"You did well, boy. Are you alright?" Carl suddenly heard a deep voice speak to him. He gradually lifted his battered face, he was graced with the figure of a young man donning a red spandex fabric and a pair of black modified goggles. "Where are you hurt? Can you stand? What is your name?"
Carl had never been so happy to see a person dressed in a spandex suit as he was right now. He felt elated. Indeed heroes were Symbols of Hope to people like him.
"Yes. M–my name is Carl." Carl said politely.
"Good. Carl, I want you to take the kid and run as far as you can. As you can already see, I am outnumbered. But I should be able to buy you enough time to escape. We've backups on their way so there's nothing to be afraid of, Carl." The Hero said confidently.
"Okay." Carl struggled to his feet, he picked up the unconscious girl—she had passed out when Vilewolf wanted to eat her. He then resumed running, ignoring his injuries and the pains that washed over his entire body. A gap was gradually being created between him, and the Hero and Villains.
"What do we have here? Someone's decided to play the Hero. Well I guess I'll have to do a better job if I want to play my Villain role flawlessly." Dreadwolf spoke in a deep and hoarse voice.
"You ugly Villains, get ready to be pulverized by my devastating laser vision. For I, Red Beam, shall bring forth your very doom." Red Beam said confidently.
"Wait, did he just say Red Beam? As in 'the' Red Beam? Hahaha! That pathetic weak-ass Hero. They actually sent a B-Rank Hero to take care of us! They must be very stupid. No, you're the stupid one for running into your own death, Mr Dead Hero." Dreadwolf said with a hint of mockery in his voice. He suddenly frowned, his expression turned serious. "How dare they insult us in the face with a Basic-Rank Pro Hero. They couldn't even send an A-Rank Hero. The Hero Society must be underestimating the might of the Villain Society."
"Villain Society??" Red Beam was confused, however before he could react, Dreadwolf was already upon him, terrifying muscles rolling under his skin, he thrusted his claws forward cleaving Red Beam's shoulder cleanly. A fountain of blood flowed abruptly. However, Red Beam was able to sidestep in time, reducing the impact of the strike. He leaped backwards creating a distance between them, and he immediately fired out a concentrated beam of red light from his eyes.
The beam moved with an incredible speed, causing a vibrating noise in the air around it. Dreadwolf was able to block the full brunt of the attack with his nearly indestructible claws. The intensity of the laser beam was increasing by the second, the heat generated was becoming unbearable. Dreadwolf swung his arms to the side with great might, redirecting the pulsing red beam.
Boom!
The beam collided with a building in the distance and an explosion was heard. Dreadwolf quickly dashed towards Red Beam from the opening created by the distraction caused by the distant explosion. He arrived before Red Beam and bombarded him with a cacophony of rapid devastating blows.
Red Beam was pushed back by the powerful punches. He coughed up blood, his abdomen was burning in agonizing pains. His thoughts were shattered, he couldn't focus due to the assaulting blows. He struggled to focus, he clenched his fist and suddenly unleashed a powerful punch. The blow connected with Dreadwolf's right eye and a 'squish' sound was heard.
"Argh!!! My eye, you bastard! I will kill you! How dare you hurt me, I am going to rip you apart!!" Dreadwolf shouted as he released an intimidating pressure. His aura was overwhelming, eating up everything around him and instilling in them primal dread. Everything and everyone around him—within the range of his attack —suddenly felt weak. They felt like prey and he was the predator coming to hunt them, coming to rip them apart.
Red Beam hesitated, influenced by the effects of Dreadwolf's unique ability, he cried out in fear as he crouched to the ground hugging his knees. He was reminded of a past trauma, something that served as a Symbol of Dread to his life.
"Hahaha! How do you like dread, eh, Mr Dead Hero? You must have been running from this feeling, but you can't escape fear. It will slowly catch up with you and eat you up." Dreadwolf said as he laughed in satisfaction. He loved when his prey cower to the might of his devastating unique ability.
Dreadwolf opened his huge maw, revealing rolls of huge terrifying fangs, and he closed it on Red Beam's head, biting his head off, and separating it from his torso. Blood flowed like fountain.
Red Beam was dead!
Carl had also felt the faint influence of dread taking over his whole body. Because he was ordinary, the influence was considerable even from that distance. He was reminded of one thing that he despised more than humans... more than seeing his our people die. He was reminded that he was weak. But the influence of the ability lasted for only two seconds before it completely disappeared.
Carl, who had stopped in his tracks when he heard the Hero's pained scream, witnessed the entire incident. He had just witnessed the death of a Hero. This was very shocking.
Heroes were terrifying beings with their supernatural constitution along with a unique ability, they were a force to reckon with. The most terrifying were the aliens that were invading the planet. They were powerful adversaries.
However, there were other threats in this world, the Villains and the Mutants or Mutated Beasts. The Villains were Superhumans who chose to use their superpowers for criminal activities, while the Mutants were beasts who had undergone the same phase of Awakening as humans, they were ranked based on the quality and quantity of their mutant genes. But then, Mutants weren't found inside the Shelter-Cities, they roamed the vast wilderness of the ruined world often attacking human Shelters.
Red Beam had not fallen to a Xenosapian nor a Mutant, but to a fellow human being. Humans were treacherous and cruel monsters after all. Instead of banding together to battle the races trying to bring forth their extinction, they were divided into different factions with different goals in heart, fighting each other and reducing their combat power.
One less Hero. The Xenosapians must be screaming in joy.
Carl found himself caring about the fate of this world, after all, this was now also his world. If he paid a blind eye to the things happening around him, he might just wake up one morning with the sudden realization that the whole world have been destroyed.
***
Vilewolf had just regained consciousness from being knocked out cold by Red Beam's laser attack, he stepped out of the building, dust and debris falling off of him, with an angry expression on his face. He was pissed.
He immediately sniffed the air and his gazes turned towards Carl's direction from a distance away.
"Go get your meal back, boy." The older wolf said.
Vilewolf's height shrank as he fell on all fours, he revealed rolls of horrifying fangs, his maw drooling sticky liquid.
Pa!
He quickly lunged forward in an incredible speed, his powerful feet broke the paved surface of the flooring sending stones flying in the air.
Swoosh!
The big bad wolf moved almost like a blur as he cut through the wind with the might of his powerful muscles, rushing towards the direction of Carl and the little girl.
Carl was distracted from his thoughts when he suddenly started hearing noises. He realized that he hadn't escaped the enemy's maw. He picked up speed and started sprinting while carrying the unconscious girl in his arms.
'I could really use that backup right about now.' Carl said to himself inwardly, he thought about leaving the little girl and escaping for his life. But it seemed like a certain someone had tainted him with the thing about pride and honor. That aside, Carl wasn't someone who would bail out on his responsibilities all because things suddenly turned hard. 'When was she my responsibility?' He tried to convince himself.
But no matter what he did, he couldn't get his body to do as it was told, 'Am I infected by this whole Symbol shit?'
Carl kept running, his body was starting to remind him that he was at his limit. It was even a miracle that he could move talk less of run. Whenever he looked back, he would find that Vilewolf was still chasing after him relentlessly.
He increased the speed of his movement, but however, he lost his footing and tripped abruptly, crashing on the floor.
Once again, Vilewolf was upon them, he thrusted his long sharp claws forward aiming to impale the unconscious girl, however, Carl switched positions with her at the last instance. Three long claws pierced through Carl's skin from behind, appearing in front of him.
Carl vomited blood as he felt the pain eating at him. The deep wounds on his abdomen were flowing fountains of blood. He let go of the little girl and touched his stomach with his hands, his hand bloodied. There was blood everywhere.
"Hahaha, you got what you deserved you piece of shit. Trash like you shouldn't mess with our job. You're hopeless, man. Just drop dead already." Vilewolf said while giggling maniacally. However, he wasn't done. He pulled out his long claws and impaled Carl again, this time, on a different spot.
"Arghh! Arghahhargh!" Carl groaned in agony as he coughed up more blood. He was losing a lot of blood, there was no way he could possibly survive this, not while his assaulter was having fun butchering him.
"Argggghhhh!!" Vilewolf stabbed Carl again, this time on his thigh, he screamed out in pains crying loudly, he couldn't bear the pains anymore. Snort was coming out of his nose and his consciousness was gradually fading.
Vilewolf stabbed him on the chest this time around, one of his sharp claws pierced Carl's heart and Carl went mute. He suddenly seized screaming... he stopped resisting... he stopped crying, he became motionless, his eyes slowly losing its luster.
'Is this how I am going to die?' Carl thought as life flashed in his eyes for the last time. But suddenly, there was a distortion in the space before Carl and weak eyes saw something...
[Your path to becoming the saviour of this world has been set! Do you wish to accept the System and follow the path towards becoming an unparalleled Hero of humanity?]
[11:22:56:01]
There was a blue screen in front of him and on it was a roll of letters forming sentences. He suddenly felt like time around him slowed down significantly.
[...56:02]
There was no doubts, time had slowed down. Carl stared at a blue screen, there was a new screen appearing before him, suggesting that he make a decision.
[Accept/Reject]
'Saviour of the World' and 'Hero of Humanity', these were the same responsibilities Carl was running from. He didn't want the fate of the entire world to be placed on his shoulder. He didn't want to carry any burdens anymore. So if this mysterious screen was suggesting the same responsibilities that he was trying to escape, then...
'Hell no. You can rot in hell for all I can.' Carl said inwardly.
"I... reject..." Carl strained his mangled body to speak. Another screen appeared before him.
[Are you sure you want to reject System? You'll die if you refuse to bound with System.]
'Hehe... I don't care.' Carl chuckled as he said. He was preparing his mind to embrace death, it wasn't like it was his first time. He wasn't scared or anything, he knew what to expect. However, he didn't expect to be graced with another blue screen.
[Have you considered what will happen to the people around you if you refuse to bound with the System. Don't you want to protect the people you love from the calamity ahead of them? Don't you want to save this little girl's life?]
Carl was taken aback, he had not put all that into consideration. As soon as Vilewolf takes him out, he was going to gobble up this little girl, alive. That was a brutal sight that he didn't wish to experience.
'I can't just let him eat her up, then eat me. I've to do something.' Carl thought. But what else can a soon-to-be dead man possibly do? The System was giving him that opportunity.
'But what can I do? She will die anyway even if I revive' Carl asked the System.
[When you bound with the System, some abilities will be available for your use. You can unlock more abilities by carrying out System Quests.] The System responded.
Carl glanced at the screen displaying the time, he was surprised to see that a second hasn't gone by yet.
[11:22:56:05]
'I accept.' Carl thought.
[Host detected!]
[Synchronization begins...]
[1%]
Suddenly, a wave of agonizing pains invaded his entire body.
***
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