Reborn as a side character with a system

The Burn and the Choice

'Chapter 29

The knight kept running, Nolan slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain. Blood soaked through the knight's armor, warm and sticky, painting his back in dark ribbons. Nolan's face was hidden in shadow, his eyes invisible, his body limp and silent. He had not spoken a word since they left the clearing, had not moved, had not breathed in any way that suggested consciousness.

The knight ran on, branches whipping his face, roots threatening to trip him with every step. His lungs burned. His legs ached. But he did not stop. Could not stop.

"Hey, you..."

The voice came from behind him, low and dark and completely wrong. It did not sound like a wounded boy. It sounded like something that had crawled out of a grave and decided to keep walking.

The knight paused mid-step, his eyes widening, his whole body freezing in place. "Ma... Master?"

"Don't you think you've done enough running around for the day?" Nolan asked, his expression still hidden, his voice carrying an edge that made the knight's spine shiver.

"You're badly injured, my lord. You require medical help, or..." The knight's voice was desperate, pleading, but Nolan cut through it like a blade.

"Ever heard of a mage capable of restoring one's cut-off arm?"

"N... No, but they can..."

"Then I suggest you put me down right this instant." Nolan's voice hardened, each word a stone dropped into still water. "There are more serious matters that require my attention."

The knight could feel it. An intense aura radiating from Nolan even though nothing visible came out. He felt a dark shadow looming behind him, red eyes staring into his soul, judging him, finding him wanting. Without another word, he placed Nolan on his feet, stepping back, trembling.

Nolan stood there for a moment, staring at the empty space where his left hand should be. The stump was blackened at the edges, cauterized by his own purple flames in the heat of battle. Blood still seeped in slow, thick drops.

He sighed.

He moved his bloodied right hand through his hair, pushing the matted strands back, and looked up at the sky. The canopy was thin here, letting through shafts of pale moonlight that painted his face in silver and shadow.

"Truly, this world is full of wonders."

He looked down, and the smile that formed on his lips was the smile of a lunatic who had been kept in an asylum for years, the smile of someone who had seen too much and stopped caring about the difference between sanity and madness.

"Hey..." Nolan's eyes found the knight, pinning him in place. "What you are about to see now has to remain a secret to death. Got that?"

The knight nodded without a word, his body trembling, sweat pouring down his face despite the cold night air.

Nolan placed his right hand toward the wound, his fingers hovering over the blackened flesh. He flinched, just barely, from the pain that shot up his arm like lightning. Then purple smoke began erupting from his palm, curling into the air like incense, before purple flames ignited with a soft whoosh.

Nolan bit his lip, hard enough to draw blood, as he pressed the flames against his own stump.

The knight's eyes widened, impossibly wider than before. His attention was not on the flames, strange and terrible as they were. It was on the horror of what his young master was doing. Burning himself. Cauterizing his own wound with fire that should have been impossible to control. He stared to the bitter end, unable to look away, unable to help, unable to do anything but witness.

The flames burned out, leaving behind charred flesh and the smell of cooked meat. Nolan released heavy, ragged breaths, his forehead dripping sweat, his whole body shaking with the aftermath of pain.

"Now that that's dealt with, time to check my status window," he muttered, his voice rough as gravel.

As if it had been waiting for this exact moment, a familiar chime echoed in his head. The system came to life, but this time the screen was red, screaming with warnings and locks.

[Status Window]

Name: Nolan Weldon

Age: 18

Class: Mage (Element / All Magic)

Level: 40 (Tier 3)

HP: 2800/2800

Mana: 3000/3000

Abilities: Fire Lv.21 (Locked) | Earth Lv.21 (Locked) | Wind Lv.24 (Locked) | Water Lv.21 (Locked)

Skill: Dagger Mastery Lv.19 | Swordsmanship Lv.12

Strength: 46 | Speed: 49 | Agility: 43 | Intelligence: 49

Free Tokens: 24

[Additional Abilities: Purple Flames Lv.12 (Locked) | Ice Lv.12 (Locked) | Nature Lv.12 (Locked) | Spatial Warp Lv.17 (Locked)]

[System Notification]

[Due to system taking actions to save host, host has been penalized from ever boosting abilities until 2 days pass.]

[Time Remaining: 48h]

"Hmm." Nolan placed his hand on his chin, staring at the red screen with a calm that bordered on disturbing. "So for the whole forty-eight hours, a person has to live off what they have now... Well, I have enough skills to take those pieces of trash out."

A devilish smile spread across his face, made grotesque by the charred stump and the blood still drying on his chin.

"Hey... Let's get back to the fight."

He was already storming back toward the sounds of battle before the knight could respond.

---

Back at the clearing, the knights held on as best they could. Some were wounded, their armor plates broken and scattered on the ground. Some worked in teams, slaying as many lizards as they could even when at a disadvantage, their movements growing slower, their strikes weaker.

"They... need my help."

Xavier muttered the words without opening his eyes, his expression that of a person trapped in a nightmare. Deep where he had gone, there was only a field of darkness, vast and empty, stretching in every direction forever.

"Hello!!!" He shouted, his voice echoing vast and wide, swallowed by the void without reflection.

"Damn..." He scratched his hair, looking around at the endless black. "Is there no end to this darkness?"

"Why have you come here this early?"

A dark, deep male voice echoed through the void, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Xavier turned, searching, but no presence appeared. "I've come to ask for power. My men are in danger, and I require more strength."

"When you say power..." The voice paused, considering. "Do you mean physical power and strength, or the will to get up in all situations?"

"I'm in need of a special ability only the Angel of Day can grant me," Xavier replied, his eyes scanning every direction, finding nothing.

"And what kind of ability would that be?"

"Absolute Light." He said it with confidence, his voice steady despite the void around him.

The voice laughed. It started as a chuckle, then grew, booming and rolling through the darkness until it felt like the void itself was shaking.

"ABSOLUTE LIGHT, YOU SAY!!!" The voice roared with mirth, the sound so forceful Xavier felt it in his bones. "Of all abilities I can grant you, you choose Absolute Light... Kid, you're something else."

Xavier did not move. Did not flinch. He remained silent, his jaw set, his eyes fixed on the darkness ahead.

"I will grant you Absolute Light..." The voice finally settled, still chuckling. "But a trial must be passed to earn it."

Golden strings fell from nowhere, hanging in the air around Xavier, dozens of them, each glowing with a different intensity, some bright as suns, some dim as dying stars.

"Absolute Light is right there. You just have to pick the right one. Fail, and you get punished."

The voice paused, letting the weight of the words sink in.

"Now then... pick the one you deem Absolute Light."

Xavier stared at the golden strings, his heart hammering, his mind racing. One choice. One chance. And the lives of two hundred men hanging on his decision.

(to all who've read till here, thank you and please keep on supporting chapter 30 will be coming out soon. Thank you once again.)