4 weeks later
Yes. Rael had been in this cell for almost a month and had miraculously accomplished...
Nothing.
Honestly, it wasn't that surprising. He was stuck in a cell with a bunch of random people he had never met before and no resources or directions. What did you expect him to do? Drop a nuke out of his butt?
He had tried searching for a secret exit somewhere. Maybe a loose brick or two in the wall that could lead somewhere other than this depressing box, but all he found were moss-covered rocks that smelled strongly of urine.
There was no way out.
Though, he did find something weird. The Duke had yet to reveal himself at all. The quest said he had captured all these people for the sake of an experiment but there have been no sign of him at all.
He had even half-expected an crazy old man with a moustache and dark cloak to suddenly appear and give some sort of villain monologue and he'd have to beat up the guy. But sadly, this wasn't that world.
The most attention they got at all was a large basket of hard 'bread' and water in the morning and maybe a beating or two which may or may not have been directed solely at Rael. Safe to say, the meager rations tasted like crap but did their job of at least keeping them all alive...barely.
With no specific guide from the quest, he decided to do what a true protagonist would in this situation like this.
Train.
And train.
And train.
Pushups, sit-ups and claflifts. Anything he knew how to do to make his body even remotely more fit that didn't require exercising equipment. At first, he had thought that the guards would object to him training since he was basically doing it to kill them but they didn't, either they probably didn't see him as a threat or just thought he was crazy.
Either way, it worked in his favour, so he sucked it up and kept up his training, eventually growing indifferent to their stares which basically screamed 'crazy'.
Between the weird gazes thrown his way from the other inmates and the mocking jeers of the guards, he kept up his training for three weeks.
But...
"For...ty thr...we!"
"F-for...ty fou...r!"
"F-forty-five!"
Rael suddenly plopped down on the ground into a small puddle of sweat, panting heavily, his muscles strained from activity.
'Damn it. How the hell do those protagonists always train for hours? This isn't easy at all!'
He looked over his sweat-slick body. Due to his intensive training, his muscles had been a bit more defined, and his lean figure now has some strength in it, giving him a bit more strength and stamina.
It was already twilight. He had observed the guards schedule for changing shifts and managed to calculate the time due to the faint echo of a clock somewhere down the dungeon corridor and estimated that he had been in the damp dungeon for about 29 days. Though he always tried to exercise, the food rations were not nearly enough to satisfy him. Probably because a particular someone kept taking his food whenever he passed out from exhaustion.
He looked towards one of the men in a corner and narrowed his eyes.
The man clicked his tongue and threw a stone at him. Well, it wasn't exactly a stone but it was closer to that than an actual pastry. If it even was a pastry. But Rael took a bite out of it anyway.
'Crap. Absolute crap. This is barely edible.'
He choked down the rock and hurriedly drank the canteen of stale water but it soon became empty after a few sips.
"What the hell? Why is this so empty?" He shot a dark look at the man who just sneered and scooted away.
'Asshole.'
Suddenly, he heard light footsteps beside him and saw one of the twin sisters with a similar canteen held out for him. She had short brown hair and clear green eyes with a face that would have been considered cute. If it wasn't now thin and tired under the weight of malnourishment.
"You're giving me your share?" He asked curiously.
She just nodded and stretched out the canteen towards him. After a moment, he snatched it and drank deeply as he was extremely thirsty.
There was no way he was passing out on free water in this hot hellhole.
'Ah...such a nice person. Unlike some assholes'
After a few deep gulps, he closed it up and passed it back to her with a short nod of appreciation. Then she turned and went back to sitting quietly with her sister in a corner.
He sighed.
'This isn't fun at all.'
Observing them these past few weeks, he had been able to figure out the reason for the overwhelming aura of depression that clung to them like a mantle.
Turns out that the Duke had colluded with Marauders to raid their villages, so pretty much everything and everyone else they knew was probably dead. Plus the fact that they were only spared to be used as lab rats, their situation was looking bleak with no knowledge of when they were going to be dragged out of the room and subjected to all sorts of torture.
But Rael had his own problems to deal with. He looked at the translucent floating panels with a dejected gaze. The panels were rapidly flashing in many colours like it didn't know what to pick.
Because it looked like it truly didn't.
[St@#u$]
[ERROR!]
[System Recalibrating!]
[System #974837A Confirmed!]
[...]
[System Denied!]
[Chosen system is incompatible with host!]
[Requesting replacement System from Administrator!]
[Request accepted!]
[ERROR!!]
[System Recalibrating!]
[System #284063J Confirmed!]
[...]
[System Denied!]
[Chosen system is incompatible with host!]
[ERROR!]
[System Recalibrating!]
[System #573946Q..!]
[...]
He dismissed the floating screens with a sigh and lay against the damp wall. He had hoped to get a really good system as voidwalkers got priority picks but every system the interface had tried to assimilate was somehow incompatible.
'I mean, how is that even possible?' he scratched the back of his head confused.
An average system only has a one in ten million chance to be incompatible with someone and with voidwalkers, that percentage is somlow, it was practically non-existent.
Of course, there are racial boundaries to who gets what system. Like a dark-type race can never get something like a holy cleansing system or an angel something like a lust system, but even then, there are even some dumasses out there who manage to make it possible.
So why...
What was causing his body to reject millions of systems?
Why was this trial so damn hard?
Why did he even have to go through all this?
Why couldn't he just have stayed home with his console and played video games all day?
'This is just so...'
His thoughts were cut off short as he heard clumsy footsteps and the sound of drunken voices approaching the cell from the corridor. Through the narrow slits in the door, he could see flickering shadows of two staggering guards cast by a pale lantern as they staggered through, tripping over their own feet from stupor.
They were about to walk past the door when one whispered something to the other and they abruptly stopped and turned towards the cell with flushed smiles on their faces, the dim light making their eyes glow with a perverse light.
One stood guard by the door while the other fumbled with the key to open it.
When he opened it, he stepped inside and stood at the doorway for a second, his cruel gaze sweeping over the battered inmates making them all flinch and unconsciously inch away from him.
Rael instinctively thought they were here to beat him up again, making a chill go up his spine. That was until one walked over to one of the teenage sisters and suddenly grabbed her by the neck with one hand and unfettered her from the iron pillar with another, holding her up like a sort of trophy as she squirmed in his grasp.
"Hehe, you're – HICK – gonna make me very happy tonight. I – HICK – can't wait." He said darkly as he licked his lips, his eyes openly ogling her body.
"L-let her go! Let her go!" The other sister tried to weakly claw at the guard but he simply kicked her away with a sneer. Seeing this, the bound girl tried to resist, kicking at him and trying to bite his hand but he backhanded her across the face, making her spit out a bit of saliva and blood.
His tone turned cold and cruel with dark amusement.
"Know your place wench or I might just ruin that pretty little face of yours." His hand moved to grab her chest but he felt someone tap his shoulder.
"Damn it Reu, I said you'll get your turn later!" He turned around in anger but suddenly felt something slide cleanly across his throat.
Rael stood behind him calmly, one hand stretched in front of him holding a rusted metal hook which ended in his throat. The other end was attached to a short chain which was wrapped around his other hand.
Suddenly, Rael twisted the blade sharply and dragged it across his neck, causing a fountain of crimson to spray out and his head to tilt off at an awkward angle.
'Eh...? When did he...'
His hand let go of the girl as his body lost strength and fell to his knees.
Right before he lost consciousness, he saw two grey-blue eyes staring at him with a cruel, ecstatic smile. Though, in the dark, they looked like those of a devil.
"Heh...this is fun."
.
.
.
.
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A/N: I'm on a bit of a bummer streak rn but writing picks up once I'm done with exams. Give it a few days. Thanks for reading