- Three Days Later -
For a full three nights and three days, Ben had been sleeping soundly without a care in the world. This wasn't the same for the others though.
When Ben suddenly fell asleep in the girls arms, they were obviously concerned and when he didn't wake up the next day or the day after that, they began to fear that something terrible had happened to him.
Max pulled out a bunch of different advanced technology and scanned Ben with them, but the results were inconclusive and displayed there was nothing wrong. How could that be though? He was in a coma, so there had to be something wrong with him.
However, with the unusualness of the situation, Max and the girls had no choice but to wait. They couldn't really take him to a hospital with his abnormal body and besides, advanced alien tech couldn't figure anything out, so how would humans? Would needles even pierce his skin? He took a sniper to the head and didn't budge. Hell, he was shot with a plasma cannon and his body regenerated to the human eye.
Thanks to the news repeatedly playing the fight, the four of them had watched the whole battle multiple times at this point and didn't understand how he did quite a few things or why.
The girls threw up the first time they saw it and the second time and the third... Despite the horror and heart wrenching pain the scene brought them, they kept watching it and resolved themselves to be stronger.
During the last three days though, it became very apparent that they relied on Ben for cooking, as even Max was finding himself dissatisfied with the things he'd eaten in that time.
Luckily, their dissatisfaction was going to end soon as Ben started to stir in his sleep. It had just turned into the afternoon and the girls were outside training, while Max was working on some gear of his.
During this, Ben's eyes slowly opened halfway and he sat up while stretching. This was immediately caught by Max and he dropped everything, rushing over to check on his Grandson. "Ben! Thank god, you're awake."
"Hm?" Rubbing his eyes, Ben looked at Max. "Grandpa? What do you mean by that?"
Looking at him with concern, Max answered. "You've been out for three days..."
Ben's eyes opened slightly wider with surprise, but he wasn't worried about it and stood up while stretching. "Hmm, if that's so, then I'm in need of a shower." Without another word, he strove over to the bathroom and went straight into the shower.
While there, he began talking with Gabriel. 'So Gabriel, can you update me on my rewards and why I was asleep for three days?'
"Fine..." She answered immediately, but the was an angry tone behind it. With that, she showed him the same notification he missed from passing out.
[Missions Complete - 150,000SP, Enhancement Magic book, New Alien, 10AP, Surprise, A legends armour, Enchanting Materials, Comfortable beds.]
Along with the rewards notification, there was one informing him of a new Unique Skill.
[Unique Skill: Sloth - The ability to sleep whenever you please. By sleeping a few hours, you can recover from anything and always be at your peak physical and mental condition. Simply resting will have similar effects, but at a slower rate.]
'So it was that...' Seeing the new Skill, Ben now understood the reason for his mini coma and confirmed his suspicions about why he'd been so lazy recently.
Like with how [Wrath] made him go berserk, how [Lust] made him have sex and [Gluttony] made him eat the dead Mayan Idol, [Sloth] made him lazy and then eventually sleep a bunch.
Truthfully, Ben found it strange that he was getting Skills in the form of the seven deadly sins, but for some reason he just kept ignoring it. Like now, rather than going deeper into the thought, he turned his attention to the only reward he didn't know he would get, the surprise, the Familiar Contract.
Focusing on the contract, he was presented with the full information.
[Familiar Contract (Random) - Summon an initially low level creature, but with infinite potential that will forever be bound to you. You must feed your Familiar with Mana sources and strong beasts to have it grow stronger.]
Looking at this, Ben didn't really know how to feel. Previously he never had a pet because it seemed annoying and his life wasn't exactly relaxing enough to take the time to care for something other than himself.
Based on the description though, even if weak at the start, it could be a highly valuable companion some day. But... 'I don't think I will use it for the time being, I'm more interested in using my own ability than a familiars.'
While he continued my shower, he decided to talk to Gabriel about her bad mood. 'Okay, so what is it this time?'
"Hmph! You did something reckless again. You're entire chest was blown open and what do you do? You laugh like a psycho!" She harshly reprimanded him.
'Okay, ouch...' Wincing at being called a psycho by her, he couldn't help thinking this. If his enemy calls him a psycho, he would embrace it and show them one. But with Gabriel saying it, it cut kind of deep. '... I won't deny that I was reckless, I noticed it myself... But, if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have got any insight on how to control my Wrath skill.'
Gabriel clicked her tongue in annoyance. "If you didn't act a bloodthirsty maniac, you could have done that and more!"
Hearing her insult his sanity again made his brow furrow and eyes sharpen as he almost growled, no longer speaking through his thoughts. "Stop calling me crazy!" A faint redness flickered on his arms.
"There you go again, acting like a mad dog." She sneered. "Did beating a false god go to your head or something? Your not even fighting and already getting angry just from talking to a voice in your hea-"
"Shut up!!" *Bang* He slammed his fist against the wall, denting it and alarming Max outside.
From outside the door, Max shouted in concern. "Ben!? Are you okay!? Who are you talking to!?"
With his head down, Ben took some deep and heavy breaths before replying. "I'm fine. My ears are just feeling sensitive and I was hearing something annoying..."
It was silent for a moment, but Max soon spoke up again. "Okay... Shout if you need something..." Outside the door, Max worriedly waited for an answer for a moment while rubbing the back of his neck, before walking away with a sigh. He just didn't know how to deal with his mysterious Grandson most of the time.
In the bathroom, other than the sound of the water, there was no other sound and neither Ben nor Gabriel talked anymore.
Quickly finishing his shower, he put shorts and trainers on with his Omnitrix, them he left, going straight outside and ignoring Max.
Without looking at the girls, Ben immediately started running with his all, slightly cracking the ground below him with each momentary contact he made with the ground.
The sound of the ground breaking and the quickly disappearing figure brought the girls out of their focused training. A moment later, they realised what this likely meant and jumped up, running to the Rustbucket, but bumping into Max as he ran out after Ben.
"Is Ben awake!?/Where'd Ben go!?" The party's spoke at the same time, before looking in the direction Ben went as they heard a bang and saw a tree go flying a couple dozen metres.
The reason for flying tree was because Ben charge straight into it and shoulder barged it, before continuing to run.
...
A few minuted passed and Ben had found himself a small pond, which was where he started doing his work out and then sat down to meditate. He wasn't doing anything with his Mana and was just focusing on his mental state.
It took a while to calm himself down properly, but he then found himself with a frown. He was lothe to admit it, but Gabriel was right, he was acting out too much and didn't understand why.
Not to mention his ruthless cruelty... Don't be mistaken, he can be scary person when he wants to be and even scarier when he's angry, but he was never one to rely or be lead by his anger before and if he did, it was for a good reason.
The only thing he could think of is the sins... But why? Why were his skill affecting him like this? Even more confusing, is the fact that after getting the skills, he doesn't feel like he is influenced by them. He isn't constantly angry, he hasn't felt the need to fuck anything in sight, nor does he want to eat a bunch. Since waking up and finding he has acquired the Sloth skill, he hasn't even felt tired or lazy, it was like before he fought Ah Puch.
So, why was he so quick to get angry? Plus, it had been getting worse with time. What he would once ignore or laugh at, now makes him want to commit genocide.
As he sat and contemplated, Ben found himself mentally running around in circles.
Sighing, he soon gave up and decided to distract his mind for a moment. Raising his left arm, he began looking at the Omnitrix, searching for what new alien he has unlocked. Switching through almost half of them, he finally found the icon of a creature that looks like a Yeti. From this, he could guess who it was and thought it made sense, so he transformed into it.
There was a flash of red and sitting in Ben's place was big and hairy creature, with black and red fur. With his still raised arm, Ben clenched his fist and a red electricity surged around it.
The alien he got was Shocksquatch, likely because he used Force lightning. It was a pretty stupid name, but a powerful alien if used right. It is fine though, as he can simply give it a new alias at some point. Maybe just call him Electabuzz. Ain't no copyright in another universe. (Suggestion.)
Right now wasn't a good time to test this new form out, so Ben turned back to normal. The next thing he wants to check is the 'legends armour' he got.
Going into his inventory, he equipped the armour and then looked into the pond to see his reflection. He had metalic mask on, so it was impossible to see, but there was grin on his face as a single word, a single name escaped from his mouth. "Reven."
The armour he receive truly belonged to a Legend. Darth Revens robes, almost completely black with some red as accents, made in the Star Forge and incredibly durable as a result. For a Star Wars nerd, this is a fantastic reward.
Looking at his reflection, Ben's mind ended up drifting. Reven was a Jedi, corrupted into a Sith and then back to being a Jedi thanks to amnesia.
Ben was by no means a good person and really, was Reven? Ben was willing to do what others wouldn't because it was necessary, like Reven did when he fought against the Mandalorians... He didn't think things were black and white, willing to use dark and light like Reven.
Given his recent changes, the fact that he was give HIS armour, this made him wonder if he was falling to the darkness without realising... It might not be by the influence of the Force, but what about something else? Magic? Power? The system? Even his biology... It could be anything.
Thinking about it, what about Zs'skayr? He can't escape the Omnitrix and he can't possess him, and this means he can and has used the transformation more than Canon... What if his evil essence was infecting him?
There are a myriad of possible reasons, but absolutely no answers to them. For all he knows, it could just be who he is and the previous him was nothing but facade used to fit in on earth. Maybe he is a psychopath or more accurately, sociopath.
Removing the armour, Ben fell back and sat down with a sigh. "What am I doing... Having an identity crisis at my age..." Of course, he is referring to his mental age, not physical.
Bringing his phone out of his inventory to check the time, he saw a bunch of messages and missed calls instantly stack up. All the messages were asking about how he was or where he was and for him to return.
Realising how worried they were, Ben sighed again and got back up, taking one more look at his reflection before turning away and beginning to make his way back.
As he started walking, he took a look at his status and saw that he'd stacked up a nice 111 Attribute Points. Seeing his number, he looked at his 666 LUK and shrugged before dumping all his points into LUK, sending it up to 777.
A mere second after he did this, a notification unexpectedly popped up in front of him.
[Congratulations, you have successfully escaped the path to becoming a Demon in one blow. Should you have become a Demon, you would have become a being of pure Evil, so well done.
Access to the remaining Unique Sin Skills has been lost as a result of escaping the Demon path.]
When he saw and processed what this was, his movement and thoughts halted. After a moment, his brain rebooted and two words escaped from his thoughts, out of his mouth as it hung open. "Fuck off..."
...
After the annoying revelation of the bullshit that bordered on something from a cultivation novel, Ben didn't know what to do other than just go back to the others.
Now that he'd stopped his decent into becoming a Demon, Ben's heart and mind was much calmer, all his previous abnormal behaviour becoming nothing more than a memory. He couldn't even laugh, because it was all so stupid.
Quickly arriving back at the Rustbucket, Ben was caught in the arms of the three girls that had been worrying over him. Receiving the group hug, he wryly smiled and stroked their heads.
A few feet away, Max saw that Ben seemed somewhat different. Where before, there was an uneasiness nearing on being unhinged, he was now like a different person. If he compared him from before he left and now, it was like he had reverted to his carefree and relaxed self from when he just received the Omnitrix.
This sudden change obviously caught his interest, but seeing that the girls were busy getting comforted, Max decided to wait and ask about what might have happened for the change to come.
While being hugged, Ben was able to feel their roiling emotions and tried to calm them down. He hugged them and spoke soothingly. "There there, I'm sorry for worrying you. I know you were worried, but I just needed to do something. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to leave again anytime soon."
"Really...?" Gwen and Keira looked up at him with tears in their eyes, but Charmcaster kept her head down.
Smiling at them calmly, Ben reassured them. "Really. And no more reckless fighting and getting hurt, I promise." Looking into their eyes, he wholeheartedly promised them.
They stared into his clear garnet coloured eyes, looking for any hint of dishonesty and saw only seriousness. "*Sniff*...You better not..." Sniffling, they buried heads back into his chest and continued to tightly hug him.
Charmcaster didn't look at him, but she listened to his words and held his hand tightly without thinking. She was feeling too shy to look at him, but it was clear that she was feeling similarly to the other two.
It might have only been a short time since she joined their trip, but it was the best time she'd had in years and it was thanks to Ben dragging her along. He might have been scary and rough at first, but when he started treating her like the other two, she was able to forget all about that and quickly felt feelings form for him.
If Ben were to die or disappear, Charmcaster felt that the glimmer of happiness she had gained would go with him. When Ben promised that he would be more careful from now on and that the other two felt he was being honest, she felt her fears ease and tense body slowly relax.
For some time, Ben stood comforting the three girls and only after they'd properly calmed down did they release him. Though, Charmcaster lingered for a bit long than the other two and it didn't go unnoticed by them.
After they let go of him, they still retained their determination to become stronger and went back to training.
Now that he was released from the girls arms, Ben looked at Max, who had been staring at him from beginning to end. Knowing that he would need to answer some questions, Ben nodded his head towards the RV and Max nodded in return.
The two of them went inside and sat down at the table facing each other.
There was a moment of silence between them, but Max soon spoke up and asked what he wanted. "So, would you mind explaining what happened?" His tone was slightly firm, but he was mostly just curious and concerned for Ben, hoping everything was okay.
Looking at Max, Ben took a moment to gather his thoughts and then explained as best he could without sounding like a lunatic. "... The best way to describe it is that my Mana was corrupting me..."
This immediately shocked and concerned Max as he asked. "What!? How do you mean!?"
Ben ran his hand through his hair, annoyed thinking about the reality of the situation. "I don't know why or when it started, but my Anodite Bloodline and the Mana I have was corrupting my humanity. Think of it as a forced evolution or mutation... It was giving me abilities, like increased strength when I'm angry. The problem was that it was increasing all by baser instincts."
Hearing him talk about it like this, a strange expression was on Max's face and he tried thinking about what this could mean. "What do you mean, 'baser instincts'?..."
"Think about how I was acting, the more abnormal moments..." Ben put his hands together on the table top, staring at his interlocked fingers. "The first was when I burst with rage when Gwen was hurt, but that was still quite mellow. Following that... There was after my fight with Ah Puch, you saw how I ate a bunch of food and my body was changing, right?" He looked at Max, seeing him nod with a frown as he remembered it. "The next thing you know, my entire personality shifted and I became lazy, tired and apathetic... Do you get up?"
Max looked at him seriously and nodded. "Wrath. Gluttony. And Sloth..."
Ben nodded back. "Yeah... It sounds stupid, but I think my Mana was preying on the sin that my humanity holds and corrupting me into... Well, a monster or a Demon..."
An awkward silence pervaded the space between them. Ben was cringing inside from talking like an edgy teen, but was simultaneously praying that Max would believe him.
As for Max, he was thinking over the possibility of Ben's words and finding his 'theory' to be reasonable. After all, there are all sorts of mysteries in the universe, so just because he'd never heard of or seen a 'Demon', doesn't mean they don't exist. Considering there are Celestialsapiens, it really isn't that unreasonable.
Finally, Max decided to accept Ben's reasoning and looked at him seriously. "So what happen? You seem... better... What did you do to fix this?"
"... You remember when I possessed Charmcasters uncle?..." Ben hesitantly asked and received a nod. "When I killed him as an Ectonurite, I consumed his soul and saw his memories."
"Ben..." Max was shocked that he did this and didn't know how to even begin talking to him about it.
Sighing, Ben put his hand over his face. "I know... I shouldn't have done something like that, but it's a good thing I did..." Truthfully, he didn't care much about it, as Hex was quite a scumbag looking back on it. "In his memories, there was a sort of purifying spell, but it can be dangerous... That's why I left before, to 'fix' myself... I won't try and say that everything i did was because of the corruption, as I still believe that some people deserve to die and won't hesitate to kill them, but I can think clearer now and will do better..."
Initially, Max open his mouth to tell Ben he shouldn't kill anyone at all, but looking at his Grandson and thinking over his words, he could at least appreciate that Ben was taking responsibility for his actions and not just blaming it on the 'corruption'.
Taking a breath, Max closed his eyes and spoke. "Okay... I still don't agree with it and never will... But, if you willing to learn from this and do better, then I won't pointlessly try to stop you. Just remember, your actions have consequences and the people you fight might not be as bad as they seem. Charmcaster is proof of that." With that said, Max got up and went outside to get some air.
The moment Max was gone, Ben sharply exhaled and sank into his seat.
[Acting increased to Lv-4]
Ignoring the notification, Ben got up and walked over to the sink, turning the tap on and cupping his hand underneath it. When his hands filled with water, he brought them up and splashed his face with it.
He turned the tap off and stood there while leaning on the bench. After all that, he was mentally exhausted. Dealing with the fact that he was close to turning into a Demon and then pulling that explanation out nowhere, he felt like he'd been walking on a swords edge while having a noose wrapped around his neck.
Taking a moment to gather himself, he decided to try and stop thinking about it, choosing to start making food as a way to distract himself. He had been asleep for three days, so he figured that the others probably hadn't had anything decent to eat.
Going at a slow and steady pace, he started prepping. While doing this, there was an uncomfortable silence.
As he started cutting some meat, Ben mustered up some courage and mentally apologised. 'I'm sorry...' He was saying this to Gabriel for how he acted before. Now that he was of a clear mind, he seriously regretted reacting the way he did.
"... I'm sorry too..." A sad, pained voice softly sounded in his mind.
Ben immediately shook his head and tried to tell her. 'You have no reason to-' He was cut off however.
"I do! I had no right speaking to you so horribly. It wasn't even your fault, but I was saying and calling you terrible things. So, I'm sorry..." As she spoke, Ben could hear her crying.
Sighing, he place his knife down and closed his eyes. 'You were right though... The way I acted... I didn't stop to think about what could be the reason, just accepting it because it gave me power...' His hands tightened into fists, his knuckles turning white. 'I was turning into a Demon and didn't even realise it!... Heh... When you think about it, it makes sense that we became so hostile with each other..."
Gabriel sniffled and confusedly asked. "What do you mean?"
Smiling self-deprecatingly, he answered. "An Angel and a Demon? That's a pairing destined for destruction."
Understanding what Ben was meaning, Gabriel chuckled slightly, calming down. "You idiot..."
There was silence between them, but it was comfortable, unlike how it was before he apologised.
He continued cooking and after a moment, he asked. 'So, are we good?'
"We're good." She replied with a happy and relieved tone, making Ben smile.
Ben kept cooking and the two of them began conversing cheerfully now that they had repaired their relationship that had taken a slight stumble.
When the food was done, Ben turned to go call everyone, only to find them already at the table eagerly waiting. He had been so engrossed in cooking and talking to Gabriel that he hadn't even notice when they arrived.
Turning back around, he picked up the plates and began serving them to the hungry group. He then sat down with them and they ate together...
...
Once they'd finished eating, the girls and Max had stuffed themselves, happy to be eating Ben's food again. They wanted nothing more than to sit and relax, but unfortunately, Ben kicked them out and shut the door on them without explaining.
With the others out of the way, Ben pulled out a bunch of crystal like chalks and a variety of gems. He then got on his knees and started crawling around while drawing what is essentially scribbles to the layman, but was an art to those with a keen eye. Non of the writings passed the back of the driver's seat, a line being drawn to mark where the writing ends.
When he was done writing on the floor, he started writing on the walls, doors and finally the ceiling. He even did it in the bathroom.
Looking over the writings, Ben made sure there were no mistakes and then picked up the gems. With every gem he picked up, Ben would inject it with his Mana, each one taking two hundred units, with there being 108 in total. Because of this, he ate his Magic Cookie that he'd pretty much forgot about until now, increasing his Mana recovery and taking a short break to recover.
For every he had filled gem, he began placing them in select positions and they immediately melded into the surface as if they disappeared.
After placing all Mana filled gem, the writing all around began glowing the same red colour as his Mana and then the space inside the RV expanded 10 fold. The ceiling doubled in height and the room expanded out to have the same amount of room as a large house. It was just missing a second floor.
Looking around, Ben smiled at all the space he now had, but felt that it was too open. Thinking this, Ben got a bunch of dividers for free from the system shop and began partitioning the place. He separated it into a living room, kitchen and rooms for each of them, where he placed the beds he got from the mission rewards.
At the front, he put a divider behind the driver's seat, this way there won't be any chance of someone looking in and begin questioning reality.
Once more smiling at his handiwork, Ben patted his hands together and then strolled outside with a proud smile.
The moment he got outside while closing the door, he ended up laughing because he saw his family lying on the ground and staring at the sky with utter boredom. To be fair, he had been in there for almost two hours, so it's not that surprising.
"Hey, you can come back in now." He called to them and the girls sprung up, while Max went a little slower.
Ben waited for Max to get to them and then with an excited grin, he opened the door and let them in. The girls of course ran inside, but ended up freezing in place from shock. Max followed after them and ended up in the same state.
Meanwhile, Ben, who was waiting for their exclaims of surprise and following praising of his awesomeness, found that he was met with only silence. Looking at them, he just saw them standing there. "Guys? Guys?... Guuuys..." He continued calling for some time, but received no reply...
[Status -
Name - Ben
Lv - 69 (123,060/245,000) (This was a coincidence)
Title - Wielder of the Omnitrix, Anti-Hero, Idol Slayer
State - Healthy MP - 12,093
STR - 3633
END - 3734
AGI - 3633
CHA - 3635
INT - 308
LUK - 777
AP - 0 SP - 1,715,200
Primary Skills: CQC Lv-5, Marksmanship Lv-5, Intimidation Lv-5, Danger Sense Lv-4, Sneak Lv-4, Mana Manipulation Lv-2
Secondary Skills: Drawing Lv-3, Math Lv-4, Science Lv-4, Writing Lv-3, Maneuvering Lv-5, Driving Lv-4, Engineering Lv-5, Cooking Lv-4, Pain Tolerance Lv-9, Bioengineering Lv-5, Programming Lv-5, Torture Lv-2, Acting Lv-4, Enchanting Lv-3
Unique Skill: Wrath, Love and Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Complete Language Comprehension, Eidetic Memory, Analyse, Night Vision, The Force]
(5 Recoveries Stored)