[The next round shall commence in:]
[29:58:59]
With only more than a day left before the second round, I was in search of another dungeon so I may bestow myself a weapon.
But, before that...
[You have received an anomaly through your mail]
I was now outside of the dungeon the Lucifer-180 members explored. Surrounding me were crushed debris and leftover buildings with algae from the rain and other plants such as vines were forming.
—You will kill everyone.
The voice was different this time. I didn’t recognize it as the Narrator’s voice, so I looked around me to see where the voice had come from.
The voice was something I knew more than anything. But whose voice was it?
In the end, I decided to brush it off.
Pressing my heart with my palm, the statistics window appeared.
Then I pressed the envelope icon to check my mail.
[Would you like to be bestowed upon the anomaly, Regenerator?]
[➤ Accept]
[Refuse]
"Regenerator..."
It sounded like a useful and convenient skill to have, but I knew all too well of the disadvantages.
This specific anomaly, among others, was incredibly overpowered.
But, in exchange, you will receive a hit on your mental health.
I tried pressing on the text where it said Regenerator in hopes that it might give me a description of the skill, but it didn’t work. The description was nonexistent and did not toggle.
Now that I thought of it, I don’t remember how Ben got his anomaly.
Perhaps my age is simply getting to me.
I’m almost thirty and still single. I sighed.
Imperfections of a Knight’s first Chapter began in Earth-73 during the first round that was never clarified what happened, hence why I wasn’t aware of what to do.
Then, by the second Chapter, Ben would have found himself in The Federation’s ground and come back to his comrades.
By then, Junhan would have likely already gotten Bachulus’ manuscript.
But, according to Bachulus, my antics changed the storyline.
He told me to try my best to not alter it.
I understood.
My mind recalled the way Harriet’s body dispersed in the wind, her face somber but I could tell she wanted to live on, to go beyond her Chapter.
Because of that, I told myself to not interact with fictional characters of Imperfect Knight.
If ever I cannot avoid it, I will keep myself on guard and keep our interactions minimal.
For an hour, I walked mindlessly along the remains of Eisenblad, contemplating what I will do from here on.
"Hmm..."
Should I kill myself?
An anomaly would help me from now on if I plan to continue the rounds.
Would there be solace in death?
Would there be more salvation in it than continuing the rounds?
There was not a soul in the leftovers of the apocalypse in Eisenblad.
Twenty-five percent.
The voice of Lucas came back to me, and for a moment, I considered visiting his remains and burying him.
I had a feeling I knew where the actual Justin’s tomb resided.
As I walked to the cemetery, gazing at the ruined city,
After a few minutes, I passed by Eisenblad State Hospital, a few blocks away from the Fleming’s lot.
I took a good look at it.
For the past decade, I worked in this very hospital, starting as an intern.
It was supposed to be renovated until the rounds came and destroyed the entirety of the world
As a decrepit religion that is no longer practiced had said: Every soul shall taste death.
It was as if I was in a horror film, the way the lights were falling by a string of wire and the way there were blood splatters everywhere.
Though, the bodies that I saw the last time I was here were nowhere to be found.
Was this the work of The Federation or the uniformed personnel?
I made my way to the operating room where, by the words of Bachulus, it was the genesis of everything. Or, rather, the genesis of my story.
The eerie silence was interrupted by the tapping of my combat boots that I usually wore along my scrub.
I had passed by my locker and took some of the extra clothes I had kept with me: a black jacket, a thin grey shirt, and cargo pants that were a different shade of black and tucked in my combat boots.
These were the clothes I wore on my way to my duty that day, and kept them in the locker so I could change when I was done.
Of course, that excitement for the dismissal was never fulfilled, for reasons that still plague me a few days after.
Sitting on the operating table, I noticed that the woman’s body who was in labor that day, like the other people who died in the 0th round, was nowhere to be seen.
I had assumed it was the work of authorized personnel.
In the operating room, the blood that came from the lady in labor had dried.
And before the operating table was a piece of flesh, like the breast of a chicken.
A placenta.
I don’t know what came to me, but I had a feeling I could make use of this placenta.
Maybe sell it in the black market that will come to be during the later Chapters of Imperfect Knight.
Instead, I ignored it and pressed my heart.
[Would you like to be bestowed upon the anomaly, Regenerator?]
[➤ Accept]
[Refuse]
I accepted.
From the corner of my eye, there was a faint white glow that I almost did not notice.
[You have synthesized the anomaly, Regenerator!]
-
Atop a wreckage of a building, a man held a bow firmly in his left hand, as he held it out in front of his torso. Reaching down by his right side, the thumb, index and middle fingertips lightly grasped the feathered end of the wooden arrow that was sticking upright in a small sack. With an ever so gentle pluck, the arrow freed itself from the bow, shattering the window of the operating room, and landing on the right cheek of Reverie, the arrow plunging deeply through the skin and out of it, tearing the tissue.
Reverie’s body stopped functioning, and for a moment, he had died.