Blink!

A pair of eyes blinked open in an unending darkness.

There was no intelligence within the eyes... only confusion, pain, numbness and disorientation remained.

’Where am I...?’

’What am I...?’

’Who am I...?’

The world around him was dark and endless, like space. And it was so silent, that was the most unnerving part.

He felt like he was stuck inside a dark hollow tube, an abyss.

As the owner of the pair of eyes looked around in numb silence, the silence was suddenly broken within his mind.

DING!

’Huh?’

He saw a thread of lines that were both familiar and unfamiliar appear in front of his eyes within the unending darkness, making him blink.

~----~

[Congratulations! You have completed hidden System Mission: Survive the Hunt of the Fluxmancer!]

[For surviving an assassination that had 100% killed multiple of your kind before you, you have done the impossible!]

[You have gained +350 Ascended Essence!]

[Ascended Counter: 3,587/4000]

...

That was the catalyst.

’Ascended... Counter?’ Leon blinked as for the first time, his memories started returning after what felt like a lifetime of floating within this endless void.

But the moment his memories started returning, so did the pain.

Within this dark endless void, Leon reeled over in agony, trembling and hugging himself tightly as he felt harrowing pain invade his brain.

’W-what happened?’ He trembled in agony, shocked.

’Wait, the psionic bomb!’ His eyes widened.

The ChronoSystem was not done with its thread of notifications.

...

[WARNING! You have suffered extreme mental damage!]

[You are injured!]

[Your mind is broken, your soul is fractured and bleeding, the very foundations of your mind have been shattered!]

[This cannot be healed with Undying Roach!]

[A broken mind can only be healed with time!]

...

[Current HP: 56,009/94,610]

[WARNING! 30,000 HP of your total HP is permanently locked till your broken mind and soul heals completely!]

...

Leon’s eyes widened.

Despite the harrowing agony that was currently ravaging through his mind, he grit his teeth so hard that his gums bled, and with the pain that followed, he was able to gain a bit of lucidity to think.

And the moment he could think, Leon realized his predicament.

His lips quivered. ’30,000 HP...’

With 30,000 of his total HP locked, Leon was able to read in between the lines of the actual message that the ChronoSystem was trying to convey.

Undying Roach pushed his current HP to over 120,000 before the deduction of 30,000, but his original base HP is just 38,000. And when the effects of Undying Roach would inevitably fade, he would be left with just 8,000 HP to work with.

That would officially make him the weakest D Rank Ascended in all of Neo-Tokara!

Leon’s eyes widened as his lips quivered. "W-when am I going to recover?"

He didn’t know.

The thread of ChronoSystem notifications were not over yet.

...

[You have been rewarded with...!]

~----~

Leon couldn’t see the last line of the ChronoSystem clearly because the next moment, having regained his lucidity, he finally woke up.

CRKSH!

The dark, endless void around him shattered.

...

Blink!

Leon’s eyes opened, and the first thing that attracted the attention of his eyes was the dim light of the light bulb illuminating the cave from above.

"I’m back!"

But then he grimaced as the full weight of his agony came back, slamming into his head with the force of a sledgehammer!

Leon felt such a severe headache that threatened to split his head in two.

He was horrified. Just like he expected, the pain and trauma that he suffered in the dream followed him to reality.

’Damn it...!’

Despite the pain and dizziness, he struggled to keep himself awake as alert, he looked around and saw...

He saw Daren and Brick who were both sleeping peacefully like he didn’t just fight the most harrowing battle of his life, and beside them he saw Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq who was also sleeping but whose face was twisted in a bestial snarl like he was struggling against an invisible enemy.

’The Fluxmancer!’ Leon’s eyes narrowed, and that was when he suddenly noticed a different shadow in the cave.

’Huh?’

He looked towards the stairs leading to the entrance of the cave, and there just below the stairs he saw an unfamiliar, no a familiar man.

He was kneeling just beneath the stairs leading out of the cave, bleeding heavily. The moment Leon looked at him, he also stared right back at him.

Despite how gruesome this person currently looked, Leon recognized who this was immediately.

It was him!

All-black attire, ghost face mask, it was him! The assassin!

Like him, he seemed like he was in very bad shape as he struggled to climb to his knee, coughing rivers of blood from behind his mask.

Clack...

The mask fell off, revealing his face.

It was a Geneform, a Geneform with a face that would have looked handsome if not for the myriad scars- burn scars, blade scars, even radiation scars that marred his once handsome face.

His face looked hideous.

He was bleeding from his mouth, his nose, and even his eyes, making him look especially gruesome.

Leon realized what he was looking at immediately. ’Another experimental text subject of the Federation...!’

He realized something else. ’I got him too!’

He snarled in a defiant and bestial manner as adrenaline instantly started flowing through his body.

Despite the splitting headache in his head that was threatening to split his brain in two, Leon pushed himself from the ground and staggered to his feet, immediately feeling around for his vibro-blade.

"E-enemy!" He yelled which only made his headache rise.

And finally, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq broke off from the influence of the Quantum Shaper as his eyes snapped open.

His eyes were red and bloodshot, but he didn’t seem to have suffered any injuries.

Leon’s eyes narrowed. ’It seems the assassin focused on me, who sent him?’

The moment the Lt. Colonel’s eyes opened, he jumped to his feet and instantly his eyes fixated on the enemy.

At the same moment that the Lt. Colonel woke up, the battered and heavily injured assassin moved his body through sheer willpower, already scaling the stairs like a swift shadow.

"...!" Seeing this, Leon was alarmed but he hesitated.

He wanted to go in pursuit and end the battle once and for all, but...

He looked down at Daren and Brick who now had clear signs of struggles on their faces but were still asleep, wondering if he should abandon them and chase after the assassin or pay attention to them first.

In the end, Leon judged that Lt. Colonel Umar was in better condition. "Chase him!" Leon growled and immediately went on his knees beside his 2 companions.

Smack!

He slapped them unceremoniously on the face to wake them up.

And as they stirred in their sleep, slowly waking up, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq erupted in a whirlwind of orange ADE as he chased after the assassin.

They disappeared out of the cave almost instantaneously.

About 3 seconds later, Daren and Brick finally woke up, staring around with a look of terror and confusion on their faces.

"I-I had a nightmare...!" Daren stuttered with a look of horror on his face.

Leon secretly heaved a sigh of relief. ’They’re alive’.

Then he snarled. "Follow me!"

Every movement made his body ache, every word made his head throb in pain but pushed by sheer willpower, he moved, leading his 2 companions out of the cave.

The moment they emerged from the cave, the first thing that Leon noticed was that it was almost morning already.

The bioluminescent fog drenching the world was beginning to retreat.

He looked around and saw who he was looking for immediately, the Lt. Colonel and the assassin. They stood beside each other, but they were not looking at each other. They focused on something else.

Unlike what Leon expected, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq was not fighting the assassin yet.

’Huh?’ His eyes narrowed.

’What are they looking at...?’ He frowned, and looked up.

What he saw made every blood in Leon’s body drain as a freezing chill crawled up his spine, paralyzing his body completely.

"That is... that is...!"

...

[Special Appreciation to ImperialJadeDragon and Jah1140 for the Golden Tickets, thanks for the support!]