"Hey hey, don't… please don't let me"
Axel's voice cracked into a desperate choke. His whole body jerked violently against the ropes as he saw Rebbica lifting the pistol and aiming it directly at his chest. The moment the muzzle aligned with him, his entire soul which was trying to escape now.. riped itself out through his nipples.
He thrashed.
He pulled.
He twisted so hard the wooden chair scraped loudly across the ground, but the ropes dug deeper into his skin, biting into muscle, refusing to loosen even a millimeter.
"Fuckkk, why is it so tight!"
He gasped through clenched teeth, wrists burning as he struggled.
But Rebbica didn't lower the gun.
She didn't blink.
She didn't step back.
She simply stared at him tears streaming down her cheeks, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably as she kept the pistol aimed at his heart.
"Sorry, love…" Her voice wavered, a fragile whisper strangled by sobs. "I.. I really, really, really loved you. More than anything. But… I can't love someone who doesn't love me back…"
Her lip quivered, tears falling faster.
"But don't worry, love."
Her voice broke down into a cracked sob.
"I'll still love you… all my life. Even if it's with your bones…"
The pistol trembled violently in her hand now. Her tears dripped onto her fingers. Her whole arm shook so hard it looked like the gun might slip yet somehow she kept it pointed at him.
Axel's mind spun.
He was going to die.
He was actually going to die.
And of all ways? Tied to a chair by his crazy girlfriend, and still a virgin? His life was some cosmic joke.
"It's because of the system.. system yes, the system!" Axel blurted suddenly, panic clawing up his throat. "System, tell her."
His eyes widened.
"FUCK, I'm going to die COME OUT, motherfucker!"
Rebbica's expression twisted further into confusion, then back into heartbreak and fury.
Axel screamed again, louder, as if the force of his voice could summon salvation from thin air.
"STATUS! STATUS COME OUT SHOW HERE!"
And then
Suddenly, a large, transparent blue panel appeared in front of him with a soft shimmering hum.
Right between him and the pistol.
His breath caught.
The glowing letters spread open like pages of light:
STATUS WINDOW
Name: Axel
Sex: Male
Age: 18
Strength: 2
Stamina: 3
Speed: 2
Libido: 3
Vitality: 1
Skills: None
Harem Members: 1
Target: 0/100
Affection Points: 0
Love Points: 103
System Functions
• Shop
• System Lottery
• Inventory
• Status
• Quests
• Notifications
For a moment just a moment Axel let out a shaky breath of relief.
The system came out.
It actually came out.
Something to show her. Something to explain. Something to
But that relief shattered instantly.
Because
BANG!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The explosive crack of gunfire ripped through the room one shot after another, rapid, merciless, continuous. Rebbica's trembling finger had pressed the trigger and once it pressed, she couldn't let go.
Her sobbing intensified, but she kept firing.
Bullets screamed out of the muzzle, each one launched with the ferocity of her heartbreak.
Axel screamed too shrill, high, terrified, almost like a girl as his throat tore with panic.
"A-AHHHHHHHHH! I'M DEAD! MOMYYYYY!"
He shut his eyes as tightly as he could, bracing for pain, waiting for the bullets to tear into his body
Waiting
And waiting
But nothing came.
No heat no impact no punch of metal tearing through flesh.
No agony, sound or smoke.
Only his own shaking breath.
Then
Click… Click…
The empty sound of a gun with no bullets left.
Silence swallowed the room.
Axel lay slumped back against the chair, eyes squeezed shut, lungs barely moving. His heart thundered against his ribs, each beat too loud, too heavy.
He waited for the pain.
But still nothing.
Did she missed He thought?
Slowly, cautiously, he cracked one eye open.
Through the transparent blue system panel, he could see Rebbica still pointing the now-smoking gun at him. Her entire body was trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks in thick, unstoppable rivers. The empty gun clicked uselessly as her finger continued to twitch on the trigger.
She had aimed directly at him.
Every single bullet had been meant to kill him.
Axel blinked once.
Then again.
He looked down.
Below the bottom edge of the translucent blue screen floating in front of him
He saw them.
Bullets.
Thirteen or maybe fifteen of them.
Bent, crushed, flattened like they had slammed into something impossibly hard.
Scattered on the ground, some still warm, some rolling slightly.
As if they had tried to break through a wall made of steel.
His mind replayed a memory when he had accidentally tapped a system notification earlier and felt a pain so sharp it was like punching a solid iron plate.
He swallowed.
Slowly.. very slowly his gaze lifted back to the giant, glowing, transparent status window floating between him and the gun.
A shield.
An unbreakable, invisible shield.
"S-so… the system…" he whispered breathlessly.
"It saved me…"
He felt a shaky, hysterical laugh bubbling in his chest half relief, half disbelief but it died quickly when he looked back at Rebbica.
Because she was still staring at him crying and shaking.
Still holding the empty gun pointed at his chest, even though the magazine had run dry.
"What… happened…? Babby, how are you fine…?"
The voice that slipped out of Rebbica's trembling lips was so soft, so small, so heartbreakingly innocent that Axel almost forgot she had just emptied a gun at him seconds ago.
Her wet lashes blinked rapidly, eyes widening in confusion. The tears that had been flowing endlessly down her face slowed, her expression shifting from grief… to disbelief. The sadness in her eyes flickered and cracked then, for a tiny moment, something almost like hope lit inside them.
She looked… happy.
Happy that he wasn't dead. Happy the bullets didn't hit him.
But that happiness died as quickly as it appeared.
Because the next thought hit her just as fast:
If he lives… he could leave her.
If he lived, he would run to another woman. He would betray her again. He would abandon her.
And that she could never, ever allow.
Her gaze drifted downward, and she finally noticed the bullets scattered across the floor bent, broken, crushed like soft metal. Her brows furrowed. Confusion froze her features. The sight didn't make sense to her at all.
"How…?"
She stared blankly, not moving for several long seconds. Her mind seemed to shut down entirely, stuck between shock and disbelief. Axel watched her with a tight breath, seeing her confusion deepen the longer she stared at the ruined bullets.
Then she looked up.
She saw him breathe out a long, relieved sigh. She saw the release in his shoulders, the way fear temporarily melted off his face. And something inside her snapped back into place something darker, heavier, possessive.
Her expression emptied into a cold, still blankness.
Suddenly her hand moved behind her back.
Axel's heart jumped.
When her hand came forward again…
She was holding a huge knife.
Thick. Sharp. Nearly thirteen inches long. The blade gleamed silver even in the dim light, wicked and merciless. She must've kept it tucked in her back pocket, hidden for a moment like this.
She held it up in her trembling hand.
"I wanted to send you off painlessly, darling…" she whispered, voice cracking with grief and determination. "I don't know what happened just now, but… I guess it might be a little rough now."
She took a step toward him.
The knife glinted again.
"But don't worry, don't worry…" Her smile trembled, broken. "I'll still try to be fast as I can."
Axel's blood turned to ice.
His eyes widened to the size of saucers as he stared at the blade
"That.. that THAT BIG ASS KNIFE NO, NO BABBY, WAIT!!" Axel screamed, terror rattling through him like electricity. "Heyy wait, wait, WAIT! It wasn't because I wanted to do it! I was forced! I was forced, AT LEAST LISTEN TO MEEEEE!"
His panic hitched and spiked.
"Do you think I would do something like that!?" he cried, chest heaving. "I was really, really forced!"
He pulled desperately at the ropes again, chair scraping violently against the floor. Even though the system screen had blocked the bullets, he knew it didn't cover the sides. That massive knife could absolutely slip around and stab straight into him.
He was really going to die.
He was going to die if he didn't convince her.
Rebbica paused mid-step.
Her eyes twitched. Her grip on the knife loosened slightly.
"…Forced?"
She stared at him hard so hard it felt like her gaze pressed into his skin.
"You were forced, babby…?" Her voice trembled with uncertainty. "You aren't lying… right?"
If he was lying, she didn't even need to say what she would do. But she said it anyway her eyes flicking down at the blade in her hand as her fingers clenched around the handle.
"I will…" Her tone darkened. She didn't finish the sentence only glanced again at the knife, implying everything.
But hearing his words really hearing them it struck something inside her that made her hesitate.
He couldn't lie. He wasn't that brave.
"…Honestly," she whispered, "you're right, babby. You aren't that brave."
She sniffed, rubbing at her tear-stained cheek clumsily with the back of her hand.
"Tell me who forced you." Her voice hardened, deadly calm."I'll cut that person limb by limb."
Then her eyes narrowed dangerously again.
"And you better not be lying to me."
Axel almost collapsed in relief.
She believed him.. at least a little.
"I'm not I'm not, baby!" he said quickly, breath rushing out in a terrified stutter. "Look you just shot me! But I didn't get hit, right? Just just let me explain! Don't kill me yet please!"
Words tumbled out of him in a panicked torrent.
"If I fail to convince you, you can definitely kill me after, right!? I can't even run look at me, I'm tied up! Trust me, love.. I love you more than anyone! If not for being forced, I would never EVER I would never dare !! I don't wanna dieee I mean l leave you babby!!"
His chest rose and fell rapidly, his breaths sharp and frantic. Sweat slid down his temples in thick lines. His hands shook even though they were tightly bound. His voice cracked repeatedly as the memory of the gunshots tore through him again.
He had been seconds away from death.
If not for the system screen he would be a corpse.
Rebbica stepped closer, now standing right in front of him.
She still held the knife.
Axel flinched hard, pulling back as far as the ropes allowed.
"Babby ..babby p-please keep it away from me," he begged, voice thin and shaking. "Just for some seconds hey, see? I'm tied I can't run I CAN'T RUN!"
Rebbica stared at him.
Then she looked at his face really looked. The fear. The helplessness. The trembling lips and wide terrified eyes. Something softened inside her expression.
She lifted her free hand and wiped the tears from her cheeks slowly.
"If you lied, babby…" she whispered softly, her voice dropping into a chilling sweetness, "…I'm going to cut your balls. And then feed them to you."
Axel's soul trembled.
She didn't throw the knife away instead, she pushed it back into her short jean pocket, the blade still visible, still accessible, still very much ready to be used.
He forced a smile shaky, terrified, but desperate.
"Y-yes, yes babby don't worry.. don't worry!" Axel said quickly, swallowing so hard it hurt. "I'm not lying I swear!"
She nodded once.
Slow. Stiff. But approving.
"Good then, babby…" She crossed her arms, staring at him without blinking. "Tell me. Everything."
She leaned slightly forward.
"And no lies, ohkk?"
Axel's heart pounded.
Rebbica stood over him, arms crossed, knife hidden but ready, anger simmering beneath her skin but willing to listen.
He had one chance.
One.
If he messed up… She would kill him. So he started.
----