1 Awakening

So in the end she betrayed him. No, she had planned it from the very beginning.

Everything was a lie, an illusion, even her Class wasn't real. [Spirit Mage] my ass, she was an [Eldritch Warlock], similar powers, vastly different means of acquiring.

I guess it really doesn't matter now since they are both dead.

Now then, where am I?

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"System." Her voice cracked as the girl spoke for the first time in this body.

'No response, I vaguely remember some strange notifications popping up after I, er, we died, something about losing connection?' The girl thought to herself.

She sat up slowly, her strength felt drained as though the body had been sleeping here for a long time.

She felt she was small in stature, a quick pat-down of herself confirmed it. And whenever she shifted her weight, she felt there wasn't much there, not a lot of muscle tone, not a lot of body, not a lot of anything really.

She couldn't see her eyes per se, but anyone looking would be able to see they were grey, the left just slightly more silver. Much like the strands of hair that blended with her black mane, now that, she could see.

With a glance down to her feet, she noticed, the chill on her legs was due to a grey dress with a tattered hem. It looked dirty and old, like a rag.

It was very displeasing to the eye, and what was up with such a flat front? Was she a girl then? Or was she a boy that somehow ended up in a dress.

"Well, I sound like a girl?" Although surprised, she supposed it didn't matter, she seemed to have retained memories and thoughts from both Him and Her.

So she was... Both?

'I seem to have the body of a young girl, mid to late teens, and... no chest' The feminine side of her was screaming internally whilst the masculine side was grateful for having a more androgynous form.

'Well, no use crying over no milk.' Her lip twitched in annoyance.

Gritting her teeth, she looked up and observed her surroundings and noticed she was still in the Prestige Hall, but it was vastly different.

The usual pristine white perfect halls were dilapidated, the pillars were broken down, their rubble littering the ground. The walls were equally as broken with moss and other flora sprouting out from the cracks. The once perfect ceiling was no longer even there, just a massive opening with the sun shining down brightly into the once perfect hall. The altar was broken down as well with a small glowing green orb, past the altar, the once rune-covered wall was now a massive opening leading to a vibrant green forest.

She flinched as she looked towards the sun, the light burned her eyes.

'Damnit, I feel like I got a hangover. But how long has it been? The keepers are supposed to maintain this place forever.'

Wait, Her memories started to come back.

He had died, and just before She died, a burst of energy shot skyward, destroying the ceiling.

Memories started to flood back to her, memories of both Him and Her.

His life as a Paladin, he had decided a long time ago to become more powerful and stop the Cycle from repeating. He spent years gaining enough levels to Prestige and gain a second Class. With the help of the woman he called his wife, they succeeded, but then she betrayed him at the last second.

But what was the purpose of betraying him? It ended up like this, memories of both in a single body. The girl was different from both, not righteous like Him, but not malevolent like Her either. The girl was her own individual person.

Thinking back on Her memories, the girl was surprised to see that most of the memories had been locked away intentionally. She could feel Her last thoughts, she had a similar mindset to Him. She had figured that by killing Him and taking His power, she could become powerful enough to stop the Cycle by herself.

Of course, it wouldn't work like that in the end. No telling how much time has passed, but if the girl had to guess, the Cycle had already happened and the world was reset.

So Her greed was pointless, whatever she had hoped to accomplish in those locked memories had failed.

'Well, first things first, I should get out of here and hopefully find a town. I can tell that I am too weak to take anything on right now, I don't even have a weapon to defend myself with.' She thought as she leaned back, her hand brushed against something on the ground.

She looked back and saw a sword laying on the ground. "Ask and ye shall receive." She giggled.

The sword looked quite strange, it was the length of a longsword, the blade itself seemed to be separated into smaller V-shaped blades held so closely together that it would still cut like a singular long blade. The guard, handle and pommel had a rather demonic look, the guard looked like bat-like demon wings that spread out far enough to be a functional guard. The grip seemed to be made of something similar to Hellhound Hide, rough, but easy to hold on to, and the pommel was just a demonic skull.

'An evil, flimsy-looking weapon, it looks like it could break apart if I hit something too hard. Well, I suppose its better than nothing.' The girl shrugged.

Using the sword for leverage, the girl picked herself up off the ground and stood up. Even leaning on the sword, her legs trembled as she gazed at the small orb laying on the crumbling altar.

She limped toward the altar using the sword as a crutch and reached her hand out, the moment she touched the orb, it shattered into mana and flowed into her.

Feeling as though she had just acquired a powerful skill, she instinctively tried to call up her system but again it failed.

"Tch... am I supposed to just guess what I can do?" An idea popped into her head.

"Maybe I can cast a low level [Acolyte] spell, assuming I have the level 1 Class. Let's see here..." She muttered to herself, holding a hand to her chest, she chanted, "[Lesser Restoration]" A soft radiant glow enveloped her body as her strength seemed to increase slightly.

"It worked!" She exclaimed excitedly but was immediately struck with a piercing headache as her vision began to dim. "Fuck, mana fatigue, son of a b-" She collapsed on the ground and slowly lost consciousness as the doors into the temple proper slowly opened.

A woman gasped seeing the girl unconscious on the ground.

"Sebastian! Come quick! There is an unconscious child here!"