Santiaga opened his eyes to find himself inside a right box. It seemed like a coffin, judging from the shape.
'Shit.' out of panic, he pushed the coffin open, bursting through the lid and emerging.
He crawled out of a deep hole, coming face to face with an elderly man who had his clothes dirty and was looking at Santiaga with fear written on his face.
"Where am I?" He asked, staring at the old man with a frown on his face.
"D–D–Demon!" The man exclaimed, standing up and sprinting away.
"Oh no you don't." Santiaga sprinted towards the man, grabbing him by the neck and dragging him back to the grave.
"You stay there." He threatened, making the man shiver before he nodded obediently.
"Hello."
Santiaga stood up, hearing a thick voice coming from around him. He glanced around the cemetery, still not hearing a single sound other than his own panicked breathing.
"Look at the back of your hand." The voice came again, this time, Santiaga looked at the back of his palm to see a single eye staring at him.
The skin on his left hand was pitch black, with a single red eye staring at him from the back of his hand.
"You, you're the one who spoke to me. In that last moment?" He asked with a raised brow.
"Indeed. I've tried communicating with you throughout your life, but you never seemed to hear me." The... Parasite spoke.
"What exactly are you?" Santiaga asked, looking at his entire left arm wondering about his strange situation.
"I am Ruin. And you're my host. The host of ruin." The eye spoke to him.
"You said you were going to help me. How exactly are you going to achieve that?"
This time, instead of answering with words, a bright red screen with words appeared in front of him.
[Synchronization initiated...]
'A screen?' He was surprised.
Only the heroes talk about seeing a screen that can help and guide them to getting stronger.
Was this done by Ruin?
Did he awaken?
[Awakening brand...]
[Calculating current attributes...]
When awakening, the most important thing was your 'Brand'. It's basically a domain in which a hero growstheir strength.
Getting a 'Light' brand for example, a hero would unlock skills relating to healing and would have purifying and combat focused abilities.
So you could say he was excited. But very curious also.
"Ruin, are you doing this?" He asked, but no reply came.
The whimpers of the man beside him reached his ears and he looked back, and gestured for him to keep quiet.
Soon, Santiaga was looking at a full screen, showing all his information.
_____________________________
[Name: Santiaga Denero]
[Brand: Null]
[Race: Human (?) — Parasite Host]
[Rank: F rank]
[Level: 1 (0/500 exp)]
[Class: None]
[Mana: 500/500]
<<
[Strength – 24]
[Agility – 37]
[Endurance – 52]
[Intelligence – 63]
[Willpower – 81]
[Skills] [Items] [Quests]
______________________________
Santiaga had a smile on his face as he saw his screen which displayed his information.
A frown reached his face as he observed his brand.
[You confused about the brand?]
Seeing the sentence hovering in line of his eyes he frowned even more.
"Explain."
[The null brand basically gives you powers of emptiness. Otherwise known as void, it's a unique brand given to the my host.]
Santiaga nodded, he located the abilities tab under his screen and what showed up made him smile widely.
_____________________________
<<
1. Devour (Active)
>??? Ranked
Consume the bodies of defeated enemies to absorb memories, skills, and attributes.
2. Null Gate (Active)
>S Ranked
Opens a black tear in space to teleport short distances.
Current cap - 5 metres
3. Void Touch (Active)
>A ranked
Anything touched with this ability slowly erodes, stronger with emotion or intent.
4. Black Halo (Passive)
5. Null Collapse (Ultimate)
______________________________
"HAHAHAHAHA...!!!" A loud, chilling laughter echoed all around the cemetery, making the man who sat behind him try to run again.
Santiaga glanced back, instantly disappearing in what looked like a black light.
He appeared in front of the old man, blocking his path.
He grabbed the man by the face, smiling as he raised his hand up.
The man's legs were swinging mid air as he struggled to be free.
"Please, I have a daughter waiting for me at home!" The man shouted, making Santiaga tikt his head in confusion.
"And what does that have to do with me?" He smiled, activating one of his skills.
His left hand suddenly shook, turning black. His fingernails extended, clutching the man's head tighter.
Santiaga closed his eyes as he revelled in the sweet feeling of devouring the man's memories.
"Ah, so that's what happened." Santiaga nodded.
The man was knocked unconscious by having part of his memories devoured.
Santiaga let out a horse breath, turns out that the hero Jefferson announced that a dark organization called Vale tried to kill him and he dealt with them.
Seeing the bastard through the man's memories, claiming he saved the entire city from doom made him clench his fists in anger.
__________
[Main Quest Issued]
Objective:
Track and confront Jefferson Pierce, Head of Discipline in the hero academy and ex-war general, known as The Iron Hand.
Sub-Objectives(optional but rewarding):
- Uncover Pierce's past crimes (0/3 discovered)
-Figure out his weakness (0/1)
- Exploit his weaknesses during combat (0/2 used)
- Leave a public mark (witness count: 0)
- Make him bleed
Rewards:
- +100 Random Attribute Points
- Parasite Growth +30%
- Reputation Shift: [Feared] in Noble Circles
- Unlock [Memory Fragment – The Burning Door]
- Random SSS Ranked skill
Failure Consequences:
Authority crackdown
Disciplinary Trials]
_________
"He... Hehehe... Huhuhuhuhuhu." Santiaga chuckled as he looked at the main quest issued to him just now.
The system didn't even need to give him a question, this was his goal all along.
Santiaga wasn't going to ask many questions as he saw that it has been over a week since he died.
So in that one week this fucker was able to enter the head of discipline in the hero academy.
"Nice one, Jefferson. I'm coming for you. All of you." He mumbled, pulling the unconscious man and dropping him into the coffin meant for him.
He was not in a hurry to get his revenge now, if anything, he might actually be lost at what to do right now.
First of all he couldn't allow anyone to uncover his traces, so he buried the man and quietly left the cemetery.
[Side Quest issued]
[Become a hero.]
[Objective: Join the hero ranks and enter the hero academy.]