'Holy…' I couldn't even form a proper thought as I watched the grotesque scene with wide eyes that were filled with shock and dread.
I couldn't tell if Buckley was still alive or not. 'He's definitely dead.'
He looked like he was dead.
I could have told Aika to stop. But I didn't. Why didn't I?
I don't know.
Maybe after everything I've been through, I wasn't in the right headspace. Maybe, I was enjoying it. Maybe I truly did want her to keep going, to punish him for his crazy behavior until the bastard couldn't rise again.
"Heuugh…"
I gagged, then swallowed the bile, suppressing the urge to throw up. Mentally, I was nowhere near strong enough for this sort of stuff. Not only was I not used to seeing things like this, but my mental health right now was trash.
The common room was dead silent, broken only by the innkeeper's screams and whimpers. No one had dared to interfere.
When Aika was finally done smashing Buckley's head in, she threw him to the floor.
At that moment, a series of messages appeared.
[EXP: +100]
[You have acquired 100 Karma points.]
[Available Karma points: 400]
One would think that since I had played the game, I'd understand the entire message, but no. While EXP was familiar, I had absolutely no idea what Karma Points were… though I had a suspicion.
My attention drifted from the screen to Aika, who stood at the counter, staring at her bloodied hands with her usual stoic expression. A few seconds passed before she tilted her head back and muttered, "Gosh, I need a smoke."
She turned to the innkeeper, who flinched and took a cautious step back. Aika simply reached out her hand. "…keys."
The innkeeper trembled, reaching out to place the keys in Aika's bloodied hand before immediately stepping back away from her.
Aika turned and began making her way to the stairs leading up. But then she paused, turning to where I was still sitting on the floor. "…you coming?"
"Oh… uh… yeah."
I shoved myself to my feet, my gaze sweeping over the inn. Everyone had almost the same stunned expression.
My gaze moved to Buckley on the floor.
Yeah. He's definitely dead.
I gagged at the horrible sight then immediately looked away and went after Aika who had already begun climbing the stairs.
A moment later, we got into our room.
It was a small, dimly lit room with a single bed and a table and chair in the corner.
I walked up to the chair then slumped on it. I was drained and exhausted. Come to think of it, ever since my transmigration, I haven't had time to adjust to this new reality. Instead, it's been one bad scenario after another.
"Don't do that again."
I looked up at the sound of Aika's voice. "Huh?"
"Unless you're sure that a situation is going to end in your favor, don't interfere. You have to understand that from the moment we bonded, your life doesn't just belong to you anymore. If you die, you know that I will die as well. So could you please think before you act."
"…"
Aika was right.
After a moment, I looked away from her and finally replied. "…yeah."
Aika sighed and walked up to me. Then she crouched down, reached out, and gently held my face to study the injury on my head.
Looking at her up close, I could tell why people would go crazy over her. I also noticed that her eyes had gone back to their usual striking blue hue.
"You'll be alright. It's just a laceration, nothing serious." She dropped her hand and leaned back slightly.
"…Right."
Aika then rubbed the back of her neck, slowly rotating her head.
"Anyway, I'll be going to sleep now. Don't call me out unless it's urgent."
She really put emphasize on the Don't.
Before I could say anything, her form began to dissolve into wisps of black smoke. The smoke didn't dissipate; instead, it flowed directly toward my arm, wrapping around it until it began to etch itself onto my skin. In a few breathless seconds, the remnants of Aika settled into a permanent, dark tattoo of a raven across my right arm.
'Raven? Is that her creature form?'
I tilted my hand studying the tattoo. The raven's wings were extended and the only part of it that wasn't in black, was its striking blue eyes.
Bonds really did look amazing even when I was just viewing it from my computer screen while playing the game. But seeing it up close now, it was not only really stunning, but also a bit… terrifying.
After studying it a bit longer, I let my hand drop to my sides, then leaned back on the chair.
With the sudden silence engulfing the entire room, I immediately sank into the flood of my own thoughts.
Now that I was finally able to find a proper place to rest, the reality of my situation was beginning to dawn on me.
I was no longer just playing the game Seraphim of Doom, I was now a character in the game.
The problem was, I had no idea, which character I was.
One thing I knew for sure was that I was not the main character. How did I know that?
Well, I played the game till the end and so I knew everything about the main hero, including his bond. And his bond was definitely not Aika.
In fact, not only did I not know any character who had Aika as a Bond, I hadn't seen or heard that name throughout the game.
Which begs the question.
Am I just some random NPC?
That thought made me shiver slightly. The difficulty of this game was hard even for the main character and other playable side characters. If I was just some random NPC, how the hell was I supposed to survive?
Come to think of it, I woke up in the arena as a slave instead of a noble, or a knight, which meant I was already doomed to die from the start. In fact, I did indeed die. If not for my bonded ability, I'd still be a corpse.
'My abilities… what are they?'
I straightened up. I still didn't know what my abilities were. Regardless of whether I was just some random NPC or a side character, I needed to find out what those awakened abilities were if I wanted to survive this game.
But…
'…How do I check them?'
At that moment, the air in front of me shimmered, and a message appeared, hovering in mid-air before me.
[Activating Gamer Privileges…]
Then, almost immediately, it blinked off and a status screen appeared in its place.
~~~~~~~~ UI ~~~~~~~~
Character Name: [Cedric Martini]
Age: [17]
Level: [9]
Grade: [1]
Element: [Darkness]
Exclusive Class: [Gamer]
Exclusive Class Attribute: [Gamer Privileges]
Bond Name: [Aika Soryu]
Bonded Ability: [Chrysalis]
Exclusive Skill: [Flames of decay - Lv1]
EXP: [500/10,000]
Karma Points: [400]
~~~~~~~~ === ~~~~~~~~