There was nothing. A perfect void filled my vision. Was this death? Or was it something more? I could feel my body, yet as I reached out my hand, I failed to touch anything, let alone see my hand. The pain I once felt had dissipated, leaving my body cold and weightless.
"Ahem! I thought I had asked you a question." A voice had called out angrily.
Is this the voice of God? Had a being I thought never existed truly graced itself to me?
"God!? Pff, please don't make me laugh. Seriously, if I lose focus while trying to maintain this shield, you'll die. Though a monster like you deserves more than just the sweet relief of death."
Great…even while dead, I am being mocked. What a horrid existence. But I suppose it's better than just hearing my thoughts in this empty void.
"Well, mocking an idiot like you is amusing. But allow me to correct you on something: you are not dead…yet. I managed to just barely find you before that accursed thing exploded and squeezed your pitiful brain into a small shield that complements the size. I expect your sincerest and most grateful thanks." Her unseen voice rang out, sharp and elegant like a blade dipped in honey.
Maybe I was wrong. This voice is nothing more than my desires eating at me. Sweet yet venomous, something that I would love to see in a woman. I guess I have gone crazy.
"Could you kindly not fetishize my noble voice? Hearing such a thing from a monster like you makes me want to curl up into a ball and shut out the world. And for the record, I am not a figment of your imagination. I, too, have a fleshly body that exists elsewhere in the world, and you best remember that."
So how'd you even find me, anyway?
"I heard your pathetic cries for a deadbeat entity that rules over the lower deities. So I traced the call to find you—a near-dead creature of an unknown origin lying in a pool of its own blood seconds away from being vaporized on a planet that never belonged to your kind." Her words rang a bell in my mind. The mystery I had been chasing. The lies I tried to expose to the others before they killed me off like some kind of insane monster.
Do you know what we are? Like where we come from and how we got here?
"Hmm…not sure what you really mean by that question. Your people came roughly 200 years ago on a vessel so massive that it rivaled the Kingdom of Hell itself. The first set of savages that came out of the vessel ravaged and plundered the surrounding area as if it were their own. We, the people of this world, were doing well in fending them off…up until recently, that is. That was when the introduction of you and your squad came into play. Wielding the powers that our deities gave us. But enough of that, time is limited. Let's make a deal."
A deal?
"Yes. I can restore your body and armor to the state it was in an hour ago. But in exchange, I request two things from you. The first being a simple task that even a bloodthirsty monster such as yourself can manage with ease."
Enough with beating around the bush. While I do find your voice somewhat cute, you nagging on and on and on is getting old.
"You insolent—" she shouted immediately before stopping herself. "Ahem. The first thing I ask of you, a cretin, is to become my source of entertainment." She could not resist the urge to insult me, could she? "You will have the chance to carve yourself a fresh path, and I shall not interfere, only aid. Should you seek the blood of the monsters who damned you for seeking an end to this meaningless war? Or will you wash your hands of the guilt you caked up and become the hero you truly wished to become? Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will serve to be great material—erm—entertainment."
Material? What am I, some kind of research project you are planning on writing a report on?
"…" Her silence spoke louder than her usual tone.
I was right…Wasn't I?
"Anyway, the second condition is kinda the deal breaker for most. That being that I will have ownership of your soul. Think of it as a pact in a way. Though it is really more or less in exchange for your life essence, I can transfer my mana into your body."
My soul? Does such a thing really, truly exist?
"It would serve you well to not take up a sarcastic tone with me, peasant." She retorted coldly. "But yes, such a thing exists. Every living creature possesses one. Without a soul, you will end up as a lifeless husk that violates the will of the deities. Animals, Elves, Dwarfs, Angels, Demons, Beastmen, and even you bastard creatures have one. Now offer me your soul, then I shall restore your body."
You could have done without that lengthy explanation. You can have my soul. I could not care less about the consequences as long as I can go back in time to fix things.
"Hmmm…" she spoke with a long pause that followed. I could tell that a smirk was lining the lips of this bodyless voice. "Seems like you have a very amusing misunderstanding about this situation. When I said I would revert your body and armor back an hour, I never once said that you would go back in time. Time travel is not possible. You will have to live with the guilt of killing so many lives for the sake of your selfish desires to become a part of this planet. The burden of killing the noble Beastmen, that will be yours to carry till the day I claim your soul, and I will make sure you remember that."
If that's gonna be how it is, then kill me. Let me die along with that guilt. There is no point in this if I cannot change the past.
"If we could change the past, we would not fear the future. If we never feared the future, we would never advance. And besides~ you already gave me express permission to claim your soul. I, Velantra, am a noble of the Demonic blood. A priestess of Dazkareth, and now keeper of your soul. I shall grant this contract per your statement, 'You can have my soul.'"
Wait— "AHHHH!!!!!!" I let out a screeching scream as every part of my body felt as if being pierced, stretched, torn, and set ablaze all at the same time.
[WARNING USER PAIN OVERLOAD]
[WARNING UNABLE TO SUPPLY NECESSARY ANALGESIC DOSAGE]
[WARNING INTERNAL SYSTEM AI UNDERATTACK]
[WARN—]
As I writhed on the ground in the never-ending pain coursing through my body, my armor's AI spouted off several warnings before being abruptly cut off.
[Hello…Hello? Testing one, two, three. Is this thing working?]
A voice that possessed emotion had replaced the AI voice I had grown accustomed to over the years. It was a voice so sweet that I almost forgot that it belonged to a woman whose words are laced with poison. Her voice pierced through the pain that filled my mind, allowing me to be at ease.
[Ah, so you can hear me~ Your heart rate stabilized after hearing my voice. While adorable, it is still repulsive coming from you.] She spoke in a mocking tone laced with arrogance. ['Tis a shame. I am quite the beauty that you would never get to have.]
"I am gonna find you and kill you."
[Oooh, how scary coming from the race that's been losing a war for 200 years.]
There was nothing I could say to refute that. After the pain had fully subsided, I stood up and took a look at my surroundings. Above me was an enormous mushroom cloud that blocked out the sun. Ash rained from above, dancing towards the scattered flames that consumed anything that endured the nuclear blast.
Moving felt a bit off to me. After seeing my legs torn off and lying far from me, the sensation of moving felt wrong. I would have to thank Velantra for keeping her end of the deal, but thanking her would feel more like a punishment rather than a show of gratitude.
[Hmm…]
Velantra let out a noise as if lost in thought. My interface began to fill with several windows that blocked out my view of the outside world. I wanted to take my helmet off, but with this much radiation outside, I would die within mere moments. I sat patiently for her to stop fiddling with my armor's system. After what felt like eternity, she closed all but one.
POWER: 58% *EXTERAL SHEILD ENABLED*
TIME: 16:57
TIME LEFT: 26,276:23
Was that supposed to be how time I had left? If so, then that should be around 3 years. It was not much time to really pull off a fancy revenge plot or something similar, but it was enough for something.
[Ahem, mister monster. I have some information to give you.] Velantra called out, pulling me from my thoughts.
"What is it?"
[Before that, as the lovely maiden that I am, I am willing to forgive such ignorance from a half-wit such as yourself, once. I do believe that I have introduced myself, graced myself, really. So how about you do the same?]
"Can't you just look it up since you're so much better than a half-wit, cretin, monster, or whatever new term you wanna call me? Besides, you managed to hijack an advanced piece of technology with very little knowledge of how it works. So surely you can manage that."
Either she was extremely lucky, or she was a genius. Even our brightest squamate had trouble developing the code to efficiently create the AI that powered our armors. Nobody had ever been able to hack into it, up until now. The natives of the world were not primitive by any means. They had technology, vehicles, and weapons, but ours had been more advanced. So, how did she manage to break through the firewall with such ease?
[Aww, am I getting under your skin?] I felt an uncontrollable desire to punch something as she continued to belittle me. I was wrong. Dealing with my thoughts alone in the empty void would be a better alternative than listening to this brat for a moment longer. [But I wish I could, but I had to disconnect anything that relayed information towards your species. If I didn't, they would find out that you are alive and well, and we cannot have that now, can we?]
She had a point. There was no guarantee that they would not come back immediately after realizing that I survived ground zero. My suit had a vital tracker and a GPS built inside. To them, I had burned up in that blast, and I plan to keep it that way till the right time to strike at Al.
"Judas. That is my name."
[Liar.]
"So you did read what my name was."
[Urk!]
Judas was a fake name I made up on the spot. It was not meant to test her, but it seems I did just that. I chose it because it referred to a person who is associated with betrayal, fitting for me.
While Velantra's degrading attitude towards me was less than desirable, I could tell that getting hostile would only be a hindrance to my goal. But I prefer this to the fake personalities of those I once trusted. Velantra was honest, not just a brown nose subordinate whose sweet talk only served to further the rift between people.
Where do I go from here? I looked around, hoping to find some kind of landmark, but everything around me was the same. Stone ruins, scattered flames, cracked flagstone. Nothing was how it was before the nuke was detonated. The sun hid behind dark clouds that were slowly rolling in, overtaking the mushroom cloud that once stood tall. As thunder roared from the sky, I chose a random direction and began to move.
[Not that way.] Velantra's voice stopped me in my tracks. [To the left of you should be a village. It's about half a day's walk, but it should be out of the radiation zone.]
"Rodger, that Vel."
[…] A long, uncomfortable silence followed my attempt to lighten the mood. [A monster such as yourself has no right to get chummy with me.]
Getting along with her would only be a pain. I resisted the urge to say something back and took my wounded pride in the direction she pointed out. Along the way, I spotted a familiar item lodged in the ruins of a statue. It was a long double-bladed saber, stained with blood and covered with ash and debris. I pulled it out from the ruins. As I did, a faint yellow glow traveled from blade to blade as if recognizing its owner. The two blades were dull and severely damaged. It'll need some repairs if I wish to use it in a fight. I placed it on a magnetic weapon lock that's attached to my back and kept moving as the first drops of rain fell.