*THUMP* *THUMP*
Axel's heart pounded violently in his chest, so hard he thought it might actually burst out of his ribcage. The glowing screen still hovered right in front of him, its message burning bright.
The first thought he had was that he had finally lost his mind from all the times he had banged his head. He pressed his fingers against his tightly shut eyes, expecting the screen to vanish once he opened it, but it didn't.
"Okay, I've gone crazy. Got hit in the head too many times. It's about time it happened," he muttered.
The message said to find and absorb his body. Axel had no idea what that meant! But he tried to make sense of what he was looking at.
He was familiar with game interfaces, he had always been fascinated by old video games from the old world so he figured there must be more information hidden within the display.
"It looks like a game system, right? So that would mean it has a… 'System Interface.'"
The second he said the words 'System Interface, the screen vanished, and another screen immediately appeared before his eyes.
> [User: Axel Vaelon]
[Age: 16]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 1]
[Soul Essence (SE): 0 / 50]
[Exp: 0 / 100] <
"Holy moly!" Axel exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the interface. He had guessed it was a game-like system, but he hadn't expected this. It had his information, his name, his stats, which was impossible 'cause...how?
"How is this even possible? Am I some sort of government experiment?" he muttered aloud.
He glanced back at the screen and noticed a row of tabs displayed at the top of the menu
> [Stats] [Ability] [Missions] [Store] [Evolution] <
One by one, he began checking through them. At first, he wasn't sure how to switch between tabs. He tried tapping on them with his finger, thinking it was some kind of holographic display with sensors in the air, but nothing happened. Then he remembered how he opened the menu in the first place.
"Stats," he commanded.
Instantly, the screen shifted.
> [Stats]
[HP: 10 / 10]
[Strength: 10]
[Speed: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Resistance: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
"Whoa. Strength huh?"
After scanning through his stat menu, Axel quickly switched to the next tab. Somehow he was already good at it.
"Ability."
The display changed again.
> [Ability]
[None]
[Reach Level 2 to unlock your Infernal Ability.]
[Infernal Ability: Unknown]
Axel's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was reading. An ability? An actual ability.
The system message said that once he reached Level 3, he'd unlock his first ability.
As much as he wanted to believe it, he shook his head. This couldn't be real. He didn't have an ability, he never did.
It was common knowledge that sometimes, the gene that carries the mutation skips an offspring.
Now scientists of the old world also discovered that sometimes, said gene can remain dormant in the host's body.
It takes about fifteen years to unlock. Once that time elapsed, there wasn't any hope.
When Axel clocked sixteen, he had accepted the fact that he would live his life without an ability.
So it was hard for him to believe what he was seeing before him. He couldn't just suddenly wake up one day with powers.
But the message was right there, clear as day. There was only one way to find out if it was true, he would have to level up and see for himself.
And what was the best way to level up in any game? By completing his mission.
Axel immediately remembered the mission he was given, but he had no idea how to go about it.
Kaze had killed him. That was a fact now. But how was he supposed to find his body? And worse still, the system had told him he had less than 24 hours to do it. Failure would result in permanent death.
Permanent. Death.
Axel didn't want to believe it, but then again, he had died and come back somehow. In another body, maybe? A clone?
He frowned, recalling a faint image of the first holographic message he got before blacking out, something about a "backup protocol."
'I need to pull up old messages,' he thought, his eyes scanning every inch of the screen in search of a previous messages tab. After a few seconds, he found it and opened it.
"Previous Messages."
> [Previous Messages]
[Messages within the last 24 hours:]
[Congratulations! You've successfully unlocked your Infernal System!]
[Warning! Warning!]
[System has detected severe internal injuries and organ failure.]
[Warning! System has detected an incoming attack!]
[Calculating chances of survival in current state…]
[Chances of survival: 0%]
[Commencing backup protocol…]
[Backup successful.]
[Congratulations. You have successfully located your place of death.]
[Anomaly detected: Your body is missing.]
[New Mission: Find and absorb your body.]
[You have 24 hours to find and absorb your body.]
[Penalty for failure: Permanent death of host!]
[Delete Messages]
[Messages will automatically delete 24 hours after being sent.]
Axel read each system message carefully, one after the other. This was real, very real.
"An Infernal System? What the hell does that even mean?" Axel muttered. "How did I even get something like this? I'm guessing… dying unlocked it."
His eyes lingered on the line about the backup protocol. "Does that mean every time I die, I'll just come back? Nah… I don't think so."
He was right, it wasn't possible. He doubted he could come back from death a second time.
Dying once was what had triggered this strange system, doing it again was a terrible idea.
Besides, the system had just threatened him with a permanent death. It wouldn't make sense.
Axel decided to move on to the next tab, the Store. But when he opened it, it was locked.
> [Store]
[Locked]
[User must reach Level 5 to unlock Store.] <
"Okay… guess we'll have to level up first." Axel sighed, determination flashing in his eyes. "I need to find my body."
But where would he even start? He had no idea where Kaze might have hidden his body, or why Kaze had even killed him in the first place.
He said something about people like Axel being the problem the world needed to fix. How was he the problem? He was a nobody.
Thinking too much about it made Axel's head ache.
He was running out of time, and every second wasted brought him closer to dying again.
The universe had given him a second chance, he wasn't about to waste it.
"Close tab, or interface or whatever..."
The interface blinked out of sight instantly. At least now he was starting to figure out how to control it.
Straightening his shoulders, Axel turned to leave the locker room. The steel door he had broken down earlier was still lying on the floor.
He didn't even glance at it as he stepped over and into the hallway.
The sound of laughter and chatter drifted from down the corridor.
Instinctively, Axel followed the noise until he stumbled upon a huge crowd gathered around a small bonfire. Low music played in the background, and the smell of alcohol and smoke was all over the place.
It made sense, this was a typical end-of-the-year party the student hosted at night.
Axel had no idea a party was being held today. He hadn't been invited, of course.
Then again, he didn't have many friends. Actually, he didn't have any. No one wanted to hang around with someone like him, a normie.
So yeah, it made sense.
Axel wanted to continue with his mission, but then he noticed something strange. No one around the fire was drinking or having fun.
In fact, some of them had their hands covering their mouths in horror, and that could only mean one thing.
Axel forced his way through the crowd, making sure to keep his face hidden. He didn't want to be seen.
Just as he suspected, they were staring at a lifeless body. His lifeless body.
He froze on the spot. He wasn't dreaming. He wasn't hallucinating. He was staring at himself, dead on the floor. His chest was caved in, his face was disfigured, and the rest of his body bruised beyond recognition. Bones jutted at odd angles. It was mortifying.
"Only if he had an ability, he might've been able to defend himself," someone from the crowd commented.
"Yeah," another agreed. "It's a shame, but it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"Has anyone called the authorities?" someone asked.
"Yes. They'll be here in a few minutes."
Anger began to boil inside Axel's chest. His death had been an unjust one.
He was murdered, yet no one would do anything about it, because he was 'useless'.
The world wouldn't waste its resources trying to solve the murder of a normie like himself.
Even if his killer were to be identified, nothing would still be done. Why prosecute a person with powers for killing a normal human?
That would be considered a waste of manpower, especially for someone like Kaze Redwood, who came from a noble family and already had a bright future in one of the biggest corporations on Earth.
No one would bat an eye at the death of someone like him. Hearing these students talk about him this way only fueled his rage.
They didn't care about him, they never did. And now, suddenly, they were pretending to show sympathy.
They might not have killed him with their own hands, but they sure as hell had a hand in his oppression, and, ultimately, his demise.
Axel moved closer to get a better look at his body, keeping his head low to conceal his face.
He couldn't afford to be seen, that would raise too many questions.
As he approached, that familiar ding echoed in his head.
> [Congratulations! You have successfully located your body.]
[Absorbing now…]
[…] <
Suddenly, his corpse twitched where it lay, startling the students surrounding it.
"Uhh, what's happening?" a panicked voice cried.
"Isn't he supposed to be dead?" someone else shouted.
Axel's former body began to levitate, slowly rising above the ground. Gasps filled the air because everyone knew Axel had been infamous for not having an ability, all of a sudden he was levitating?
Then, before their already shocked eyes, his body began to dissolve. It shimmered faintly, shrinking smaller and smaller until it finally vanished, gone without a trace.
> [Absorption complete.]
[Quest completed!]
[Completion time: 1:02:31]
[Reward received: +10 Soul Essence]
[+50 EXP] <
***