The System's Grace

His body burns brightly in the subway, being a point of illumination in the dimly lit station. His heart was still beating but not for long, his life was counting down with every beat his heart made.

Cha Eun started to crawl away slowly, shimmying his feet and hands to get as far away as possible from the train. He knew not of the uncertainties that could come out of the train, so he tried to make a run from it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jae-neung spoke with a soft tone. "They're watching." He was able to speak even though he was mere seconds away from death. "Don't run. Fight!" He shouted with all of his might, his voice echoing through the halls of the train station. A ring of fire had surrounded the two of them and the train, cornering off the exit. 

The second train door opens, and like the first, a ray of light pierces through the flames. However, instead of a humanoid creature, tentacles start to crawl out from the door, clasping its suction cups to the exterior of the train and onto the floor of the station. "Jae-neung!" The beast called out in a sinister and blood-curdling scream.

"He's still alive?" Jae-neung sighs. "You. It's all up to you." Jae-neung points to Cha Eun as he stands up as he's still encased in flames.

"W-w-w-w-" Cha Eun stumbles to find his own words to describe the situation.

Jae-neung takes a deep sigh as he snaps his fingers. [Poseiden's Womb], water spurs out of his fingertips and surrounds his body, completely coating his ember-ridden body. The water seeped into every wound, closing them with the magical water. A [1:00] timer appeared on top of Jae-neung's body. He collapses forward and the timer turns into [0:59].

"Is this guy crazy?!" Cha Eun scrambles backward as he tries to make sense of the situation. As Cha Eun is checking his sanity, the beast in front of him quickly makes its way towards the corpse of the old man.

The beast was a dark blue and purple, shades of the deep unknown ocean. It was indescribable, yet it had a perfect shape and form. It seemingly formed around the edges of the train station, its limitless amount of tentacles warping with the surface. It had two large bulging eyes that stared deep into the vast unknown, its irises shooting off in opposite directions. 

Besides the eye, this glob of gooey mass had no distinguishable features. Cha Eun looks back at Jae-neung's body and the timer reads [0:58].

As the monster faces down the burning corpse of the old man, it raises a singular tentacle to touch it. The flame that surrounded the man spread towards its tentacle. However, the suction cup seemingly opened up and absorbed the flame, ducking up the extreme heat with not but a single flinch. 

[0:57]

"What- What the hell am I supposed to do?" Cha Eun looks around and realizes the flames are slowly closing in on them, from floor to ceiling, this train station had turned into a scene ripped straight out of Dante's inferno.

[0:56]

The beast then puts several tentacles onto the old man, absorbing all of the heat and revealing the severely charred and disfigured body of the once aggressive old man. His clothes had been burned off and parts of his flesh had been melted off. However, with one fast moment, the beast swallows the old man whole, taking a part of the bench he was crushed against. 

[0:55]

'They're watching.' Cha Eun faintly remembers Jae-neung's words as he realizes what he must do. "Wait... this must be it! This must be the test to see if I'm worthy of ever gaining my ability!"

[0:54]

Cha Eun stands up heroically, picking up the charred remains of the mop he used to sweep the floor with. "I know what I must do!"

[0:53]

He clenches his fist with strength as he makes his presence known to the beast. "Come at m-" 

[0:52]

A black tentacle flies across the room and crushes the top half of his body, turning his inner organs and brain into a mush. The tentacle flew at such speed that it instantly killed Cha Eun.

[You Have Died] 

"What?" Cha Eun sees nothing but his system panel and the abyss. He feels disconnected from his body, as though he's floating in a sea of nothing. He feels nothing touching his body and he feels like he's touching nothing. His eyes didn't even feel real, this vision felt like a dream.

[The System Has Been Watching Over You] 

Cha Eun looks on in confusion. 

[The System Has Decided To Give You A Second Chance] 

"A second chance?" He thinks internally but it feels as if he's physically speaking it, yet he can't hear it. He's experiencing every sensation and no sensations simultaneously. 

[The System Deems You Worthy To Hold This Power]

[Do You Wish To Accept [The System's Grace] from [???]?] The system gave Cha Eun a request prompt with two buttons. A bright green [Yes] and a dark red [No].

Cha Eun, without a second thought, presses [Yes].

[You Feel A Rush Of Determination Fills Your Body!]

[The System Empowers You]

[You Have [1] New Quest]

[0:55]

Cha Eun is back inside the hell hole train station, mop in hand. However, the beast has yet to acknowledge Cha Eun's or Jae-neung's presence. "What?" Cha Eun runs his hands up and down his body, feeling every crevice of himself. He's alive!

[0:54]

The timer above Jae-neung's body has slowly been ticking down, a mere six seconds had passed since. 

[0:53] 

"What the hell did I accept?" Cha Eun lays low to the ground as he pulls out his system.

[Welcome <Cha_Eun_987 >] The system greets him, however, the interface has changed completely. To the side of the interface was a tab called [Quests], and his [Skill] tab had been opened.

"What the?" A large black tentacle flies across the room, knocking down entire cement pillars and hurting the train station's structural integrity. The ceiling, being on fire, had started to form cracks and it seemed as if the ceiling was about to cave in. 

[New Skills Unlocked!]

[Base Skills Unlocked!]

Cha Eun stares blankly into his system. A hexagon in the middle of the screen with an image of a fireball branches off into hundreds of different hexagons, each with its icons and skills.

[Skill: Fireball - Launch A Fireball (50 + 5 DOT) Damage That Applies A Burn For 10 Seconds. Cost: 75 MP] 

Cha Eun looks up to the beast in front of him and a green bar appears atop the monster.

[King Of The Depths - 34293/80000 HP] 

"Eighty thousand?!" Cha Eun screams but covers his mouth, trying his best not to catch the beast's attention. 

[<Cha_Eun_987 > - 193/250 HP - 100/100 MP]

"I can use one Fireball." Cha Eun slowly stands up, watching over his feet to make sure he doesn't make any unnecessary noise. 

[<Prince_Of_Light > - 12/9800 HP - 0/60000 MP]

The system read above Jae-neung's body.

The timer kept ticking down, but it felt like it was going slower and slower. Like time wasn't moving as fast as it had. 

Cha Eun looked around and all the exits were blocked or encased in flames. The only way to escape this situation was to fight, as flight was no longer an option. 

"Fireball!" Cha Eun shouts as he extends his hand outward, seemingly trying to cast the fireball and will it into existence. However, he seemingly stood there looking stupid as the only thing that was summoned from his palms was sweat. 

The beast turns around and points both of its eyes toward Cha Eun, focusing all of its attention on him.

"Shit!" Cha Eun lunges to the side just in time to dodge the massive tentacle that flies across the room towards him.

They rolled into a ball and crossed the barrier of flames, onto the other side of the train station.

The beast cries in pain as its tentacle is caught on a piece of metal rebar, the sharp edge mincing the monster's tentacle.

[-40 HP] A red panel appeared above the monster's tentacle, signaling the beast had lost health points.

"What the hell is this?" Cha Eun puts his hand up to his head, breathing heavily. He couldn't tell if this was real or a part of his insane imagination. From all he had read about people being blessed with their techniques, this wasn't an experience he had read about.

Cha Eun strikes his palm against his head to seemingly regain some sort of sense in his mind, making sure he hasn't gone completely insane yet.

However, the monster gave Cha Eun no time to think, charging through the cement walls of the subway station in search of Cha Eun. Cha Eun ducks out of the way as he maintains eye contact with the beast.

"Fireball!" Cha Eun extends his palm, yet again nothing comes out. "How does this shit work?" Cha Eun wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, hence he hit his back against the concrete pillar at a lethal speed. Due to the speed at which he hit the pillar, his head rocked back and forth, slamming his brain against his skull at breakneck speeds.

[-67 HP] 

Cha Eun coughs up blood onto the floor as he stammers, slamming his hands and elbow onto the ground to catch himself. His vision goes blurry and he starts to see double. 

His peripheral starts to flash red, signaling his heavy loss of health points. 

"Let me use my fucking fireball!" Cha Eun uses all of the force in his legs to propel himself upwards, leading with his fist up.

Although he had his eyes closed, he charged upwards in hopes of hitting the beast square in the face. 

[Critical!] 

His Hail Mary uppercut connected! His fist embedded itself into the beast's slimy skin, a fist-shaped marking permanently etching onto the glorified octopus' chin.

[-162 HP]

However, that uppercut couldn't finish off the beast's remaining health. As Cha Eun lunges upwards, the beast wraps its tentacles around his body and constricts him mid-air, stopping his attack prematurely.

Cha Eun stares the beast down in its eyes. He could make out his reflection in its lifeless and soulless eyes. He lay there, wrapped in the beast's tight grip as he came ever closer to the beast and readied himself to enjoy his feast.

[0:00]

"[Prism Of Light]!" Jae-Neung shouts across the subway station as a beam of light, as big as a train, whizzes past Cha Eun at the speed of light, completely evaporating the beast and turning it into ashes.