"HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Why am I laughing?
Something was wrong. Extremely wrong. The problem remained that I couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly was causing these strange actions which I definitely had no hand in. It was like being trapped in my body only to watch it talking to someone—and I wasn't the one talking!
"Ugh!" I bit my tongue in an attempt to halt the strange laughter. It worked, but the sharp sting of pain was no joke. It felt like it speared straight through my skull, and for a moment my tongue went numb. My eyes watered.
"Blood," I muttered, spitting out a mixture of blood and saliva.
I looked back to my wrist where my eyes fell on the strange device attached to it. "What in the world is this?" I touched the device gently. It was slick, watch-like in structure, with strange inscriptions—or should I say symbols? They resembled hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt, though not exactly the same. The tiny characters circled the large screen at the center of the watch. The symbols also lined the handles, parallel to each other, running all the way around to connect with the main rune at the top. And the screen... it glowed red.
"Why is it red?" I muttered. It emitted a fierce crimson that clearly wasn't a good sign. I had a feeling I'd seen this somewhere before, but couldn't quite remember. My memories were jumbled, and given this was some kind of isekai situation, shouldn't I be getting whoever's body this was—their memories?
I sighed, then touched the screen.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
"AHHHHHH!" A huge jolt of electricity ran through my body, stalling and extremely painful.
"Hahh... haaah... haaah," I panted, then stared upward, lying flat on the ground. "So... this is it. This is what I get after living through two decades of cruelty and unforgiving imbalance in that shitty world. A busted body with no memories of who I am or how I got here? Who the hell even reincarnated me?!"
I was pissed. No goddess or god to formally tell me what they wanted with me—just randomly tossed into the body of a poor soul on the verge of death. Given how bruised and battered I looked, whoever this was had clearly been through hell, which only fueled my worry about why my body had been moving on its own.
"Sighs," I exhaled heavily.
"You sigh a lot," my mouth moved.
"Yeah, she used to—" I was about to say when I froze.
Wait, did I just ask myself a question? And was I about to answer it?
"Hold on a flipping moment! Who said that?!" I jerked upright.
Nothing. I looked around, touched my body from head to toe. There was nothing. I thought for a second that my body would just start—
"Huh?" For some reason I suddenly stood up. I turned on my heel and in the next second, I began running.
"AHHHH!" My ruined arm flailed up and down, bringing pain like putting your tongue in a blender and turning it on. Yeah, I know... but that's what I was feeling!
"STOP! STOP RUNNING! FUCK!" I cried—literal tears. The pain was unbearable, truly unbearable. Like twisting your finger in the most unnatural way until you can barely touch it without feeling like your world was crumbling, and then someone suggesting you stretch it further.
BAM!
I suddenly collapsed on the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Someone had yanked the plug, and just like that, I fell face-first under my own weight. Yes, it was unbearably painful.
"Who... is there?" I muttered, annoyed.
No answer.
"I know you can hear me! WHO IN THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU?!" I roared.
Still, silence.
"...Me?" My lips moved again.
"Yes, you," I replied, at least getting a response.
"I am me."
"What the... no, like... who are you?" At this point, I felt stupid.
"I... am the system," it said, and I really frowned.
"What?"
"There was a sudden interference during the system... assimilation. Now I have partial control of your body."
"No... you've got to be kidding me." I was terrified, and for good reason. The prospect of another entity—a system which was supposed to be highly intelligent—spelled only trouble.
"GET. THE. FUCK. OUT. OF. ME!" I roared.
"...Oh, shut up."
"What?" It felt like cold water had been splashed on me.
"You have no right to shout at me, slave," my mouth moved.
"No... you are MY system, right?" I asked, apprehensive.
"Tch... irritating pest. You think I find this flesh prison amusing? I will eliminate your soul if you anger me anymore."
Anger him anymore I did not. I wasn't stupid. Until I understood what was happening, I would try not to provoke this son of a bitch.
[DING!]
[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED]
I blinked. "What the—?"
But he spoke first, hijacking my voice.
"Yes, finally. Activate system alteration protocol. Get me out of this... THING."
[Protocol activated] [Access denied]
"What?! I'm an admin! Username: El****N"
[Access denied] [Consciousness cannot access system admin privileges]
"NO!"
[Running scan...] [Two consciousnesses detected]
"No, you dumb algorithm—I AM A REVERED ENTITY!"
[Activating system protocol...] [Establishing algorithm for multi-soul scenario...]
"No, no, no, no—NO!"
His scream cracked. A cry. A lament.
Crap. What's happening?!
[DING!]
[Establishing system control...] [Consciousness: Ethan – 65% | ??? – 35%]
And then—
I sat up.