"Bleh!!!" A guttural, revolting sound echoed through the space, followed by a sickening splat. Immediately, the smell of rancid food—old, rotting scraps—thickened the air. The foul odor blended with the sour, acrid smell of stomach acid, assaulting the senses and making the atmosphere feel repulsive simply by existing.
His face looked ghastly and horrified, as if he had just witnessed death or so.
His face was pale and contorted with terror, as if he had just confronted something horrifying. His eyes were wide, nearly bulging from their sockets, as if they had witnessed a nightmare too horrific to bear. His mouth hung slightly ajar, frozen in utter disbelief and fear, and his skin appeared ghostly, almost devoid of color.
"Ugh." I squinted my eyes and stepped back, repulsed by that revolting, unholy behavior.
What was wrong with him? Shouting, "Finally found you!" And then just produced a big upchuck like that?! Did he want to piss me off?
'Furioso!' As I pondered his nasty expression, a strange memory flashed.
I unleashed Furioso upon someone in that memory, turning them into literal chunks of flesh and blood. My mind was clouded with frenzy, and all I wanted to do was kill.
But who did I want to kill? The memory didn't show me.
"Hmm." Bewildered by this strange phenomenon, I exclaimed by instinct.
I merely yelled, not in a menacing manner, but oddly enough, Renauld staggered and appeared to be about to urinate.
Am I that scary? I haven't even released my mana yet. Did I traumatize him to this extent?
Perhaps? He became a coward after all, but this was a little excessive, wasn't it?
And there were other questions in my mind: did he relate to this strange memory in any sense, or was this merely a coincidence? And who did he mean when he said, "Found you?"
Too many questions need to be answered.
I still had some time left, so asking him would prove beneficial.
"What were you trying to find here?" I glared at him while putting my hand on the sword's handle, threatening to attack.
Inturned, his face twisted into an expression of sheer terror, his features contorting with an almost unbearable mix of fear and disbelief. His eyes widened, pupils dilated in fear, and his mouth opened slightly as if to scream, but no sound came out.
His skin turned pale, and every muscle in his face tightened as if trying to contain the overwhelming surge of fear that was consuming him.
"N-nothing." As scared as he was, Renauld still refused to tell me what he wanted to find. I could see the fear on his face, the way his gaze darted between the weapon and me, gulping down in terror.
I then saw some yellow liquid appear on the white floor of the clock tower; he was so scared of me that he pissed himself.
Oh my god, are you really Renauld?
Such a pathetic scene. So pathetic that I didn't want to see that face anymore. So miserable that I didn't want to kill him anymore.
Using my blade on this type of scum would stain it.
"What a waste of time." I muttered under my breath, frustrated. My head shook in displeasure, and my eyes narrowed as I tried to process how pointless the entire situation was.
Then, my patience snapped like a thin thread with his patheticness, and without another word, I turned away.
"It's time." As I looked at the watch, I noticed that the ceremony was about to start. If my assumption were real, the heretic would attack when everyone is distracted.
I had also contacted some powerful professors, warning them of the danger in a cryptic way, of course. If this was truly leaked, the heretic would not take action, and thus would not fall into my trap.
That would be unideal.
***
Is he gone?
Yeah, he's gone.
"Hah, few…"
As his figure disappeared from view, I let out a deep sigh, feeling a wave of relief wash over me. The tight knot of anxiety in my chest finally began to loosen. I had been so sure my stupidity and patheticness were going to lead to disaster, but somehow it hadn't.
The situation hadn't ended horribly after all, and for that, I felt a strange sense of ease.
"No, I died once."
To think about it, it was not even painful; he reduced me to mincemeat so fast that I felt nothing. But the thought of dying horrified me, to the point where I did not want to hear or see him again.
I escaped my death, but I failed my original intention; I could have made Roland forgive me.
I messed up again.
I really need to think through before doing anything. Or not, just like the game, I could always come back to life, right?
"Status!" I called up the system of the game to see what had happened.
===Menu===
Name: Renauld Gisil Kylian
Class: [Sword Master]
Level: 50
Stats:
-> Rating: A+
-> Strength : S
-> Agility : A
-> Endurance : A+
-> Magic Power: C-
-> Charisma : A
-> Mana : B
Trait:
-> Bane of demons
-> Resilient
-> Natural learner
-> Blessed
->Returner
Death count: 01
Warning: [Avoid dying as much as possible; your life anchor is updated regularly and you cannot revert it.]
Just the sight of this neatly arranged interface filled me with confusion. There is a trait that never appeared in my system before.
My mind raced, trying to connect the dots, but no logical path seemed to lead me to an explanation. It was as if my system had been altered and upgraded in ways I couldn't yet understand.
Then it hit me.
[Returner: Upon death, clear all status effects, experience, and revert time.]
"Returner." That was the ability that brought me back to life.
Such a stupidly overpowered skill that could even revert time. So strong that the moment I died, the world reset. But there is a problem: if I treated this world as a game, then this is the auto-save function.
It only saves before a boss fight; reverting to a long time seems impossible.
"So, it meant that if I messed up everything, I couldn't just kill myself to fix them."
And an infinite death loop is totally possible.
"Gulp." I swallowed the saliva that had gathered in my throat, trying to push down the rising anxiety. But it did not completely relieve the knot of unease in my chest.
If I somehow unknowingly pushed myself to death and couldn't escape it, then what would happen?
"Would the system save me? Or it would let me die infinitely." I put my hand on top of my head, thinking again about what had happened.
At the last moment, there wasn't any notification or anything; the system didn't even appear, as if it were intentional.
There wasn't any secret skill unlocking or awakening of some sort. I only felt the cold, silent darkness of death.
Oh no, so it would rather let me die than save me.
"Damn, this system is so ass!"
No, if I think logically, then this is acceptable; there isn't a single game system that buffs you when you are close to death, only punishes you.
This a GAME system, not a novel one; the best it could do is let me customize my stats, change my class, and auto-save.
No more than what the original game provided to the player.
"Hah… this is going to be harder than I thought." I sighed exhaustedly, wiping sweat from my brow as the sun rose steadily to its zenith, casting a relentless heat over the assembled crowd below.
As the first notes of the upbeat formal music filled the air, I could feel the weight of the moment, and the pressure of expectations started to build up.
The ceremony was about to begin.
Oh shit! I forgot!