"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" She couldn't help but laugh as the body of his former subordinate fell onto the ground.
She had been scared, scared that he would punch her, scared that Jack would pull all his mana into her...Scared that he would fuel the magics of either the [Monk] or [Warlock]...
But in the end, he hadn't done either, and instead, he had sent his mana to [The World] to fuel its advance!
He had surrendered!
Now she only needed to nurture her connection to [The World] and Ascend!
While he just...Fell over as his body wasted away, the last dregs of his mana varely slowing the decay of his body. Truly... How low the might have fallen.
Now she only needed to go and "That will be enough." Came the voice of the masked monk, slow and steady.
Tch.
"Do you think you have enough in you to stop me?" She asked in a cocky tone.
He did have both the strength and mana to stop her, she was bluffing.
Her [Identify] said as much after all.
| Status | |
| Name: Xuan Wu Title: The Monk Alias: The Monk Level: 90 | Health: 100% Mana: 100% Stamina: 100% Stress: 0% |
| Strength: 300 Constitution: 300 Agility: 300 Dexterity: 200 Intelligence: 73 Wisdom: 73 Charisma: 50 Status Auto allocation active. | Unique Skill: Ascetic Training Subset Skill: -Iron Will. -Calm Mind. -Tempered Body -Mind's Eye |
Overall he wasn't that bad of an enemy, granted she had no way of defeating him...And he was probably among the top strongest members of the current [Twelve].
If she had someone like him in his time as General and leader of [The Twelve], she would have controlled the Magical Girls and probably had an easier time.
No, the problem was that he wasn't making a move against her, neither as a bed partner nor as an enemy. "So...You want me to stay put like a good girl?" She asked the monk while the Warlock was busy trying to not bleed to death, using one hand to staunch the bleeding on his arm.
"Yes, only for a few minutes, then I shall leave you to do your last rites." The Monk answered her back.
Interesting, so he wasn't an enemy?
"What are you doing?" Asked The Warlock to his companion.
That was a very good question from the horny guy, "Yeah, what are you doing indeed?" And she joined in the questioning.
The Monk for his part only strode towards his companion and in a move so fast that she couldn't even perceive it, the bleeding stopped "I pushed your pressure points to staunch the bleeding," Spoke the Monk while fiddling with something near his ear "[Tinkerer] emergency transport for [The Warlock] and [Shadow Pact]."
And before either the warlock or her could say anything both people disappeared, "Ah...I hadn't finished with them." Elizabeth said while glaring at the monk.
He didn't respond to her, "I assume you wanted to stay Jack." And instead only turned to the body of Jack that was on the floor, his mana still dripping downwards the planet. "Yeah, I promise."
Was he speaking?
She didn't see nor feel any mana emission from Jack or The Monk, was he bad in the head?
So many points away from Wisdom and Intelligence may be the reason, but that brought the question about how he had mental skills if he didn't have the stats to create them...
Was [Mother] meddling with him too?
"Now Ethan," The monk started speaking bringing back her attention to him, "Tell me, do you understand what Jack and Catherine did?"
She didn't, well she understood what Catherine did alright, "Catherine burned her mana trying to heal me when nothing was wrong with me." So she answered as such with a smile on her face.
She wasted everything in an attempt to [Help her daughter] only to make her body more strong in the process, such a good gift for her truly.
"And Jack...Is helping the world move forward to a new era." He willingly fed his mana to the [Core] of this planet, helping it evolve...Helping her ascend.
"No." The Monk said, finality in his tone. "They didn't do that, at all."
What was he speaking about?
"Tell me, Ethan, do you know where is Catherine?" This man was getting annoying.
Her name wasn't Ethan, it was...It was...What was her name?
"...What did they do? Catherine is right..." She tried to point to where she had last seen Catherine, to share the vision with the Puppet she had left...
Only to remember the twenty puppets she could summon were with her...What did she leave behind then?
"I have no idea," The monk said with mirth in his voice. "What I know is that Catherine is right there, with Jack."
The monk was pointing downwards, not to where she had left Catherine...Not to where Jack's body was wasting away, aging decades in seconds.
Not to where Jack's mana was going...But upwards, to the sky...
Where a single blue screen was shining.
| Notice: |
| System initialization in progress... 10%....20%...40%... Mana infussion detected....Installing API.... 30%....50%.... Mana framework detected... 10%...20%... |
When had that shown up...?
She had started the process when she activated [Proliferation], she felt her [Taint] spread over the world once more, first to call in all her mana back, then when she spread it towards [The Core]. Towards [Mother].
But...But...That wasn't part of her plan.
"So tell me Ethan, where do you think Catherine and Jack are right now?" The monk said, no one was around them, only the body of Jack on the floor, more skeleton than anything at this point.
She couldn't even recognize it and she had seen it...
Could...No...That wasn't possible, Catherine hated [Gods], she spoke at length about them whenever she could, Jack while he didn't despise them as much, he was a sucker for his [Family] he would trust them above all.
They...They couldn't...They wouldn't!
"Motherf...." Was all she could say before a blue screen popped in front of her.
| Notice, System message sent by Sub-Administrator [Mainframe]: |
| Test, test...Is this on? |
She could hear it...Or not hear it, but she could [Feel it], the tone of voice of Jack in that blue screen, the bastard...
He used his [Seed] as a ticket to sneak on her! The absolute bastard probably sacrificed his mana and brought himself a spot at the table of the gods!
By the name he had gotten, he was probably responsible for the [Stability] or at the very least had a spot that would be hard to remove, at least he wasn't an [Administrator], but a sub Administrator, still important...
But when she ascended to the top spot they wouldn't be able to stop her!
| [Hello World], or well. Greetings humanity my name is ■■■■...Oh right, you can't hear my name anymore...Well, I was a human like you, a [Hero] you could say.
By necessity I sacrificed everything to take a spot here, to make sure everything that was important to me was safe, my name as Human is no longer important, nor is my name as [Hero] you may refer to me as [Framework].
For that is my current Job, I sacrificed my body, my essence, my blood... In a nutshell.
[I'm the bones that held together the world.] [My heart is what pumps mana in the world.] [My veins are where the mana courses around the world.] [My flesh is what keeps the world sturdy.] [My body is what will defend this world from the worst of the incursions upon it.] |
The madman...He...He turned his body into the framework upon which [The System] was built!
He was bound to this world, no wonder he was a sub-administrator, his body was tightly bound to this world now!
He would never ascend to a higher place so long as this world system didn't let him go...And why would it?
Unless someone rose above the system itself he would be a slave to the system, a slave to this world...A slave to the humans that would use [The Gift] of this new age.
She had worried for nothing!
"YES!" So she celebrated, for a second she had been worried, granted it would be bad if she was a mere [User], but she would rise above them.
"Glad you liked his sacrifice." The monk said at her side.
When did he get there?!?
"Kyah!" She didn't scream, no sir, she didn't make some embarrassing girly sounds.
| And that was it. I only wanted to introduce myself, in the next couple of days you will get a few new messages from me, the other sub-administrators, and the system itself. There will be some shuffle among metahumans, both powered and mages. Some civilians may find themselves in this too, but enjoy the changes. And remember. [Always strive to be better.]
Sub Administrator of [The World], [Framework]. PD: If you find a better name do pray tell me...As in Pray to me and tell me, I will be listening. |
"Pushover!" She screamed, "Your god name should be Pushover!"
That would be a good name for what ■■■■ had become...Damnation his name really was being censored already, wonder how would that left her, since he was his daughter.
Huh?
"Now if Elizabeth's Father is there...Where is her Mother?" The monk asked him.
He brought a hand to his chin and toyed with his beard, it was relaxing. It wasn't as relaxing as a girl squishing her chest...Why had that thought come to him?
The last hours were mostly a blur in his memory, he didn't even remember why he had created a shadow cocoon behind him, nor what was gestating inside it.
He had been too happy with the defeat of his old subordinate and his wife, everything had gone quite well after he took possession of...What did he take possession of?
| Notice, Incoming message from system sub administrator [Oddysey]: |
| Hello world! Your favorite Goddess Oddysey is here! |
He didn't need more to know who that was, how had that woman end up there?!?
She didn't even have anything to offer! She wasn't blessed by this world nor had anything important to her name!
The best she had done was snuck into his subordinate's pants like a hooker and get laid!
Granted she was quite the looker and was well rounded all around the important bits, but as a woman that was to be expected of her.
| Now as Hubby I also sacrificed a thing here and there to get myself this spot, unlike him I wasn't a [Hero]. I was a [Magical Girl], quite the important one at that...Not that you will remember my name ;p |
Was that the same woman?
She used to brood all over the place and glare to everyone, what had happened to her while he had been in the [Core] tainting everyone and everything?
| Oh right, Eli-Eli momma loves you! |
And she is using almost divine powers to send a message to her daughter...Who...No wait, he was possessing that said daughter...
But his body was male....
Didn't he fail at shaping her?
Why was his body male then?
| Ah... He noticed! WAWAWHAT DO I DO?!?? Huh? Oh nasty, yeah that will work. |
...If his attempt to change Elizabeth changed, then he should be in a female body, but his was male...
Did...
| Notice: |
| System sub-administrator [Oddysey] has initiated a 10-second thought kernel rollback. Please brace yourself, notice nothing important will be lost and these are only available in a limited amount, [The system] will guarantee your freedom of thought. If an administrator abuses this power they will be punished. System thought rollback in 5...4...3...2....1 |
She didn't need to think hard about it to know who that was, she sounded exactly like her former subordinate's wife.
That was indeed like something she would say, trying to pretend that she was still a teenager girl instead of the old monster she was, still, that wasn't something that was bothering her, instead what bothered her more was the stuffy feeling in her face, something was stuck to her lips as if she had ate some cake and the batter stuck in her lips.
She raised her hand to her face and felt...A beard?
Also, was her arm this thick before?
A look into her hands and she saw thick muscle arms, the ones she had enjoyed seeing and toying with the idea of them around her neck, only...These moved with her thoughts.
And in her face was...A beard...Her old beard. "What the heck?" She said, but instead of the sweet tone of her normal voice, it was a raspy old man's voice.
"Any problems Ethan?" Asked the Monk to her side...To his side?
"How do I look?" She asked to the masqued man.
"Exactly as the records stated, around 1,9 meters tall, gray hair, scruffy beard...Also nasty eyes." Finished answering the Monk.
That description indeed was one she would use to describe her former self as Ethan O'Connell, but...She wasn't Ethan...She was supposed to be Elizabeth, she...He...
| As I was saying... Hello world! Odyssey here! Now unlike Hubby, I don't have a grand plan nor strange mission...I will not bore you with what [Odyssey] the Goddess of [■■■] will do. You will probably not see me that much and I work in the background but here it is my [Divine Oath] [I shall guard the integrity of The System] [No one shall surpass their authority] [The System will be fair to all] [Anyone that tries to game the system shall perish] And finally but not less important. [The Soul shall be sacred, none shall tamper with it without permission from the owner, none shall displace it without consent...The body, soul, and the mind shall be a bastion. This I guarantee under my Divine Decree.] |
And like that the blue screen disappeared, she...He...Stood there just looking at her...HIS body.
What had happened?
"This is my cue to act then." Said the monk, he stood in front of...Him, placing his hand above HIS chest.
She was about to say something like 'Don't get handsy', but her brain couldn't parse it out, her mind was coming to odds with her body. "[Astral Punch.]" He said and then only pushed at her softly.
She didn't even feel the impact, her body was standing tall and proud as if nothing had happened, it was the body she had nurtured all her life after all, the body of [The Stygian Bane].
The body she tried to recreate when she invaded Elizabeth...And the body she couldn't really call her own anymore.
"You will need more than that." She...Ethan's body said, even the tone felt wrong.
It wasn't her, not really. "I don't need to do more, you are already dead." The Monk said while pressing once more the earpiece "[Tinkerer] Teleport for one."
And like that he vanished away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
She looked down at her...At his body, wrinkles over her body and shadowy veins coursing with power...True [Power].
"..." She raised one of her...of Ethan's hands and toucher her...Touched his chest, rock hard, everything she desired in a man.
But she felt no arousal, she walked towards one of the stores, and an unbroken glass panel would do as a mirror, there the glare of Ethan's body looked back at her.
Muscles over muscles in that body, ethereal energy exuding from his body, she only needed to think about it and the body raised a hand, and hundreds over hundreds of shadow puppets rose from the ground.
Each armed with hideous demonic weapons, the lost souls of a city he raised to the ground. On this body, no one could stop her.
Not even those that claimed to be [Gods].
And yet...
"[Shadow Doppelganger]." Her...Ethan's voice said, a raspy tone, the voice of an old man who smoked too many cigars in his life.
She turned Ethan's body back and saw...Two things, one was the shadow doppelganger that she had summoned, a vivid representation of [The Stygian Bane] in all his glory...
The other was a Shadow cocoon, that one...She hadn't summoned, trying to walk towards it she fell to the ground, a look down found her legs had started to crack apart.
Ethan's legs that is, "Oh...Hahahahahahah" and Ethan's laugh started to sound in the empty street.
She now understood what they had done, "Nasty fuckers." Ethan's voice said.
"The motherfuckers...[Odyssey] stripped my body of Elizabeth's soul didn't she..." They separated the original soul of this body from her...That was why she couldn't remember things that Elizabeth knew.
"She then went ahead and turned herself into a Goddess to guarantee that I couldn't tamper with her [Soul] without permission..." That made sense if she turned into a goddess and had access to [The System]'s Rules...She would be able to do it, but the energy...
"And then [Framework] gave the energy needed while making sure the [System] was sturdy enough so no tampering could happen unless they had more Mana than him...And even then... His [skill] means that no change would work twice." He started laughing harder and harder.
"So my [Body] no longer has the [Soul] that should...No [Tampering] can happen to a body under divine decree....So this is the price I pay?" His legs no longer existed, his torso was starting to evaporate under the watch of his puppets and his doppelganger.
"Here is the part where I curse the world I guess..." She tried to raise Ethan's hand, to muster his mana...To try and [Taint] the world once more.
"...Heh...I can't..." But didn't do it, the system was initializing already, she wouldn't be able to make a permanent change, not without help from [The World]...And since [The Wish] of [Mother] was about to be fulfilled...
She doubted that [Mother] would help her again.
"[Heed my words]" But she would try her best!
[Framework] did say to [Strive] forward didn't he?
"[This may be the last day of The Stygian Bane...]" She funneled Ethan's Mana into her [Doppelganger]. "[But so long there are Shadows in this world...I will return...I SHALL WALK UNTO THIS EARTH AS WHATEVER I WISH TO BE!]" And with that declaration...
One by one the shadow puppets turned into motes of darkness that rose to the sky, souls upon souls of thousands joining the circle of transmigration to live again.
Some flew towards the doppelganger, others orbited around the decaying body of Ethan...
Some went towards their loved ones, their sons and daughters...Those that survived the tragedy...
None flew towards Ethan, not even those who hated him.
Ethan just smiled while he closed his eyes, she smiled within the body of Ethan.
For the last thing she saw before her consciousness was lost was a single blue screen.
| [System initialization finished.] [Welcome to The System] |
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" She couldn't help but laugh as the body of his former subordinate fell onto the ground.
She had been scared, scared that he would punch her, scared that Jack would pull all his mana into her...Scared that he would fuel the magics of either the [Monk] or [Warlock]...
But in the end, he hadn't done either, and instead, he had sent his mana to [The World] to fuel its advance!
He had surrendered!
Now she only needed to nurture her connection to [The World] and Ascend!
While he just...Fell over as his body wasted away, the last dregs of his mana varely slowing the decay of his body. Truly... How low the might have fallen.
Now she only needed to go and "That will be enough." Came the voice of the masked monk, slow and steady.
Tch.
"Do you think you have enough in you to stop me?" She asked in a cocky tone.
He did have both the strength and mana to stop her, she was bluffing.
Her [Identify] said as much after all.
| Status | |
| Name: Xuan Wu Title: The Monk Alias: The Monk Level: 90 | Health: 100% Mana: 100% Stamina: 100% Stress: 0% |
| Strength: 300 Constitution: 300 Agility: 300 Dexterity: 200 Intelligence: 73 Wisdom: 73 Charisma: 50 Status Auto allocation active. | Unique Skill: Ascetic Training Subset Skill: -Iron Will. -Calm Mind. -Tempered Body -Mind's Eye |
Overall he wasn't that bad of an enemy, granted she had no way of defeating him...And he was probably among the top strongest members of the current [Twelve].
If she had someone like him in his time as General and leader of [The Twelve], she would have controlled the Magical Girls and probably had an easier time.
No, the problem was that he wasn't making a move against her, neither as a bed partner nor as an enemy. "So...You want me to stay put like a good girl?" She asked the monk while the Warlock was busy trying to not bleed to death, using one hand to staunch the bleeding on his arm.
"Yes, only for a few minutes, then I shall leave you to do your last rites." The Monk answered her back.
Interesting, so he wasn't an enemy?
"What are you doing?" Asked The Warlock to his companion.
That was a very good question from the horny guy, "Yeah, what are you doing indeed?" And she joined in the questioning.
The Monk for his part only strode towards his companion and in a move so fast that she couldn't even perceive it, the bleeding stopped "I pushed your pressure points to staunch the bleeding," Spoke the Monk while fiddling with something near his ear "[Tinkerer] emergency transport for [The Warlock] and [Shadow Pact]."
And before either the warlock or her could say anything both people disappeared, "Ah...I hadn't finished with them." Elizabeth said while glaring at the monk.
He didn't respond to her, "I assume you wanted to stay Jack." And instead only turned to the body of Jack that was on the floor, his mana still dripping downwards the planet. "Yeah, I promise."
Was he speaking?
She didn't see nor feel any mana emission from Jack or The Monk, was he bad in the head?
So many points away from Wisdom and Intelligence may be the reason, but that brought the question about how he had mental skills if he didn't have the stats to create them...
Was [Mother] meddling with him too?
"Now Ethan," The monk started speaking bringing back her attention to him, "Tell me, do you understand what Jack and Catherine did?"
She didn't, well she understood what Catherine did alright, "Catherine burned her mana trying to heal me when nothing was wrong with me." So she answered as such with a smile on her face.
She wasted everything in an attempt to [Help her daughter] only to make her body more strong in the process, such a good gift for her truly.
"And Jack...Is helping the world move forward to a new era." He willingly fed his mana to the [Core] of this planet, helping it evolve...Helping her ascend.
"No." The Monk said, finality in his tone. "They didn't do that, at all."
What was he speaking about?
"Tell me, Ethan, do you know where is Catherine?" This man was getting annoying.
Her name wasn't Ethan, it was...It was...What was her name?
"...What did they do? Catherine is right..." She tried to point to where she had last seen Catherine, to share the vision with the Puppet she had left...
Only to remember the twenty puppets she could summon were with her...What did she leave behind then?
"I have no idea," The monk said with mirth in his voice. "What I know is that Catherine is right there, with Jack."
The monk was pointing downwards, not to where she had left Catherine...Not to where Jack's body was wasting away, aging decades in seconds.
Not to where Jack's mana was going...But upwards, to the sky...
Where a single blue screen was shining.
| Notice: |
| System initialization in progress... 10%....20%...40%... Mana infussion detected....Installing API.... 30%....50%.... Mana framework detected... 10%...20%... |
When had that shown up...?
She had started the process when she activated [Proliferation], she felt her [Taint] spread over the world once more, first to call in all her mana back, then when she spread it towards [The Core]. Towards [Mother].
But...But...That wasn't part of her plan.
"So tell me Ethan, where do you think Catherine and Jack are right now?" The monk said, no one was around them, only the body of Jack on the floor, more skeleton than anything at this point.
She couldn't even recognize it and she had seen it...
Could...No...That wasn't possible, Catherine hated [Gods], she spoke at length about them whenever she could, Jack while he didn't despise them as much, he was a sucker for his [Family] he would trust them above all.
They...They couldn't...They wouldn't!
"Motherf...." Was all she could say before a blue screen popped in front of her.
| Notice, System message sent by Sub-Administrator [Mainframe]: |
| Test, test...Is this on? |
She could hear it...Or not hear it, but she could [Feel it], the tone of voice of Jack in that blue screen, the bastard...
He used his [Seed] as a ticket to sneak on her! The absolute bastard probably sacrificed his mana and brought himself a spot at the table of the gods!
By the name he had gotten, he was probably responsible for the [Stability] or at the very least had a spot that would be hard to remove, at least he wasn't an [Administrator], but a sub Administrator, still important...
But when she ascended to the top spot they wouldn't be able to stop her!
| [Hello World], or well. Greetings humanity my name is ■■■■...Oh right, you can't hear my name anymore...Well, I was a human like you, a [Hero] you could say.
By necessity I sacrificed everything to take a spot here, to make sure everything that was important to me was safe, my name as Human is no longer important, nor is my name as [Hero] you may refer to me as [Framework].
For that is my current Job, I sacrificed my body, my essence, my blood... In a nutshell.
[I'm the bones that held together the world.] [My heart is what pumps mana in the world.] [My veins are where the mana courses around the world.] [My flesh is what keeps the world sturdy.] [My body is what will defend this world from the worst of the incursions upon it.] |
The madman...He...He turned his body into the framework upon which [The System] was built!
He was bound to this world, no wonder he was a sub-administrator, his body was tightly bound to this world now!
He would never ascend to a higher place so long as this world system didn't let him go...And why would it?
Unless someone rose above the system itself he would be a slave to the system, a slave to this world...A slave to the humans that would use [The Gift] of this new age.
She had worried for nothing!
"YES!" So she celebrated, for a second she had been worried, granted it would be bad if she was a mere [User], but she would rise above them.
"Glad you liked his sacrifice." The monk said at her side.
When did he get there?!?
"Kyah!" She didn't scream, no sir, she didn't make some embarrassing girly sounds.
| And that was it. I only wanted to introduce myself, in the next couple of days you will get a few new messages from me, the other sub-administrators, and the system itself. There will be some shuffle among metahumans, both powered and mages. Some civilians may find themselves in this too, but enjoy the changes. And remember. [Always strive to be better.]
Sub Administrator of [The World], [Framework]. PD: If you find a better name do pray tell me...As in Pray to me and tell me, I will be listening. |
"Pushover!" She screamed, "Your god name should be Pushover!"
That would be a good name for what ■■■■ had become...Damnation his name really was being censored already, wonder how would that left her, since he was his daughter.
Huh?
"Now if Elizabeth's Father is there...Where is her Mother?" The monk asked him.
He brought a hand to his chin and toyed with his beard, it was relaxing. It wasn't as relaxing as a girl squishing her chest...Why had that thought come to him?
The last hours were mostly a blur in his memory, he didn't even remember why he had created a shadow cocoon behind him, nor what was gestating inside it.
He had been too happy with the defeat of his old subordinate and his wife, everything had gone quite well after he took possession of...What did he take possession of?
| Notice, Incoming message from system sub administrator [Oddysey]: |
| Hello world! Your favorite Goddess Oddysey is here! |
He didn't need more to know who that was, how had that woman end up there?!?
She didn't even have anything to offer! She wasn't blessed by this world nor had anything important to her name!
The best she had done was snuck into his subordinate's pants like a hooker and get laid!
Granted she was quite the looker and was well rounded all around the important bits, but as a woman that was to be expected of her.
| Now as Hubby I also sacrificed a thing here and there to get myself this spot, unlike him I wasn't a [Hero]. I was a [Magical Girl], quite the important one at that...Not that you will remember my name ;p |
Was that the same woman?
She used to brood all over the place and glare to everyone, what had happened to her while he had been in the [Core] tainting everyone and everything?
| Oh right, Eli-Eli momma loves you! |
And she is using almost divine powers to send a message to her daughter...Who...No wait, he was possessing that said daughter...
But his body was male....
Didn't he fail at shaping her?
Why was his body male then?
| Ah... He noticed! WAWAWHAT DO I DO?!?? Huh? Oh nasty, yeah that will work. |
...If his attempt to change Elizabeth changed, then he should be in a female body, but his was male...
Did...
| Notice: |
| System sub-administrator [Oddysey] has initiated a 10-second thought kernel rollback. Please brace yourself, notice nothing important will be lost and these are only available in a limited amount, [The system] will guarantee your freedom of thought. If an administrator abuses this power they will be punished. System thought rollback in 5...4...3...2....1 |
She didn't need to think hard about it to know who that was, she sounded exactly like her former subordinate's wife.
That was indeed like something she would say, trying to pretend that she was still a teenager girl instead of the old monster she was, still, that wasn't something that was bothering her, instead what bothered her more was the stuffy feeling in her face, something was stuck to her lips as if she had ate some cake and the batter stuck in her lips.
She raised her hand to her face and felt...A beard?
Also, was her arm this thick before?
A look into her hands and she saw thick muscle arms, the ones she had enjoyed seeing and toying with the idea of them around her neck, only...These moved with her thoughts.
And in her face was...A beard...Her old beard. "What the heck?" She said, but instead of the sweet tone of her normal voice, it was a raspy old man's voice.
"Any problems Ethan?" Asked the Monk to her side...To his side?
"How do I look?" She asked to the masqued man.
"Exactly as the records stated, around 1,9 meters tall, gray hair, scruffy beard...Also nasty eyes." Finished answering the Monk.
That description indeed was one she would use to describe her former self as Ethan O'Connell, but...She wasn't Ethan...She was supposed to be Elizabeth, she...He...
| As I was saying... Hello world! Odyssey here! Now unlike Hubby, I don't have a grand plan nor strange mission...I will not bore you with what [Odyssey] the Goddess of [■■■] will do. You will probably not see me that much and I work in the background but here it is my [Divine Oath] [I shall guard the integrity of The System] [No one shall surpass their authority] [The System will be fair to all] [Anyone that tries to game the system shall perish] And finally but not less important. [The Soul shall be sacred, none shall tamper with it without permission from the owner, none shall displace it without consent...The body, soul, and the mind shall be a bastion. This I guarantee under my Divine Decree.] |
And like that the blue screen disappeared, she...He...Stood there just looking at her...HIS body.
What had happened?
"This is my cue to act then." Said the monk, he stood in front of...Him, placing his hand above HIS chest.
She was about to say something like 'Don't get handsy', but her brain couldn't parse it out, her mind was coming to odds with her body. "[Astral Punch.]" He said and then only pushed at her softly.
She didn't even feel the impact, her body was standing tall and proud as if nothing had happened, it was the body she had nurtured all her life after all, the body of [The Stygian Bane].
The body she tried to recreate when she invaded Elizabeth...And the body she couldn't really call her own anymore.
"You will need more than that." She...Ethan's body said, even the tone felt wrong.
It wasn't her, not really. "I don't need to do more, you are already dead." The Monk said while pressing once more the earpiece "[Tinkerer] Teleport for one."
And like that he vanished away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
She looked down at her...At his body, wrinkles over her body and shadowy veins coursing with power...True [Power].
"..." She raised one of her...of Ethan's hands and toucher her...Touched his chest, rock hard, everything she desired in a man.
But she felt no arousal, she walked towards one of the stores, and an unbroken glass panel would do as a mirror, there the glare of Ethan's body looked back at her.
Muscles over muscles in that body, ethereal energy exuding from his body, she only needed to think about it and the body raised a hand, and hundreds over hundreds of shadow puppets rose from the ground.
Each armed with hideous demonic weapons, the lost souls of a city he raised to the ground. On this body, no one could stop her.
Not even those that claimed to be [Gods].
And yet...
"[Shadow Doppelganger]." Her...Ethan's voice said, a raspy tone, the voice of an old man who smoked too many cigars in his life.
She turned Ethan's body back and saw...Two things, one was the shadow doppelganger that she had summoned, a vivid representation of [The Stygian Bane] in all his glory...
The other was a Shadow cocoon, that one...She hadn't summoned, trying to walk towards it she fell to the ground, a look down found her legs had started to crack apart.
Ethan's legs that is, "Oh...Hahahahahahah" and Ethan's laugh started to sound in the empty street.
She now understood what they had done, "Nasty fuckers." Ethan's voice said.
"The motherfuckers...[Odyssey] stripped my body of Elizabeth's soul didn't she..." They separated the original soul of this body from her...That was why she couldn't remember things that Elizabeth knew.
"She then went ahead and turned herself into a Goddess to guarantee that I couldn't tamper with her [Soul] without permission..." That made sense if she turned into a goddess and had access to [The System]'s Rules...She would be able to do it, but the energy...
"And then [Framework] gave the energy needed while making sure the [System] was sturdy enough so no tampering could happen unless they had more Mana than him...And even then... His [skill] means that no change would work twice." He started laughing harder and harder.
"So my [Body] no longer has the [Soul] that should...No [Tampering] can happen to a body under divine decree....So this is the price I pay?" His legs no longer existed, his torso was starting to evaporate under the watch of his puppets and his doppelganger.
"Here is the part where I curse the world I guess..." She tried to raise Ethan's hand, to muster his mana...To try and [Taint] the world once more.
"...Heh...I can't..." But didn't do it, the system was initializing already, she wouldn't be able to make a permanent change, not without help from [The World]...And since [The Wish] of [Mother] was about to be fulfilled...
She doubted that [Mother] would help her again.
"[Heed my words]" But she would try her best!
[Framework] did say to [Strive] forward didn't he?
"[This may be the last day of The Stygian Bane...]" She funneled Ethan's Mana into her [Doppelganger]. "[But so long there are Shadows in this world...I will return...I SHALL WALK UNTO THIS EARTH AS WHATEVER I WISH TO BE!]" And with that declaration...
One by one the shadow puppets turned into motes of darkness that rose to the sky, souls upon souls of thousands joining the circle of transmigration to live again.
Some flew towards the doppelganger, others orbited around the decaying body of Ethan...
Some went towards their loved ones, their sons and daughters...Those that survived the tragedy...
None flew towards Ethan, not even those who hated him.
Ethan just smiled while he closed his eyes, she smiled within the body of Ethan.
For the last thing she saw before her consciousness was lost was a single blue screen.
| [System initialization finished.] [Welcome to The System] |
