically, like a fire struggling to stay lit.

And then… more tears.

Hot, silent tears spilled from her eyes.

Not the cold, calculating Marissa.

But someone else. Someone softer. Trapped and drowning.

Her soul fought like a beast against the chains wrapped tight around her mind. Her breath came faster. Her knees almost gave in.

"Marissa!" Robert cried, voice cracking under the weight of everything he'd lost.

"Please… come back. I need you. We need you!"

Her lips parted, as if to say something. But no words came.

'No… I am not that woman. I can't be,' she reminded herself while shaking her head.

And yet, her tears said otherwise.

'That identity was fake. An illusion!'

But it was too late.

The cracks were forming.

Memories she thought erased came rushing back in jagged flashes—The gentle weight of Robert's hand in hers. The sweet, bubbling laughter of a child- Auren.The way he used to cling to her legs with a smart smirk, even after getting scolded.The countless times she had to spank him for sneaking away to collect herbs and making crazy inventions.The endless bickering with Robert over nonsense, followed by quiet apologies under shared blankets and whispered kisses in the dark.

It was messy. Chaotic but joyful.

It was the warmth of home.Of being seen and of being wanted.

Of being real.

"I said… SHUT UP!"

Her mana surged in a sudden burst, and the earth responded—massive earthen spikes erupted from the ground. Robert jumped back, dodging the deadly protrusions with practiced agility, parrying a few with his blade he picked up along.

Still, he refused to strike back.

"It's not too late, Marissa!" he shouted. "You can still choose. You can still return to us!"

Her entire body trembled now. Her hands, her knees- even her breath was shaking.

The staff in her grip was pulsing. Her aura destabilized. She could barely hold it together.

"What's taking so long?" Magnus's voice echoed from behind her.

His voice was calm. Ominous and inevitable.

She flinched at the sound. Reminding her of her purpose.

"A-apologies my Lord... I… I'm just finishing him off," she called back, masking the break in her voice.

"You better hurry," Magnus said. "The elven queen and her dogs may arrive soon. If they do, I won't protect you."

"I understand," she whispered, biting her lip.

Wiping the tears from her face, she forced her shaking hands to still. She had to end this. Had to silence the voice screaming inside her.

And the best way to do that… was to destroy the man fueling it.

Her gaze hardened. Cold returning into her irises.

With a growl, she lifted the staff once more, its black gem now glowing a deep, menacing violet.

"Listen... I don't care what you believe," she said, locking eyes with Robert. "But my true name… is Marissa. And I belong to the Dark Fate."

The gem blazed with furious wind.

"Now f*ck off."

[WHIRLWIND]

BZZOOOOM!

The spell ignited with a howl. A massive vortex exploded from the gem, wind twisting into blades as it screamed across the battlefield.

Robert had no time to react. It was too close, too fast.

"No...No!"

The sheer speed and force of the spell lifted him into the air like a ragdoll. His body slammed against shattered bark and splintering trees, his armor tearing, skin scraping. Blood splattered through the wind as he screamed in pain as he was dragged higher and higher.

AAARGH!

In seconds the cyclone flung him hundreds of meters through the trees and into the sky before finally releasing him.

KA-THOM-SPLASSH!

He crashed against the nearby river, battered and bruise.

"Marisa..." he muttered weakly while floating before disappearing into the foliage.

When the wind died down, there was only silence.

Marissa stood now alone, staff lowered, her chest rising and falling unevenly.

And yet… her hands were still trembling and her eyes filled with conflicting uncertainty.