Nightmare System: Harem In A Post Apocalyptic World.

Underneath the sunlit bridge, a young man was leaning against its dirty brick walls. His frail body was battered and his curly black hair had become a mess. 

'That can't be good… I'm falling asleep…'

His head slowly dropped forward multiple times as he fought the desperate urge to fall asleep. His eyes were heavy, his body felt as if lead coursed through it.

With a yawn, he looked in front of him while breathing heavily at the man who approached.

"This fucker, instead of handing over the necklace, he's yawning. Seems like we didn't hit him hard enough?" 

Julius's neck wore an ancient-looking necklace with a night blue stone adorning its centre. In addition to its appearance resembling an eye, it was now covered in his blood.

"Stay away… Don't come any closer…" Julius murmured.

Towering over Julius, the three adults looked at each other in confusion before laughing and approaching him.

'Ah… It's too late…'

The moment the leader, a tall, fat, burly man with tattoos all over his arms and neck, had extended his hand in order to grab him, Julius collapsed.

He had fallen into a slumber.

*Crack!*

At the same time, a crack was heard. The old man scratched the back of his head when he noticed.

He quickly rolled over Julius and stared at the necklace hanging from his chest. The blue gem at the centre had shattered when he fell. 

"Huh? It shattered just from that? I thought it was a precious gem-"

"Hey boss… Are you seeing this?"

Turning to his subordinate, the bald man's brows raised up in surprise.

The sky had suddenly become pitch-black and at its very centre was a waxing crescent moon. 

"It suddenly became night? Wasn't the sun still out a few seconds ago?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes

"More importantly, Fang, Where's Blyke?" The boss asked as he noticed that one of them was missing.

Looking away, they failed to notice the lunar phase progressing. The waxing crescent moon slowly shifted into its first quarter.

"I dunno, he was just next to me." He responded with a yawn. 

"Did you just yawn at me you…" The boss was interrupted as he also let a yawn.

The two were overcome with an overwhelming sense of drowsiness. Stumbling backwards, from the loss of balance, their eyes fell on a trail of blood.

"Huh..?"

The trail started Blyke had been standing and led to the darkness beneath the bridge where the light didn't reach.

The boss felt his bones fill with dread as he stared into the darkness.

"W-Who… Who's there!?"

When he stepped back to retreat, he tripped over something. After looking down to see what it was, his eyes widened.

"Gaaaaah!!"

His bloodcurdling scream reverberated across the bridge as he gazed at his two detached legs lying on the ground a few feet away from him.

They had been torn off, right at the femur. The man's brain boiled and his vision went red from the intense pain of losing both legs. 

He flailed around, his blood pouring in great surges as he searched for his subordinate. However his subordinate was nowhere to be seen, instead there was only a separate pool of blood beside him.

"S-Somebody hel-"

*Splatter!*

His cry for help was cut short as his blood splattered across the bridge's walls.

The only one who had remained under the bridge was Julius, fully unconscious with the shattered gem starting glowing brightly on top of his chest.

[Condition requirements have been met.]

[System Synchronisation commencing.]

[System Synchronising… 3%]

❖ Warning: #2%£&* has been detected.

-

-

-

Upon opening his eyes, Julius was greeted by the night sky as he laid faceup on a train track. 

While bound to the tracks by shadowy arms which were wrapped around him and restricted his moves, a bright light approached him through the corner of his eyes.

When he turned his head to see what it was, his eyes grew wide. 

It was a train.

"Hey… You're kidding me, right? What kind of nightmare is this!?"

*Chew!* *Chew!* 

The train honked as the train sped towards him and in a desperate attempt to free himself from the restraints, Julius poured all the power he had into pushing the arms off of him. 

"Let me go! Let me go damn it!!" 

The closer the train got, the more desperate he became as he repeatedly slammed his head against the tracks.

"Wake up! Wake- up!! It's not real!!" He repeated as he continued to slam his head.

Although it wasn't real, the pain was. This caused his desperation to grow. 

"Come! On! Wake! Up!" 

He did everything he could but in the end his struggles were all in vain, he had only exhausted himself. 

And with the train just a hundred metres away, even he could tell.

'It's too late-'

*Splat!* 

-

"Ugaaaaaaaaaaah!!" Julius yelled as his eyes opened wide. 

As the pain of being torn apart ingrained itself into his body, he convulsed. His eyes bulged, as he grit his teeth.

He groaned in pain while on the ground as he clenched his chest, he felt as if his mind would shatter at any moment. 

When the convulsions stopped, he desperately sucked in air to fill his lungs. And once he finally caught his breath, he coughed out blood. 

"...Argh…" 

His body wouldn't stop shaking, his teeth wouldn't stop clattering. The pain and anguish of having his body torn was etched into his mind, even if it only lasted for a split second. 

"C-Calm down… It's over… The nightmare is over…" He reassured himself.

He was interrupted however, as he noticed a pool of red liquid flowing towards him. 

After following the trails with his eyes, they landed on a giant ball a few metres ahead of him. 

The shadow casted by the setting sun was dispersed and the identity of the ball finally became clear.

Julius's eyes widened. He took an unsteady step back.

People. It was the three who had attacked him.

Their bodies were twisted, their bones bent in a way that they shouldn't have been. Fresh blood dripping out from their face, mimicking a look of horror as if they had seen the most heinous being in the world.

It was supposed to be a sight that would terrify anyone who'd see it. But Julius felt no fear, only a weight on his consciousness.

With a hollow expression on his face, he quickly looked away from the corpses and unexpectedly spotted his necklace on the ground where he had fainted.

When he crouched down to pick it up, he noticed that the gem at the centre of its eye design had shattered.

The sight of this made Julius's blood drain from his face more so than the abomination behind him.

Reaching for the shattered pieces, he was interrupted by a voice in his head.

[Error #2%£&* has been analysed.]

[Initiating adjustments]

Startled, he jumped back at the articulate feminine voice, pocketing the necklace and shattered gem pieces in the process.

[System synchronisation recommencing… 4%]

"Who's there!?" 

He looked left and right, scanning his surroundings but found no trace of anyone else.

'There's no one… but I know what I heard… if I'm caught in this situation then god knows what'll happen to me…'

With that in mind, the Julius fled from the scene, holding on tightly to his necklace and it's shattered pieces as he did so.

In his rush, he had failed to notice the beautiful girl crouched on the edge of the bridge watching him.

She had a petite figure yet prominent curves. Her black hair was long with short bangs over her forehead, and curls spiralling downward to her shoulders.

She wore a regal black outfit with trims of silver and revealing cuts. Her eyes were a bright crimson red with slit pupils.

With her hair swaying against the wind, her figure shimmered in the sunlight as she gazed at him.

"It didn't seem like there was anything special about him… but when he fell asleep… everything changed. It had suddenly become night and the entire vicinity was covered in a giant dome."

She looked up at the sky, staring at the setting sun. 

"Sleep-deprivation, blindness and suffocation… despite watching from afar, I experienced those effects from just being in the vicinity. Each time the moon shifted, a new effect would come into place… Even as a Vampire I was finding it difficult to handle." 

She smiled, her fangs peering out of her lips as her eyes fell on his back.

"But it all stopped when he woke up… how Interesting~"