A Taste of Unbridled Evil

I don't know if Deity expected me to jump in surprise at the mention of that name, but it clearly didn't have the effect he wanted as he breathed an exasperated sigh.

"I forgot you just reincarnated…" he said, and I could feel the embarrassment oozing from his words. "The woman in front of you has a very powerful ability to control water,"

While it was impressive, it didn't strike me as something that was powerful. My skill only alerted me of her presence and her apparently very large pool of energy, plus her demeanor was rather pleasant. If she was hiding a dangerous power, she was hiding it extremely well.

In fact, seeing as we were located literally right under a giant waterfall, I expected the water to do some weird freaky stuff so I could confirm whether what Deity said was true or not. So far, no freaky stuff has happened yet.

She doesn't look dangerous to me, I said. In fact, she looks anything BUT dangerous,

Deity grumbled and sighed. "Fine, do as you wish. I'll watch from the sidelines, but don't get killed!"

With that, I could no longer feel Deity's presence. Now that he was out of the way, I turned towards the naiad girl. I didn't want to outright admit that I knew she was a Prae Aqua, who knows how she might react. I decided to just be friendly with her and made some small talk.

"So uh.. how are you able to see my aura but I can't see my aura?"

The naiad girl shrugged. "I dunno, I've always been able to see the spiritual life force and aura of living things-" she got closer to me and smirked. "But you're not alive, now are you?"

I guess it's a latent ability, not a learned one. Sucks, it would've been such a useful ability to pick out enemies and targets. Highlight is a good for that too, but if this naiad girl could stealthily sneak up on me without it going off, then who knows what other creatures could do the same.

The naiad girl perked up, as if she remembered something. "I forgot to ask, do you have a name?"

"Yeah I have a name, it's-"

𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥!

𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥

𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥

𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥

What the hell is happening? I can't- I can't remember my name! Did I even have a name? What the hell is a name? Ugh, it feels like my mind has been wiped clean.. like bits of details from my past life are being erased.

𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥

…past life? What am I talking about? I never had a past life.. did I?

Or maybe this is a false memory. It felt so real. How long ago was I before I blacked out? There were flashes, dark scenes and some flashes of bright light. Who was I before? Wait a minute, the naiad girl mentioned something about being dead, does that mean I died!? But I didn't die. That shouldn't be possible.. how could I still be breathing if I died?

"Hello? world to spirit, are you okay?"

The naiad girl's voice broke me out of my train of thought. That's right, her question is what made me spiral into that madness. I was still reeling from my jumbled and complex thoughts, but nonetheless, I responded honestly to her question.

"Sorry…" I managed. "I-I don't really have a.. -what do you call it- a name.."

The girl cocked her head to side in confusion. "You don't have a name?" she placed a finger on her lips. "How about I GIVE you a name?"

I mean, it couldn't hurt to have a name? But wait, why is she taking the time to even bother with a low-level spirit like me? If she's as powerful as Deity talked her up to be, she shouldn't even be taking the time to even bother with my existence?

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," I said. "What name do you have in mind?"

The girl pressed the finger more on her lips in thought. "I had a couple in mind.. but I'm not the greatest at naming things. And you're really special, so I want to give you a cool name, since you'll be with me now, that is,"

Was I just adopted? Whatever.

After a few minutes of contemplation, the naiad girl finally settled on a name.

"How about… Velron?"

"Nah, sounds a sports car-"

𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥!

What the hell is a sports car?

"Fine, what about… Sperry? Since you're a spirit!"

"Uhh…maybe try again?"

Man, she was really bad with names.

The naiad let out a frustrated sigh. "You sure are a picky spirit," she said. "I have a good one this time, how about… Yuru?"

Hmm… it wasn't bad sounding. Pretty androgynous to say the least, and it could be both cute and imposing. Honestly, it wasn't a bad name!

"It's a perfect name," I said. "I love it!"

The naiad girl clapped her hands gracefully and cocked her head. Even though she tried to hide it, I could tell she was extremely excited by the floating balls of water floating around her. Seems like her powers are tied to her emotions.

"So now that I have a name, what's yours?"

The girl rested her head upon the boulder I floated over, twirling me around with her finger. Suddenly, the light that covered her entire body dissipated like mist and revealed her true form. And she was absolutely beautiful.

She had tan-brown skin, long sea-blue hair and sapphire blue eyes. She wore a velvet-looking, long blue dress that merged with the lake at the seams. She had a soft smile on her face and looked at me with warm and curious eyes.

"My name is Joana," she said, poking me with her finger. "I'm just an ordinary naiad that guards the forest,"

Just an ordinary naiad? Didn't Deity say she was some goddess of water? That's when Deity decided to make his presence known again and appeared in my head again.

"She IS the goddess of water… is she hiding her identity…?"

Wow, so far you've been wrong about everything since we got here. Yo sure I can trust you?

Deity grumbled. "I swear on it, the person standing before is one of the most powerful people in the entire world! Maybe she has her reasons…"

What do I say now? Do I just continue small talk?

"I'd say stick by her side, to be honest. It's getting late, and you don't wanna be floating around in the middle of the night waiting to become a snack for a spiritual predator.

A WHAT? But I'm a spirit, I'm not even alive…

"I'll explain later, just make sure you stick with Joana. It seems her karmic energy is warding off any monsters near us,"

When I came to, Joana was light throwing my spirit body up and down like a child playing with a ball, even giggling like one as well.

I put on my best "lost child" voice and begged her to let me stay.

"So um, Miss Joana, may I stay with you for the time being?"

Joana giggled. "I'm sorry, but I can't take you in, Yuru," she said. "My line of work might get you killed,"

Killed? What does she even do that's so dangerous?

"What do you do that's so dangerous?"

Joana laughed and brought me closer to her face. "I am the Guardian of the Lake. You see this river? It flows all the way down to the center of the forest, and in the center is where the Great Lake resides. Multiple tribes stake their land around the lake, and it's my job to defend and protect the lake,"

"Protect it from wha-"

Suddenly, a loud howl pierced through the calm night. It sounded wolf-like, but it was too.. uncanny to be an ordinary wolf. The bass in it's voice was deeper, and the reverb was insane. Trees and bushes began to sway as if affected by the noise.

A giant flock of birds sprang from the disturbed trees and flew towards the opposite direction in a craze, affected by the demonic howl that came from the distance. They cawed frenziedly while crashing one another in the air.

"What the hell was THAT?!" I shouted.

〔ANALYZING COMPLETE: Evil Karmic energy signature spotted 500 meters from you. Best course of action: RUN.〕

Evil Karma was a completely different feeling. This evil energy was so vile and so intrusive that it made my very essence quake. It felt like sinking in a ocean of vomit mixed blood with hands dragging you deeper.

In dangerous situations like this, I'm usually a pretty calm person so I tried not to lose my cool. But honestly, I'm in an unfamiliar environment in a body I am not used to and concepts I've never seen. It was tough to stay cool.

Joana's face turned sour and she gently placed me on her shoulder. He's here…"

I struggled to form a thought. "W-W…What is this… feeling?"

"Evil," Joana said in a serious tone. "Unadulterated evil…"

Now I completely understood what she meant when she said it's dangerous to be around her. I felt sick to my non-existent stomach, and the more I was enveloped in this energy, the worse I felt. I felt like crying, vomiting, and dying at the same time.

"W-What's going on… my body…"

Suddenly, I felt Deity's presence in my head.

"You're will is being overpowered!" he shouted. "Get out of here now!"

"I-I'm trying… but I can't move…"

My thoughts were shaky and jumbled, so much so that I was too frightened to use 'SUPERCOMPUTER' and ask what to do. I felt like I was being grabbed by some invisible force and my soul was getting choked out.

〔ALERT! You are under the effects of the skill 'DOMINATOR'. It is a skill of 'SUPERCOMPUTER' current grade, so a negation method could not be determined. Best course of actions: RUN〕

Whoever this…energy belonged to was on a whole different level! 'SUPERCOMPUTER' was a skill that was stated to compare, if not downright beat, skills in higher grades than it. Yet this mysterious being had the power to just completely negate all of it's effects, even shutting off my ability to process my actions faster!

Joana grabbed me and cupsed me in her hands, her nose just inches from me. "You have to run, Yuru, It is not safe here! You are under the effects of his power, so I will personally guide you out of danger,"

I was too stunned to speak, but it didn't matter anyways as Joana began to walk on the water and onto the shore. I wasn't too surprised because, well, she is a naiad and also this terrifying aura was still scaring me shitless.

"YURU! ARE YOU OKAY? SPEAK TO ME!" Deity shouted in my head.

I couldn't respond, I was still under the effects of 'DOMINATOR' and could hardly form a coherent thought. If it wasn't for Joana, I would've just been a sitting duck upon that boulder waiting for the monster to come and kill me again.

As soon as Joana touched down on shore, she began to run deeper and deeper into the forest, and since she was a spiritual being, she basically had infinite stamina and had no need to even breathe! Plus, she ran really fast with my baseball sized body in her right hand.

With the sun finally setting over the horizon, the forest had turned from a bright and colorful setting to a dark and gloomy place. Unluckily for me, that monster's stupid skill still had me in a trance so I couldn't use 'HIGHLIGHT' to see anything.

Even though Joana only wore a velvet dress and was barefoot, she ran extremely fast! In fact she ran so fast that the effects of the monster's skill began to wear off me! Within a few minutes, I regained mobility and felt like I could finally move.

"Miss, I can move now!" I said excitedly, bouncing lightly in her hand.

Joana was moving so fast that she when she stopped running that she came to a screeching halt, kicking up dirt behind her. I stared in shock at the aftermath of her mini-marathon, clearly she was fit to take on the monster we just felt.

We were now smack-dab in the middle of the forest. Joana carefully placed me on top of a shrub and squatted to speak to me.

"This is where I have to take my leave, Yuru," she said, fondling my spirit body. "We'll meet again sometime,"

"Wait, you're actually gonna go fight that thing!?"

It didn't seem like a good idea to me, the better idea would to be asses it's power and draw up a plan to take it down. If it's aura was this powerful, it's true strength might be even worse! Not that I'm doubting Joana, but to me, this just felt like the correct route.

Joana, however, simply laughed. "Of course I'm going to fight it," she said, standing up and getting ready to run back. "He's an old friend,"

"Wha-"

Before I could even get a word out, she took off with with such amazing speed that she blew intense wind in her wake. I floated dumbfounded in the shrub, my mind analyzing what the hell just happened.

Deity, you there?

"Yeah, what's up?"

Can I ask you a question? I already asked it, but can I just ask again?

"Uhh sure, go ahead," he said. "What's your question?"

Where the hell are we?