As the darkened sky began to light up, Hiro woke up. Or more like he couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop hearing their screams, the sight of blood and the touch of flesh.
But he was able to get little rest, maybe due to aiko and karura being with him.
In the morning he opened his eyes felt the arms wrapped around him. And also wet?
He looked to his right and saw aiko, sleeping peacefully like a princess.
Then he looked to the left and understood what that wet feeling was.
Karura was sleeping with her head on his chest, drool flowing from her mouth and wetting his shirt and bedsheet.
He gently moved her head off of him and got up, slowly making his way out of his room and into the forested area of the estate.
'4:20. I can get some mana training in before daily quest.'
Taking a seat under one of the trees he closed his eyes and began practicing meditation for the next hour.
He opened his eyes and let out a long tired sigh at the notifications in front of him.
[Quest failure!]
[You have failed to complete the daily quest!]
[For the first failure, a penalty will be issued!]
[Penalty has been applied! All stats have been reduced to half! All skill effects have been halfed! All passive bonuses have been temporarily removed!]
[Penalty duration: 6:37: 31]
"Great, first the headache from yesterday and now this."
Hiro said in an annoyed and tired tone before pulling up his quest panel and sighed.
"Oh c'mon."
[Top of the food chain.]
[Become the No.1 fighter in the dead zone.]
[Rewards: Chained Rewards. (9%)]
[Penalty upon failure: Regressing to LV 1 ]
[Events: 1/10]
"I'm not going back their. I don't care if my level drops, I'll increase again."
Hiro declares, not caring if anyone heard him or not. He wasn't in the right state of mind and that was starting to show.
It was clear as day he had hit the rock bottom since even when [Gamer's mind] was active. His mental stability was too low and a certain spirit was trying its best to drag it lower.
"So you're gon run away again huh? Expected it from a coward like ya who ran away from that weak ass bastard."
Hiro remained silent. He was angry but not at akuma, but at himself as A small part of him agreed with akuma.
If the system hadn't appeared he probably would have kept his head down for the rest of his life.
But that's the difference now, he knew it wasn't a big set back to reset because the Penalty never entailed any other status regression.
His progress was safe omly his level would drop and he can use it as a opportunity to grow stronger.
[Would you like to decline the event quest?]
[Yes/No]
Hiro raised his hand to press the [Yes] but caught the glee that appeared on akuma's face from his peripheral vision and hesitated.
'Why does he look so happy all of the sudden? I thought he'd be angry about not being able to kill anymore.'
After hesitating for a few more seconds he made up his mind and clicked [Yes] but instead of the quest canceling it glitches and the screen went blank.
Hiro was confused and it increased manifolds when he heard akuma click his tongue in annoyance.
"Tch, Fuckin meddlesome bastard couldn't just let the bitch do it."
Hiro was reaching new levels of confusion but it morphed into surprise as the screen changed.
[IĮ̷̱̤̱̩̭͔̈́̂̏͊̀̾̏̈́̿ ̴̢̪̝͚͈̠̗̪̣̄̄̀̂̈́̏̋͘̕h̷̨̜̱̹̬̪̖̙͐̈́̆̔͒̀͑͜i̵̜̼̟͕̝̫̠̿͌͑g̶̨̧̲̗̣̩̭̙̩̀͂̇̐̋͘h̶̢͚̹̙͓͎͙̊͛̏l̴̗̖̳͔͎̄́́͋y̶͇͈͇̞̬̙̘̳̺̓͂̄̔͝ ̴̢͕̖̥͙͌̂̒̑̊̋̓s̷̠̯̹̥̳̣̫̍̀͊͑͝͝͠û̷̧͎̪̰̩͙̮͗̈́̇̂̈̒g̶͉̹̓g̶̘͎͆ȅ̷̫̖̄͆̆͝ͅs̸̛̛̲͍͈̼̝͕̥͗̈̀t̶̨̲̱̘̕ ̶̢̧̢͎̟̬̯̭̹̌̆̏̒a̶̭̥͗̀̇̆g̷̞̓̋á̸̲͔́̓̇̿̀̚͝i̷̜̹̺̥͎̭͖̋́ṋ̶̈́͂̀͑͝s̷̢̝̳̼̲̣̃̉͛̋̔͒͠t̶̙̀̀́̓̆̂̈̅͠ ̴̡̪̼͌͛̉̕͝͝d̵̥͇̯̩̟͈̙͈̬̄o̵̲͉͇̼̠̬͚̖̿̏̂̅̓̀̃̋͠i̶̭̙͈̝͗̀̐̚͜͝n̸̹͍͕̙̚ǵ̵̗̏̔ ̶̢̘̦̀̀̆̓͊͊̽͌̕t̷̨͚̄͛ḥ̷̤̼̜̖̑̒͗́̅̆̄͘͜a̴̟͎̗̞̞͈͍͐̆̽t̷͓̠̍͒̄̊̄́̈́͐͠ ̸̣̩̽b̸͓͈̫̰͕̖̲͐̋̎́̂̉ͅe̸̪̩͚̔̂͐̎͑̿f̶͇̬̔͌͆̅͒̉ǫ̸̨͈͚̩̲̉͋́͌͐̂̂̓̑ͅr̶͈̭̭̤̙͇̟̆̿̽̋̕e̵̳̐̇̾̕͘ ̸̧̫͒̋͜͝c̴̻̠̭̯̯͈͈̹͊̀͌̅̈́̀̾̐̚͜h̸̡̛̰̘͈̣̳̯̋͗͒̀͌̈́̿ͅê̵̘͔̼͍c̶̗̞̰̅͗͂̈́̿ķ̸̯̪̝̾̾̇̅͛͘͝i̴͇̭͔͉̅̓n̸̙̳͐̓͛̎̑͘g̶̡̛͓͍͗̓̈͂͠ ̸̩̰́̾̂ţ̶̰̳̺̒͐ḣ̵̪̦̂̆̾̿̔̾̂e̷̝̎͆̒̑̐ ̷͓͕͍͂͊̊͗͑c̸̦͚̰̖̑̈́̒̚ͅͅơ̶͎̘̝̯̼̺͉̇̆́̓̈́͘̕͜͝-̵̢̫̘͎̲̆͆͋̾̆p̶̡̟̟͙̒̅͗̓̐̀ĺ̸̻̫̫͙͇̼̓̾a̷̧̢̧̱̲͙̦̻͆ͅy̵̯̖̥̠̪̍̓̄͗̿̌ę̶̒̿͆̎r̶̜̅̃̆̌͜'̷̛̟̝̪͗̑̀̈͒̇̚s̵̼̣̦̼̦̝̰̱̍̓͜ ̶̛̹̫̘͔̲̞̀̆̅̈́̂̕͝͝s̵͙̞̹͇̓̽̀̐̚t̷͉͔͕̏ȃ̵̱͗̈́t̶̥̹̥̭̗̼͖̊͒͒͝u̷̥͖̩̰̰͊̿͐͂͊̈́s̸̰̱̎̔̌͝ ̸̧̡̙̜̪͚̫̮̗͐̈͐̓̉͠ḇ̷͉̙̹̈́͆̚̚ȕ̸͈̬̟̋̎̋́ḋ̵̤̠̊͆̈́͋͊͝d̸̫͓͇͎̼͍̾͐̇̄ͅy]
Hiro blinked once, twice and turned to stare at akuma with a baffled look who had floated over to him and looked equally as baffled as him.
They both stared back at the screen and spoke in unison, finally agreeing on something.
"The heck/fuck is this bullshit?"
Hiro, against his better judgment, begin to try and decipher what the blasted window was trying to say.
While he was stressing over the message, akuma decided to fly around the estate to cure his boredom and ended up in a large bathhouse.
Women's bathhouse to be precise. Right when the maids were cleaning themselves to get ready for everyday work.
In that moment, akuma closed his eyes, took step back and phased through the door and stood silently in the corridor for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"JACKPOT!!!"
While akuma was in heaven hiro felt like he almost plunged into hell.
He had finally managed to decipher the words and did as it said, pulling up the co-player status.
[Name: Akuma
LV: 5(09/500)
Title: Co-player
Origin: ---
Age:16
HP: 4770/4770
MP: 1,410/1,410
SP: 100%
STR:130(+)
SPD:118 (+)
END:153 (+)
SEN:140 (+)
INT:141 (+)
Grade: Pseudo fallen]
[Upon reaching a higher level then the player, co-player is allowed to switch main player status.]
Hiro's blood froze as the reason for akuma's excitement finally clicked. He had almost lost his body just because he wanted to decline a quest.
"So, ya figured it out eh? Shame, if it weren't for that fuckass window I would've already been in that bath house."
Akuma said. He had just floated out of the estate wall and immediately understood the situation from hiro's face.
"Man, this place got some fine ass, can't believe you never tried anything. Pretty sure they won't say no if you asked them."
He continued to speak after not getting any response from hiro whose eyes were covered by his hair.
"Heh, don't tell me you're too pussy? Or wait, could it be you enjoy getting cuc-"
[Crage up activated!]
BANG!
CRASH!!
Hiro's leg swung towards akuma's head but instead of impacting him, it phased right through and land on the tree behind him.
The bark shattered like glass and the wood splintered. Before long the tree had toppled over with a massive chunk of its trunk missing.
"Shut...up."
Akuma stared at the fallen tree and turned towards hiro with a gleeful smile.
"Heh, that's more like it."