Bound as a Champion

⌠Do you want redemption?⌡

⌠Yes or No⌡

Viktor saw a familiar panel with two options that were blocking his view.

He knew what this was, and under normal circumstances, he would choose the option 'no'.

But in this particular instance, he has no other choice but to choose 'yes'.

Knowing that he was about to die with three gaping holes in his chest—he became feral, and did not hesitate to retaliate—one last time. Viktor kicked the female cop hard on her exposed shin, forcing her to bend forward in pain.

In quick succession, he reached out his hand and pulled the female cop by the nape.

"Krraarghkk!!"

Suddenly, the female cop screamed in agony when Viktor bit her left ear off brutally.

Pushing him away out of instinct, Viktor fell back down to the ground again but not without a big piece of bloodied ear in his mouth. He spat it to the side, and smiled maniacally—striking extreme horror to the female cop.

His gaze, however, was directed elsewhere.

"Sleep with your eyes open bastard, because... I'm coming back for you!" Viktor declared.

Upon hearing this, the female cop quickly stood up and shot him.

Bang!

...

It was complete darkness when Viktor got shot in the forehead.

Based on what his deceased wife described—the soul after death would be escorted by the angels to be judged. If there is even a small portion of purity inside of the soul, it would have a chance to be granted heaven.

However, there were no angels, there was only darkness.

Under this realm of a supposed endless void of darkness, there was a solitary object.

An object that was shaped like a perfect mechanical sphere, crackling with divine energy. Its body hummed with the symphony of machines. Sensing something—this object came to life, opening its mechanical eye and casting a luminous gaze upon the endless darkness.

"Oh...? Did he accept this time?" 

Piercing the darkness easily, this entity was able to see a singular soul in the distance.

Contrary to the souls that were filtered out on the higher planes, this one went straight down to the bottom of the abyss. Then again, it already knows that this soul was different than any others which is why it extended an invitation some time ago but was rejected.

Now, however, was different—this soul accepted its proposal.

"What do you know? He accepted right after his wife died, this is perfect..."

Viewing the soul's life information, the entity's eye gleamed with brighter light.

A maniacal serial killer with his very first kill at the age of eight.

He gained the taste of blood at that time, and like a Vampire, became addicted to the blood.

Using that thirst for blood, he rose in his world and became one of the known criminals under one of the 5 Criminal Paths, that overthrew the government—claiming half of the world. He is beneath the reign of the path of Lunacy.

But one day, he decided to open a new page and put all of that in the past.

He did it all for a woman, but that woman is now gone.

"Everyone picked an adequate champion, but nobody had tried to pick someone like him,"

"I wonder, what kind of cyber sorcerer he would be with a broken mind like that,"

"Victory for this eon shall be mine, I'll make sure of it..."

...

"Hmm...? The taste of blood in my mouth is gone,"

Viktor smacked his lips a couple of times, tasting no blood in his mouth.

But then, the darkness around him contorted before a radiant blue light blinded him fully.

"Ah, I remember now, I accepted its proposal," Viktor covered his eyes with his hand, trying to shield his eyes from the light. "I'm going to meet with that weird, machine sphere again. But, I did need it to survive or else I won't be able to repent first,"

Despite his situation, Viktor was quite calm as he had already been here before.

Upon the light dimming, he expected to meet with a familiar sight.

However, his eyes quickly turned cold when instead of the familiar sight of the weird machine sphere, he was greeted by the sight of a pristine white, and blue female android—sitting on a pompous throne surrounded by pillars with mechanical constructs.

"What's with that look? Did you not like this form?" the android asks in a monotone voice.

Viktor shook his head in response.

"No, what makes you even turn into that form?"

"I learned that Human males would be swayed easily by the opposite gender"

"And where again, did you gain that information?"

"I saw other Human males reeling at your wife's figure"

"..."

"..."

"Let's stop the foreplay. I rejected you once before, and I'm sure you have a condition now"

A few years ago, Viktor faced the same panel—that asked him to be a champion of an entity, called Machinaeus, which was the entity before him right now. He only needs to get stronger with its help and dominate the world with no other obligations attached.

But since he was on his honeymoon, he rejected that offer as his lower brain was dominant.

Moreover, he was already retired from the dark world.

Even a braindead person would know that dominating the world is a magnet for trouble.

Since he rejected the offer once, he's not naive enough to think this time would be the same.

"Clever, and always alert," Machinaeus nodded as Viktor was fast to understand his situation.

Descending from the throne, she traced each step down the staircase, igniting a web of blue light with each movement. "Before we proceed, I'm intrigued. What swayed you to accept my offer at this moment? Is it because of revenge?"

"Revenge? You bet the fuck I want revenge!" Viktor replied vigorously.

He didn't even try to hide his desire.

Upon hearing this, Machinaeus tilted her head, "Revenge for that human female cop?"

Knowing how Viktor died—Machinaeus guessed that it was the female cop that he wanted to kill, yet his answer was surprising, "Her? I don't give a fuck about her. What I want, is to finish killing that guy I was holding—he's not dead yet, and I'm sure as hell would not, let that piece of shit live!"

"He only tried to rob you, it's really not that deep" Machinaeus commented.

It was only then that Viktor grimaced and looked down.

"When Aurora died—I promised myself to not go back to my old ways, to honor her spirit and keep her presence alive with me even when she's already gone" He answered—his tone soft, as he reminisced his wife. However, his tone changed 180 in the next second, "But that guy... he made me break that promise a day after my wife died! He shattered my fucking, kill diet—even when I'm already clean for 563 days and 11 hours by bringing those guys to me!"

"So, yeah! It's damn deep to me! Tell me your conditions and revive me!" Viktor demanded.

His answer was a great surprise for Machinaeus.

Even she was stunned momentarily before snapping out of her daze, "Fascinating..."

"You are even better than I thought—so for that, I won't give you any additional conditions. It remains the same—get stronger and conquer the world using the System I designed. I would even dare to promise to bring your wife back to life if you did well," she added.

Receiving such an offer made Viktor's eyes widen.

Just thinking about the prospect of his wife being revived made his body quiver in hope.

"Can you really do that...?" He uttered in skepticism.

As a response—Machinaeus summoned what seemed to be a holographic blue screen, that revealed an abyssal expanse. Unlike the one Viktor was in earlier, this darkness, shimmered with countless golden lights, each representing a soul upon closer inspection.

"Heaven and Hell do not exist, what exists is only the void," Machinaeus explained. "All souls went to the void, and they would be assigned different stages, depending on their karma. In your case, you are in the black stage, and you will perish for eternity. As for your wife—she's in the golden stages, which means extremely good karma, and that would result in her being passed to the cycle faster than those with bad karma"

"And that means...?" Viktor asked, his heart was racing as he waited for an answer.

Pausing briefly, Machinaeus added, "It means you have a small time window before your wife is reincarnated, and when that happens, she might be half a universe away. Putting it simply, you will never meet her again, maybe eternally. She would have a new fresh life with another human male that's not you,"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Viktor was vexed, tendrils of wrath burned his inside strongly.

He pulled his astral hair as he was stressing at that thought.

"If you don't want that happening, then do what I asked. Obey the System and be reunited,"

"Conquering the world?"

"Yes, do that and I'll extract your wife from the void"

Upon hearing this, Viktor paused to contemplate before he met Machinaeus' gaze once more—firm in his decision. "Alright, I'll comply. But understand, I won't revert to my former ways of life, to conquer the world. I'll use a different path—one that's not, rooted in brutality. Even if it means risking eternal separation from my wife, I'll uphold her teachings of goodness,"

"Of course you will..." Machinaeus replied, pivoting around and retreating back to her throne.

Sitting upon her throne again, she waved her hand.

Viktor saw a blinding orb of blue light appear before him before Machinaeus continued, "This will be our contract—you will accept the responsibility of being my champion. As I am quite a benevolent benefactor, I'll give you two wishes,"

"Anything you want that might help you achieve world domination, say it" She added.

Having done this multiple times, Machinaeus already had some guesses in mind.

Normally, new champions would ask for a genius-level talent or even a specialized weapon.

Both are things that could help them achieve world domination.

But the wishes inside Viktor's mind were utterly different, evident in the gleam of his eyes as he articulated his first wish, "Grant me a tracker that would unfailingly track down that damn guy I want to kill, can you do that?"

"Granted," Machinaeus smiled, amused at the wish. "Your second wish?"

Unlike the first wish, Viktor needed to think for a brief moment before he came up with one.

"..."

Listening to the second wish, Machinaeus' smile spreads wider.

"Is that possible to do?" Viktor asked, not knowing whether his second wish was plausible.

As opposed to answering his question, Machinaeus waved her hand for the second time and caused the orb of light to glow even brighter, "Read the passage before you to me—and you and I would be bound under this contract,"

Viktor looked at the panel that appeared before him and read it aloud.

"I, Viktor Ripper Petrovich, humbly accept to be Machinaeus' champion. I am bound—and I shall do as per the terms: to be stronger, and take over the world with the System's help— reaching it with whatever means necessary"

Finishing the oath, Viktor frowned, "Don't forget about reviving my wife,"

Listening to this, Machinaeus smiled eerily.

But her smile was covered by the blinding light before eventually—with a flick of her fingers, Viktor was teleported away from the vast expanse of darkness. His soul was blasted back to the mortal world on a whim.

Now, back to the solitary silence again, a grin played on Machinaeus' face.

"Use a different path that's not rooted in brutality? No chance,"

"That side of yours, you see... it's quite potent, and it's also the reason you're chosen, Viktor"