Feeling a horrible burning pain tear through his shoulder, Jake grits his teeth and lunged for a nearby guard, instinctively activating [Powerful Blow], a basic skill of [Aspiring Warriors] that forces all of the muscles in the body on a single punch, all at the cost of Stamina. His fist sailed across the air and into the nearby face of a surprised soldier, breaking their jaw and killing them nearly instantly.
Grabbing their gun, Jake immediately felt a searing pain go through his leg and up his body, making him fall to the ground on his knee, crying out in pain.
Looking up, he watched as his allies and friends were gunned down under a hail of bullets and felt the world go black.
...
Seeing the situation devolve before my 'eyes,' I couldn't help but be taken by surprise by the events that happened before me, especially the sudden attack from one of the Integrated that led to multiple of the Integrated dying, including the Integrated's Guard Captain, Jake.
Those that did survive only did so because of their increased vitality and endurance, meaning the more...squishy of the integrated died under the gunfire of the Foundation Agents.
It was unfortunate, but at least now my humans knew that this was serious. They could die at any moment from anything. Perhaps this would finally give them the push they needed. If they actually tried and took some risks, some of them should have already reached level 50 or even higher.
Though it was unfortunate that none of them died in my Dungeon, the mana and souls I would have gotten would have been useful.
Looking over the aftermath of the battle, I watched as two of the Foundation Soldiers fleed, while the rest were dispatched by the combined force of my Integrated and the normal humans of the settlement, at the cost of sixteen lives, most of those being the Integrated outside of the walls.
The Integrated were lucky to have so many crossbows, or they would have lost a lot more, though Bright did make an appearance with a small force halfway through the battle, and with his magic, he personally managed to kill two of the armed Foundation Agents.
Why the Foundations were so stupid as to attack and be aggressive to start with, I did not know, but their stupidity cost them.
In the aftermath of the battle, the bodies were taken back into the Dungeon, where they were buried around the Obelisk in the field.
...
Kneeling before one of the corpses of the unknown people, Bright could be seen staring at a certain insignia on their uniforms.
"Bright?" Clair called out.
"Huh? What did you say?" Bright asked, snapping out of it.
"I asked if you are alright. Do you know these people?" She asked, eyes motioning over to the insignia that Bright was staring at.
"It's...It's complicated..." After a few moments of silence and internal struggle, Bright let out a sigh.
"Get the others...I think it's time I finally tell you guys who I am and what I have done."
...
After salvaging what they could and finalizing the agreements with the settlement's inhabitants, they all retreated back into my Dimension.
Within the hour, I had 48 new System Integrated Humans, some of whom chose interesting classes, raising my mana generation to 438 units of mana a day. Soon enough, I'd reach 500 units, and once that happens, who knows what I'll be capable of creating. Most of my current monsters are quite cheap to create yet already stronger than most of the Integrated. What if I used hundreds of mana to create a single creature? How much stronger would they be compared to the [Guardian] in the Obelisk?
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Meanwhile, the council of ARK gathered for a meeting to both mourn and discuss what to do now that Jake was dead.
...
Sitting around a table, everyone on the council could be seen with somber and sad demeanors.
"What do we do now?" Vernon asked.
"We do what we have always done: survive," Jay spoke up.
"I have someone in mind that can take up the mantle," Sarah interjected.
"I do, too," Vernon spoke up.
"We can decide that later, for now...Bright? You have something to tell us?" Clair told the others before focusing on Bright, asking him what he wanted to say.
Getting up from his chair, Bright sighed.
"I know that I can be seen as the boy who cries wolf," Bright started, only to get interrupted, "That's an understatement; you cause trouble every time you go outside," Jay joked.
"Yeah, I know, but that's not what I meant. You know those stories I like to tell?" Bright asked, "You mean the ones where you talk about monsters, demons, and angels?" Vernon asked, getting a nod from Bright.
"Well...most of them are true. I...I really was once part of a secret organization on my Earth, named the S.C.P. Foundation, standing for Secure, Contain, and Protect," Bright started, only for Jay to ask, "You were serious?" getting a serious nod from Bright.
"Well...damn," Jay stated, leaning back into his chair.
"Why are you telling us this?" Clair asked.
"Because those guys that attacked us? The ones in the armor and seemed like soldiers? I recognized the insignia on their uniforms. They were agents for the SCP Foundation..." Bright stated with a somber tone in his voice.
"Are they...were they from your Earth?" Sarah asked.
"No. I'm afraid...I'm afraid I am one of the few survivors of my Earth," Bright explained, a painful look in his eyes.
Before they could interrupt him, Bright continued, "Due to my...curse, I eventually managed to escape my Earth and arrive in the IKEA," Brigght started before Clair asked, "What happened?"
"An XK-Class end of the world scenario. Across the entire world, every known and unknown Foundation site was breached, and all of the horrors we kept back from ending mankind were released. Within a few years, billions were slaughtered, cities were destroyed, and countries fell overnight. People turned into monsters or suffered even worse fates. I only survived due to luck...and my curse," Bright explained.
"You keep saying something about a curse; what do you mean by that?" Jay asked.
"You see this amulet around my neck?" Jack asked, gesturing to the large amulet that hung from his neck.
"Yeah? You're always wearing that. What about it?" Someone asked.
"This...amulet is special. Over sixty years ago, my...soul was....imprinted into the amulet after I died while holding it," Vernon interrupted, confused, "You died?"
"Yes, and when a...prisoner held by the Foundation wore the amulet, my Soul took over their body, giving me a second chance at life. This amulet...is unbreakable by any known means...I've even gone as far as to try and nuke the damn thing..., but not a single scratch has marred its surface," Bright explained, sounding more like an old weary soul as he spoke, a soul tired of life.
"You tried...destroying it?" Sarah asked.
"Of course. Do you know what it's like? Watching your friends and family die, but being unable to die yourself permanently?" Bright asked before grabbing the Amulet with a strangling grip that turned his knuckles white, "I've tried throwing this damned thing into the ocean, even a damned volcano, but no matter what I did, It was eventually found, and I found myself inhabiting a new body. Do you see this body of mine? I remember dying in the middle of the streets of a small town, only to wake up again in the middle of the IKEA. Do you think I want to take over the lives of these people? Strip them of their mind and soul? Tear them away from their families and lives? No!" Bright began yelling, getting more agitated the more he explained his situation.
Taking a deep breath to calm down, Bright sat back down.
"What I am trying to say...is that if the Foundation exists outside of my Earth, some variation is likely to have existed in your Earths as well...in which case...if any of you ever manage to return to your original Earths...then you'd likely be detained and captured before you even see your families again..." Bright explained, "And if the Foundation finds out that I exist here if a variation of myself exists on other Earths, then they'd likely try to capture or kill me, just to learn what I know. For all they know, I could possess knowledge they did not know, and information is...very important to the Foundation."
That's when a crackle could be heard from one of the devices they scavenged from the Agents turned on.
"Bzzzt...-ravo-Th-ta--ulu, c---come in, d---do---ead---e?"