It was too late to take a do over. Hal had to fight and he had to fight right then.
So he ran at the goblin screaming with the rock raised over his head preparing to bring it down on top of the monster's head.
For a moment Hal thought he was scaring the little guy to death. It wasn't even bringing up it's hatchet. Instead the weapon was lowered and even falling back, swinging behind.
Triumphant Hal brought his rock down aiming for the green hairy skull. But instead of a skull his rock hit nothing all all. It was a big miss as the green monstered seemed to twist, dancing to Hal's left away from his weapon arm. If you could call a rock a weapon.
And then in one continuous movement it finished twirling and brought the back of its hatchet up to connect with Hal's skull.
This left Hal seeing stars and looking up dazed to see the hatchet reversing its path and now falling down upon him. In the first hit Hal had received the blunt end on the hatchet to his jaw. Which had slammed his mouth closed and probably breaking his jaw.
Now the business end, blade dull with the cloudy sky seemed to descend down upon him in slow motion. Powerless, Hal willed himself to do something anything to avoid this blow that was going to be the end of his carefree life. Unable to even close his eyes he watched as the hatched aimed for the position right above his brow ridge.
"Yayayaya!"
Suddenly the hatchet was withdrawn and imminent death was removed as a possibility. But still unable to do anything but stand there confused as the pain had not yet hit him. Looking up the clouds cleared for a moment and the sun shone down upon him.
Painful the light made him squint and with that the daze was gone. Pain from his broken jaw threatened to overwhelm him.
Instead of sagging down to the ground like he wanted to he looked to his left to see the goblin finishing off the last pieces of skeleton that had somehow made their way over to be possibly threatening if you made believe enough.
Regardless the skeletons had given Hal a much needed moment to recover.
With nothing else to do Hal screamed and tackled the Goblin. Grasping around on the ground Hal found a broken rib and then it was a trade off.
First the Goblin hit Hal and then Hal hit the Goblin. Then this exchange went on repeat over and over again. At some point the goblin's eyes had turned red and having gone into a berserk state it had gone crazy. Of course while Hal was crouching while attacking with his right had the goblin was kicking and punching with his off hand as well. Some of the hits were causing significant damage and forcing Hal to scramble to get up or stay up.
On the other hand for Hal being in this life and death state was a revelation. Everything simplified. With cold logic he blocked the hatchet with his left hand. And then when the hand was mangled, he blocked with his forearm and then with his upper arm. Nothing could affect him. Not the pain, not the fear, not the sound, none of it mattered. The only things that mattered were blocking the hatchet with his left arm and delivering stab attacks with the bone in his right.
Coldly, Hal realized a few simple facts. If the goblin had retained its intelligence then would be dead already. Second, he admitted to himself that he was in love with Meiyu. Third, he became super aware of the fact that he was autistic. This fact had never occurred to him in the past, but all the sudden his super focus, his inattention to other's feelings, and his need to have things the way he liked them all made things much easier.
'I have been pining for Meiyu for years, but as an autistic individual I would never be able to provide any woman with a full relationship.'
Everything had already slowed down so much, but as soon as Hal said this to himself everything slowed down even more. Spittle from his own mouth flew out and splashed on the forehead of the goblin. Hal could feel the jagged end of the rib he was holding ever so slowly puncture through green flesh. The sensation of doing so was oddly pleasant.
'I have a choice to make. Don't I?'
In this moment he could admit defeat and die. He was never going to have a meaningful relationship with Meiyu or probably any other woman. The most he could get would be a sterile superficial room mate type situation.
'Why not die? Wouldn't I be helping my servants? They could move on and find a better Lord. Someone, anyone, would be better.'
His left arm was already hacked to pieces. Hal was slipping on his own blood and bones.
'I will probably die at this point anyway. Why not just let it happen a little faster. Wouldn't that be easiest?'
And then Hal felt his heart beat. It was the first time since everything slowed down. All of those thoughts had been between the space of one beat and the next. With that next beat and the next after that coming at interminably long intervals, Hal knew something deep down below the level of his thoughts.
'I don't want to die.'
It was true, his body fought on and filled him with so many neurochemicals and hormones that he could feel the rush like he had never felt anything before.
'Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha!'
Just like Ankou had laughed, now Hal was laughing. Out of pure joy, he laughed and he could feel the pleasure even in this moment when he should have been reviewing his past life experiences or apologizing to all the people he let down.
No, he did none of that. Instead he reveled in the joy of living.
'I want to feel this again.'
It was a passing thought. Having come up from his unconscious, Hal didn't know where that last thought had come from. Surprise assaulted him.
'I still am in love with Meiyu, but I can see now. It is just an infatuation. Nothing more nothing less.'
With this thought suddenly everything sped back up. Hal ripped the rib from the goblin's chest and then plunged it into his left eye and then swirled it around.
At the same time he felt the hatchet that had just taken its last blow hack off his left arm a third of the way down from his shoulder. The wet plop of the meat as it hit the ground was loud in his ears.
This was the weakness of using berserk with such a weak mind. The goblin just couldn't retain enough intelligence to vary its attack methods. Regardless, Hal was grateful. For some reason the only emotion he felt was gratitude at this moment. This stupid monster and taught him so much.
And then the pain of his missing arm started to dulling penetrate through to his exhausted mind. It was too much and Hal fell over fainting dead away.
___
Some time later he woke up again.
Groan!
Hal made no effort to be quiet. He wasn't thinking straight. This was a terrible time for him to be making any sort of weird noises. But he really wasn't in the mood to be alive right now.
"Ack!"
Coughing he spit up some blood and then let the rest of the blood that was filling his mouth dribble down his chin.
(You know you should really get that checked out.)
Blood shot eyes looked up and then focused on a black cowled figure sitting on a felled tree not two meters away.
"Who, ack, ack, called you?"
Hal said confused.
(Well, that's appreciation for you. Just trying to help, it hasn't even been an hour yet and you are already about to die.)
Ankou said this in a conversational tone as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"Right, right, I am sorry. Can you save me?"
(Can I save you?)
"Yes, that's right, can you save me?"
Thinking that the demi god was just confirming his question, Hal became a little frustrated.
"You are a demi god, aren't you?"
(Challenging a demi god, are we? That is actually a good tactic to use on those idiotic light side demis. But I am from the dark side, can't you tell? It does me no good to save you. A Lord's death would actually be a nice little addition to my power. Don't you see.)
The black robed skeleton ran a finger along the sharp blade of his scythe. There was no screeching sound. Instead a soft whisper came from the contact as if a thousand souls were trying to comfort him. It was almost enough to make Hal give up the ghost right there.
(Just from the sound of my blade? You are quite weak. Maybe you won't be that helpful to me.)
"That, ... , that is right. I am too weak. Help me so that I can be a better addition to your power."
Hal shook off the morose thoughts he was having.
(Ha, you make a convincing argument. Fine, but you see, I have already helped you.)
Suddenly Ankou stood up and made as if to go away.
(Oh, right, I bet you haven't figured out that you can look at your status screen through the system. You should do that. Good bye, till next time!)
"What, wait! How did you help me? I don't get it?"
But the demi god was already gone.
[He woke you up, you big dummy, and he put a tourniquet on your arm. So now you just have to worry about internal injuries and slowly bleeding to death. Now just ask me to show you your status!]
'Oh, hey, Flo, it is good to see you again! I mean, well, I guess it is good to see your cerulean text boxes again!'
Hal did feel some comfort at knowing that Flo was helping him out.
[Ugh, just say, 'status', already.]
'Status'
Obeying her command, Hal did as she asked.
[Name: Hal Genisfelt
Level: 0
Class: None
Title: None
Health points: 10/100
Stamina points: 5/100
Mana points: 10/10
Will points: 1/2
Physical: 1
Mental: 1
Soul: 1
Will: .1
Talent: None
Ability: Bone Realm
Magic: None
Skills: None
Pets: None
]
'Wow, there is a lot here. It seems a lot like the novels I used to read.'
Excited to see something that was at least familiar at face value Hal smiled while reviewing the information.
'It all makes sense. The only thing I see that could be helpful to me right now is my talent. But I thought I didn't have a talent?'
[You just made a contract with a God, well demi god, so now you have a talent. That is where talents come from remember?]
Flo said patient, with her little wonder boy.
'Oh, that is right. Let me see what it says under [Bone Weaving]'
[Bone Weaving
After making a contract with Ankou, you have now stepped foot within his realm. In the land of the dead anything is possible.]
'Wow, that is pretty obscure. How am I supposed to save myself with that?'
[Don't ask me. Obviously he thought there was a way.]
'Sure, he is a demi god! If I was a demi god, well, I wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.'
Shaking his head Hal sucked his teeth a little.
[You can do it. I know you can!]
Flo gave him a bit of encouragement, but truthfully she had run a projection to see what his odds of survival was and it wasn't good.
'Fine, guess I just have to figure this out.'
Hal had sat up upon first seeing Ankou, but now he looked down at the ground and off in the direction of where he and the skeletons had charged from. There were a lot of bones here. It seemed look a good place to start experimenting.
Carefully he picked up a bone and started staring at it.
[I don't think staring is going to help.]
Making a suggestion, Flo's intention was to get him thinking about other possibilities.
As if he hadn't noticed the text box, Hal just kept staring at the bone. Then after a few more minutes of just standing there he finally said.
'Well, if only I could put these skeletons back together. I lost them all.'
Finally, Hal had looked at Flo's message and responded.
[I know, it is tough to have your force wiped on the first encounter. Tough luck, terrible!]
Ignoring her efforts to empathize with him, Hal continued.
'I mean they are just bones right? And I have [Bone Realm], shouldn't that mean I can just put these skeletons back together? Argh, this is so frustrating!'
Slamming the bone down under his palm, Hal yelled his frustration.
'Ouch! It even still ... Argh I don't have the words!!'
[Dear, I don't think it works that way... Bone Realm is for summoning skele ... !!]
[Will +.1]
Suddenly a notice appeared, but Hal ignored it, because the end of the bone he had just slammed down started to glow. It was a gentle fizz some of like a sparkler, but happy in some way that really made Hal even more frustrated.
Dismissively Hal picked the bone back up and pulled the end. Nothing was supposed to happen, but instead the bone elongated.
'What!'
[Will +.1]
[That's it whatever you are doing, keep it up!]
After that Hal reached down and searching found a piece of bone that seemed to fit with the one he was holding. Placing them together, the two bones began to meld.
[Will +.1]
'I did it!'
Extremely happy Hal stood up and waved the bone in the air. Which of course caused him to suddenly kneel back down and vomit blood out onto the dried grass. Passing out again Hal was still kneeling his arms awkwardly out to the sides, his cheek in the blood and vomit.