CHAPTER 75: HERO

Before Ishiki could think anything else, he found himself standing in a world that felt like the inside of a dead god’s skull. A barren plain stretched out in every direction, cracked and dry.

’What... where am i? What happened?’

Panic rose slowly and gripped his chest tightly. The moment he touched the dead guy’s body everything went black for a moment and then he found himself standing in a barren land with nothing around.

He swallowed, but even that felt wrong. He heard nothing. His body mimed the motion, but he couldn’t feel it.

He turned his head slowly, scanning the horizon. It was empty.

No... it wasn’t empty. There was something that Ishiki couldn’t quite... make out at some distance. So he moved towards it.

He gulped hard, feeling dread inside his chest, replacing the former confusion and panic. He didn’t want to move... but his brain moved towards the only tangible thing it could see.

He looked at his hands... they were strangely blue, his whole body was made up of blue energy that looked like solidified smoke.

’Is... is this my Spiritual form? My consciousness?’

Despite never having seen it or even experiencing it, for some incomprehensible reason... he knew it.

It had always been in the back of his mind. It was his soul space and it was undoubtedly connected to his skill.

’Chain the consciousness or the very soul.’

He constantly walked towards the object and soon, there were two. They were—

... Humanoid figures made up of the same bluish energy. They were... bound by chains that came out of the barren soil.

They erupted from the cracked earth like serpents, four for each figure. Two were wrapped around their wrists, stretching down and vanishing into the stone. The other two dug into their ankles, pinning them eternally in place.

Ishiki wanted to turn back and get out of this place... if there was an exit that is. And there wasn’t one. So he walked forward, towards the chained souls.

Until he was close enough that, if he still had a heartbeat, it would have been ringing in his ears.

Up close, the figures were blank—hollow silhouettes of blue fog, faceless and vague.

’What... what the hell!’

He stopped close enough that he could touch them, but he didn’t. Suddenly... the vague humanoid shape of the blue smoke changed. It turned and twisted and turned until two detailed figure stood encased in chains.

Ishiki took an involuntary step back... his whole body was trembling. If breathing had been real here, he would’ve been gasping. As it was, his chest simply heaved on instinct.

’Holy... Cow!’

The first figure resembled the Shinobi. And the second resembled the frail guy.

’Wait... wait. How? I didn’t kill him?’

He calmed himself down and looked closely at the Shinobi. A window materialized in front of him.

====================

Title - Ghost of Thanatos

Rank - Legendry

Synth Reactor Tier - Elite

Available Skills for Mimic - [Ghost Blade (Epic)] - (Used)

[Night Walker (Legendary)] - (Locked)

[Corpse Scavenger (Exclusive)] - (Locked)

====================

The moment he saw the screen, his body shuddered. And at the same time, he understood a lot of things.

He looked at the frail guy and focused on his chained consciousness. Another window materialized in front of him.

===================

Title - None

Rank - None

Synth Reactor Tier - Innate

Available Skills for Mimic - [Light seer(Rare)] (Ready)

===================

’God damnit!’

’So, this is what that Mimic ability meant...’

He had always thought [Mimic] was just a weird, overcomplicated, system gimmick that he would figure out eventually.

But this... this was beyond what he had expected.

The implications were limitless. A strange, nauseating mixture of awe and disgust welled inside him. For a moment, the power felt intoxicating.

He... he could copy the skills of others, that was a literal cheat... and it opened a thousand more options for him.

But it wasn’t the full extent of [Soul Archive]... There was more to it, a lot more and he felt a weird pang of unease.

Not from his surroundings or anything else... but from himself, from his own skill.

Then his gaze drifted back to the chained figures. There was no rage or hatred on their faces.

But they were no longer free.

He tried to summon his status screen as a distraction, a way to look away from their eyes.

But Instead of the screen... the world dissolved around him and he opened his eyes back in the forest. His hand still rested gently on the dead man’s forehead.

He immediately retracted his hand and gasped heavily. His whole body was throbbing as if it had went through a meat grinder.

’Screw your timing, System.’

’Just... screw you.’

He looked around him slowly... the world was just the same, as it had been moments ago. The time he spent inside his soul space amounted to zero here.

He pushed himself up. His head was aching very badly and things were a little dizzy.

Some distance away, Bern was lying unconscious. Blood was constantly flowing down his torn arm and a ghastly wound in his stomach.

Ignoring his aching body... Ishiki stood up and limped closer to the huge guy. He gritted his teeth in frustration... he needed to get out of here fast.

There were footsteps coming from all directions... any minute the beasts would be reaching here and then he would be truly and undoubtedly dead.

’Curse that.’

Some time latter.

In the oppressive darkness of the Crimson Canopy, a small human figure dragged a much larger one through the undergrowth, leaving a wide trail of disturbed leaves and smeared blood.

Ishiki dragged Bern slowly and then stopped, gasping hastily.

"Goddamn it," he wheezed, "you’re so heavy."

He sat down besides a tree and sighed. He was somewhat away from the carnage and was out of immediate danger. The beast’s that would reach that place would have a lot of dead carcasses to fill their stomachs.

Unless, of course some wicked thing liked killing its own food.

Ishiki grimaced at the thought and stood up again. He looked straight ahead, straining his eyes.

The clearing was not too far away... just a few hundred meters and they would be safe.

He grabbed Bern’s legs again, locking them under his arms. "Let’s go, you oversized meat sack."

"Stop."

The voice was barely there. More like air being squeezed through broken glass than speech.

Ishiki froze and let out a humorless huff. "Great. Now I am hearing talking beasts. That’s new."

Then he shook his head and pulled using all his strength.

"Wait, wait... Stop!" The voice called again, it had gotten much stronger now.

Ishiki shuddered once. "Holy Cow... now the talking beast is after me."

He gritted his teeth and pulled harder, the large body scraped behind him as he ran towards the clearing.

"Stop it dumbass, it hurts." The voice shouted and Ishiki suddenly came to a halt.

That... was not how a beast complained. In fact... beasts didn’t complain.

’Wait... what? Hurts?’

He turned around and found that the stocky guy was awake and staring at him with a very weird expression.

Ishiki tried to smile, but couldn’t. "What... what are you looking at?"

Bern took a few forced and heavy breaths and then laughed. Ishiki looked at him with confusion.

’He’s gone insane,’ Ishiki thought. ’Can’t blame him.

’

Then he strained his body and tried to sit straight. Ishiki helped him take rest against a tree. He was bleeding very badly.

Ishiki heard the far noises grow and looked at the man with a dark expression. Bern didn’t move. He was staring at his own hand—his only remaining one. Then he looked at the stump. Then at Ishiki.

His long black hair, slick with sweat and Beast blood, stuck to his face in tangled clumps.

"Ishiki..." he whispered.

"Yes, that’s me. Don’t tell me you’ve got memory loss now on top of everything else."

Bern chuckled, then doubled over as the motion jarred his wounds. Ishiki grabbed his shoulder, trying to hold him still.

"Don’t move, idiot. You’re barely—"

Bern’s remaining hand balled into a fist. He lifted it with obvious effort and tapped it gently against Ishiki’s chest.

"Thanks," he said, with a small smile on his face. "For... coming back."

Ishiki froze.

Words jammed in his throat. He swallowed them and turned away, pushing himself upright. "Cough... Yeah, well, you can build a statue later. Right now we need to—"

"No! This... this the only time I have." he paused. Bern’s expression turned hollow, tired and too old for his age.

"It hurts," he admitted quietly. "It hurts too much."

Tears began to slide down his cheeks, cutting pale lines through the dirt and blood. His eyes had lost their glint. They looked distant, as though he was already halfway gone. "I... I am glad you cam to save me, and are still trying."

His voice broke. "But... I won’t make it."

Ishiki scowled. "Don’t be a dumbass, we are about to reach the clearing, there -"

Bern interrupted him. "Cut the crap. I have a final request."

He looked Ishiki straight into the eyes, tears fell non stop from his cheeks as he said. "I can’t... take this pain anymore." His breath hitched. "I don’t want to be eaten alive. I don’t want to bleed out in the dirt. If I have to die, let it be by human hands. Just... end it."

Ishiki gulped hard. He didn’t know but his body was trembling, his eyes were wide and shaking. ’Screw it... SCREW IT!’

He clenched his jaw and summoned the [Curved Bone] without saying anything.

The pale blade appeared in his grip, its edge catching what little light filtered through the trees. It felt heavier than usual. Or maybe that was just his conscience.

With a heavy heart, he pointed the tip towards, Bern’s heart.

Bern didn’t flinch. He watched the blade approach his chest with something like relief.

The large guy smiled as the pale blade slowly pierced his chest. With last of his breath... he finally whispered. "Thanks a Lot... Hero."

Ishiki was frozen. He looked at the guy as spark of life left his already dead eyes. As his body grew still and the smile was still plastered over his face.

[You have slain a level 7, Innate Human]

[You have received 1,000 Data Fragments]

The notification felt obscene.

Ishiki didn’t move.

He stood rigid, his hand still clenched around the hilt embedded in the other man’s chest. The forest felt quieter somehow.

After a long moment, he released the sword. It dissolved into motes of pale light, leaving only the wound behind.

He stared at Bern’s body. At the stillness of a human body.

This wasn’t the first time he had killed a human, but it indeed was the first time he had killed an actual human.

He didn’t know how long he stood there.

Eventually, he forced his legs to move and took a step back.

His voice, when it came, was barely more than a breath.

"Rest... within me."

He then just turned toward the clearing and walked away.