Sweat pours down like a waterfall, my breath is ragged, and my heart pounds as if trying to escape my chest. I keep running, as if a ghost is chasing me, its cold breath felt on the back of my neck. Each step echoes in my chest like the toll of a bell, while the world around me blurs into a smeared canvas of neon lights and shadowy corners that seem alive, ready to swallow me whole.
After running several blocks, I finally manage to calm down. My lungs fill with fresh air, and as I slowly switch to a walk, I feel my heart begin to beat in a familiar rhythm. The corners of my lips involuntarily lift into a smile. Leaning against the nearest wall, the cold brick pleasantly presses against my back, I call up the interface.
[Mission Progress +1: 4/5]
[Mission Progress +1: 5/5]
[Mission Complete: Claim Reward? YES/NO]
Suppressing the last tremors in my hands and gathering my thoughts, I choose the reward without further hesitation, not wanting to put it off. Inside, excitement swells, as if I stand on the edge of an abyss.
[Error...]
"Huh?" — I look at the screen in confusion as it suddenly disappears. Time around me seems to freeze, as if everything has stopped while I try to comprehend what is happening. But before my joyful mood can shift to despair, the system reappears, and I feel a chill run down my spine.
[Unable to obtain starting choice:
Abnormally O-01-73 refuses to grant its sword to The Jester of Nihil.
Abnormally O-01-04 considers The Jester of Nihil a villain and does not wish to fight on his side.
Abnormally O-01-64 is too greedy to give anything to The Jester of Nihil.
Abnormally The Servant of Wrath cannot forgive The Jester of Nihil.]
"The Jester of Nihil?" — I involuntarily recall the black-and-white jester who visited me in my dreams. His sinister smile and dark eyes haunt my nightmares.
[Starting choice changed, consciousness transfer initiated.]
"What transfer..." — I don't get to finish my thought before my eyes dull, and my consciousness blurs. As I open my eyes, I realize I am no longer in the French alley. I stand on a black platform that seems infinitely deep. When I kick it with my foot, I realize it is made of a rather hard material, which responds with a dull echo.
The clanking of chains
Hearing this strange sound, I lift my head and see three black boxes suspended on chains before me, like sacrifices on an altar. Each box bears a mysterious code that flickers in the dim light.
[Master, choose an abnormally:]
T-01-68
F-01-69
T-09-78
My mood lifts once more, as if I stand on the brink of a great discovery. Since I know nothing about the anomalies, I randomly decide to touch the third capsule and close my eyes in anticipation. After waiting a second, then another, and ultimately standing for about a minute without feeling anything but the cold metal, I finally open my eyes, trying to understand what is happening.
"The final chapter ends with the phrase: 'Born again.'"
[Do you wish to choose this abnormally?: YES/NO]
A message appears under the anomaly, shimmering like a star in the dark sky. Removing my hand from the third number, I sequentially touch the second and first.
"This magical bullet can truly hit anyone, just like you say."
"Where does one go when they die?"
Thinking carefully about the situation and realizing that the more mysterious, the better for the abnormally, I finally choose the first one and confirm my choice.
[Congratulations, Master, on obtaining your first abnormally [T-01-68]. As compensation for its class being lower than expected, you receive: a +100% bonus to learning speed, a +50% bonus to attribute points for this abnormally.]
[Since this is your first abnormally, you will inherit its physique. Prepare yourself; it will hurt.]
[3...]
[2...]
[1...]
[Initiating fusion]
"Strangely enough, I don't feel any pain." Around me, black-and-white butterflies flutter slowly, their patterns mesmerizing, like a painting come to life under the moonlight. I reach out to touch one, but as soon as I make contact, it vanishes, and a powerful headache pierces through me like lightning. I try to pull away from the butterflies, but a swarm of at least two hundred encircles me, their wings whispering like the murmurs of ghosts.
And then my personal hell begins. Each butterfly passes through my body, and with each one, the pain intensifies, as if I am being torn apart. By the fifth butterfly, I cannot bear it any longer and scream in agony, my voice lost in the void. By the fortieth, I begin to pray to all the gods I know, hoping they will hear me. After the hundredth, blood begins to seep from every orifice on my head, like red rain washing over the ground. After the one hundred seventieth, I lose the will to live, as if all bright thoughts have abandoned me.
The last, two-hundredth butterfly passes through my body, and I stumble, falling into a black coffin adorned with a painted butterfly. It feels cold and grim, like death itself. After an unknown amount of time passes, I slowly rise from the coffin. The pain is gone, and my mind is clearer than ever. I feel as if all the shadows that haunted me have finally dissipated.
[Open interface]
[Congratulations, Master, on obtaining the physique of the anomaly: T-01-68!]
Fortitude +3, Prudence +11, Temperance +7, Justice +7.
[Master's Name: Morpho Umbra
Age: 11
Attributes:
Fortitude - 15 I -> 18 I
Prudence - 15 I (Muggle) -> 26 I (Squib)
Temperance - 15 I -> 22 I
Justice - 15 I -> 22 I
Enkephalin: 5
Inventory: 52 French francs , 1 Galleon
Skills: None
Magic: None
Anomalies: Funerals of Dead Butterflies (T-01-68): 0% understanding]
/////////
Is it really that bad that I deserve a one in my review?