---
[An Ergency Task has been created!]
[Task #1]
[•Objective - Escape from the building.]
[• Ti remaining - 5:30 minutes]
[• Reward - ???]
[• Failure to reach outside within the given ti will result in your death.]
---
The system screen hung suspended before his eyes, pulsating with a soft cerulean glow.
Staring at the slowly ticking clock, Lucian sighed. His back rested against the rough, bloodied wall of the hallway, his eyes half-shut.
Ti was slipping out of his grasp like sand, yet Lucian was unable to understand what to do.
No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t leave the place. The creature system warned him about, also revealed itself, toyed with him, and vanished into thin air.
He had no powers to back his strength. The system did not reward him with anything extraordinary. And the one he was supposed to escape from, toyed with him.
If anything, Lucian felt more humiliated than ever. It wasn’t the first ti he had been looked down upon, but it was the first when he did not possess any hidden cards.
"Just 5 more minutes... I’ll be dead after that..." He muttered in a low voice, shutting his eyes completely.
Lucian didn’t wanna accept it, but he couldn’t exactly refuse it either. Although bitter, it was after all, the truth.
He had lost his hopes, since dying with unfulfilled hopes would hurt more.
"So I’ll die on the day I was about to be free," his lips curled into a bittersweet smile, "How nice..."
"Death doesn’t sound as bad either... It’s a kind of freedom after all..." He tilted his head back and rested it against the wall.
Lucian had accepted his death, since there was nothing else he could do.
"aningless attempts would only hurt more. I’d rather spend my last minutes reminiscing about my life." He said as he opened his eyes, blank and void.
Staring towards the wall ahead, his mind dozed off into a world of its own. A world full of small bubbles that contained the precious monts of his life. He visited his every mory, each embued in a soft golden hue.
Happy or sad, delightful or regretful, he enjoyed each mont of his life and relived it.
Then, he ca across a bubble that looked different than others. While the others were painted in the golden light of life, this mory particularly, was tainted in a lifeless gray tone.
Lucian ca across it, and stopped. He neither touched it, nor went closer. He simply looked at it mournfully.
After several monts, his lips curled into a genuine smile. A smile that represented both happiness and regret. A painful delight.
He opened his eyes and saw his vision blurred, coated in a wet layer. He raised his hands and softly rubbed them over his cheeks, wiping the small streams of his regret. Then, he wiped tears off his eyes and and looked at his slightly numb hands, trembling.
"I’m sorry..." He whispered, his voice wavering in a mix of overwhelming emotions. Then, he widened his smile and continued, "I had... Forgotten our promise..."
He then placed his hands over the wall behind and pushed himself forward. Lucian stumbled a bit but soon regained his balance. Looking towards the way that led to the main gate, his gaze sharpened.
"Man, I can’t even die now." He said loudly, almost as if announcing to himself.
With a confident grin playing over his face, Lucian launched himself towards the way.
One after another, each step pushed himself further and increased his speed. He didn’t want to die any longer. After all, he had no intentions of breaking his promise with—
*[Ding!]*
Lucian’s eyes darted to his left, as he saw a new System window materialize out of thin air.
---
[Hidden conditions have been t!]
[You have overco Death!]
[Your dormant innate elent of creation comnds your will power and accepts you as its rightful creator and owner!]
[Assimilation has begun!]
[Assimilation rate - 0%]
---
Then, another screen appeared right beside the previous one.
---
[The final piece of the puzzle has been found!]
[The System has been permitted to initialize the ergency ailnt!]
[Initiating imdiately...]
[...]
[Congratulations! You have gained a new passive skill — Perception (F)!]
---
Lucian’s eyes began to glow in a bright luminous glow. It didn’t blind him, but the world around him. Everything went blank and all he could see was the bright white light.
But the next instance, the white light faded away. The world beca normal and nothing seed to have been changed.
Lucian gaze flicked from wall to wall, scanning each and every corner thoroughly.
At first, he didn’t see anything out of place. Every crack in the walls, the bloodied marks and the sharp outlines of doors and bricks — everything seed just fine.
Yet, he did not stop there. With slow and deliberate steps, he walked towards a single direction while scanning the area throughout.
After a few seconds, Lucian eyes darted towards a faint mysterious light emanating from a wall. His eyes slightly widened as a thought ran through his mind like a declaration.
’Bingo!’
The next mont, he imdiately relaxed his body and acted normal. It was abrupt but necessary for his survival.
"It is safe for to assu that ’He’ is watching from sowhere. As such, it’ll be foolish of to show him that I’ve found the way out." He whispered under his breath, his eyes fixated over a small cerulean rectangle shimring over the wall in front.
But then again, ti was constantly slipping out of his hand. Lucian had to move quickly, or else he’d die anyways.
After a few minutes of feigned disdain, Lucian rolled his eyes to the corner and looked at the small system screen to the left.
---
[Ti Remaining - 10 seconds]
---
His gaze sharpened with a sudden surge of power as he quickly set his foot over the wall behind, and pushed himself forward with all the power.
His left hand reached out, almost as if trying his best to reach the wall the quickest.
Strike the enemy when he expects it the least — that was the plan that Lucian was following. Of course, it ca with a variety of risks. But he neither had the privilege to choose, nor the ti required to think sothing anew.
In his case, Lucian found it ideal to move in the last 10 seconds, as it was the only ti when "it" would’ve lowered its guard completely.
Although, even with that, he didn’t plan to escape unscathed.
*Squelch!*
A wet snap echoed behind him — the kind that made his spine crawl. Then ca the rough and untad growls.
Lucian widened his eyes, as he understood that it had realized his acts.
A sharp pain jolted in his left shoulder, palpitating violently. His eyes darted towards his left hand and widened in shock.
’I-It’s not there...!’
His left arm had been sliced cleanly. Hot blood sprayed across his face. His body refused to register the loss — until the agony hit like a hamr.
Without a doubt, it was painful. But Lucian did not have the luxury to groan over his pain. That was, if he wanted to escape alive.
Even though he could not see it, Lucian could vaguely feel a pair of predatorial eyes staring at him pitifully.
Even with his arm gone, Lucian’s gaze did not falter. He continued to run straight forward. The ti on the other hand, simply continued to tick down before his eyes.
---
[Ti Remaining - 7 seconds]
[...]
[Ti Remaining - 6 seconds]
---
The creature behind, slowly raised his hands to his head’s height and launched both of them ahead, aiming for Lucian.
At the sa ti, Lucian quickly extended his right hand forwards and pushed himself further for the last ti.
The creatures shadowed claws descended quickly, while Lucian’s final lunge only pushed him further.
---
[3 seconds...]
[2...]
[1...]
---
At the last mont, It’s claws were touching Lucian’s jackets, while Lucian’s finger tips were rubbing against the cerulean box of light.
The clock suddenly stopped, and so did everything else.
Lucian’s vision suddenly darkened as he lost his consciousness in an instant.
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