"HUFF HUFF HUFF…"
I swallowed a large drop of saliva as I ran through the battlefield.
Mud coated my steel boots.
Bloodstains were washed off my chest plate by the downpour of rain.
The gauntlets I wore were so thick I could barely feel the spear in my right hand and the large wooden shield in my left.
The shield was rimmed with metal, but that was just to reinforce the build… and I don't think the creators considered how powerful our foes would be.
Ting
I blocked the first sword with my metal spear, but the impact was so hard that the vibration ran throughout my entire body.
"ARGH!" I shout as I smash my shield into the man's steel helmet, knocking him off of me.
But that was all it did… Just knock him off of me.
Two more men came from behind me, their swords raised above their heads.
As the other person I had knocked away was recovering and now charging towards me, I used this chance to step back and watch the three men accidentally clash against each other.
"ARGH! What are you doing!?" One of the men shouts as his sword digs into the other mans' shoulder.
Blood drained from the wound, muddling with the muddy ground.
The three men began to argue like the idiots they were, and when they had finally decided to team up on me, I was already gone.
Splash Splash
My boots kicked through the bloody mud.
The foul stench of corpses didn't just linger in my nostrils; It filled my entire sinuses as if it was air.
I couldn't help but throw up at the smell.
It was a smell I had smelt quite a lot... but that didn't make it any better.
There was no getting used to the smell.
Ting
I blocked another sword that came swinging down with such force that it dented my spear, bending it slightly.
The vibration stunned my body for a split second, allowing another man to swing his sword down into my thigh.
I was forced to kneel as the men above me smiled psychotically.
And with another downward swing, they intended to take my life.
I brought up my wooden shield, my eyes seemingly completely devoid of life even though I was still standing up, alive.
The soldiers noticed my dead eyes as my shield failed to block the sword in time.
My head was split in half.
The last sight that I saw was the chilled soldiers running away to attack another one of my comrades.
In the year 431, I had died on the battlefield.
No kills.
No assists.
Nothing.
I mean, at least I died with nothing.
I didn't even really have regrets.
I just died… like every other soldier on the battlefield.
Our general was a jackass… I hope he died as well against those monsters.
Those weren't human beings.
They barely had armor, yet nobody could draw a single drop of blood from them.
When I blocked one of their hits, it felt as if their sword had cut straight through my shield, cutting my body in half.
When I went to stab one of them with my spear, the tip bounced off of their skin as if it were made of metal.
Well, I had a good life… I think.
…
"Ξύπνα,"
Suddenly, I appeared in a black plane.
The sky was black.
The surface beneath me was black.
It was like an endless abyss where you could easily lose yourself if you stared long enough.
Huh, maybe this is where the dead reside… It's peaceful, away from life-threatening diseases. Away from bloody war. Away from the battle-crazed idiots. Away from the crazy religious heretics.
"My bad, force of habit," A warm voice calls out to me.
I felt a strange yearning towards it, and just as I was about to turn my head, I felt my body float up.
Feeling weightless was nice… It was like the best bed in the world.
"Come on, spirit, don't sleep," The voice says again.
I went to turn my head but felt a strange blockage.
It felt as if somebody was keeping my head from turning with their hand.
"Okay, almost there… But I do have to say, you don't have much karma at all. Very little bad karma, very little good karma… What were you doing with your life?"
It sounded like a rude remark, but the voice was clearly being sentimental, as if it was worried for me.
I don't know… Not much, really.
I was drafted into a war of which I had no business being a part of.
I'm a tiny bit sad I died so emptily, but I guess that's just how it goes.
"Well, I wish you good luck in your next life, little spirit. I hope you manage to achieve great things,"
A warm hand pats my head as I drift off into the land of dreams.
…
VWOOM
Clink Clink Clink
I appeared in a gray stone room and could identify it immediately.
'A prison,' I tried to mutter, but no words came out of my mouth but a quiet,
"ga,"
I was confused, but it was quickly redirected as soon as I saw a soft young woman pressing her cheek against my chest.
Her dark purple hair was long and fluffy like a dog.
"Ga," Another sound came out of my mouth as soon as I saw her retreat and pull down her tattered brown dress.
"Come on, you have to eat," She says in a gentle voice, pulling my head up with her soft, gentle hand.
But I didn't even notice her words as I was stunned by her beautiful purple eyes and clear pale skin.
"Come on, eat, eat," She says, ushering my eyes towards her chest.
"Ga," I say, reeling my head back.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled back my head, displaying clear discomfort, but I quickly began to regret denying her request upon seeing her cry.
Big drops of salty water dropped onto my face before I relaxed my body.
"Please… Please, eat… Please, my son," She begs, her tears dripping down her cheeks and then onto down mine.
I give in and lift my head up.
"Thank you… I promise I'll give you a better life. Just please stay with me forever… Please," She mutters, but I couldn't give a response even if I could talk as she fell asleep right then and there.
Her head hung, eyes closed, tears drying up on her cheeks.
Red marks were left as soon as the tears were gone.
I didn't like how the marks stained her beautiful face, so I went up to try and rub them with my stubby fat arms.
But just as I was about to touch her soft cheeks, she woke up, grabbing my hand instinctively.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," She pleaded as if she had done something wrong.
She rubbed her red cheeks against the back of my hand, somehow soothing me.
My eyes felt heavy.
My stomach was full.
I was warm.
I felt loved by the woman above me… my mother.
It was such a different feeling compared to the misery in my past life.
Maybe this one... wasn't as bad.
…
"WAKE UP! IT'S DINNER TIME!" A loud voice shouted, interrupting my peaceful slumber.
Somebody was banging a metal spoon against a plate all the way to our prison cell, and once they arrived, they shoved the plate through the little hatch in between the bars.
The food on the plate fell on the dirty, cold, stone floor, forcing my mom to grab the scraps of meat and bread off of it.
"Heh, how the strong have fallen," The man who brought the food says before spitting on my mother, who had her head lowered.
Her eyes reminded me of mine… dead. Absolutely dead on the inside but living on the outside.
The only time she seemed alive was when she was taking care of me—feeding me, teaching me small, insignificant things that she knew I still couldn't comprehend.
"It's okay, don't cry, baby," My mother says as she crawls over to me and picks me up, completely ignoring the food that she had just gathered.
Huh? Am I crying?
"It's okay… I'll make sure you don't die. I want you to grow up strong like mommy here," She mutters, revealing her chest once more.
I was starving.
"It's okay… It's okay… It's okay," She mutters over and over.
From what I could observe, it looked as if she was not only consoling me, but herself as well.
…
Another day had passed, and I awoke on the cold stone floor, my mother nowhere to be seen.
Calmly, I rolled my body upwards so where I could sit on my bottom.
It took a few tries to stay upwards, but I scanned the room once I had it down.
Nothing… nothing… nothing… oh, there's the chain my mother's leg is connected to.
I then followed the chain behind my back, where I twisted my chubby body.
There was a strange circle with a star in the middle, and right inside that star was my mother, on her knees chanting something strange.
"Με τον παντοδύναμο μάγο, σου παραχωρώ τη μισή μου δύναμη και τη μεταβιβάζω στον γιο μου. Μακάρι να πετύχει η διαδικασία με την ψυχή και το αίμα των προγόνων μου," Mother chanted and once she had finished, she fainted.
Worried, I shifted over to her, but the magic circle erupted into a blood-red light.
[A system is being chos-
[Interference by higher being]
[Error]
[Authority is insuffici-
[Error]
[Authority is sufficient]
[Your god has been selected]
[Your system has been granted]
[Ares System is being installed]
[Host has been put to sleep for a smooth procedure]