Chapter III

The least she could've done was just tell me beforehand. I wouldn't have had this false sense of confidence that I was just a late bloomer. Would it have been that bad just to sacrifice me back then? Still, I don't know why she would tell now out of all times. Oh well, it doesn't matter anymore. I'll give my card to Mom today, it's what she needs right? I walk back home for the last time before saying goodbye to this society.

"Subris?!" My mom asks, holding in tears. "Why would you come back?"

"To give you this card, isn't it needed for the device?" I say as I look outside.

"So, you are leaving everyone, hm," she sighs as she twiddles her fingers.

"Yeah, hopefully, I can learn a thing or two while outside this senseless place."

A knock on the door, I wasn't expecting visitors, was I? What is going on, why can't this place just let me leave in peace? As the door opens a face I faintly recognize enters. With bodyguards around her, she smiles.

"I knew you'd fall for the bait, Subris," the woman scoffs.

"Can you just leave me alone already, I don't want to be here," I say as I try to walk out.

"You think you can leave?"

Bodyguards instantly point their weapons at me in an instant. I can't believe that these gremlins are this adamant about making me stay. Nothing but faint chuckles poured from my mouth. Why am I laughing? Oh, that's right, if I can't leave, they'll take me out right? I pull out a gun I learned how to craft and point it to my brain with a wide grin on my face.

The woman's expression sobered in a heartbeat. That smug look covered in fear.

"Are you out of your mind?" the woman shouts. "Are you a fucking lunatic? What is wrong with you?"

"If you don't want me to leave this hell spawn of a place, I'll just see myself out of this planet!" Wait, I don't want to die, what am I saying right now? I may be disposable but that isn't a reason to kill myself now, right?

"You are the key to our survival, and you are just going to end it like this?"

If it's only my card you need, why are you still here? I gave my mom my card already, just leave me alone. Let me live my own life, drowned in the despair of a purposeless life.

"My mother has my card, that's all you need right?" I asked as I lower the gun down. "If that's it then there's no point in me being here."

"You must be an idiot," the woman mutters. "You know the owner is the one who's going to hand it to me, right?"

I handed her the card without hesitation. That card is the only thing keeping me stuck in this place. Now that it's gone this should be it, right?

The card starts to react to the woman's hand as her left eye turns dark purple. So, is this what she means by I'm the key to their survival? Well, I'm not staying around to find out. I sprint out of the door, now with the burden of this society off my shoulders.

"Hey, how's Subris doing?" a man asks one of his colleagues. "I hope he's doing all right."

"Why are you worried about that loser?" his colleague responds. "He didn't even have anything on his card." Everyone around him erupts into laughter.

"Yeah, he doesn't matter to this organization!" The people around him started to chant. "Yeah, that loser doesn't know what it means to be with the best!" The constant taunts cause the man to storm out of the office. With rage-filled tears in his eyes, he calls someone; someone dear to him.

"Hey Hilda, any news on Subris? He hasn't answered any of my calls recently," the man asks.

"Subris… he left, he left us without a trace of him," Hilda responds in tears.

"Left? What do you mean he left? You can't be serious, right?" the man struggles to hold his emotions together.

"Allen, he's gone. He even handed over his card to Wanda before leaving. But something is strange about his card," Hilda says as she calms down.

"What's up with his card? Hopefully, it isn't anything bad."

"It has shackles around it, a dark energy swarm it. Immense… despair fills his card. His stats are all zero, but still, this isn't normal. Come over today, we need to find a reason for this."

'Will that bitch Wanda be there?" Allen mutters in anger.

"She has to be here, she's the one with his card after all."

"All right I'll be there in a few, I'm sick of this office anyway."

As Allen walks home, he senses something. Luring him to check it out, but he refuses. Even if he is the hero of this society, he won't get distracted by anything that has to do with 'the one who saved him.' I wonder who that person is, he never told me who it was that 'saved him.' Oh well, doesn't matter when he's the one with the spotlight on him.

"I'm here Hilda," Allen says as he opens the door. He glares at Wanda, wondering what action she has done now. "Hello, Wanda."

"Sterner that Subris himself it seems," Wanda scoffs, "You two are one and the same, you know that?"

"Is that why you wanted to marry Subris instead of me? You wanted someone to overpower that bad?"

"Enough! No bickering when I'm around!"

"Sorry Hilda…"

"Good," Hilda sighs. "So, About Subris' card. Why is there such dark energy around it? Why are all of his skills not unlockable?"

Allen looks at his card and golden energy starts to unravel the chains around the card. Confusion imprints his face as his stats are all 0.

"Was this why you came here, Wanda?" Allen asks. "Is it because of this?"

"Well, I was surprised myself when he couldn't improve his stats no matter how hard he tried," Wanda shrugs. "But the reason why I came here is the reason you suspected. He's the perfect vessel for the Umerical Syndex."

"Vessel, so you're saying that he'll possess that huge sphere of energy?" Allen slams his hand on the table. "Are you sure it won't kill him? How are you so certain this will work?"

"The Umerical Syndex only reacts to the host when even a bit of skill or a stat is present in the person. Since Subris' stats are 0, it is the best host to stabilize the Umerical Syndex."

"So what you are telling me is that Subris can save this world?" Hilda asks. "So his zero stats was actually a blessing in disguise?"

"I don't think it's a blessing, it's more of a consequence for past actions," Wanda says as she examines. "It doesn't look like he was born with zero skills and zero stats, it was more of that he sacrificed his own prosperity to save someone else."

"He truly disposed himself of a great future, to give the spotlight to someone else," Hilda mutters. "That is something he would do."