Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

1 - Restart

Is this the end...?

My 8 years worth of struggling in desperation... will it be wasted just like this?

The malnourished adult was in a bad state. Ragged and tattered clothes, burn marks, bruises, and scars all over her body.

She forced herself to turn her head and look at the black butterfly imprint on her right hand. The imprint used to be clear and visually striking, but after going through fire and water for years, it was disfigured. Especially after she had to go through a skin transplant due to serious injuries.

[Do you want to restart?] A voice called.

The girl opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, not able to make any sound.

[Think. I can hear.]

...Yes.

[Even if the end result may be worse than this? Even if you restart in a completely different place?]

Yes.

Her mind was resolute. The choices made in her life led to her demise. If she was given a second chance, no matter how bad the conditions are, she would definitely take it.

A part of her debated whether this would lead to another endless suffering. However, the sheer fear to face death was just too much of a stimulation that she didn't think twice.

The voice broke into laughter. Following the disappearing laughter was ticking sounds of a clock. Losing all of her strength, she closed her heavy eyelids and was prepared to accept whatever her fate may be.

The girl opened her eyes in a familiar place that brought tears to her eyes.

A familiar room. It was incredibly minimalistic and had no unnecessary waste of space. Everything was neatly stored and spick-and-span. This was where she lived before everything started.

She rushed to a nearby mirror, excited to see her past self.

Her luscious jet black hair was still in place, her intricate features that would qualify in the 'Most Beautiful Women of 20xx' list was still there. Her milky snow white skin was still hers!

Aria Schreiner was a special ability user. Special abilities were called 'Main' because everyone's Mains would differ from one another. In other words, users would main a single unique power.

Aria's ability was shadow-based. It was an incredibly rare ability, because it dealt with control. Control-type powers were hard to develop, but it could grow to a frightening level if properly used.

Aria knew her ability was out of the norm and foolishly decided to join 'Noir', the leading powerhouse. She believed that she deserved to be on top because of her power. That everybody should bow down to her shadows.

However, she was mistaken. Shadow-based powers were the hardest to control. It required a two-sided contract between the contractor and the spirit which would then be turned into shadows. Aria was very haughty and ordered the low-ranked members to bring her carcasses of powerful monsters.

Of course, with her disgusting attitude, the spirits didn't want to be contracted and went on a rampage. This led Aria to be scared and unwilling to try. She was born and raised as a Schreiner, who held both economic and political power. She was a full-fledged young lady and the experience shocked her beyond belief.

This was her second mistake. The group 'Noir' was relentless. They, who had gained a method to forcefully insert spirits into a user experimented on Aria. Their theory was that once the spirits entered, her shadow powers would take over the spirits and transform them into shadow soldiers.

Not without conditions, naturally.

The spirits entered with full consciousness. Meaning that they could still rampage inside of her, even though they turned into shadow soldiers. This was the backlash of using force.

As such, she was tormented by the unwilling spirits that were forced to be her shadow soldiers. At first, she handled everything pretty fine, but as her arsenal grew, grueling screams and wails resounded inside her head every single second.

'Noir' was ruthless. They brought high ranked monsters they successfully hunted, and inserted their spirits by force. The arsenal grew along with her powers. Not long after, she was ready to hunt by herself.

That was the start the Aria's one man army. A human killing machine.

She initially thought that she would eventually get over it and reign over the others, but she was once again mistaken. The more the arsenal grew, the more the backlash grew. Not long, it wasn't just psychological pain, but also physical pain.

She wanted to quit. She regretted her choices. But Noir didn't let her.

They kept her in captivity in was only released after being starved, with the premise of being given food if she hunted and followed the orders.

The treatment continued for years.

One day, she found out that the Schreiner family had inquired about her and tried to go against Noir.

She was forced to use her powers against her own family. She watched as they were slaughtered by her shadow soldiers. Her face was drenched in tears, but she couldn't even emit a single sound because she hadn't been fed.

Aria Schreiner was broken both physically and mentally. Her arsenal soon grew to unimaginable heights and Noir had to sustain her body from breaking down by using medication because even the highest Healing-type Mains couldn't help her.

In the end, she was left in the state the voice found her in.

Miserable.

However, this did not bother the current Aria. She had developed an absurd pain tolerance and emotion deficit that she couldn't even bother thinking back to her past.

Her lips curved into a high arch, forming a dazzling smile.

Aria Schreiner was reborn.

She noticed a black butterfly on her neck. It resembled Noir's icon, but her butterfly was much more... lively. Noir's butterfly was a mere tattoo imprint, but hers was lifelike, as if it could jump out of her skin and fly at any moment.

...Let this be a grim reminder for me.

She looked around for a phone and found one sitting on top of her desk.

She pressed the lock button to see the date.

June 4th, Year 20xx. My birthday?

Calculating inside her head, she found out that she was only 18 this year.

10 years! I actually went back by 10 years! A decade! The first rift hasn't even opened yet!

Aria was overjoyed. This was a piece of information she heard, but apparently few Main users had already existed before the first ever recorded rift opened.

Mains were triggered by unknown ways. Everyone was different. Some unlocked it through a near death experience, others unlocked it by simple activities like eating certain foods.

As for hers... Her memories were still intact, so she still vividly remembered the day she unlocked her shadow powers. Grinning in delight, she covered her bare shoulders with a velvet fur shoulder wrap and went downstairs still in her thin satin bed gown.

Uncaring of the screams of shock coming from the servants, she marched to the dining room.

"Mother! Father! Brothers!"

"Aria! What's with your attire?!" Her mother was horrified.

"I want to drink wine! DRC's Grand Cru!" Aria put both of her slender, white hands on her hips as she declared her wishes.

The young lady of Schreiner wore nothing but a thin nightgown, a fur shoulder wrap, and was standing barefoot on the smooth carpet. She had a triumphant look on her face, as if the whole world was in her hands.

Yes...

Her Main was unlocked when she drank DRC and got dead drunk for the first time at the age of 21!