Chương 59: Some people were squashed during the landing

Ehm, inbox? Chat? Sent messages? Can I see the sent messages please? Reading and digesting all of the information that the System provided took him just a moment. A breath, if such a concept meant anything in this time-frozen state. Sometimes he could forget what it meant to have 20 points in Mind, but then moments like this one happened, reminding him that in some ways he wasn't really human anymore. Maybe, he never was. Someone was fucking with his status. He was sure of it now.

The skills that he was offered were all fascinating in their own ways, and he had no doubt that he would spend some sweet unlimited time overanalyzing them until he made the perfect choice, but right now he couldn't even give them the proper attention.

His mind was stuck on those notifications instead, going over every word again and again, remembering his previous skill-selection with perfect clarity, remembering every time he got an error, connecting the dots in every conceivable way they could be connected like some kind of conspiracy theorist. Attempt to notify The Soul Devouring Sovereign failed. Insufficient authority for the latest administrator command. Outgoing communication ban lifted. Communication channel to The Soul Devouring Sovereign established.

Pending message sent. At first, Dennis thought that those messages were because of the Sword Saint skill. That should've made sense, right? Some overpowered dude who enjoyed eating souls for breakfast somehow made a system that notified him every time someone got their hands on a Sovereign skill so he could then come and eat the newb.

Good for them, but it failed the first time so Dennis didn't think about it too much, it didn't really matter and he didn't have enough information to make any educated guesses anyway. Well, now he had enough data points alright. Insufficient authority for the latest administrator command. Outgoing communication ban lifted. The message failed to be sent the first time because it was blocked by an administrator. It was the last command, and it was issued either during or before Dennis got the third level.

Good news, it meant that the administrator and the Soul Devouring dude were different people. Bad news, the admin guy probably lost their admin rights since then or something. Pending message sent. Pending. About to happen or waiting to happen. Something that was scheduled beforehand. A message that was written in the past, and was waiting for a trigger or the right conditions to be sent. Most likely it was written even before he got the third level. Maybe even before the whole apocalypse started.

To be fair, just those system notifications weren't enough to indicate that it was something specifically about him. Maybe everyone had a pending message in their non-accessible chat window, just waiting for them to get an overpowered skill to be sent. He had no idea how it all worked, and there were countless ways it could be all explained. But… But Dennis didn't have a soul. He didn't have a fucking soul. Everyone else had one. Not him, until recently.

Dennis was fucking special, a special boy with mind-boggling unrivaled fighting talent that he just had for no apparent reason, and an overpowered skill option that literally whined at him 'pick me, we're fated for each other', and no soul, and a prewritten message in his system to a guy named 'I eat souls'. Looking at it like that, he didn't need a superhuman mind to connect the dots. Fucker ate his soul. It was the only conclusion that made sense. Why? When?

Dennis was the same person for as long as he remembered, and having your soul eaten felt like a memorable occasion, and that meant… What, he was born like that? Or it happened in his early childhood, or someone fucked with his memories, or… Okay, he was entering the baseless speculation territory. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was the way he was since forever. The time-stop effect was the only reason Dennis wasn't screaming his lungs out in anger and decimating everything in his vicinity.

Which would be about half the city. Everything was close, lately. The piece of shit had no right. The Soul Devouring Sovereign was a dead man walking. Or a woman, or a god, it didn't matter. The reason why Dennis couldn't be a hero now had a face. Or, well, a name. Dennis was incapable of understanding heroism on a fundamental level, he was a fucked up person who just started to become vaguely aware of the fuckedupedness, and there was a guy who ate his soul. The reason why his dream was unachievable had a name.

It changed the way he looked at his skill selection. Sure, he was still aiming to be a speedster, and a hero. Nothing could change his conviction, apparent impossibility or not. But now he also had a grudge to settle. An overpowered irredeemable villain to kill. And maybe, maybe beating up the guy would make him spew out Dennis' soul, because right now that thing was still blocked from growing.

Dennis needed a way to be fast and to help people, yes, but now he also needed the power to beat the shit out of that soul-eating fucker. If not for the soul-eating guy, Dennis would've picked Supportive Wizardry. It was the obviously heroic choice. He had the speed already, fulfilling the speedster part of his dream, he was ridiculously fast, and a way to heal and buff people was the obvious way to at least try and fulfill the hero part. Can't go wrong with healing. To heal someone was always the heroic choice.

Probably. He didn't fucking know, which was more of a reason to pick it. Dennis and complex ethical dilemmas didn't really work together. Healing was the safe pick in that way. Not to mention the need to resurrect Lily. But having a person who was responsible for Dennis being fucked meant that there was a chance of them unfucking whatever was wrong with him. Supportive Wizardry was a safe choice to be heroic without actually understanding what it meant, but a chance to get his soul back?

A chance to get the capability to understand The Gift? Sign him up. He just needed some… convincing arguments. Preferably something deadly. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sword Saint was a good argument. Dennis didn't pick it the first time because he wanted to be a speedster, not a sword guy, and Heroic Dash was all that and more, so nothing was really stopping him from picking the 'cut shit up' skill anymore. He was even fated for it.

It literally said that in the description. Regrettably, that was the reason why he wouldn't pick it. This is your fate. Accept it. Defying fate thrice frees you from samsara. Major resistance to scrying and precognition. There was no way some overpowered soul-stealing dude didn't get his hands on some prophecies, or oracles, or some shit like that. Fate was apparently an actual thing that existed according to these skill descriptions, and Dennis had some fate going on with the Sword Saint skill.

Which meant that the Soul Devouring dude knew about that. Counted on that, wanted that, prepared for that, whatever. Since precognition was a thing, Dennis' future was known to any precognitive bum who bothered to read his fate, and surely the Soul Devouring guy was one of them because the fucker ate his soul and left a fucking memo for himself. Dennis was seething. Sword Saint was a trap. So, Dennis would go full Art of War on the fucker's ass. Mimicry Resistance was a somewhat weird skill to be offered.

Obviously, it was an option because he managed to resist Lily's compulsion when she used the 'kill me for exp' aura, but it was weird that he got a whole-ass skill choice from the one-off event like that. Also, 'mimicry' was an interesting name for the thing that the girl was doing. Wasn't it acting? Something to think about later. In any way, being a lie-detector didn't have the oomph that he needed. Echo Heresy was the worst skill name and description in existence. Like, seriously, what the fuck did it do?

It was probably related to the Arms, they got that religious vibe going on about them, but other than that he knew jack shit about it. Could be broken, could be weak. An option to pick if he had no other options, just in case it was secretly super strong. And Kriya Shakti. Kriya Shakti. Passive/Active. Part of One Who Defied Heavens. Defying fate thrice frees you from samsara. Effect: Major resistance to scrying and precognition. Minor fate manipulation. Minor Soul enforcement. A cool-ass name if he ever saw one.

The description could be read as either a guide, or an explanation for why he got the skill offering. He had a good hunch for which one it was. Dennis was verifiably fated to pick the Sword Saint skill, an action that he very much did not do. He would bet money that that moment was an instance of him fucking up fate right there. No idea for the other two though. Maybe he just did it once? Eh. Fate existed, and Dennis was fated to become a Sword Saint.

To split the world in two with a single swipe of Muramasa, his beloved katana that he spent sweat and tears to acquire and couldn't sleep without it nearby. He killed Gareth for daring to lay a hand on it. Such a weird coincidence that he got the sword exactly the day the apocalypse started. No, the same moment. Like it was fated for him to slaughter his path towards the pinnacle of cutting shit up, soulless, merciless, unflinching and sharp. Who was he kidding, he obviously was fated for it. Fuck that.

His sword was broken. He broke it to save Gareth's life, the random hobo. He would do it again. Come to think of it, saving Gareth was probably the only reason he came back to his house. Huh. Truly, the moment Dennis found out that fate was an actual thing that existed there was never a choice on what skill to pick. Because there was only one future that he was aiming for. If fate disagreed, well… He disagreed with fate. He would be a hero. No matter the odds, he would make it a reality.

Skill selected: Kriya Shakti. Time resumed its flow. Outside the darkness of the Eye's body, an overworldly screech shattered reality, the sound permeating space and making his bones vibrate. / - /"They seem to be about done," Stuart murmured, watching the giant Eye's pupil stop constricting, being slowly replaced by an eerie stillness.

"He chopped those legs like they were carrots," Jack said quietly.

"Do we really have to deal with the guy? We still can just… leave, you know. Before he returns. So far nothing good has happened from meeting him. Are you sure your skill's not bugged, Stuart? The only opportunity I see right now is the opportunity to turn around and walk the fuck away." Stuart shook his head.

"It's still active," he said.

"Whatever we were supposed to do here, it's still happening. Meeting the guy was not it."

"So what, do we–""Watch out!" Hannah shouted, a flare of her skill forcing everyone to duck in perfect synchronicity. A small explosion rocked the observatory behind him. Hairs stood up on his back from the presence that quickly passed above. A quick glance confirmed that it was the Arm, jumping from the dome and over the group in one incredible leap. Before he managed to gather his thoughts, it ran away, towards the dying Eye.

"The fuck–""This," Evan said gravely.

"Is not good." All over the city, Stuart could see Arms leaving their posts and running towards the Eye. The giant eyeball's pupil constricted for the last time, its existence losing any meaning. The creature was dead. The moment it died, the sky tore for the second time. Then again. And again. Countless tears in reality opened, accompanied by the screeching sound that was so loud that Stuart couldn't hear his own thoughts. Three more Eyes fell from the sky, and with them, monsters.

/ - /"Couldn't you just cut open a portal for us?" The Oracle grumbled, reinforcing the half-real existence around them with every step.

"I hate walking The Roads. Makes my skin itch."

"Sure," The Sword Saint agreed.

"And do what with it? It's a grade one forbidden world. I can't uncut the portal. Do you know what happens when you make a permanent path to a forbidden world? You get two forbidden worlds. For a 'wandering' Oracle, you sure complain a lot about walking."

"It's a metaphor!" the woman complained.

"I'm wandering with my mind. Not… with legs. Who would notice a teensy tiny hole in space? It's just grade one. And a new one! Weird that they forbade it so quickly though. Did the local Administrator issue an explanation for that?"

"They don't have one," he said.

"Wait… What?"

"According to the Archives, that world had an Administrator for a total of twelve minutes," he explained.

"No other information about them. And the categorisation didn't come from them, but from the local High Authority."

"That's…" the woman stumbled.

"Is that even allowed?"

"In the absence of an Administrator, I guess." He shrugged.

"Don't ask me what the Law says about that, I never bothered to learn it. Usually my sword is enough to settle any legal disputes."

"Brute."

"Says the Oracle who didn't think to check the Echo."

"Oh shut up. I've already told you– Wait." She stopped in place.

"What?"

"I can't feel them."" What?! Did they die?!"

"No! It's…" The existence around them groaned, reality destabilizing from the power focused in the woman's skill.

"I think it's a ward. A strong one. Someone warded them. What the hell is happening in that world?"

"Heretics bless me," the man cursed.

"Then we must hurry. If you can't sense the location, we'll just ask the local High Authority for help. Maybe they'll know something." / - / This feels like an overreaction. Dennis stood stiffly on top of the Eye's corpse. A literal army was coming at him as if in slow motion. The High Authority was throwing everything at him. Including the kitchen sink.