Superhero Manager System

Hell Touched

Arome had to question the wisdom of taunting this demon hound. But it was not as if he had much of a choice, he was not going to die, the multiple times that it was going to take to kill this hound, without at least spitting at it. The hound paused for a few seconds, staring at Arome as it tried to figure out just how it was possible he was still alive and unscathed. These few moments of reflection made him realize that this hound was a lot smarter than the previous ones. But it still had a task to carry out. It would put Arome down as many times as it needed to, no taunting necessary.

The hound rushed at him, a wild bark leaving its mouth as a shockwave of magical force was expelled from its jaws. The shockwave slammed into Arome, throwing him off his feet, his body cartwheeling in the air, before he landed rather painfully on his side. An audible crack filled the air as his right arm snapped, forcing him to let out a scream of pain. But Arome was still acutely aware he was in the middle of a desperate fight. He rolled to the side, and just in time as the hound landed, its powerful claws digging horrid gouges into the floor of the side-moving elevator shaft.

But Arome was not entirely out of the woods yet, flames flared out from the base of the hound’s paws. He rolled away, but not fast enough as fire burnt one half of his face to a crisp. ‘No!’ his lips let out pained groans as he could only scream out his pain with his thoughts. But pain…pain was fleeting. It might be the only thing that Arome could focus on right now, but it would pass. Whether he dies, or he heals, pain won’t last forever. But what could last forever was hatred, anger. Arome already had a lot of unresolved issues in his life. Adding the multiple deaths to the pile, and he was just about ready to explode…. Which was exactly what he did.

The hound pulled back, the flames vanishing from its paws only for an enraged Arome to surge up from the ground, screaming at the top of his lungs. He tackled the large hound, ignoring the startled yelp it released as he carried it forwards, using his momentum to smash it into the wall. The elevator tunnel…as that’s a better name for this place as opposed to the shaft, deformed. It was made almost entirely of reinforced sheets of metal, and while its defense could not be compared to the other parts of the building, it should still have been strong enough to withstand a normal human smashing a demon hound against it. Arome could not help but notice this detail, even in the middle of the intense pain he was feeling.

While the hit had dazed the hound for a few seconds, it was not enough to kill it. It retaliated, snapping its jaws around Arome’s shoulder. He screamed louder, his voice cracking and going hoarse. The hound had a significant bite force, that one bite from it had completely crushed Arome’s shoulder, his bones grounded to dust. That level of damage meant that death was not too far away, but just like before, he would not give a life without taking a souvenir from the hound. He stretched his neck forward, tearing even more of his flesh from where the hound’s jaw was locked tight. Even though his mouth was smaller, his teeth were strong enough as he got a mouthful of flesh from the hound's neck, and locked his jaws as tight as he could.  The hound yelped and pulled back, releasing its hold on Arome’s shoulder as a copious amount of blood flowed out of the garish wound. But as the hound pulled back, Arome also did the same. This obviously made his injuries worse, but he came away with a pound of flesh of his own. And whether by luck, or just the fact that Arome had died of these hounds so many times and killed them that he could spot where a weak point was in their body. Like a vein in the neck that was exposed when the hound locked its jaw around Arome’s shoulder.

Black demon blood spurted out into the air and straight into Arome’s face and mouth. He grinned as he fell to the ground. “H-how do you L-like t-that! P-pup?” Arome could barely speak, half his throat was in ruins as he was bleeding out quickly. He could feel himself go into shock, as the hound came to stand above him, its own blood pouring out of its gruesome wound, and falling to the ground with hisses as it released steam. The hound opened its mouth, and Arome could see a red glow building at the back of its throat. It opened its jaw and released the same shockwave like attack, a bark that blasted Arome’s head and his upper body to bits, leaving pieces of him everywhere.

The hound whined softly as it took a step back from Arome’s dead body. This weak human had somehow survived its first attack. But given that half his body was now meat paste, there was no way he would be healing from that. The hound was smart enough to know that most healing factors, if not a majority of them, are completely negated by decapitation. You take the head off, unless it’s a magical curse or spell, and they stay dead for good. Even as it watched Arome’s remains, it could not feel his soul, proving that the human was already dead. But as the hound turned to move away, a stray thought crossed its mind. ‘Did I even feel his soul in the first place?' The hound paused, its eyes narrowed. It really wasn’t sure it had felt a soul from Arome in the first place. The absence of a soul is the sign needed to prove that an individual was dead. But what if?

*Clang!*

The sound of metal shifting came alive as lights blinked into existence on both sides of the tunnel. They rushed forwards to the end, and back from where the hound had chased Arome through. The elevator tunnel was active, which meant there was a high speed magnetic elevator heading this way soon enough. The hound had enough knowledge of the human world to know that getting caught in its path would be a bad idea. Besides, while the injuries on its body were superficial, Arome had still hit an artery. The hound could slow it down, but there was no mistake about it, it was bleeding out. He had to get back to the human that summoned it and have the stupid flesh bag unsummon it. It would return to its hell dimension and recuperate faster. It would be a great shame and dishonor to die in the human world and to trash like-

Suddenly, there were hands around the ankle of its rear legs. It turned just in time to see Arome, as naked as the day he was born and completely healed. The hound’s eyes widened as it bucked, attempting to kick back and push Arome off. The shock of seeing him awake one more time spooked the hound, who was this soulless and immortal human. The hound could not shake Arome off, even as it jumped to kick off and run away from Arome, he held both legs and dragged the hound back, letting it slam its stomach on the ground. Arome did not leave the hound anytime to recover, he jumped on top of it, wrapping his arms around its neck in a choke hold. The hound thrashed harder, but Arome moved into a roll, keeping the hound off balance as he taunted it. “I told you pup! We’re just getting started!” the hound yelped as Arome sank his teeth into it’s neck again. Panic had slowly begun to set in as the hounds became desperate.

On four legs it would have been able to easily deal with Arome. But with the choke hold keeping it in place, there would be no touching Arome. All it could do was wait for Arome to choke it to death, or for the elevator to come crush them. And at that moment, as if it had been summoned by the thoughts of the demon hound, the elevator came moving around the corner, coming from ahead of them. It was at that moment Arome noticed the elevator and realized it was hurtling full speed in their direction. But still he held the hound tighter, ignoring its frantic struggles as it used its claws to rip his leg into ribbons and its flames flaring away from its body, had left significant burns on Arome. Yet he gritted his teeth through the pain, and welcomed the arrival of the elevator with a tired sigh that devolved into a whisper. “This is going to hurt.” And the elevator met them.

“What the hell was that?” one of the inhabitants of the elevator asked, as he turned to his companion, another icy blue-haired individual, but this one was a woman with a scowl on her face. “We just brought the elevator’s back online, the system’s probably running diagnostics or rebooting. Now shut up! I can’t hear myself think with your voice in my ear.” The woman grunted at him, her words carrying with them a silent promise of violence, if he did not leave her alone.

The elevator carried its occupants ahead to their destination, but left behind the mashed up forms of the hound and Arome. And against all odds, the hound was still alive, hit in its broken state, death would have been a better alternative. With half his skull smashed in, and missing the lower half of its body, the hound watched as flesh, home and sinew grew. Cells multiplied as millions if not billions of years of evolution unfolded before it’s eyes, reforming a being that it would forever remember, as the bane of its existence. Even in the afterlife, if there is even one for demons, it would etch into eternal memory. The sight of flesh and bone, skull and eye socket, grew out of nothingness to reform the sneering face of Arome. The hound was horrified, it was just as scared of death as any other living thing, and Arome, this naked human covered in his own remains. He looked worse than death.

“I told you we were just getting started, but considering the current state of things. I think you and I are finished with our dance pup.”  Arome let out a dark chuckle, enjoying the whines of the hound as it slowly met its painful end. And through it all, Arome stood there, chuckling, naked and covered in his own bloody remains. He kept eye contact with the hound until the light finally left its eyes, and its remains turned into ashes. The blinking dots at the edge of his vision seemed to center him, as he pulled back. He frowned as he slowly muttered to himself. “I am breaking.”

Not that he was familiar enough with psychology to diagnose himself. But he knew he had pretty much gone past PTSD and entered a full-on mental breakdown. He could not afford to keep dying to these hounds, or to anything else at all. Getting run over by an elevator was not a nice way to go, and he could probably take home the award for the most unlikely death ever. ‘Who gets run over by an elevator.’ He asked himself as he continued his run, quickly finding the doors he needed open to access the other side of the floor. He already wasn’t too far away and focused on nothing else but getting there, he might not have been too worried about another demon hound, but the elevator was an even bigger threat. So he needed to get out of its path.

But reaching his destination was just one half of a solution. He still had to pry the elevator doors open. And while he was about to do so, a voice at the back of his head stopped him. He would have no better chance than now to check out his system and deal with the constant blinking dots at the edge of his vision. If there was power to be gained, then he had to pay attention to it. As if responding to his thoughts, a screen snapped into his vision, on it a list of notifications that he had been ignoring since this whole fiasco started.

“Achievement! You have died more than ten times already! Resurrection Milestone reached! Plus one to all stats!”

“Achievement! You have fought tool and nail against the hounds of hell, forging an image of an unlikable champion! But not without getting scars that your soul will never forget. You have gained the trait Hell Touched! And Plus 5 manager points!”

 

Two things happened the moment Arome read through the first two notifications. The first was an electric-like jolt that went through his body, he felt his muscles spasm and lock in place as he collapsed forwards. His nose smacked against the elevator door, he felt blinding pain as he let out a pained groan through paralyzed lips. ‘I hope it’s not broken!' Arome thought to himself, more worried about his nose than whatever was going with his body. Soon he was assaulted by an intense feeling of heat, it was almost unbearable as his body broke out into a cold sweat. And then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the heat vanished and gave way to a powerful chill. Arome gasped, fog escaping from his breath as ice crystals formed on the side of his eyes and on his hair. Again, this intense feeling of absolute cold only lasted for a moment before vanishing.  At the end of it all he was left, a heaving, gasping mess, as he tried to gather himself together.

The remaining notifications filtered past his face, not even giving him a moment of reprieve before shoving more information at him.

“Main Quest One Received! Get your first superhero client before 78 hours elapses. Reward: One Random Utility Magic Spell. Penalty For Failure, minus one to all stats!”

“Main Quest Two Received! Manage your hero till they reach an approval rating of 25: Reward: 100 Manager Points, One Random Talent Seeking Ticket. Deadline: Three Months. Penalty For Failure: Minus Two to All Stats!”

“Side Quest One Received: Survive your current predicament! Rewards, Unknown. Deadline, Unknown. Penalty For Failure, Death!”

 

Three quests, the first two probably had to do with his system. If he remembered correctly, it was a superhero manager system, which meant he would only grow stronger by doing the things related to his career. Of course, he could get stats from gaining achievements. And then there was the new trait that he had gained. On just a thought, a description of his new trait popped up.

“Hell Touched. Holders of this trait can not have their souls easily taken to hell, and have increased affinity with demonic magic and increased damage against demonic entities, and reduced defense against demonic entities.”

 

A double-edged sword of a trait. He could cause more damage to demons, they could no longer steal his soul or, at least, it would be a lot harder to do so now. Then he now had an increased affinity for demonic magic, but decreased defense against them. Which meant while he could hit them a lot harder now, it means they could also do the same to him. “This is better than nothing at least, plus the increased stats obviously have some effects. I’m stronger and faster than I was before.” Arome grunted as he got back up to his feet. Before he could move ahead, he gave an extra look at his stat page.

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

RATING: 0 RANK: E-Minus. MANAGER POINTS: 7

MANAGER STATS: Charm – 2. Presence – 3. Physique – 2. Intellect – 2

TRAITS: “Royalty.” “Service-Man.” “Hell-Touched.”

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:

 

Everything seemed to be in order, it was time to get going. Arome was still naked, and he really needed to get some more clothes. He was about to turn and attempt to pry open the doors when he heard a howl behind him, multiple howls as it sounded like a small pack of hounds had come into the tunnel and were heading in his direction. “Oh for Ancestor’s sake give me a break!” Arome cursed as he realized that was now on a time limit.