REBORN HERO: THE ULTIMATE SYSTEM

CHAPTER 006: A HOLE IN ONE

Ravian sat on the broken chair, clasping the device tightly in his hands. His eyes were tired. The camp around them seemed to fade as he began to speak.

"After you left," Ravian started, his voice gruff, "I couldn't sit back. I had to know why your son…” he paused, glancing up at Valor with a saddened face. “I wanted to know why he went dark. I knew Dusk, spoke to him and he was a good kid. Even your arrest… nothing added up. They said you were the cause of everything that happened…” 

Ravian sighed again, he glanced towards the window with a sense of urgency. “There isn't much time,” he muttered under his breath. “Anyways, I started digging, and I found answers. Not necessarily answers I wanted,” he chuckled.

Valor frowned, hunching forward. "What did you find?”

Ravian took a deep breath, the weight of the truth hanging upon him like an iron cloak. "There's something behind all this… something that's been pulling the strings, controlling everything. It's not human, Valor. And it's been ruling this world, and not just this world the other Forge Worlds too. All of them."

Valor stood still, his mind racing to catch up. "Wait, hold on. You’re saying there’s someone ruling this world but they are living in the shadows?”

“I would call them someone if they were human. They are not. Whatever it is, it's old… ancient in fact.”

Valor paused, a little hint of confusion surfaced but he bit it back. He glanced at his old friend with a weird gaze. “Are you sure you are okay?” He demanded. 

“You don't need to believe me,” Ravian said, standing up. He knew Valor a lot, he’d been his best friend in the past and he knew how hard it was for him to adjust to new things. He wasn't the kind that would believe someone or something has been altering his way of life without him noticing. “But please,” he said with the utmost sincerity. “I need you to protect this device.” 

He stretched the device towards him but Valor hesitated. “What's it?” He asked.

“During my search, I found out that there was only one thing that could actually take down this creature and it is this device. They called it the…”

“Ultimate system!” Valor completed the words for him. 

“Yes. You know about it?” 

“It… it is a myth,” he chuckled. “A device that contains some sort of ultimate power,” he glanced at the compass looking device in his hands and smiled again. “Ravian, you think that compass in your hand holds the ultimate power of the world?” 

“You don't need to believe but please, hold on to this for me, safeguard it. The people that are here don't know of your existence, they have been searching for me. Ever since I lost my powers, I have had to protect myself using my wits. When I found this device, all of them were suddenly alerted. I don't know how… but I need your help, old friend.”

Valor sighed. He wasn't necessarily someone to believe in all these kinds of myths, although he held onto the hope that he would come across such a myth to help save his son but he never actually believed. Now that his friend was saying something like this was real. He couldn't bring himself to believe it but he was always someone who held onto brotherhood.

“Alright. But tell me one thing. How did you lose your abilities?” 

“I don't have the ability to shadow walk like you and passing through the walls with normal physical means was impossible, our wall… the wall from our world had metaphysical properties, it was supposed to be the main Forge world, all the others were test subjects.” He chuckled. “I had to connect to a power source that would push me to a subatomic level and then transfer me out of the walls. I lost my powers in the process,” he said with a smile. 

Valor nodded and took the device from him, however the moment the device touched Valor's hand, a force-field erupted from it, pushing both of them off their feet. Valor crashed into a nearby wall and felt his body ache. The Astral Sanctum rolled out of his inner sleeve on to the ground. 

He scrambled up to get it but a beam of light, as big as a pillar descended into the room, blinding the sight from Valor’s eyes. The beam dug a huge crater in the room, the force bringing the entire house down. Valor could only crouch, covering his head with his hand trying to shield himself from the fallen debris. 

When the chaos subsided, Valor raised his head, and he realized he was standing in the midst of a wrecked building. There were several armed mercenaries surrounding him, however that wasn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the man who was hovering above them.

The hero Prism. A class X hero with light abilities. They used to call him Dusk's underling back then as Dusk was seen as the ultimate light hero. Valor pondered in himself how he was here. Ravian crawled from underneath the debris, standing up to see that they had been surrounded. 

“Prism, it is you they sent.” He chuckled. 

The floating man descended to a level where his words will be audible enough. “I cannot believe that I have got myself quite the catch. Deserted hero Valor and curious Ravian.” He chuckled. 

“You know there was a time when I would say I envied you guys,” Prism said. “The heroes of this world. Class Z and Class 0. Entities with unfathomable powers. I always thought one day, I would scratch such glory,” he smiled. “But I have been called to a higher purpose. You know how it feels to be called by god himself? Exhilarating to say the least,” he laughed heartily. 

Valor glanced to the side and he saw that among those that were captured was Lia who seemed to be holding on to a dead body and crying over it, he figured that was probably her sister. He glanced up at Prism. “What do you want with us then?”

“God has sent me to bring you back. You see I am the light of god. The one who paves way and forges path for everyone, including disobedient children like you.”

Valor was beginning to believe what Ravian was saying, and he began to wonder what happened after he left. 

“However, first you must hand over the Ultimate System,” Prism said and his voice this time was dangerously low. 

Valor realized after a while that he was actually holding the device in his hand all this while and hadn't let go. He just realized that he thought it had fallen off during the explosion but it didn't. He glanced at it and for the first time he could feel a warmth sensation drawing through his palm from the device. “What's happening,” he thought. 

“So hand it over or I will rip it off your dead corpse,” Prism warned once more. 

However, this time, Ravian refused to back down. He reached to his side and pulled out a disk, its surface rippling as swarms of nanobots surged through it, rapidly reshaping into a massive gun. He pulled its trigger as a purple beam of energy erupted from it, blasting Prism off. “RUN!” He yelled. 

Valor didn't think twice as multiple gunshots already began to swarm towards his location. He picked up the Astral Sanctum as he rushed out of the danger area. He decided to head towards Lia but as the thought settled in his head he felt something tear through his flesh. 

He paused and glanced at his chest, there was now a large gaping hole in it. He crumpled to the ground, losing all consciousness.