After A Billion-Year Torture, I Returned As A Transcendent Player

Chapter 2: Broken

"Whoa, that’s a rare one."

"The third one we got today."

Aidan looked at the crystal, and his vision blurred, disbelief taking over him.

’N-no way...’

F — Bonding Ring

"Bonding Ring? That sounds like a mystic type." The teacher nearby raised her brows and nodded. "Alright, you may move inside, Aidan. Good luck."

Aidan walked towards the entrance door past the platform, his steps heavy and his eyes lost.

Entering inside, he first arrived in a large white hall where all the students were sitting on chairs.

But to the left, inside a special room with transparent glass, sat two people.

Aidan’s eyes went there, and he saw Hina and Roy talking with each other, smiling and cheerful.

Suddenly, he felt a buzz in his head briefly before a screen appeared in his eyes, unstable and glitching.

On the other hand, a beautiful ruby ring appeared on Hina’s finger.

Hina’s head turned toward the outside, and she saw Aidan.

"Aidan!"

She came outside, and Roy also followed her.

"What talent did you awaken, Aidan? Is it related to this ring? It’s beautiful," Hina said with a grin as she showed the ring that appeared on her finger. She guessed it must have been Aidan who did that.

"I..." Aidan’s words stuck in his throat.

"Just look at the back of his hand. You’ll know." Roy grabbed Aidan’s hand and turned it.

A stylish F was glowing on his hand with a ring symbol to its side.

"What?!" Hina exclaimed, shocked.

’Trash.’ Roy internally laughed.

"So what does this F-rank talent do?" Roy asked with a smile. "It made a ring appear on her finger, so it looks like a mystical-type."

Aidan looked at the screen that appeared in his mind.

However, he couldn’t read anything. The screen was shaky and glitching.

"I don’t know. I can’t read anything on my screen," Aidan said, unable to hide the pain in his expression as he forced a smile. "But it’s called Bonding Ring."

"Huh?" Roy raised his eyebrows.

"Aidan..." Hina bit her lips, her eyes showing pity as she looked at Aidan.

"Well, it doesn’t matter what your talent does, to be honest," Roy said with a dry smile. "Sorry, bud. An F-rank talent only gets you as physically strong as a Tier-1 Terror, but after mastering a weapon, you may be able to take down a Tier-2 Terror."

Roy chuckled and added, "Since it’s a mystical-type, it may be useful in some other way that can earn you more money than fighting Terrors."

"That’s true, Aidan. Maybe it’s very useful," Hina said with a smile. "I’ll see what it does to me and tell you."

"Anyway, we need to stay inside the special room because of our SSS-rank talents. In case something happens due to our talents, students here might get harmed," Roy said as he patted Aidan’s shoulder. "Good luck, buddy."

He grabbed Hina’s hand as he began walking. "Let’s go."

"Um..." Hina wanted to say something, but then didn’t release her hand.

Hina’s pitiful eyes looked away from Aidan as Roy led her away, but just a second later, she screamed slightly as a stinging pain assaulted her.

"Hina!" Aidan rushed to her. "W-what happened?"

Roy looked at the ring and frowned. "This ring is glowing. What the hell did you do?"

"I-I did nothing."

"You two, come inside!" a stern voice rang out from the room as a bald middle-aged man appeared there.

"I-I am fine now." Hina stood up and looked at the ring.

"Let’s go." Roy took her inside, but after getting three meters away from Aidan again, pain once again assaulted her, and she fell.

Aidan quickly entered the room. "H-Hina."

Hina felt better again and looked at Aidan.

"What’s going on?" the bald instructor frowned as his eyes faintly glimmered, scanning the trio.

"I think I know... When I get away from Aidan, I feel pain," Hina said as she bit her lips, her eyes teary. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Aidan’s face paled. "I..."

"Let me remove this ring. It’s the cause." Roy bent down and grabbed her hand to remove the ring, but no matter how much he tried, it didn’t even budge.

"Stop it. It’s not working," the bald instructor said. "You three, follow me."

Entering through another door inside the white room, they arrived in an almost empty hall.

The instructor made them sit on the couch as he faced them.

He also tried to remove the ring with his powers without hurting Hina, but failed.

"Alright. First, this ring came from a mystical-type talent, meaning it’s likely indestructible and requires conditional measures. Although it is possible to forcefully remove it, I can’t do it without hurting you."

The bald instructor sat down and crossed his arms.

"Let’s make sense of this situation. Your talent is F-rank Bonding Ring. The ring appeared on her finger. You two are childhood friends."

"So, what kind of bond did you two have?"

"Bond... Is it the promise we made?" Aidan muttered and looked at Hina. "It was about staying together forever and marrying after growing up."

"I see. And you can’t remove this ring using your talent?"

"I am trying! I-I..." Aidan looked at Hina, who had her head down. "I can’t see anything on my screen. It’s glitched."

"Really?" Roy narrowed his eyes.

"Student Hina, what do you think about the promise?" the bald instructor asked.

Hina looked up. "I-"

"What’s there to think? She is an SSS-rank Hunter, and he is an F-rank. There’s just no way they can stay together," Roy said as he rolled his eyes.

"But the ring reacted later. When it first appeared, nothing happened." The bald instructor rubbed his chin. "I guess you don’t want to keep that promise, hence the ring’s activation."

Aidan’s eyes shook.

To him, it didn’t matter if Hina had an F-rank talent or an SSS-rank one. If he were in her place, he would have still kept the promise because he loved her.

He had loved her for years. There was just no one else in his mind when it came to having a life partner.

"I’m s-sorry, Aidan." Hina looked at Aidan, her eyes teary. "I can’t keep the promise... I’m sorry."

"So, Aidan. You can’t see your talent rune properly, is that right?" the bald instructor asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"I can’t," Aidan said, his state of mind haywire as he could feel their doubts. "I am not lying! I never want her to be in pain!"

"But this is troublesome." The bald instructor looked at Hina and Aidan. "Because of the ring, it will be hard for her to train. And you cannot stay within three meters of her forever."

"So, either we find a way to remove the ring, or Hina keeps the promise, which will make the ring go back to its passive state, allowing you to stay apart physically."

Basically, if their hearts stayed connected, they could physically stay apart.

Aidan looked at Hina, a bit of hope in his eyes.

She was the one who first said she wanted to stay with him forever.

Surely, her feelings for him were there.

"I-I don’t want to lie, Aidan. I... can’t..."

Aidan froze.

He couldn’t believe his ears. ’She can’t...?’

’A pig wants to eat a swan.’ Roy internally snorted.

"Well, stay here for now. We will try several methods to remove the ring." The bald instructor stood up and looked at Roy. "You, come with me. Let’s start your procedures."

"Yes, sir." Roy stood up and nodded before turning to Hina. "See you later, Hina."

"Mhm." Hina faintly nodded, her head still down.

Now, only the two of them were in the room.

"Why?" Aidan asked, his tone lifeless. "Is it because of the F-rank talent?"

Hina didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

"Tell me. I want to know why."

"Yes... I mean..." Hina turned to Aidan, her expression troubled. "I have an SSS-rank talent... it’s a different world from yours, Aidan."

"Please, if you can, remove this ring." Hina turned her head down again, tears falling. "It hurts."

Aidan felt very cold in his heart. A strange numbness filled him.

"It’s glitched, but don’t worry."

Aidan looked at her, and all the moments he had with Hina surfaced in his mind like an album of photos.

"I was truly happy. I thought if I had you, I had everything the world had to offer. This life... I wanted to live for us, to live as a family."

Aidan’s smile was hollow.

"I was happy because I had you in my life after my parents left this world. You were enough, just you."

"But... this is it, it seems."

Aidan stood up and faced her.

"Stand up. I’ll free you."

Hina looked up and saw his face completely flat and indifferent. An expression she had never seen on his face.

She stood up, her eyes tearing up for reasons even she didn’t know.

"Close your eyes and start walking towards the door. You won’t feel any pain."

"Go."

Hina bit her lips and wiped her face.

Closing her eyes, she began walking.

Hina felt no pain as she slowly walked past the three-meter range from Aidan.

She looked at the ruby ring, and it briefly glowed before turning into sparkling dust that dispersed away.

Hina arrived in the previous room. She looked back and could only see the black hair at the back of Aidan’s head hanging low.

"Hmm? What are you doing here?" The bald instructor was surprised.

There was a white-haired lady with a long single braid with him, her aura and vibe otherworldly.

She was an SS-rank Hunter of City G and also the principal of the university.

"There’s no ring on her finger." She raised her eyebrows.

"Aidan removed it." Hina looked inside.

"Hmm. It looks like the glitch in his rune was fixed." The bald instructor looked inside. "Why is he still inside, then?"

However, the white-haired lady narrowed her eyes. "I don’t sense any living presence there."

"What?" The bald instructor quickly went inside the room and arrived in front of Aidan, who had his eyes closed.

Checking his pulse, his eyes widened. "What the..."

He carried Aidan on his back before exiting.

"He is dead."

"D-Dead?" Hina’s face paled, and her knees weakened as she fell.

"It looks like he shattered his talent rune." The white-haired lady looked at Aidan, her eyes glinting.

Indeed. He shattered his talent rune.

It didn’t only result in losing his talent.

No.

This action had dire consequences. Shattering one’s talent rune, which was connected to one’s brain and soul, would also result in instant death.

"I-I didn’t want him to die."

The bald instructor frowned. "It looks like we’ll have to inform his parents."

"H-He has no parents," Hina said, feeling a lump in her throat as tears flowed from her eyes.

"Kotin, give him to me." The white-haired lady stretched out her hand, coating Aidan in a layer of blue energy as he was lifted up. "It looks like he wasn’t fully awakened yet. He is dead, but his shattered rune hasn’t vanished yet, which is strange."

"There’s a chance he may live, so we need to keep him alive."

"Aidan..." Hina looked at Aidan’s lifeless body, feeling pain and conflict.

The white-haired lady glanced at her for a second before leaving, bringing Aidan with her.

"So, what happened?" the bald instructor asked as he twirled his finger, pulling Hina up and making her sit on the couch.

Hina sobbed, her throat lumpy as she remained silent and just cried.

The bald instructor left after shaking his head. He went to check the footage.

He had to know what happened.

As he started watching and hearing Aidan’s words, the bald instructor couldn’t help but sigh.

At the end, a tear appeared in his eye.

’Young man, you loved with all your heart and made her your world. Alas...’

With no parents, Aidan had indeed made Hina his whole world, his reason for living. He loved her.

’Is that why you were able to give your life away so easily?’ The bald instructor shook his head. ’Young man, I hope you somehow live again and start a new life.’

He returned to the room where Hina was, who had now turned silent, her expression blank.

"Come on, lass. Since you can move now, it’s time to start your procedures. It won’t be long before a bunch of people come to recruit you."