Old rusted refrigerators hummed in the silence, a constant drone beneath the fluorescent lights. Azrael Cross dragged another cardboard box down the aisle, his box cutter slicing the tape in a neat stroke: cereal, chips, canned soup.
Another Sunday night stocktake.
Someone appeared behind him; he turned to see Chloe Bennet with a clipboard in hand, her blonde ponytail swishing as she leaned closer.
"Hmph! You didn't listen to my advice!" She complained before reaching out, "Hold still." Chloe tugged lightly on his bangs, tucking them away before he swatted her hand away.
Azrael looked at her, confused. "What are you doing?"
The cute college student smiled like a fool. "If you cut this long mop, and smiled a bit more, women would line up to date you, Senior."
He rolled his eyes.
This again, he thought.
"Right~ because the only thing between me and getting a girlfriend is my hair." With a quick thought, he smiled, leaning closer. "Then... what about you?" He asked, their eyes locked on each other's faces.
Chloe's eyes widened before turning away at his sudden change. He rarely acted forward, so she turned bright red and spun away with a racing heartbeat, pretending to write something on her sheet.
The faint pink across her cheeks didn't escape notice.
Not Azreal... he didn't pay attention, moving to the next box.
From behind the counter, Hong Yan snorted. "Kid, she's got a point. You'd look less like a shut-in if you trimmed it." The fiery redhead leaned on the counter, crisp white shirt unbuttoned one notch too far, a beer can balanced on the edge beside her.
The smirk on her lips grew while she enjoyed the drama between the young hires in her shop.
Across the aisle, Isabella Cruz chuckled softly, sliding a basket along as she browsed. Azrael's neighbour enjoyed shopping late at night because of her long work hours. Her black hair falling across one shoulder, with curves drawing the looks of anyone she walked by.
Azrael turned away when she bent down to pick some ice cream from the freezer, her skirt hitched up to reveal a frilled lace set of underwear with no tights.
He muttered to himself, trying to focus on work, and turned into the next aisle.
"Oh, Brad?"
Brandon Lee, the other night worker, leaned against the fridge with his phone out. "Man, you're hopeless. Blondie's basically throwing herself at you."
"Shut up."
"Hey... don't take it out on me. I'd kill for a girl like her to tease me and buy me meals." Brandon grinned and went back to scrolling.
He's a prick, but also a good worker... I can't hate him either.
The two were good friends despite everything.
Azrael sighed and focused on the shelves, the same routine, same banter, an ordinary and boring Sunday night before College started again.
"Do you really think I should—"
"ARGH!"
A scream cut Azrael off.
It resembled the sound of a cat being hurt.
However, the scream was undoubtedly human.
Everyone froze.
Brandon frowned. "It's probably some drunk prick, come on, Az! Let's teach em' a lesson."
Hong Yan slammed her can down, foam fizzing up the sides. Her eyes became sharp as she reached under the counter. From her angle, she could clearly see something different.
"That ain't a drunk, lock the damn doors!"
Azrael's chest tightened in anxiety.
He moved to the front window, peering out into the dark parking lot barely lit by the cheap store lights. A man lay on the asphalt, thrashing as something small and hunched straddled his chest. A jagged blade rose and fell again and again, violently stabbing, blood spraying in arcs under the same light he used to find his keys each night.
No way is that a mugger... or a drunk!!
The thing looked up, and Azrael's stomach lurched. Its skin was green, its eyes yellow and glowing.
His mind understood that this was something he saw often in his adult games and anime, but the logical part of his brain denied it over and over.
How?
Why is there... a goblin in real life!?
"Shit," he whispered.
As if sensing him, the goblin shrieked, and three pairs of glowing eyes appeared from behind a car, all of them stained in blood.
With sharp teeth and jagged blades, they sprinted for the glass.
"They're coming!"
The door shuddered as the first one slammed into it, cracking the reinforced glass. Brandon cursed, grabbed a heavy metal mop from the corner, and faced the window.
"I got this!" he shouted, swinging wildly as the door burst inward.
The goblin ducked under his swing, then rammed a knife into his side, then relentlessly stabbed several times before Brandon screamed. The mop clattered to the floor as two more swarmed him, clinging to his thighs and face... stabbing his neck and crotch until he collapsed in a spray of blood.
What the hell!?
"MOVE!" Hong Yan shouted, smashing a litre bottle across a goblin's face.
The creature shrieked, glass and blood mixing, before she drove the jagged neck of the bottle into its throat and twisted. Another lunged at her, and she snapped out with a roundhouse kick, sending it flying, and once again gouging its throat, blood covering her face.
Until a blade pierced her gut.
She gasped, as if struggling to breathe... the goblins stabbed her once, and ignored her. But she didn't fall. With a desperate burst of adrenaline, she grabbed a nearby goblin by the throat and headbutted it over and over until the bone cracked.
"Go!" Azrael shouted.
He grabbed Chloe and Isabella and shoved them toward the panic room behind the counter. Isabella stumbled while pale, and Chloe cried out, but he pushed them in and slammed the steel door after killing a goblin.
Meanwhile, with Hong Yan on her knees, panting and blood pooling on the floor, the goblins turned on him.
How can I win?
What would I do if this were a game, or a sparring session?!
One charged at him, leaping over counters through the small gaps with a knife raised.
Azrael's body moved before he could think, instinct kicking in from hundreds of hours of drills on the mat. He caught the goblin's arm, locked it and then hauled it over his shoulder. The tiles cracked as he slammed it down, a beautiful German suplex snapping its neck.
I did it
His thoughts cut short... as a burning pain shot through his stomach and sharp tingles along his spine. Another blade cut across his stomach.
The last goblin crawled through the checkout and waited for this moment. He staggered back, vision blurring, blood pouring out hot and thick.
"You..."
"Gikiki!" It laughed at him... the others reaching out to the bleeding Hong Yan.
"What the hell are you... Urk...!"
Blood poured from his throat with a searing bite like bile.
The goblins circled him while snarling.
His knees gave out.
The world blurred red and green.
"Hong....Yan—"
Everything became silent, and darkness covered his eyes.
***
A strange light appeared.
[Congratulations!]
Words that carried meaning, but he struggled to focus.
[You have survived the first five minutes of death!]
Let me rest!
[Here is your prize! Do your best to survive, Humans!]
Voices screamed happily in his head as if at an office party, not just his own, but everyone's.... Humanity heard the same words.
A chance to live.
A path to gain power.
However...
Not for Azrael.
Because blood already filled his lungs and throat, goblins were still twisting their blades in his abdomen, and he could hear Hong Yan's cries.
A bitter, disgusting taste filled his mouth... like rotten tar.
[Error… Class corrupted by monster blood.]
[Warning! Recipient Dead.]
[Attempting Fix…]
[Fix Complete.]
[Gained Class: Necro Lord]
[Congratulations and Welcome: Our Heir of Death and Rebirth.]
Azrael's corpse jerked, his body a mess with organs torn and ripped apart, and yet his eyes snapped open, glowing with a pale green fire.
A skeleton clawed its way from the shadows, bones scraping tile as it rose beside him and knelt.
Like a knight greeting its Lord.
The goblin he'd suplexed bled into his mouth and caused a strange mutation, at least that's the information that flowed into his mind at a rapid pace. Another goblin tried to crawl away, holding Hong Yan's shirt.
Azrael's hand shot out, cold and unyielding, clamping around its ankle.
Then, like a sweet lover or tempting devil.
The system whispered.
[Awaken, Necro Lord Azrael!]
And darkness swallowed the building.