'It was supposed to be a normal moonday.'
"HELP!! HELP ME PLEASE!!"
'I was supposed to be graduating today.'
"Mommy!!"
*BOOM**CRASH!* I heard the loud sound of the walls, or is it the roof being broken through?
I struggled to raise my head towards the source of the sound, since I was currently laying down on the floor, on my own pool of blood….also, there's fire and rubble everywhere. But that didn't stop me from locating the source of the loud sound I heard just then.
And there I saw it, the reason why the graduation got ruined, the reason why my average moonday turned into goblin shit.
A Demon, about 5 meters tall, black bat-like wings on it's back, black skin with cracks all over it, which makes it even more intimidating. It's hands has 4 fingers adorned with razor sharp claws that can tear through stones like hot knife on butter. It has two ram-like horns on top of it's head, it's legs are like werewolves with three claws on its legs. It's crimson red eyes turn to look at me.
That's when it hit me, I'm gonna die, me, one of the top 10 students of the most prestigious academy in the continent is going to die to a mere gargoyle.
I tried to shout but I don't have the energy to do so, the thing approaches me, slowly. I fell into panic mode and struggled to escape, thus I crawled with all my might, I use my arms to hold the ground as a leverage to pull myself forward, or at least, I tried to.
I saw that my two arms…..were reduced to mere stumps..as if something cut both of them off, that's when I remembered that my arms got sliced off by that damn traitor.
Humans are quite wondrous you know? When the brain registers something painful, shocking or traumatic, the vocal chord automatically translates it into a loud sound, a shout.
"UARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!! MY ARMSSS!!!!" That's what happened to me, I shouted with all my strength as I lifted the stumps in front of my face, I didn't expect that I still have this much energy to shout like so.
"Giyaaahahahah" I then heard a deep guttural laugh coming from behind me before my sight turns upside down, my head rolled forward before stopping. Coincidentally, I was facing towards my body, my old body actually.
"W-why is my body there?" I asked no one in particular before my consciousness turned blurry as I close my eyes. My last thought before everything turned dark was.
'This was supposed to be a normal moonday'
…
...
*Ding!* A sound resounded in the darkness before something suddenly pop up, a blue translucent screen of sorts, like the one's you see in games.
'User has finished the trial of life, now starting a new game.'
'*bzzt*, error, bonus chapter found, proceeding towards bonus chapter.'
'unlock bonus chapter, 'trial by fire''
'proceeding towards bonus chapter, rewards will be given depending on user's performance.'
'rewinding to last known checkpoint.....successful, proceeding.'
'System disabled until user finishes the trial.'
'Achievement will be stated but can only be checked by user when the system is online once again.'
The screen then explodes in a bright light.
..
...
A certain academy was having a graduation day today, moreover, it's the most prestigious academy in the continent.
Hustle and bustle were heard all over said academy grounds, the auditorium where the graduation was being held nearly couldn't fit all the audience, parents, merchants, nobles, all sorts of people came, even the pope and even royalties from many different species came, the king of humanity's attendance should be mandatory though since the academy is located in the capital city of Cattatonia, the kingdom ruled by humanity.
The cacophony of noises inside the auditorium was expected from so many people, patrols and guards were doubled, nay, tripled than normal times to avoid something from happening towards the audience and students, some of the teaching faculties were acting and standing by as guards as well to fill in the gaps of the patrols.
Most of the seats were filled, everyone sat according to certain orders. That is the ranking of the students, parents that had a child who got a low ranking has to sit further from the centre stage, closer to the main door, no matter their rank, be it duke, baron or commoner.
After all, the academy prides themselves in their 'fairness' to all students no matter their background, it doesn't matter dogshit if you're the prime minister or the king himself, if your kid got the lowest grade, then you gotta sit at the backmost seat.
The roof of the auditorium was made of a 'glazius', a special glass-like material that can withstand the heat and impact from a level 6 fire spell, a full frontal assault from 10 level 5 warriors. Quite the miraculous material, light, sturdy and gorgeous as well, too bad it cost quite a hefty sum.
The hierarchy of seats in the auditorium can be divided by 2 levels, the first being the ground level, where it is divided into two, the first half seats the graduates which starts from the 100th seat till the 11th seat alongside their parents and families located near the center stage.
The other half is where the sophomores and younger students are seated alongside their parents and individuals such as merchants, friends and more.
The next level is the sky level, starting from the 10th seat all the way to the 1st seat, each one of them is given a seat that is located on a floating platform, known as thrones.....but really, it's just an over-glorified floating chunks of ores with different colours sorted by their value.
The rocks starting from the 10th till the 1st seat was, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Crstalyst, Mythril, Orichalcum, Staratite, Adamantite.
Seated on the 5th seat, the Crystalyst is Allen Simmer and his family. He was sitting with his head down and his hand crossed on his chest. He was wearing the standard senior uniform, a white blazer with golden buttons and cuffs that's currently left unbuttoned. He had a blue undershirt and dons a red tie. A black leather belt ensures that his white pants won't fall down his legs, he was also wearing a black leather shoe.
His chin rests on his chest, the slow and steady rhythm of his breath are the telltale signs of a sleeping person, the closed eyes are pointing at the same conclusion too. He has orange medium length hair, his bangs cover his left eye, making him seem like an emo. He had a slightly tan skin and a lean build, like one which you expect from a swimmer.
A person next to him shakes him on the shoulder. "Oi, big bro! Don't sleep yet! The Ceremony is starting, big bro!"
His eyelashes flutter slightly before his eyelids slowly open up, his orange eyes that seems like a burning flame had a vacant look in it before slowly gaining its clarity.
..
…
'W-what? What's going on?'
I blinked my eyes at the sight in front of me, the carpet seems so familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.
I lifted my heads slowly and look around me, I can see some fancy carpets, other floating rocks in front of me, I couldn't hear anything before, but now my ears were slowly adjusting themselves and I started to hear some noises.
'I think I've been in this place before..'
'Ding, ding, ding, user has achieved the 'Déjà vu' achievement.'
I heard a weird voice and some bell-like noise too, I ignored it since it sounded so weird, I tried to stand up but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Also, the loud voice that followed nearly stopped my heart.
"Big bro! You okay? You seem out of it!"
I turned my head slowly towards said voice and saw him, sitting next to me smiling sheepishly, one hand on my shoulder and the other one scratching his cheek in embarrassment.
Brown hair, an innocent look on his face, freckles on both of his cheeks and a scar crossing his nose. Brown eyes that glitter with worry and curiously stared back at me as I stared at him, he then promptly removed his hand that was on my shoulder.
It's the fucking traitor, the fucking traitor that sliced of my hands and left me for dead.
I nearly snapped in anger and blasted him away with the full power of a peak rank level 5 fire spell but held it in…..I'll blast him away with a low grade level 6 fire spell instead.
'But before that, I lifted both of my hands and cast two support spells'
'HASTE' too boost my speed and 'SLOW' to slow down the action of this fucking traitor.
His eyes slowly widen themselves as he started to move, slowly. I thrust my hands towards his chest, his medallion to be exact. I grabbed the medallion that is round and had the image of a lion etched onto it.
His expression slowly turned to fear but I didn't give a damn, instead, I smiled sadistically at him before thrusting my other hand towards his face, my palm inches away from touching his damn face.
"Die bastard, 'BLAZE IMPACT'!"
Burning flames exploded from my palm and burst forward, engulfing the bastard's whole body. Then a loud 'bang' resounded which perhaps filled the whole auditorium. All sound stopped, even the musicians and small talks halted. The atmosphere was so silent that even a silent fart can be heard.
'ding, ding, ding, user has achieved the 'A Hot Revenge' achievement.'
I heard that voice once again but ignored it as before, my whole family didn't react at my actions at all, or perhaps they just haven't registered what had just happened. I stood up and walked towards the front of my throne. I then stopped at the edge of it, which gave a full view of the whole auditorium, or at least, the front part of it.
I can see the one's that had higher rank than me looking at me with curiousity, I ignored them however and lifted the medallion I snatched and made sure they all can see it. I then used another support spell.
'I have to thank Jason for teaching me this goddamn spell, even if he's a maniac, didn't this spell would be quite useful.'
'LOUDMOUTH'
"Headmaster! We got an intruder! It's one of the Golden Goat's!" My voice practically exploded outwards, I believe the whole auditorium should've heard that.
I recited a certain incantation that the traitor used before and the image of a lion slowly warped into a goat's. Everyone stared at it for a moment or two before chaos exploded.
"NOOOOO!!"
"AN ATTACK, WE'RE BEING ATTACKED!"
"OUT OF THE WAY!!LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!!"
"AREN'T YOU A GENTLEMEN!!! HAVEN'T YOU HEARD THE PHRASE 'LADIES FIRST'?"
The chaos continued until the headmaster hit the floor with his staff, a powerful burst of mana exploded outwards and encompassed the whole auditorium. Miraculously, it didn't destroy anything, it seems more like a burst of wind.
'Kuh! So strong!! As expected of a level 9 Mage, what a terrifying wave of mana. That level of control is even more terrifying, releasing this much mana without destroying anything is already a testament of his prowess.'
The headmaster floated towards the stage, he turned around slowly after he landed and looked all over the auditorium at everyone, he seems to stop a second longer at me though. Maybe it's just my imagination?
He gave a genial smile at everyone started talking, "Everyone please calm down, there's no need to panic." This calmed the crowd slightly as they stopped trying to escape the whole auditorium.
"Please return to your seat, we have patrols all over, not to mention, the kings and queens, their guards, the royal guard captain, pope and royal mage is here as well, nothing bad will happen."
He stretches his free hand outwards towards everyone, "Please be seated everyone, the whole might of the continent is all here. We are all safe in here, what happened just now won't be problem and we'll be sure to hunt for the people responsible."
The people started to return to their seats and calmed down considerably. Some of them even started to smile at each other and teasing amongst themselves.
The master smiled at this sight, the other VIP's must be smiling as well. None of them were paying attention to me anymore, the same couldn't be said for some of the higher rankers though.
One of them, the 2nd place glared at me in disdain with her beautiful blue eyes, no doubt thinking that I was still trying to court her and doing this to get her attention.
'Fuck, I ain't got time for you anymore woman! Alright, maybe the headmaster got a point…maybe I didn't have anything to be worried about?'
The headmaster then lowered his head, "Yes….the whole might of the continent is here…." His voice slowly becoming more quiet by every word…he was gripping his chest…no, he was gripping his amulet. He then jerked his head upwards, on his face was an almost maniacal, sadistic grin, his smile nearly reaching his ears, "A perfect moment to take them all out."
A crunch sounded out as he crushes his amulet, a purplish wave of explosion spread from the headmaster and filled the whole auditorium…then my whole sight turned white as I lost consciousness.
..
…
'ding, ding, ding, User has bypassed the trial by fire scenario, will not get any rewards.'
'User has died, the trial of fire has been bypassed, trial of life has ended…starting new game.'
'….Error! Foreign soul detected, currently merging with user's soul..'
'…User's soul has been damaged badly, lost the battle of soul, foreign soul's personality will dominate user's soul and life….merging memories and knowledge…'
'….Fusion complete, user has fused with foreign soul…calibrating new user…'
'Successful, welcome new user, formerly known as, Gatod Godoh.'