The Messiah Mainframe

"Atreas Ignis," he whispered.

A ball of blue fire shot out from his hand, its recoil thrusting him back

The ball blasted its target with a massive explosion, shaking the entire cabin... the entire section.

Gian opened his eyes, fatigue already creeping in. He focused on the flames, its blue light exposing the figure even as the mist shifted back into place.

The figure screamed, rolling on the ground in an attempt to shake the fire off.

'Fuck, my magic can't kill here.'

Gian grabbed his wand, his hands numb as the fatigue began to take full effect.

He got to his feet, rushing for the figure. As long as he maintained focus, his flames would not stop burning. 

One step. Two steps.

He fell to the ground in exhaustion.

A bolt of black tore through the air, burning the side of his ribs. He was bleeding, and the pain from the attack nearly knocked him unconscious.

'No. Not here! You begged for a second chance, this is it!' he screamed to himself, fighting through the pain... through the fatigue.

The attack had caused him to lose focus, but even with his flames snuffed out the figure still rolled on the ground in agony.

Gian used his fingers to pull him forward. And when his fingers gave up he used his chin.

"Get the fuck up!" the other figure shouted from deeper within the mist. Just then, a silver bolt broke through, nearly hitting that figure. "Fuck!" 

Gian focused forward.

He pulled out his wand once he hit the fallen figures body. It felt like it weighed a ton. He didn't care.

He thrust it into the figure's side. 

The figure screamed out, kicking Gian off. Blood spilled out of Gian's nose.

'Again!' He could feel his eyelids becoming heavier. He needed to end it now.

Another firebolt tore towards him. He flinched. However it hit the figure instead.

It was the others, they were behind him. This was his win, he just needed to claim it.

He struggled on top of the figure, all feeling in his legs gone. He felt around for the figure's eyes, and jammed his wand into it.

The figure screamed out, scratching and punching at Gian's face.

Another firebolt. This one hit both of them.

Gian let out a scream, his vision dimming.

'No! Don't close your eyes!' he shouted within.

He pulled the wand out of the figure's eyes, and jammed it in again. The screams were weaker this time.

Gian lost feeling in his hands.

So he used his mouth.

Again and again, he pulled the wand out and jammed it back in. Blood slowly soaked his face. He struggled to breath as it clogged his nose, but still he continued.

Even as his consciosness slipped away from him, the only thought on his mind was; 'Kill.'

As he lost all feeling in his body, and the loss of blood from his wound drained him of his strength; he saw a notification.

『Congratulations. Quest partially completed. One enemy slain.』

『1 gold coin has been awarded.』

'Finally...'

*

Gian, no... Feo, drowned in darkness for what felt like an eternity, unable to speak or move. He was trapped in a void with nothing but his thoughts.

Here he had come to a single conclusion.

He was dead.

The universe had offered him a second chance, and he'd blown it. His biggest regret was that he had only managed to learn a single spell... that he hadn't learned anything more complex or delved deeper into the science.

He died not knowing what could've been... died without reclaiming what had been stolen.

"Wake up," a voice called to him from deep within the void.

The voice was familiar.

It was... his.

"You only have a fixed amount of time here, now hurry and allocate your points."

He felt his conscious been dragged forward, as if something were pulling him up to shore from the dark depths of the ocean.

'Who... are you?'

Tendrils of light began to invade the void, until eventually.

A white haired boy, with blue eyes stood over him, a smug expression on his face.

"You."

The boy fixed his black suit. "Miss me?"

They were in a dimly lit room, with ancient stone walls. A massive statue stood at its centre, crimson blood dripping down from its outstretched hands.

"... the sanctum," Feo whispered.

The boy-in-black shook his head. "Not the sanctum, but something similar," he explained. "This is the system mainframe. This is where you grow stronger."

Feo looked around. The boy was right, this wasn't the sanctum. There weren't any tombstones around, and it was way smaller than the original.

"You took your sweet time stumbling about," the boy continued.

Feo sighed in relief. "I thought I-"

"Died?" the boy-in-black interrupted. "That would've been dissapointing."

"Anyway, I was serious about there not being much time left. Pull up the system interface, and convert the gold coin," he continued. "Unless you don't want to have a taste of the Messiah System's true power, of course."

Feo shook his head, quickly calling on the interface.

There was a new tab: 'coin conversion.'

He invoked it, and a red orb appeared into view; a small window right under it.

━━━━⊱༒︎ 『Coin Conversion』 ༒︎⊰━━━━ 

Current Manacore level: Red [First Ascension]

Manapool level: [0/20]

Arcane Knowledge Level: [0/20]

Unassigned points: 1

━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ 

"It's simple really," the boy-in-black explained. "Just pick which of the two you want to invest points in."

"But a warning. Investing too heavily in one while neglecting the other won't make a significant difference in your overall manacore level." He was talking fast now, Feo could tell that whatever time they had here was quickly finishing.

He had so many questions to ask; about the new world, about the new magic system... about where the boy had come from. But he knew now wasn't the time.

He selected the manapool option, and the red orb broke into six smaller orbs, each of a different color.

The boy-in-black stared at them with interest. "So you're in a world that serves Shalak, huh?" he whispered.

Feo studied the six orbs. He could tell at a glance that they represented the different elements; fire, air, water, earth, though the two additional ones were a mystery to him. Black and Purple.

With the only spell he currently knew being fire, naturally he chose the red orb.

The other dissapeared, and the orb zipped into his chest. He felt... warm.

『Manapool level has increased!』

『Fire based magic now has reduced mana costs.』

The boy-in-black nodded with a satisfied expression. "Just a million more and you'll be somewhat useful," he whispered, before shoving Feo back.

Feo tried to regain his balance, however the world quickly went black.

*

"Gian!"

"Gian, come on, stay with us."

Gian's eyes fluttered open. He was struck with an unbarable pain in his right rib. 

"He's awake."