My SSS-Rank Grim Reaper System-Chapter 63: Scars

**[APARTMENT – NEXT MORNING]**

Alex woke up with every part of his body screaming in pain.

He opened his eyes—unfamiliar ceiling.

No. Familiar. But not his ceiling.

Raven’s room.

He turned his head slightly—a window with a different view, minimalist but elegant décor, a faint scent of incense.

His own room had been... destroyed.

The memory flooded back—the Wyvern crashing through the window, the fight with Kael, the flight across the rooftops, and then...

Darkness. Loss of control. The Fragment.

He tried to sit up—

"AGH!"

Pain exploded through his ribs, shoulder, and back.

**[Alex HP: 340/1,020 → 420/1,020]** *(overnight recovery)*

Still critically low.

"Slowly," said a soft voice.

Emily was in a chair beside the bed, a closed book in her lap. She looked exhausted—deep shadows under her eyes, skin pale.

No mana left. She had used absolutely everything the night before.

"How long?" Alex asked, voice hoarse.

"Twelve hours. It’s morning. Nine a.m." Emily leaned forward. "How do you feel?"

"Like I picked a fight with a building. And lost."

"Technically you fought a level 54 bounty hunter and a level 56 wyvern." A weak smile. "And you survived."

"Barely."

Silence.

"Emily... did I kill anyone?"

"No. Kael is alive. Hurt, but alive. He escaped."

A massive wave of relief washed over Alex. At least that.

"Raven?"

"Hurt, but stable. She’s sleeping in your room—well, in what’s left of it."

"Grim?"

"Not sure. He only really talks when you’re around, but his eyes lit up three times. My guess is he went to feed."

Alex nodded, then felt a pressing physical need.

"I need... the bathroom."

Emily helped him—bearing his weight as Alex limped to Raven’s bathroom.

Every step was agony.

He finally made it and stepped inside alone.

"Call if you need help," Emily said from outside.

Alex closed the door and leaned against the sink.

He looked up—at the mirror.

And froze.

---

The face looking back at him from the mirror was his.

Mostly.

The same brown eyes. The same facial structure. The same small scars from past battles.

But his hair...

A white streak.

On the left side, starting at his hairline just above the temple, and extending back about five centimeters before blending into his normal brown.

Not grey. Not light silver.

*White.* Pure white, like snow.

Alex touched it with a trembling hand.

The texture was the same as the rest of his hair. Not rough. Not brittle.

Just... white.

He tugged gently—it hurt like normal hair.

Rooted. Real. Part of him now.

"What happened to me?" he murmured to his reflection.

"Fragment. Left. Mark."

Alex startled—pain shot through his ribs—and turned.

Grim (80cm form) was standing in the bathroom doorway, red lights glowing softly.

"How long have you been there?"

"A while. Wanted. To use. Bathroom."

"You don’t even need to."

"No. But. Wanted to know. Why Raven. Spends. So much time. In here. Screaming. Master’s name."

"You know what, I’m not even going to answer that."

Alex turned back to the mirror, touching the streak again.

"It’s permanent, isn’t it?"

"Yes. Price. For power. Fragment. Marked. Body."

"Will it get worse? Will more of my hair go white?"

"No. I know. System. Doesn’t say. That."

Alex studied the streak for a long moment.

Part of him wanted to cut it. Shave it. Remove it entirely.

But he knew it would grow back. White from the root.

A permanent mark of what he had done.

Of the power he had used.

"Am I... still me?"

Grim moved closer and his small bony hand touched Alex’s leg.

"Yes. Master. Is still. Master. Just... marked."

A pause.

"A visible scar. Of an internal battle."

Alex considered that.

A scar.

He had others—a cut on his forearm from a fight with goblins, a faint burn on his palm from a magical trap, a small mark on his cheek from sword training.

They all told stories.

This one... this one told the most important story.

The story of how he had almost lost his soul. And how he had taken it back.

"I suppose I can live with that," he said at last.

---

Alex limped back to Raven’s room—with Emily helping.

Raven was awake now, sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked better than Emily, but still exhausted.

She wore a bandage on her left arm where she had hit the bell. A dark bruise marked her cheek.

When she saw Alex, she got to her feet—wobbling slightly.

"Idiot," she said. Not angry. Relieved.

She walked toward him and hugged him—carefully, mindful of his fractured ribs.

"We almost lost you," she murmured against his shoulder. "The Fragment almost... consumed you completely."

"I know. I’m sorry."

"Don’t apologize. Just..." She held him tighter. "...don’t let it happen again. Ever. Understood?"

"Understood."

They stayed like that for a long moment.

Finally, Raven stepped back and studied his face.

She saw the white streak.

She said nothing. Just touched it gently with her fingers.

"It makes you look older," she said at last.

"Older? I’m nineteen."

"Older than nineteen." A small smile. "Twenty-two, maybe."

Despite everything, Alex laughed weakly.

Then the seriousness returned.

"Raven... about last night... what I said—what the Fragment said—about the ’boy’ thing..."

Raven raised a hand, stopping him.

"I started that. It was my mistake." She sighed. "I didn’t mean to be condescending. I was just... scared. Trying to reach you any way I could."

"I know. But it touched something... real." Alex sat on the edge of the bed, carefully. "Everyone sees me as a boy. Viktor. Maya. Even Kael. And part of me... hates that."

"You’re not a boy," said Emily from where she was sitting. "You’re young. There’s a difference."

"Is there?"

"Yes. A boy is inexperienced, naive, sheltered. You..." Emily looked at him directly. "...you’ve survived things that would kill seasoned adults. You’ve made impossible decisions. You’ve resisted a power that would consume most people."

"You’re young," Raven continued. "But you’re not a boy. Not anymore."

Alex considered that.

"So... what am I?"

"A survivor," said Raven simply. "A leader. A friend."

"Family," added Grim from a corner.

A comfortable silence.

Then Alex asked the thing he’d been dreading.

"How close was I... to losing myself completely?"

Emily and Raven exchanged a look.

"Very close," Emily admitted. "The corruption reached 83%. Two points more and we would have entered the critical zone, where personality starts to change permanently."

"And now?"

"68%. The purification brought you down 15 full points. Plus your own resistance when you took back control."

**[SYSTEM – POST-BATTLE ANALYSIS]**

A notification appeared in his mind.

**COMPLETE POST-BATTLE ANALYSIS**

**PERMANENT CHANGES:**

- White streak in hair (physical mark of the Awakening)

- Corruption: 60% → 83% → 68% (stabilized)

- Fragment is now aware of user’s resistance capacity

**NEW SKILL UNLOCKED:**

**[Partial Awakening]** – Rank C

- Controlled activation of 30% of Fragment power

- Stat boost: +20% to Strength and Agility

- Duration: 5 minutes

- Cooldown: 24 hours

- Corruption increase: +2% per use

- REQUIRES extensive training for safe use

**CRITICAL WARNINGS:**

- Current corruption: 68%

- Critical zone begins at 70% (+2%)

- At 70%: Minor personality changes

- At 80%: Loss of control likely

- At 90%: Permanent transformation highly probable

- At 100%: [INSUFFICIENT DATA – NO RECORDED CASES]

**UPDATED STATISTICS:**

- Level: 40

- HP: 1,020/1,020 (+50 from level)

- MP: 490/490 (+30 from level)

- Strength: 103 (+7 from battle experience)

- Agility: 110 (+8 from battle experience)

- Intelligence: 73 (+3 from improved mental control)

Alex read it all carefully.

68%. Only 2% before the critical zone.

"So basically," he said slowly, "I have a 2% margin of error before I start to... change."

"Yes," Emily confirmed. "That’s why you need to train your control. The new skill—**[Partial Awakening]**—is a controlled way to use the Fragment’s power. Only 30% instead of everything. But it increases corruption by 2% every time you use it."

"Which means," Raven continued, "if you use it once, you hit 70%. The critical zone."

"And if I need to use it in an emergency?"

"Then you use it," Raven said firmly. "But only in a true emergency. Life or death."

"And we’ll work on reducing the corruption through other means," Emily added. "Meditation. Regular purification. Mental discipline."

Alex nodded slowly.

He understood.

A narrow path between power and control.

One wrong step and...

He didn’t want to think about that.

---

A heavy silence had settled over the room.

Then Emily—clearly trying to lighten the mood—spoke.

"Well... at least the white streak looks good."

Alex looked at her. "Really? It makes me look old. I’m nineteen and I look thirty."

"That bothers you? Do *I* look old?" Raven circled around him and winked. "Though you do look bigger."

"Not old," Raven corrected, studying the streak with a critical eye. "Distinguished. Like a young war veteran. Or the hero of a novel with a tragic past."

"Exactly," Emily agreed, smiling. "The mysterious, attractive type. The girls at the guild are definitely going to notice. And if they do, I’ll purify them so only I can see you."

Alex flushed slightly. "I’m not trying to impress anyone."

"Master. Now. Is. Cooler," Grim added gravely. "Mysterious. Like. The Protagonist. Of a Legend."

Despite everything—the pain, the exhaustion, the lingering fear—

Alex laughed.

A real, genuine laugh.

The first since the battle.

"Fine. Mysterious and cool white streak it is."

"Better attitude," Raven approved.

---

A knock at the door—well, at the wrecked door frame, which had been covered with a sheet as a makeshift curtain.

"May I come in?" It was Captain Sera’s voice.

"Go ahead," Alex called.

Sera entered, expression serious. She surveyed the wrecked apartment with a professional eye.

"Heard you survived. Good."

"Thank you. I think."

Sera sat in a chair—the only one that hadn’t been destroyed.

"Kael Darkwind came to the Guild this morning. Early. Six a.m."

Alex tensed. "And?"

"Seriously hurt. Fractured ribs, dislocated arm, internal bruising. But alive and functional."

A pause.

"He filed an official report. Said he ’severely underestimated the threat level of the target’ and that he ’requires appropriate reinforcements for a safe capture.’"

"Reinforcements," Raven repeated. "How many?"

"He didn’t specify an exact number. But based on standard hunter protocols..." Sera looked at them gravely. "...a minimum of three or four additional hunters. All level 50 or above. Possibly within two weeks."

Silence.

"Four level 50+ hunters," Alex murmured. "On top of Kael, once he recovers."

"Yes. And probably coordinated. With a plan." Sera leaned forward. "Kael has never failed a capture. He’s taking this personally. He’ll come back ready for a war."

"What do you recommend?" Emily asked.

"Honestly?" Sera sighed. "Leave Port Coral. Relocate. Disappear for a year or two."

"No," Alex said immediately.

"Alex..."

"No." Firmer. "We’ve run enough. From Central City, on the road here, almost at the Fallen Citadel. Enough."

He looked at his team.

"We stay. We use these two weeks to prepare. Train. Get stronger."

"Against five level 50+ hunters," Sera pointed out. "The odds..."

"The odds were bad against Kael alone. And we survived."

"Barely."

"But we survived." Alex stood up—ignoring the pain. "And next time, we’ll be ready. As a team."

Sera studied Alex for a long moment.

Then nodded slowly.

"Your funeral. But..." A small smile. "...I respect the determination."

She stood.

"I’ll give you what I can. Information on the hunters when they arrive. Training access at the Guild facilities. But officially, I remain neutral."

"Understood. And thank you."

Sera left.

Leaving them with the reality of what was coming.

Two weeks.

Then war.

---

Alex was in Raven’s bathroom again—his own room was still being repaired by generous neighbors.

Looking at himself in the mirror.

The white streak caught the moonlight filtering through the window.

He touched it—already growing used to its texture.

"Does it still bother you?"

Raven was in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"...Yes and no," Alex admitted. "It’s a reminder. That I almost lost control. That the Fragment is dangerous. That I’m walking a very thin line."

Raven came in and stood beside him. Both of them reflected in the mirror. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"It’s also a reminder," she said quietly, "that you resisted. That when it mattered—when it *really* mattered—you took back control."

Alex considered that.

"The Fragment screamed at me to kill Kael. To take the full power. To give in."

"And you said no."

"Barely."

"But you did." Raven touched the white streak gently. "This mark isn’t just from using the Fragment’s power. It’s the mark of having resisted it. Of having chosen your humanity over easy power."

Silence.

"When I think of it that way..." Alex smiled faintly. "...I almost feel proud of it."

"You should be."

Raven smiled—a genuine, warm smile.

"And I should add," she said with a wink, "it really does look good on you. Like a mysterious hero out of legend."

Alex laughed. "The mysterious type again?"

"Exactly. I bet Emily is more in love than ever... though I’m not giving up."

"Please stop fixating on my face."

"Mmm-hmm. Sure."

Both of them laughed—a light, easy laugh.

The first time since the battle that the air between them felt... normal.

"Family. Strong. Together."

Grim had appeared in the doorway, in his 80cm form, red lights glowing softly.

Alex and Raven looked at him.

"Together," Alex agreed.

"Always," Raven added.

The three of them—an improvised family, forged in fire and blood—

Shared a moment of peace.

Before the coming storm.

Because they knew—

In two weeks, Kael would return.

With an army.

And then the real battle would begin.