A Second Chance at Destiny

A shriek of blood tore the blackness of the bed.

"No! Don't kill me!" Azul shrieked in horror, huddled upright in the bed, drenched in cold sweat from head to toenails. Her breast rose and fell at a pace that would have greened a bellows with envy as she gasped, her heart beating like a war drum against the confines of her ribcage. She hadn't walked ten miles, or at least not that she felt, but her feet remained fixed in the place where she'd begun.

It had been too real. The fear, the desperation, the asphyxiating sense of despair—the same which had hunted her during her last few moments when she had met her death. The naked fear of betrayal still clung to her like a second skin, strangling and inseparable.

She finally forced herself to look around, her raving, terror-struck eyes scanning the room, hoping against hope for some excuse—something—for fiddling with fate.

The light of the night lamp, the golden glow, the whir of the ceiling fan, a gentle tune, the fragrance of lavender from her pillow.

This was her bedroom.

A wave of confusion swept over her. Her room? How did this happen? Her memories were tangled in merciless fists, the glint of a rusty blade, the metal flavor on her lips. Her known world was desolate, and here she was, comfortable in the haven of familiarity of her own past.

Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed out into the familiar but faraway world. How? She'd been surrounded—overwhelmed by hungry survivors who needed to survive and turned against her with hunger and madness. The cold steel of a gun had brushed the side of her throat. She was to be dead.

And yet she sat here, in her old bed, in a world that no longer should be.

There was a stifling silence that hung in the air, only broken by the tick of her bedside alarm. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Her hand shook as a horror-filled wave of realization crashed into her mind.

She fought ferociously for her phone, scrambling towards it to turn it on. The screen flickered to life, casting an eerie light upon her deathly pale complexion.

[July 31st, 2019 – 03:42 AM]

Her eyes pinched, her brain blank for a second.

July 31st, 2019.

Three months prior. Three months prior to when the virus had devastated the globe, starting the apocalypse. A year after the virus had broken out, alien portals had rent space asunder, and abominations beyond human imagination poured in. Horrific and blood-sucking monsters had streamed out, their very presence distorting reality.

And human.

Humans had been awakened from their slumber. Powers, capacities, the ability to resist—everything was changed. The very earth that beneath the world had been shattered and its workings had been wound up tighter than anyone could have ever conceived.

Azul held her phone in her hand, gasping for air.

Regression?

She had read this in comic books and books before—heroes rewound in time before catastrophe could strike them. Those were fantasies, however. Could it actually happen?

A combination of shock and exhilaration ran through her.

She was home.

The shattered world, the desperation of surviving minute by minute, the ache of existing as nothing but just another existence to be discarded—it all became a thing of the past. Destiny had granted her a second chance.

This time, she would not be a marginal character left behind. She would not be shoved into the margins of others. She would establish her own legend. She would ensure that her name would be etched in history. She would no longer be under the whim of destiny.

And as she was attempting to hatch up a plan—

Ding!

A metallic ring of cold echoed in her head, and she stiffened.

[Host found! Binding to the Maximizer System…]

[9%].

[45%].

[90%].

[99%].

Ding! Bound to system successfully.

Azul's jaw had dropped in shock.

A system?

One of the new tropes she had ever heard of. But, why did she possess one? Were systems for super heroes selected by the world to be granted such powers? Did she meet the criteria?

She shook her head, chasing away the unwanted thoughts.

Curiosity was evoked in her mind. She had to try it out.

{Hello, System.}

[Ding! Maximizer System. The Host can slay monsters for points, and points can be used for skill level increase, equipment level increase, and ability level increase.]

The excitement of Azul was interrupted for a while.

Kill monsters?

She furrowed her brow. There were no monsters today in the world. The world was not so going to end.

Then—

Ding!

A new message came before her, and her heart missed a beat.

[Ding! Calculating how many monsters the Host slew…]

[DING! Calculation complete. The Host slew about 10,000,000 F-rank monsters.]

Her head short-circuited.

What?

Her? Ten million monsters?

Unpossible. There were no monsters yet!

Was the system malfunciton?

[Ding! The system is not broken. It is only showing the amount of monsters the Host slew in her past life within ten years.]

Azul stopped dead.

Her past life…

Right. She had lived for 10 long years in this devastated world. Although but a miserable E-rank Hunter, she had lived, survived from day to day, killed hundreds of monsters only to live to see the next dawn.

And now...

The system caught all that.

She waited. That would be—

"System, my score?"

 ""

[Ding! The Host earned 10 million points.]

Azul's heart nearly popped out of her throat.

10 million points???

She was shocked for a moment. Book heroes would work day and night to stand a chance at earning several thousand points. And she could play with millions before the end of the world even properly began?!?

Her face gradually cracked into a grin. This was it. This was her ace in the hole.

If she played it correctly, she wouldn't just make it through this turn—she'd be queen for certain. Apocalypse would be as green with envy as the space suit.

Her resolve freshly ignited, she snarled out in a hating voice:

"System, open the system panel."

Blackness yawned open to her eyes.

---

 [Maximizer System]

Host: Azul Valtieri

Rank: Unawakened

Points: 10,000,000

Skills: [NONE]

Equipment: [NONE]

System Store: [Available](Click to open)

Fists were balled on Azul's hands as despair coursed through her.

She wasn't going to be a hopeless survivor grasping for crumbs this time.

This time—

She wasn't going to be secondary to another,

She was going to be the apocalypse.