"Choose this power and death shall befall you in one hundred days. Your soul shall belong to me in hell!"
A faint smell of death- a faint smell of rot.
There was a God in front of me.
A self-proclaimed God.
Rather large- rather covered- and rather hazy.
It was too dark to see his face, but one thing was for certain- the guy was anything but a god.
What sort of God had red eyes, and hid inside a cloak anyway?
If anything, this guy seemed more like the devil- though I'd never seen the devil in the first place.
"Then so be it!" There was no doubt in my mind.
I lost everything.
My kingdom.
My family.
My pride.
Everything.
It was time to make a deal.
If not with God, then with the Devil.
I didn't care who, as long as I got my wish granted, I was willing to sell my soul.
White gums illuminated the darkness. "Then drink up!" He cut his finger, and poured black blood into a bowl formed out of the air. An ominous bowl made of bones.
The guy had a rather terrible voice- awfully playful, awfully drunk, and awfully deep…
Definitely not suspicious at all.
Bats started swirling in the sky, the leafless dead trees around me rattled, and groans reverberated.
Once again, reminding me, I was on a battlefield of death.
Everyone, every single one was supposed to be dead- yet, I could hear the groans… the groans of the deceased.
The impossible was happening beside me.
Even I was supposed to be dead.
Dead!
Yet-
I took the bowl, not even batting an eye. "As long as I can have the world, and my revenge, I'm willing to do anything." And that was true. "And you can have my soul after that."
I didn't want to die.
No one did.
But- I was already supposed to be dead.
Just this noon, I died.
Or rather, was murdered along with my army.
But I didn't want it to end there.
It couldn't!
After all- I wanted revenge.
Somehow- on my way to the afterlife- I met someone, or rather something.
And that something woke me up here, in the battlefield, with a body cold as ice- and senses dull as stone- I was alive…
Probably.
And if this worked, if somehow, I got what I wanted from this- then,
Then I was in no way going to let this opportunity pass by.
I was going to get revenge, and death was not going to stand in my way!
I drank it.
In one go.
Strong, smelly- and awfully salty.
It tasted terrible and burned the whole way.
My senses were already really dull yet- yet this thing burned so much!
With terrible stomach ache and a groan, I crumbled to my knees, but refused to faint. "What now?" I glared.
Stronger?
Faster?
Smarter?
No, I felt like dying- being drained of life- instead.
But the god, the god just grinned. I still couldn't see the bastard's face- but- "Now, you die."
"Wha? You fucking piece o-"
"I DEEM YOU-" Darkness swirled and I could see- I could see all the light disappearing into his hand forming a ball of darkness- slowly coming my way- "APOSTLE… OF DEATH."
The ball crashed against my face-
Thud!
I fell.
***
[Unknown system unlocked!]
[Initiating life support!]
[Life support successfully activated!]
[Trying to acquire lost skills!]
Darkness…
[Succeeded!]
[Unlocked Divinity! Curse! Deathblow! Revenge blast! Clutter! Death!]
'Oh shurr up!!!' I couldn't open my eyes, so sleepy.
I didn't know why but it felt like I was dead- and I just kept hearing this old man singing to my ears.
A rather crude singing voice- and rather sassy too…
[Success! System has now fully fused with the user!]
'System, fuse, user? Are you kidding me?'
[No*]
'Oh…' Apparently, whatever it was could hear my thoughts?
It took a moment but-
Was this something that God gave me?
Then why kill me?
What good would I go with power in the afterlife and-
'Wait, I'm not dead!' In a split second I sat down, eyes bursting open, still on the battlefield with the rotting corpses of my soldiers.
Breathless, I stared at my arms and legs.
Still attached, still warm. "I'm alive!" And was definitely warmer and breathing!
Exhilarated!
But then the smell hit me…
I was still in the battlefield- filled with decaying corpses. It did not smell good, no.
But- but I was alive!
The sun was rising- but it was still early morning.
Loads and loads of birds.
Meat-eating birds… Vultures, hawks.
Hounds, tigers, wolves, all kinds of stuff in the distance. Fortunately, they were more interested in the abundant meat around them, than me…
[Would you like to start the tutorial? Y/N]
'What tutorial!?' "What's a tutorial?"
My voice surprised me.
It came out a bit deeper than I thought.
Actually- now that I looked at my body, it was much fairer and bulkier than before.
Though not overly bulky. But I didn't see a trace of fat anywhere… at least not on my bloodstained body…
[It is designed to get you accustomed to the new prowess…]
"I suppose. Yes."
So, the god did give me powers…
[Tutorial initiated!]
[Menu unlocked!]
[Quests unlocked!]
[Quest: defeat 3 round wolves before midnight.]
[Failure to complete the quest would not result in punishment!]
Sigh…
It was odd hearing this old man and everything in his singing voice.
He didn't even sound that good…
Anyway- "So this power is granted to me by that god?" I knew the answer but still asked. Mostly to just have a conversation.
Everything around me was kind of dead- so- yeah…
I tried to move around, and my body did move fairly well.
I was breathing, my heart was beating and I had this odd sense of calm.
The dead bodies, the blood, and even the monsters around me, didn't even begin to scare me.
Something had changed.
[Affirmative. You have 99 days remaining to level up and claim your throne before you self-destruct.]
'So, the hundred days thing was also a thing…'
Wait, self-destruct!
Yeah- I didn't want that…
But if I could have powers then-
"How to level up?"
[Complete quests, defeat enemies, kill enemies, procreate, and through exp potions brought from the store.]
Procreate?
Really?
I chuckled.
Me, the eternal virgin?
Yeah, I didn't think anyone would want to do that.
I may have been a prince but I was touted as the ugliest of the four princes, hence most of the women in the royal court just stayed out of my way. Besides, I was too afraid to go near them anyway.
'No ponds or anything, huh?'
Barren wastelands.
This place was chosen as a battlefield solely because it had nothing but just dead tree husks.
The earth was shattered and cracks were everywhere, not a trace of life- or so it would have been the case if it weren't for those meat-eating monsters.
Everyone on the battlefield though- everyone was dead.
Apparently, I was the only one still breathing.
Which actually wasn't quite accurate as I technically died twice already.
The first time was a hell of a lot more painful than the second one though.
My troops were vastly outnumbered and I overreacted, after hearing my father's death. It was a losing battle and I probably should have surrendered but- but I got overcome with rage… sending everyone to their deaths.
I was a failure- just like my brothers had claimed.
Sigh!
Which was why- this was a good opportunity.
I'd lost everything.
And that's why-
I was going to take back everything!