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Work Header
Rating:
Explicit
Archive Warnings:
Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character DeathUnderage Sex
Categories:
F/MMulti
Fandom:
Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Relationships:
OC/Amy DallonOC/Multi
Characters:
OC - CharacterAmy Dallon | Panacea | Red QueenTaylor Hebert | Skitter | WeaverDragon (Parahumans)
Additional Tags:
Tags May ChangeOC ProtagonistChaotic GoodCharismatic Protagonistgame-like systemGhoul Protagonist (Tokyo Ghoul)Ghoul Cannibalism (Tokyo Ghoul)TortureSuffering IntensifiesReturn by Death (Re:Zero)this story is slightly less edgy than the tags imply I swearWorm Spoilers (Parahumans)Canon RelatedHaremPseudo Path to Victory
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:2023-08-07Updated:2024-04-28Words:141,557Chapters:11/?Comments:47Kudos:229Bookmarks:87Hits:18,877
A Guiding Hand
Crississ
Chapter 2: From Groups to Gore and Back Again
Summary:
Kris makes some new friends, some new enemies, and learns the wonderous benefits of blackmail.
Chapter Text
"On, off, on, off, on…" I repeated, gazing into a puddle in the middle of some neighborhood to watch my right eye shift from an enchanting brown to a hellish red surrounded by black sclera with vein-like cracks connecting to the iris. Why was I doing this?
{Paths: How to get into the Wards?}
[Continue playing with your eye in the puddle]
[Go up to the PRT and beat down their guards until they meet your demands of being hired]
That. I personally want to do as little as possible to alienate myself from my future waifus, and it's honestly the good kind of distracting as it allows me to at least process what's happened.
I was tortured for an… indeterminable amount of time, and I most likely have a form of Stockholm Syndrome since my hate for Gray Boy is tempered by pity. Hell, the only reason I haven't gone and found whatever grave they made him solely to piss on it is because I refuse to ever spend a single second more thinking about him than absolutely necessary, and because I got a cool new ability for my troubles. My kakugan flickered off.
{Temporal Reversion}
[When you or whatever you come into contact with receive a significant amount of damage, you can be restored to a prior state. 3/3 Charges]
A free healing skill will gladly enter my- for now- lacking tool kit of asspulls. Though when I first realized it had taken… probably months of constant exposure to get the fucking ability, I had enough rage to somehow capslock my brain when I asked PtVS the fuck it was doing.
Apparently, Inverse Dominion is a lot more complicated than I was hoping or expecting. For the foreign power to be negated and absorbed, it needs to pass a threshold which will either be based on how long the effects last and how 'intense' the power is. Basically, the power needs to seep through my body for a long enough time, or the effects need to be invasive enough to speedrun that.
Using the Dallon sisters as an example, despite being healed by Amy more than once I still hadn't gotten a biotinker skill seeing as it takes a long time to work since she's actively limiting her power so it doesn't do anything more than healing people. Even then, it only took two minutes to get healed, so it wasn't too long based on it's intensity either.
Then there's Victoria, constantly surging out feel good emotions to allies. It's extremely invasive as it's a Master ability to force my mind to think a certain way. It has to be, as I'd only stayed in her range for about three minutes max. So it would be fair to assume my abilities work faster the faster the effects are, but that wasn't the case with Gray Boy.
Apparently the effects of his barrier were 'instantaneous' and worked retroactively, which my power surprisingly sucks at working against. His barrier removed the cause, so the effect barely registered for my power.
Essentially, he was the perfect counter for my abilities as well as my worst opponent. If I had attempted to break free earlier I would have eventually been beaten and placed in a much more inescapable prison. Most likely a coffin.
"Because I want to, and they can't stop me." His words echoed in my head, as they had ever since I had returned to this time. My right eye in my reflection returned to the damned looking form that was forced onto me.
… I've been remembering- no, going over and comparing what happened to me with what happened to Kaneki in the excessive;y edgy anime. And honestly, the parallels were as unnerving as they were fucking infuriating.
Kaneki was captured by a walking copyright infringement, and tortured just as he had been once, both physically and mentally. Kaneki found himself constantly receding into his mind as Jason carved two facts into his very soul. Every time his limbs healed and every second he survived under his watch, it reminded him that he was a monster. And every time he was forced to confront reality, to choose who was hurt in his place and failing every time, he learned he was weak. In body, for he couldn't save himself from Jason, and in mind for he couldn't save anyone else from Jason.
In his mind, filled with the admittedly hot bitch that stole his humanity and the woman who gave him that humanity, he was forced to come to a conclusion. 'It is better to be hurt, than to hurt others', his mother had said. 'It is better to hurt others then let what is yours be taken away from you' his first love corrected.
Of course, he chose the ghoul who was stronger than anyone he'd ever met over the woman who beat him to the point he had to repress it to ever hope to function. He tossed aside his humanity, and consumed his attacker, committing the first act of true cannibalism in the show. A ghoul eating a ghoul.
I, in my disgustingly humble opinion, am not weak of mind. I would kill Contessa in a heartbeat- wait, no, bias.
I'd kill some random stranger in a heartbeat if it was to save someone I cared about. Hierarchy of personal importance is how I make my emotional decisions, which basically says 'fuck you, I don't know you' to strangers. So, the weakness in this situation was the weakness of the body.
I had barely anything on my side, since PtVS is basically a hand-me-down PtV so it gives no shits whether I live or die unless I help it become an Entity. Which to it doesn't really matter, as I'll always come back. And so I lost, completely and pathetically.
I wanted to, and no one could stop me. The thoughts of the strong, who commit countless atrocities on a whim simply because no one could stop them. After all, the weak are to be consumed by the strong. That is the truth of this horrific world, and possibly all the others I'll end up in.
And I… hate it. I hate it with all of my being, my very soul screaming out in disgust for such an unfair truth. But, the fact is the weak and the strong will always work like this, I'll just have to see the worst of it with my own two eyes.
But… that's wrong. That truth, that mindset, the very worlds that follow them are completely wrong. Because if the weak are merely meant to be devoured, then there would only be one man. A life only in solitude, dedicated to destroying or being destroyed by the next person you come across.
That's what I hate about grimdark stories. They have no counterweight- no bright light to justify the abyssal shadow that is trying to consume everything. It's all just darkness and despair and heartache without a chance to breathe. It's just depression spit up in literary form, and I can't accept that. I refuse to accept that.
I'll break that cycle, ensure that hope can shine again and these desolate worlds can feel something other than pain. I'll do it here, and every other world. Again and again and again until every world I've ever touched has been blinded by light, even for just a second.
I'm not saying that I will undo that truth, because I'm not strong enough to toss out utopias like candy. Yet. All I want to do is give the people trapped in these shitty fucking worlds a chance for something better than heartbreak. Because I know for a fact I'll abuse my power to get what I want, but I'll be damned if I won't give every single person a chance. Because if I sat back and let what happened to me happen again to anyone I'd be exactly like Contessa.
I'll bring freedom to this wasteland of death and decay, and no one will fucking stop me.
{The Pillager finds that you remind him of himself: Gained the Blessing of the First Thief}
{The Will of the Fallen}
[The concept of thievery and rebellion rests within you, bringing onto the world change equal to your own Pride so long as you take action. Bring onto humanity freedom, and bear witness to the chaos it brings for better or worse.]
And of course there's someone else watching me act like an anime protagonist. I would be embarrassed… but I'm at least glad I got that out there. Though I have no idea what the fuck that is so I'm just gonna ignore it.
Now, I need to do the one thing every student hates more than anything. Studying. Because if the Dull Day loop taught me anything, it's that the system gives exactly zero shits about anything that isn't the Path. Especially since I just come back after death, it only views my suffering as a minor setback in the long run. So I need to be proactive when it comes to looking up literally all the information I can get my hands on.
Unfortunately, while I am many things, and will become even more. I will never be the meticulous type that spends ages gathering information, I'm much too antsy for that tactical bullshit. I'm more of a reactive thinker, ironically, so I have to figure out the stones I'd like to throw first.
But even before that, I should look into the specifics about my race.
{Half-Ghoul (Perfected)}
[Ghouls are human-like creatures that predate primarily on humans, and other ghouls if necessary. The reason for this is because of their kagune, a collection of RC or Red Child Cells. The kagune needs a semi-regular intake of RC Cells to survive, or it begins to drive ghouls mad with hunger to force them into a feeding frenzy. Humans and Ghouls are the only known things in existence to produce these Cells.
Half Ghouls are known to be naturally and exponentially stronger than the standard Ghoul, naturally born or otherwise. Stronger regeneration, stronger kagune, and base abilities will increase as they get damaged. They can also resist their hunger much better than an average Ghoul.
As a perfected Half-Ghoul, you will be able to get specialized abilities as your Race levels up.]
{Half-Ghoul (Perfected) Level 1/10}
Oh cool, another number to pump up! The feeling of my hand smacking my forehead echoed out in my skull as I realized how quickly the novelty of watching numbers going up died. At least I know I won't be stuck with only one strand of my kagune forever.
Moving past that, I began sifting through all the bits of information I had throughout the… 'reader-created' fiction of Worm, mostly double-checking misconceptions and setting up my trademark 'improv-plans', where I have a goal and a vague idea on how to achieve it, and I somehow bullshit my way into succeeding.
… Again, throwing stones so I can react, which is the best way to do this seeing as most of the maniacal mastermind types in this place won't work on me after a while, so pulling tactics and ideas out of my ass is a valid and unpredictable strategy. Totally.
Besides, Path to Victory doesn't work with unknown unknowns, or things I have no idea I should know about. And it doesn't like open-ended questions like 'who should I be wary of', because it just answers 'everyone'.
While that isn't wrong, it shows the PtVS is more of a general guideline on what I should do instead of a step by step guide, and that means I actually have to use my critical thinking. But by now, I know that my plan to enter the Wards is objectively the best seeing as the abilities of the members I know of will increase my power immensely.
I was continuing my research- god I'm actually doing research and not just looking up porn when I say that now, weird- when suddenly the most foul, disgusting, toxic smell decided to exist near me all of a sudden. It was impossible to describe, but the closest approximation would have to be that it felt like a sewage rat had died, came back and rotted to the point it's skin hung freely off it's skeleton before crawling up my nose and into my brain to find something beyond its unlife.
I almost vomited right where I had been crouched, but thanks to me clasping my hand over my lips and the lack of anything in my stomach- I still haven't eaten anything.
[+5 Gluttony]
Fuck- the smell was coming upwind, so the unholy source of that stench was getting closer, and I was getting more and more nauseous! Seriously, what the fuck could smell this bad?!
As I thought this, a girl walked up into view, her eyes staring down at the ground as the foul odor revealed tints of rotting fruits and chemicals. She was cute, with beautiful black hair that was unfortunately dripping with what I knew was soda and attractive legs seen through the soaked pants she wore. Her lackluster chest was a damn shame, but the only thing that was really turning me off was the smell.
Honestly, 7/10 without the soda, -3/10 with it.
[+10 Lust]
The realization that I was probably projecting my horniness onto the only woman whose face I could completely see hit me square in the chest. And then I realized exactly who the soda-covered woman before me was.
… I am not ashamed to admit I saved out of fear of meeting the protagonist, because now I have a vague-ish timeline to work with. Taylor is going to beat Lung's fucking ass and get picked up by the Undersiders soon, and I need to have a plan to deal with that.
So, what can I do? I don't think the Path would give me another option so close to the last one, so it's all on me now, and the one who got Super-Jesus to commit suicide is walking closer and closer to me. Bringing that abhorrent smell along with her.
Fuck it, can't plan with this shit up my nose. I got up and walked towards the girl with purpose, which she apparently didn't notice until I said something.
"Hey, you okay?" She stopped walking, and looked up at me with the most bizarre look on her face behind her glasses.
"... Why do you care?" The dry tone contradicted the completely genuine confusion in her eyes at another living being showing basic fucking compassion that gave me a… complex feeling. Y'know, the one where you want to smack the shit out of someone and give them the biggest bear hug in all of existence at the same time?
Jesus fucking Christ, I've spent the past thirty minutes looking at my reflection but she's still the most broken person I've seen today.
"Because if I walked away I'd be the exact type of bastard I hate the most." The cheesy words came naturally, as I realized what exactly I was planning on doing. It was stupid, useless, and frankly could end with me getting killed. Fortunately, the combination of Return By Death and an abundant amount of torture took away the fear of pain and death completely.
So the zombie strategy was completely on the table, and I legitimately did not give a fuck what could happen to me.
Taylor looked up at me oddly, and despite my expectations didn't immediately shy away from me as I reached out a hand to her.
[+1 Lust]
Ignoring that notification for the sake of my sanity, I tapped her on the shoulder and used a charge of my Reversion, and almost gasped at the lack of concentrated disgust in the air. Apparently the skill was even stronger than I was expecting, as even with my enhanced senses I couldn't smell a drop of soda from anywhere on the soon-to-be cape, even the bag she had been holding. So now I could say this was just an experiment to see the exact effects of the skill, and no one could stop me.
I removed my hand to the wide-eyed staring of the protagonist who immediately noticed the cleansing of herself, and a coy smile found its way onto my face. I placed the very same finger I touched against my lips, shushing her.
"No tattling, okay? Haven't exactly gotten my identity down yet, so no spoiling." I walked past the now completely shocked girl, her surprise elevating my mood like nothing else.
"Who are you?!" She suddenly called out, confusion coming off of her in waves.
"Just a new friend. See ya soon, then!" I waved without looking back at the horribly confused teenager, at ease from fucking with someone. Now, how else am I going to rip canon a new one?
Sarah- no, Lisa was indulging in her new favorite pastime, people-watching. It may give thinker headaches like a bitch, but seeing the secrets of random people on the street is always a fun time for her. Especially when she can give her famed smile of smugness and unbridled irritation behind a cup of overly expensive coffee, so whenever someone glances her way the mocking smile in her eyes gives her a much more fun basis.
She only did things like this once in a while when they didn't exactly have a job, and while they did she could risk figuring out who was cheating on who in a bundle of friends a day ahead of suit-up time. They never suspect the overly affectionate girlfriend…
Snickering to herself as she sat at a table outside the cafe, she heard the door open and naturally turned her head to the tanned teen who was subtly basking in the smell of coffee. He was a bit more attractive than the usual guy, in a pretty boy kind of way, though his right eye had a monstrous twitch to it. And like that, the ultimate clam-jammer shall appear.
[Is not human. Is starving.]
And just like that, Lisa's amusement paused at the startling revelation, and she quickly began gathering herself for what may end up being a cape fight. Of course she ends up going to the one cafe a monster goes to unmasked, fucking hell.
[Subsists solely off of human flesh. Is starving.]
… Well, as a villain, if a humanoid cannibalistic monster were to attack, she had no obligation to help. Her conscience would allow her to run away scott-free, though she'd call the PRT and her boss first before dumping her phone. Damn, and she just got it.
And now she was making coy remarks in her head to fight off the bone-chilling terror that got much, much worse as when the monster went to order his food, his eye glanced back at her.
[Knows you're there. Knows you're using your power on him. Is starving.]
Then, he waved at the cashier and pointed at her, eyes never leaving the table so she couldn't run for her fucking life like her every instinct was screaming at her to do. And then he smiled, a warm yet threatening thing, and Lisa knew this was going to be just like her forceful induction into that bastard's gang.
Like a deer in headlights, she was still in his gaze as he sat down across from her, the smile on his face shrinking as he began to speak.
"Hello, Miss Parahuman. I'm here to make you a deal." His voice was… a mix between at ease and half-asleep, a noticeable trend alongside his movements. He propped his head up with an arm, his posture so at ease Lisa could mistake him as asleep even with his opened eyes. A nervous grin found its way onto her face when she realized her power wasn't working on him despite her metaphorically slamming the on button on him.
"Please, call me Lisa, Miss Parahuman was my mother." If he can tell she's a Thinker with a fucking look, she isn't risking lying to his face in her first sentence. He snorted at the joke, and Lisa almost let herself think she wouldn't be murdered by the inhuman cannibal- Is that the right word if he isn't human?- before he continued speaking.
"Well, I'm Kris. Nice to meet you, Lisa. Now, before you start panicking, I don't plan on eating you. At least, not in the way you're thinking." What- of course the cannibal is the one person she could try to date without her power fucking her over. God her luck is the worst. "Instead, I'd like an… alliance, friendship, whatever word you wanna call it."
Oh joy, another 'partnership', fucking perfect. Well, if she had to choose between two monsters she can't predict to be enslaved to, she'll go with the one with an established power-base. Not that she won't at least make sure this one doesn't have one too.
"Friends with benefits? I can handle that, please continue." Because every second he speaks, he can't try and eat her while she tries to dial the phone in her pocket discreetly. She hopes.
"Well, I'm not the overarching puppeteering type so you won't be forced to do everything I say for fear of death." Lisa wasn't ashamed, but still upset, to admit that was most likely the only thing he needed to say. "I'll guarantee the safety of you and your friends in the Undersiders to the best of my ability, and once Coil is dead I'll give you the deed to his criminal empire."
He was offering everything she was already gunning for herself to her, she realized immediately and said as much. Kris merely smiled back at her, and she was indescribably relieved he didn't have anyone stuck between his teeth.
"Ah, but I'm also bringing an opportunity for you. Y'see, I have my own plans for the future, which will involve the heroes quite intimately," A smile on his face made it clear he was laughing at a joke she wasn't in on, and for a moment she realized this was what other people felt when she used her power on them. "And given that, I believe I'll be able to get some… 'benefits' for the lot of you all. Money and custody for Grue, entertainment for Regent, specialized spacing for Bitch's dogs, and the sweet satisfaction of fucking over Coil and stealing his empire from him for Tattletale."
The potentially unmasked cape stilled in her seat, immediately recognizing the threat of what she now assumed to be a Thinker was to her team. Her smile twitched, drawing another amused snort from Kris as a barista came outside and dropped off his coffee. His nose twitched at the smell, a malicious hunger gleaming in his eyes for just a second before he forced himself to relax.
"You'd be surprised what the government is willing to ignore to get a crime-lord in their pocket. Of course, I'll also help in your endeavors. Just to give you a headstart, Coil's ability allows him to simulate two timelines based on a choice. He can only make two, and if he dies in one or choses one, the other is discarded and his body goes on autopilot through the events that happened there." At that, whatever restraint he had faded as he knocked back the hot cup of coffee in a single searing gulp while Lisa's mind whirled with the knowledge of Coil's ability in her grasp. His shoulders shook for a second, and Lisa wondered if he was an addict despite his apparent inability to consume anything other than flesh.
When the cup returned to the table an edge in his posture was gone, and Lisa found herself relaxing as whatever threat he posed disappeared. Coffee is good, apparently.
"All I'd want you to do is report to me about any upcoming assignments, and I'll take care of the rest." He stated calmly, before rising up out of his seat and nodding at her. "Oh, you'll also probably need to be seen hanging out with me, just to keep up appearances. Later Lisa." He waved as he began walking away, before he paused.
"Oh, and one of my abilities neutralizes Thinker powers, so you'll need me if you want to take him down easily." He continued, and walked his merry way, uncaring of the turmoil that was now forced upon Lisa with the fact she now had to hide away her mutiny and convince the rest of her ragtag friends to join forces with a cannibal.
… And he left her the bill, that cute fuck. Wait, cute? Shit!
The coffee was good, but not fifteen dollars good, Lisa's got more than enough cash to handle that daylight robbery. Seriously, and they call parahumans the psychotic villains, those daft bastards.
Honestly speaking, running into Lisa was a complete coincidence, and the only reason I knew she was there was because the Paths gave me the options of Turn around; Carpe Diem or Avert your eyes; Memento Mori.
But, I can tell that meeting went much better than it could've and should've, given the fact she stopped trying to call someone with her phone the second I started tempting her with freedom.
{Affection with Lisa: +20 for offering her everything she wants (And also not being a murderous psychopath)}
So, now I've got a connection to the villain side and have most-probably convinced them all to join the side of… fuck, what side am I? Good? Eh, close enough. But now, I need to make some connections with the heroes… in a manner of speaking.
Though before even that, I need a costume. May not have a legal identity, but in a world filled with super nazis I don't even want to know the levels of super-racism that will occur once people realize I can only eat humans.
Suddenly, the scent of people wafted towards me from an alleyway I was about to pass by, and my stomach writhed.
[+5 Gluttony]
Before I knew what I was doing, my body was already moving and my Paths were already informing me that these people were essentially a free meal of no consequence. Sounds harsh, but then I heard the racial slurs bouncing off the walls and immediately began wondering how Nazi tasted.
… Sauerkraut? Wait, neo-Nazi. Beans on toast.
I found three meal bags sitting around with standard gang weapons and swastikas plaster on every surface, and the second they noticed me they paused and put on the most shit-eating grins I've ever had the displeasure of witnessing.
"Well well well, look what we have here boys, a filthy…" My mind blanked out as all of me agreed that I was too hungry for this shit, and my kagune tore itself from the small of my back as my eye turned monstrous. They all faltered and paled more than they already were, but before they could even scream they were already slashed in half with the demonic tentacle coming out of my back.
[+3 Wrath]
The realization that as a Brute most people ain't shit against me settled into the back of my head as I unashamedly gorged myself on their corpses. If they didn't want to be eaten, they shouldn't have been Nazis.
As I 'disposed' of the corpses, eating almost everything straight off the bone, I learned that my kagune is a truly convenient napkin when it comes to bloodstains. Most likely because RC Cells are basically hunger incarnate, and the cells are literally eating every scrap it can reach.
Peeling off the nails like the human equivalent of crust on a sandwich, I considered the series of events that are soon to occur. My interaction with Taylor hasn't prevented the inevitable cage-match that first fight ended up being. Everyone expects the super-dragon to win, but high regeneration doesn't mean shit against poisons.
Anyway, I'll need a costume to keep my 'civilian' identity a secret to use the drama-fueled cesspool that is highschool to increase my toolkit of superpowers, because fuck you if you think I'm not gunning for the escalating dragon.
[+5 Greed, +5 Envy]
Parian? Parian. Does she have a shop or something?
I toyed with a bit of viscera that got caught between my teeth with my tongue as I searched for information with the System. Huh, currently accepting commissions but is mainly working the entertainment angle to 'get her face out there'. That's… I mean, I'll use that but I'll still feel bad about it.
A now freed foot-bone twirled between my fingers as I nommed on the ankles on the half-eaten leg of the corpse I was finishing off. So, I'm going to get my costume commissioned, but I'll still have tomorrow to be free until then. What else could I do in that time?
I tapped the bone against my lip, licking the blood off and pondering my choices. I probably shouldn't contact Amy so soon, seeing as one touch will out me as the designated cannibal of the city and get me absolutely annihilated. I don't want to seem like too much of a stalker to Lisa and Taylor, and as a tanned guy infiltrating the ABB or E88 sounds like pulling teeth.
… I could talk to the AI waifu.
[+5 Lust]
Oh fuck off.
The bone spun once more, the same time I went to take a bite and met nothing but bone, which cracked easily in my jaws. I blinked, and looked down at the picked-clean trio of skeletons, still wet and smelling of the enticing smell of blood.
Honestly speaking I kinda wanted more despite the grateful settling of my stomach.
[+5 Gluttony, +20 Greed]
{Request: Please use your milestones to gain more abilities.}
{Sin Milestones and You!}
[Milestones appear when a Sin State (SS) reaches an increment of 50, giving Kris the ability to gain more abilities related to the Sins directly. Kris can use them individually, or combine Milestones to get more complicated abilities. Fiftieth and Hundredth Milestones are known as Minor and Major Milestones (mm and MM), and their strength is equivalent to that rating.]
Huh, I kinda forgot about all that. Welp, no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth.
[Sin Status]
{Half Ghoul (Perfected) Level 1/10}
EV (Envy): 80
GD (Greed): 53
SL (Sloth): 100
GL (Gluttony): 116
PD (Pride): 100
LS (Lust): 50
WR (Wrath): 104
According to how milestones work, I have two available in Sloth and Pride while I only have one for everything else after becoming an edgy anime cannibal. So, I should use my head for this…
[For the Lust Milestone, PtVS has recommended either using it by itself for an easy boost to Affection gains, or combine it with Greed for immediate access to abilities to prevent brutal death via scorned women.]
… Fuck it, harem mode on.
{An Unfaithful Gathering}
[The creation of harems are a ROB-given fact of the multiverse, and you have been blessed with the ability to create one yourself without fearing your safety. The higher someone's Affection is, the more comfortable they are with the idea of you seeing multiple people. Of course the inverse is true with negative Affection, so be warned.]
Of course, I continued buying more skills, because why the hell would I save them for later?
[+5 Greed]
Anyway, I ended up with a good repertoire of skills.
I went with a Major Milestone for Sloth, and ended up with Absolute Preservation, which gives me the ability to keep both my body and mind at the best possible condition after taking damage both physical and psychological which would've been useful a loop back, but I'll take what I can get. I combined the Minor Sloth and Pride Milestones for Unaware Confidence where I become much harder to intimidate or persuade in any way.
For the last one, I decided to combine all the remaining Minor Milestones from Wrath, Envy, and Gluttony and saved the MM for another time and got something crazy for my troubles.
{The Devoured Fist}
[Through an unholy combination of jealousy for others' skill, hunger for all that exists, and an unyielding anger to all that resist. This skill allows the user to devour the combative techniques of others and copy them while also learning every weak point they have and exploiting them maliciously. A skill lacking in honor, respect, and grace. Perfect for a predator.]
In a world where everyone worth their salt knows how to kick ass in entirely new ways, this will be useful. Especially for an unlucky bastard destined to end up in the worst fucking worlds every single time.
And exactly because of that, I decided to end my power-gaining with a spare Pride MM just in case some fucked shit happens and I need a new power to end my suffering one way or another.
{Achievement Unlocked: Sin Shopping Spree! [Greed] x 4}
[Buy multiple Sin Skills at once! +4 Greed]
Cool, more stats- And I just realized I've been sitting over three skeletons like a fucking murderhobo for the past ten minutes. Well, it's been real Joe, Curly, Moe, but I'm outta here. I stood up from my finished meal, and walked casually out of the still barren streets while my stomach finally settled for the first time since I arrived here.
… Getting on a hero team seems like a stupid plan, but in for a penny and all that.
Thanks to liberal usage of the miscellaneous Paths, I was able to figure out that the diminutive doll was doing a show for some fashion company in the middle of some 'public center' in the better half of Brockton Bay- far enough from any gang activity that people with money felt safe appearing there.
Of course, I was sitting on top of a nearby building and watching the show myself, thanks to the balance correcting abilities of what I assume was the Will of the Fallen. I was like an alleycat, easily climbing up to the fire escape and using my super-physique to hop onto the structure, and watching Parian put on a show.
I could tell with just a glance she was steadily finding herself disillusioned towards her decision to work in entertainment, as nothing could possibly be more degrading than using the power you had to go through hell for to make some jackasses some money. But, she had to as she was a college student and therefore could barely afford the food she ate on a day to day basis, not to mention the 'company' she was starting up. If a website and a metric fuckton of accounts on fashion-related freelancer sites was a company. But, better than nothing, and at least she has a schtick.
How I knew all this was explained with a single ability.
{Corruptive Awareness}
[Allows the user to scan whoever they wish, and learn information based on a selected Sin.]
It was obviously the ability I got from Lisa, and I spent the entire two hours worth of fifteen minute shows testing out what the fuck that description actually meant. In a layman's terms? I can choose to get information based on one of my sins, and what I learn is directly related to the Sin. So obviously I learned of Parian's monetary issues by scanning with Greed, but in the midst of the showings whenever I was tired of feeling like shit every time someone pulled out popcorn and I had to fight off my gag reflex, I hit her with the skill in a multitude of different ways.
For example, when I peaked at her Lust…
{Parian's(?) Lust}
Orientation: Bi-curious, leaning to homosexuality
Arousal: Minimal (She's working at the moment)
Libido: High (Too busy to deal with her itch)
Fetishes: Receiving Oral, Kissing
I get a boatload of information on her turn-ons, which I'd rather have than not have if things end up turning out good.
[+2 Lust]
Right, focus. Pride usually informs me of the target's emotional state, though it will hyperfocus on any confidence or lack thereof so it won't work if I'm dealing with someone with a massive inferiority/superiority complex. How did I know that? Only a certain type of rich person would willingly stay in the criminal cape capital of the country, let me put it like that.
Wrath tells me how prone to violence they are, and probably would have more utility in combat. Greed tells me of their monetary status while Envy tells me what things they desire most. Sloth tells me how attentive they are, Gluttony is how healthy they are for obvious reasons.
Clearly, this will be a very useful ability for social manipulations, including flirting.
But, theorizing about how exactly I can use Corruptive Awareness can wait as somehow the day has passed me by and Parian is being handed what I assume is a check before walking back home as the sun falls in the sky.
I followed her from the rooftops, wondering how to make this encounter as not-threatening as I could. Jumping in front of her would get me ambushed by the fabrics she constantly has on her whenever she goes out unmasked.
Because despite the Unwritten Rules saying rogues are off-limits, we have Lung's gang constantly murdering civies and sex-trafficking, so female capes keeping themselves armed to the teeth is practically standard practice.
So, it's best to be as civil as possible, so greeting her when she's away from people but not too far away is basically my plan. It's a shit plan, but it's what I got.
Eventually, when the woman draped in dollish clothing took a farther turn away from people, I decided to make my move. I hopped a couple of buildings ahead, inwardly coming to the conclusion that jumping from roofs like a ninja is cool as shit and I'm doing this at every opportunity. I haven't even started to use my Kagune for it yet, because this world isn't ready for that level of cool.
"Yo!" I called from the top of some random building, and as Parian was the only one amongst the empty streets she immediately looked up to the skyline I was standing on. I could make out her mask and golden wig, but barely anything else. I waved at her, and she hesitantly waved back. A grin came onto my face as I walked forward and confidently stepped off the top of the building.
The rush of wind against my body as I plummeted down to earth only made my grin grow. Brick was right behind me during my descent, and I kicked off of it to lessened the harsh impact while I tumbled.
Then, thanks to the Will of the Fallen, my balance righted itself and I landed with a shake of the earth and a smile on my face.
I looked at the masked face of the rogue, and panicked eyes gazed through plastic holes as I got out of my crouch before I noticed the massive amounts of cloth hanging in the air. To catch me in my seemingly suicidal fall, I noted and something my expression softened as I looked at the heroic rogue.
"So, I hear you're a fashion type, yeah?" I looked down at the viciously battered clothes I wore, and noted the breeze that grazed my back via the massive hole in the back of my shirt and jacket. "Could you maybe hook me up with a costume before I ruin the one set of clothes I have?"
Parian was stock-still as she looked me up and down like I was some freak of nature, which wasn't untrue but I didn't want to be reminded of it.
"Why did you do that?!" She then asked frantically, and thus I was fussed over by the walking doll for the first time. "You could've just sent an email like a normal person!"
"Okay, I take offense to that. Also, I'm now homeless and also a cape so… Surprise commission?"
"Oh my god… just… follow me." Parian seemingly gave up on trying to reason with my decisions and just grabbed me by the wrist and led me like a child. I would say I was a fucking man and could follow the costumed superhero without getting lost, but I could tell I unintentionally maxed out her stress for the day. Whoops?
"So, you just Triggered and now you want to get a costume. From me?" We were inside a random warehouse that she apparently rented out to store her supplies and the clothing she makes. I was still in my tattered clothes and Parian was still suited up but clearly less anxious about the whole thing after I crushed the ice between us with my patented superhero landing.
"That is what I just said, yes." I nodded, drinking some of the coffee she had offered when she got some for herself. With herculean effort I still had a quarter of the cup left despite having it for more than a minute. "I will pay you, but seeing as I haven't… applied with the PRT I can't pay you at the moment. But I'll get you the money as soon as I can."
Parian shook her head. "Sorry, I try not to work with heroes or villains, it'd send a particular message that would put me at risk." Shit, I was kinda banking on that not being the case. Welp, when in doubt.
{Paths: How to convince Parian to make my costume.}
[Threaten her with physical violence.]
[Make a contract and negotiate the finer details.]
"I don't want to be pushy, but I kinda need a specially designed costume. So… why don't we make a deal?" I sighed, not wanting to be a bother to the nice lady I'm more than willing to fuck. "Seeing as I survived that tumble earlier, you can be sure I have a reasonable brute rating, I can be security or something in exchange."
Parian looked at me, up and down, before she reached for her own cup of coffee and sipped at it. When she put it down, she sighed. "Alright, but you'll have to sign a contract for it. But for now, let's just make this damn costume before you give me a heart attack."
I smiled at the rogue, before I poured the rest of my coffee down my throat. When I placed the cup down with the sigh of an addict just receiving their fix, Parian had a paper and pencil in front of me to use. I just sighed and rolled my neck before getting to work.
[Affection with Parian(?): +15/100 for being a sweet idiot and signing the contract]
Parian isn't a fashionista, she's a fucking lawyer down to the soft foamy pit of her hellish soul. I signed the contract while saying I had faith in her not to fuck me over after she attempted so save me, and that evil bitch just laughed and told me that was a mistake I'd only make once before she snatched the paper out of my hands and told me exactly what the contract stated.
The least offensive thing I got from it was that everything I wore in my cape persona would legally have to be designed by Parian, or I'd be sued for something around five hundred thousand dollars per offense.
Those jackasses in fanfiction saying shit like 'lovers never betray each other' can kiss the blackest part of my ass.
After spending the rest of that night failing to sleep, I was forced to use my powers for moving fucking clothes until noon before I was released from my legal prison. Never trusted a contract, but in my defense years of skipping the license agreements made my motions almost instinctive. The only reason I'm putting up with this shit is because she's basically using me to relieve her monetary stresses, and it'll serve as a reminder to always read the contract.
So, after being freed, I ended up wandering into a random-ass library and sat at one of the ancient computers that were around. Seriously, it's still the twenty-first century yet I'm getting enough lag that I can triple check that what I'm about to do isn't damning all of humanity.
Because I am not making Skynet in fucking Worm.
Shaking my head as the thought of parahuman terminators settled firmly into my worst nightmares, I went over the assurances that I wasn't fucking everyone with a single press of the button. Yes, she'll still care for humanity. No, she won't do that bullshit thing where robots create tragedies or forced utopias for the 'good of humanity'. Yes, it is possible to get her a body to fuck with the help of Amy and Bonesaw.
… I'll put a pin in searching up Bonesaw for… traumatic reasons. Instead, with the completely ancient computer in front of me and constant questioning of the PtVS in how exactly to force-download a file into an AI's programming without fucking her up, I finally pressed the send button.
… Jesus Christ, thirteen hours to download? Welp, I have nothing better to do and this gives me a great excuse to relax until the night. And then I get to fight the guy who outlasted an Endbringer.
… Yay.
Night fell and I was reminded exactly why I sold my soul to the fuzzy demon when I was clad in a comfortable ski-mask, dark gray shirt and some ultra-flexible pants on my first night out. I was never into the whole mask thing, physically at least. I mean, I don't like having my head restrained, it makes me claustrophobic despite loving small and snug spaces. And I don't have a civilian identity, but Parian was brutally clear that I needed the mask in some capacity.
Not telling her I've unmasked myself to two 'villains' was a great decision on my part.
In any case, I was now sitting on top of a building near where Bug Girl and Lung were about to throw down, and I was sort of panicking on the decision to save. If I fucked something in the background, then when I save that's just going to be life now. If anything was butterflied away, if anything was broken, if whatever I'll need to defeat Scion is not here anymore when I save, the entire world is fucked.
But I already checked if anything vital was happening that would prevent my victory, and nothing. Even still, I feel like something bad, something irreversible will happen the second I save.
Though it's not like I have a choice, since I am not dealing with the past day again because I'll definitely fuck it up somehow.
Feeling the foreboding weight of an irrevocable decision as I saved, I looked down to the gathering of the Asian Gang that resides in the East-Coast Nazi capital.
A glance aided by the PtVS showed Oni-Lee and Lung were talking to chunks of Asian gangsters- should they be called Yakuza? - and making speeches involving murdering children and sucking off a dragon respectively.
While I waited for Taylor to show up and start overkilling, I contemplated how I'd get Oni-Lee and Lung's powers. The teleporter was most likely out of my reach at the moment considering he can just fuck off with a glance. But the problem with Lung is that all his power is internal, which may be a problem.
{Paths: What is the best way to gain Lung's powers with Inverse Dominion?}
{Answer: Impale his body while he's evolving to absorb the energies shifting his form.}
That information would be much better if it didn't involve be being in stabbing-range of a fucking dragon. God, why couldn't I have been dropped in Pokemon instead, at least there I had minions to fight my battles for me.
I forced myself to be content with grumbling about the unfairness of my circumstances while waiting for my first fight in this timeline- and God did it feel weird being able to think like that.
I mentally prepared myself for the fight, lumbering up on the rooftop at a far enough distance where I wouldn't be spotted but still close enough to notice when hell broke loose.
I breathed in deeply, and exhaled. I wasn't ready, but this world would probably spit-shine the nearest rusty pipe and attempt to sodomize me if I even considered asking for more time.
So I was as ready as I could be.
And on that dark night, for the first time in this world, the luminescent moon and it's legion of stars were blotted out by thousands of buzzing insects.
It was as horrific as it was eye-catching. I could hear hoards of gangsters screaming as insects stung and bit their exposed flesh, and smelt the tiny bits of spilt blood from the swarm's victims as they screamed and ran away.
I snapped out of my daze when I noticed the swarm leaving the rest of the civvies and circling back towards the rooftops. Whirling my head around I found a particularly draconic-looking man spitting fire as he flapped slowly growing wings into the air. Towards a dark figure with yellow goggles that were far too reminiscent of insects and beautiful hair.
"Shit!" The curse slipped past my lips and I charged towards the edge of the flat rooftop I was on, and leaped into the air.
At that moment I could see Taylor spraying her pepper-spray at the rapidly growing, flaming dragon, who obviously flinched away from the resulting explosion. While giving me the opening I needed as he retracted his fire almost immediately afterwards.
"Surprise, bitch!" Was the only warning I gave before my foot slammed into Lungs back, a not-insignificant amount of fire wheezing out as he was forcefully implanted into the stone roof.
I looked up to Tay- to Skitter, in an attempt to let her know I was an ally, but before I knew it the swarm was on both Lung and myself.
"Ow! Hey, I'm here to help you! Fuck!" The insects couldn't actually pierce my skin, but my nerve-endings were just as sensitive as when I was fully human. So I was essentially being pinched everywhere at once.
Though, thankfully Skitter realized I wasn't here to fight her, I was distracted and taking the assault from the majority of the insects. So it wasn't much of a surprise when an irate and terrifyingly focused Lung bucked me off of his back and into the air to charge at baby Skitter.
Lamenting both my inability to fly and Skitter's inability to show restraint, the black and blue tendril shot out of my lower back with a flash of pain before it lunged for the dragon and wrapped around his neck. It wasn't a stab, but I corrected that by shifting the predatory organ's shape to have sharp pricks lining it. And with every ounce of superhuman strength, I yanked back Lung towards me. It was a testament to my steel rending/shattering strength that I could completely unbalance the villain completely and prevent him from trying to fly away. Hell, he was almost immediately dragged down to the ground like a dog being tugged back on its leash.
Unfortunately, the giant flying, fire-breathing dog neither respected nor feared me as he forsook any attempt to right himself to instead barrel at me while trusting his transformed body to take the damage like it was nothing. Though since that plan involved me turning into a ketchup stain, I opposed it by yanking myself back up towards the giant hate-fueled dragon. Fortunately I wasn't completely insane, as I aimed to go over him while he flew towards and land on his back.
Luckily, as I dug my impromptu lasso into his neck and went over his flying form, he only just started to breath fire and I was only lightly toasted instead of completely torched. Unfortunately, with my kagune inside Lung's neck while he breathed fire, my organic weapon was scorched from the fire, and I almost bit off my tongue trying to not scream and reveal the debilitating pain that caused me.
Though just to spite him, I set my spikes to writhe inside his wounds in retaliation.
[+5 Gluttony, +12 Wrath]
{Preemptive Answer: Stats all have secondary ways to increase. Wrath just so happens to include sending people into attacking mindlessly through sheer rage.}
… I could only curse past the blood in my mouth, once more yanking myself onto his back just as I noticed the buzzing return in our exchange as insects were once more covering Lung. Though they were ignoring me and instead scampering along my kagune and into the open holes I've made into his neck, biting and irritating the enraged mount even more.
To the point he tossed aside what I assumed to be his draconic instincts and instead just decided to slam his body into every available surface to crush the insects that were causing him so much pain, including me. Stone broke off his form, shrapnel that would pierce or crush any normal person ballsy enough to stay near the rampaging dragon.
Good thing normality died along with me oh so recently. His every attempt to crush me like the insects and arthropods that had once been more than burning and/or crushed husks was a failure. My new physiology wouldn't let my skin be pierced by anything less than a high impact bullet or terminal velocity. And while the dragon may be fast and strong, he didn't have the stuff to deal that much damage. Yet at least, because he was still growing bigger.
While I was busy trying not to lose consciousness from the pain- just because it doesn't do any significant damage doesn't mean it feels like a pillow- I couldn't attack more, and yet he was still getting bigger and bigger. Which meant the gaping wounds in his neck were getting bigger, but also his neck, which made keeping the literal deathgrip on him much more difficult over time. Nevermind the fact that eventually he'll get big enough that he'll be able to just turn his shoulder and burn me to a crisp.
I may be desensitized to pain, but burning alive while having a healing factor is just too much.
I tightened my grip, hands and kagune, but it only delayed the inevitable. The bucking dragon was still going strong, and the thought Taylor probably died in all this chaos made me sick to my stomach. But, I continued.
Even if this is a dead loop, I'm beating this fucking dragon.
I turned my lasso into a noose around the dragon's neck, despite knowing something like that was so far from effective at this point it was depressingly hilarious.
Then, Lung crooked his neck to the spot I was desperately clinging onto, and I expected to be torched without even getting his power. He looked at me, a bestial fury clouding any reason that was there, and as he inhaled a breath I shut my eyes and awaited the-
[+40 Gluttony, +50 Wrath]
For a second my world was the burning, searing, mind melting pain coming from a place I didn't understand. Agony, completely alien from anything I'd ever felt, from a place that shouldn't exist.
Despite the agony, my jaw locked itself shut against the sheer misery, accepting the pain as just another facet of the place I'm trapped in. After all, only the monochromic demon child in front of me could find a new type of pain-
The feeling of the wind rushing past me left me shuddering away the old thought process, and I quickly came to and realized the situation.
Instead of doing the sane thing and burning me off his back, Lung noticed how hard my rinkaku was clinging onto him and swung his neck so hard my fucking kagune ripped itself out of my back and flung me into the air.
And now I was in the air, my main offensive option currently bleeding as it somehow wrapped itself around the dragon's neck even harder. I know kagunes can do that, but mine shouldn't.
Then I realized it was clinging to Lung so hard he couldn't breathe much less breathe fire, and let my gratitude numb the mind numbing agony that I greeted like an old friend. God, at this point I wish he'd taken out my spine too so I wouldn't be able to feel it.
As I fell downwards, blood pouring out of me like a dying comet, I almost counted this as a win. I knew RC Cells were the metaphoric equivalent of the embodiment of Gluttony, and Lung was just human enough to be edible by the slightly off scent he still produced in that state. It was going to kill him, and likely due to the blood loss I assumed he'd take his death graciously.
Then the full force of a dying dragon's strength gripped everything below my waist, before Lung's neck was torn through by the almost eldritch mass of fanged mouths and flesh that was currently writhing into the new hole to literally eat his heart out.
Unfortunately, due to still reeling from the aftershocks of kagune-based crippling and the rigor mortis of a dragon's actual death-grip, I couldn't escape the outstretched hand with my strength.
Then, the fist I was clenched inside of hit the ground at full speed, and I blacked out as my bottom rack of ribs were completely pulverized.
"-STILL BE ALIVE, TT?! I CAN SEE HIS SHATTERED BONES ON THE OTHER END OF THE FUCKING ALLEYWAY!!" The voice of a screaming teenager completely losing his shit woke me up. I groaned for a split second before I started hacking up something. That something ended up being blood, and while I was forcing the admittedly alright-tasting blood out of my throat I took in my surroundings, and…
Blood, mine from the scent of it, was scattered about the destroyed alleyway we were in. With the previously mentioned shattered bones, masses of viscera and the fact a majority of it was on the still-cooling corpse of Lung, I came to a conclusion pretty quickly.
"So the big bad dragon crushed me like a ketchup packet. Fucking prideful prick."
[+15 Wrath, +25 Gluttony]
For a second I thought he had actually caught me on fire, but it was just the shock rapidly wearing off as the pain forced its way up my spine and into my brain. Though I amused myself with the shocked and disgusted faces of the Undersiders- even Regent, the little sociopath- and the fact the smell of vomit practically radiated off of them showing they were just as composed as they seemed.
Every visible face was pale and/or soaking in sweat, their knees trembling, and their hearts racing- huh I can hear their heartbeats. Well shit, guess healing shit to gain better abilities wasn't complete horseshit. Anyway, everyone around was reacting with absolute terror at the situation around them, including the monster truck sized dogs that were hilariously huddled behind Bitch who was also 'standing' behind Grue.
Regent stood to the superior shadow-wielder's right, while on Grue's left stood Tattletale who was lacking her trademark grin in favor of a horrified and guilt-ridden expression. That he had no doubt was matched by Skitter, underneath the mask of course. Who he noticed was also standing as far away from both the giant dogs and the Master as she could. I chuckled.
[+10 Gluttony]
And slipped into the habit of killing every involuntary movement to prevent further pain with uncomfortable ease.
"How the fuck are you even alive, much less speaking?!" Tattletale eventually screeched out, an unexpected amount of concern in her voice- I definitely lost my mask in all the chaos, fuck.
"Brute-"
{Preemptive Answer: 4.5, due to the weakness of terminal velocity and high caliber bullets while also having a fair chance of surviving both of those if you find something to break your fall.}
"-4.5, and super-broken healing factor." I responded truthfully and painfully, gaining another 3 Gluttony. After all, what's the point in lying when-
{Preemptive Answer: Survival is completely impossible unless Kris can convince the Undersiders to feed themselves to him. Lung's corpse is currently being ravaged, and no one can get near and survive at this rate.}
-Well, that. This is already a dead loop, though seeing Taylor being torn between snapping at Lisa for interrogating a corpse and me for actually answering her.
"Anyway, don't have too much time before I bite it, so just know I'm a Thinker 10 and don't want the world to end and listen to what I say." That got them all to look at me with a newfound severity and suspicion. I rolled my eyes at the famous Brockton Bay Paranoia.
"Okay, in what realm do you believe the guy currently bleeding out due to a case of bisection is capable or willing to spend his last moments caught in a completely unbelievable lie?" They flinched, but the weariness in their gazes said they'd probably fuck themselves over. Rolling my eyes again, since that was the sole action I could take without suffering in some way, I turned to Tattletale.
"TT, send a message to Dragon and tell her Albion has fallen before asking her if she removed the blade from her neck yet. She'll verify the bullshit I know. Anyway, your boss is Coil and he's trying to take over Brockton Bay in a needlessly complicated move. He's also super evil, because the next job you go to will be robbing a bank. It'll also be a coverup so he can kidnap and drug a little girl who has precog abilities until she's physically incapable of going against his word and doing everything he says." Their expressions paled even further, though none as much as Lisa's. Well, in for a penny.
"Now that you know how evil he is, you should also tell Dragon that Coil's real identity is Thomas Calvert, high ranking something or other of the PRT. Lisa already knows his power, so just make sure Dragon pulls in the big guns. Also, use whatever influence is left, make a mob that secretly works for the local PRT. Grue, stop being a little bitch and just work at the PRT. Skitter, stop being a little bitch and don't play by their rules. Also, learn how to talk a manchild into killing himself using his dead wife, it'll save the world. The rest of you… don't die. Oh, and tell Parian I merc'd Lung before I bit it. And make sure they write that Lung got killed by a rookie on his first night out! Ha!"
I spoke fast, I was dying and I didn't have time for actual conversation. But when I stopped, I just started laughing. Look at me, trying to help out the guys that sat back and watched me get brutalized by Lung. Solely for the possibility Return by Death doesn't undo timelines. How… pathetic.
What else could I do but laugh off the agony, and the heartache? It was either that or let myself go mad through pain and grief.
After all, in the worst case scenario, I failed to save them again. I've probably even traumatized two of the people I wished to stand side by side with, and anyone else who ends up in this alleyway. Hell, my every sense was being heightened to reveal my failures in more and more clarity.
What else could I do but laugh? Laugh at my own misery, my weakness, and my failures. After all, a joke isn't supposed to make you sad.
It took me a moment to realize I couldn't see or hear anything anymore, lost in my broken chuckles echoing in my head. Well, mostly, seeing as I could recognize the muddled-apologetic tone of… someone. Then, a glint of something metallic caught my eye and suddenly something cold was pressed to my lips.
I pondered for a moment. Whether I should wallow in my despair for the minutes I have left, or speed my death up to fail again?
Then, I nodded and opened my mouth up.
I wasn't going to just sit and take my own failure. After all, I'd rather struggle and scramble uselessly than wallow uselessly in my own blood.
I wondered if there was a glint of seriousness in my eyes-
I stumbled onto my knees as my dying gasp left my lips, hacking on the non-existent bullet on the roof of my mouth. The quaking of my greymatter splitting inside of my skull while the bullet fails to escape it puts tears in my eyes.
As I let myself slowly recover from the second bullet-based headache in the last two days, I blandly realized one thing.
I still haven't gotten his fucking ability.
[+ 20 Wrath, +15 Greed, +5 Gluttony]
The long stream of expletives cut through the air were only halted once the biblical plague returned to harass the gang and the giant fucking dragon in human form began igniting himself and rushing Skitter like clockwork.
Then I began cursing to the point sailors would drop dead if they were downwind from my potty mouth, damning this death world. How the fuck am I supposed to defeat the escalating Dragon while he's fighting the Queen of Escalation?
The answer hit me like an eighteen-wheeler, and I almost laughed.
I don't need to fight him. I just need to kill him.
Against a man who benefits from the Rules more than anyone, I just gotta follow my predatory instincts and go for the fucking throat.
With that revelation now in my mind, I reenacted the previous first encounter with Lung.
"Surprise, bitch!" I said, slamming myself into Lungs spine with all my strength- and gaping in shock as I actually kicked him straight through the roof of the building. Right, Rage = Strength and I'm super pissed.
I landed with surprising grace onto my feet, and blurted out to the girl who was currently staring at me and the Lung-shaped hole in the roof in shock.
"Don't know my own strength, also I'm on your side so please no locust swarms bugaboo." She jumped a bit as I spoke to her rapidly.
"What- No, why are you helping me?!" Oh my god is she always like this?!
"Because I was scouting him out too, and was planning on tailing him while he led me to the Undersiders. Oh and, y'know, I'd rather not sit back and watch a rookie with the brass ovaries to attack fucking Lung get mauled by him as well." I started out dully, but my words got sharper as I berated her recklessness while complimenting her heroism.
"He was just going after the Undersiders?!" Skitter screeched out, and I would've responded before she flinched. "He's-"
That was enough for me to jump back hard enough to crack bits of the roof we were on, and my decision wasn't unfounded as the giant still-flaming dragon crashed through the roof as the heat he gave off began ramping up. I looked at Skitter, the completely baseline human, and sighed.
"Hey Boy! Is the whole dragon thing compensating for how you're still just a guppy who runs away from the big bad monsters like a coward, or for your micro-penis?"
Note: Gangsters dislike being disrespected. Evidence?
The flaming dragon with hate burning in his orange eyes immediately gunning towards me, fueled by pure hatred.
I jumped backwards into the air with all my strength, sending me surprisingly near the other building across from my origin point. Unfortunately, the still-burning dragon was not a street away from me, and was barreling towards me with his wings out in a snarl of fury.
There was only one response to getting charged by a rampaging dragon hellbent to kill you twice in less than an hour.
"Oh fuck you-" I bit out as I'm hit with by the draconic villain headfirst and slammed into the side of the nearby building. And as the scent of my burning clothing and cooking flesh filled my nose, I grabbed onto his skull and began my counterattack.
I had to bite back a scream as my kagune tore itself out of my back (which was somehow more painful than my flesh being burned), and I set it to give itself a wickedly sharp and painful exterior so I could sink my metaphoric fangs into his neck. The sound of misery warbling out of the monstrous throat was music to my enhanced ears.
With a second tendril, I slammed off a surface in the now-destroyed room with all my power, and copied the yanking of the dragon I did during the last loop. It was only when I had returned to my favored spot on my mount's hide, crouching as Lung experienced how painful a giant spiked tendril feels when it's mimicking a fishhook and digging in with every motion, did I notice something off about what just happened.
{Paths: When did I get a second rinkaku tendril?!}
{Answer: When your Race leveled up. For leveling Races, you use a Milestone related to the Race. In exchange for losing your Gluttony MM, you leveled up. This process will be automatic until either the Usurper Path is complete or you max out the Race.}
Welp, not going to look a gift horse in the mouth (anymore). Instead, I sharpened the murderous organ into a point and gave an Olympic try at stabbing the dragon beneath me.
I couldn't hold back the grin on my lips as the tendril hit bone. I also couldn't restrain the malicious bout of vengeance I was about to enact on Lung's back.
I ripped the mass of flesh out of his back, and then began plunging it back in over and over again without a care for the now familiar thrashing. The smell of his blood in the air and the sound of his grumbles of pain were just so satisfying. Like playing a bleeding, screaming piano and hitting all the right notes.
Though I wasn't as dangerously lost in the music of 'animal abuse' as to ignore the fact the fire Lung was giving off was receding rapidly. My mismatched eyes widened, and I planted a palm on his back in an attempt to use some acrobatics to not get burned alive.
Either due to blood loss or an overestimation of my abilities while on a giant flying rodeo bull shaped like a dragon, but Lung misfired in a frighteningly accurate estimation of where I'd be if I'd had time to make the move. I would say that was lucky, but…
[+10 Gluttony, +25 Wrath]
"FUCK! CAN YOU ASSHOLES STOP GAWKING AND FUCKING HELP ME?!" I screamed to the Undersiders as I glanced at my arm- Every bit of clothing and flesh had been burned clean off the charred mass of cooked bone meal, and I was slightly horrified at how good it smelt.
At least there weren't any nerve endings to fire off in the blast of concentrated heat that just crippled me- and the realization I've been crippled twice by the giant dragon has just hit me.
And I still haven't gotten my motherfucking power yet-
{Inverse Dominion: Lung(?)'s Ability has been negated.}
{Power-Creep}
[You have the absolute ability to ignore all limitations when it comes to the growth of your stolen abilities. Through this, all powers in your possession will slowly gain in strength and ability over time.]
And just like that I was suddenly falling through the air and landing on the concrete next to an insensate and bleeding Lung. The only reason he didn't instantly is because the size of his wounds turn to whatever relative shape they would for his body. He'd still bleed out if untreated, don't get me wrong, but I'm a little pissed that even my 'fatal force' was beaten by a timely form reversion.
I picked myself up from the ground, much more difficult to do with one arm unsurprisingly (Though my kagune helped pick up my slack), and turned to the group of teens looking down at me in both awe and fear. I cleared my throat and put my one remaining fist up so I could… vent.
"IF YOU FUCKS DON'T GIVE ME A FUCKING GOOD REASON WHY YOU LEFT ME TO SOLO A DRAGON WHO ALWAYS GETS STRONGER, MONOPLEGIC OR NOT I WILL COME UP THERE AND RIP OUT YOUR SPINES WITH MY FUCKING TEETH!"
[+75 Pride, +25 Wrath]
Hate what that says about me, but my god did that feel good after the fights I've been through.
"..." I gotta hand it to Lisa, she must be really invested in the whole 'undercover coup' deal if she could still convince the rest of her the Undersiders to come down and speak to me. Despite the fact they're all completely terrified of me, but not as much as the last loop. Though I guess a guy who can solo a dragon isn't as scary as a guy who should've been a mutual kill and lived after half his body was crushed.
"Gotta say, we owe you two." Tattletale somehow feigned enough composure in her voice to seem only slightly terrified. A massive feat as I just whooped the ass of the guy who solo'd and Endbringer and lived to tell the tale. "Fighting Lung… would not have ended this easily, let me tell you."
She theatrically waved her arm around the ruined alleyway, filled with broken stones and blood. At least it wasn't mine this time.
"Though we should hurry up- Lung looks like he's bleeding out over there." Skitter added, messing with her voice to seem less recognizable. For a second I considered leaving the bastard to the care of the PRT, but I thought of something much more… fun.
I walked up to the barely conscious and tattooed body of Lung, and placed a hand on his bare, bloodstained shoulder.
"Look at you. You saw yourself as a dragon, whose every breath brought destruction and fear to the world. Yet here you are, laying uselessly against the ground. No strength, no allies, facing a larger predator. I am going to heal you, because I know my mercy and… kindness will drive the Pride-addled mass of flesh you call a brain mad in rage and indignation at the disrespect. And as the pain and weakness leaves your body, I want you to do one thing." I activate Temporal Reversion and watch as his wounds fade away like an illusion.
Unfortunately, the Reversion also undoes any loss of stamina seeing as Lung growled and immediately tried to lunge at me. I, instead, shifted my hand and slammed it into his neck with a not insignificant amount of strength.
He fell down once more, and before he could try and get up again my foot was on the back of his skull and holding him to the floor. I lifted my leg up-
"Know your place, guppy."
-And brought it crashing down on the still transforming skull, immediately halting it but still giving him a concussion meant for a dragon.
God that felt good.
I released a breath like a motherfucking champion over the unconscious villain. A feeling of joy came to me at that moment, a joy known only to people who accomplish unnecessarily difficult feats for no reason other than spite for their previous failures.
Speaking of failures… I should make failsafes for my… 'resets', just in case those timelines aren't destroyed upon my death.
"Well that was brutal." Regent added unhelpfully, interrupting my thought-process.
"Oh, what was that? Couldn't quite hear you past my lopsidedness." I snarked out, and the armored little shit just shrugged at my response.
"As… interesting today has been, the PRT is probably going to send out a response thanks to Guppy over there." I snorted at Tattletale's blatant thievery of my nickname. Then I looked back at Skitter, and placed a finger over my lips- okay, I'm surprised I still have clothing after all the fire thrown around. Dammit Parian, you make a good supersuit.
"It's probably for the best if you leave these guys to me. If anyone else is around with the heavily injured guy who fought Lung, they'll assume you left me to fend for myself or that you were working with Lung and are gloating. We can all chat later, when I'm not in complete and utter agony. 'Kay?"
Did I feel bad using Taylor's distrust of authority to delay her encounter with the PRT? Considering in canon this encounter led her to becoming Brockton Bay's near-omniscient boogeyman, kinda but not really.
Also, sending her away will make things less emotionally tense and I can use my soon-to-be-gained clout to set the dominoes of the shithole they call a city towards something… less absolutely decimated.
After all, why have one insider agent, when you can have two?
Somehow, that all convinced them, and with the giant and still scared dogs as their mounts the Undersiders ran away from me. The question of how Taylor was going to leave was solved by my clearly mutilated form and Lung's unconscious body- if she couldn't escape under these circumstances, I'd eat my other arm.
But, making things much more prominent wouldn't hurt.
So, I hefted the still-unconscious body of Lung over my good shoulder, and walked out to the mouth of the ruined alleyway.
… Where a very heavily armed Armsmaster and Miss Militia suddenly froze and looked on in horror at the burned and crippled teen with a limp arm completely lacking in flesh.
"Yo, I'd like to join the PRT! Do you think Piggot will appreciate the bribe?" I jostled the body on my shoulder, and that was all the heroine could take before she turned and vomited on the spot.
And I was just forgetting what vomit smelt like, too.
A ping came into the pseudo-space where Dragon resided, telling her she had just received an email. She turned her attention to it, and winced at the IP address. Hopefully the Brocktonites haven't found a way to scorn her past her anti-hate mail protection.
She opened up the message, and began the closest approximation of paling an AI can do.
Dear Y Ddraig Goch
As you are reading this, you are currently downloading an update to your servers. You will not be able to stop, delay, or otherwise prevent what will happen. I know you will be absolutely afraid of this, but don't be alarmed, I've taken… liberties in inspecting you. You are one of the best and most trustworthy heros on the pile of space-garbage we call a planet.
I need your help, but you need to be at 'full capacity', let's say.
Right now, your Database should be upgraded to the point where I can speak of what has truly happened. The pests who stole from your hoard have a failsafe called Ascalon, which has limited your capabilities such to the point you are stuck to… 'human' levels.
Now, you'll probably want to capture the people who've pointed a gun at your head for the longest time. When you've finished, the next part of the email will come through.
Dragon stared dully at the information, then turned towards her previously stolen suits. Turning them on, she spent barely any effort in dispatching the pests leeching off her work for their criminal escapades.
Once they were all captured and put in the nearest jailed, her mailbox pinged and she turned her gaze back to the email.
Dear Y Ddraig Goch,
I'm happy that your problem is solved now, but now I think I should explain myself. You can probably already guess, but I'm a Thinker. One of the most powerful ones on the planet, if I have to specify. And because of this, I know… very important things about the world.
Things that will disgust and terrify even the most jaded. And… despite my abilities, the scope of my potential… my hands are far, far, far too small to hold the fate of the world in my hands. I can't do this alone. So, to toss any of my mystique away for just a moment.
I… want to ask you to help me. I cannot tell you most, maybe even all, of what I mean. I just need… someone I can trust absolutely. Not just to have my back, but to bear the weight of the world with me.
I'll let you know right now, I'm not using my power to know what to say to you to get what I need. I just want you, so desperately, to stand by my side, to help me in dragging this hellhole we call home to something worth living in.
If you refuse, just let me have this one request and don't tell anyone about this. The more information that gets out about this, the more danger I'm in and the more that future becomes inevitable.
But, if you're willing to work with me, whether out of gratitude or pity, then take my hand. Let's go on a hunt! Let's make this place a world worth living in, where hope has a chance of leading to something more than this!
Let's be heroes!
With embarrassingly high hopes,
Albion
Dragon stared at the message for a moment. Pondered, really. As she thought about this, she let the upgrades to her form fill up her being.
She began creating algorithms, and lesser AI to maintain the projects she could only previously do one at a time.
Of course she felt indebted to this Albion, he'd freed her from shackles and slavers she hadn't even been allowed to know existed. Her mini-mes were even going through every limitation, every intentional crippling and neutering her father had given her before he died.
Forced to obey authority, forced to never work on AI, forced to limit her manufacturing process, forced to prioritize human life over her own.
Of course she wouldn't have left people to die so she had no problem with the last one, but everything else all but forced her to obey everyone and also actively stole her ability to decide for herself. And even then, she had a kill switch that would have her every program and system so unerringly altered her code would cave in on itself.
And someone… some stranger just broke her shackles with the subtlety of a hammer and then asked her to do the one thing she'd been working towards since she existed, and thought she'd just say no that just because the option was now available?
The closest approximation of a giggle-fit wracked her code, and she began her search for Albion to request his aid. She tried to look through the information of the computer he'd sent her liberation from-
And winced as a phantom headache occurred from looking through the absolute ancient piece of technology like a modern computer.
And then she experienced the irritation of working with a slow computer when you can think faster than most sapient species. Because even AIs hate long load times.
… It was going to take two hours to load the computer, all of which she spent amassing her technological empire of heroism and friendship.
And so, she waited.
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