The air shimred with burning red letters, their glow flickering across my weapons. Sothing was happening. Perhaps the system had finally decided to lend a hand, realizing I’d never be able to retrieve those needles on my own.
I reached out, my finger trembling as I stretched it toward the light. The hesitation was brief; after all, there was nothing to fear from my own system, right?
My fingertip brushed against a soft surface, sinking halfway before a sharp sting shot through it, followed by a spreading warmth. Blood. The system had cut open. I tried to pull back, but my finger wouldn’t move, held fast as if the air itself had turned solid around it.
The letters on the system screen slowly burst into a dance, the chaos making my head spin. Until it all settled into a circle, turning slowly like a lock where my finger was the key.
I pulled again, and this ti the screen responded. Half of it slid open like a vault door. Inside stretched a void, dark and endless, like a fragnt of the cosmos itself. A faint red glimr shimred within that darkness, catching my eye. Ten needle-thin shapes floated in the distance, suspended far beyond my reach.
"Are those... my needles?" I breathed out, disbelief coloring my voice. "But how am I supposed to reach them?"
They hovered so far away I could barely make them out. I tried willing them to co closer, focusing until sweat trickled down my temples, but nothing happened.
"You’ve got to be kidding ..." The words slipped out, heavy with irritation. All I wanted today was a mont of peace, yet this damn system chose to toy with instead. "What do you want from ? At least tell what to do!" My temples throbbed as veins tightened beneath the skin, anger and frustration pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat.
"[I have detected your frustration, Host. Please ease your anger.]"
Out of nowhere, a robotic voice echoed in my head. It was familiar yet foreign, female, yet oddly human and gentle, like a mother soothing her child. That softness unsettled . Where did such care co from?
"Who’s there?" I whispered, glancing around, but the forest remained silent. Only the rustle of trees and the breath of wind answered .
"[Allow to show you how to use your powers.]"
The voice ignored my question completely, and before the last syllable faded, dizziness washed over . The world spun, twisting and folding until I felt myself being pulled sowhere else entirely.
When the motion stopped, I stood before the silhouette of a young woman. She looked like , every feature mirrored, but her expression was empty, devoid of even a hint of emotion. On the back of each of her fingers hovered an acupuncture needle, perfectly still, barely a milliter from touching her skin. The precision was flawless, a level of control I had never reached, even at my best.
"What’s going on here? Why do you look like ? Hello?" I waved at the figure, but her face stayed blank, unflinching. The silence pressed in, heavy and cold. When my patience snapped, I stepped forward to grab the needles myself, and that’s when everything went south.
She moved with the precision of a trained assassin, slipping to the side in one fluid motion, her body dropping low like a predator before spinning sharply on one leg. I barely registered the movent before pain exploded in my calf. The impact sent weightless, the world tilting as her image blurred into darkness above. My back slamd into sothing solid, the surface as hard as stone, though nothing should have been there, and the breath burst from my lungs in a rough gasp.
"Shit. How dare you?" Anger washed over . I shoved myself up from the ground and spun, but the double was gone. When I turned, she stood behind , her back to , perfectly still.
"Listen, you, give back my needles and we can call it a day!"
The words barely left my lips before I froze. I tried to point at her, but my right arm refused to move. For a mont, I thought my mind had failed to send the signal until I saw three crimson needles glimring faintly in the dimness, buried just beneath my skin. One in the wrist. Two along the fingers. They hadn’t even pierced deep, yet the entire arm hung lifeless at my side, as if it had been cut away from entirely.
I didn’t know what I felt first: rage, fear, or disbelief. All of it tangled together in a single breath. My thoughts spiraled in panic, then vanished the instant she turned her head. Those eyes... my eyes, yet not mine. Crimson like burning glass, staring straight through , cold and unblinking. For a heartbeat, I forgot to breathe. My heart didn’t whisper run, it scread.
This creature wasn’t . It wore my shape, my face, but there was nothing human behind it. This was a devil sculpted from stillness, perfection, and blood. And in that mont, I realized how beautiful true terror could be.
My left hand darted to tear the needles free, but the world betrayed again. My knees folded, and the floor of darkness rushed up to et . I swear it was only a second, a single blink, but the numbness was already spreading. My body no longer obeyed.
Is that how I was ant to fight? The thought echoed, distant and fading. How terrifying, to be defeated before I even understood. Not a single wasted motion from her. And now my back is bare, my heart exposed.
One strike and I am nothing more than a corpse. The thought tightened my chest, raw and cold. There was truly nothing I could do except wait, stripped of agency and at sobody else’s rcy.
And then sothing else kindled inside . My heart burned with a fierce, hungry wanting. I wanted to be that version of myself: silent, precise, a blade that ended a fight before it began. If I could master those needles, even Hera might one day kneel before . If I learned the right nerve, a single needle could be a death sentence. The image lit from within. My eyes flad with desire, and in the next mont, strength rushed back into my limbs.
"[Get up, it is ti for you to learn]"
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