My System Is a Fallen God: I Level Up Endlessly

The breeze of Orali usually smelled like dead fish and wet nets but today it smelled of cheap perfume and nervous sweats.

Saile Retrac stood in the packed dirt square, holding the hand of his little sister very tight. Avery (his sister) was trembling.... She was only twelve years old, but she knew exactly what today meant.

It was the Awakening Ceremony.

The day the Holy Church of the Saints decided your entire future with a single glowing rock.

"Do not worry," Saile whispered, squeezing her cold tiny fingers and gave her a reassuring smile then said, "Whatever you get, we will be fine."

Avery looked up at him with frightened brown eyes. "But the priests said if I get an F-Rank, I am useless. They said I would be trash."

Saile gritted his teeth. He really hated the Holy Church.

The visiting priests stood on a raised wooden stage in spotless white robes, looking down at the villagers like dirty bugs. The lead priest looked like a lumpy potato stuffed into a white silk pillowcase. He wore heavy gold rings and sneered at the smell of the ocean.

In the center of the stage sat the Holy Crystal. You touched the cold stone, and the Saints in the sky judged your soul. Talents were graded from F-Rank to the mythical SSS-Rank.

If you got an A-Rank, your life changed forever. You were drafted into the wealthy nobles or the Church’s elite military. But the poor orphans in forgotten fishing villages like Orali always got garbage.

"Next!" the fat priest barked loudly. He pointed a stubby, jeweled finger at Avery. "Hurry up, girl. The Light does not wait for slow peasants."

Saile gave Avery a gentle push. She walked up the creaking stairs, her knees shaking visibly. She stopped in front of the massive gem, taking a deep breath, and placed her small hands against the glass.

The crowd went completely silent.

Then, a dull, muddy brown light flickered weakly inside the stone. It looked exactly like dirty dishwater.

The fat priest sneered in absolute disgust. He scribbled quickly on a piece of parchment. "F-Rank. Talent: Null. Absolutely useless. Step aside, trash."

While Avery burst into tears, she covered her face and ran back down the steps, burying her head hard into Saile’s chest. He caught her, hugging her tight.

Saile was a pacifist. He hated fighting, but right now, his blood boiled.

"It is okay," Saile told her softly, wiping the salty tears from her cheeks. "F-Rank just means they will leave us alone to fish and be with each other, okay?"

"Okay," she replied faintly.

"Next!" the priest yelled, glaring impatiently at Saile. "You, the boy. Get up here and get this over with."

Saile took a deep breath. He let go of Avery, making sure she was safe behind him. He walked up the steps and stood directly in front of the Holy Crystal. He raised his right hand, just an inch away from the cold stone.

Then, the sun disappeared.

A massive, unnatural shadow covered Orali. The air pressure dropped so insanely fast that Saile’s ears popped. The temperature dropped to freezing in a single heartbeat.

Saile turned his head toward the ocean. The water was no longer a calm blue. It had turned pitch black, bubbling and foaming wildly like a witch’s cauldron.

Boom!

The ocean exploded and a visible, circular shockwave ripped across the water, hitting the shoreline with the terrifying force of a hurricane. The wind screamed like a dying animal, instantly tearing thatched roofs off the wooden houses. The ground trembled violently, throwing the fat priest right off the stage and face-first into the dirt.

Rising from the boiling, blackened sea was a living nightmare. It was a Leviathan.

The beast was the size of a small mountain. Its thick, jagged black scales were covered in glowing, toxic purple veins that pulsed with corrupted dark mana. Its eyes burned with a sick, blinding light. The monster reared its ugly head back, opened its razor-filled jaws, and roared at the sky.

The sound was a deafening sonic boom. The sheer physical force of the roar shattered the glass windows of every single house in Orali, splitting the woods into a million flying pieces. The villagers screamed in pure terror, scrambling blindly away from the shoreline.

"Demon! It is a demon!" the fat priest shouted, crawling on his hands and knees. He did not cast a shield to protect the innocent villagers; whereas the coward just scrambled away, leaving the orphans to die.

Saile did not care about the cowardly priest. He only cared about one thing.

"Avery!" Saile screamed over the roaring, violent wind as he turned around, searching through the panicked crowd.

Avery was frozen in terror near the bottom of the stage with her hands covering her ears. High above her, the Leviathan slammed its huge, spiked tail into the village’s stone watchtower.

The brutal impact triggered another sonic boom. The solid stone tower cracked down the middle like a dry twig. A huge chunk of solid masonry broke loose from the top, heading directly toward Avery.

Saile did not think. He just moved.

Launching himself off the edge of the wooden stage with a quick burst of adrenaline, Saile placed his foot firmly against a falling merchant’s cart, executing an extremely needed wall-run to gain speed. He dived through the disorganized air, hitting the ground into a tight shoulder roll recovery to close the distance quickly.

He grabbed Avery by the waist, planted his feet, and threw her out of the way with his entire might. She rolled safely into the soft sand.

But Saile was far too slow to save himself. He looked up, and the giant stone block filled his entire vision.

Gbam!

The impact was with full force. The heavy stone crushed him violently against the hard earth.

Pain filled his chest, sharp and white-hot. He felt his ribs snap instantly... the wind was knocked out of him in a maddening rush and thick blood filled his mouth.

Through the thick dust, he saw Avery crawling toward him fast, crying, screaming his name, but her voice sounded too far away. He reached his bloody, shaking hand out toward her, but his fingers would not work.

The wind kept blowing very heavily. The ground kept trembling under the Leviathan’s brutal attacks.

However, the terrible pain in his chest slowly faded away, quickly replaced by a deep, heavy numbness. His heart gave one final thump, and then it stopped beating completely.

Everything went totally black.

Saile opened his eyes.....

He was no longer pinned under a massive rock, neither was he on the ruined beach of Orali. He was standing in a grand, ruined temple.

The floor beneath his feet was covered in black, ink-like water that glowed with a faint, haunting silver light. Giant, cracked stone pillars reached up into an endless, starless sky. Dark lightning silently flashed in the clouds above.

It was perfectly, terrifyingly quiet.

"Is this death?" Saile whispered into the dark. His voice resonated loudly in the empty space around him.

"No," a deep, ancient voice replied. "Death is much more boring."

Saile turned around, splashing in the black water. At the far end of the ruined temple sat a giant stone throne, and a man was chained to it.

He wore ragged, ancient combat clothes. Thick, glowing chains wrapped heavily around his arms, chest, and neck, holding him entirely to the cold stone. His piercing, glowing silver eyes looked right through Saile’s skin and into his soul.

"Who are you?" Saile asked, stepping back.

The man laughed ironically.... "My name is Naicul Elav. I am the monster your cowardly priests warn you about in their bedtime stories. I am a God."

Saile stared at him. "You look like a prisoner."

Naicul’s silver eyes flashed with violent anger. The black water spread.

"Watch your tongue, boy," Naicul growled. "I sacrificed my humanity to save this world from the Abyss. And how did they repay me? My friends stabbed me in the back. The Saints stole my SSS-Rank power, claimed it as their own, and locked me in the dark."

Saile felt a chill. "Why am I here? My heart stopped. I should be dead."

"You are dying," Naicul said coldly. "Your mortal shell is shattered. In ten seconds, your soul will fade away completely. And your little sister? She is going to die too. That Leviathan is going to eat her."

Saile panicked... his pacifism vanished. "No! You have to help her!"

"I do not have to do anything," Naicul scoffed. "Humans are ungrateful trash."

"I do not care about this world!" Saile stomped forward through the black water. "Just save Avery!"

Naicul stared at the bleeding boy. Slowly, he leaned forward against his glowing chains. A cold smile crept onto his scarred face.

"I will offer you a deal, Saile Retrac," Naicul whispered. "I want your body. I will give you power and survival to kill that fish. But there is a price... Every time you use my power, my soul grows stronger. You will be my host. Be my vessel, or let your sister die!"

Saile did not hesitate. If it meant Avery lived, he would sell his soul.

"Deal," Saile said.

Naicul smiled wickedly. "Good boy."

The glowing chains shattered with a sonic boom. Blinding silver light erupted from Naicul, washing over Saile. The black seas surged upward, swallowing Saile whole as dark lightning pierced his chest.

He felt a rush of impossible, terrifying energy. It did not feel holy. It felt dark, aggressive, and utterly endless.

[System Initialized. Host: Saile Retrac.]

[System State: Level 1 | Sync Rate 0% | Talent: ???]

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