Awakening

The corpses stood up, creaking their bones in a ghastly noise. Mark froze seeing such a sight, all that was happening to him was too alien for him to comprehend completely.

But he could at least say that they were undead or something along those lines. The rising bodies were spewing blood from their mouth, eyes...They looked like wailing souls that came from the underworld to curse those who damned them.

And with grunting and gurgling sounds they slowly began to approach Mark. Mark was initially in shock but he suddenly looked like he had an epiphany, he looked at his girlfriend and saw that she was not going through the same phenomenon as others who had died at the same time!.

And then it hit him!!, in his intense emotion, he didn't check whether she was alive or not!! he directly presumed her as dead seeing her state.

She was alive...barely, she had some life in her as he could see the light up and down moment of her chest.

But as soon as hope started to crawl up, reality crushed it with a hard hammer. Even though she was alive, she was barely so. If she was not taken to the hospital she would die and in the current situation, the Hospital even answering his call was close to zero.

Before Mark could come up with something, he realized that the undead were already too close and they were eying His almost dead girlfriend too.

Without much thought, he picked up a fallen bag and smashed it on the walking undead's head. The blow made it fall.

He was not going to give up as long as there was hope that he could save Katarina. His actions were not driven by logic but purely by what he felt at that moment. And his desire for protecting someone gave him the courage to act.

Then he heard a voice resounding in his head.

" The trial of Champions has begun..."

But Mark had no leisure to know who said it or what it meant as he was busy surviving. He hit the undead with a bag and made them fall. But they would again stand, He didn't know what to do.

"You don't give me any choice, do you! "

Mark had found a long umbrella on the ground, he picked it up with a grim expression. He pointed its sharp end at the head of the undead and pushed it down with all his strength.

He felt he pierced something soft first and then broke something hard, then the umbrella fully pierced the head with a pop sound.

The sensation of piercing something like a jelly with a hard crust made his hand shiver with a creepy sensation. And the horrid sight made him want to puke but he held on as he had a lot of them to finish.

...

Mark had killed at least ten undead. He was puking in the corner, he could not hold back his urge to vomit once it was over. And in this situation, he heard someone's voice.

[You are worthy to be a Champion.

You have Gained the ability- Overhaul]

Mark shocked, turned around to see who was it that spoke. But he saw no one, And he suddenly noticed a blue screen in front of him.

" What??"

Surprised he fell back and the distance between him and the screen did not grow. He looked at it weirdly.

" What the hell!! am I dreaming... I'm dreaming, right? Why the hell is there a stat screen in front of me?" Curious he looked it over.

Name - Mark Hills

Race - Human

Stage - Kindled

Ability - Overhaul

Attributes - ...

Skills - ...

Looking at the screen he was dumbstruck and various thoughts emerged in his head. What was it? Was this kind of game? Was he dreaming? or the reality had changed?.

He didn't understand what was going on, and when he concentrated on his ability a pop screen came put with the abilities description.

[ An ability to Construct and Deconstruct substances ]

It was a short and vague description. But after seeing it for a while, An idea popped up. If the things shown on the screen were true and gave him something like a superpower...

"Construct...can it be used heal?" He thought.

And with that small spark of hope, he ran to Katarina's side, He heaved a sigh of relief knowing that she was still breathing. Her face was pale and bloody, Her breadth was weak. She could hardly breathe, and if left alone she would have died.

Mark brought his right hand near her neck, he didn't know what to do. He even didn't know if his ability to heal, presuming he could use a superpower.

Then he yelled his ability name in his mind.

'Overhaul...heal, heal, overhaul' He repeated it like a man in desperation. And at that time he felt gods didn't abandon him, at least that's how he felt at that moment.

Katarina's neck squirmed a little, seeing that Mark tensed but when she deeply inhaled, Mark left a sigh of relief. At least there was hope, His girlfriend would not have to die.

After a moment of using his ability, he felt tired and his ability was deactivated from what he could tell.

"Haha..haha" Mark left out a tired laugh. Relief just washed over him and he slumped on the ground. He looked at Katarina, she was still in a bad state but her breathing was normal-paced and her squished hand was mostly recovered. she now looked a bit better than before, and he was sure she would live. He could heal her himself so he didn't have to carry her to a hospital.

He wasn't sure if hospitals were even running. The giant creature must have created numerous casualties. Like it happened here... with just its appearance it made so many people die due to panic. And if it roamed around it was sure to cause havoc in the masses.

For now, he left all the worries behind and leaned on the wall to get his deserved rest.