Moros' breath was shallow, filled with pain. He did not feel most of his body anymore, all warmth had left his body behind.
Not that Boris was faring much better, or rather what was left of him The goblin champion had long stopped breathing. Its empty eyes stared at the collapsing dungeon and did not move an inch.
Moros would have love to trash-talk a bit but he did seriously doubt that Boris could hear him at the moment, or hear anything.
His body started to dissolve from the soles of his feat. Its entire self, slowly but surely, turning into the matter that made him strong in the first place.
It seemed oddly peaceful, as if the grievances of the past were fading with it. The souls of all these years finally found their final resting place, and at last, were ready to embrace whatever came after.
The mood felt serene, touching and almost peaceful…were it not for the cursing Moros that was complaining in a not so nice language about how everything was hurting.
He certainly did not appreciate the fact that he looked like his dead grandpa at this very moment. Nor did he appreciate the 2 holes in his body. These two details did not seem very promising for the man that still wanted to live.
These insults and certainly not child-friendly terms did not magically increase his odds of survival, but they did ease the pain a bit.
His body too was on the verge of destruction, the masses of mana holding it together had ebbed away, leaving only a broken shell behind.
More and more mana was leaking out of his body, leading him closer and closer to death. There was nothing he could do about it.
He could neither move a muscle nor fix the gigantic holes his body had been blessed with. All he could do was wait for death and be happy about not being the first to die in this battle.
Who knew that action had consequences?
Well now, he knew and it would be the last thing he would ever learn.
Whether he would be crushed by the falling debris of the dungeon, by blood loss or his mana core exploding did not really change a single thing.
Moros laughed a bit at the circumstances, he certainly did not imagine his end to be like that. The dreams he got after these happy pills seemed so much bigger and grander─something truly worthwhile to work towards to.
And reality simply ended with him dying in some place, unfound and unwatched, with no one around that cared for him. That was irony at its finest.
His mind wandered back to the events of the past, was there truly something he regretted doing or not doing?
…nope, there were no regrets. Everything he did, he would do again. Dying here was also certainly not the worst kind of ending he could have thought of.
Which was a total lie, of course, he was regretting everything. Where was his money, the pile of cash that he had always dreamt off?
Dying in some random, godforsaken place was bad enough as is, but dying here like some poor fella without any money to his name? That was unforgivable, that was absolute bullshit.
He refused to accept it. Which bastard had decided that he was going to die here? Did that son of a homeless hooker not have any morals? The gods that had planned him to die here, could really lick his nuts.
"YOU CAN LICK MY NUUUUUUUUUUTS!" Moros screamed at the top of his lungs, filling all his anger into that cry.
Afterwards he spat out more blood and everything hurt, but it was totally worth it.
"You heard that right you fuckers! You GODS, or whatever stupid, shit name you call yourself with can put DEEZ NUTS IN YOUR MOUTH AND CHOKE ON THEM."
A figure appeared in front of a Moros, it was a wolf…a creature of translucent blue hue, surrounded by many small souls that danced around it.
"I like your enthusiasm, Boi. We should do something about everything else though…if you want to make your words become a reality."
"WHAAAAAT?" yelled Moros back, clearly questioning his brain cells if he saw a wolf talking to him or was seeing things that made no sense.
The wolf shook its head, wondering what its host was doing.
"I said: I like your enthusiasm, Boi. We should do something about everything else though…if you want to make your words become a reality."
Moros lifted his right hand to give it the middle finger.
"I am dying, not deaf you family fetish freak. Just explain to me what you are trying to say, instead of teasing me bout the Goblins gargling on me nuts."
The wolf once again considered not just letting that ungrateful human die here, but its desire for revenge and ruining the Gods was stronger than his wish for the human to be forever quiet.
A few deep breaths later, it spoke up again. This time swearing to not give the human any chance to talk back, else it would change its mind. He could be rather convincing, after all.
"Huhu, loser once you are done with your breathing exercises, can ya start talkin'? I know you aint the smartest thing out there, but ya know I am dying. That means time is ticking…and I dont wanna waste my last few minutes on this earth waiting for ye to reach the fucking point."
He was indeed very convincing.
"Human, I am offering you a chance to live, a chance to shove your precious nuts into the throat of arrogant Gods, you just need to agree and afterwards…you will get a tool that shall take on the form of your innermost desire."
Moros lifted his other middle finger and proudly presented it to the wolf and his soul harem. Because what in tarnation was it even saying?
Innermost desire, tool, chance to live? It too could gargle on his nuts, if it would not speak facts here, instead of the usual matter that was up to debate.
He did not have the brain cells to understand it, when his brain had all the blood it needed in the world. Now with a lacking blood supply, he would never understand it.
"Human, I am giving you a chance, I shall grant you the potential to wield power. I shall give you a contract, a gift of old. Our old gods call it a 'system'."
How very creative of them, a system─that was telling him so much. He could really say a lot about things about these systems, namely that their name was system…and that was about it.
Aint a system really great, huh?
It could do really great system things and would give him that system power that everyone wanted. Had you not heard as the famous hero of the legends drew out the system sword of the system stone and was pronounced system king of the System land, marrying his System harem and had 100 system kids???
He totally was dying to see that system, did it come with system money?
"Simply vow to the heavens, the strength of your desire, the strength of the vow shall determine the worth of your promise."
Moros brain did not understand a single thing, all it heard was promise the heavens and with the last bit of his working brain cells and the fading vision of his eyes he spoke up.
"Dear Heavens…I promise, eh that the Gods will…wiilll….eh regret what they did, I think. Yes, yes. You can have my soul, my mind, my everything. Eh, except for my money, that is mine."
He took another deep breath.
"SO GIVE ME THE POWER; THE MONEY TO SEEK PAYBACK AGAINST THE TYRANTS RULING THE HEAVENS!"
Moros had no idea what the hell he was blabbering about, but it seemed like it made the wolf happy.
The wolf laughed with cruel intent.
"VERY,VERY, well. My dearest host, I shall grant your wish!"
Unknown energy swirled up in the surroundings, appearing from the bottom itself, no from something much deeper, it was as if all the negativity from the core of the planet itself was moving up.
An invisible hand appeared in front of Moros, it moved downwards, descending into his body…ripping out his pumping heart, crushing it in front of his eyes.
Moros had one mere thought…
"What the fuck."
And then his vision faded, Moros had died.
In the air, a colden object began to appear, all the evil energy came together and formed the object, which Moros desired the most.
It was a heart, a beating heart shaped like the mighty symbol from another world. A symbol that moved millions and possessed a strength that no magic could compare to.
His heart had turned into a $, a symbol which shone in gold and pumped pure golden blood through his arteries.
Its first beats were strong, flooding the body with life. The body healed, the wounds closed and Moros was returned to how he had been before the battle. His chest heaved and his soft breaths echoed through the dungeon.
He was breathing once more.
The host had been reborn.
The Money-maker system was born!
A new story, the story of Moros with his system, had just started.
Nobody could have ever known, neither the old gods nor the gods…just what kind of change this little contract would bring forth…