"We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others."
― José Emilio Pacheco
"Our lecture today will be on morality and what it means in today's society"
I smile as proxy's message flashed into my head, right now, I have returned to class, sitting in the back, pretending to listen to a Re lecture going on.
* Three new unique abilities have been awarded for getting the Mutagens for Nergigante, Teostra and Vaal Hazak to 100%:
-Nergigante's unending Hunger: Nergigante is driven by a desire to devour those alongside itself at the peak of power, you will gain 20% extra Mutagen progress from any creature deemed to be an elite of its species that you Devour. You gain 20% extra damage and damage resistance when fighting elite ranked opponents.
-The Clawed King (Teostra)- You subconsciously emit the regal presence of a king, making it more likely for others to accept your 'Orders' alongside this all fire-based abilities and claw based attacks will have an increased attack value by 50%.
-The Undying Horror (Vaal Hazak): You are unable to be physically killed, even if your flesh is ripped from your bones you will continue to press on. Note you can still be killed by spirit/magic-based attacks. *
"Samuel, who said 'To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it?"
(A/n: in case you are interested it was Confucius.)
"An idiot." I subconsciously reply, getting a glare from the short male teacher in front of me,
"Why do you say so?"
"Vengeance is a massive motivator for countless people, it encourages and pushes people forwards until they reach their goals."
The teacher smiled, remarking "Then what? What happens when those goals are complete? By bringing down the one who wronged you, all you are doing is continuing the cycle, their family will then target you and so on and so on. A cycle of vengeance and hatred can only be broken by forgiveness."
"What if you don't want the cycle to be broken?"
The teacher laughed, "Then you are doomed to have nothing, everything you take will be taken by the ones you wrong then it will be taken by the ones they wrong until nothing is left. Revenge in itself is not an ending but a continuation of the first act."
"I see"
I mutter as I switch off again, 'Proxy how much ap (Ability points) do I have left?'
*40*
'How much for a long-range teleportation ability?'
*40*
'Fuck. Do it.'
*Granted: Max Teleportation: At a cost of Stamina, you can teleport anywhere you know of.*
'Good'
Time went quickly from that point on, the rest of the classes flew by as I awaited my meeting with the SCP, I wonder whether she will try and rope me into the ongoing mess that is the Christian faith, or whether I'm free from that. Knowing my l]uck it will be the latter, if that is true then I will have to disappoint her like my mother, the only team I'm rooting for from now on is my own.
*Ring-Ring*
The bell for the end of the last class of the day rung out as I prepared to try and get home as quickly as possible, I'm excited to see what the monster piece did to Raj, as I made my way towards the door, two people stood there waiting for me, Aika was one, the other was the VSCP, the cute taller girl with glasses from before.
"Sona has sent me to come and get you, she had a feeling you would try and run."
The girl said, who is Sona?
"Who is Sona?"
The girl looked at me for a second before a small scowl appeared on her face, "The SCP, the one who caught the two of you lying in bed together this morning."
Aika's face briefly blushed before I nodded my head, "No escaping this is there?"
The girl simply shook her head, "No, she has you in her sights now, you can only comply."
Small spikes spread up my arm, too small to see but I could feel them, my pride at being commanded was starting to flare up, I'm starting to see the downsides of giving away my emotions, not being able to control the small things will make my life harder, In the end, it will be another challenge I will have to beat.
"We are wasting time, lets's just get this over with, I have places I need to be, I will see you tomorrow Aikia, I promise we will pick things up then."
The VSCP leads me through the quickly abandoned school into a room filled with many different types of girls, and a brat that glares at me as soon as I enter. I can feel the tiny amount of hatred oozing off of him already, what could I have done without even meeting him?
Not introducing myself or saying any greetings, I walk past the small crowd and plop myself done in front of Sona, "What did you want to discuss?"
"You," she says with a sigh, "I want to discuss what you are really doing here, when I told your brother that you were here, he immediately retreated to his room and hasn't been seen since, why is your brother so scared fo you? Why does he know that you were still alive and why would you come back to haunt such a nice man?"
I chuckle, "Got a thing for my brother Sona? I don't recommend that, do you know of the Oni? Not the weak demons that pretend to serve the Shinto Gods, I mean the true Oni, the ones that could the Supernatural world a run for its money?"
The girl in front of me blushes at first, then slowly she gets more serious as I speak, when I have finished, she asks" How is this connected to your brother?"
"The Oni that hides from most species becomes a symbiote with a Human host, giving each other power at the cost of a ritual or pre-determined contract. Most of the time it is a way for the Oni to get more Human essence, requiring the Human host to kill, depending on the Oni, it can very form adults, to teenagers or children under 6."
I lift my legs, resting them on her desk, "I must admit my knowledge on the greater Oni's hierarchy is lacking as I refused to get a leech injected into my body. However, if they believe me to be their great destroyer, to the extent they would try to take my life, then will I grant them their prophecy, I will reap them."
Sona shoved my feet off her desk, giving me a look as if to say 'Do that again I dare you, not one to refuse a challenge I did, "Now in regards to my brother, he has an Oni within him, has he told you that much?"
Sona shook her head, "He explained that he had a contract with a Devil."
"More of a greater Demon than a Devil, the reason he is scared of me is the prophecy, not that I blame him, I'm a little unhinged at the moment, a lot of stress lately."
"Stress you were trying to relieve with Aika in the nurse's office?"
I Laugh at the statement, "No, my power was unstable this morning, I nearly fainted and Aika was kind enough to take me to the Nurse's office, you just happened to get there at a bad time is all."
I can smell the stench of an Oni, it is getting closer.
3
2
1
The door opens and my brother comes hurtling through the door, before he or anyone else could relax, I pinned him to the wall, stabbing a small throwing dagger through his shirt, pinning him to the wall.
As I look into his scared eyes, I ask" Oni or Micheal?"
"MIc- Miche- Micheal" he stutters out.
"Why are you here Micheal, you know what I have to do to the Oni, it is for the greater good."
Seeing the deep fear in my younger brother's eyes hurts me more than I care to admit, pulling him down from the wall, I ignore the various looks around me and ask "Give me one solid reason not to kill them all."
"If you kill them, I will kill you and then myself Brother, the Queen, she is a good woman, convinced that you are the bogeyman sent to exterminate her race, she is so scared that she offered herself to a lower Greek god to get them to protect us from you."
"Is she using a Human like a puppet too?"
Micheal looks towards the floor, that was all the confirmation I needed, "Where is yours? Why is it hiding? Not defending you from the big bad predator?"
A large black shadow massed around Micheal, half his face was covered by a shadow as I was flung across the room, impacting in the wall. Seeing that Sona and the rest of the student council were about to get involved, I shook my head as I went to pull myself out of the wall, Proxy intervened.
*Following the host's will, two Side missions have been issued, please choose one:
-Mission A: Slay the Oni, become a true Apex predator. Rewards: 3 free Mutagens.
Or
Mission B: Become the Dominant Predator. Subdue the Oni, make them submit. Rewards: Return of Kindness. *
End of Chapter (1500 words)
Author's Notes:
Right so some people didn't like the fact I want to turn off the Mc's emotions and fair enough, it is a very niche thing so as a fair way to judge who want the original path to continue and who wants his emotions to remain, please put a +1 paragraph comment on either Mission A or B.
The reader will not be able to change my mind about a lot of things like Harem or whatnot but this is something I'm willing to budge on, please note that he will not just be given his emotions back as that isn't really believable from a story pov.