Chapter 54: Ch93. Darkness
Both blades made an arc towards Kurt’s neck, but he didn’t move.
When the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] were inches from Kurt’s skin, however, they stopped still, and no matter how much strength the older Kurt would put into it, the blades just wouldn’t move.
"I don’t know much." The younger Kurt answered, looking straight into his older self’s eyes. "But I do know one thing, and I’m sorry to say that... But your world is no longer yours to return to."
He saw tears coming down his older self’s face as he kept on speaking.
"You weren’t able to save it, and even I don’t know if I’ll be able to. But you can’t trade your soul for a chance to go back..." The flashes were now more like vivid images in Kurt’s head, and he knew more or less why his other version planned on sacrificing him.
He wanted to go back to his home world, to be able to get another shot at saving it.
At saving the ones he loved.
But the younger Kurt too had something to go back to.
And he wouldn’t allow anything to stand in his way, if it meant living a different life than the life the older Kurt lived.
"I’m sorry for you not being able to use your skills or the system in the way it should. And I’m sorry the system was corrupted when it got to you, that’s why it wanted to kill you all those times." The [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] didn’t even budge as the older Kurt pressed on.
But they finally gave in, and he fell again to his knees, crying over his younger version’s words.
"But still, you gave up at the very end. You couldn’t take everything head on, you didn’t have the cool to assess everything and make the best of it. But I will, and I won’t let this chance go to waste. Now, you can’t kill me, because the only traces of corruption that the system now carry, are inside you. So you know what happens next, don’t you?"
"I don’t wanna die, please... Please..." The older Kurt begged with a teary face and a muffled voice.
"That’s what you don’t understand, Kurt..." The younger one said, with a single tear falling from his eye, and the images still fleeting through his head. "You’re already dead."
He gently took one of the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] from his older version’s hand, and quickly moved in a left to right straight line.
Blood stained the immaculate white of the unknown space inside the system.
And Kurt’s older version fell, dead, to the floor.
[I’M SORRY YOU HAD TO GO THROUGH IT, KURT] The system’s voice echoed all around. [KILLING YOUR OWN SELF MUST BE A VERY DIFFICULT TASK FOR A HUMAN BENG]
[BUT NOW YOU KNOW AT LEAST A BIT MORE OF WHY YOU’RE HERE, AND WHY YOU HAVE TO GROW STRONGER]
"It’s not like I had any other choice to begin with, right?" Kurt sighed. "I didn’t even ask for it, I just woke up, and had the power to grow stronger, to walk a path, and had to walk it up, right?"
The system’s voice echoed again, in what sounded like laughter.
[YES, YES. BUT FOR NOW, YOU WILL HAVE TO ACCEPT THE FEW ANSWERS YOU WERE GIVEN, BECAUSE NOW YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO, AND THAT I CANNOT SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOU ON THE OUTSIDE WORLD]
[BUT IF YOU KEEP FOLLOWING THE PATH, YOU WILL, ONE DAY, BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE ALL THE ANSWERS.]
[ALTHOUGH THEY MIGHT END UP BEING HARDER TO ACCEPT THAN YOU MIGHT THINK.]
"So what, now?"
[FOR NOW, KNOW THAT I AM FULLY BY YOUR SIDE]
[GO AND USE THE KNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE TO SAVE YOUR... FRIENDS.]
The scenes of Zaval appearing out of nowhere, killing a few of the students, still burned into Kurt’s mind, and since the system said he still had a chance of saving his so-called friends, he thought that both Nikolai and Evellyn might still be alive.
But before everything around him turned to darkness, the system’s voice echoed once again.
[TAKE WITH YOU THE GOALS YOU ACHIEVED]
[I TOOK THE LIBERTY OF CHANGING ONE OF YOUR BASIC STATS BEFORE, SO YOU COULD BE FULLY ABLE TO USE THE NEW SKILL]
[YOUR ORIGINAL SKILL]
[AND SINCE YOU’VE REACHED THE REQUIRED LEVEL, BUT AREN’T AS STRONG AS IT IS REQUIRED FOR THE USAGE OF THAT SKILL, KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU HAVE A LIMIT TO HOW MUCH AND FOR HOW LONG YOU CAN USE IT]
[SEE YOU AROUND, KURT]
[AND UNTIL NEXT TIME, KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’VE BEEN DOING]
[IT KEPT YOU ALIVE SO FAR]
While everything darkened around him, Kurt heard the system’s familiar beep, as the system window appeared in front of him.
[NAME: Kurt Blake]
[AGE: 15]
[LEVEL: 06]
[CLASS: ???]
[STAMINA: 330]
[HP: 330]
[VP: 130]
[BASIC STATS]
[Strength: 76]
[Agility: 101]
[Dexterity: 102]
[Perception: 103 (+10)]
[Intelligence: 59]
[Vigor: 127]
[SKILLS]
[Quick fingers LVL 03]
[Copycat]
[Prying eyes LVL 01]
[Proficiency with blades LVL02]
***** **** ** * ******** ****
[YOU MET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE UNLOCKING OF THE ORIGINAL SKILL TREE – DARKNESS]
[SKILL TREE’S LIST]
[LIGHT ABSORPTION]
[NIGHT VISION]
[UNLOCKED BY LEVEL 20]
[UNLOCKED BY LEVEL 30]
[YOU HAVE 01 UNREAD MESSAGE]
Kurt opened the message right at the moment the light of day started shining around him.
Sounds of fight echoed around him as he quickly ran his eyes through the message.
[AS I TOLD YOU BEFORE, I CAN’T PASS MY LEGACY ON TO YOU, BUT YOU WILL HAVE YOUR OWN LEGACY TO FULFILL. MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS LIST, AND YOU WILL SOON BE ABLE TO BRANDISH YOUR OWN WEAPONS.]
[P.S.: ARIAS IS WATCHING OVER YOU, AND SHE HOPES THAT YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR PET AS MUCH AS I TOOK OF HER.]
A smile ran through Kurt’s lips as he moved forward.
His stats didn’t change much, but he felt like the wind was carrying the weight of his whole body.
And right before Zaval could grab Evellyn by the throat, Kurt grabbed Zaval’s clawed hand with slight effort, making the Ishir look back, his eyes wide with shock and surprise.
"You don’t look so happy to see me, Zaval. First you take my mom from me, now you try to do the same with my friends?"
"You insolent human... You’re nothing but a host, I’ll kill you right where you stand!" Zaval growled, trying to overpower Kurt’s grip on his wrist.
"I don’t think this will be the case this time, just like the last." Kurt’s eyes glowed in a deep tone of black. "There’s a little new thing I want to test out, thank you for volunteering as subject."
Kurt applied his strength to his arm and turned Zaval fully towards him, punching him right in the guts, making the Ishir go flying a reasonable distance.
Far away from Nikolai, Evellyn, and the few other students that were left.
Kurt’s feet moved quickly and he soon reached where Zaval fell, and when he stopped, all Zaval could see was darkness around him.
