Prologue Chapter: Prestige Ritual
Rare items were placed on a white marble altar. A man stepped away from the altar with a warm smile. He wore a brilliant golden plate-mail with silver accents and a holy symbol adorned on his chest, his medium-length wavy blonde hair and emerald-green eyes were a picture-perfect image of his Class of Paladin.
A woman had just finished placing high-ranked mana crystals around the room in a formation akin to a magic circle. She had raven-black hair and crimson eyes, her multi-layered robe was a deep ocean-blue color with various trinkets and charms hanging out of the different sections of the robes. She was a Spirit Mage and the Paladins wife.
"Well, my love, I believe it is time to start the ritual." The woman said as she leaned against a marble pillar. This place was known as the Prestige Hall, adventurers could come here after reaching a sufficiently high level to perform an ancient yet simple ritual to reset their level back to 1 and be able to level up again with a passive increase from their old class, achieving this was incredibly difficult in its own right as the level of experience required to undergo the ritual was astronomical, with a minimal level of 100 and a recommended level of 101 to avoid the devastating Prestige Debuff. To achieve Level 100 alone required both years of excessively hard work and extremely good luck. This in turn is perhaps the sole reason that this altar only sees use once every few centuries.
The hall itself was nearly completely white and blank, with the altar, smooth white marble pillars, and various ancient runes carved into the walls being the only things keeping this place from being seen as an empty white void, even the arched ceiling was perfectly round and smooth.
The man walked to the center of the circle and knelt towards the altar. "Let us begin" He spoke with a voice as warm and calming as his smile.
The woman approached him and began undoing the buckles that fastened his Breastplate. Flicking her wrists, the same motion carried for the rest of the buckles holding his armor in place, and the pieces fell around him and seemed to gravitate towards specific spots surrounding him.
Runes began to appear on the ground followed by a magic circle that formed a 13 pointed star with the man at the center. The mana crystals began to hover just above the ground and started to glow with a deep purple glow.
"In view of the Divines, I offer my essence." He chanted as mana began to flow from his body towards the artifacts on the altar.
[Essence of "Paladin of Vengeance" is now being extracted for the Prestige Ritual]
A notification from the system popped up in his peripheral. He smiled as he realized that the ritual would succeed.
"In view of the Divines, I offer my assistance." The woman chanted and placed a hand over his back, causing a magic circle to expand. The circle acted as a catalyst to ensure that the ritual was performed safer and more efficiently. The mana turned into a powerful stream that flowed into the artifacts.
"In view of the Divines, I vow to protect the innocent." The man stood up and raised his hand toward the altar. "In view of the Divines, I vow to stand for the weak."
[Essence extraction at 75%]
"In view of the Divines, I pledge to stop the Cycle." He clutched his hand to his chest and pulled the last of the required essence, a small glowing orb of radiant light, out of him. Holding his hand out towards the altar, the orb flew into one of the artifacts.
The runes surrounding the room glowed brightly before shattering, the mana from the runes flowed into another artifact as the artifacts on the altar hovered and began to disintegrate, the essence merging into a small orb of radiant energy. The ritual was complete.
The man turned to his wife and she leaned in and kissed him, however with the warmth of her lips came the feeling of cold steel piercing between his ribs. His eyes widened in shock as their lips separated, revealing a sadistic grin on the woman's face.
"In view of the Divines, I offer this life." Her voice was now cold and soulless. She twisted the blade and he coughed up blood, staining her blue robes red. No. The robes are already red.
The woman's robes seemed to flicker, like an illusion was being dispelled, the robes changed color to blood red, the charms and trinkets turning into eldritch trinkets and fragmented chains.
[Warning: HP Critical! HP: 1 / 32]
"In view of the Divines, I vow to acquire more power." Runes began to reappear as the magic circle glowed with an ominous red, a single artifact appeared on the altar suddenly as though it had been there under an invisibility spell the entire time.
"In view of the Divines, I vow to destroy my enemies." One by one, the mana crystals that were powering the circle began to hover in the air and ignite into mana blades. Spirits began to appear wielding the mana blades, but instead of her usual blue mana spirits, they were corrupt spirits, covered in shadows.
"In view of the Damned, I am Power Incarnate!" The spirits charged forth, impaling both of them with mana blades.
The last thing he saw as the light had finally left his eyes, was whom was supposed to be his wife, his most trusted ally, grinning sadistically as she too began to die.
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[Reincarnation Ritual Succeeded:
Creating Host Body. . .
Error: Soul is damaged beyond repair; Searching for alternative methods. Stand By. . .
Merging Fragments. . .
Error: Fragments Incompatible; Searching for alternative methods. Stand By. . .
Preserving Memories. . .
Error: Memories fragmented; Attempting to merge memory fragments. Stand By. . .
Memories Merged; Creating Alternate Host Body. . .
Alternative Body Created; Merging Alternate Host Body and Preserved Memories. . .
Merge Successful; Happy Birthday, AAAAAAAAAA. . .
Error: Link between Host and System failing.
Low Power Mode: Activated
Uploading Statistics for the new host body. . .
Error: Information Fragmented
Administrators Note: "Sorry, a lot has happened. Good Luck."
End System Transmission]
