Shai wanted to feel relief. Everything was going according to plan.
Everything should be going according to plan.
He slowed his breathing down and closed his eyes, stopping for a moment in the long, marble hallway to organise his thoughts. He had left the library earlier to follow after Levinas and Arthur. Students veered around him, annoyed by the fact that he had stopped walking.
“What the hell are you doing?” Someone hissed.
Shai didn’t care. All he wanted at this moment was a moment of peace.
But, no, there was no hint of his heart calming down. It still kept beating and beating. Rapidly.
Palpitating as if he was loaded with caffeine.
Adrenaline was leaking into his bloodstream, fuelled by his pricked instincts.
His gut was telling him that something had gone horribly wrong somewhere.
Shai opened his eyes and continued walking. Searching through his mind for what possibility he had missed, he suddenly came up with a few ideas.
—AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
A shill scream.
Chilling to the bone.
Suddenly, the stream of walking students froze, their eyes all gazing in one direction.
“Shit,” A curse escaped Shai’s lips.
The smell of blood finally made it into his nostrils.
In fact, it was erupting from all around him.
—Clack!
—Clack!—Clack!
—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!
—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!
—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!
—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!—Clack!
[KYAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA!]
A familiar laughter resounded, muffled at first.
The doors to each classroom along the pristine hall clicked open. Their mechanical automatic process felt forced.
As if pried open by sheer force of will.
[KYAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!]
Insidious laughter.
Screams followed shortly after.
“Blood!” A student cried out.
“Run! A demon!” Another one shouted as a stumbled, falling onto his butt.
“Someone call the guards! The professors!” Another one operated her wristwatch.
“Help!”
—Crunch.
Shai watched, half in horror and half in annoyance, as a student’s head was bitten off.
Shai thus sighed, massaging his temples.
“I see the error now,”
***
Levinas stood before a crowd of demons, each bearing large purple horns, four malevolent eyes, and dripping red skin.
His expression was violent. Brows nearly intertwined, and a gaze so sharp it could cut.
The child of the underworld was seething.
Rage consumed his vision, turning it white. All he could see was the enemy in front of him.
However, his heart was as cold as ice. No amount of rage could prevent death itself.
“Arthur…” He spoke to the student who stood beside him.
“…”
There was no reply.
“Get a hold of yourself, Arthur.”
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[KYAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!]
Endless laughter drowned out Levinas’ voice.
“Fight if you want to atone for your sins!”
And thus, he roared.
Leaving Arthur a few steps behind.
If one were to see Arthur’s face right now… One would liken him to a frightened owl — eyes widened in shock. His pupils lacked the light of life. Emptiness was all that could be seen from his expression.
Blue blood seeped out from the wound in his chest.
He was struggling to even stand as he clutched his sword.
Crimson blood dripped down from his fist.
It was a jarring scene.
Arthur couldn’t help but look around in horror. What use were the strategies written in the notebook in his hands? What use were all his efforts if everyone was destined to die?
Dead Myrlite guards and students were littered across the floor.
Tears were flowing down his cheeks while the sound of battle echoed throughout the large classroom.
***
Shai was hiding inside the podium of a now-empty classroom. His heart was still beating rapidly. In fact it was beating even faster than before.
[KYAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!]
A [Hark’suv] was busy attacking the students outside.
“It’s the chance event: Myrlite Massacre.” Shai chuckled in resignation.
The [Myrlite Massacre] was an event that would happen if the player was ‘doing too well,’ by the end of Hark’suv’s continuous appearances. Given how subjective ‘doing too well,’ was, a lot of the players simply avoided winning too much each time. They made sure that Arthur was within a certain power level to avoid the wrath of an entire [Demonic Name].
Many of the Hark’suvs currently in existence had thus appeared in Myrlite Academy.
Shai had assumed he would be fine — after all, Arthur wasn’t above the strength threshold he used when he played.
It turned out that because of his interference, Arthur was still judged to be ‘doing too well.’
The Myrlite Massacre always ended with a bad ending, forcing players to restart. Even the most god-like control players had to restart. There wasn’t much they could do if they were the only one left alive, after all.
“So…”
Shai could feel his stomach lurch with each crunch that resounded outside. The smell of blood was more than anything he had ever experienced. It took him almost all of his energy to avoid throwing up.
However, hearing the dying screams of the students who disdained his existence was music to ears.
“…The only thing I can do for now is absorb mana, I guess.”
The notion of finally filling his Aberrant Circuit was enough to wash away his fears.
‘Perhaps arrogance will again be the cause of my death.’ Shai shook his head.
His heart was finally calming down.
He closed his eyes and sat crossed-legged.
The familiar fiery, rage-filled mana of Hell was abundant.
And so, a black hole in the shape of a human thus came into existence.
In just a few breaths,
—Ding!
[Your Aberrant Circuit has been filled!]
[Mana: 1/1 (Aberrant Circuit)]
[Current Mana Composition: 97% Hell’s Mana, 3% Natural Mana]
—Ding!
[Your Aberrant Circuit is reacting!]
Shai could feel power coursing through his veins, rapid like a river in a storm. His bones were creaking, and his muscles were squirming. Something inhuman was happening to him, yet he could not pinpoint it.
[Name: Shai | "One True Maker"]
[Race: Human → Aberrant]
[Level: 1]
=o=o=o=
[Physique: F (1/6) → E (2/6)]
[Mind: F (1/6)]
[Spirit: F (1/6) → E (2/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Physical Growth: F (1/6)]
[Mental Growth: F (1/6)]
[Spiritual Growth: F (1/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Sensitivity: F (1/6) → E (2/6)]
[Combat: F (1/6)]
[Creation: !@$*# (11/6)]
=o=o=o=
[Specialty: Cellular Control (Stat Redistribution) - EX (Uses: 0) → N/A]
=o=o=o=
Shai saw the details that had shifted. He closed his eyes, feeling a sense of emptiness within him.
‘The interface no longer classifies me as a human, huh?’
He looked at his hands. They still looked human.
However, with every breath he took, he could feel the surrounding Hell’s Mana moving in and out of his Aberrant Circuit.
‘Damn,’
He shook his head, deciding to resign himself to this fate, whatever it may be.
‘Hopefully, I get to keep my current appearance.’
Shai dreaded having to appear as some eldritch entity. He was already comfortable with his body right now. There was no need to change anything.
Shai stopped his thoughts there.
His mind moved elsewhere:
With a thought, he invoked [Creation].
—Ding!
[Conditions have been met.]
[The A-Rank Effect, All-Maker, has been activated!]
[The following materials have shown themselves to you for your usage: Hell’s Mana, Fresh Human Corpses, Innocent Human Souls, Marble, Chairs, Automatic Sliding Door, … ]
“…And now I am in the perfect position to do something unethical. Wow. At the rate at which I’m going through things, I am really fated to become some kind of evil monster.”
Shai pursed his lips.
He then shrugged, recalling his earlier resignation.
“Oh well,”
Searching through his memories, he recalled all the necromancy-related items in the game. Eventually, he decided on something he could use at the moment.
“Create, [Scroll of Undead Summoning].”
—Ding!
[The Title, ‘One True Maker’ is reacting.]
[Acknowledging the One True Maker, Shai's, original intent…]
[The requirements for [Mark of the Undying Legion]; Hell’s Mana, Fresh Human Corpses, and Innocent Human Souls, have been met!]
[Adjusting to match!]
[Scroll of Undead Summoning → Mark of the Undying Legion]
“…Damn, so I can even make these sort of things? Crazy.” Shai was baffled. The Mark of the Undying Legion was the signature ability of the [Soulfilled] cult. It was a group of necromancers who worshipped a death god. In truth, however, they were only worshipping a vengeful, evil soul who had escaped hell.
Nonetheless, Shai had to make a decision.
[Will you accept these changes? (Y/N)]
This time, he no longer hesitated.
He had already adapted to his heinous fate.
“I accept. Make it quick.”
Shai then felt his Aberrant Circuit rapidly empty out. The surrounding Hell’s Mana was rapidly being absorbed as well, coagulating into a mark on his left hand. A searing pain ate away at his skin and flesh.
Thankfully, it was only for a moment. Much like an iron branding.
The mark on his hand was a pair of horizontal lines, one short and the other long. Intuitively, Shai knew what it meant. The short line represented life while the long line represent life after death, or in this case, undeath.
[ -— ]
Shai thought of all the necromancers he had read about in his past life, and he couldn’t help but have fantasies of commanding an army of undying soldiers.
[Mark of the Undying Legion]
[Description: Command an army of undead soldiers.]
[Unique Ability 1 — Marking: Bless the freshly dead with a chance at another life, serving under you for all eternity. Charges: 3. Cooldown: 24 Hours. Mana Expenditure: 1 mana per mark.]
[Unique Ability 2 — Storage & Summoning: Your undead soldiers are able to hide within your mark, coming and going as they please so long as you have mana. Storage Capacity: 3. Mana Expenditure: 1 mana per summon per hour per level.]
"Let's take this mark for a spin," A crazy smile crept upon Shai's lips as he scanned the bloody bodies of his dead schoolmates.