1 Am I Dying Again?
In the heart of a high-tech laboratory, the air buzzed with a subtle hum as rows of monitors illuminated an all white room.
At the center stood a teenage boy, eyes wide with anticipation. A middle-aged man in a white lab coat tapped onto a circular disk merged to the left chest area of the teenage boy and subtly back away from view.
The air shimmered as this action initiated the activation sequence, and a soft glow enveloped the disk.
Holographic displays flickered to life, showcasing intricate diagrams as the disk unfurled into little sand like form spreading across the body of the teenage boy.
They danced in patterns only visible through advanced augmented reality lenses, weaving a mesmerizing display.
They wrapped around the teenage boy with a precision that defied imagination. Forming a metallic fabric that adhered to his form, each nanite finding its place with almost sentient awareness, forming a suit.
The nanites exhibited a remarkable adaptive conformity, tailoring the suit to the unique contours of the boy's body. They formed intricate patterns, interlocking seamlessly like a futuristic puzzle.
The metallic sheen of the nanite-infused fabric shifted and shimmered, revealing the suit's dynamic responsiveness.
The suit seemed to come alive, a responsive second skin that mirrored the boy's every movement.
[ Activating Memory data... ]
[ Operator recognized ]
[ Operator name: Dennis Slark ]
[ Compatibility rate: 99.09% ]
[ Level : 1 ]
[ Cores Harvested: 0 ]
"Cores? What is that?"
[Initializing Battle Mode: Damage Dealer]
It had turned into a full battle suit that made the teenage boy look extremely menacing.
Its helmet area had a single window of purple that glowed glamorously, giving digitalized and vivid imagery feedback.
The teenage boy could see a world of purple with all sorts of computerization as the suit scanned the surroundings.
The exterior was sleek and streamlined, with a matte black color and circular red glows in multiple areas.
Badump! Badump! Badump!
He could feel his heart pumping with so much adrenaline, making him feel like he could accomplish any physical feat. He could sense energy building up from within like nothing he had ever felt before.
"Looks like a video game simulation, but... this thing is powerful... and very real,' He thought with an expression of astonishment under the helm.
[ Incoming Hostiles ]
Four large beastly creatures charged at him, exuding bloodthirsty auras.
They were four-legged creatures with silvery claws and red eyes. They also had two boar-shaped heads with a single horn at the center of each of the heads.
[ Suggesting The Use Of Long Range Weaponry ]
"Do it!"
[Activating Cannon Blasters Level 2]
He pointed his fists at the incoming hostiles. Parts of the suit extended further from his arms, morphing into triangular-shaped blasters that sprayed the extraterrestrial lifeforms with a hail of deadly energy bolts.
Thhiiinnhhhgg~ Thhiiinnhhhgg~ Thhiiinnhhhgg~ Thhiiinnhhhgg ~
The first beastly lifeform was immediately run through, leaving charred and smoking holes all across its body while the other two closed in on him.
Fwwwhii~
He leaped upwards the instant they were only two feet from making contact, spinning his body twice in mid-air.
Bang!
The two creatures heads slammed into each other as he proceeded to land on both of them.
His right and left feet were each centered on the heads of the two as he fired shots at their bodies.
[ Hostile Approaching From The South ]
[ Will Make Contact In 2.97 Seconds... ]
Another creature appeared from behind and rammed into a glowing blue shield the teenage boy conjured at the last second.
Bang!
It flickered and sparked due to the force of collision while the creature kept trying to push forward with all of its strength.
His feet caused the floor to make sizzling sounds as he slid backward due to the strength of the beast.
Shhsshh~
However, the next moment, he deactivated the shield and jumped backward, causing the creature to stagger forward uncontrollably.
As the beast staggered closer, he threw out a fierce uppercut, powered by the suit's hydraulic strength.
Bang!
The floor where his right foot was situated cracked a little upon collision as the force of the punch sent the creature spiraling across the air.
It crashed into a nearby wall, causing a deafening thud to reverberate across the space.
[ Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! ]
[ Operator Vitals Compromised! ]
[ Operator Vitals Compromised! ]
Suddenly, he felt a sharp burning sensation within his chest.
Accompanied by this sensation was extreme and uncontrollable dizziness. He tried to take a step forward to gain balance. However, the whole vicinity seemed to be warping before his eyes.
Tuumm!
His knees shuddered like freshly cooked noodles as the world before him tumbled and his face planted onto the floor.
'Am I dying again? But I just got here...' His vision slowly faded along with his last train of thought.
...
(Four Days Ago)
"Subject time of death: 7:57 AM
Age:17
Name: Dennis Slark
Squadron: First Combatant unit.
The subject was said to have a compatibility rate of 99% with our Ultimate Vestro Suit.
Cause of death: Believed to be due to the subject's overly high compatibility rate.
The subject survived for five minutes after activation before his heart gave way."
"Hmm, where am I? Shouldn't I still be on the battlefield with the third squad? Whose voice is that?" The darkness that clouded his vision didn't stop his ears from picking up the sound in the environment.
Gradually, Mark's eyelids started to flutter open as it turned out that the darkness was due to his closed eyes.
His vision soon returned only to be blinded again by a bright source of light and an excruciating headache.
'Everything looks different...'
'Was my vision always this clear?'
'Everything feels different...'
The air had a hospitalized stench that made his nose scrunch up.
'What is going on?'
Not only was his head aching heavily, but even his body felt heavy and sore all over. As he tried to lift himself, he fell back weakly to the cold metal table his body was laid upon.
Mark couldn't help but become startled as he realized he was in an unknown environment.
He was surrounded by white walls at every corner. Large crystalline tubes that housed the corpses of unknown creatures could also be spotted in a lined-up format up ahead.
'Those are... they look nothing like any animal I remember,' Mark couldn't recognize any of these oddly structured creatures.
It looked like he was in a kind of laboratory. At the moment, Mark was trying to process the visualization of the environment as he lay atop a cold metal table.
He was barechested and wired to unknown machines that were also connected to one of those large crystalline tubes that housed the corpses of the unknown creatures.
A group of people were dressed in white-looking coats. They seemed like they were having some kind of discussion, which was why they didn't notice that the person at the laboratory table had returned to life.
"Hey, look!" one of them voiced with a confused set of eyes while pointing shaky fingers in his direction.
They were now staring at Mark as though they had seen a ghost.
"What is going on? What am I doing here?" Mark yelled out.
"Look, Dennis, we're just as..." The instant one of them began to speak, Mark suddenly started trembling. His pupils dilated, and his body shook uncontrollably as though he had been electrocuted.
Suddenly, an unknown number of images began to play out in his mind.
Mark screamed out in pain as these images integrated with his memories. They displayed a life he had never lived.
He recalled getting shot in a military battle a few minutes back and waking up in this room.
His life as military personnel was one he knew to be his original memories, but now he could see footage in his mind of activities he couldn't recall engaging in, family he never had, and a turn of apocalyptic events that never happened... or did they?
"Aaarrrrgghhhhhh!"
"Quick, activate the machines! Alert the others! Oh, and someone, please tell Slark John that his brother has come back to life. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to hear that," one of the people in white instructed.
Thrrriiiuuhhzzhhnnn~
Mark's scream synced with the high-pitched whirring of the machines attached to his body, causing the entire laboratory to reverberate in its wake.
Mark suddenly felt warmth flow into him, and the turbidity that overwhelmed him began to slowly dissipate, causing him to release a slow but comfortable breathing pattern.
A minute later, he was as calm as a lake. The pain had subsided, and his mind slowly began to connect the dots.
The unfamiliar memories that felt like his but weren't his, the fact that he was still alive even though he had clearly just died, and the instant location change could only mean one thing.
"Did I get reincarnated? Reincarnation is real? Or is it transmigration? What do they call this in those fantasy movies?" he muttered to himself, grabbing the attention of one of the men in lab coats who glanced back.
"How do you feel now?! Don't worry, your brother will be here very soon."
"...My brother."
"Yes, your brother."
'My name is Dennis, and I have a brother... the only important person to me...'
Those thoughts roamed Mark's mind but were not his. Dennis's brother was deeply rooted in his subconscious, and despite his death, Mark still had thoughts about his brother playing out in his mind.
Having inhabited Dennis's body and inherited his memories, he was inflicted by this thought pattern.
He was worried.
'Is he okay?'
'I hope he didn't get in trouble?' These thoughts filled his mind even as he lay, awaiting his brother's arrival.
'I have a brother now?'
Mark couldn't separate himself from the way he was feeling. Trying to do that proved futile because the memories were real and the body wasn't originally his.
The feeling resonated in his heart even though he had not seen John before.
"Denny!!"
Immediately, the double metal door slid open, and a young five-foot-tall boy with night-black hair dashed into the lab. He had similar facial features to Dennis but was quite younger.
"Oh, my God! How?" John voiced with tears brimming in his eyes.
For John, his brother waking up was a miracle... He had thought he would never see him again and was already devastated and tormented by the thought of it. But here he was, back from the brink of death.
As he hugged John tightly with tears streaming down his cheek, Mark felt a sense of kinship and joy that he had never known before.
He knew that there would be challenges ahead, based on the memories in his mind, but the moment felt special to him.
Mark knew the young boy in his embrace was the brother of the body he currently inhabited. Nevertheless, the feeling of kinship was very strong. Even though he felt like a thousand words wanted to push themselves out of his vocal cords, he just stayed there silent with his arms tightly wrapped around his younger brother as the latter's shoulder shuddered.
The memories Mark had gained from Dennis continued to play out in his mind.
....
Humanity was on the brink of extinction due to the unprecedented storm of energy that swarmed the Milky Way two years ago. The earth got swallowed up by the torrent of unknown energy, and its location in space got shifted.
The energy storm already caused the death of billions and decimated cities. The planet became unconducive to another percentage of the population that survived after the storm ended. This percentage ended up perishing as well.
To make things worse, due to the reappearance of Earth in an unknown intergalactic space, Earth got infiltrated by alien species, which caused a clash whereby the rest of humanity had to unite and protect their home.
This new part of space was also occupied by unknown planets where extraterrestrial species resided.
Although the change brought loss, it also brought some gains.
New energy was discovered. The earth began growing out of some unknown crystals like plants in various locations. These crystals were called V99, and within them laid a new form of powerful energy.
New technologies were created to help the human species survive the change of their planet and protect their home from extraterrestrial lifeforms.
The new technologies only got humans far enough to build strongholds and shelter themselves, but it was never truly enough to completely win against the extraterrestrial lifeforms that plagued them.
After many trials and errors, humanity was able to finally create it — UVS–001.
A battlesuit that was believed would make humans powerful enough to defeat the aliens.
After the creation of this battle suit, several people were enrolled in a program that would help them equip and make proper use of it.
They were called... MODIFIED COMBATANTS.
