I Die to Rise: Resurrection System-Chapter 75: Scrotum Matter!

Lizzie’s mental space was nothing like she’d expected.

No greenhouse, no hospital, no flowing river of light. Just darkness. Empty, vast, cold. And her voice echoed when she screamed.

"FUUUUUCKKK YOUUUU!"

The Ogre King charged through the void like a friggin zord. Fifteen feet of green flesh covered in tribal tattoos, tusks like daggers jutting from his jaw, and a crown of bones rattling on his massive head.

He wore a tattered cape that billowed behind him, and in his hands was a club the size of a small tree which he swung so hard, the ground cracked upon impact.

Lizzie ran, her legs pumping, pigtails flying behind her. "Okay okay this feels bad! Like, real bad!"

The Ogre King swung again, and Lizzie dove sideways. The club whistled past her head close enough that she felt the wind displacement. She rolled, came up running, and threw up a healing pod without looking back.

The club smashed into the translucent green barrier. It held for exactly half a second before shattering like glass.

"SHIT!" Lizzie yelped, stumbling forward. The barrier had absorbed most of the impact, but the shockwave still rattled her teeth. She could feel the Ogre’s oppressive essence flooding the mental space just by existing here.

All she had to do was outlast it. Simple. Easy. Just don’t die in her own head. Then again, Lizzie wasn’t your typical healer.

Betty materialized in her hands as an extension of her will, the A-grade artifact that allowed her unleash chaos despite being a healer.

She spun, aimed, and fired. The green essence blast streaked through the darkness, and the Ogre King dodged.

"Oh COME ON!" Lizzie fired again, three rapid shots. The Ogre weaved between them like he could see the trajectory before she pulled the trigger. "You’re not supposed to be SMART!"

The Ogre King roared, and the sound reverberated through Lizzie’s skull. It was as though he knew Betty’s shots were lethal. Every instinct in his essence-forged consciousness screamed danger, and he moved accordingly.

He closed the distance in seconds, club raised high, and Lizzie threw herself into a forward roll, narrowly avoiding the downward strike that cratered the ground where she’d been standing.

She came up firing blind, but the Ogre was already moving, forcing her into pure defense.

Then the Ogre King decided to end this quickly.

He bellowed, a sound that shook the entire mental space, as two green portals ripped open at his sides and lesser ogres stepped through.

They were eight feet tall, crude weapons in hand, significantly slower than their king but no less brutal. The King roared again. The portals flared brighter, and two more ogres emerged.

"I FORGOT YOU COULD DO THAT!" Lizzie shrieked, backpedaling frantically. "What, couldn’t go mano a mano?! Had to bring your whole extended family?!"

The Ogre King grinned, showing rows of jagged teeth, and kept summoning. The portals pulsed like heartbeats, ready to spawn reinforcements endlessly until someone made him stop.

Six ogres charged her in a semi-circle, and Lizzie danced through their onslaught. Her body moved on pure instinct with ducks, weaves, occasional slides and spins.

One ogre swung a crude axe, and she dropped into a split beneath the arc. Another lunged with a spear, and she cartwheeled sideways, pigtails whipping.

But they were many, and she was one. A massive fist caught her in the ribs, and Lizzie flew backward, slamming into the ground hard enough to crack it.

Pain rushed through her chest, and in the real world, her body convulsed. Blood dripped from her nose and her muscles twitched violently.

Kurt grabbed her shoulders. "I’ve got you," he whispered, pulling a handkerchief from his trench coat and wiping the blood away gently.

Inside the mental space, Lizzie spat crimson onto the dark ground, biting down on a scream. Her ribs were cracked, maybe broken, and every breath felt like swallowing glass.

But she didn’t heal herself, because that was her trump card, and she was saving it. She couldn’t let the Ogre King know that she was capable of healing injuries. Not yet.

"What’s the first rule of being a healer?" she muttered through gritted teeth, forcing herself to her feet. "That’s right! Don’t get hit!" She rubbed her hands together rapidly, green static energy crackling across her fingers like St. Elmo’s fire. "As the last line of defense, DON’T! GET! HIT!"

She ran straight into the horde. The lesser ogres swarmed, but Lizzie moved like lightning, tagging each one she passed.

Her palm slammed into a chest—"Clear!"—and the ogre’s heart stopped instantly, dropping to the ground like a bag of flour. She spun, tagged another. "Clear!" Another heart stopped. Another body fell.

She was thinning the horde, creating a path straight to the Ogre King. The massive brute watched her work, club resting on his shoulder, grinning like this was all terribly amusing.

Lizzie knew what she had to do. If she wanted a clear shot at the King, she’d have to accept getting hit by a club bigger than her entire body.

She buffed herself quickly, green essence flooding her muscles, reinforcing her defense. It wouldn’t be enough to stop it from hurting but it would have to do.

She sprinted toward the Ogre King, and he raised his club, still grinning.

Lizzie got close enough to bait the swing and crossed her arms in front of her small frame, closing one eye. "Here comes the boom!" she narrated to herself. "The club is approaching the talented healer!"

Without hesitation, the club came down like judgment.

BAAAM!

Lizzie hurtled backward through the mental space, tumbling end over end. In the real world, her body went into violent spasms. Kurt held her tighter, supporting her head. "Come on, Lizzie. You’ve got this."

She hit the ground in her mental space so hard, her form broke through it, landing in a crater of her own making. Every bone in her body screamed, and blood filled her mouth.

But the instant the club had connected, she’d already started healing. Internal organs knitted themselves back together. Fractured bones fused. Torn muscles repaired.

All she had to do now was lay perfectly still in the crater, slowing her pulse deliberately, making it look like she was done. Feigning defeat.

The Ogre King leaped high and landed with a thunderous impact, his massive feet straddling her broken body. He stared down at her, club raised for the finishing blow as he roared in triumph.

Lizzie opened one eye.

"Surprise, asshole."

Betty was already pressed against his balls, and she pulled the trigger, dumping almost all her remaining essence into a single shot.

The blast carved a hole clean through the Ogre King’s groin all the way to his torso as green blood and scrotum matter exploded outward, splattering across Lizzie’s face and chest.

The massive body swayed, then toppled backward, hitting the ground with a boom that echoed forever.

Lizzie lay there for a moment, kissing Betty’s barrel. "Mmuah! That’s my girl! We did it!" Then she wiped her mouth and grimaced. "Ugh. Mental ogre balls got in my mouth. Do calories count if they’re imaginary?"

The Ogre King’s corpse dissolved into pure essence, golden light flooding the mental space and pouring into Lizzie like water into a cup.

***

Her eyes snapped open in the real world to see Kurt who was holding her, his face tight with worry.

The entire guild surrounded them, smiles breaking out across every face. Sam rushed forward, tears already streaming down her cheeks, and threw her arms around Lizzie.

"You’re okay! You’re okay!" Sam sobbed.

Lizzie blinked, still disoriented. "I just wrestled an ogre in my brain! Pretty sure I won! Did I win?" Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Unless you’re all ogres and I’m still fighting!"

Kurt hugged her tight and she melted into his warm embrace. "You won," Kurt confirmed, grinning.

Rook stood nearby, already on his feet, though Kurt noticed he was favoring one leg slightly. The guild leader’s absorption was complete too. There were no apparent changes but Kurt could tell Rook had gotten stronger just like the rest of them.

"I’m okay too," Rook said dryly. "Though I appreciate the concern for my fight with an A-rank fucking Dream Fairy."

"Whoa, language mate," Kurt smirked. "I think in your case, mate, we were more worried about the fairy."

The guild erupted in laughter and cheers. Emma cracked her knuckles, grinning. "Fucking finally. Thought we’d be here all night." Lizzie was trying to stand but kept getting pulled into hugs.

The celebration lasted exactly thirty seconds before Rook’s expression turned serious.

He looked at Zaza, who stood in the shadows as always, and his voice cut through the noise like a blade.

"As much as you’ve been useful, it’s time to decide if you get to be an official Raven’s Crow member or not."

As the building went quiet, Rook turned to Sam. "And Sam, that’s up to you."

"Are you kidding me?!" Kurt blurted out. Sam had barely been with them a month and now Rook was putting this on her?

"Kurt!" Emma hissed, grabbing his arm.

Rook tried to maintain his strong posture, but his leg gave out slightly and he dropped to one knee. Kurt was there instantly, arm over Rook’s shoulder, supporting him.

"Easy," Kurt muttered.

Rook looked at him, then back at Sam. "This is the way it has to be. You’re the tiebreaker. So you decide."

Zaza adjusted her glasses, expression unreadable. "I expected this," she said quietly. "Trust is earned, not given."

Sam stared at the faces around her—Kurt, Emma, Cassandra, Lizzie, Rook. The guild members who’d fought beside her, bled with her, trusted her despite her past.

Her hands trembled slightly at her sides.

"I..." Sam started, then stopped.

Everyone waited.

The warehouse was so quiet Kurt could hear his own heartbeat.

Sam took a shaky breath and looked directly at Zaza.

"I think..."