"Barbarian Skill: Whirlwind!"
"Wait, hold on, you meathead-!"
William screamed as he ducked down, covering his head with both his arms giving Samuel space to whirl through the horde of shadow monsters, his greatsword slicing through them effortlessly, splattering green blood across the street.
"Haha... I think this shtick is growing on me," Samuel said with a lopsided grin, though he winced at the sight of William, splattered in green blood.
Samuel laughed, resting his greatsword on his shoulder. He looked at the mess he made when he bouldered through the horde and saw William cowering and covered in the monster's blood.
"Oh...sorry about that..."
William was shaken from how mad and annoyed he was becoming, he stood up and wiped his face before glaring at Samuel, if glaring was a skill, Samuel would have been dead then and there and forfeited another life of his.
"You... I can't take this anymore, Samuel! Do you even realize how serious this is?"
Samuel stepped back at William's sudden shouting, his face showed worries and a bit of guilt.
"You think this is a joke?! Why are you acting like this whole game thing isn't serious? Our lives are being put on the line to entertain those morons up there and you're here stating that you're liking this? Have some common sense will you?!"
Samuel knew William was a hot-headed guy but that was the first time he had seen him lash out that bad and for once, with good reasoning too. Samuel let out a sigh and walked toward him, stood in front of William, and placed his hand on his shoulder. William braced himself for a retort, but instead, Samuel's touch was surprisingly gentle. The warmth of his hand broke through William's frustration, and for a moment, it felt like things might be okay.
"Samuel...I'm sorry, I-I just-"
"It's ok, I felt like I needed that to somewhat pull me back to reality a bit..."
"I think I need a bit more time...to get used to this...whole game thing..."
"Take as long as you need, I'm here to protect you, don't worry"
"...I'm not your lover so don't get out protective and sentimental, you sap!"
"You had to go and ruin the mood, hadn't you? Hahaha!"
William let out a deep sigh, a part of him was glad Samuel wasn't mad at him but part of him just wished he would take the situation they were in more seriously, the entire human race just became a plaything for who knows what, and everyone just agreed to entertain those mystery giant "higher-ups" just because humanity was granted the ability to use magic or whatever?
"By the way, what is your Blessing, William?"
"Blessing?"
Samuel looked dumbfounded, as did William, as the two looked at each other. One thought it was common knowledge by now, and the other was clueless about anything and everything.
"Uhm...you know, Blessing! The thing that everyone acquired to use those magic things?"
"...Want me to lash out again, blockhead?"
"Okay, okay. Just say "Status," and a whole screen will appear with information for you—you know, like a game!"
"Fine...Status."
The moment that word left William's mouth, a big status screen popped up. William was dumbfounded looking at the status screen with everything about him, from height to personality to relationships.
"[Hothead]?!"
"Pfft!"
"What so funny!?"
"Nothing nothing, just keep reading."
William let out a grump and turned his attention back to the status screen. [Hothead], [Impatient], [Snarky], [Sarcastic], etc. The more he read the angrier he became because the status screen was on point with his trash of a personality that no one could bear to put up with, besides Samuel that is. He kept scanning the status bar, it even had all his friends and family relationships.
"Wait...my sister!"
Samuel's facade turned serious the moment William mentioned his sister. He knew how important William's sister was to William, she was his only family left. With a strong grip on his greatsword, he grabbed William and threw him over his shoulder before rushing back to their familiar neighborhood.
"The other way, you meathead!"
"Oh right! My bad!"
As Samuel raced through the streets, William's heartbeat pounded louder than Samuel's footsteps. He couldn't shake the images flashing through his mind—his sister, trapped, hurt, or worse.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After half an hour of running, they arrived...or at least, what was left of their neighborhood. It took William a moment to process what he was seeing. Houses—collapsed, roads—shattered like glass, and the remains of once-familiar streets were now foreign. And somewhere in that wreckage was his home.
"No...No, no no no!"
William quickly jumped off of Samuel's shoulder and rushed into the wreckage. His mind was all over the place, thoughts of his sister under the rubble, thoughts of his sister getting eaten by the monster, he tried to get rid of those thoughts but how could he when before him was the aftermath of the monster's attacks?
"Please...please, be ok...Please!"
He started running faster to where his house was, praying the monster somehow ignored it and left his sister alone.
Yes, that's it, maybe they did ignore it
A flicker of hope sparked in his chest, just for a second. Maybe, just maybe, the monsters spared her. But that spark was extinguished the moment he saw it—his house, a crumpled heap beneath layers of debris. Despair swallowed him whole. There was nothing left there other than just a pile of wreckage and rubble. William broke down, kneeled, and just slumped down, staring at the ground. His mind was blank, he didn't know what to think about or what to think of anymore. All he could imagine was his sister's body, crushed to a pulp under those flung houses.
The air was thick with the stench of dust and blood, the distant wails of survivors echoing through the ruins. Every step Samuel took crunched on broken glass and stone, but it was the silence from William's house that weighed the heaviest.
"William..."
Samuel was finally done running after him. When he saw the scene in front of him as if there was something caught in his throat. For once, Samuel's usual grin faltered. He wanted to say something—anything—but what could he say when the destruction was this absolute? He stood there, frozen, feeling the weight of his friend's pain like never before.
"...Take your time, bud."
Samuel patted William's shoulder, that's all he could do, leave him to his emotions, let him go, and feel his grief. Samuel gave William's shoulder an endearment squeeze then walked away, not too far but far enough to leave him alone.
The sound of his heart beating was the only sound William could hear at that point. His gaze didn't leave the ground, William just stared at the dirt underneath him. He should have brought her with him to the countdown at the city square, maybe then he could have protected her. Why did he leave her at home alone? How stupid was he?
William started screaming, an agonizing, gut-wrenching scream that can pierce through the soul of the listener. All the emotion couldn't be held back any longer, the dam had been broken. William kept yelling, screaming, sniffled in between his screaming sessions yet he couldn't cry. Why couldn't he cry?
"Cry, damn you!"
William cursed himself, yelling and blaming himself for everything. Meanwhile, Samuel just stood from afar, biting his bottom lip. He wanted to go to William, so wanted to, just to embrace him or at least be there with him but he couldn't, he knew William wouldn't want that so he just stood there gripping on his greatsword and dealt with it.
"Emma..."
William crawled toward the rubble, he yelled his sister's name each time he moved ever so closer to the rubble.
"I'm here...to rescue you...Emma..."
William seemed to be broken at this point. He started digging into the rubble, throwing out the debris that he could throw out. His hands were raw and bloodied, but he couldn't stop. The sting of glass slicing into his skin should have hurt, but it didn't—nothing did. His hands worked mechanically, throwing aside debris, each motion more frantic than the last. His mind was a blur—no thoughts, just the constant pulse of 'Emma, Emma, Emma' repeating over and over in his head like a broken record.
The straw that broke the camel's back, Samuel turned and rushed to William's side. He couldn't take it anymore, not when his best friend had gone senile like that. The moment Samuel reached William, he wrapped his arms around William's waist and pulled him out of the site, thought to stop him from hurting himself any further.
"William! Snap out of it!"
Nothing, even when held away from the broken site, William's arms and hands kept doing the digging motion, blood trickled down his hand and droplets dropped onto the ground, yet the movement didn't stop.
"Emma...I'm sorry..."
Samuel tightened his grip, feeling William's blood smear against his skin. He bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, willing himself not to break—but when he saw William's blank, haunted eyes, something inside him cracked.
"She's gone, William, please! Anymore digging and the entire thing will collapse onto you and kill you, do you want to lose one of your lives for nothing!"
The word 'lives' echoed in his head, slow at first, then faster, like a drumbeat. Three lives. He froze mid-dig, his raw hands twitching as the truth sank in.
"Lives... That's right... Oh God—she has lives too! Maybe she's still out there... Maybe... Maybe I still have time!" He forced himself to breathe, the thought catching in his chest like a lifeline in the storm.
His mind, clouded by grief, struggled to catch up with the realization. It felt too good to be true—like a cruel trick. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The game. The lives.
"I'm ok now, thank you, Samuel!"
Samuel smiled, seeing his best friend coming to it. He then released his grasp on William and stood back, admiring the now-revived William.
"You know, for a guy who always thought ahead, you're surprisingly dumb when emotion comes into play"
William's face was now beet red as he tried to hide his embarrassment by burying his face in between his knees.
"Sh-Shut up! I got worried and scared, ok? Anyone would be the same!"
"Yeah sure, keep telling yourself that."
Samuel snickered and looked around, taking in the demolished neighborhood one last time.
"Oh right, about your Blessing, what is it?"
"Ah! I forgot, let me check. Status!"
The status screen appeared as violent as it was before. William started skimming through everything again then his eyes landed on the tag Blessing. He looked confused, somewhat curious.
"[Child of the Blue Flame]?"