god candidate?

[Ding! Condition has been met.]

[System awakening...]

Deep within his consciousness, a sudden notification flickered to life.

And it didn't stop...

[Dormant god genes have been awakened!]

[Host has successfully been selected as a god candidate.]

[Defeat all the other candidates! Become the god of this ruined world!]

The system announced, leaving Kieran deep in his thoughts. He could barely process what was going on.

All he could feel was the pain spreading through his entire body.

He was yet to die, but he could tell that he wasn't going to last much longer.

His eyes were foggy, and his surroundings dark.

He had been thrown into a realm gate, and he knew that, in no time, he would be surrounded by monsters.

'I've met the condition? Then what the fuck is my ability?! I have to go back and kill those bastards!' he thought, grinding his teeth as he withstood the pounding pain.

He dragged himself forward. He couldn't see properly, but the rage and anger burning in his chest pushed him on. He had to make those idiots pay for what they did.

And he had to pay her too!

'Miss Jane! That freaking bitch!'

The same name that once sent butterflies to his stomach now felt like a thousand maggots crawling up his skin.

He wanted to kill them. He wanted to make all of them pay!

[You have unlocked two hidden talents!]

'Two?' Now, this stole his thoughts momentarily.

Only now did he realize what even the others had failed to notice.

His mind went back to the orb, and a faint image appeared in his line of sight again.

He could see it.

[Kieran Marcoth]

[Talents: Hidden]

[Rank: SSS-ranked]

[Class: ???]

'The orb didn't write talent! It wrote talents!' The realization made his foggy eyes widen all the more.

But there was no time! What could his talent be? What could possibly save him from the fate of his near death?

The system answered the question for him.

[Ding! Host has unlocked summoning talent!]

[Talent description: Skipped]

Kieran was no idiot. He knew what a summoning talent meant. He had encountered it a lot of times, and, to say the least, he was really pained that he had obtained that talent in the first place.

Summoners were usually the worst class. Without their summons, they would be completely useless. Let alone fight—they wouldn't even be able to take care of themselves if they couldn't contract a beast.

'Were they right? Am I really usele—' He couldn't bring himself to such a stupid conclusion. Without a second thought, he gazed down at the next talent he had unlocked.

[10x Rebate Talent]

[Host has the ability to gain ten times the strength of any abilities that his summons have!]

Kieran felt his vision fading, but he still clung on. He didn't know how he had even managed to last that long.

It was as though the system was somehow holding him off from dying, which he found to be a bit strange.

'How could this possibly be of help?' Kieran thought to himself. At the moment, the two talents weren't talents that could save him from his current situation.

'Will I really die like this?' He wanted to resign himself to fate, but each time he closed his eyes, Frank's face flashed right in front of them.

The thought of letting the bastard live for even one more day was sickening.

He couldn't bear it.

But the system didn't look like it was out of its surprises.

[The stage has been set for the first summon.]

[Does the host wish to commence?]

'Yes!'

Kieran didn't think twice. If there was anything—anything at all—that could save him, then he was willing to take it.

[Blood ritual has commenced.]

[Finding immortal type!]

'Immortal?' Kieran thought to himself, confused. This was the first time he was hearing about immortals when it had to do with summoning.

'Weren't they beasts?' He wanted to check back on the skill description and see what was actually happening, but it appeared he could no longer do that.

[Type found.]

[Blood link forming.]

Suddenly, through his foggy eyes, he could see his blood glowing vibrantly with a deep shade of crimson.

The light was so bright that it seemed to pierce the boundless expanse of whatever place he was in.

A figure began to emerge from a bright red portal, shackled in chains. Vibrant red hair swept the earth as the figure emerged, slightly stunned by the new surroundings.

She had least expected to find herself in such a place after her rebirth.

And to find shackles all over her, tightly wrapping her...

Her brows furrowed as she took in her new surroundings, her gaze landing on a human, lying in a puddle of his own glowing blood.

Before she could make sense of what was happening, a pitch-black chain shot out from the boy—even he seemed shocked by it.

The chain shot straight into her chest, disappearing as though it had never been there.

She felt a sharp pain—something she had never once felt in her long years of living.

Kieran wasn't left out as well. He felt as though the little that was left of his life seeped out.

As though he came... Cough! Cough!

The pain he felt before was nothing compared to this. He felt as though his brain was being torn apart in two, his muscles threatening to rip out of his own flesh.

"Arrrgh!" Kieran shouted at the top of his voice. But it wasn't just him who felt this pain—

The figure standing about an arm's length away also felt it.

'This idiot of a human! How dare he try to contract me with such low god essence?!' Alexa gritted her teeth angrily, clutching her chest in pain.

Kieran's attempt to contract her was failing, and that was due to his low essence. Since he had already established a connection, if he died, then she too was going to die!

'Let him die! He'll know better in his next life. How can I serve this lowly being?' Alexa looked at Kieran's pain-writhing body with resentment in her eyes… however, there was a slight spark of uncertainty.

'I can't enter another cycle of rebirth... This time, I might completely lose my essence.' She gritted her teeth as the pain increased, blood spreading through the gaps of her teeth.

Kieran felt pain beyond his imagination—it was nothing like he had ever felt before.

'It's no use trying... I shouldn't have tried!' This pain was unbearable, mind-wrecking. He felt it would have been far better to die from Frank's beating than to die from his own failed attempt.

His vision finally blurred as he rolled backward.

But just then, in his unconsciousness, he heard a sweet voice—one that held a touch of divinity.

"Flames of healing."

He felt a sudden warmth embrace him, his strength recovering as though he had just consumed fifty energy boosters.

Every fiber of his body seemed to come to life.

And as his eyes fluttered open, they widened at the sight of the naked beauty in front of him.

"You bastard! I'll kill you myself!"