The Ghost System - Chapter 22

[Name: Unkown]

[Aura Detection: Barrier creation (weak)]

Rhys felt his heart sting slightly when he saw that one of the guys on the other team had Gamp’s power. He shook that feeling off though and glanced at the others.

[Name: Unkown]

[Aura Detection: Strengthening (weak)]

[Name: Unkown]

[Aura Detection: Strengthening (weak)]

[Aura Detection used +5 Exp]

[Name: Unkown]

[Aura Detection: Possession/Brain wave interrupter (weak)]

“Possession…” Rhys had read the scripts of the brain wave interrupting ability, but why had the system put the word ‘possession’ in front of it.

[‘Oh, and here I was beginning to think that humans had not encroached upon the spiritual revolution at all…’]

‘Huh, what do you mean Spiritual revolution? And why is the brainwave skill being called ‘possession?’ Rhys frowned in confusion.

The teacher sighed one of his classic pained sighs before explaining. [‘Every intelligent race in existence goes through cultural or societal evolutions. I can see from your memories that humans started out wearing animals skins and fashioning tools from rocks, you would call that the stone age. Humanity than evolved to greater things, like the iron age. From there you utilised science and practised industrialisation. When humans were on the brink of extinction at the hands of the Xerserth, you arrived at the Gem and Core stage of your civilisation, where you are now. Have you never wondered what the next stage is?’]

Rhys faltered for a moment. He had not even been thinking of a next stage, he had pretty much assumed that this was it in terms of humanity evolving, he thought all that was left was finding better gems and cores in order to secure Earth from alien interference.

[‘Ghosts are the higher race because they are the only lifeform to have fully integrated into the next stage of civilisation. That is what you are becoming Rhys.’]

Rhys stood still for a moment, really unsure of what to say or think. It was just too much information to process before he was supposed to have a match.

[‘To make a long story short, that human over there has an ability that is spiritually based. It is an extremely pathetic version of an ability that you will inherit, but still, it is pleasant to see a familiar ability.’]

‘I will be able to use the brain wave interruption ability one day?’

[‘No. You will be able to use the much stronger possession ability. This brain-wave malarkey is truly pitiable, I doubt that it will even work on you.’]

Before Rhys could demand more answers from the system, Sampson, Joel and Nim surrounded him.

“Spill it, Rhys,” Sampson demanded sharply.

“Huh? Spill what?”

“Ah Geez.” He growled. “Just tell us what their abilities are.”

Rhys stiffened at Sampson’s demand and tried to keep a neutral expression. “What are you talking about? How would I know what their abilities…”

Before Rhys could finish, Sampson growled so loudly that the other people inside other pits turned around to see what the strange sound was about.

“Don’t play dumb with me right now. We need to win and in order to do that, we need to know what their abilities are. We won’t ask any questions about how you know, so just fucking tell us what their abilities are.”

Rhys could only hold his breath as Sampson stared him down with determined eyes. Joel and Nim were also looking at him expectantly. But how did the thick-headed Sampson figure out that Rhys was able to tell what other peoples’ abilities were?

“Teams, you have three minutes to organise yourselves, then the matches will begin.” The same stone-faced instructor was spectating their match this time.

“Please Rhys,” Nim’s eyes were watering as she tugged on the end of Rhys’s sleeve.

“Shit.” The lie he told Sampson last time must not have been as believable as he thought it was. Anyway, with so little time before the match and the mounting pressure to win, Rhys wasn’t all that motivated to make up excuses again.

“I won’t be answering any questions about how I know. And don’t dare tell anyone about this.” Joel and Nim nodded vigorously, while Sampson nodded once, firmly.

With a sigh, Rhys pointed out each member of the other team and their specific ability, as well as whatever information he had read in scripts about the best way to counter them. Sampson, Joel and Nim looked at Rhys with equal parts awe and bewilderment. The way he knew exactly what their abilities were and how strong they were was amazing but also terrifying. They huddled together and quickly set up a plan with what little time they had left.

After cementing their plan, the group got into their formation. The group stood close together with Sampson and Rhys in front, Nim directly behind them and Joel a little ways behind her.

They all watched curiously as the other team also got into position. Unlike team 12, team 3 was relatively spread out across their half of the circle. The strengthener of their team was in the middle of the circle, with the barrier creator a little ways behind him. The brain-wave interrupter was standing to their far left, almost on the edge of the circle, and the other strengthener was standing on the far right.

Rhys could tell what they were trying to do here. The strengthener in the middle with the flag would obviously be the target of the other team, if someone approached him or threw an attack at him, the barrier creator behind him would create a barrier to block it. While the attacker was struggling to get through, reinforcements were waiting to help out in the form of more muscle coming from the right or the brain wave interruptions from the left, which were usually capable of paralysing a person or even making them faint depending on the strength of core-user.

Rhys stiffened as he saw the Strengthener in the middle peel off the sticky flag from his shirt and paste it onto his neck. The strengthener smiled proudly at the disconcerted look on Rhys’s face.

“I’d like to see you try to take the flag off me now.” He obviously felt certain that with his height and build that he would be Abel to stop anyone from taking the flag if it was pasted to his neck. He beamed a big toothy grin and punched swiftly into the air in front of him to show off… his… What he was trying to show off, Rhys was not really sure.

“This idiot…” Sampson had to hold back a chuckle. “Maybe he’s confident about his neck or something.”

Although everyone found the guy’s antics amusing, Rhys’s stomach tightened a bit. He would need to be very careful not to injure the guy with physical disruption when he reached for the flag around his neck.

“I want to give you trainees a reminder that your team’s flag must be visible at all times. You can wear it on your neck like that so long as everyone can still see it. It’s also fine to block attacks that are coming at your neck, but if you fully cover the flag, for even a moment, your team will be disqualified and this match will count as the other team’s win.” Soldier Stone-face looked directly at team 3’s strengthener.

“Understood, sir.” The guy saluted at the soldier. Once again everyone chuckled, the strengthener was a real class clown.

Suddenly the orange barrier shot up around the pit.

“Five.” Soldier Stone-face began the count which immediately put everyone into fight mode.

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One. Begin.”

As planned, Rhys charged forward the instant the match started. He ran at full speed towards the strengthener. The barrier creator behind the strengthener looked at Rhys and assumed his friend in front of him would easily be able to take care of Rhys. Rhys did not look like a fighter, especially compared to the well-built strengthener. Also, Rhys had the flag on him, so it was better that Rhys came to them so they could quickly take the flag from him.

The strengthener was already stretching out his arms ready to grab Rhys and remove the flag from him, however, Rhys grinned. Their plan was working.

[Spiritual body used + 5 Exp]

Rhys shifted his entire body into the spiritual state just as a tunnel of flames engulfed him and surged towards the Strengthener and the barrier creator. Sampson grinned wickedly as his magnificent flames bulldozed through the circle and engulfed Rhys as well as the other team’s two members. Their shocked faces only fueled his fire.

[Warning! : Continued exposure to fire]

[Continued use of skill: Spiritual body +15 Exp]

[User will lose 1 HP for every second the skill is used]

Rhys knew this warning would show up but he was not worried in the least. 30 seconds was far more than he needed to get the flag.

The strengthener and barrier creator tried running backwards, but Sampson’s tunnel of flames was extremely disconcerting for the people inside who were going through extreme pain and closed their eyes because of the fire. In this situation, very few people were able to calm themselves down and run sideways out of the flames. Even the barrier creator was overwhelmed by the searing pain and forgot how to create barriers.

[28/30 HP]

Rhys could not see very far ahead of him inside the flames, but he ran forward because he could hear the other team’s screams as they were being burned. He felt awful listening to them, so he resolved to get the flag as soon as possible.

[27/30 HP]

Outside of the tunnel of flames, the brain wave interrupter was horrified by the fire enshrining his teammates. He knew that he had to put a stop to It. He immediately concentrated on Sampson by staring intently as his side profile, and just as he was about to mess with his head and paralyse him, a dagger flew into his shoulder breaking his concentration.

He cried out at the pain and before he could get away, Joel was on him. With a few blows to the head, the guy was unconscious. Joel smiled triumphantly. Rhys had told him to target the brain-wave guy when he looked like he was going to use his skill. He had been right and the plan went perfectly.

[25/30 HP]

Rhys finally found the Strengthener in the flames. The guy was in complete panic mode and was rolling around on the floor in anguish as the pain of burning ate away at him. Rhys carefully dipped his spiritually phased fingers in the guy’s neck and was trying, to as quickly as possible, remove the flag without destroying his throat.

[24/30 Hp]

The last standing member of team 3 was stupefied at what was going on. He would never have thought that Sampson from team 12 would actually sacrifice his own teammate to win. Even if some people were like that, he was not, he was not going to leave his teammates to burn. From outside of the flame tunnel, he could see the outline of someone rolling around on the floor and could hear their screams. Out of desperation and panic, he hoped that it was one of his teammates who he could rescue. Like a madman, he yelled at the top of his lungs and charged into the flame tunnel. He lunged for that person and rolled out the other side of the tunnel with them in his arms, hoping he had grabbed one of his teammates.

[22/30 HP]

Sampson saw the guy lunge into his fire and immediately stopped manipulating the flames, afraid that the guy had tackled Rhys. The floor of the pit was scorched and smoke wafted from the panels. Rhys was standing in the same spot where he had been when Sampson was manipulating the flames with a distraught look on his face.

“No… I.” He trembled as he looked down at his hands.

He had been a moment away from peeling the flag off the strengthener’s neck, however, someone lunged and grabbed the guy, violently moving the body just as Rhys phased his fingers back into solids. The guy’s neck had been thrust straight into Rhys’s fingers just as he had unphased, causing severe physical disruption to the guy’s neck.

Rhys stared a the smoky bloody flag in his hand and the thick dark red blood coating his fingers, that was dripping all the way down his arm. He had felt it. The sensation he felt when bone and tissue was violently moved aside to make way for his fingers. The same thing he had felt when he had tortured Gunn’s knees.

“Fuck.” Sampson whispered as he looked at the guy from team 3 who had made him laugh at the beginning of the match. Besides being badly burned, a horrific chunk of his neck was missing. It was to the point where he could see the bone’s from the guy’s spine. To Sampson this fell under the category of decapitation.

Sampson turned back to look at Rhys. And from the expression on Rhys’s face, he could tell Rhys had done it by accident, but what the fuck had he been doing in the first place to injure the guy this badly.

The orange barrier around the pit shot down and medical staff charged into the arena.

“The match Team 3 versus Team 12 is over. Team 12 is the winner. Vacate the pit and make space for the medical staff.” The soldier looked from the young man on the floor who was missing half his neck to Rhys Anson, the boy on the termination list, and the soldier was beginning to understand why Rhys’s name was listed there.

Rhys could only stare on in shock as the strengthener gargled and coughed, desperately trying to draw breath from a windpipe that had been shattered by physical disruption. The medical staff were shouting and giving out orders, a few were trying to usher Rhys away from the scene, but he could not hear them. Time slowed while he stared on in horror as the yellow aura of the strengthener grew dimmer and dimmer. It slowly dispersed into the area surrounding him and quickly disappeared as if it had never been there at all. Even as his neck tissue was being rapidly recovered by the healers, the aura grew dimmer.

Dimmer and smaller still. Until ultimately, there was no more light. His aura was gone.

[Aura detection used : dead body]

Rhys staggered backwards at the terrible words in front of him. He felt like his throat was closing up and his heart was trying to break out of his ribs. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, if he killed someone, it needed to be someone worth killing, not some ordinary guy.

[‘Ahh, finally.’] A cruel delighted chuckled echoed in his head.

“It was an accident.” Rhys breathed out shakily.

[‘Isn’t everything though?’]

Somehow Nim had rushed to his side and was trying to speak to him, but none of her words got through to him.

[Congratulations! 3rd experience of main quest completed]

[Main quest: Familiarisation with death]

[3/10 death experiences completed!]

[New Unique experience:

• killing someone ]

[Reward…]