Superhero Manager System

Death Upon Death

Arome grunted as he gingerly touched his chest. The wounds were gone, though he could still feel the echoes of the pain he had had to endure. It was crazy, and it was wild, but yet he was still alive, he was still breathing. He looked at the buttons as they counted down, he had mistakenly pushed the button for the three hundred and ninety-second floor. Nowhere close to his goal of calling for help, from the C.O.O’s office.

She never gave her name, so Arome had no idea who she was. Other than she was…well, would have been his boss. He doubted if, after everything that had happened today, he’d get a job here. The prerequisites for that is that they all have to survive the incredibly bad situation they have suddenly found themselves in. There was a loud bang followed by an incredibly loud screeching noise.

The elevator came to a jarring halt as Arome removed his hands from his ears. That was weird. He could see that the building still had power. Why the hell was the elevator stopping? He took a moment to take a breath, everything had been moving a bit too fast. He leaned back against the elevator wall, his eyes inadvertently moving to the constantly blinking dot at the edge of his vision.

“You have unlocked the manager system! Accept to initialize stat page”

“What the hell?” Arome asked. He had thought he was hallucinating the first time he had seen a system notification. But now…perhaps he was still hallucinating. “What’s going on?” 

Arome muttered to himself, the visual screen in front of him was representative of old school rpg games. So, in a way of speaking, he knew what was happening… But it made no sense. He was not some foppish young lord, or an isekaied otaku, there was no such thing as systems. This had to be a joke.

System Initialized

"You have unlocked the system and your power! Manager skill tree unlocked!"

"You have unlocked the traits of royalty! Prince Skill tree unlocked"

You have unlocked the traits of a military man! Soldier skill tree unlocked."

You have reached Level 1! Plus 2 manager points!

"You have gained level 1 skills: Manager-Asset Management/ Soldier-Weapons Handling/ Prince-Leadership"

 

NAME: Prince Arome Idu. CLASS: Level 1 Hero Manager

RATING: 0 RANK: E-Minus. MANAGER POINTS: 2

MANAGER STATS: Charm – 1. Presence – 2. Physique – 1. Intellect – 1

TRAITS: “Royalty.” “Service-Man.”

POWERS: Total Cellular Resurrection, Lion Star Mastery (Sealed)

SKILL TREES: “Level 1 Manager.” “Level 1 Prince.” “Level 1 Soldier” 

SKILLS:

• MANAGER- [Asset Management] E-MINUS

• MAJOR- [Weapon Handling] E-MINUS

• PRINCE- [Leadership] E-MINUS

CLIENTS: None

STORE:

Well, this was rapidly turning out to not be a joke of any sort. And perhaps nothing else mattered more to Arome than the Total Cellular Resurrection that was listed in the power tab. So far, this power has saved his life twice, but perhaps that was the wrong thing to say. And then there was the fact that he had the Star Lion mastery. Arome felt like a bomb had gone off in his head. “How could this be?” he asked himself softly as tears came to his eyes. After everything, it wasn’t as if he was born without the power, he’s always had it. But it was sealed. 

Arome could not make sense of it. The lack of this power had made his life a living hell. If a power was sealed, then it meant that it could be unsealed. This power, his birthright and bloodline. He could get it back, he could gain his throne back. But that was easier said than done though. The caveat was that he survived the hostage situation the Falcon-Eagle industry was currently experiencing. Arome noticed there were more notifications. The next being explanation of the abilities he had.

POWER

: the ultimate power of resurrection. Your cells have the ability to self-replicate and store biological memories and energy. This gives you the ability to resurrect yourself back to full capacity after every death. This is not a healing factor power, but a true resurrection ability. Even with a single drop of blood left in your biological matter, resurrection is possible, as long as the cells within still live. 

POWER

: This is a power unique to the Idu royal family. Their bloodline is bound to a powerful metaphysical force tied to the power of stars. You gain the ability to manipulate, create and empower Star starlight, increase it’s power to burn, fly, increase your speed and power, and develop powerful defenses. Along with all of this is the ability to embody the power of the Star Lion, a power capable of breaking planets. (THIS POWER IS SEALED!) 

Arome slid down the elevator wall, as he read the description of his new and old yet sealed power over and over again. He was a thinking man, a strategist, and he was able to see the flaws within the total cellular resurrection power, even with how broken it sounded. The ability to resurrect from death, and based on what he has experienced so far, did not take too long for the resurrection to happen. There was nothing to say about his Star Lion power as it was sealed, and he had no idea how to go about unsealing it. Leaving him with only the ability to come back from the dead.

But he’d rather avoid dying, as that’s the point of having abilities like that. And then there was the whole other manager thing. Looks like the universe had truly locked in his choice about what he wanted to do with his life. A manager system, sounded so ironic, giving why he was here. But some things did not make sense to him. He has been in a lot of conflict in the past when his life was on the line. How come he never awakened the system or his power? However, even as he asked that question, Arome knew the answer better than anyone else….he never awakened his power, because from the moment he was born up until this point…he has never died. 

But this was a chance through and through. A messed-up power like this was definitely better than an unsubtle, overpowered ability like the Star-Lion ability the Idu Royal Family had. But then again, this was just him trying to comfort himself, by getting the short end of the stick even when his power finally awakened. 

It had to be something so unremarkable. A power like this would be hard to market as a manager. The lack of any significant physical boosts or improvement would make whoever has this power be nothing more than cannon fodder in the front lines. This was a zero firepower ability that was probably only fit for street level heroes. They- 

Loud bangs echoed through the confined space of the elevator, as Arome raised his head up quickly. He had no time to react as the elevator door was smashed in, and three Infernal Hounds charged into the elevator. “How did they know that I was here?” Arome asked himself in shock. “Right the elevator stopped in the first place.” His thoughts carried him forwards, this was something the Cult was probably responsible for, and this told him that they had, at least if not full control of the building, but partial control. Enough that they could stop elevators and get traps for him.

He reacted quickly enough, throwing a wild punch that would have, at least in his mind, smashed the head of the hound aside. But these were supernatural creatures summoned from some hell dimension. They were stronger than a normal human being and much faster too. Arome, with all of his talents, was still just a human being in the end. There was only so much he could do against such creatures, even with his new-found power.

The hound snapped it’s head forwards and caught Arome’s clenched fist in its jaws. The feel of fangs going through flesh and then crushing bones, was intense, but Arome was no stranger to pain. But there was no time for any more action, as the second went for his throat and the third for his legs.

They brought him down much faster than he expected, the beasts, showing that against an ordinary human, they might as well have been the David to his Goliath. The second wolf’s fangs met each other as the beast wrenched back, a significant amount of Arome’s throat in its jaws, as the young prince had his eyes widened in shock.

There was a tug at the edge of his consciousness, almost as if something was trying to drag him out of his own body. But the darkness took him, first, but not before he got a glimpse of the place that called out to him, an infernal pit of everlasting flames. Death came for him, as his heart stopped and Arome died again. However, less than five seconds later.

Sounds rushed back to him, it was akin to what a person would feel if they suddenly burst out from underwater. For Arome, though, he came back with a scream, the earlier shock and pain from these Infernal Hounds attacking, still warping his perception.

While it was a surprise to see a person with a ripped throat up so soon, the Hounds still in the elevator reacted quickly and ripped into him again. This time they took their time, instead of going for the quick kills, the first snapped it’s massive jaw across Arome’s rib cage.

Bones and flesh was ripped out as it buried its snout in Arome’s insides. The pain was absolutely blinding as one of the hounds dove in from Arome’s navel, flesh parting way for fangs as it snagged his intestines and pulled, the sound of ripping filled the elevator as he was disemboweled, the contents of his stomach exposed as the stench of excrement and bile filled the elevator.

Arome woke up less than 30 seconds after this death. This time the tug he felt had been stronger, as he felt himself getting ever and ever closer to that burning pit that he saw. Idly at the back of his mind, he realized that perhaps what he was seeing was the hell dimension these hounds came from. They did not just kill, but fed on the souls of those they kill, that was probably one of the clauses in the contract that their masters would have signed when they were first summoned.

Summoning demons to fight for you is rather frowned upon, but there were hundreds of mystic superheroes that rely on magic to fight. If he survived this then he needed to look into getting a demon of his own, a bodyguard to keep him safe from things like this….if he survives. The Star Lion power was a mystic ability too, this at least gave members of his family a certain level of mystic potential.

The hounds did not immediately attack him the third time, obviously they were shocked and surprised. They killed this human two times already, yet somehow he was still standing. Arome looked at the hounds, he had stared death in the face many times before, but this was different. It seemed too much, after all his struggles to get to this point, he gains a power that could very well be a curse, and this blasted system was of no use!

He was stuck in an elevator, in a four hundred floor building, currently being hijacked and held hostage by notorious ritual killing Villains. The Blights were literally the Bonnie and Clyde of the superhero world. They’re not particularly powerful against the much stronger S, SS or SSS ranked heroes. But they were smart, strategized well, and much more than that they had the great equalizer in magic.

A sharp bark from one of the hounds was enough to bring Arome back to reality. This time though the hounds did not attack him immediately, they were wary… of him? Why? It was not as if he could do anything to them, and from what he had observed, if they kept killing him, then it was only a matter of time before they succeeded in truly feasting on his soul.

“Well come on!”

Arome screamed at them as the first hound leaped forwards. Arome anticipated it’s movement and moved to the side at the last second, letting the hound smash it’s face into the back of the elevator with an audible crunch. It’s neck was slightly twisted as it let out a keening wail, prompting the remaining two to attack. But Arome had an opportunity here, sure he was still going to die, again! For that matter, but he was still going to try his best to take one of them with him.

It was only a matter of luck that the hound, lost the fight against the elevator wall. The impact had even shaken the elevator, as the wolf hung with it’s neck at an angle, while half of its face remained held up by the elevator wall. There was little space between it’s broken neck and the ground.

Arome jumped up, and stomped down on the broken neck, making sure it snapped with an audible crack. He did not need to apply much force, the angle the hound’s head was hanging at, had been enough to get the job done as the hounds neck snapped and it’s body vanished into dust, leaving behind black smoke and the acrid scent of Sulphur.

The remaining two tore into Arome with a fury, he felt every claw, and fang. Their fetid breath, the stench of brimstone and Sulphur… the cold and painful embrace of death. This time they had learnt their lesson and waited, making sure to kill him, over and over again, until they grew despondent, worried, dare he say it… they looked scared. And Arome found it funny, he had already lost count of how many times he had died at their claws and fangs. His had screamed himself hoarse many times, to the point that even with the healing each resurrection brought him, his throat still ached from the strain.

The pain and the trauma just seemed to blur into each other. Memories that were fresh but distant, closed off. Arome has always been a cold hearted bastard. He used to be really spoilt, with a mean streak a mile long. And when he was in the air force he was ruthless, not just to his allies and enemies but to himself. He was his own biggest critic, and all of that had led him to develop a rather detached and absolutely cold personality.

In times of extreme stress or concentration, Arome could make everything fade into the background. The pain nothing but an afterthought as Adrenaline surged through his body. A muscle twitched, fury blossomed from his eyes as he surged forwards, catching his killers off guard as he crashed into one of the hounds.

It would seem rather redundant as he would not be able to cause enough damage to make a difference. But Arome was not without a plan, utilizing the shock caused by his sudden counter attack, he grabbed the head of one of the hounds with both hands. Before the hellish canine could pull back, he sunk his thumbs all the way to the end in the hound’s eye sockets.

The hounds yelp of pain invigorated Arome, as he forced all of his body weight, using his legs for leverage against the elevator walls to drag the hound to the ground. This was a basic MMA move, and while the hound was stronger, Arome had technique and the intimate know how, required to incapacitate any living thing on the planet…even summoned demons.

The hound bucked hard under Arome’s grasp, as it did so it made his knuckles dig deeper into the hounds eye sockets. He felt the last hound jump onto his back as it’s head bit down on the back of his neck. It wrenched, and everything turned black.

When he came back, he pretended to still be dead. The frenzy of the entire fight already getting to the hounds and making them confused, and it was made more worse by the fact that one was now blind. That effectively meant that Arome had only 1 opponent to deal with, an opponent that was fastidiously waiting for him to twitch, so that it could send him right back to the land of the dead.

But when he wasted time getting up the, the Hound decided to call its losses and escape. It turned, the open doors of the elevator was halfway between the current floor and the next, and the hound quickly tried to scramble up and out. The other blinded hound was still whimpering and moving about, giving Arome a bit of an insight into all these summoned demons.

Guess they were not just demon dogs that killed without question. They had biological proclivities like real dogs, and even acted like them a bit. Basically they were still just dogs, only a bit more stronger than normal and smarter too. But Arome could not let this hound escape.

If it could do so then it would bring a calamity upon his head that he was not otherwise ready to deal with yet. If it goes back to it’s owner then knowledge of a man that can’t die within this tower will spread, he has to figure out a way to stop that hound, or else… death was assured.