Saturday, Mal pov

To say Mal was not having a good week would be putting it mildly. The introduction of the new monsters had been a thorn ( or spike to be a bit more accurate) in Mal's side this past week. In fact, Mal was currently in a battle with these new creatures, the spike-slinging bugs and another bug-like monster, about four feet tall with four bladed arms.

To paint a better picture of the current scenario, an angry Mal was currently pinned behind a car, taking cover from an onslaught of chitin spikes. On the ground, there were the bodies of two of the bladed-armed bugs, also known as “Slicers", and the body of one spiker. Besides the bugs on the ground, there was also one living spiker and slicer left.

This was not the first time this battle had taken place, nor the second time, and Mal was getting sick of it. As Mal hunched behind the car, the slicer climbed over the car and was about to jump on Mal, only to be shot in the face three times by Mal. In a previous version of this battle, the slice had caught Mal by surprise, but this time Mal was not having it.

Grabbing the corpse of the slicer, Mal held it as a makeshift shield as they advanced toward the last remaining enemy. Upon getting within arm's distance from the spiker, Mal threw their diy shield at it, knocking it over. Mal then aimed their pistol at the bug pile and shot at it. The first shot missed due to the sporadic squirming of the spiker and instead of a second shot, there was a click instead, that was the last straw.

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Mal lost their cool, they threw the empty firearm aside and ripped a spike from the struggling bug, which they swapped to reverse grip and began ruthlessly stabbing the downed creature. Their mind was in a haze as they kept stabbing at the bug, each stab scratching away at the chitin armor. Whenever the spike broke from use, Mal would rip another spike free and keep stabbing.

It wasn't clear how many hours or minutes went by as Mal brutalized the bug, but by the time Mal finished, there was a pile of broken spikes and a long-dead bug. As they finally calmed down and got their bearings, a message appeared in front of Mal.

Incoming message Stop, stop, he's already dead! Sorry, please ignore that. Anyway, by brutally killing something with its own body intentionally, you have reached a milestone for the steps of the journey of the fallen past. Because of this you have unlocked a new feature, the system! To activate this feature, please speak or think the words “initiate system” May this tool guide you further along your path.

Despite being imprisoned for a good chunk of their life, Mal had read enough to know what a system was, and after all that has happened in the past years, Mal accepted the introduction of the system pretty easily. And without ado, they thought the words ‘initiate system’ and a window opened in front of them.

Hi! Hello! Welcome to the system! Would you like a tutorial?

Yes Absolutely