Chapter 35: Death
’Hmm...?’
Cillian got distracted while reading a manual about spell-casting when he looked up at the ceiling.
He was already feeling funny inside and was barely keeping himself from moving away to his objective as to why he was doing this in the first place.
And then he saw it.
Above was a huge dark sea.
Tidal waves crashed down, and enigmatic creatures were swimming around, their history and figures unknown.
Cillian, who was merely sitting down at his chair just a few seconds ago, had his world turned upside down when he found himself... on the deck of a huge ship.
Whoosh—!
Staring at the dark expanse of the raging sea with a grim expression, Cillian could only close his eyes, trying to gauge the horrible situation he was in and that of his crew.
"Sir!"
On the side, wearing the naval sea uniform was the second-in-command, Vin called. His hair and clothes were wet due to the unending amount of waves gushing through their ship. His formal attire swayed violently as they moved through the storm.
Cillian kept his eyes closed, making Vin grimace.
"We’ve lost our way at the designated island we’re supposed to port. The compass and telecom aren’t working either. We’ve lost dozens of men in the process, too... A-and, there’s the dwellers in the sea waiting for the ship to be destroyed... Sir, what do we do?"
When Vin saw that Cillian was unresponsive, he gritted his teeth before shaking his captain to his senses.
"Captain, we’re going to die at this rate!"
After swaying his captain intensely to the point that even Cillian himself almost got a headache.
A moment later, Cillian removed Vin’s grasp on his clothes before clicking his tongue as soon as he opened his eyes.
"Why in the world are you calling me captain as if I’m some sort of important figure in a sea? We’re freaking students! Students, Vin!"
Cillian was confused at first and didn’t know where it all had begun, but he was aware that their current situation wasn’t real.
In fact, he kept recalling fabricated memories that were never his to begin with, memories of the captain. Only when he became the very ship captain himself did he finally become aware.
Aware of how ridiculous this had become.
And in those figments of memories, Vin was present.
"You... you are already beyond help, Captain. Clearly, you do."
Vin stepped forward and pushed him to the edge of the deck, sending him falling into the depths of the raging sea.
Cillian’s expression turned solemn as his hands were ’forcibly’ reaching toward the deck, while Vin looked at him with cold eyes.
Cillian couldn’t even stop himself from falling down.
Even his hand reaching out to Vin wasn’t something he did.
This made Cillian realize that an unsettling part of his situation was that his movements were ’predetermined’.
He can think and speak, but his actions weren’t his.
Even the time when he could speak was compromised as well, leaving him to only think.
When Vin shook him, all Cillian could do was wait for a few seconds before Vin finally stopped.
The time when he closed his eyes wasn’t his doing either. Lastly, even if he wanted to resist the pushing, his actions wouldn’t let him protect himself, and he could only watch himself flimsily fall into the dark abyss of the raging storm.
And now he couldn’t even breathe or swim upwards willingly.
He can only helplessly watch the light from above disappearing from his plain sight, surrounding him, but only in darkness.
He got eaten right after by an unimaginable creature.
The next thing he knew, he was standing at the top of a cliff, staring at the raging black storm ahead of him, its thunderous clouds engulfing the entirety of the world.
And on his side was a woman, holding his hand tightly with a face filled with regret and remorse.
"We’re the only ones left in here, my love."
Caspin softly spoke, her voice trembling.
She was afraid and scared.
Yet, with her love by her side, she pushed away her fears while holding onto the love they had shared throughout all the years they had spent together and been through.
Cillian’s face contorted, and he spoke with ridicule.
"How come we’re in love when we only just met today in the council room? Get your head straight, Caspin. Wake up!"
Caspin produced a tear at the corner of her left eye, her light hand caressing his face.
"Love, not you had gone mad too... Well, it’s all right now. Our sufferings will end anyway..."
"Our sufferings? What sufferings—"
Before Cillian could even understand her words, Caspin shoved his back, sending him falling toward the bottom of the seemingly endless cliff. Following after him was Caspin, a final, pained smile resting on her lips.
He kept falling and falling still.
The unending darkness, the inability to take control over his body, and lastly, the bizarre situation that he was starting to realize the cause.
’It’s that damn power of that mysterious Aiden, isn’t it?’
The instant he realized it was the influence of factors that were making him experience such a thing, his first reaction wasn’t worrying or thinking of a way out.
No, it was something else.
’How come am I so calm on this?’
And.
’How did I manage to break through these... illusions, successfully becoming aware of what had been happening at all?’
For the first question, Cillian found it reasonable to remain calm and aware, since doing so could produce results if he found himself in times of predicament. Just like now, he continued to think of ways to escape.
Still, Cillian understood that this type of hundred percent calmness wasn’t something he usually exhibited, even when he was back on Earth.
Cillian can feel everything, even though this is a mere illusion.
The pain was too real.
Yes, he can force himself to calm down, but being able to naturally be cool-headed as if it were part of someone’s body is not him.
’More like I am myself and not myself at the same time... As for what triggered it to happen, I’m not entirely sure. I don’t even know if my words are making sense...’
As for his second conclusion, no matter how Cillian thought about it, escaping the overwhelming power that Aiden had exuded and temporarily transferred to him made no sense.
He knew he was in a trance before he became aware of it. Weirdly enough, he even grasped the fragmented memories before he became the captain of some mysterious ship.
Hence, he couldn’t find any reason why he had broken through, but he knew there was something... something that was making him aware and break through the tight shackles of the humored insanity.
’Or maybe this is my plot armor,’
Cillian let out a joking giggle, but his chuckle soon turned into an internal struggle, leaving him unable to breathe.
There was a tight rope fastened around his neck as his feet were a few meters away from the ground, struggling to set foot.
He found himself hanging.
"K-Kuh! Gak!"
He was choking.
His eyes glanced all around the place before his eyes widened, probably because that was a predetermined action or because he saw a familiar figure also being hanged.
He didn’t know but...
’Fatty...’
Phillip had already choked himself to death, his face pale and out of life.
He and hundreds of unknown faces, shaded with black shadow, were also hanging lifeless. Some continued to struggle just like him, but most had already given up on the pointless struggle that only resulted in the inevitable.
Cillian could feel it, but no matter how much his hand desperately tried to get out of its clutch, the rope never wavered.
The next thing he knew, he blacked out.
He died.
In the next second, he found himself in a pool of acidic substances that corroded his body into rot, burning every skin and muscle that it met.
It hurts so much, yet Cillian remained indifferent.
He died.
The next moment, he was on a stake being burned alive. The shaded faces of the crowd stared at him, all their lips curling upwards.
He died.
Cillian continued jumping into different kinds of situations, and all those situations ended up being his death.
He was crushed, burnt, pushed, eaten, crushed once more, choked, poisoned, and faced any kind of brutality one could face when facing death.
And it kept getting worse.
And he kept dying all for it most unimaginably.
And he had zero idea why the humorous encounter became nothing but misfortune, helplessness, and demise.
Almost instantly, the absurdity came to an abrupt pause.
Every death he had encountered and every experience from those deaths were displayed on his front.
After everything and every situation he had been put into, Cillian was finally able to think properly.
The answer to his earlier question was just on his front all along.
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag]
He was seeing a different view aside from death.
’What is this?’
On his front stood a lone figure behind the displayed scenes of his deaths, with [Death Flags] sign appearing on them.
This figure was looking at him.
Then it started speaking.
["Man, really? Can’t let everything adjust to you, huh."]
It spoke in a friendly way.
["The plan was to let this power slowly merge with you because no words can describe how dangerous this thing is. Take things slow, you know? But I guess that’s not happening anymore."]
It seemed the figure complained and chuckled.
["If you’re seeing this, then it means the system’s features will be forced to open very soon. You can say this is your first and last plot armor, and it’s because you’re encountering a very dangerous situation from there."]
The lone figure smirked.
["Use this power very fucking well, Raymond. It can only do this once."]
Cillian’s eyes turned wide open.
["After this, it’s up to you how you grow it. The System will definitely be reliant on you from this moment on."]
Then, a notification popped up in front of his eyes.
[Ding!]
[Welcome to Death Flag System!]
[Death Flag System starting...]
Finally, as if saying it’s one last goodbye, the lone figure said in a sad tone.
["Good luck in there, buddy."]
[Ding!]
[Due to a strong "invasive nature", the System will be forced to use [One Time Plot Armor!]]
Crack!
[A scent...]
The illusory world shattered like glass before it crumbled apart as Cillian saw a familiar individual appearing after all the scenes disappeared from his view.
He touched Cillian’s abdomen and seeped through the last essence of the power he had temporarily handed over back to him.
It was no other than Aiden.
’Finally...’
Mentally exhausted within and outwardly, for some reason, Cillian struggled to keep himself awake.
Even though he was calm most of the time, the strain he was probably receiving from the System was too much for his brain to handle.
However, before he could even lose consciousness, Cillian remembered the image that emerged before Aiden came in.
It was a very simple line of text.
[A scent of Death is within you.]
Cillian closed his eyes, yet another text appeared on his front.
[Death Flag System has started!]
