Slaughter System

The black limousine pulled up to the steep cliff that watched over the verdant horizon of trees facing northward in the distance. It was a beautiful view that was about to witness a tragic scene.

The car fully stopped on the gravel road that led up to the cliff and outstepped Laura and Royce, accompanied by the students who had bullied and thrashed Lachlan.

Royce's mobsters dragged Lachlan out of the vehicle's backseat and across the gravel-strewn ground to the precipice of the cliff, where they removed the sack that had been covering his head during the ride.

He laid unconscious on the overhang until one of the students used his ability to zap Lachlan out of his unconsciousness. The electricity jolted Lachlan awake, and he couldn't help but scream at the top of his lungs, "Aghhhh!" as the electricity flowed through his body.

Lachlan laid facing the sky upwards, with his breathing uncontrolled and his mind befuddled. He didn't know where he was, and all he could see was a tall silhouette that towered over him.

"Morning, Lachlan," said the silhouette with a silvery voice while slowly crouching down to reveal itself. When the figure finally came into view for Lachlan, his face that had been dazed was quickly replaced with the usual gloomy expression he housed when facing this person. It was Royce, and he was grinning like he had never grinned before.

Lachlan's mouth that was brimming with spittle and blood exclaimed "Royce!"

"That's right," replied Royce, grinning. "Do you know why I've brought you here, Lachlan?"

Lachlan extended his barely functioning arms to his sides to lift himself up from the ground. After he did, he leered around his surroundings to get a better understanding of where he was.

He was on the corner of a triangle-shaped, protruding rock that housed a beautiful view of trees facing outwards. Though, on the other side, were the students that had beaten him half to death, and Laura, his former school crush. The last thing he could remember was being duct-taped, sacked, and then quickly knocked out. Anything past that was a blur.

Lachlan spat out the congealed blood that had formed in his mouth and replied in between clenched teeth, "No... I don't know why you've brought me here."

"Well, I've brought you here to…." Royce said softly, like a summer breeze, before changing his inflection to a more frightening tone and adding, "to kill you."

"Wh- What!" screamed Lachlan with bulging eyes.

Royce's already evil grin distorted into an even more vicious one, and he snapped his vanilla-colored fingers, cuing for the students behind him to commence their plan. Then, two of the students, who were the ones who had initially carried Lachlan, approached from behind and walked onto the overhanging rock to grab Lachlan by his arms.

They carried solemn expressions and were two of the strength-based ability users within Royce's group. Lachlan knew he couldn't do anything as they got ahold of him, yet that didn't stop him from wailing at the top of his lungs.

"Wait!" Wailed Lachlan as he tried straggling backwards. "you can't do this!""

"And why's that" said a feminine voice from behind Royce.

It was Laura, and her face was in similar expression to Royce's. It made Lachlan nervous, and he couldn't help but think why this girl that he had loved very much, turned on him this way. Initially, when they had first met. She was a sweetheart and had stopped some of the bullies and their cruel remarks towards him. It's what sparked Lachlan's first crush and had made him yearn for time together with her.

They began talking, laughing, and even sometimes getting coffee together. It was honestly some of the best times he had ever had since his ousting from his family, which created some voids in his heart.

But with time, she became more distant. She didn't respond to texts or calls, and she avoided Lachlan like he was the plague.

And then on that day, during the rat incident, was when she had fully transformed like she had been possessed or brainwashed. She was being groped and fondled by Royce as she was hurling insults and laughs with the entire student body when Lachlan's throat was being stuffed with the rat's carcass. Lachlan's heart felt like it had dropped and shattered on the ground when that happened, and the void that he had tried so hard to cover up had opened anew, with even more space to claim its own.

In Lachlan's reverie, he latched onto the last hope he had, "Please… Laura… Don't you remember any of the time we had together! You can't do this!"

Laura's expression momentarily faltered yet regained its color and steadiness as quickly as it went. Then, she hissed with a scowl, "Do you honestly think that was real, you fucking cripple! You were nothing more than just an ant in my eyes that relieved my boredom. You stupid crippled orphan!"

The surrounding students snickered at her remarks and whispered in between themselves, "Hahaha, What a fucking dumbass."

"Did he really think that an abilityless loser like him could get a girl like that?"

"Hahaha, I know, right! He's not only abilityless but a retard!"

As their snickering came to an end, Royce, who had grabbed Laura by her waist, spoke up with his silvery tone and ordered his underlings. "Throw him off."

The two students who had a grasp of Lachlan began dragging him across the precipice till he was on the verge of falling.

Lachlan became even more terrified and began screaming at the top of his lungs for help, hoping someone or anyone would hear him. Yet ultimately stopped when he figured it was futile. He was most likely miles away from any other person than the ones here now, and his screams were probably nothing more than lively music to their ears.

As he was on the fringe of being dropped to his untimely death, rage; that wasn't an emotion he usually showed, burrowed itself out from his shell, and took its form in his words.

Lachlan, whose face had become a hue of bright red from rage, roared like a maddened lion without hesitation. "I'LL COME BACK AND MURDER ALL OF YOU — I'LL ALSO VIOLATE YOUR MOTHERS, SLAUGHTER YOUR FATHERS, AND SKULL FUCK YOUR SISTERSSS!"

In his outburst, the students looked upon him with confused expressions, which eventually darkened after they recovered from their shock.

Lachlan felt rushes of euphoria strike his brain as those words departed from his mouth, and he couldn't help but laugh as he gawked upon their grim expressions.

Lachlan didn't stop laughing and continued spitting out his poisonous words with a broad grin plastered on his face. "Hahaha! I'll let you know the true feelings of despair, I'll let you know the difference betw", yet before Lachlan could finish his declaration. He had been hit by a powerful force, quicker than lightning, that had sent him plunging towards the canopy-covered ground below.

In Lachlan's descent, he was silent, and he felt nothing but the frigid wind rush past his face as he was falling, abrading some of the dried blood that had formed on his cheeks from being beaten before.

A plethora of gloomy emotions overcame him in his fall, and all he wanted in that second was to crush those cruel people above him, to let them feel an iota of the suffering he had experienced over the past six years.

As Lachlan was inwardly cursing his fate, and the fate of those who had wronged him, A "splat!" echoed throughout the forest, bringing his unrelenting thoughts to an end.

The flock of birds in the periphery of the fall became startled and fluttered their tiny wings to escape the echo that bounced throughout the forest.

—-—

In a verdurous forest full of wildlife laid Lachlan; in a pool of his own blood.

'Whe- Where am I?', he thought.

He was icy cold, and his back laid glued onto the ground, almost as if it had become a part of the ground itself.

He hurriedly tried opening his eyes and was met with resistance at first. But, with continuous efforts, he was able to get them ajar.

As they opened, his eyes were bombarded with a lush canopy, accompanied by rays of sunlight that penetrated through its leaves, casting a golden luminescence over his body from above.

"A- A forest?" he said, yet what came out was a guttural, hoarse voice that sounded like it came from hell itself.

Lachlan was shocked by the inflection of his voice, and panic struck him from the sound it produced. He didn't know why his voice had turned guttural, and he hastily began thinking back on what had happened.

As he backtracked, his expression, which had been confused, turned dark in mere seconds as he recalled the preceding memories of being thrown off the cliff.

Lachlan felt enraged, betrayed, and forlorn at what had just happened, and his eyes became lined with tears as the seconds gradually passed.

Yet as soon as the tears dropped, they stopped. His short despondence was short-lived, and he was joyful that he was still alive. He had once had suicidal thoughts, though he was reluctant to go when actually coming face to death. Which was evident from the rage and regret he felt in his last moments as he fell from the cliff.

Although he became jubilant, he doubted how he was still alive after being thrown off. The drop was surely over 300 meters, and any person, regardless of their build, should've died from that impact.

Speculations ensued in Lachlan's mind, and he had a hard time coming to terms with his luckiness. He thought that maybe the canopy had slowed down his fall or whether somebody had timely saved him before he hit the ground. Though, both scenarios seemed very unlikely in his mind.

Before he could fall further into his pit hole of conjecture and guesswork; something sounded in his ears, something like a muffled voice that drowned out all the previous sounds of foliage and flora rustling in the wind.

The muffled voice, which sounded feminine, and monotonous became more precise in his ears. Making Lachlan visibly recoil and sway on the muddy ground strewn with flora.

He rotated his stiff neck around himself to find the source of the female voice. Yet saw no one, which scared him even more.

Panicking, he shouted, "Who's there!" in his guttural tone, causing the small rodents in the periphery to scatter.

The voice, which was no longer muffled, and was clearer than glass, spoke again.

‹Would you like to activate the Slaughter System?›

‹Yes / No›

"Ah... Wha- what?', muttered Lachlan, in between heavy breaths of panic.

The voice in its same clear, monotonous tonality, repeated again,

‹Would you like to activate the Slaughter System?›

‹Yes / No›

"What the hell is happening! And what the hell is the Slaughter system!" shouted Lachlan.

The feminine voice repeated again the same message it had already said two times, with an additional one to follow.

‹Would you like to activate the Slaughter System?›

‹Yes / No›

‹Refusal to answer will automatically activate the Slaughter System›

Lachlan, who was at a loss of what was happening, began feeling beads of sweat rolling down his forehead from the more the voice spoke. It sounded within his head, and he thought that maybe he had gone senile after the drop or perhaps even ended up dead.

He swayed himself from those negative thoughts and hurriedly answered the voice to hopefully bring it to an end, as he was at a loss of what else to do.

"Yes! Yes, I'll activate the slaughter system!"

‹The Host has activated the Slaughter System›

‹The Slaughter system will transfuse itself with the host's body now›

‹Intense pain may occur…›

"What? Intense pai— Aghhh!", before he could finish his words, his head, and his body were struck with the most intense pain that he had ever felt. It was worse than all of the physical pain he had endured over the past 6 years combined. It felt like a bullet was burrowing itself through his cranium, turning his brain into mush.

Before Lachlan could agonize over the pain any longer, he passed out, bringing the verdurous forest back to its intrinsic calm.