Sariel stood in the space, staring at System as her last words echoed inside his mind.

“What kind of salvation do you mean?”

“A contract. I will take control over you to fight him,” her voice responded firmly, “however, I will only be able to maintain it for twenty-two seconds because of the time limit on communicating with you.”

She continued, outlining the terms with unwavering authority:

“You must escape after you regain control and not try to fight him.

You must never try to talk to or even interact with a person of my choosing.

If you break these clauses, then I will strip the power away from you. And when I think the time is right, I will make you form a permanent contract with me—one that will bring you suffering.”

Sariel’s thoughts swirled in confusion, but one thing was clear—he would do anything to avoid facing the terror in front of him again. Anything, as long as it meant he could survive and keep his sanity intact.

“So… I wouldn’t have to face him?” His voice trembled with desperation.

“Yes. Do you agree to it?” The voice took on a strict, demanding tone. “Promise me if you do.”

“I agree to the contract. I promise.” Sariel barely hesitated. There was no time to think.

“This means a lot to my kind,” she said, her tone a mixture of both sincerity and warning. “Don’t fool me. If you do, I will make sure you regret it.”

“Okay…” he whispered.

“Now… I shall be in control.”

***

Suddenly, the presence within him shifted, and Sariel felt himself fading into darkness as something else took his place. When he came to, it was as if he was merely a passenger in his own body.

System stood up slowly. He—no, she—massaged the wrist experimentally. The air in the room crackled with tension as Sariel body, now inhabited by another, turned to face Lurock.

He narrowed his eyes like a wary predator circling his prey. “Something’s different about you."

“I know,” came the reply from Sariel’s lips, though it was no longer him speaking.

His eyes swept over the room, studying every detail. That pocket scythe the man wielded… it radiated an unnatural aura, one that warped the minds of those it struck, making them believe they were made of flame.

The man lunged without warning. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I don’t need to understand.”

There was no flinch, no reaction, as the scythe stabbed straight through ‘Rokuden’s’ neck. But instead of a scream or gurgle of pain, the only response was a chilling smile.

A heartbeat later, a deafening BOOM rocked the chamber.

A purple fireball erupted from within the wound, obliterating Sariel’s body in a violent conflagration that engulfed the entire room. The flames licked at every surface, turning the air into a burning inferno. But as quickly as Sariel’s body had combusted, it began to reform, flesh knitting itself back together from the ash and flame.

“The… hell.” Lurock’s eyes widened in disbelief. Despite the destruction, Sariel’s form was already restored, standing amidst the flames as if reborn from them.

Lurock had a small amount of burns on his skin, but nothing to write home about.

System regarded him calmly. “Unfortunately, because you’re over level 30, I am at a significant disadvantage. But fighting you was never my intention.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

System surged forward, focusing all the power—imperia—into the legs and darting for the exit.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Lurocl snarled, reaching out. His hand shot forward, aiming to grab Sariel’s neck, but a red energy, long and dark shaped itself into a stinger from Sariel’s arm.

It was the same color as the energy whip Lurock had used.

“You can’t harm me—” he started, only to freeze as System impaled Sariel's head with the stinger.

BOOM!

The explosion rocked the chamber once more, sending the man crashing against the wall. He clawed at his eyes, screaming in pain as the purple flames raged around him.

“Damn you!” he bellowed, struggling to see through the searing light. His skin might have been resistant to the flames, but his eyes were far more vulnerable.

System barely glanced back as the body reformed again. System turned and grabbed the door, forcing it open. A long hallway stretched ahead, but it was lined with startled onlookers.

“He… escaped?” someone gasped, looking bewildered.

System felt his mind slipping. Her consciousness was fading.

"Sariel," the voice whispered one last time, "Keep your end of the contract."

Sariel was back—back in control of his own body.

“You!” A roar of fury erupted behind him, and Sariel whirled around.

The mad man was staggering out of the flames, his body covered in burns and his expression twisted in rage. Two crimson energy whips—no, tentacles—snapped into existence around him.

Sariel tried to run, but his legs buckled. Pain tore through his limbs as he struggled to rise. *What’s happening…?*

His body exploded again, flames consuming him. The pain was blinding, but the sensation of reforming was almost… familiar now. He was alive, untouched by the fire.

His body quickly regrouped and he could see the piece of shit trying to remove the fire out of his eyes, nostrils and mouth. He was in a lot of pain.

Sariel wanted him to suffer more... He had made a contract with System, but... how could he let him live?

After all he had done?

He could still remember the screams of the kids, their flesh being torn apart. It was sick and twisted. This mad man was evil.

But... what if he was being too confident? What if he played it safe and report it to those slayers? But what if they don't believe him.

Either way, trying to fight a level 30 was suicide--

"I'm going to make you suffer, worse than those kids did! I'm going to remind you off their screams every day, boy!"

...

A sudden anger boiled in Sariel's blood. All rational thinking was gone. He wanted to see that man dead, no matter what.

"I'll kill you!" Sariel run forward. Pain didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was making him pay.

Grabbing a dagger wedged into the ground, Sariel drove it straight into his own head.

BOOM!

The man cried out, staggering back as the force of the blast hit him again.

And again, Sariel detonated himself.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He kept going, over and over, until the chamber was filled with the echoes of his explosions.

"S-stop..."

Just as Sariel was about to slice his neck, he heard him plea.

Lurock, the mad man was begging him to stop?

He was on the ground, coughing and heaving heavily. "Just stop! It hurts. It fucking hurts!"

Sariel couldn't believe it. For some reason, that made him even angrier. "Stop? Stop?! You sick son of a bitch, after all you have done, you dare ask me to stop?!"

Explosions were too good for him. Sariel approached, completely unfazed by the flames he’d summoned. Torturing the man slowly with a knife felt more fitting.

But as he closed in on Lurock, he hesitated. He was only level 17.

How had he managed to hurt a level 30 this badly? It didn’t make sense. He could crush the jaw of a level 1 as a level 10 with a single punch.

Shouldn’t the gap in power between Sariel and Lurock be even wider?

Sure, the fire was scorching Lurock’s most sensitive spots, but something felt off. He’s toying with me.

Yes. There were men stationed all along the hallway—yet none had rushed to Lurock’s aid despite his desperate screams.

Sariel instinctively stepped back, but it was already too late. Lurock surged up from the ground, fury and blood twisting his features. The speed was absurd.

It was like a cat pouncing on a helpless spider. Lurock was the cat.

He seized Sariel by the throat. “You’re something else, you know… A damn fool, that’s what.”

With his free hand, he yanked the dagger from Sariel’s grasp and tossed it aside, then tightened his grip around Sariel’s neck with both hands.

Lurock began applying pressure on Sariel's neck like he was trying to kill him. Sariel grunted and grabbed Lurock's face, pressing his finger into Lurock's already nearly burned out eyes. How he was able to move and 'see', Sariel didn't have a clue.

But the scream was like nothing before. "Die..."

Lurock didn't understand Sariel goal, so out of anger, he completely crushed Sariel's neck. He thought, 'what's another explosion? I can handle a thousand more of them!'

But when the explosion happened, he realized Sarie's goal—Sariel’s fingers transformed into expanding flames that surged straight into his brain.

A scream, louder and more agonized than ever before, tore from his mouth. It ended abruptly as his body convulsed violently, his arms going limp before he collapsed face-first onto the ground.