The first thing Zen noticed wasn't the smell of burnt motor oil or the loud buzzing of the neon sign outside his window. It was the emptiness inside his chest. He felt like a part of him was missing.
For a man who had spent his life with an energy core that shone like a sun, the hollow void behind his ribs felt like a death sentence. He tried to reach for a spark of his power but there was nothing.
"Ugh " Zen groaned, struggling to sit up. His arms shook, feeling weak.
Suddenly a clear blue screen appeared in front of his face.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
Zen blinked, struggling to focus on the floating text. "System? What kind of magic is this?"
[PROBABILITY SYSTEM LOADED]
[Synchronizing with Host Soul... 100%]
[Temporal Displacement Calculated: 500 Years, 4 Months, 12 Days.] [Welcome back, Emperor Zen Arclight.]
[Welcome back Emperor Zen Arclight.]
[Answering Query: This is a logic-based interface from the fragment of the Void Singularity you tried to seal. I calculate the likelihood of outcomes based on environmental variables, your host's memories and your ancient knowledge.]
"Right. A voice in my head that does math," Zen said, rubbing his head. "Wait. Five hundred years? You're telling me I've been dead for five centuries?"
[Affirmative]
A headache suddenly forming behind his eyes as memories that didn't belong to him flooded his brain. "Why do I feel like I've been trampled by a dragon?"
[Current Body Status: Malnourished. Chronically Fatigued. Mana Core: 98% Shattered.]
[Host Name: Zen Arclight.]
[Rank: Low F-Rank.]
[Mana Leakage Rate: 0.5 Units per hour.]
Zen looked around the small metal room. The walls were rusty. On the floor there were empty energy drink cans and packets of Mana-Ramen. A holographic screen on a desk was flashing a red warning light.
He forced himself out of the bed wobbled over to the desk and tapped the blinking icon.
The screen came to life, displaying the current date in the top right corner: Year 500, Post-Singularity Era.
Zen shook his head. The System wasn't lying. Five centuries had really gone.
"Debt?" Zen read the main message on the screen. "Forty-eight missed payments? Total balance: 450,000 Mana-Credits?"
[Analysis: At your projected income you will pay off this debt in exactly 142 years.]
"Shut up," Zen said, leaning against the desk. "What happened to the world? Where are my... Where are my Pillars?"
[Accessing Global Network: 'Goddess-Eye' (GE).]
The terminal screen shifted. The red debt warning disappeared and was replaced by a live news feed. The old world of stone castles and carriages driven by horse he knew was gone. Now, all he could see was neon, steel and high-tech magic.
The screen showed a live broadcast from the centre of the Ares Domain. A massive statue made of black obsidian and gold towered over a city of millions. It was Valeria.
She looked almost the same as she did on the altar five hundred years ago, just colder and crueler. She was wearing a highly advanced military military armour.
"The Goddess of War has cleared the Rank-S Fracture Zone in the Northern Wastes," a news anchor announced. "Once again, the Vanguard protects us from the ancient rot. All praise the Five Domains."
Zen stared at the screen. "They really did it. They broke the world and rebuilt it into a magi-tech dystopia."
[Probability of Valeria recognizing your current mana signature if you stand within 100 meters of her: 99.8%]
[Probability of her imprisoning you 'for your own safety' immediately upon discovery: 100%]
Zen closed his eyes and let out a dry laugh. "So let me get this straight. I'm an F-Rank loser with a broken body. I'm swimming in debt. And I'm living in a world owned and controlled by my five insane ex-lovers who will lock me in a cage if they find out I'm alive."
[Correction: You are also currently in physical danger.]
"Excuse me?"
Suddenly a small device implanted behind Zens ear beeped. It was a cheap comms-link.
"Zen! Zen, are you awake, man?!"
The voice was frantic and filled with panic. Zen sifted through the host's memories. Jax. He was Zen's friend at the Ares Military Academy. A Low E-Rank student on the Aegis Path who was scared of his own shadow, but very loyal.
"I'm awake, Jax," Zen replied. "Why are you screaming in my ear?"
"Because Kaelen is in your building!" Jax yelled. "He's heading straight for the Scrap Dorms!"
"Kaelen?" Zen frowned, searching the host's memories again.
Kaelen Thorne. A Mid-B Rank noble student. He ran an illegal loan-sharking ring for the lower-tier students and had "accidentally" shattered Zen's core during a sparring match when Zen couldn't pay his weekly interest.
"Yes Kaelen!" Jax sounded like he was about to cry. "Today is collection day, Zen! You didn't answer your terminal messages. He's coming to break your legs! Or worse, he'll sell your organs to the Sanctum Domain!"
"Calm down, Jax," Zen said, his tone flat.
"Calm down?! How can I calm down? You owe him a fortune! Hide in the vents! Lock the door! I'm looking at the dorm's security feed right now. He just got off the elevator on your floor!"
"Thanks for the heads up, Jax. I'll handle it."
"Handle it?! Zen, you have a shattered core! You can't even lift a training sword right now! Zen? Zen!"
Zen tapped the comms link to mute his panicking friend.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway. They stopped directly in front of Zen's metal door.
"Zen! You trash! Open up!" Kaelen's voice barked through the metal, followed by a kick that shook the door in its frame. "I know you're in there. Those Mana-Credits won't pay themselves back, and my interest rates just went up!"
"System," Zen whispered. "What's the probability of me winning a physical fight against him right now?"
[Calculating...]
[Target: Kaelen Thorne. Mid-B Rank (Aegis Path). Highly durable. Aggressive.]
[Host: Low F-Rank. Broken core. Low muscle density.]
[Probability of victory: 0.00002%.]
"I've worked with worse," Zen murmured, looking around the room for a weapon.
"I'm giving you three seconds, Arclight!" Kaelen yelled, pounding his fist against the door. The metal actually dented inward. "One!"
Zen grabbed a heavy, rusted metal pipe resting near the broken radiator.
"What if I use Primordial Void Breathing?" Zen asked the System. "Just a quick burst to enhance my speed."
[Warning: Using ancient S-Rank breathing techniques with your currently shattered core will result in 80% physical tissue damage. There is a 40% chance of immediate cardiac arrest.]
"Two!" Kaelen roared. The door hinges began to scream as he applied magical pressure to the lock.
"Cardiac arrest," Zen repeated, dropping the rusted pipe. "Right. So fighting is a guaranteed loss or a heart attack. Good to know."
"Three! I'm coming in you rat!"
CRASH!
The lock gave way, and the heavy metal door flew open.
Kaelen Thorne stepped into the room. He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a custom-made expensive version of the academy uniform. His hands were glowing with golden Aegis mana. Two large cromies stepped in behind him, cracking their knuckles.
"Time's up, Arclight," Kaelen sneered, stepping fully into the cramped room. "Let's see how much your remaining kidney is worth on the…"
Kaelen stopped. He blinked.
The room was completely empty.
The rusted desk was there. The lumpy bed was there. But Zen was gone.
Kaelen's eyes darted to the side of the room. The grimy window was wide open and the tattered curtains were flapping in the wind of the Ares Domain.
"You've got to be kidding me," Kaelen snarled, rushing to the window and looking out.
Three stories down, Zen was sliding down a rusted exterior cooling pipe. The friction burned the skin off his palms, and every muscle in his weak arms screamed in agony, but he didn't stop.
"Get back here, you coward!" Kaelen yelled from above. He aimed his hand downward and fired a ball of golden mana.
Zen let go of the pipe just as the energy blast hit the metal above him, showering him in sparks. He dropped the last ten feet landing hard in a pile of wet cardboard and industrial garbage in the alleyway.
Pain shot up his legs. He rolled onto his side, coughing as the stench of the alley filled his lungs.
He looked at his scraped bleeding hands. "System," Zen wheezed, "This body is pathetic."
[Affirmative. Your physical durability is exceptionally low. You suffered a minor sprain in your left ankle from the fall.]
Zen got up from the garbage leaning against the cold brick wall of the alley.
He could hear Kaelen yelling curses upstairs, ordering his goons to go down the stairs.
Zen turned on his comms-link.
"Jax " Zen whispered, breathing heavily.
"Zen! Oh thank goodness you're alive! I saw him break your door on the feed. Where are you?"
"I'm in the alley. I need a place to hide. Somewhere the academy guards and Kaelen's guys won't look."
"Okay, okay, let me think," Jax said. "You can't go to the commercial district; you don't have enough credits for a toll pass. You... You could go to District 7. The slums."
"What's in District 7?"
"It's rough, Zen. Mostly scrap yards and illegal car repair shops. There's also an active Grey Fracture Zone there, The 'Iron Scrap Yard'. The Vanguards' military police usually stay clear of the edges unless there's a monster outbreak."
Zen looked at his shaking hands. If he wanted to survive Kaelen, and eventually survive the five women who broke the world, he couldn't stay an F-Rank civilian. He needed raw mana to repair his core. And the only place to get unregulated mana without raising alarms was inside a Fracture Zone.
"System," Zen thought. "Probability of me finding Heart-Stones or blood-mana to repair my core in the Iron Scrap Yard?"
[Calculating... The Iron Scrap Yard is an unmapped low-tier zone. Probability of locating core-repair materials: 64%.]
[Probability of survival upon entering alone: 12%.]
"Jax " Zen said, pulling his hood up over his head. "I'm heading to District 7."
"Wait you're going near the Zone? Don't do anything stupid, Zen! Just hide in an abandoned building! You don't have weapons or armour!"
"I don't have a choice," Zen replied. "Keep watching Kaelen for me. Let me know if he leaves the dorms."
"Zen wait…"
Zen cut the feed. He stepped out of the alley and blended into the crowded, neon-lit streets of the lower city. He was weaponless, broke, and bleeding.
But as he looked up at the massive holographic billboard of Valeria hovering in the sky, a sharp, familiar imperial pride flared in his chest.
"You wanted me to stay, Valeria?" Zen whispered to the giant image of the Goddess of War. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere until I take back exactly what belongs to me."
He pulled his jacket tighter and walked into the shadows. It was time to hunt.