Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Player Two
"Katar!" Hawkwoman cried out as she blindly charged despite the oppressing aura pushing down on her.
Kusanagi appearing in his grasp, his eyes tracked her every movement, ready to clip her wings in one swift move. He was mildly surprised as a sonic scream emerged, shooting the thanagarian down to the earth, holding her ears in pain until the screaming finally halted along with the oppressive aura.
Sora along with the league looked to the source of the sonic scream only to find an enraged Black Canary staring at the downed woman.
"What the hell was that for!?" Hawkman complained in rage and confusion.
"Are you crazy!?" Dinah screamed at the woman.
"What are yo-!"
"You realize that you both just attacked a child with little to no provocation! Not that it would make it any better." Dinah interrupted the woman before she could continue, not calming down in the slightest.
"Calm down Dina-" Green Arrow tired to intervene but was interrupted violently as the woman wasn't in the mood to listen.
Over the many years, she, Zatanna and Sora had gotten closer and more like a family than they had expected. It surprised even Sora at how close they had become with her being a sort of Aunt to them.
He was a hundred percent sure he wasn't being manipulated or anything by her or anyone else. Despite never meeting him, Oliver was surprised that Dinah had someone she was watching over. Someone she forbade him from meeting no matter what.
Now Green Arrow had an inkling about why that was so.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" She said, gritting her teeth.
"She's right." Batman's grim voice cut through the arguments.
"While he retaliated, Katar was very much at fault for his impulsive actions." Wonderwoman added from the side as the rest of them looked among themselves.
"So…..what do we do now?" Flash asked in genuine confusion as the rest of the league looked towards Sora.
"Are you guys done yet?" Zatanna asked, holding in a yawn from beside Sora.
"You're going to need to answer a few before we decide anything." Superman started as Sora scoffed before turning around.
"Let's go." He said to Zatanna who turned as well as he lead the way.
"Hey hey, we're not done talking!" Hal Jordan said as a green dome construct surrounded the two.
Sora's head turned to behind him as he made eye contact with said green lantern, his sharingan still activated.
"It's over." He said dismissively as the man's body stiffened before falling over unconscious.
Before anyone could make a fuss about it, the duo disappeared in a black flash, leaving the Justice league alone in the desert.
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'Screw all of this.'
In a damp room in one of the hospitals in Tokyo, a dark haired boy laid on a messy hospital bed as a heart rate monitor beeped by the side of the bed.
The boy's empty eyes slowly moved to the monitor which seemed to beat slower every now and then.
'I'm not going to make it, am I?' He thought, oddly calm as he reached the conclusion of his approaching death.
Kuroishi, an orphan for as long as he could remember. He had learned to live on the streets from the day he could walk. With no one to guide him, it was no wonder he ended up getting mixed up with the wrong crowd.
He had gotten into some trouble with a few yakuza members which ended in him being severely injured and hospitalized. He couldn't even fight back but it was something he was used to.
On the streets, those who lack power are destined to be trampled on by those who have it. As a teenager, a bit scrawny from malnourishment, he had endured his fair share of beatings but this was one he didn't see himself walking away from.
His increasing gap between each beep told him that much.
The doctors avoided the topic on his survival after he was operated on. As for how he even got to the hospital, he didn't know. He could only guess that it was the same yakuza that beat him up that dropped him here while being very well aware that he was unable to pay for such treatment.
That was probably why even the doctors barely came to see him, not bothering to check up on a patient that had yet to pay the bill and didn't look like he would be able to.
'You just want to see me suffer, don't you?' He thought with a hollow chuckle as he held in the blood that threatened to escape his mouth.
'This is it I guess.' His thoughts slowed down as the beeping of the machine slowed, almost to halt as darkness danced in his vision.
Slowly but surely, everything went dark as he heard the final beep before it flatlined.
…
'What's going on? Aren't I supposed to be dead?' He couldn't help but think as he felt himself floa…
'I can't feel my body. I can't feel anything.' He realized in brief shock.
'Where am I?' He pondered, now seriously confused as something unreal happened.
[Do you want to live?]
A prompt appeared before his very…eyes? He didn't know how he was able to see when he didn't have a body but that didn't seem to be a problem.
'Do I want to live? Of course I do! Am I being mocked here?' He couldn't help but rant internally.
As if reading his thoughts, the prompt disappeared as a sinking feeling overcame him. A feeling that he didn't like.
'What the-!?'
Suddenly it felt like he was drowning in a tsunami, unable to do anything other than that. The feeling continued for what felt like an eternity until he felt his 'eyes' snap open.
'Help me!' He 'screamed'
He 'woke up' with a start as he managed to quickly sit up on the bed. Looking down at his body in panic, he immediately noticed a few things. The first being that he had a body again and the flatlined monitor by the side of the bed that wasn't connected to him anymore.
'Was it a dream?' He wondered still in shock unlit he heard an electronic sound in his head.
[*Ding!*]
[Welcome Host!]
[You have slept in a bed. HP and MP have been fully restored!]
[Status], [Inventory], [Quest], [Map] and [Skills].
[Would you like to begin the tutorial?]
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Sora stood on the roof of the building opposite the hospital as he watched the boy wake up in shock and panic.
Zatanna walked behind him with an amazed look on her face.
"What exactly did you do? I'm very certain that he died. I felt his life force fizz out." She questioned, not fully understanding what happened.
"Yes, he did die…" Sora answered vaguely with a pause before continuing.
"…I brought him back." He said easily, causing her eyes to widen.
"You said you felt his life force die out. I simply snatched his soul before it could fully make its escape to the underworld and made a little adjustment. I'm sure Hades wouldn't mind." He explained, feeling her shocked gaze on his back.
"As for my reasons, let's just say I want to conduct a little experiment." He said as he carefully observed the boy with his trained eyes.
After the creation of his Chronicle, he had began working a different item that peaked his interest. He was inspired by sacred gears from his previous life's entertainment.
A soulbound item that could grant the wielder immense power. It was similar but also different from his Chronicle. He called it the [Gamer Core].
A powerful item that is bound to a host on an entirely different level. He used [Archive Magic] to form an interface to allow the user to communicate with the [Gamer Core] itself and a constant healing spell that allowed the core to heal him at intervals.
Even with that it wasn't complete. Using [Soul Magic] with the help of his [Chronicle], he was able to create an artificial soul and bind it to the [Gamer Core] to allow it to function without him micromanaging the functions and workings of the core at all times.
The [Gamer Core] was connected to the [Chronicle] which acted as a server for it to draw its power from. Any ability the core would bestow upon him would be drawn from his [Chronicle]. Of course, he had full control over what to give it access to.
To put it simply, the [Gamer Core] is the sub-server that bestows the user power while the [Chronicle] is the main server it draws said power from. The artificial soul is the manager that manages and is in charge of the [Gamer Core] while Sora is the system administrator that governs the whole operation at his whim.
It was the creation he was most proud of after his [Chronicle].
'This is going to be very entertaining.' Sora thought as he watched Kuro fumbled around with his gift.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone