The Ultimate Regressor System

The casino buzzed with noise and neon light, glasses clinking somewhere behind the roulette tables.

The air was thick with perfume, sweat, and the tang of spilled liquor.

On a raised stage, two strippers worked the poles under red lights, their bodies slick with sweat as they moved in a way that made the crowd roar.

On the other side, hands slid under skirts with people going crazy, and a man sat on a chair with his head tilted backwards while a woman in nothing but heels and a lingerie rode him and made obscene noises.

Darian Voss sat with one leg crossed over the other, flipping a coin on the other hand as he watched the ball spin around the wheel with the a calmness of a man who had stopped caring about winning a long time ago.

It wasn’t about the money, it never had been. Money was just the scoreboard, a convenient way of measuring the only thing that ever actually mattered to him. And that moment was the moment right before the outcome, when everything in the still hung in the air and nothing was decided yet.

"You’re going to lose that whole stack," the dealer said, watching him push the whole of his winnings onto a single number.

"Probably," Darian agreed and smiled like it didn’t bother him at all.

The ball dropped, and he didn’t flinch either way. He just chuckled and stood up as he walked away.

That was the thing people never understood about him. He never cared about meaning because to him, the uncertainty of not knowing, right up until the moment you did was more exhilarating.

He had built an entire life chasing that feeling, long before the sky ever tore open and this nightmare began.

***

"Tails," he said, "you can stay."

Lucas blinked, dazed and unsettled. "Uhhh okay, what exactly does that mean?"

"It means fate answered the question I asked in my head." Darian rose from his seat, and as the light shifted, Lucas finally got a proper look at him.

He was tall, lean with his black hair swept back. He had sharp grey eyes that was had a rather relaxed gaze as he moved towards him.

"I asked what would happen if I sent you away. Heads, you survive. Tails, you don’t."

"You gambled my life on a coin flip."

"I gamble everything on a coin flip. You’re not the first person I’ve used the coin on. Others came before you— some stayed, some didn’t." Darian said entirely unbothered. "It’s simply how I make decisions. It’s faster than overly thinking, and in my experience, just as reliable."

Lucas stared at him dumbfounded, torn between being outraged or impressed. "That’s insane."

"Effective insanity, but sure, call it what you like." Darian extended a hand, unbothered by the accusation. "Darian Voss. Leader of this Faction"

Lucas shook it, still processing what had happened in the last few minutes. "Lucas Kane."

"Come on. Let’s get you looked at properly. I’ll show you around while we’re at it."

They walked out into the courtyard together, the midday sun bright after the dim hall, and Darian gestured broadly at the structures surrounding them as they walked, showing him the dining halls, supply points and everything in-between

"Faction leader yourself, I take it," Darian said, glancing sideways at Lucas.

"Yeah, I am. How’d you know?"

"Saw your Modifier the second you walked in. ’You have encountered The Terror’"

He chuckled at that. "Quite the title to be carrying."

Lucas didn’t have anything to say about that. Then, he realized something...

He hadn’t seen his Modifier either.

"Well, I don’t know yours," he said.

Darian looked at him for a moment. "Really? I figured you would have seen it since I saw yours."

Lucas shook his head. "I didn’t." He wasn’t sure if it was another glitch but he decided not say anything about it.

"I see. Well, would you like to know?" Darian asked, and Lucas shrugged.

"If you want to."

Darian chucked again before speaking. "The Gambit," he said with a smile.

Lucas deadpanned. "That explains everything.’

"Fitting, I might add."

By the time they finished, the sun had already dipped well past the horizon, casting shades of orange onto the courtyard. Darian led him toward a smaller building near the fortress’ center, medical supplies visible through the open doorway. "Here we are. Yor will get you sorted."

The woman inside turned at their approach, and Lucas blinked as he faced someone strikingly beautiful — her blonde hair tied in a ponytail with bangs on both sides of her face. Her blue eyes sharp, accessing Lucas with a look of of someone who had clearly tended to more wounds than she probably wanted to.

Her gaze swept over him once, professionally at first, and then lingered as she took in more than his injuries. His dark hair and golden eyes that she found attractive took her by surprise.

"This is Yor," Darian said. "Healing skill, best hands in the Faction for it."

He turned to the young woman. "Take good care of our new guest." He clapped Lucas once on his shoulder.

"Ow."

He turned to leave. "Well then, I’ll be going now. I have some things to do."

He left before Lucas could utter another word, and Yor gestured him toward a low cot.

"Let’s get you looked at." She said with a smile as Lucas sat. She moved behind him and placed a hand lightly on his back.

"Where?"

"Right side," he said.

He removed his coat and exposed the injury. It was bleeding, deep and a little swollen. She began examining the injury with careful hands and when she placed a hand on it, he winced.

"This looks bad. How long has it been like this?"

"About three days."

"You’ve been walking around with an injury this bad for days?" She shook her head, "You’re lucky it hasn’t gotten worse."

"Been lucky a lot of lately"

She placed a hand on his shoulder and a faint light flickered to life, working on the wound effectively closing it.

The blood clotted, the wound scabbed over as her skill worked on him.

"So," he said, once the the pain had settled into a manageable ache, "Your leader, is he always like that? With the coin i mean."

Yor huffed, something that sounded like a laugh and a sigh. "Always. Every decision he’s ever made since we landed here and before he built this place, he’s made by flipping that coin. Where we settle. Who we trust. Whether to fight or retreat. All of it."

"That’s... genuinely unhinged."

"You get used to it." The light finally dimmed and she looked at him faintly amused. "The unsettling part is that it’s never once steered us wrong."

Lucas’ eye widened. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "He’s made a decision we all regretted. Not once. I don’t know if it’s luck, fate, or something else entirely, but at this point, none of us question it anymore. You survive long enough on the strength of something working, you stop caring why." She said with no hint of exaggeration, and Lucas just sat there bewildered.

Lucas rubbed his forehead. "I’ve officially had the craziest week of my life. And I fell into a ravine three days ago."

Yor laughed at that, turning towards the door.

"You should rest. Your injury needs time, and you look like you haven’t slept properly in days."

She showed him to a small, quiet room not long after and spoke, he hand on his shoulder. "You can stay here. If you need anything, just let me know."

She left, her hand lingering on his shoulder a fraction longer before leaving the room.

Lucas stared at the bed for a while before lying down on it. He exhaled as he lay down, exhaustion dragging at every limb despite the impulse of his dreaded the feeling of asleep in a completely knew environment.

He was asleep within minutes.

***

The world dissolved churned before he’d even had the chance to properly rest.

Lucas’ eyes snapped open as he looked around warily.

’What? Why am I here?’

Lucas was confused. Did he die? Was he assassinated? Did Yor put some kind poison in his body?

His mind raced with dozens of questions and the particular horrific feeling that this place was not safe clawed at him.

[Ding!]

[Player has been summoned by The Sovereign of Death.]

Lucas blinked. ’I’m not dead?’

Well, thinking about it, the system didn’t tell him that he failed to regress so maybe he really wasn’t dead.

He closed his eyes and placed a hand on his chin. ’But if I’m not dead, why am I here?’

Lucas opened his eyes to the familiar, endless dark of the void, the throne of skulls and the shadow around him exactly as he remembered.

"Lucas Kane," the Sovereign’s voice resonated. Something in its tone carrying a tone Lucas hadn’t heard before. It wasn’t fury, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was actually.

"We meet again."

Lucas exhaled, too exhausted to feel much fear this time.

"Can this wait," he said. "I just got my injury checked after carrying hellish pain around for three days straight."

The Sovereign’s throne creaked as it replied.

"No," the voice said simply. "It cannot."

He exhaled. The idea of him having to face an ancient entity after just being healed leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

"Why am I here?"

"Because I wanted to speak with you." The voice replied and slowly the darkness around its face began to clear revealing its face.

When Lucas saw it, his eyes widened...

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