A roughly eight-foot bat-like creature lay before Halo. Its brown, decaying wings were wrapped gently around its body, and though Halo didn't have time to study it closely, he knew it was asleep.
His clone was exhausted beyond recognition, beyond saving, and the Sinners on patrol would return to their posts any moment. No one was around to help him now. He had to face this alone.
He walked toward the creature as if fear didn't exist. Without hesitation, his blade struck its neck, slicing clean through. He watched its warm blood spray across the ground, his face empty of emotion.
***
[ Congratulations! You've slain a Toddler Sinner! ]
[ You've received a Sin Fragment: Drowsiness. 5 /10 ]
[ Your agility has increased. ]
***
Halo dismissed the system without a moment's hesitation and turned toward the giant stone wall before him.
"Please… don't make me lose myself."
He muttered aggressively.
The last thing he wanted was to enter that castle. It would be his end. But now he couldn't see the blade anymore, only brownish liquid slowly seeping from the stone walls. Nothing extraordinary.
He stood there as his emotions gradually resurfaced and his hopes slowly declined. Their efforts had been a waste.
Then his eyes darted back to the brownish liquid, and his chest tightened, his body trembling with unease.
Dark Saint mentioned something about mucus. The mucus from a Forgotten Sinner!
She wasn't certain, and neither was Halo, but she believed it might be the answer. Though it looked nothing like a blade, Halo's interest sparked, and before he knew it, he was standing before the mucus.
"Oobleck. What if it is Oobleck?"
His voice was tinged with hope as he muttered. He reached the tip of his dagger toward the liquid, testing whether it would harden under enough pressure.
The instant the blade touched the brown liquid, his skin crawled, and a tremor ran through his entire body.
Everything around him, from the fouled air to the scorching sun above, seemed frozen in time for a moment, though he was certain it was all still moving.
He found himself frozen in place, helplessly tracking every movement around him.
The brown mucus pulled through the stone walls, seeping through invisible cracks. The portions that had already emerged withdrew and merged, forming an orb.
In the next instant, it shattered into perfect droplets that coated everything from his wrists to the tips of his daggers.
But within a second, the brown mucus vanished as though it had never existed.
Halo forced down his confusion as he watched everything return to normal, save for his hands and his daggers.
His wrists and dagger hilts were wrapped in tan-brown bandages, giving them a rugged, battle-worn appearance.
He clawed at the bandages, trying to tear them free, but it was as though his hands and daggers had been fused into one.
"What the fuck? It was glue?" His expression didn't fail to capture his genuine emotion this time.
But amidst his thoughts, the bronze screen appeared once more.
***
[ Congratulations! You've fulfilled your first purpose. You've retrieved the Magnus Blade: wielded by many, yet by none. You've retrieved the blade of survival. ]
[ This is a gift from the God of Death to the Shadow of Death. ]
[ The Magnus Blade is the embodiment of survival itself. Its power is born from the will to endure, the hunger to exist when all else fades. The more one grows, the deeper their understanding of life's struggle, and the sharper the blade becomes; until it holds the strength to cleave even the universe apart. ]
***
Halo stared at the screen for a moment, mouth hanging open, torn between relief and the urge to yell out his confusion.
Why would Death give him? It was death after all.
He sneered, but his attention shifted instantly. The Sinners were back on duty. He could hear the ones circling above begin to hoot, even louder than before.
He'd finally completed his first purpose. He'd have a few days off before the next one arrived, but he might miss it entirely if he lingered here much longer.
Without wasting a moment, he began skidding back down the hill, careful and steady.
In the middle of his descent, his screen disappeared and resurfaced barely a second later, but he dismissed it immediately.
He knew what it was, a Wish. There was a time limit on Wishes, but it had enough time for him to get to safety.
After how daunting his first one had been, he needed to reach safety before reading any sinister words.
This wasn't how he'd imagined his reward for fulfilling this purpose. Not a strange mucus that had mysteriously become bandages, gluing his hands to his daggers. Not a gift from Death. And most definitely not the fact that he'd still have to fight for his life even after succeeding.
Perhaps he knew very little about himself. Or maybe, the world had changed him enough.
Before long, he escaped the hill. The Sinners took their positions again while Halo hid in the building he and his clone had used before their final assault.
He had no intention of staying on Silent Hill until midnight, but something else demanded his attention first. He had to choose his wish before his thirty-minute deadline ended.
Wishes were dangerous, even from the game. Despite the name, they were more than just wishes. The system offered them as choices… two or more options meant picking one, and a single option meant no choice at all.
Refusing any Wish meant game over, and Saint had made that clear. He couldn't leave it unaddressed.
Halo exhaled.
'Wish?'
***
[ Wish: Option: 1 / 2 ]
I wish to learn a vital secret about this world.
| Yes | No |
Warning: 18 minutes to accept the wish.
***
Halo gulped.
He waited a few minutes, hoping the next wish would appear, but could only watch as his deadline ticked away.
He sighed and shook his head.
Halo understood his situation. He had to decide on this wish first, and his answer would impact both. Declining now would force him to accept the next one.
This was no different from the single options.
However, this wish had him thinking harder than usual. A secret about this world, the Lost World. Having this secret could be either his downfall or his salvation, and yet he couldn't help but lean toward choosing it.
He was certain the next wish would be something as stupid as 'I wish to never breathe again.' Stupid, but lethal. He wasn't going to risk it.
With a heavy breath, he chose yes, and the screen disappeared.
He focused on the Wish for a moment, hoping the system would reveal its secret, but no matter how long he waited, nothing came.
But Halo's journey wasn't over. He had to leave this abyssal land and head to Dark Saint. First, though, there were Sinners to evade.
Eagerness surged through him. He clutched the sack tightly under his arm as he wove past even his own shadow. One misstep and a higher-ranked Sinner would cut him down.
However, at the square where he and his clone had fought a Perverted Sinner, the two Sinners who'd continued the battle after they fled lay sprawled on the ground.
Halo expected them to be dead, but instead one bore deep wounds across its bodies that might never heal.
Staring at the gashes, he finally understood the strength gap between Perverted Sinners and ranks like Beast Sinners.
Yet despite the chill it sent through him, even these were stronger than the Toddler Sinners he'd faced.
If the Sinner had a Sin Fragment, then he was indeed going to get stronger.
He slew the octopus-like Sinner.