Surviving in my Own Unpublished Failed Novel

<A-Amelie! Where are you!? I know you're with my brother!>

Freya shouted in desperation in her mind the name of one of her Star Quest Party members. Her tone has a mix of anger while her heart and soul seemed to be torn to pieces at this very moment as she didn't even call her older brother, 'Oppa' like she usually does.

She knew but didn't say a word about it, that the relationship between her older brother and Amelie was something very close. She didn't even make a noise when she realized previously that Amelie was the first one to receive the Chaos trait, although it's under the order of her older brother's Constellation, it's only natural to react somehow, being a younger sister, but she didn't, instead, she just let it passed.

<F-Freya! A-ah...>

<W-what happened!? W-where are you!?>

Freya wanted to convince herself that the System message she just read just now was wrong, but it seemed as though the reality hits differently as Amelie didn't quickly respond.

Sitting on the floor of her dormitory room, with tears flowing down her face, and her heart thumping as if it would be crushed, she heard a "wooong~" sound that was familiar to her.

A spade-shaped portal appeared in her dorm room where Amelie came out.

Freya, overcome by her emotions, stood up and grabbed Amelie through her black t-shirt's collar.

"W-wh-where..."

Holding the Staff of the Lost Shade in her right hand, Amelie used her left hand to release Freya's hold on her and quickly grabbed her through the Spade Warp.

...

Amelie and Freya arrived at Maya's home in a certain region of Northern Olympia.

Freya's eyes darted around and saw her older brother's body covered in a pool of blood, lying on the floor.

She slowly approached the body, fell to her knees, and looked at Amelie with confusion as though her mind was becoming crazy, not able to think straight in front of her older brother's body.

"O-oppa...?"

But at the moment her words came out of her mouth, she heard a response that gave her the creeps.

"I'm here."

She looked at her older brother's body and touched his chest with a slightly small hole due to the pair of daggers that instantly pierced him, but she didn't feel the beating of his heart.

"Stop crying, will you?"

"H-huh?"

Freya — who thought that she was hearing things — saw a pair of feet in front of her, just above her older brother's head. She looked up and saw her older brother, scratching his right cheek while looking at her with curled-up lips.

"O-oppa!"

She stood up and hug her older brother which caused Maya and her parents to have goosebumps all over them because Freya, in their vision, was hugging the air.

As a Star Quest Party member, with Freya's existence in the area, Amelie also saw Russell standing in front of his very own body.

"O-Oppa? W-what's happening? How are you there... a-and..."

She was confused, looking at Russell in front of her and the body lying on the ground, but Russell answered her.

"...Freya, don't forget your identity."

"Ah..."

Freya realized that what she was seeing at this moment was not her older brother's body, but rather his soul. As a Death Executioner, she's capable of seeing the souls of people after they died.

"B-but, Oppa, a Close Mystery Tower didn't open yet... a-and my work as... you know, didn't start yet."

She said, somewhat cautious of Maya and her parents.

According to her Star Quest, she would need to placate souls every day from the moment the first Close Mystery Tower opens.

"It doesn't matter, the moment you became a Death Executioner, you can see souls, it's just that you're living in the academy premises, and not going out."

Freya thought that what her older brother said made sense.

"O-Oppa, I-I don't know what to do. C-can you come back to your body?"

...

Maya and her parents who heard the woman who just came with Amelie felt chills. They looked at Amelie with a confused look before Maya whispered to her.

"A-Amelie...? W-what's happening?"

Amelie smiled and responded casually.

"Uh... it's kind of confidential, and I'm not allowed to divulge any information about it, but trust me, she's not crazy."

Maya didn't respond further, rather she beckon her parents to go out for a while to let Amelie and the woman she was with do whatever needed to be done.

After they left, Amelie interjected between the sibling's conversation.

"So... that's how a soul looks like..."

Amelie sized up Russell's soul that she's seeing with Freya around, and being a member of the Star Quest Party.

Russell's soul looked the same before he died, but the difference was that his body was more transparent.

"By the way, Freya, you should use your Death's Eye more often."

Amelie said, prompting Freya to wear a look of confusion as she turned her head.

"Sigh... really, I know it's rude for you to stalk other people's Status Window, but when it's between us, stop that attitude, okay?"

She sighed at Freya's confused reaction.

"W-what do you mean? What's that got to do with the situation right now, huh?"

She said with a more composed self compared to earlier.

"You're no fun. I will resurrect Russell, so stop your breakdown."

With Amelie's words, Freya became curious and quickly used her Death's Eye (EX) skill, to check Amelie's Status Window. She then saw a certain part of her Authority: Wheel of the Dark.

"Dark Resurrection??"

Freya's mouth agape, reading the description of the skill before she looked at Russell with a smile.

"Bingo!"

Amelie's lips curled up as she said that.

...

"Maya, we're leaving for now."

Amelie texted Maya who left with her parents, then she and Freya carried Russell's bloody body through the Spade Warp as they arrived at Russell's dormitory room.

...

"Alright, it's the first time I'll be using it, so... I don't know what will happen."

Amelie said after they laid down Russell's body on the floor, causing it to be tainted with his blood.

Freya — who was also tainted with blood after she held her older brother — sat on the couch, while Amelie remained standing, holding the Staff of the Lost Shade looked at Russell's body. His soul came with them as if it were attached to the body.

Amelie took three deep breaths for a moment before she activated the skill that was part of her Authority.

[Activating Skill: Dark Resurrection (Forbidden)]

[Warning! It's a Forbidden skill. Using this skill might lead to being discovered by some Constellations.]

[Your Trait: Nihility has concealed the surroundings, preventing the possible consequence to be prevented.]

The moment Amelie activated the Dark Resurrection skill, her Staff of the Lost Shade left her hand and floated vertically while almost touching the floor, then Amelie's pink hair stood up as the cold wind seemed to intensify, and her ruby eyes also turned intense with its luster, and both her hands instinctively formed a hand sign... It's a praying sign, but the difference from the common praying sign was that her fingers aside from her thumb only touched each other's tip, and half of her thumbs curled and touched each other's back.

It formed a spade-shaped symbol, the moment the space that Amalie's hands made overlapped with the floating Staff of the Lost Shade.

After a few seconds, three overlapping dark magic circles appeared on top of Russell's lying dead body. These dark magic circles spun around as though they were personifying a wheel.

Russell's body emitted a dark aura with a mix of dark blue that might be signifying the color of the Chaos trait he has. The small hole in his chest where his heart was closed itself, completely healed.

His soul, which was with them, was slowly sucked into his own body as he opened his eyes wide, completely resurrected.

[The Dark Resurrection has been successfully performed.]

[The target possesses the Chaos trait, thus the target would not become your puppet.]

...

"...Unholy sh*t! It's like a f*cking cult ritual!"

Amelie blurted out after she finished performing the skill and saw Russell sitting on the floor.

Freya didn't hesitate to approach her older brother and hugged him intensely.

Russell looked at Amelie and nodded his head, while he caresses the back of his younger sister who was at a loss for words.

'That's what it feels to die...'

He inwardly thought as he recalled the feeling of being dead. It was a very strange and terrifying experience. If not for his younger sister, a Death Executioner, he thought he would go insane while staring blankly at his dead body, and while Amelie was using her Dark Resurrection skill, his thoughts turned blank as though he was empty, unable to process any logic.

"Hey... I'm here, stop crying."

He comforted his younger sister as the sunlight started to pervade his dormitory room.

...

At the underground Black Cat Pub.

A woman in a hotel maid's dress was sitting on a wooden stool while having the popular Nereian liquor.

'I'm glad he died.'

She's glad that the penalty of her Unique Skill wouldn't take effect.

"Here's the summary of the report, Sir Britz."

She handed pieces of paper to the burly man drinking beside her. It's the burly man that attacked Russell and Amelie.

"Great work, Kei. It looks like you've been through a lot, take some days off, and go home for now."

The hotel maid who managed to kill Russell named Kei clenched her fists upon hearing what Sir Britz said.

"...I don't have a home."

She didn't wait for Sir Britz to reply as she chugged down the Nereian liquor at this early in the morning and then hurriedly left.

"Still as cold as ever, huh?"

The bartender of the pub said casually, looking at the back of Kei before he slipped a piece of paper on the table, in front of Sir Britz.

Sir Britz took the piece of paper which tells him the cost of renovation of the front and fake Black Cat Pub that's destroyed by a gigantic, dark cross.

"Hahaha, you're right. She's at that point when she'd kill her own family if she sees them."

Sir Britz said before he looked at the report that Kei gave him.

"Deep black hair, deep blue eyes, pink hair, ruby eyes... Youngsters... Vanished completely, one dead...

"Hahaha, things are getting interesting."

He let out a laugh after reading the summary of the report.

...

Early morning, inside the Conference Room of the Obelisk Organization Headquarters.

"According to Lunaria, in the upcoming October, a certain Close Mystery Tower will open.

"It will be the first to open since its appearance in the world 40 years ago.

"And based on Lunaria, just like a Strayed Dungeon or Dungeon Towers, it has certain characteristics or themes, but this time, she specifically said what kind of Tower will open in a few months.

"It's called the Tower of Growth."

The renowned individuals in the holographic screen as the virtual meeting takes place had different reactions upon hearing Ayleen Mayfield's words.

"Please refer to this summary of the details I have received about the Tower of Growth."

A holographic projection as though she was presenting in her class was shown in everyone's eyes.

[Tower of Growth]

– It's the tower that boosts the overall power of a player.

Number of Floors: 30

Characteristic: Challenge/Trial

Theme: Monster Raiding

Reward: Increased Growth Rate by 10 times upon clearing the 30th floor.

Failure Penalty: (Not mentioned)

Monster Raiding:

– Floor 1 to Floor 4

Objective: Kill 500 False Green Family monsters.

Duration: 50 minutes

Floor Rewards: ???

– Floor 5

Objective: Kill the random Boss Monster of a certain False Green Family.

Duration: 10 minutes

– Floor 6 to Floor 9

Objective: Kill 50 monsters of the Avian Family.

Duration: 50 minutes

– Floor 10

Objective: Kill the Boss Monster, Karas, the Insane Harpy.

...

"That's all the information I've gathered through Lunaria, unfortunately, she only told me until about the 10th floor."

Ayleen said after she let the representatives of the Obelisk Organization process what she just presented.

After a minute or two, a man with deep blue eyes, and blonde hair, clasping his hands atop the desk, asked in a dignified voice. It was the father of Leon and Mira of the Obreyon Family.

"How certain is the information you gathered? Did the Boss Monster ask you for anything?"

His dignified voice sounded through the holographic screen. Ayleen pondered for a moment before she answered politely.

"Sir, I'm not sure at the moment about its authenticity, but we're advised to wait for a month as a World Announcement would be announced regarding it."

Murmurs sounded upon hearing Ayleen's words because a World Announcement was something that rarely happens as it only occurred eight times in 40 years. Not only it simultaneously happened twice more than a month ago, but rather, it would presumably happen again the next month.

"I see... it seems times are changing."

Leon's and Mira's father said with a serious look on his face.

...

"Ah...? What do you need?"

Alone with Samantha inside her dormitory room, Russell asked curiously. The class for the morning just ended and it was lunch break at this time, he told his younger sister and Amelie that he has a business to take care of, and would catch up to them later.

"Russell... are you perhaps an author?"

Samantha frankly asked, prompting Russell's eyes to constrict, turning his mind blank at the sudden and very unexpected question.