Chapter 1: Fate's Bastard!
Brayden city…
"Take this you motherfuckers!"
BLAM!
Growl rawwr….
At the top of the old Brayden mall a wild looking teenager could be seen swinging an abomination of a mace at a horde of zombies like his life depended on it.
Well actually,it did depend on it or else he would become zombie chow!
CRACK!!
With a loud crunching sound,the unfortunate zombie closest to his mace had it's disfigured head bashed in like a rotten watermelon causing brain juice to splatter everywhere.
"Haha, you bastards bring it on I can do this all day long!"
Before he had even finished the last word his mace was already crushing the skull of another zombie as he jumped into the very centre of the horde he unleashed a barrage of attacks as if he was a meat grinder,he was a literal incarnation of the God of death!
Despite his dire situation that would have instilled despair in any other person this young man was still raging on.
The zombies however were also not to be messed with. What they lacked in intelligence and strength,they made up for it with sheer number as horde after horde poured onto the roof. All they needed was a single mistake from the teenager and the rest….well he would become dinner.
And that mistake came sooner than either party could ever expect.
At the end of the day he was nothing but human and humans get tired and when you're tired mistakes become easier to make over time, thus when he accidentally stepped on some gooey brain matter it was all the opportunity the zombies needed even though he quickly regained his footing.
"Ugh? Shit!"
Seeing the rapidly enlarging maw of a zombie in his face his eyes widened and then he did something the zombie could have never expected.
He…jumped.
The zombie that ambushed him had a stupid grin plastered on its face as it thought about how this dumb human had literally served himself up. It could already imagine how his tasty and succulent flesh would feel in it's mouth causing it to drool endlessly.
That however was it's last thought as a sinister looking mace rapidly filled it's field of vision.
Stunned, the zombie looked at the incoming mace with dumb puzzlement.
"Where did the human go?"
And then…
BLAM!
It was an instant annihilation!
''BOOYAH!''
Supporting his weight with the mace,Dante couldn't help but start laughing as he saw the rooftop covered in blood,brain matter and dead zombies. There was not even a single undead left anymore!
"I really did it haha…oh boy once I find that bastard Hanson I'll throw him in a pit of Blood centipedes!"
In the apocalypse it was exceedingly difficult for a single individual to defeat a whole horde of zombies,he had however done it. Although they were the weakest of zombies not even ranked he was just an E-rank normal and he fought against the whole horde!
For a moment he wanted to do a victory dance but then thought against it.
That could be done later,for now he still had to get off this damned roof. Swinging the mace to remove the leftover pieces of zombie brain juice he peered over the roof estimating the jump when suddenly he froze,all the fine hairs on his neck rising straight like a porcupine's. Immediately his irises turned into pinpricks as he felt an extremely dangerous aura permeate the whole rooftop.
"Damn it!"
Without even looking he instinctively tilted his head left only to hear a sharp whistling sound next to his face,subconsciously he raised his fingers to his face only to feel something sticky oozing from his face.
Blood!
If he had been a moment slower that would have been his head!
Before he could confirm what that thing was he heard another WOOSH and this time,being airborne he couldn't dodge,he however managed to crane his neck a bit just in time to sight a clawed fist rapidly enlarging in his eyes. The next moment he felt a force akin to a train ram into his stomach,instantly he curled like a shrimp before flying out like a cannon slamming into the wall of the opposite building.
Thankfully the building was made out of high grade concrete and didn't give way,however he was lodged into the wall forming a human shaped indentation before he fell down from the wall landing in the street below with a huge bang.
Falling from the sixteenth floor was no joke despite his E-rank physique. For the first time Dante finally experienced what the zombies he tossed down the roof had felt.
"Damn! No wonder those things had resentful looks all the time."
The pain radiating from his body was so intense that he was visibly shaking as he stood up from the shattered tarred road.
"Fuck it hurts! Ptueh!"
Spitting out a mouthful of blood he staggered while grabbing a hold of his chest. Grimacing, he estimated that at least six to seven ribs should be broken and penetrating his lungs. The only reason he was still alive right now was a miracle even to him.
"What the hell was that thing?"
After the apocalypse many strange creatures had been birthed most of them bizarre and beyond any of humanity's wildest imaginations.
From weird creatures to outright abominations an endless array of monsters populated earth after Doomsday arrived.
This should probably be one of those abominations causing him to frown. As usual his fate was always in the dumpster.
Backing up against the wall the image of the clawed fist surfaced in his mind as he ran through many possibilities.
"The creature looked like a human yet had half meter long bone claws on its fingers while having long legs and a face that seemed like a normal zombie so it..wait a minute….looked like a zombie?"
Instantly Dante's face warped from extreme horror and without realizing it he forgot the excruciating pain of his injuries as he struggled to get up.
"I have to get out of here!"
Spitting another mouthful of blood he had just moved onto the tarred road when he heard a slight swishing sound directly in front of him. His instincts screamed at him to run but unfortunately the earlier injury made that utterly impossible.
The next moment the sound of flesh being torn rent the air as a desiccated claw pierced through him exiting out his chest totally pulverizing his heart.
Staring at the five claws protruding out from his chest blood started to dribble out of Dante's mouth, straining his head up a bit his eyes shook violently as he made eye contact with his assailant.
That creature!
Or more precisely, a zombie king!
And judging from the strength of this zombie it had to be a D-rank at the very least!
"It's all over!"
Slumping Dante lost the will to resist. It was common sense that zombies could be battled and killed by anyone as long as they had a weapon and some luck.
However, zombie kings were another issue entirely, these monsters from hell were like advanced versions of ordinary zombies with greater strength and speed and other enhancements but that wasn't all as they had also started to awaken a consciousness. Combined with the fact that they were practically impossible to kill in the same rank which wasn't even the case here he was effectively done for!
"You ….crrrk …can't..r.r.run! Become my fo..od!"
Cracking open it's mouth a string of incomprehensible words started to flow. However, it was soon smoothened out and Dante was able to finally understand what it was saying.
''So I eventually became zombie chow? Fate really is a bastard!''
Smiling wryly, Dante shook his head as he watched the zombie's other claw slowly tear his chest open exposing his entire inner organs. The abomination was watching him, savouring every bit of pain he suffered.
At this point he had already given up all hopes of resistance.
If there was anyone there they would have definitely puked to death!
"The heart of prey,mine mine!"
Staring intensely at his beating heart,the D-rank zombie started salivating crazily as it's claws reached inside. As an evolved zombie it required a lot of energy which wasn't easily available, however by chance it had found this weak human that was surprisingly strong, how could it not be agitated?
It was already imagining how satisfying the crunch of this human's heart would be and it couldn't wait any longer.
Swiiissshhh!
Finally it came!
Like a swift bolt of lightning, the evolved zombie's claws struck down causing Dante's pupils to widen madly.
Then...it happened!
The zombie king's claw, the excruciating pain Dante was suffering,even his own heartbeat seemingly just stopped.
Actually rather than call it stopped it would be better to call it slowed down as he could still see the tiny movements of the claws as they inched closer.It was just that they were excruciatingly slow.
A centimeter per minute? A millimeter?
He also wasn't sure,however it looked like the claws were travelling through some invincible obstructions. Whatever this was though,he could still think like he normally would.
It was then that a cold,ancient voice echoed in his head.
[Activation requirement for the quest 'Last Bastion of Hope' has been met. Champion has been betrayed by the Fates cast to oblivious ruin.Your chance at redemption is here.]
[Calculating parameters…parameters calculated.]
[Randomly allocating battle class to Champion…random allocation impossible.]
[Battle class manual selection…..]
[You have been allocated the battle class Divine Mechanic!]
[Do you accept the quest?]
"Wh..what is this?"
Fate.. ,cast to oblivious ruin, redemption…
Dante couldn't understand any of what was happening,today was already messed up but this was even more weird. He couldn't understand what these things meant!
'No, hang on a minute. Besides all that, where did that voice come from?'
He was still hesitating when the voice rang again in his head.
[Champion state unstable, irreversible death will occur in 0.3 seconds. The champion can avoid death if the quest is accepted.]
[Do you accept the quest?]
"Am I hallucinating?"
Glancing at the evolved zombie in front of him and the claws inching closer to his beating heart he couldn't help but mutter.
"But then does it even matter?"
Now that things had reached such a degree even if he was hallucinating at the end of the day he was still going to die anyway so he might as well agree.
"I accept!"
[DING!]
The moment he accepted it was as if the heavens themselves changed.
[Champion confirmation accepted,newbie package gifted. Setting up a quantum tunnel…. quantum tunnel created.]
[Landing coordinates locked on! Transmission in 0.2 seconds.
[¥¥¥Champion…..welcome to the BLACK GEAR SYSTEM.]
"Huh?…"
FLASH!
BOOM!
The next moment there was a blinding white flash of light that wrapped around Dante followed by a world rending explosion and then….
….. everything went black.