Emergency Actions

Drew and Kull were both unconscious on the ground of the tunnels that led to Dark Street. Not a sound could be heard throughout the space, not even the beat of a heart or a struggling breath.

It was as if the two of them were dead.

It was a mere moment after Drew accepted the System's Full control request that he lost consciousness and his body became as lifeless as a corpse.

Hope was lost... but at least Drew didn't have to bare the weight of living anymore.

Even Drew's soul seemed to be absent from his body as it was nowhere to be found. He was truly gone.

However, a sudden spasm of his muscles seemed to throw that possibility out of the window.

His body began to twitch and spasm as it jerked into a sitting position uneasily.

It was... inhuman.

Like a puppet master's first attempt at pulling the strings.

But after the body sat up in its unnatural way, it opened its eyes suddenly.

If one were to be in front of Drew it would be easy to tell that this creature wasn't the human he was mere moments ago.

Instead of his milky blue eyes that were filled with starlight, there were two plain grey orbs that filled his eye sockets.

"Test," Drew's voice echoed out in a mechanical way.

His body spasmed for a few moments more, almost as if trying to figure out how the various connections worked and what each input would do.

After 10 minutes of his body becoming a test dummy for the System, it finally stopped and focused its eyes on Kull.

It stared at him for a long time... taking in the scene for the first time from its 'own' eyes.

Its grey eyes snapped back to attention and a stern look appeared on its face.

"Self Analysis," It said while its eyes glowed a sudden steel blue, the exact same color as his suit.

After a few seconds, its eyes went back to normal and it shook its head.

"System Corruption is currently at 10%,"

"Performing Emergency Actions immediately,"

"Activating Improved Sacrifice Function on 'Void Tooth'," Its mechanical voice rang out quickly, almost as if trying to avoid the new emotions and thoughts that seemed to have appeared in its mind.

"Activate Emergency Action: Grand Sacrifice,"

A sudden influx of energy surged out of Drew's possessed body as the dagger that was hidden from him dispersed into particles of light that condensed in front of him.

It took the shape of a black orb that seemed to distort the air around it just by existing.

After the dagger finished dematerializing, a light began to flood out of his body. This light was a magic that was beyond any Drew had witnessed thus far, though he was unconscious so he didn't really witness it at all...

Though this magic seemed to come at a price as his body began to lose some of its lusters and he began to grow slightly older.

"10% of lifeforce was required for sacrifice,"

"General life span remaining is 70 years,"

"This body is currently 30 years old after Grand Sacrifice,"

"Energy is sufficient for the upgrade..."

The black energy in the air began to swirl around in a chaotic manner before an invisible wave of suction force exploded out of Drew's chest, absorbing the energy at a moment's notice.

"Energy Absorbed,"

"Initiating Upgrade,"

Drew's eyes turned dark for a few seconds before returning to the grey that they were moments prior.

Though to the average outsider moments may have passed, it was truly impossible to know just how much time had passed in the system space... 50 years to... Hundreds?

"Upgrade complete,"

"Mass Analyze unlocked, Skill Merge unlocked, and User Index unlocked,"

"Unlimited Skill Index unlocked,"

"New analysis procedure initiating,"

The grey eyes flashed blue once more as they seemed to intensely be staring at Kull's corpse and taking in every detail.

"Life signs... faint,"

"Possible solutions..."

"Spell creation possible!" The mechanical voice said with signs of... excitement?

"Focus Skill + Acceleration Skill + Time Mastery Skill can be used to create Advanced Temporal Recovery Spell,"

"Creating spell..."

"Spell created!"

"Derivatives have been found,"

"Advanced Temporal Decay Spell Discovered,"

"Advanced Temporal Stay Spell Discovered,"

"Spells have been added to the spell list,"

"Casting Advanced Temporal Recovery on the Half-Giant known as Kull,"

The blue energy seemed to charge through Drew's body before being released like an electrical shock that quickly healed Kull to full health.

"Emergency actions have been finished!"

"Control is being restored to host!"

After those final words, Drew finally saw light once more as the scene in front of him came to view.

His milky blue eyes frantically searched through Kull's body, looking for injuries or signs of life only to find that Kull was completely fine.

"You're... alive," Drew said through shaky breaths.

Kull seemed to stir to life at his words and slowly opened his eyes with confusion painted on his face that was only partially hidden behind his broken mask.

"Drew..." He grunted in surprise.

"I can... speak?" He said with further surprise as his hands immediately went to his mouth.

He opened his normally scarred mouth to find that his body was no longer marred by the marks of his past. If not for the memories of the pain he had suffered, Kull may have thought they never existed in the first place...

His voice wasn't as gruff as it usually was either. It was smoother... almost like the steady beat of a drum.

"What happened?!" He said in sudden surprise as he realized that his body was as good as new.

"I... dreamed..." He almost whispered as if coming to a startling conclusion.

Drew remained silent as he saw Kull in a new light.

'He's no longer as quiet as he was before... all it took was for me to almost killing him... who would have thought?' He frowned bitterly.

The two remained in abstract silence until Kull seemed to realize something suddenly, fear and bewilderment filling his face as he did so.

He clawed at the remains of his ruined arm guard until it fell off to reveal a simple and innocent-looking arm that was without any injuries or anything else that contrasted against his pale skin.

"This is impossible..."

"The mark... it's gone!"

He seemed as if he was on the verge of tears and insanity as he stared at Drew questioningly.

"I don't know what happened..." He muttered lightly.

'System, what happened while you took control,'

[Greetings host!]

[The being Kull has been returned to peak physical capabilities after the System used the Host's body to cast the newly discovered spell [Advanced Temporal Recover]. Using this spell allowed the System to heal Kull's body to perfection and remove all negative physical status effects]

[Would the Host like a comprehensive review of what occurred during Full Control?]

'Yes," He thought weakly as his mind seemed to finally begin to rest.

[The System sacrificed both Void Tooth and 10 years of the Host's life span to force an upgrade to gain access to stronger System abilities]

[The abilities unlocked were [Mass Analyze], [Skill Merge], [User Index], and [Unlimited Skill Index]. After unlocking these abilities the system was able to analyze and merge aspects of already known abilities to create three time-based spells that were fueled by the host's remnant sacrificed energy]

[The spells created were as follows: Advanced Temporal Recovery, Decay, and Stay. Using Advanced Temporal Recover combined with the host's lifeforce allowed for a full recovery of Kull's physical state]

[Total Cost: 10 years of the host's lifeforce, 14% system corruption, and the destruction of Masterwork level Dagger known as Void Tooth]

'I see now... A steep cost...' He thought while looking at Kull's dumbfounded expression.

'But worth it...'

"Are you alright?" Drew asked as he stood up hesitantly, his body burning with pain as he did so.

Kull stood up as well and helped Drew walk forwards as they headed through the tunnels.

"I'm fine... Better than fine..."

"It's like my body has never suffered an injury in my entire life... everything is gone..."

"My wounds from our battle, my scars, and even my Families Clan Tattoo,"

"It's impossible..."

"How did you do it?!"

Drew smiled at Kull without any trace of discontent or bitterness present on his face. He searched Kull with his eyes and found that the Half-Giant was younger than he once thought, probably only in his mid-twenties.

"It cost me quite a bit, but It's what I get for being a dumbass," He said with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

Drew tried to take another step forward but found that he couldn't as Kull stayed steady and stared at him intently.

"A dumbass?!" He said, nearly shouting.

"You made a mistake,"

"Many people who unlock rage or frenzy skills do the exact same thing when they first use them, especially the young ones,"

"You were trying to protect us... but whatever skill you used fucked you over,"

"That doesn't make you a dumbass Drew... It makes you an unexperienced rookie trying to protect his friend,"

"And not only did you try to protect me... but after you fell into that Rage Skill you managed to wake up and fix my body to such a degree that not even the strongest healer I have ever found could have done,"

"You made a simple mistake... and you fixed it,"

"You're not a dumbass... you're a damn good friend,"

"And probably the only person I have ever been able to truly call a friend,"

"Thank you, Drew,"

The words that Kull said in his healed voice sent shivers down Drew's spine as tears slowly streamed down his face.

'I just met this guy... but... why am I crying so much?'