Reaper's Resurgence: A System Reset

Several seconds pass as I watch the countdown tick down before she mutters, "I wonder why their bodies still remain here after dying instead of vanishing or something?"

I glance at her before looking at the lake again.

"I didn\'t sense any magical energy coming from their bodies, so they truly looked dead," I comment, pointing out my observation. "The only guess I can think of is that the System probably made a copy of their body with quantum energy right before their death and are keeping that in stasis instead." A smirk comes to my face. "Also wouldn\'t be surprised if they have no equipment after that since it would just be their body copied, but that\'s just an amusing theory. Nothing more."

Astrid snorts at that in amusement.

It would be karma for the prince and his followers if they arrived completely barren of any sort of clothes, armor, or weapons at all. Although it would be awkward for any of the others. Like Rob.

I lean my head up against the tree with a sigh while turning my gaze on the two suns in the sky. Something I\'m really not used to seeing.

The suns also seem to be starting to go down, which makes sense. It should be about eight in the evening right now.

Silence fills the area around us as Astrid leans her head onto my shoulder – a habit she picked up while we were at that abusive orphanage. Something she does when we\'re alone.

Because it would ruin her stoic image if she did it in front of others.

That thought has me chuckling, but Astrid just ignores me and continues staring at the lake as birds chirp all over the jungle, with various other noises such as tiger growls and other wild animals and monster noises. Mostly monster noises though. There are a lot of monsters around this clearing, even if none of them are willing to come near me.

Guess it\'s the quantum energy I\'m putting off that\'s intimidating them. Probably.

Certainly makes keeping pests out of my clearing easy.

Time passes and soon I find myself waking up Astrid with just a single minute left on the countdown since she had dozed off over an hour ago. And as expected, she wakes up right away before looking around a second and then standing up after likely noticing the countdown.

I do the same with a light stretch, briefly glancing towards the base that I can barely see from the hill we\'re on, through the trees in between this clearing and the base.

Looks like they\'re all ready for whatever is about to happen as well.

I face the lake again while watching the countdown drop until it finally reaches zero and a loud explosion of fireworks echoes out, making me look up to find purple explosions obviously made of quantum energy going off in the air above the island and just in the sky itself. But then I find myself teleporting. Only this time I don\'t end up in a white room.

Instead I end up on a fancy platform floating above another, more basic platform located high in the middle of some sort of pitch black void with hints of deep violet visible on the edges of the place. And for some reason, I\'m sitting on a throne at the very top of the fancy platform. One surrounded by nine other fancy seats that aren\'t quite thrones.

Then a System Notification appears in my vision. One where the System\'s robotic voice is echoing throughout the entire platform and the one beneath us.

I blink in surprise at that before quickly looking around at the gathered people in their seats. And I\'m not the only one as each of them – most of whom I very easily recognize from TV alone – look around as well.

But for some reason, when my gaze meets the Hound\'s, I don\'t feel fear as I would\'ve expected. Neither do I sense any hostility coming from him.

Instead I sense… familiarity? Like he recognizes me somehow.

I put that aside for the moment though when I decide to identify him and the two people seated closest to him.

{Lucas Nightshade – Class: Requiem of Light and Shadow – Level 100}

{Damien Black – Species: Vampire – Class: Ancestral Blood Monarch – Level 95}

{Leif Eriksson – Class: Third Holy One – Level 100}

Yeah, the three really are just as intimidating as I expected, even with the Hound making such an odd expression.

The others don\'t seem to care about his expression though as they\'re all busy staring wide-eyed at me after a wave of identifies run through me from them. Probably due to my species.

Too bad it\'s plain impossible to hide your identify from others, but my being a quantum species was bound to get out and become public knowledge at some point.

No one gets the time to say anything though as out of nowhere, the System suddenly plays out another notification. And at the same time, the seat to the left of the Hound holding the Lord of Vampires shoots into the air while shining with an eerie purple light absolutely brimming with quantum energy.

And to my surprise, the notification announces each of the top ten, with each time it announces one of the top ten scorers on the leaderboards having the previous one goes back down to their little circle and the next going to take their place high above us. And each one is a name I recognize very well along with their Titles.

But what makes this more intense is the nine hundred and ninety people standing down on the platform beneath us just looking up. At first a few of them that probably had a grudge or something actually tried fighting with each other, but that ended rather quickly when they realized they couldn\'t hurt each other.

After the System finishes announcing the Fourth Ranked user though, things change.

The Third Ranked user does get moved up like the others, but instead of being announced in the same notification as them, he gets his own. And with a much smaller notification and bigger text on it.

Then he goes back down, and the Hound is brought up next.

And amidst the fear filled silence that follows from all of the people gathered beneath the platform, the Hound is brought back down to the ring.

Then silence reigns over the darkness that fills wherever we are.