UNLOCK: I CAN SEE MY STATS

chapter 45 : ...the collector

"Finally, I found you, shard bearer..."

"Huh!?" Marcus, who had been staring at Eren and cursing under his breath, suddenly realized that all surrounding sounds had vanished. Only a single voice echoed behind him. He turned mechanically and stared cautiously at the visitor.

"Who are you!?" he asked with narrowed eyes, already establishing a link with the wristband’s genetic library.

"He can float… and his appearance… This man isn't human," he whispered to himself, closely observing the tall figure hovering steadily above the ground. He glanced around and saw that all the pirates and others nearby were somehow frozen in place, unable to move, as if time had stopped for them.

The creature stood three meters tall, with green skin and a tattered gray robe marked with scorch marks. His eyes were pitch black, without pupils. What stood out most were the three horns protruding from his forehead.

"Who am I?" the being spoke coldly, waving his hand. Under Marcus's stunned gaze, every single person around them turned to ash and vanished.

"What did you do, you bastard!?" Marcus shouted in fury when he saw that Eren, who had been trying to save him, had also disintegrated into ashes.

"Relax. I came here for you, not for them..." the being said as he began to float closer to Marcus.

"Even though I’ve already introduced myself to twenty-seven versions of you, I suppose there's no harm in repeating it..." the creature said with an eerily calm tone, stopping just a few meters away from Marcus.

"I go by many names... but you can call me the Collector."

"The Collector!? Never heard that name before," Marcus scowled. "What do you want? What did you do to these people!? What do you want from me!?"

"Hmm..." The Collector didn’t answer any of Marcus’s questions. He just kept observing him intently. "I wonder what power this version holds? The last one was mysterious, but this kid… he's just a rookie."

"Alright, enough talk..." he said flatly, then snapped his fingers.

Space distorted strangely around Marcus, and several black threads emerged from the void.

"Damn it!" Marcus cursed. Without hesitation, he connected to one of the stored DNA strands in the wristband’s genetic library.

[Lightning Man]

Zzzzt!

His entire body turned into blue lightning and scattered.

"Interesting..." the Collector murmured as he raised his right hand.

Marcus, in his transformed lightning form, suddenly felt himself being forcibly pulled out of that natural state.

The lightning gathered again and reformed his body. "Damn it! What's happening!? How can he do this!?" he questioned in shock and fear.

"You’re truly the second weakest version. Even the Breacher was stronger than you. This is disappointing..." the Collector said coldly. Then he used his psychic power on Marcus, who tried to resist the invisible energy wrapping around his body, but it was useless.

"Relax. Right now, you’re in my mirror dimension. Everything here is under my control. Your power means nothing here..."

Marcus clenched his teeth. "Damn it, are you kidding me!?" Without hesitation, he charged all the lightning in his body and exploded.

BOOM!

His body erupted in a blast of electric energy, but again, the lightning stopped mere centimeters away from the Collector, who waved his hand once more and forced the bolts to regroup and reform Marcus’s body.

"Damn it! This guy is on a completely different level. I need to run..." Marcus thought with bitterness and fear.

Without wasting a second, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot away at incredible speed, putting as much distance between him and the Collector as possible.

The Collector simply watched, expressionless and unbothered by Marcus’s escape attempt.

"I should finish this. I can sense some terrifying auras approaching..." he murmured with a frown, then snapped his fingers.

Marcus, flying at nearly the speed of lightning, suddenly felt dizzy, and in the next second, he found himself right in front of the Collector, who was holding him by the neck.

"H-How!?" he asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I told you. Everything in this dimension is under my control..." the Collector replied with a sideways grin.

"I haven’t fully figured out what kind of power the shard gives you, but honestly, it doesn’t matter..."

He pulled out a strange collar from his pocket and easily fastened it around Marcus’s neck. Marcus tried to resist, but it was no use.

"Now… sleep a little," the moment he finished speaking, the collar emitted some sounds, and in the next instant, Marcus’s eyes widened. He felt the connection to the wristband had been severed, forcing him out of his transformed state.

"W-What did you do!?" he asked angrily, his eyelids growing heavy.

"Hmm, can you feel it? This high-tech piece was crafted by the Master. It's specially designed for you, or rather, for every version of you."

"Hah, what nonsense are you spouting…" Marcus muttered weakly. An image of his mother and siblings flashed in his mind like a reel.

"Sorry, Mom… I guess this is the end..."

...

"Ugh, what is this headache!?"

Marcus slowly opened his eyes, groaning in pain.

"Hmm… strange. That dream felt so real..." he murmured weakly, recalling every detail of the dream. It was so vivid that he remembered everything.

The last thing he clearly recalled was the face of a strange creature with three horns protruding from its forehead.

He shook off the thought and looked around, frowning as he noticed his unfamiliar surroundings.

"What is this? Where am I…?"

"Why am I here? What is this place again?"

He looked around, trying to recognize his location, but what he saw was a completely foreign environment.

He appeared to be inside a dark, unfamiliar cave. It reminded him of the time he first woke up after returning from the future to a changed past.

He moved his arms, feeling weak and numb all over. His limbs tingled with unbearable pain.

"Aaagh!!... My whole body hurts..." he groaned unconsciously in agony.

Trying to ignore the pain, he frowned deeply.

"Was I rescued!?"

The last thing he remembered was fighting the Iron Land army, being forced to activate his All-for-One technique.

But even then, he had ended up in a miserable state. His final memory was collapsing after performing the Lightning Style: Lightning Hell.