The System

Apathy was different from having selective empathy. The former was passive and stable.

Having a hole in your heart where your feelings seeped out of meant a change in your sensitivity.

Sometimes, one might not be able to tell pain.

Shrugging off wounds as if it had no relevance.

I myself was adept in this. Suffering from my sickly nature in the past gradually numbed my senses.

On the other hand, Miliv wasn't like that.

It was a mix of heightened intuition and instincts through my 'Silver Eyes'. What that guy talked of.

This power… seemed to affect me internally.

Allowing me to see things that others didn't, but not beyond the material world like Spirit Sight.

I looked at Miliv tied to the kitchen chair silently.

What I saw back then… was definitely a psycho.

But the face of the person right now, outwardly speaking, looked no different from the average.

"What's wrong? Is there something on me? If you're going to look at me like that… Can you untie these knots for me?" Miliv probably sensed I had no animosity, but likely didn't understand why so.

"No." He stopped talking when I stonewalled him.

Was this the difference in our 'eyes'?

I'm unsure why no one made a big deal about them when I woke up. Only hugging and comforting me.

Did they not find me to be freaky?

I wasn't able to tell. After they holed themselves up in a room together, even Graid looked at me weird.

"I heard about how… mature you are from your parents. Can I rely on you to take care of my son for a while? He's… sickly." The elf man patted my head, as if trying to coax me into doing it for him.

That wasn't needed at all.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get hurt… and doesn't hurt others." I looked in his eyes. He nodded.

"Thank you." He patted my hand as if he was giving a heavy responsibility to someone his own age.

Did Diana say something?

I could only put aside my anxiety on whether they knew or not. I'd rather not even ask if that's true.

My eyes watched the back of Graid as he was leaving. Wondering what exactly they worked on.

Graid practically had a sleepover here recently, and only checked on Miliv to see if he was still alive.

I had no choice but to fill in where he didn't notice.

Even as the mood was becoming worse with time.

"I wonder what's gotten into Dad recently." The boy in a girl's body, Miliv, didn't seem to have any care.

Even though his skin was gradually turning pink…

Not tanned. Not pale. Literally the colour pink. As if he was becoming more and more like a Demon.

I wished I could see exactly what was happening.

But that was wishful thinking. Having a clear grasp on his mentality was already good enough for me.

I started thinking of that shadow, 'Warmonger'.

Just who was he…?

I don't remember anything related to him. Neither his name nor what relationship we might have had.

There weren't any people in my past life I was close with… besides Samantha and the guy she took in.

My personality also wasn't the outgoing type back then, so I couldn't have become his acquaintance.

The more I thought, the more weird it became.

Growl. I suddenly heard a sound from Miliv. He looked at me like he was hungry after a while.

"Can you untie my hands so I can eat?" He asked me pitifully. Hiding the killing intentions within.

But even if he did, I could see an ethereal energy I decided to name 'Killing Intent' exuding from him.

Smoke-like energy that reflected his malicious thoughts. Turning into a burning flame above him.

"I'll feed you myself." Rather than getting mad, I decided to be the better man among the two of us.

My eyes wandered around the kitchen. There were simple magical tools around me like appliances.

Something that was like a toaster. Something like a microwave. Fridge. There was even frozen foods.

…I never noticed how much work Diana put into this. Pretty sure other houses didn't have this.

They had to make due with getting ingredients like bread from the nearby bakery. All of it simpler stuff.

Since it was the morning, I made us breakfast. My height was short, but I climbed my way up a chair.

Grabbing a frying pan and adjusted the electric cooker. Setting the temperature to a certain level.

Miliv watched in amazement as I'd rubbed some butter on the pan and excellently broke an egg.

Making something simple for us to eat.

"Do you like it normal or scrambled?" It must've have been awkward for him to hear this from me.

After all, he tried to kill me just yesterday.

"…Scrambled." My hands moved the spoon to mix it up. A nice smell wafted both our sinuses at once.

I wiped the drool off my mouth hurriedly.

A plate of egg on toast for the both of us. That was the menu. With a glass of milk from a nearby store.

It looked like knowledge was spread unevenly among the populace. Likely because this wasn't an undeveloped world, but a place where the fruits of civilisation wasn't properly given out to the people.

I wondered how it became like this.

Diana taught me how to avoid nobility and to never go to the Vermillion Kingdom, but was that alright?

My curiosity was getting the better of me.

I took a bite first sate my hunger, then did as I'd promised by walking over to the pink-tinted 'boy'.

"You know how to cook?" He looked at me with wide eyes. We were both aged 5, but different.

Obviously, because I was no 'normal' young boy.

"You don't?" I teased… but the reaction given was interesting. Not getting mad at my words at all.

He seemed envious of me.

Not in the spiteful way I'd initially expected, but more like he understood the value of house skills.

Graid had taught him well.

It made me hopeful that we all could band together and guide him right. Even if his Gift was an evil one.

I picked up a knife and fork before cutting a piece of the egg on toast. Making sure it wasn't too big for him to choke on. He looked like he'd wanted to reject this at first, but was overcome by the hunger.

He took a bite.

"Mmm~" Miliv chewed on it cutely. Seeming like he hadn't expected my cooking to taste so great.

"It's a little plain, but we don't have the ingredients for anything fancy." I spoke humbly and continued.

Cutting another morsel and feeding it to him.

When he was satisfied, I fed him some milk so it wouldn't be stuck in his throat and took care of him. He didn't seem moved, but outwardly tried to make me believe this was having an effect on him.

This didn't deter me.

I thought of him like a 'project' needed working on over time. You couldn't rush these kinds of things.

Since Graid and my family were close, we would probably spend more time together like this.

There was no rush…

The only thing that weighed on my mind was the depressed and desperate look growing on Graid.

I drank my milk. Doing what I could personally.

[Do you desire my help?]

Splash. I'd accidentally spat what I drank on the floor violently. My insides… Oh that shock hurt me.

'Agh…' Hiding the groan inwardly, my eyes looked up at the blue message appearing in front of me.

I had an idea of who it was. This bastard…

[I can read your thoughts.]

…That was a joke. Was what I tried to reply with my thoughts. Our pace of communication went faster.

I cleaned up the mess I'd made while talking.

'How can you help?' (Steve)

[Many ways.] (Warmonger)

'Such as?' (Steve)

[I can help you suppress his transformation. If you leave it like this, he'll permanently grow horns.]

'What do I need to do?' I asked since there was no time. My family was working hard, and so did I.

[You have a useless amount of Artes Lines. Use that for this. Force them into this kid's body.]

'How would that help him?' It didn't make sense.

[You can't regrow Artes Lines, but you can use them to hinder another. You might not know, but passive transformation type Gifts automatically draw Artes Lines in their user. Stop that, and his Gift's transformation won't be able to affect him.]

This long box of information was relayed to me. I felt like my mind intuitively grasped the concepts.

This felt like cheating…

My 'Silver Eyes' helped me grasp skills that'd usually be beyond me. Allowing for practical use.

I walked up to Miliv, who was savouring his food while still having his hands tied behind his back.

Grabbing onto his shoulders.

I extended my sixth sense into his body at such close proximity. Trying to harmonise our bodies.

At a certain point, the world emptied all colours and shapes… leaving only Miliv's vital gem in view.

Black lines being infused by a pink luminance were extending around Miliv's body in deliberate curves.

Hearts, arrows, and exotic drawings had appeared.

They looked so dense. Growing thicker with time.

[Do you have the time to be admiring this? You have sturdier Lines. The worst I've seen in my life.]

My mouth twitched when he called it 'worst'.

But I'd also understood this wasn't the time.

The 'blanket' of Artes Lines that were covering my body extended out into the body in front of me.

I could feel them leaving my body.

Filling out the gaps in Miliv's patterned Artes Lines and wrapping them the same way they did to me.

I felt like a layer covering me was vanishing.

The heart of my blanket Artes Lines; my once hidden Vital Gem, became much more prominent.

Along with the energies attached to it.

But instead of focusing there, I watched as Miliv's transformation and ability to produce Haki was halted internally. Those seals Graid used to restrict his power were pulled under the surface instantly.

They disappeared from Miliv's skin, and had become part of the 'blanket' restricting Artes Lines. Around a fourth of my own Artes Lines were used up trying to grasp his powers within my hand.

I also had a better look at his Vital Gem.

It was a size larger than my own (likely a result of awakening a Gift), but Miliv couldn't control it well.

Which was why this kid so easily lost while he was resisting my influence. He was too inexperienced.

"You okay?" After I was done, it looked like the transformation really stopped by blocking his Haki.

"Give it…! Give it back to me!" Miliv almost fell off his chair while twisting around. His wrists got hurt.

But the knot on him was done tight.

"I'm confiscating your Haki. If you don't fix up your attitude, I'll never give it back." I lied to him easily.

In fact, the Haki suppressed at this point wasn't something he could handle. I'd never return it.

Graid came barrelling out of the room after sensing what I'd done. He looked between the two of us.

"Steve, what did you do?" Diana asked me while looking at the anxiety showing on Graid's face.

"Used my Artes Lines to suppress his." I spoke.

"YOU DID WHAT NOW?!" Dad Farhon came barrelling forward and checked if my body was fine. From the way they looked, this action wasn't unique to me. It'd likely been done by others too.

I wonder what happened to those people.

"Do you feel anything strange?" They all looked at me in worry, and I shook my head in response.

"Do you feel his Haki and Gift? Is it doing anything to you right now?" Garcia checked my eyes fast.

When they were sure nothing was happening, a look of confusion appeared on all of their faces.

Then they suddenly accepted it.

"Right. You're different from normal." Dad Farhon smiled and said something that made me scared.

"I-I'm different." My heart was freezing over.

Smack!

Mom Garcia slapped Dad's head away and smiled at me. I could tell she was sincere while saying:

"You're our little miracle child. Of course you would create a miracle a second time." Then hugged.

The doubt and suspicion growing in my heart was washed away from her words, but I knew it wasn't all the truth. Although I didn't say anything, my eyes turned to the blue screen hovering before me.

[…]

It was watching silently. Making itself known while also not telling the truth behind their ignorance.

I wanted to learn about what they were hiding.