Lucky Spin: Godly Programming

Jeff stood there frozen, the knife in his grip was still warm, the blade was slick with blood.

It clung to his fingers, which is a vivid reminder of what had just happened. Drops of blood slid slowly from the blade’s tip, landing on the ground with quiet, steady splashes.

His heart pounded, each beat echoing in his ears like a war drum. It wasn’t a mix of fear and panic rather... it was silence.

A strange, heavy silence that wrapped around him, muting everything else.

The world seemed to slow, the chaos fading into the background. No shouting, no footsteps, no voices, its just only that stillness.

And in that silence, he felt something unfamiliar.

It was something that should have not belonged to someone who had just taken a life. He wanted to scream.

At this moment on he really wanted to vomit, he wanted to deny the blood on his hand. But instead, he felt a cold clarity wrapping around his thoughts.

It was a numbing feeling that denied his emotions like a heavy fog. Inside of him that is a part of his mind recognized the horror of what he had done.

Yet something deeper refused to let it weight unto him, like it wanted to not care about it.

He doesn’t know what it was but his body knows it was none other than his skill, ’Kinetic Vein Art’, it was silently doing what it was designed to do.

The system had not only enhanced his combat power but also conditioned his mind for combat efficiency.

His brain was being overridden by the energy network flowing through him, it suppressed panic and guilt with something that is cold and artificially control.

The same process that accelerated his reflexes had now veiled his emotional breakdown, isolating grief and confusion behind a wall of survival logic.

Even though his hands were trembling, his breathing at least remained steady followed by his stance that is still firm.

He was not calm because he accepted what he had done. He was calm because skill did not allow him to fully feel it.

"J-Je... Jeff..." Jessica’s voice cracked, barely more than a whisper.

Her hands flew up to her mouth as if trying to hold back the rising wave of panic in her chest.

"You... you killed... s-someone." Her eyes were wide and trembling.

Both her pupils dilated in shock, her knees buckled slightly as she stared at the lifeless body on the ground.

The blood was still seeping from the man’s throat it stained the stone steps beneath them. The air was thick with the scent of blood.

Her breath grew shallow and uneven. Since this kind of scene wasn’t some kind of movie nor a game.

Someone had just died right in front of her very eyes, and the culprit is none other than Jeff.

"Jessica..." Jeff turned slowly toward her, his chest still rising and falling from the aftermath of the fight.

His hand still gripped the bloodied knife, followed by his fingers that clenched so tight making his knuckles turned white.

Drops of blood dripped from the blade like rain. He looked down at it, as if seeing it for the first time.

After that he looked at the body then his gazed turned back to her. His expression shifted not to panic and not to pride but a strange, heavy stillness.

His eyes were distant but it’s sharp, like his mind was racing but refusing to break.

"I didn’t mean to kill him," Jeff said softly, his voice low and husky, barely above a whisper.

"But it was just a reaction... if I didn’t... we—"

Before he could finish, a slow clap echoed through the tense air, cutting him off.

Jeff turned his head slightly, and there he was, the very man with the tattoo on his neck.

It was the very one who had led them into this chaos, the culprit that resulted him to this happening.

He stood there with a wide smile, clapping his hands casually, as if death meant nothing to him.

"Wow, kid, you really are something. From the very start I did not expect that you can actually kill someone," he said, his eyes locked onto Jeff’s expressionless face, as if trying to read what emotions lay behind that calm exterior.

"I’m surprised about that, buy you know," the man said, his voice calm yet twisted with amusement,

"if I really think about it, you have the nature of an assassin."

"If you’re curious in why I can say that, it is because I’m a retired mercenary." he pointed at himself with a thumb.

His eyes didn’t leave Jeff, and his tone grew more serious, "You’re very strong. I don’t know exactly where your strength would rank, but one thing’s clear."

He spread his arms open, "If you dumped everything and joined the dark world, you’d fit right in." as he smiled.

"With talent like yours, it wouldn’t take long before your name would spread from the streets to the cities, to regions, and even across countries and continents"

The man finished his speech with a clap of his hands, like he was sealing a deal or crowning Jeff with some dark blessing or something.

While Jeff just stood still, with his eyes fixed on him. To him, everything the man had just said was nothing but noise.

Empty words and pure bullshit.

There was no admiration in Jeff’s heart. No thrill at being praised by someone like him.

"How can you say that I’m a talent?" he asked, his voice calm.

The man hearing this let out a small laugh as he both hands were in his stomach.

"Haha~, kid I know a talent when I see one, if I’m right that should be your first kill right?" The man asked his eyes flaring with viciousness.

Jeff’s eyes turned sharper, followed by his breathing that hitched and his hand at the handle of the weapon trembled as he looked at him.

The man paused mid-laugh, then his grin slowly widened as his eyes locked on him like a predator that had just confirmed its prey.

"Tch, I knew it." He pointed at Jeff with a smirk, his voice turning sharp.

"Your eyes might be calm, but your body’s screaming, am I right kid?"

He jabbed his finger toward him, "Right when you killed that man? Didn’t your grip stiffened, your breathing hitched, and your weapon hand trembled for half a second. You froze but not mentally rather physically."

He tapped the side of his neck where his own tattoo coiled like a snake.

"That’s something no amount of training can hide. Even you are especially trained it can’t stop a body’s first kill reaction not these kinds of real ones."

He took a step closer, spreading his arms like a prophet.

"That right there? That was your first kill, wasn’t it?" the man said with a twisted grin, stepping forward slightly.

"The body always remembers its first. Just like a girl who’s lost her virginity, no matter how many guys and man come after, the first always stays in her core memory."

"The tension in your shoulders, the slight change in your posture you do know that it gave you away? Right now, you’re just trying to stay calm, but your body already recorded the moment, right?"

He tilted his head, as if trying to read Jeff’s thoughts. But of course Jeff didn’t respond since he literally didn’t need to.

His silence was pretty much louder than anything the man could say. After that the man then pointed at Jeff again, while nodding.

"But that’s what makes you a real talent. You didn’t collapse, not only that your mind is still pretty calm showing a calm look. That kind of instinct? That natural aggression? That’s not taught it’s born. After roaming the battlefield for tens of years this is the first time I saw someone as young as you" he praised.

In the end he then grinned like a madman, "And now that you’ve crossed the line you can never go back."

"I can never go back?" Jeff whispered, his eyes fixed on his hand.

His mind began to spiral, replaying the words the system had once told him.

The moment he learned the skill, the fighting style that is inherited from Jakol, everything was already too late because right now he had been built for this.

The system had warned him, that this style was designed for killing, nothing less. He thought he could control it, that he could direct it without crossing the line.

But he was wrong. His eyes slowly closed as his thoughts drifted, pulling him into a space that felt far away from the present.

In that vision, his hands were stained with more blood. Behind him, corpses piled higher and higher, forming a mountain of the fallen.

Around him, the world was hollow. Rivers ran red, dead trees stretched across ruined landscapes, and silence hung heavy in the air.

He stood alone at the center of it all, surrounded by death, his face calm but empty. He looked like a man worn thin, with a soul that only wished to rest.

As he was in this kind of world of endless torture that looks like a bad dream, a hand that seems to glowed held his hand that was now in a fist.

No matter how calm his expression was he did not want to adapt that kind of style. The style of killing and murder, he was afraid that sooner or later he will get used to killing.

As he was in the middle of that thought, a delicate hand reached out and held his. It was very warm and soft.

And in that moment, it felt like peace, it was like being forgiven. It’s just like the blood on his hands had been seen and accepted and was never judged.

"Jeff, it was not your fault. Don’t ever listen to him that you can never go back, because you never left." As Jeff glanced at the owner of this hand.

That person is none other than Jessica, she opened her lips giving her a motivation smile.

"You’re still you no matter what this bastard of a man had said, you are the one who jumped in front of danger to protect me right? it is not to take a life, but to save one."

"Who are you calling a bastard of a man little girl!" The tattoo man shouted angrily.

But Jessica didn’t even glance at him. Her eyes stayed on Jeff.

"So if protecting someone means fighting back and if saving a life means stopping a monster from hurting others, then taking that life isn’t wrong."

She took a breath, voice softer now, it’s like an angel calming the hearts of the people.

"You didn’t lose yourself, Jeff. You found the part of you that’s willing to fight for what’s right. And you know? That’s very amazing and admirable" she offered a smile that melted his heart.

...

Special thanks to ’Meiwa_Blank👑’ – the GOAT for this month, for the Golden Tickets! Love you, brotha!

Special thanks to ’Devon1234👑’ – the GOAT for this month, for the Gifts! Love you, brotha!