Omnix: Celestial system

Chapter 5: Host found

The hunters fought bravely, dealing a lot of damage to the monster, until they lost yet another hunter. However, at least the monster had visibly reduced in speed and strength.

"Just a little more, and we can get out of this freakish hellhole," they all thought.

As Hal went in for another strike, the monster suddenly raised its already damaged wings and swung at him. He managed to slightly tilt his body backward but still got stabbed right underneath his heart.

"If it had been any bit higher than that, I'd be dead by now," he thought as he spurted blood out of his mouth.

The monster swung him away and he ended up getting thrown beside the chair made up of metallic scraps.

"Hal! Hal!"

He had an urgent voice call him and looked up to see the worried look of Freya running towards him.

"Freya? What are you doing here? I thought I told you to run."

She knelt beside him while quickly trying to heal him.

"I couldn't, I just couldn't"

He looked up at her and smiled.

"Freya, ever so kind, even trying to heal me at this time," Hal thought.

It was because of this that he couldn't let her die here.

He assumed a position that would enable him to see the fight going on in front of him and could see Mister Heights and another hunter battling the monster.

"They seem to have won the fight," he thought as the monster could be seen swaying from side to side.

As if as a last-ditch effort, the monster raised one of its hands and fired out five of its claws before falling.

This took everyone by surprise. Mister Heights was quick enough to dodge it but the other hunter wasn't that lucky.

The claw pierced his stomach and he let out a painful cry as he fell.

Hal looked up and could see three of the claws headed their way

"Get down, Freya," he shouted, but she was too slow to react.

She mustn't die here he thought again.

Therefore, gathering all the strength left in him, in his legs, he threw himself in front of her.

Puchi, puchi!

The claws stabbed through him, two piercing his stomach while the other one lodged itself right in his heart.

Thud.

"No!" He heard Freya scream.

"Ah, so this is how I die, huh?" Hal thought.

A weak pathetic life he had spent as a rank E Hunter. Worst of all he didn't even get to have his revenge on those damned monsters.

"Fuck!" He screamed in his head; if only he could get a second chance, he thought, but at least he got to be useful for once in his pathetic life, and helped someone when it mattered.

As he was closing his eyes, a blue screen suddenly appeared in front of him with words written in white.

"What in the name of the blights is this?" He thought.

[Potential Host found]

[Do you wish to accept? If you do so, you will get an opportunity]

[Yes] [No]

[You have 10 seconds]

The moment he read this, he could see the timer counting down.

"Host? Opportunity?, What was this thing talking about."

Hal couldn't understand any of that.

"Wait, scratch that. Where the heck did that voice come from?"

[You have 5 seconds]

"Sounds like I'll be given an opportunity....but an opportunity at what?"

When Hal seemed to hesitate and didn't answer, the voice which seemed to be coming from his head said again as if to urge him on.

[Your heart will stop working in 2 seconds]

[Yes] [No]

'"Ahh, well I'll be damned"

"You might just as well give it to me already, then. After all, I'm dead"

There was no need to utter anything at all. He simply thought about it in his head. Still, the female-like voice replied to him almost immediately.

[Congratulations, Hal Rodgraim, you have been chosen by the system. With the help of the system, you can realize your dream. You will be given quests that have been programmed by the system. Every time a quest has been completed, you will level up! The more you level up, the higher your rank gets upgraded!]

A blinding light suddenly flashed in front of his eyes and with that, he lost consciousness.

******

Hal opened his eyes.

He saw a white ceiling, and his nose stung from the odor of disinfectant. He also felt the sensation of a hard mattress against his back.

Hal immediately recognized where he was.

'A hospital?'

But what was he doing in a hospital? Wasn't he dead, or was this some kind of procedure in the afterlife before one could cross over to peace?

He pulled away the blanket covering him and loosened the buttons of the shirt he was wearing to take a look at his body.

"No bandages, not even a scratch," He thought.

His body was as normal as usual.

He placed his hands on his chest and he could feel the vibrations coming from there. The sound of a perfectly working heart.

His heart.

"I....survived?"

It wasn't only that, though. Unlike before, his entire being felt light and airy like he had just taken a magical energy potion. Usually, he'd be feeling heavy-headed and fatigued whenever he woke up from a hospital bed.

'what's going on......?"

This shouldn't have been possible when he thought back to the moments before he lost consciousness.

A claw had stabbed through his heart so how was he still alive?

Or was his assumption about being in the Afterlife true after all, and was this just some kind of weird joke Charon was playing?

If that situation had been real, then his body shouldn't have been that normal, not to talk of his perfectly beating heart, so how was any of this possible?

"Hal? You're awake!"