Penalty IV

Time passed by in the penalty world. In truth, it was quite a long time.

Still, Kai had no idea how long it had been. To him, it might've felt like just a couple of days, but in reality, it had been far more than that. Maybe years. He had lost count after he celebrated his second birthday in the lonely association building.

Luckily for him, he had managed to find the food reservoir of the Sorcerer's Association. That alone had kept him from starving to death.

So, he had spent his time eating whatever he could find, treating himself with whatever supplies he could scavenge from the medic unit- which wasn't much since the association made use of healer abilities. Drugs and medicines were only kept just incase there was no healer sorcerer available.

Kai's wounds never got infected—somehow, he got lucky there too—but healing was slow.

As the days bled into each other, he started regaining his strength. Bit by bit, he forced himself into a routine. He practiced his swings, drilled the basics over and over again. Preparing himself for the weeping slayer, just incase anything happened.

Still, the name haunted him.

Kai might have chosen what some might call the coward's way out, but atleast he was alive and well-ish...That was all that mattered to him for now.

But now, he was trapped. He spent his days holed up in the association building, avoiding her—avoiding the Weeping Slayer.

And that was the strangest part about his current scenario.

You see, the weeping slayer never moved.

Seated afront of the stairs of the association building with her legs crossed and her sword impaled into the ground beside her, she remained motionless. Watching and waiting.

It didn't matter if the seasons changed. Even if the winter howled through the streets, if the rain pounded against the earth, or if the summer sun blazed down mercilessly.

She stayed.Unmoved. Unfazed.

Her empty gaze never left the building...it never left him.

Nevertheless, Kai didn't return to the fight. He didn't dare. Not after his second near death experience.

He spent his time wandering the halls of the association. The building was massive, practically a mansion, but even a mansion would feel like a prison when you spent too long inside.

Most times, just for fun he'd spend his time reading his favorite webnovels and mangas. Other times, he just sat around, staring at nothing, scrolling mindlessly through the internet on his phone.

'At least there was still internet... that's still weird....and at least the power still worked.'

The world above carried on, normal as ever. Meanwhile, down here, it was just him and her.

As days blurred together. ..soon it got to the point that the thought it hit him.

He couldn't take it anymore.

The monotony. The waiting. The fear.

He was losing his mind.

The association building might've been been a safe Haven. But he needed more than that.

He just couldn't do it anymore. But there was only one way out. He had to fight her, or rather he had to land a single strike.

But could he? No matter how much time passed, he didn't think he had improved enough to even touch her. And that thought weighed on him like a boulder.

Kai sighed, sitting on the ground. A half-drunk bottle of whiskey rested beside him. He wasn't drunk. He hadn't even been drinking much. He just held the bottle absently, drowning in frustration.

"So many unanswered questions in my life...and now, I end up here."

With a deep breath, he raked a hand through his hair and stood up.

"This damn system." he muttered.

"I thought it was a plus for me...but it only ruined my damn life."

In truth, he had expected the worse from the system- irrespective of the system's he had read about in his webnovels- but, he never thought it would trap him like this.

He could've spent all this time doing anything else—watching TV, skating down some steel-ridden floor, living normally in his new found comfortable life.

But no. He still had a goal- To spite all those who felt that he didn't deserve to live, just because he was weak.

And to do that, he needed to unlock his mana, and begin his journey to becoming the strongest sorcerer of all time.

Inorder to accomplish that, he needed the academy's training program. And that was back in his original world.

Still, here he was. Stuck.

He had trained for this. He had practiced, again and again, preparing for the day when he'd be strong enough to face her.

But if he never manned up, that day would never come, logically.

Maybe, he would have thought it through, normally, but at this point, Kai was tired of it all.

"Is this all in my head? I've been training for so long. I'm better than I was back then...except for my burns."

He might have felt a tad bit stronger, but he didn't believe it.

'C'mon! I've been through worse. I'm the lone survivor of an Eternal Class raid. So why...why the hell am I hesitating now?'

His grip tightened around the whiskey bottle.

'I need to level up. I need to become stronger. That's what I wanted...right? So how the hell am I supposed to do that if I can't even face a damn Seeker Class Devil?!'

At first, Kai scrawled in annoyance but soon, after a few moments, the thought hit him.

The system had done nothing but screw him over time and time again. And yet... It had been created for a purpose. To make him stronger. Which meant—

It believed he could pass this test.

'Hmm...That's right. Regardless of what happens, the system can't actually choose to harm me. It gave me this penalty knowing my class...so it must have believed I could complete it. So, could this be some kind of test to level up?'

His fingers clenched into a fist as he abruptly dropped the whiskey bottle.

'Yeah. That has to be it. Or maybe I'm just sick of staying in this lonely as building.'

Relieving a sigh, he walked down to the lobby, towards the front entrance of the Sorcerer's Association.

On reaching it, Through the glass doors, he could still see her.

She was still there.The Weeping Slayer.

Seated in the same spot under the morning sun.Motionless. Waiting.

Kai stared at her and She stared back, her cold, hollow eyes met his. And a loud gulp sounded from his throat as doubt crept into his mind.

'You know...maybe I'm not really capable of landing a hit on her? I should probably just take a few more days to think it over before I make a decision I'll regret.'

He swallowed. Falling to his doubt.

But then, before he knew it, his fingers hovered over the handle.

'Huh...even my body wants to get it over with...damnit... I don't wanna do this...' he took only a moment to think to himself, and atleast he let out a reply.

"...Fuck it."

He pushed the door open and gust of wind rushed past him, carrying the scent of rain and burnt asphalt.

One step forward, then another. And soon, the final step at the entrance stood before him- The last thing separating him from her. The Weeping Slayer who hadn't moved an inch.

She just watched, expressionless, waiting for his decision...to leave the premises and recommence the battle, or to cower away as he had always done.

Kai took once last deep breath.

And then with regret etched on his face—

He stepped forward, stepping upon the ashen asphalt.

And once again, the Penalty Battle had resumed!

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