Chapter 2: Past Self

They were supposed to watch the huge monster from a short distance, but they did not expect that a flaming bird would make things worse. The monster's attention was on Aleph, who leaped outside their cover.

The monster, whose height is comparable to two-storeys, was enough to intimidate someone like him. It was built similar to a caterpillar but standing with two arms.

"You two… don't make much of a noise."

Despite his increasing heart rate—enough to feel his pulse on his ear—Aleph's voice remained steady.

"I'll go and lure this thing away. Head to the shelter first, and then I'll follow."

Aleph lost his usual liveliness. What remained was the facade of a brave soldier heading towards a battlefield.

Kevin stared at him for a while before coming to a decision. He nodded to the 'brave' amnesiac friend that he has. Even though he wanted all three of them to reach the shelter safely, he knew that Aleph's decision was unchangeable at this point. 

He is idealistic, yes, but he could still recognize the general situation.

Just like Kevin, Mei looked at him silently. A hint of surprise came out of those eyes. Then, it turned into one of understanding—as if she knew his personality.

Seeing the two of them heed his words, Aleph sighed in relief.

"We are the only ones here… coupled with few zombies."

If it was a few hours earlier, Aleph would have definitely felt lost. However, he had enough time to recover his memories—objective it may be—thus hanging on to the sense of identity that he had.

Without internal dilemmas, he could handle the current situation with ease, as well as learn to 'analyze' the field.

'Big but slow. It's movements are also slow, but I have a bad feeling about—'

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw that the huge monster 'charged' straight at him.

"Damn it!"

In this moment of desperation, the purple lines from before reappeared on his skin. Aleph could instantly feel the improvements that it brought—along with the sensation of gliding into the air.

Two seconds later, he felt a strong sonic boom on his back. He saw that the entire road that it passed through became rubbles. The signposts and cars that it bumped into flew into the air. Worse, the building it crashed into was split into two.

'That's how it moves! I know it can't be this easy!'

Aleph stared at the baseball bat grasped by his hand. He did not have an ounce of confidence to significantly damage that huge monster, more so actually killing it.

He knows it is impossible. 

Yet…

'This feeling of deja vu…'

A blurry image appeared in his mind. Aleph was looking at a large mechanical robot. Its figure coincided with the large beast who was out to kill him.

'What should I do…'

He scrolled through the rewards he got.

[Reward: Random Box]

[Reward: Unlimited Gun Magazine — M9]

[Reward: Blank Sephira Crystal Fragment]

[Reward: Free Pass]

Aside from the first one, the second reward appeared when he killed the undead. The third one appeared when he killed the 'bird' for the first time while the fourth one appeared when the flaming 'bird' crashed on them.

The third and fourth one seemed useful, but in his current situation, only the second one seemed the most reliable.

[Free Pass: Unlock the most probable choice within the embryonic power system.]

'Random box… If things get desperate, I might use it. For now…'

He thought of the second item before a silver crystal appeared on his palm.

Crack-!

The moment he crushed it, a new prompt appeared in his sight.

[Undergoing awakening…]

[Estimated Time: Five Minutes]

'Five minutes..!'

As he dodged another attack, Aleph had no choice but to focus on the things at hand.

For some time, all he did was to dodge its charged attacks. It wasn't that difficult. As long as he keeps watch of his surroundings, he could avoid any other hazard along with the mobile charging monster.

It wasn't as 'clumsy' as it was when immobile. It could dash repeatedly to the direction it wanted. That made it hard to clear its trail. There were also fragments of rock and steel from the chaos it made.

The fragile status quo was maintained until a group of flying bird monsters appeared on top of them.

"Damn it..!"

Aleph couldn't entirely leave his back to the monster. If he could, he would've simply ran away. He doesn't know the maximum limit of its charging. There are also the troublesome birds that gave him more trouble.

Zoom-!

Boom-!

It chased after Aleph. Several streets were wrecked by its 'charging' actions. When he thought that he outmaneuvered it through an alley, it would simply show up behind him, cutting down all the infrastructures behind him.

Facing a speedster like that monster was more than enough to make him tense, inevitably…

Zoom-!

Psshk-!

One of the seraph-class beasts made their mark on him. The sharp wing blades could've been avoided by him earlier, but it became another matter when he was chased by a bigger honkai beast.

Bright red blood flew out from his body along with the sensation of 'heat'.

'It hurts..!'

The pain was more than enough to distract his thinking. His movements became slightly more clumsy as part of his attention went to his long back wound.

Aleph could feel blood dripping on his back along with his sweat. It made his body slightly colder. Coupled with the cold night breeze, that single wound was enough to affect his entire momentum.

It was the purple lines on his body that held him. Aleph was more than certain that his stamina would have bottomed out without it.

However, he knew that it would eventually bottom out. The purple lines were similar to the light he found on other beasts and undead.

In a sense, it was similar to a power tank. 

Once it runs out…

A feeling of dread started to overtake Aleph.

'Stay focused. Stay focused. Stay focused.'

It has been minutes since he played tag with the huge monster. He was only wounded once, but his stamina was starting to bottom out. He accumulated smaller injuries due to his environment.

His concentration began dwindling due to the extra dangers along the way. That included swatting those flying 'birds' and dodging their sharp attacks.

It didn't take long for him to sustain another major injury.

Psshk-!

This time, Aleph directly saw his arm being "grazed" by another attack from the flying honkai beasts. He could see, feel, and smell the blood coming out of it. Small white shards peeked out from his bloodied arm.

"I… I…"

Aleph grasped his bleeding arm. He was able to dodge its subsequent attack, but the chills on his body became stronger. He suffered from two large wounds. The one on his back has been bleeding for several minutes already.

He tried to run once more, only for his legs to fail him.

'A few more minutes..! A fe…ore..!'

Aleph's consciousness became fuzzy. The words on his sight could no longer be read. A sense of powerlessness appeared on his body. It could no longer tolerate the damages done to it. Even if it was far stronger than before, it could no longer tolerate the strain it was placed into.

At this moment, his cold breath was met with the huge beast's emotionless eyes.

It was then.

The will to defy fate.

It was an ironic situation. His instincts wanted to fight with it head-on, yet Aleph chose to play a game of tag with it instead.

It wasn't wrong from a logical standpoint. Only…

"Was it wrong to go against that huge wave?"

As if he was hallucinating, he heard the man's voice from before.

"To keep fighting…"

His words became broken again.

"...even when the odds aren't in your favor."

Beep-!

[Awakening complete.]

At that moment, Aleph saw a glimpse of his past self.