Is it Wrong to Copy Abilities in Apocalypse?

"Urgh..."

Ridha, after who knows how long, finally woke up.

She couldn't remember what had happened before she fell unconscious, but that was only until a sharp pain assaulted her brain, causing her to flinch a bit as she let out a groan.

"Ghh!"

She clutched her head as the memories from before slowly started to flood in, and her eyes went wider by the passing second.

'...Alex is a sadist.'

This was the last thought on her mind, and although it came as a surprise, she was fine with it.

'I can become a masochist if I try a bit, right?'

She thought to herself as her vision slowly started to get clearer.

She was already someone used to pain due to her healing ability. That ability of hers gives her pain every time she heals herself, elevating her pain tolerance.

If she were to look at it like that, then it wasn't hard for her to slowly start enjoying the pain. That would make it easier for her as well since she won't have to fear pain anymore. All she had to do was imagine the pain being a reward from Alex.

"If you are up, then give me the 20k coins you said you would give me and be on your way."

But just then, a cold voice was heard, breaking her out of her thoughts and making her realize the situation she was in.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts about Alex's hidden nature that she forgot that she had, by mistake, fallen unconscious, and falling unconscious in the middle of nowhere was not something anyone would want.

One could be killed in the worst case. Her survival last time she fell unconscious was already lucky enough for her; there was no way she would be that lucky every time.

Fortunately, though, she fell unconscious next to Alex, and although he could've killed her if he wanted to, for some reason, he didn't.

"W-What do you mean?"

Ridha, on the other hand, looking at the owner of the chilly voice from before, Alex, sitting with his back rested on the same tree he had been next to from the start, twirling his dagger in his hand as he stared at her, couldn't help but shutter.

She found out that she was left lying in the spot she had fallen to, but she was unharmed and untouched, which relieved and disappointed her at the same time.

The reason for stuttering, however, was the fact that in her eyes, Alex now looked more like a devil than a cold and hard-to-approach type of person.

His dark side was now revealed to her, changing his image in her mind, but even if he was a devil, he was the handsome devil that saved her, and the same devil whose slave she was.

As she recalled the fact that she was a bit more like a slave of Alex, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of thrill inside of her body—something she had never felt before.

"I have been 'protecting' you for the past 2 hours, and as per your offer, that is all I had to do for 20k coins."

Alex, who heard Ridha's question, stood up, dusting his clothes as he stared at the sun that was coming up.

There was just one more day left before the scenario, and many people were still unable to complete the sub-scenario while not even strong enough to survive the next main scenario.

The world was changing too fast, and the humans weren't able to follow through. Were they going to die? Or was something else going to happen? Only gods know, or maybe even the gods don't know.

"Wha...?"

Ridha, however, was shocked about something else right now.

"W-What did you protect me from?!"

She couldn't believe that Alex was asking for 20k coins even though she didn't get to spend the past two hours with him. She was unconscious, for god's sake!

The only reason she wanted Alex to protect her, and the only reason she was ready to give away her hard-earned 20k coins, was all for just one reason: that she could get to spend some time with Alex, which she obviously didn't get right now.

So, she was dissatisfied, but all it took for her grievance to go away with a puff was a cold glare from Alex.

"Don't make me repeat. You were lying unprotected, an easy target for anyone to kill, including myself.

If not for me, you would've been dead. So, I did the thing you asked for. If you still have a problem, then the deal can be nullified, and I can kill you right here, right now."

That was all Alex said, but it was enough for Ridha to sober up.

Alex was still the same. He was the same guy who could kill people just because he didn't like to be annoyed. And her knowing about his deepest and darkest secret was just making her the top target on his hit list.

She, for a second, had forgotten all that.

"A-Alright."

Now, all she could do was nod her head and accept his terms.

She just had to work extra hard in order to collect 20k+ coins again. Enough to let her power up and spend the next two hours that she has with Alex without such a thing happening.

"Here."

She hurriedly pushed her finger toward Alex, her head held down, not wanting to look into his eyes.

She was just making plans for the next 2 hours she would get.

Alex, on the other hand, kept staring at Ridha for a while before he finally accepted the coins and moved back to the tree.

He had decided to let her go, but that was only until he found her to be too annoying.

She was good as a piggy bank. She could get him 20k coins daily without much effort, so it was all good. He had seen her status, so he knew that she wouldn't be a burden at the very least, so there was no problem with having her tag along with him.

He was more focused on getting his skill levels an upgrade.

Today, he was going to check the limit of his skill level. Was there even a limit stopping them from being upgraded? Or was there no such thing?
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He could hear Ridha's footsteps moving away from this location. She was going back to earn some coins, maybe. He did take 20,000 coins from her.

But there was another thing he wanted to know—something he was about to ask the certain god about before Sonam had interrupted him—the abnormality of his stats. So, he waited for Ridha to go a distance away before his lips moved.

"Hey, 'Certain God', are our stats supposed to change for some reason? Like something new appearing next to them?"

He finally asked something major.

His speaking to a god or anyone else, asking them questions—all of this was so rare that every time it happened, the gods couldn't help but go silent for a while.

[....]

None of them spoke anything until a certain god did.

[A Certain God is saying of course.]

That was all other gods could see before the certain god entered Alex's personal messages, explaining to him things that she could about it.

But just as she told him one thing about those stats...

[ERROR! THE CERTAIN GOD HAS BROKEN THE RULE AGAIN!]

[A CERTAIN GOD WILL NOW BE KICKED OUT OF THE GAME.]

Those notifications flashed in front of the eyes of many people, showing that another god was about to be kicked out, but it only confused them.

'Wasn't this god kicked out before as well?'

That's what they thought.

No one knew about her being back in the game other than the gods and Alex; after all, the Certain God never made contact with anyone other than Alex.

Alex, however, was wearing a solemn expression.

["Weelllll~, I guess that's all I can tell you for now. See you see Alex~~"]

He heard the Certain God's message, making it clear that she was really getting kicked out of the game. Again. And it was because of her helping Alex this time as well.

All he could do was stare at the brightest star in the sky as it slowly dimmed before all of the light went out, indicating that it was empty now.

Alex kept staring at it for a while before he sat back in his spot.

From what the Certain God told him, although not enough to completely understand it, he still got what it was for, so he had gained something from this conversation, but looking at the result of it, he felt heavier than before.

He had already made it so that she got kicked out of the game once; now this was the second time.

Just the first time was enough to make him feel like he was in her debt, not to talk about now.

He really didn't like how he was getting deeper into this, even though he didn't. All he could do right now was sigh at this situation.

"Hah..."

He closed his eyes and rested his back on the tree, waiting for the day to pass and the next scenario to start.