Chapter 2: History lesson

I screamed in horror and almost fell back. I looked at my fists which were completely covered in blood. My eyes wondered off to a particular body which I recognized. It was the young man who was holding the sword over me. His face was so badly hit that if it wasn't for his clothes, I wouldn't have recognized him. There were other bodies around with several body parts missing, from heads to legs.

['Final Act' has ended it's act]

The system message brought me back. I was completely shocked. 'Could it be that I did all of this?' I thought. I didn't want to believe it but seeing my hand covered with blood that wasn't mine made it difficult not to. Was it possible that all this happened because of the skill being unsealed? I opened the system interface to confirm.

[System Interface]

Name: Chad Simmons

Skill: Inherent talent Lvl ???

"Check skill info." I said. Systems had been around for a long time so everyone knew all that there was to know about it and how it worked.

Another window appeared.

[Inherent talent (Skill info)]

Allows the user to obtain a skill temporarily, that is suitable for the given scenario.

Skills obtained: Final Act (unavailable)

I closed the window and looked around to check if anyone was alive but it seemed I alone had managed to single handedly kill close to forty people.

['Inherent talent is asking if you are proud of him]

I didn't expect the skill to be able to communicate outside the place I had been. I shook my head saying, "Was the dismemberment necessary?" But there was no response, so I assumed that 'it' was annoyed.

Although I was a bit relieved, I felt a bit of sorrow that came from the fact that I had killed the young man. He probably didn't want to do it. But at the same time I felt angry. I was angry with these bastards for being so greedy. It disgusted me that these people who had lived an easy life would not let me live mine.

I understood their greed though. They weren't to blame. The thing that was to blame no longer existed.

The story of the system was well known by even the smallest child. It was a story of how a lone god who was on the verge of being forgotten made a choice. A choice to be remembered. He split himself into several pieces and bestowed his power to humanity in the form of the system. It was that basic. People woke up one day and had systems. And since people were people, they soon learned to adapt. It was said that those with the system had inherited the memories of the god. It was so for only the first generation and as the system was passed on the memories became stories. Stories of how the world changed.

Soon a loophole was discovered. If someone with or without a system killed another person with a system, they would inherit their system and just like that it became right to kill, that is, under the justification of the person having a system or self defense.

A decade came and then a century, man still continued. After a few more decades, another change occurred. The system disappeared. It just went as it came, without warning. And as fate would cruelly have it, I was twenty six when it happened. It should be known that I did not have a system prior to this neither did I intend to get one by killing. Once a person with a system died of natural or accidental means, their system was automatically transferred to a random person. I decided that killing would never be an option possibly because of past trauma. But I didn't matter then so such trauma does not matter now.

The day the system of the rest of the world disappeared, I gained mine. But what use was a system with no stats and only one skill which I couldn't even use. Still people chased me. They wouldn't have found out if not for the mistake. The one thing that had given me away...

Humans were a strong race before the system and only grew stronger by it. After the system disappeared, the skills and abilities it had given remained so man should have been content. But I was chased for a whole, and saw people I loved dearly die. So I was angry.

In fact I wasn't sure I felt pity anymore. I was glad I killed them. I probably would kill again. I now faintly understood why this skill alone was sufficient. But that was still the only thing I understood. Still that alone was sufficient.

Taking a second look to make sure everyone was dead I walked away from the scene.

***

"Damn, that guy was scary." A man said seeming to have appeared from thin air. He looked at his dead comrades. No. They weren't his comrades. In the end, whoever killed him would have a battle with the others until the last man stood. The only reason they worked together was because it would be easier that way.

But that guy was way too strong. Just when he had reached here, the man who was a mere second away from being stabbed in the heart managed to get and mangled the face of the boy with the sword at a speed his eyes couldn't follow. At that moment, he realized he was in big trouble and quickly used his concealment skill. Luckily, he was standing at the back of the group so the man didn't seem to notice as he proceeded to massacre all the people.

The bastard's eyes were even closed for heaven's sake. At one point, he had just stood there staring at one man in particular.

'Scary.' He got chills just from thinking about it. He had luckily survived and there was no way he was going to chase the man again so he proceeded to head to the opposite direction of the path the man took.