"Help."

...

... ...

Strangely death didn't came to me. Affected by my bloodline I was calm throughout the next second but even so, that didn't prepare me for what I saw next.

Coming from right behind me, a man rushed to intercept the strike, rather than blocking the great sword however, he stabbed the great sword during the middle of it's swing, forcefully redirecting the sound to the ground the large sword easily cutting through the floor, before aiming his another strike towards the head of the Great Sword Wielder planning to directly bisect his head. The Soldier in return raised his arms planning to use the thick bracers he wear to be able to block instantaneous close combat situations similar to this one, only for the blade to stop mid swing and rotate the other way around. With the soldiers point of view covered by his own defensive stance however... He didn't even had the chance to realize that his head was already falling to the floor. His face still in focus as when he raised his hand to block that feint strike. Not even when the light left his eyes did he truly comprehend what happened. His last expression filled by determination with a hint of amazement.

"He'll probably become a lot more stronger once he revives in his kingdom."

"They have multiple lives as well?"

On the floor, I sat in silence looking at the man. He was wearing the same white shirt we all started with. Only a lot darker and redder. It even looked heavy, due to the blood still soaking it and have yet to dry. He must have killed a lot more than we have...

"With the number of lives it gave to us as players, it is more likely that NOIM would be equally if not more generous to it's own inhabitants. They might even get rewards from helping or killing players like us."

The man talked, trying the great sword with one or two swings, before storing it in his inventory.

"That makes sense."

With my mind devoid of any emotion, I waited for the man to move closer. I tried to use *Identify* on him but that only seem to work when you have a clear vision of your target, the smoke and dust scattered allover making it hard for me to see the man. My bloodline for some reason wanted me to walk a way, it screamed literally nagging at me over and over again. It wanted me to run as far as possible from the man in front of me. As if my life would become miserable just from being with the man. It tried to threaten me, bribe me with more power, and even begged me to run away. It kept trying to eat away my emotions over and over again, but it was pointless. Me being curious has nothing to do with my emotions. I wanted to know who even on earth can move like that.

Also, there's also the fact that I couldn't really get away even if I wanted to. My bloodline screamed and screamed in my head almost making me pass out but I fought it, noticing that some of my control over emotions returning as I did so.

"Zhao Mei?"

"Oh. William. Thank you for saving me. Our clan will definitely reciprocate this kindness."

"Cold as usual. Though for some reason you seem to be a lot more emotionless from when I saw you in the shop. Are you having a fever or something."

William crouched down and placed her hand in front of me.

***SCREEEAAAAAA!***

My bloodline shouted at my head as loud as it could but I fought it off. My head snapping away from William's hand as the loud telephatic scream shocked me.

He looked at me by surprise but I couldn't help myself but laugh and cry at the same time as the I got back the range of emotions I used to have. My bloodline tried to wrestle back for control but I didn't let it. And just when I thought I would have to pull all my willpower to wrestle my sanity back, my bloodline receded to the depths of my very Origin Core unwilling to fight anymore. Clearly biding it's time, waiting for the man in front of me to disappear.

"Hahahahah---Huuuuu--hahahaha!"

I screamed, and laughed and sobbed laughed and laughed and laughed... It was as if I was going crazy, my thawed heart not bring able to process my emotions. Tears not stopping in the slightest as it all happened.

It took a while, but I eventually got it all out. The pain coming back to bite me in full after all of the emotion sealing cold finally left me.

All the while William sat beside me. More curious than anything.

"Sorry. It was a side effect of my bloodline."

"Do you have a bloodline yourself?"

"No, one the biggest player suddenly ran rampant while we were rushing towards here. His muscles swellimg, bones slightly remodeling, all of that at the price of losing control somehow allowed him to overthrow five of the guardians we were with as if they were pillows. Good thing I was able to stop him in time before we had casualties."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"You were able to stop him?"

"Something like that. It wasn't really that hard, to be honest. He was rampaging mindlessly, his movements were erratic yes, but show him some openings and he'll immedietly bite without even considering anything."

"Though we can enhance our bodies with Mana, our anatomical function stays the same, piercing our heart or our brains would more or less kill us just like any normal other human would. I had to deliver four attempts, sometimes to the back of his head, sometimes to his temple, delicately raising the power in each attempt lest I accidentally kill him."

"It was a challenge really."

"Right..."

It was hard to believe given that his own body remained unwounded. But well... whatever. Having my own blood somehow communicating with me and even suppressing me really did a number on me when it comes to determining what's possible and not.

After the few words of exchange, it was only then did I realize that the wave was already over. As the wave quickly ended, it seems that William's group had more than a few capable figthers on their end. Also...

"So it was your groups arrival that caused those explosions..."

I mumbled in whisper as I asked. Making sure that to remember to check who the hell casted the firewall as well as the fucking boulder that almost killed me outright.

"Yes."

I see.

...

... ...

………………………… …………………………

We continued to chat for a few minutes, William being more than willing to share information in exchange of asking me random questions about how I fight. Seeing the notifications, it looks like the next wave will be coming sometime the next day, I shirked at the though of spending more than a day inside a game, but seeing time pause, dialate and slow, it's highly likely that not even a second would have gone by before we return back in real life.

To prepare the town for the next wave, at the center right next to the archway some stood self proclaimed leaders pointing at specific locations, shouting at other players telling them to dig and quickly repair the broken parts of the walls. Judging by how they all ignored us, it was clear that they're not only wary of the prowess William displayed, but also my family as well. Sure occasional glances would come to us as we talked but non of them really attempted anything.

I could even hear the others gossip, about me being William's woman, in which I have no appropriate comment towards the people that said them, but I'll take whatever rest I can get. After five whole minutes or so, cheers erupted as all of our injuries healed. Broken bones, with shards of glass embedded in them and what not.

A few seconds after that, another round of cheers sounded out as even those that died, miraculously came back to life, their bodies vanishing fully as a new one materialized right beside their now fading old ones.

There were the thoughtful and curious questions that bombarded the newly revived ones like how does it feel to die, or if there's an observer mode similar to fps games upon dying, which they both answered with a simple 'no' and explained that you were more like 'asleep' while you were dead. The only thing telling you you're not is the interface hovering in front of you telling you that youre currently waiting for the result of the wave. It also had the option to logout aside from that, but nobody ever really tried.

Some, had the foresight to ask and check if the trial deducted the given number of lives we have inside NOIM in which several guardians that revived excitedly answered enthusiastic ally.

I could simpathize to them, their role naturally placed them in a dangerous situation, specially when tanking projectiles that are directly aimed at the teleportation archway. Having the death not count would also allow them to be fairly judged in the trial.

After another round of cheers, a more experienced mercenary reminded everyone that although the life didn't count, NOIM would still base our clear based on individual performance and that not helping out or deliberately dying just to try or make the whole team fail will inevitably lead to lowering your chances in getting into Asgard.

Chatting some more, I learned that it was Rhaegar Colton was the one that had a bloodline that caused him to went berserk. Knowing him from his matches in the world Arena, although a towering figure, he seems to be more of an analytical type of figthers preferring a bruter form of strategy rather than mindlessly going toe to toe. Still, to think that the bloodline was able to push him to go out control like that...

Serving as a warning to myself, I have to make sure to have some of our people research on how to deal with this bloodline.

Basing that from my own experience it seems that bloodlines gain control over a certain aspect of you the more power you utilize from it. In the case of Rhaegar his bloodline caused him to look for stronger opponents, it didn't look to kill or slaughter. William mentioned that Rhaegar didn't even look back at the five guardians he overpowered before looking for a different opponent. That doesn't mean it's dangerous however. Being able to overthrow five heavy shield weilders would mean that the enraged Rhaegar is powerful enough to tear flesh and crush Bones even if it's not intending to. As to my bloodline, I have yet to know it's full ins and out. It's sly and eats all emotion as soon as I lose control of it, but I do know that it is bound to it's own set of rules, and though it can materialize ice around my body using my own mana, even when I was arguing with ir, it didn't try to freeze me or hinder me, if anything it was over protective of me.

And somehow, it seems to be overly wary of William, for all I know, it was clear thay my bloodline became sentient only after reaching the Awakening Stage. And Seeing how William killed the Great Sword user in a few seconds, even if my bloodline and I worked together hand in hand, my conservative estimate is that we would be killed even before we could do anything. For now atleast.

'it's a misunderstanding then.'

Sending a mental nudge to my bloodline, it hissed at me telling me that it was not a child and that we are one and the same, that she's just been sleeping for a very long time because I didn't ate enough for the both of us, and that me being a know it all will get us both killed.

It's a she?

Whatever. For someone who likes to devour my emotions whole sale, who would have thought that my bloodline has a gender. See if you don't get fat after devouring all my hatred of you.

It hissed again at me. It sounded offended. Telling me that I'm a bitch who needs a spanking, panicking in the middle of a battle and so on...

"Are you okay? You seemed to have spaced out there. It must be because of the instantenous healing...

Come on now that you're healed we should also help out reinforcing the defense as well.

Now that you mention it, even if we're not in Asgard yet, we are contracted allies. We should watch each other's back from here on. Let's try to get as much experience as we can." William stood smiling gently as he offered his hand.

My bloodline screamed at me, even daring to come out from it's hiding to shout that I was making a mistake. It pleaded for me to run away now that I'm healed. And that associating with such being will definitely get us both killed.

I simply chuckled internally before taking William's hand

While I understand that William is dangerous, he has already shown that he's an ally and we have yet to repay him for the fact that he saved me. And most importantly, with the contract we have back in reality, William can already be considered as an ally. Accepting his offer would simply mean that we'll be cooperating at an earlier stage than what's written, and given

[Info] You have become an affiliate of a Reality Level Anomaly. The Great Origin Reality has started to reject you. Your base luck has been permanently reset to -20. Please know that NOIM is a Reality that remains neutral to all entities regardless of their affiliation or nature.

Caution is advised as all realities will now start to bend more aggressively to ensure your demise. NOIM is not an exception from this. We advise to live your life with extreme caution from now on.

This Motherfuc***! I screamed internally.

Removing my hand from William's grip, I slapped his hand imbuing all my mana so that the strike would hurt more. For the first time, my bloodline completely agreed as it also enhanced my mana with it's own properties.

Sadly... It didn't even hit.

"Is your bloodline acting up again?"

My bloodline complained in indignation, enraged, it quickly devoured my hatred. Allowing me to take a cool and calm approach to the situation. My bloodline screamed telling me that I should slap the man for his insolence and then some offensive words at me for not trusting her own sister. Yes, it just called itself sister just now. That I should trust my sister from now on because she's wise and whatever untrue things she said she was. With my head clear, I noticed that William didn't genuinely know what happened. And that there could be a way for him to deactivate this.

Sensing me doing the opposite, my bloodline screamed in anger. The strength of her voice wained as if she had a real overfatigued throat, but I ignored her.

That was when the day she learned the importance of the emotion called rage.

.

...

... ...

To be continued.