[Welcome to the Sin System.]
Salvation Awaits.
Do you accept it?
[Yes] [No]
Aric stared at the glowing screen, then instinctively reached forward, pressing the [YES] prompt that pulsed just beneath the message.
The screen blinked and ruptured into light, panels blooming outward in radiant arcs. Attributes. Skills. Inventory. Status. Notifications. The sheer brunt of information flickering in front of him was unlike anything he'd ever known. It was bizarre, arcane, and... oddly mechanical.
"What... in all the Thirteen Pits is this?" he wondered aloud.
A voice curled into his mind.
Warm. Feminine. Playful.
"Only what you chose, little flame."
He flinched. Her voice was in his head. Not beside it. Not around it. Inside it.
"Wha-" He stumbled. "Get out of my head," he growled.
"I can't." she replied, amused. "The covenant has bound us... Though don't worry. I can't control you. I'm merely… present."
He scowled. "Great. Another divine parasite."
"Don't pout." she cooed. "You're still in charge. Without you, I'm little more than a forgotten whisper."
A shiver crept down his spine as, for the briefest moment, he felt her arms slip over his shoulders from behind, cool and spectral, drawing him into a phantom embrace. Her voice whispered through his thoughts like the a chill breeze across an ancient tomb.
He blinked, then glanced back at the screens. "Tell me then." He said refocusing. "What is... all this. This 'system."
"A gift," she said. "A reflection of your will. Your rage. Your need for control in a world that's taken everything from you. You see numbers because your mind needed order. You see letters because your soul sought answers"
"So you're saying... I made this?" Aric watched the screens in disbelief. "Why?"
"I can't answer that, little flame." She replied patiently. "But this is how your soul itself chose to manifest the power of our covenant. So, don't think, just act. Trust that it will make sense soon enough."
"Very well." Aric sighed. He closed his eyes, choosing to focus on whichever panel he saw first upon opening them.
[ATTRIBUTES:]
Verve (VRV): 134
Strength (STR): 37
Mind (MND): 25
Dexterity (DEX): 45
Occult (OCLT): 1
Conviction (CONV): 0
"These numbers..." Aric muttered, eyes narrowing as he read each line. "They're..."
"They're you," his benefactor said smoothly. "As you are now, a mortal man, stripped of all your borrowed divinity."
Aric's jaw tightened. "I thought you said you were giving me power."
"Oh, sweet Aric... Not power, I said salvation." A giggle echoed through his skull. "Do try to pay attention."
"Of course," he muttered, scowling and waving the screen away with a flick of his hand. To his surprise, it vanished.
"And... where is this salvation?" he asked, but this time, no voice responded.
"Hello?"
Silence.
"Great." he grunted. "You know I-" He cut off mid-sentence as a glowing panel lit up in the corner of his vision.
It pulsed steadily, labeled simply: [SKILLS].
Inside, a single entry awaited him.
[SKILLS:]
[Summon Weapon: Paradise Lost (LOCKED)]
Skill Class: SSS+
Type: Divine Manifestation
Cost: N/A
Effect: Manifests your covenant with the unspeakable.
- Requirement: Bound Blade
- Required Attributes: MND 300, OCLT 666, CONV 777
[ACTIVATE]
Both the requirements and the "Activate" prompt glowed a harsh, hostile red, the first time he'd seen such a warning.
"Bound Blade?" he muttered.
The screen responded instantly, its layout shifting with a soft shimmer as a new screen opened.
[SPELLS]
[Bind Blade:]
Spell Class: D
Type: Enchanting
Cost: 5MP
Requirement: A Bladed Weapon
Required Attributes: Occult: 1, Mind: 10
Effect: Enchant a bladed weapon, binding it to your soul and allowing you to conjure and dismiss it freely.
[ACTIVATE]
"5 MP?" Aric muttered, brow furrowed. His eyes swept across the serpent's innards. There were many bodies strewn about, some warriors, however most bore only the crude weapons of peasants or the ornamental maces and blunt hammers of the so-called heretics he'd recently slain. Then he saw it: the only object that might narrowly qualify as a blade, the broken sword he must've dropped after his benefactors forced vision. Half-submerged in a pool of steaming acid, the weapon was barely more than a hilt. It's once-proud blade now a short jagged shard of sterling silver. Aric squinted at it.
"That counts as a blade..." He reasoned, "Right?"
Picking his way across slick flesh and scattered bone, he made his way toward it to try and confirm his theory.
As his fingers grasped the hilt, another prompt shimmered into view:
[Item Acquired: Blade of the Sigilic Order - BROKEN]
Item Class:AType:Relic SwordWeight:3.2kgDurability:0/100Attack:25Traits: Repair weapon to see traits, true stats, and requirements.
"Hmm" He hummed. "Interesting..." Admiring the information presented so neatly before him, he was beginning to see the merits of this so-called system. However his train of thought was interrupted by another prompt, simmering into place beside the item description.
[Would you like to BIND this blade?]
[Yes] [No]
Aric reached out to press the button, but paused.
"Let's see how intuitive you really are." He said, lowering his hand.
"Yes," he announced clearly.
The panel blinked, responding to his voice. A slim blue bar appeared in front of him, depleting with a soft, multi-toned chime.
[MANA: 20/25]
The hilt pulsed suddenly, and a glossy red light coated the weapon for a brief moment. The pulse was accompanied by a low, resonant, but strangely satisfying woom.
DING!
[Congratulations!]
Binding complete.
The [Blade of the Sigilic Order - BROKEN] is now a BOUND weapon.
"Not bad..." Aric said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Now, let's see..." He continued. As he thought of the skill page, the panel opened seamlessly, It obeyed like a phantom limb, unseen, but entirely his own.
[SKILLS:]
[Summon Weapon: Paradise Lost (LOCKED)]
Skill Class: SSS+
Type: Divine Manifestation
Cost: N/A
Effect: Manifests your covenant with the unspeakable.
- Requirement: Bound Blade
- Required Attributes: MND 300, OCLT 666, CONV 777
[ACTIVATE]
Pleased to confirm his theory, the "Bound Blade" requirement now glowed an inviting shade of green. The Required Attributes, however, remained defiantly crimson. Despite this, curiously, the [ACTIVATE] queue now glowed an odd yellow hue.
"That's new." he said, rubbing his chin.
Without hesitating, he tapped [ACTIVATE] with his free hand.
[WARNING:]
You do not meet the minimum requirements to activate this skill safely.
Proceed anyway?
[YES] [NO]
"Safely?" Aric scoffed, glancing upward. "What the hell does that mean?"
Silence.
He exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know," he said to his absentee benefactor, "If I die, you die with me. We're bound now, right, Ms. Benefactor?"
No answer.
"Figures," he rolled his eyes. "To the pits with it."
With grim resolve, he tapped the prompt. No turning back now.
[YES]
An eldritch shriek tore through the air and reality buckled as the sigil on his hand exploded in a violent torrent of black ash and golden sand. In an instant, the blade was no longer broken as the whirling vortex channeled into it. The bound blade bloomed, expanded, reshaped. Infernal glyphs and divine script etched themselves in tandem, coiling in perfect opposition across the growing weapon's surface. Hell-born steel fused with gold-forged celestial bone, forging not a weapon, but a contradiction.
A blade that should not exist.
And then came the flood.
Power surged through him. Became him, and then all at once, overwhelmed him.
His mind fractured. Soul howling in manic laughter.
Infinity blinked before his eyes: the birth of stars, the silence of the void, the endless scream of creation. It was too much. Too vast. Too incredible. Too terrible. Like trying to drink the sea in a single gulp.
And at the edge of this revelation...
Dread.
True, primal, soul-sundering dread.
This was not a weapon forged for man.
It was judgement, declared by God.