Red was no longer himself, he kept beating Shawn and healing him over and over again. Sounds of bones and flesh being torn to pieces filled the room.
Every time red heals him back to normal, Shawn would start begging, tears in his eyes.
"Pl..eaes Staa...p.p.p i..ca..ffzn.'t ...." He couldn't move, barely breath or speak.
all that came out were mumbled gibberish from what he wanted to say.
After every beating, Red would stop, giving him a sense of relief before starting over again.
Shawn was slowly going insane, it's been hours. no one from his staff even came up to look, didn't matter how much he screamed or made noise, no one came to help him.
"How is he so strong?" Shawn thought to himself, he couldn't even lift a finger against him.
His pride, confidence. all of it was gone. He thought he would be able to take on Red by himself, kill him without breaking a sweat.
"I'm such an idiot" he kept telling himself. He prioritized seeing reds face, attacking his family behind his back, but that was what appeared to be his first and last mistake.
He knew red wasn't going to let him go, his death was set in stone.
"IF I'M GOING TO DIE, I'M NOT GOING OUT BY MYSELF" shawn screamed, after all that torture and beatings he no longer sounded human.
Suddenly, his face swelled, his veins turned yellow, his eyes were yellow leaving no space.
BOOM!!
It was sudden, the whole room was engulfed in yellow flames, leaving not even a single trace of its surroundings. the staff downstairs didn't understand what happened, but managed to get out of harm's way in time.
What Shawn did, that not even Red expected him to do was letting his mana leave their channels and run free in his body, causing imbalance. That led to a reaction that ended up in all the mana being released at the same time, causing an explosion.
A suicide bombing, Shawn tried to stop his suffering and take Red with him.
In his rage, even with all his heightened senses, Red was unable to dodge in time. He was hit with the full force of the explosion.
At the room, a giant hole was opened.
On the first floor, Red laid down on his back, his arms and legs bent in a disturbing angle, his head has a hole, big enough to show his brain matter. his eyes open, a tear fell down his cheek.
"I'm sorry" he mumbled, before his eyes lost focus.
In front of the building, people crowded the place, each pushing to see what happened. Smoke filled the sky as people started talking.
"Isn't this the Ranker Shawn's house? what happened?"
"I don't know, some sort of explosion"
"Do you think he's ok?"
"He's a Ranker, of course he is"
The place was getting swarmed by people. Police and men in suits started to make their way in.
At the top of a building, a man was looking down on the scene, his eyes shone black. With a creepy smile on his face.
"His name is Red huh" He muttered to himself "That's some interesting power you got there, but too bad you won't live long enough to use it" A sinister smile appeared on his face.
The man did not stay for long. He muttered some words before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
*****
'Users HP has reached 0'
'Resetting ... 1 / 100'
'User w....ill b... ... ... ....'
*****
"What the hell?" Red woke up in a forest under a tree, his whole body was in pain.
"Didn't i die?" he thought "What was that last message i saw?" red couldn't move, he kept thinking, trying to remember that moment and what the last message read, but whenever he would start to remember, he would feel excruciating pain in his head, making him forget whatever few words he remembered.
All he could do was sit there, all his attempts trying to look around, move or even speak ended up in failure.
"Mom..Liz" he thought, before tears started rolling down his face. He was lost in grief, crying without a care.
*"Did you hear that?"* what sounded like a man spoke from behind red.
(Please, remember that * means words that Red does not understand)
He was startled, didn't know who it was and the inability to move made him a bit scared. He didn't understand what language he spoke and couldn't call back, all what red could do was make noises to help locate him.
*"The noise is coming from here"* the voice continued *"It sounds like a baby"*
A man walked from behind the tree red was laying under.
"A giant?" red thought, he kept staring at the man, then started looking around properly. The man was no giant "I'M SMALL?" That was the only conclusion he managed to come up with.
*"It's a baby"* the man bent down, gently grabbing red.
"Wahhhh" red screamed in his head, it felt odd and uncomfortable to be carried like that.
After having a better look, Red found out it was not just the man, a younger girl who seemed to be 12 years old was following him.
Red was in a daze, he couldn't understand a word from their conversation. He was tired and sad.
Before he knew it, he fell asleep.
.....
"Where the hell am I now?" said Red in annoyance, the place looked oddly familiar though it was dark, very dark. He wouldn't see his hand even if it was right in front of his face.
"Wait" he mumbled "Isn't this the same place as that time? I came back here then? it feels like it"
Even though there wasn't much to go on, it still resembled the same feeling he had at that time. the feel of the floor, the endless space, Red was running non stop but he hit nothing.
"It is the same place" Red thought.
Suddenly, a voice spoke ... the same dominating voice.
"You failed me child, you acted recklessly and made enemies with someone you were unprepared to face yet.
you have so much to learn."
Red didn't know what to say, he felt depressed, he had it all but still managed to make mistakes that ended the life of his family and his own.
"I will answer some of your questions, child. we might not see nor speak with each other again for a while" the voice spoke again, with a hint of empathy.
"Am i really dead now?" Red asked, the thought scared him a bit.
"You have been dead since that day on the road. my gift to you was wasted, and i'm going to bear the responsibilities." said the voice.
"Wait, bearing responsibilities? what do you mean?" Red asked, enthusiastically.
"You got power, but with it you've angered people you shouldn't have, causing misery upon you, your family and friends. it is my fault as well, where i'll be sending you, it is a world connected to yours, but is the furthest away. time runs differently, what might feel like years there will be hours in your original world. this is my last chance to you, but this time you have to reach it yourself." the voice continued "That means you have to figure out things yourself, survive and conquer."
"What about my family? my friends?" Red asked "What happened to them?"
"They are fine, unharmed. That human faked it, using some Random Awakened skill to shapeshift, your family is at home safe though they won't be seeing you any time soon, and your friends are fine as well, some were beat up but that was it, he couldn't risk getting on the Guilds bad side by killing people related to one of their members randomly. So he played it safe and only tried to make you feel desperation. Though it blew up in both your faces, Literally. like i said, it is up to you to figure things out." the voice spoke.
"So i am really dead huh? that's for the best." he mumbled
"Is that your question?" said the voice.
"No no" Red continued " Where was I before coming here?" he asked.
"You were reincarnated into another world called 'Soutia', you will start your life there. You died too quickly, i didn't have enough time to reset the day. But your soul is not lost, and i found a way to save it."
"Oh. You said it's One of the worlds connected to my old one? How many are there? will i be able to go back? what about you? why are you going so far for me?" Red asked.
"I've answered more than enough questions. live well my child." the voice spoke while slowly fading.
A flash of bright light shone from the darkness.
....
*"He is alive! I did it! i managed to save the boy"* an old woman in a weird looking robe spoke. the room exploded in cheers, and tears of joy.
Meanwhile, Red lied limp in the old woman's' arms, looking left and right.
He was in what looked like a bedroom, there was the man that picked him up back then with the little girl, he then saw some new people, another little girl that looked to be around 5 years old and a beautiful woman. she was grabbing the man's hand, they looked like a couple, maybe even the parents of the kids, but they didn't look old they were quite young.
While red was thinking, the room had become quieter. The old woman had already finished cleaning him and had wrapped him up in a clean cloth. During all that time, Red neither moved nor cried.
*"Rai, what's wrong with the baby? Why is he not crying?"* The young woman had a worried expression. *"Maybe something happened to him when he was out there, what monster would leave a newborn baby out in the woods." her expression changed to anger.
Red didn't know what the hell was happening, but he tried to keep up anyhow.
*"A silent baby is rare but nothing special. Do you want to see?"* the old woman spoke. She unwraps Red and gives him a little slap on his buttocks.
"Ow, you old bi*ch" Red grunted, though after a small pause he understood what she was trying to do. to not stand out too much, Link faked it, crying a little then stopping "This is hard. Don't tell me i'm gonna have to do this often from now on" Red thought to himself.
*"As you can hear for yourself Anny, this little guy is fine." the old woman handed Red to the woman. she wrapped him up again and tried to play with him, attempting to make him laugh. but Red had his mind elsewhere, looking at the room he was in, he realized that it was shabby, the wood had a lot of holes in it, cold air sneaking through. The window was covered by a large cloth, but failing to stop the breeze as well, the bed was big but old, the floor would squeak with every step they took.
"I'm destined to live in poverty I guess" Red thought.
*"Rai, are you sure he is all right? He didn't react to me at all. He is too quiet. With all that has happened i'm really afraid that something is wrong with him"*
After those words, and the gloomy expression of the young woman, Red tried his best baby impression. He giggled, smiled, and emitted raspberry sounds.
Such words hurt Rai, but it wasn't her first time with an anxious mother, or an adoptive one at that.
*"Worry not, my child. I can prove to you that he is fine."*
The old woman took the baby from Anny removed the cloth.
"Oh come on, Again?" Red thought "This is the second time they remove this cloth, just keep it, i don't want it anymore."
Rai carefully adjusted Red in her left arm, then she drew something in the air, causing a weird scribble to appear in the spot shining in a dim white light.
"Detury," Rai muttered.
The weird scribble flew towards Red, hovering above his chest for a second before penetrating it.
Like a stone being dropped in water, waves of light traveled around his body.
*"See? if there was anything wrong with the little guy, my spell would have left a mark made of dim light uncovering it."*
The light made Red feel comfortable and relaxed. "Was that magic?" Red thought.
Hope you like the turn of events, tell me what you think in the comments. don't forget to vote.