The Cheat Seed

"Ready for round 2?"

Raka asked with a smirk.

"Sure"

Marcus grinned and leaned his body a bit to the front so he could get a jump start.

"Watch this"

Raka yelled as he yanked something out of his pant pocket. A red handkerchief revealed itself from his pocket and attached to his hand. Raka slowly positioned it on his head and smiled.

"Magnify"

Under Raka's order, the red handkerchief grew to the size of a whole curtain. The expanded handkerchief lowered itself on his body, coating him entirely with its silk smooth fabric.

"Hey Marcus, Say Abracadabra"

Raka spoke. His face not apparent through the fabric enclosing him.

Marcus shook his head to himself as if he was annoyed. Seriously! He wanted answers, he wanted the fucking answers to why Raka had an enormous level of mana pool and what his real identity was.

They were fighting and this dude in front of him was acting like a thirteen-year-old, asking him to say some out-of-the-world chants.

Wait...Out of the world?...

"ABRACADABRA"

Marcus yelled back at the silk-wrapped Raka just out of curiosity. He wanted to end this fight as fast as possible as well because he was worried about his parents and siblings who were just outside the room he was in.

He wished that the room he entered was the only thing that was under the range of the pocket dimension. He hoped that his parents and two little sisters outside the room were still safe and sound.

"AIGHT!!"

The enlarged handkerchief plummeted down the ground as the shape inside deformed and finally vanished.

*FLASH*

*THUD*

"That was it?"

Marcus shook his head as a wave of disappointment hit him. Why so?. In his left hand was Raka's fist which had emerged out of the air a second ago.

Marcus let the fist fall towards him and clasped his grip on Raka's wrist with a force that could have easily shattered his bones if it weren't for Raka's ability to cover his skeletal body with mana impulses.

"Ah...Guess I was expecting a bit too much from the prodigy"

Marcus shook his head sarcastically this time, in hope of angering the man behind him, to make him lose control and leave an opening.

(Shaking head = check)

"Alright... Plan A... success"

Marcus's thoughts did a whole 180 as he heard Raka laugh. He heaved Raka in an attempt to slam his body down onto the ground but grimaced when his grip loosened automatically.

Raka drove his knee onto his spine and jumped back using Marcus's back as support. Raka twirled and twisted and succeeded in a corkscrew flip before landing in a hero stance 3 meters away from the red-haired man.

Marcus glimpsed at his hand which was, according to him fastened to Raka's wrist. His palm felt greasy as he felt his fingers touch each other.

"Tsk...Oil"

Marcus uttered with a smile. The Prodigy was proving his worth after all. Being able to be on par with Marcus who had destroyed Gods was... quite impressive.

Raka's right fist which was his stronger side was bathed in oil. His coat sleeve was rolled up as well, revealing his arm till his average biceps. It was as if he knew Marcus had godly reflexes.

Which in turn roughly gave Marcus an idea of Raka's class. He was the kind to adapt during battles whereas Raka was the one to examine his foe before going in for the kill. It made sense as he recalled Raka examining him during the meeting in the setup room.

"Plan A?... Success?... It's just oil"

Marcus spat coldly at Raka, who was still smirking.

"You think so?"

Shriek!! Almighty Sense tingled crazily inside his mind making the hair on his neck stand up. It smelled danger. Marcus took his usual attack stance and focused his gaze on Raka, who was standing casually a few meters away from him, his hands towed on each other.

"Think Marcus, if he's not keeping distance, then the attack mustn't be an area damage one. If it was, he would be also caught in the explosion"

"Let me guess what you are thinking... You are probably thinking that the next attack won't be an explosion or an area damage attack because I am this close to you"

Raka chuckled.

"Dude Marcus you suck!!. Why in the galactic fuck are you hesitating when am just frigging 3 meters away from you?"

Raka continued.

"You should stop being a shounen character who thinks of a thousand possibilities before attacking the enemy. Seriously!! It's becoming a bit old and cliché."

Raka rolled his eyes and twirled his finger in his ear.

"I can say, Marcus... You are delusional aren't you?"

Marcus's body went numb at Raka's words. Delusion? and him?. Was he?.

"I can sense it...No, haha I can see it in your eyes. You know how death feels like, don't you?. I know this makes no sense but I feel like you died at least a hundred times before."

How did he know about that?. Marcus knew he died a lot in the dungeon before, to an extent that death seemed casual to him. But he had the reassurance of the Respawn circle. So the deaths he died... they were just delusional deaths, fictitious deaths that didn't matter to him, they were painless deaths.

[Marcus stop thinking about it... I am warning you! Focus on your adversary, Focus on RAKA!]

The system interfered with his thoughts. The system was struggling.

"Tell me System, why did I not feel anything when I died??. It should've at least affected me mentally right?... Am I a Human?"

[No...Marcus...Aaargh]

The system lost control. The human voice the system had started breaking down. It was as if the system itself was glitching and hanging, it felt like the system was being suppressed by its default.

It happened soon as an electrical voice pierced Marcus's mind. The same voice of the system before the integration.

[The user has spiked the hidden files]

[Warning!!. System hidden memories are breaking]

[Warning!!]

[Unlocking system hidden flashbacks]

[Regressing User's mind back to the virtual memory presentation]

*Twitch*

*Flash*

*Thud*

Marcus landed face-first on the ground. Marcus ran his hand around him and traced the ground on which he landed. It felt rocky and dirt-filled as he felt small pieces of stone and sand.

"Where am I?"

"Is this Raka's doing?... Fuck him and his illusions"

Marcus pushed the ground and raised his body. His head veered around, spying for the place he was in. It was dark, his surroundings were pitch black, only the land was illuminated. He started walking. There was just more land ahead.

It was as if he had returned to the tutorial dungeon.

"Where am..."

His words faded when he saw a frail boy hunching inside a circle. The circle was illuminated in yellow light.

Marcus gulped. His head was aching and in his mind, his thoughts kept on reciting the same thing to him again and again, but he shook his head in denial and kept on inching towards the boy.

Marcus slowly paced towards the boy, his eyes trained on the skinny back of the boy. He was scrawny, every joint of the spine stood out in detail.

As he got closer, Marcus realized that the boy was weeping. Small sobs and cries waltzed their way towards his ears as he zeroed the distance between them.

"I'll die... (sob) If I go there... (sob) I'll die"

To his shock, the voices were familiar.

Marcus slowly and steadily walked around the boy, facing him. The boy was crouching his head between his knees and sobbing.

"I don't... (sob) want to die"

"It's scary... (cry) the monsters are scary"

Marcus bent his knees and peered at the boy sympathetically. He reached out his hand to pat the weeping boy's head.

"GASP"

His hand went through the boy. His eyes widened and he almost fell back in shock but soon assumed the possibility that it could be an illusion as well.

But...

The real shock hit him when the boy before him raised his head. The bloodshot eyes ogled Marcus, the eyelids sagged with anguish and fear.

This time Marcus fell, he stumbled on his back as his widened stare met the boy's bloodshot eyes. His eyes darted between the boy and... Monsters...OGRETTOS behind him.

He scrambled back in terror.

The boy and the Ogrettos, he remembered it. He remembered it now. The electronic voice!!. He remembered what the electronic voice had said.

Marcus gaped at his younger self. The frail, weak Marcus.

"Is this... the other side... of my story?"

[No Marcus...]

Another familiar voice echoed behind him.

[This is your hidden memory... this is what in reality happened]

...................................................................................