I showed them the face of a man who'd killed before—and would do it again.
Wishing for a painless death, they would pray if they dared attack this grimacing gaze.
I wasn't always like this.
But my system changed me. Sharpened my awareness. Refined my instincts.
It also nerfed what mattered most.
Empathy.
Connection.
Love.
They were embers... still present, but barely glowing.
Nonetheless, I was enjoying myself.
Tilting my head slightly, I said coldly. "Even if you were me from a parallel universe, none of you are really real to me."
Their eyes widened for a flicker of a moment...
These monsters, soul-bent on killing me, were shortly stunned by the apathy in my voice.
And to think I was empty before.
Their charge intensified. Blunt and sharpened blades drawn for battle.
'I'll give them a chance,' I thought.
I waved gently. "I come in peace. Please stop your assault, I don't want to fight," I called out.
But they didn't relent. Bloodlust blazed in their eyes, wild and ravenous, like a twisted tiger stalking its starving prey.
But fortunately for me, I was far stronger than any tiger alive out there.
Glaring once again at their blades, still gleaming with the residue of past killings, I suddenly wondered... were they even human anymore?
Less importantly, am I?
As I braced myself to fight back, I heard a chorus of frantic screams, their voices dripping with a deranged hunger.
"You look delicious, all that compacted muscle—YUMMM, DINNER'S LOOKING GOOD TONIGHT!" one man shouted, his enthusiasm echoed by the others, their comments as grim as the last.
My eyes narrowed in a sudden burst of instinctive backlash, a reflexive backlash forged from countless moments of recent near death experinces. Thinking about it, PTSD wasn't the least of my prolems at the time. What I sent in their direction wasn't just a glare, it was a void of flashing hatred, a demonic stare so hollow and dark that it forced their souls to flinch off instict alone. Their eyes, oh... kekke, their eyes—they told me everything I needed to know. Fear. Confusion. A primal hesitation they couldn't explain.
"You want me for dinner? I mean…" I exhaled, my voice sharp as sleet, sliding into a Taquedano stance with the elegance of someone who's danced too long with death. "I don't blame you."
In my case… I was the first to die.
Physically, sure I've never really died. But mentally, as though its a common trait in humans, seems to be an immortal sage who is hellbent on making you experience a culmination of ego annnilations.
Perish till you realize death is beatiful, baby!
Branded by emptiness, befriended by despair, and strangled by a purpose that never arrived.
And this was before Bawake.
Total opposite effect on me, brah.
My voice grew quieter, colder. More personal.
"You did this to yourself," I muttered, my voice cold, almost indifferent. "I have no choice in this matter... Each and every one of you are putting guns to your own heads. Cyber psychos... man, I always feel bad."
For this one message, I raised my tone as they were shortering the gap, "And until I witness something that wows my soul to the very core, I'll do what needs to be done! Even if it falls under the lines of killing each and every one of you if you dare step in my way."
Thinking in my head, and about the fact they thought they thought could eat me...
I, with anger verbablly instulted them.
"Fucking frivolous insects! I don't care if this is justice or not. I guess we're both just survivors..."
Popping a wide smile, my glossy eyes told a million truths, one of them being...
"Either way, I won't be the one who dies on this beatiful day."
My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten in a week. My water filtration system, courtesy of the OCIS, was few of my only lifelines.
That's… a story for another time.
As the raiders approached the top of the hill, my thoughts weren't on them.
They were on me.
And if that meant I had to kill once more...
I would, without hesitation.
I surged up the hill at a blistering 60 mph, running with a speed that defied ordinary human limits.
Being propelled by the system's physical enhancements, I reached the summit where I finally saw them.
Thirteen deranged souls. Americans, judging by their ethnicities. They were all white. Tattered clothing and cheap cyberware, I felt bad for them. Their inferior tech seemed to have eaten them from the inside.
They came at me, weapons raised. Metal daggers, swords, and bats, all caked in the blood of their past victims. I couldn't help but think of the lives those weapons had stolen. The innocence they had erased.
I met their charge with silent saunter.
No fear.
Only a calm, menacing walk and gaze.
I wasn't facing them. I was facing the truth of who they were—their hollow, futile existences as feeble as fire burning paper.
I wasn't just walking toward them. I was walking through their facades. Through the false bravado, through the fear they pretended wasn't there. Their cyber-implant chemical editors may save them from misery... but death is where It'll take you if you're not careful.