19 Eeveelution System Update 2.0: The Downgrade

<The Next Day – Around Noon>

While Kevin had predicted the piercing migraine that assaulted his skull the moment he woke up, he was definitely not ready for it. In his Espeon form, he'd predicted that there was no way to truly prepare his mind for the bombardment of pain so quickly after regaining consciousness, so he'd just sent up a prayer to the Being in hopes that he could power through it.

On the bright side, he'd endured the hour-long torture well enough to prevent himself from make a single noise, simply gritting his teeth as he felt his mind forcefully expand. The knowledge that the pain was just a prelude to even greater power was sufficient to keep him from completely breaking down. Plus, it was nothing compared to what he went through during his initial transformation into an Eevee.

The process concluded abruptly, with the unbearable agony simply disappearing into thin air without any warning. This prompted the boy to release a long groan, relaxing every muscle in his body as he lay on the floor. He'd originally fallen asleep in his backpack, as had become a regular occurrence at this point, lulled by the swaying of the ship, but his writhing brought on by the migraine led to him slipping out of it and sprawling out on the hardwood floor.

Unfortunately for him, the reprieve only lasted a few minutes.

[Ding! Update has been completed! Eeveelution System Update 2.0: "The Downgrade" has successfully been installed!]

A chill shot down the teenager's spine as the voice of the System broke through his thoughtless daze. That single alert in and of itself was enough to set off countless alarm bells in his mind. From the name of the update that it announced, to the fact that the monotone female voice he'd come to associate with the System had morphed into something resembling a child hyped up on sugar, there was nothing about the announcement that didn't scream 'Something Is WRONG!'

[Would the Host like to view the Changelog for this fantastic Update?] the chipper voice asked.

Curling in on himself, he buried his head in his bushy tail and attempted to ignore the System's existence. 'If I don't acknowledge its existence, it might leave me alone,' he thought, definitely NOT shivering in fear. 'It's just a nightmare. When I wake up, I'll have my normal System back and a normal update will come along.'

[If the Host does not respond within the next thirty seconds, the System will activate the [Alarm] function until the Host acknowledges its existence,] the System threatened, the adorable voice taking on a tone of menace.

Kevin's eyes snapped open, panic visible in them as he shot up to sit on his hind legs. 'Alarm?! Since when have you had a freaking Alarm!?'

[If the Host wishes to ask questions, the Host must first view the Eveelution System Update 2.0 Changelog.]

Like a puppet with its strings cut, the Eevee flopped back to the floor, legs splayed in all directions. He was caught between a rock and a hard place now. While he didn't want to be subjected to whatever hell the new [Alarm] would bring, he also didn't want to know what other twisted additions the Being had made based on his request. Was it too late to take it back?

[Host has still not agreed or disagreed to viewing the Changelog. Activating [Alarm] in five…four…three-]

'Fine! Give me the stupid Changelog!' he mentally shouted, the System's pressuring technique working like a charm.

Even with his eyes closed, the light-brown window provided by the System for direct interactions with it appeared. It automatically opened the new [Changelog] option in the menu, just below the [Settings], displaying multiple lines worth of updated features and comments by the Being in relation to them.

Instead of allowing him to read through it at his own pace, the System's voice played once again in his ears and narrated the full page for him.

[As per the Host's request, the Eeveelution System has been updated with multiple exciting Upgrades, Downgrades, and Bug Fixes! The Being personally took the Host's experience with the Eeveelution System into account with each and every change and hopes that the Host enjoys the new features they have included in the Eeveelution System Update 2.0; The Downgrade.]

Dread bloomed in Kevin's heart with every sentence, especially how the Being had 'personally taken his experience into account.' Just from the single interaction they'd had upon his death and how the System acted half the time, the teenager knew that the Being was an insufferable asshole. The fact that the section following the introduction was divided into "Upgrades," "Downgrades," and "Bug Fixes" was enough to show that his assumptions were correct.

[UPGRADES!]

[- {The Alarm}– An Alarm was added to the System! It can be set by the Host to trigger at specific times, on certain events, or simply for fun! The System can also utilize the Alarm function to get the Host's attention when he is willfully ignoring it. It can be adjusted to play any sound from any conceivable universe, but can only be heard by the Host.(A little gift to you from me. You may not have asked for it, but I thought it would be funny.)

- {The System Voice} – The Being saw that the Host tended to become annoyed with the way the System answered his questions, so it upgraded the System's voice! The System will now permanently sound like a little girl high on sugar, and can vocalize in whatever emotional tone that would fit whatever information it is providing! (I heard how much you LOVE your Sylveon form, so I gave you a constant reminder of it. You're Welcome!)

- {Bag of Holding} – Have you ever played Dungeons & Dragons? Do you ever wish that you had an infinite Bag of Holding? Well, now you do! The secondary compartment of your backpack has been converted into a Bag of Holding! Dump anything you want in there, and retrieve it just by reaching in and thinking about it! WARNING: Living beings cannot survive inside the bag. (I thought of making the main compartment the Bag of Holding, but considering it's the only place where you feel safe when you sleep, I thought I'd throw you a bone on this one. The bag is also indestructible now, so enjoy!)]

[DOWNGRADES!]

[- {Evolution Power} – It has been determined that the starting power for the host's evolutions has been to strong, leading to lack-luster battles. As such, all forms that have not been unlocked/upgraded by the assimilation of energies via an artifact or battle with a Boss enemy have been downgraded to only be as powerful as whoever the Host is facing in whatever battle he finds himself in. Downgraded forms include Flareon, Jolteon, Leafeon, Umbreon, Glaceon, and Sylveon. (No more steamrolling enemies with power you didn't earn. Now you have to collect Energy Types like a man!)

- {Gender Bender} – The Being has acknowledged the Host's request to either remove or change his Sylveon Form's appearance, personality, or voice in any way in order to prevent further mental scarring. It has also chosen to ignore these requests, and punish the Host by not only leaving the Sylveon Form alone, but also gender-bending another eight of the other sixteen possible Eeveelutions to also be female. They will still maintain the personality traits they were pre-destined to have, but will give the Host something to think about the next he makes demands of the Being! (You hate being a psychotic little girl so much? Well, now you get to be a bunch of other girls too. And no memory wipe for your time as them.)

- {Transformation Limit} – The Being determined that the ability to transform into the same forms and then back multiple times per day was boring. With this Downgrade, each form can only be used once per day. They can be used for as long as the Host desires, but the moment the Host changes back to his Eevee form, the previous form will be locked until the stroke of midnight. (Included this one in case you tried to avoid being a woman for longer than necessary. I can say for certain that there are entire villages worth of enemies that will only be weak to one of your female evolutions, and I don't want you skipping out on the experience by constantly switching back and forth.)]

[BUG FIXES!]

[- {Assimilation Bug} – The [Assimilation] feature used to unlock new forms was originally supposed to also unlock forms corresponding to Boss-Type enemies you've defeated, should you not have their Type already. This has been fixed! Now, not only will you be able to absorb artifacts to unlock new forms, but you will be able to unlock the Types of your strongest enemies! (Noticed this issue shortly after you fought the Harpy Queen, but didn't get a chance to fix it until now. Still not giving you the unlocks for the ones you've defeated so far, though. Suck it up.)]

[The Being hopes that you enjoy this update, and wishes to leave you with this last reminder: Just because the odds of something going in your favor is more than 50%, doesn't mean that you should actually go for it. Get good, Scrub.]

If one were to walk by the door to the room Kevin was sleeping in at that moment, they would be startled by the shouting that suddenly erupted from within. However, instead of the voice of the teenage shota coming from the other side, it was the most adorable voice to ever grace this world.

"EEVEE! EEV EE EVEEV!" the small foxlike creature roared, grabbing his backpack with his mouth and throwing it at the wall in rage with a loud SLAM! "VEE! EV VEEVEEVEE! EEEEEEV!"

It could be said to be fortunate that he was in his full-Eevee form, as the series of curses he was shouting at the top of his lungs would've carrier a lot further. The smaller vocal cords of a normal Eevee were only enough to let his voice carry through a few of the adjacent rooms.

Under normal conditions, Kevin would be much calmer and more collected when faced with the contents of the update. But, after the head-splitting Migraine, suddenly having his simple request for a few changes to the System being thrown so blatantly in his face had set him off.

'All I wanted was to not be traumatized by one of my own evolutions!' he mentally ranted, delivering a non-powered headbutt to his backpack. 'Was that so much to ask? Apparently so! Even two out of the three upgrades from this stupid update are completely fucking useless! An alarm and a new voice for the System? How are those upgrades!? Fucking asshole Being!'

It would be about ten minutes before he calmed himself down enough to think clearly. Thankfully, the rage hadn't triggered his Flareon transformation. A fire on a wooden ship out in the middle of open waters would not be good for anyone involved. Well, Alice and him could get away using their magic/evolutions, but he was reluctant to leave the sailors to die for his mistake.

With his temper finally cooled down, the teenager shapeshifted into his humanoid form and sat on the bed in the room. He placed his head in his hands and groaned, wondering what god he had offended to have to deal with an asshole like the Being.

[The Host offended multiple gods in his previous life], the joyful voice of the System piped up. [It was only due to the perfectly balanced Karma that the Host accumulated that he was subjected to the whims of the Being.]

"It was a rhetorical question, System," he moaned.

[Would you like to submit a complaint to the Being and request another update?]

"Fuck. No," the boy growled, some anger coming back at that mere suggestion.

In all honesty, it could be said that he got off easy this time. He did get an indestructible Bag of Holding and the ability to assimilate Elemental Types from powerful enemies he defeated, so it's not like it was all bad. He also couldn't blame the Being for nerfing the power level of his transformations, as it was more than a little unfair for him to overpower everyone he met without having done anything to earn that power. At the very least, he still had his Vaporeon, Espeon, Griffeon, Spookeon, and Galveon forms at their peaks. Additionally, the weakened forms weren't completely powerless; just scaled to whatever enemy he had to face.

What really triggered his anger were the Gender Bender and Transformation Limit downgrades. He had nothing against women or men who identified as women, but he didn't want to be one! Now, Nine out of his seventeen transformations were permanently female, and he didn't even know which ones they were other, other than Sylveon! He was terrified to even test any of them out! Not to mention the fact that the moment he used one, he couldn't use it again for the rest of the day if he changed back to his Eevee form. The Being was a massive asshole.

Amidst this internal struggle to not ask the System to send the Being a card with a big middle finger drawn on it, the sound of knocking came from the door. It was shortly followed by the voice of Alice coming from the other side.

"Kevin! I'm respecting your privacy by knocking, but exercising my authority as the Monster Lord by coming in anyway." She followed this declaration by using her strength to forcefully turn the doorknob and push it inward, breaking both locks and revealing herself in her disguised human form. "We've reached Port Natalia."

Kevin raised his head to look at his traveling companion, then slid his eyes over to the now-broken door. "Did you have to break the locks to tell me that?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "We've been here for a few hours at this point, but every time I've come by so far you haven't answered. I decided that if you were still asleep at this point, you deserved a rude awakening."

"Fair enough," the teenager sighed before standing up and grabbing his bag. "No point in staying here and wallowing in misery anymore."

"'Wallowing in misery?'" Alice questioned as she followed him out. "You defeated the Succubus Queen last night, what do you have to be miserable about?"

"Just the fact that my Patron God is a complete asshole whose idea of answering my prayers is screwing me over in new and interesting ways," Kevin grumbled, pushing open the door that led to the deck outside.

"…what?"

"Don't worry about it," he sighed.

Alice tried a few more times to illicit a more satisfying response out of him as they descended the gangplank that led to the docks of the port they stopped at. Port Natalia was a city reminiscent of Iliasport at a glance, with the same architecture and layout, but it wouldn't be long before the duo saw the major differences it had with the cities they'd visited on the Ilias Continent.

***

What neither of them were aware of, though, was that the moment the Eevee stepped from the wooden docks to the stone of the dry land, an unseen shockwave spread out from the point of contact to every single corner of the Sentora continent. It wasn't physical, or even magical, but elemental in nature, and so pure that only four entities were capable of detecting it, though they had no idea what it truly meant.

In a forest inhabited by fairies and guarded by elves, a figure the size of a hand froze mid-flight as the presence reached her through the breeze. It felt like one of the other three Spirits had come for a visit, but lacked the elemental signature any of them held. A quick search through the local winds indicated that it was likely her imagination, yet even her ditzy mind couldn't get rid of the feeling so easily.

Walking through a collection of desert ruins, a short girl with dark skin and large clothes covering most of her body paused halfway through creating one of her mud golems. The featureless elemental wave that passed through her would've left her speechless, if she weren't habitually mute in the first place. She knew that none of the Four Spirits had a signature like that, and for the sand and stone itself to resonate with it for the brief second it passed…what could it mean?

Deep in an underground cave, surrounded by water and slimes taking sanctuary from the unforgiving world above, a woman with the body shape of a mermaid and the composition of a Slime was broken out of her serene nap by the wave. She was familiar enough with not only her element, but those of her previous companions as well, to know that such a blank elemental signature should've been impossible. It was definitely an elemental signature that passed through her domain, however briefly, so how could it possibly not conform to any known element, and yet seem to compliment every single one in the split second it passed by?

Finally, in submerged in the lava of an active volcano, a being with hair of fire and tanned skin raised her eyebrows as the featureless wave of elemental energy swept by. With her mind tempered by equal parts passion and discipline, she was the better suited than her 'sisters' to discern its meaning. Either a new Elemental Spirit had been born, or a being with such resonance with all elements that they all respond to its presence had just arrived on the Sentora Continent. What was most troubling to think about was what such an entity was doing there, and what kind of chaos their existence would bring to the inhabitants of all four regions.

Only time would tell.

***

<Around that time>

<Hellgondo – Monster Lord's Castle – Entrance Hall>

Alma Elma entered the Monster Lord's castle without any of the usual whimsical flair that she normally would. In fact, she didn't say a single word to announce her presence upon walking through the large front doors, nor did she make a sound as she shut them behind her and walked toward the massive staircase across form the doors.

To say that she regretted fighting Kevin would be a massive understatement. If she could've gone back to undo it, she would've even topped it all off by decking her past self with all of her strength for being such a colossal moron. Unfortunately, what's done is done, and as Alice had warned her, she had nobody to blame for the torment she'd experienced but herself.

Funnily enough, she was okay with the beatdown she'd experienced. She was a big enough girl to appreciate the skill that went into the thrashing, and couldn't even fault the boy for destroying one of her wings and part of her tail. She'd already grown both of them back and completely healed from all of the physical wounds, so it's not like she had much to complain about on her part. She even admitted that she deserved it at the time, with how she'd attacked him without him provoking her at all.

What shook her to the core were the nightmares she'd been forced to endure after he'd knocked her out. While only ten hours had passed in the real world, the dream world was something else entirely, with a single minute stretching into an hour. It was safe to say that she'd experienced days, months, and possibly years worth of torment in the dreamscape she couldn't pry herself out of.

It started with numerous repeats of her childhood, and the harsh treatment she'd received from her mother upon the latter realizing how different she was from other succubi. It was exaggerated into everyone she'd ever known and cared about rejecting her because of the violent brute she was on the inside, even going so far as to hunt her and put her down so the world wouldn't have to be subjected to such an abomination of a succubus. Similar scenarios played out over and over again, without stopping, until something changed.

She assumed that whatever Kevin had done to make her go through this hell, he'd accidentally left a part of his own mind in hers. The reason for this conclusions was that, as time went by and the nightmares continued, they slowly morphed into something else. People that she didn't recognize, places she'd never been to before, and feelings she'd never felt invaded her dreams, until she was no longer experiencing her own nightmares anymore.

Instead, she was experiencing his.

She could instinctively tell that while they were all exaggerated in the way that all nightmares tended to be, she was reliving the worst memories he had lurking in his mind. The sheer number of them was emphasized by the fact that none of them repeated more than twice. While the majority of the technology and mannerisms in them were foreign to her, she quickly noticed a pattern.

In all of them, Kevin was surrounded by people who were older, stronger, and smarter than him, and they always took advantage of him. From beating the tar out of him for fun, to stealing his belongings, and all the way to some of the more recent memories which included….being raped by a group of adult women.

And not just once.

Multiple times.

Through his memories, Alma Elma felt the sexual drive that fogged the minds of most teenage men die a quick and painful death in the boy. How could it not, when the only experience he had with real people were one-sided trysts with sadistic women who beat him and threatened him to tell nobody afterwards. It was a surprise that the boy didn't hate the entire female gender after the trauma he'd been through, considering some of those women were his family members.

Now she understood why he reacted violently to any monsters trying to fuck him. She was lucky that he didn't just decide to use his powers to exterminate every last one of them the moment they made any kind of sexual advance toward him. It was only his apathy, born from years of experiencing other cruelty at the hands of those around him, that kept him from going on a genocidal rampage.

And she had provoked him just for fun.

"I am such an idiot," she mumbled to herself, her wings and tail drooping as she mindlessly walked into the main hall.

"While I can't disagree with you on that, something tells me your reason for saying so isn't the same as mine," a familiar voice replied, causing her to look up.

Leaning up against one of the ornate pillars a few yards away from her was Granberia. She was still dressed in her usual armor, which she never seemed to take off, and crossing her arms while giving the Succubus Queen an inquisitive side glance.

Not far from her was Tamamo, playing around with her paper fan. "Something tells me this has to do with Kevin."

At the mere mention of his name, both Granberia and Alma Elma flinched. The former absentmindedly rubbed her left side where one of the boy's ice spears had stabbed her during their fight. It may have been completely healed with no scarring, but just remembering the pain lancing through her body was enough to make the spot feel sore.

The Heavenly Knight of Wind seemed to droop a bit further. "Yeah," she replied, not even attempting to feign her usual cheerful tone. "I provoked him and he made me regret it."

"Am I the only one who didn't piss him off within minutes of meeting him?" the kitsune asked rhetorically, looking between her two fellow Heavenly Knights. "From what I gathered, he wouldn't do anything to you that you didn't deserve."

Hearing that, Granberia let out a growl of frustration. "Oh yeah? I don't think I deserved for him to shove multiple ice shards through my scales."

"To be fair, Granberia," Tamamo stated, opening her fan and using it to coyly cover up her face. "When I met, I asked him to explain the situation that occurred between the two of you. Know that I'm being completely honest with you when I say: If you had done the same thing to me and my thin fried tofu, they would be finding you in multiple pieces all across the Noah region. You're lucky Alice stopped him before he could do the same, but with the Ilias Continent."

A shiver traveled down the dragonkin's spine as she took in the kitsune ruler's words. For her to be comparing what Granberia did to knocking her most cherished food out of her hands, she knew that her fellow Heavenly Knight meant what she said. It was fortunate that she made it out of that encounter without missing any limbs.

"What did he do to you?" Tamamo turned to ask the Succubus Queen.

If the succubus drooped any more, she'd probably fall to the floor at any moment. "I tried forcing him to have sex with me," she admitted, her tone regretful.

The fact that she was even capable of stating that negatively set off alarm bells in her fellow knights' heads. Instead of asking anything else, they stood in silence and waited for her to gather enough willpower to continue, though.

"He beat me pretty quickly," she went on, eyes never leaving the floor. "Destroyed one of my wings and about half of my tail with some kind of magic beam, then used mind magic to knock me unconscious."

Granberia raised an eyebrow. "I would expect someone like you to not care about losing, or attempting to rape a man in the first place."

"I'm assuming he didn't stop at rendering you unconscious?" Tamamo proposed, her fan hiding her frown.

Alma Elma nodded. "After putting me to sleep, he invaded my dreams with magic and made me experience my worst nightmares over and over again."

"That little bastard!" the Dragonkin growled, her anger showing as she reached for her sword. "I ought to go to Sentora right now and-!"

She was interrupted, though, by the Succubus Queen giving her a look filled with panic and shouting. "No! Please don't! I deserved every bit of it! After what I saw, I would let him finish me off just for mentioning sex, let alone trying to rape him!"

That definitely threw both of her friends for a loop. A succubus regretting the act of propositioning a man was like a dragon being sorry for setting their enemies on fire. It made absolutely no sense.

"What do you mean 'what you saw'?" Tamamo pressed on, becoming even more intrigued.

"…" Alma Elma hesitated. "…I can't tell you everything, because it's not my place to tell. I can only say that he accidentally slipped his own nightmares into the spell he used on me, and all of them were based on memories he had. If even half of what I saw and felt was real, we're lucky he has enough self-control to not violently rip every monster he encounters apart piece by piece the moment they try raping him."

Silence hung in the air between the three of the four Heavenly Knights. For Alma Elma, it was because she was caught up in remembering some of the hardships of Kevin's life.

Tamamo was sinking deep into thought about what kind of memories could cause the Succubus Queen of all monsters to regret trying to rape someone.

Granberia was reassessing how her first encounter had gone with the boy, and realizing that her first impression was likely to cause many problems for her if she didn't fix it soon. She did not want to be on the bad side of a boy who was as powerful as the Four Spirits themselves and had no problems with punishing someone with hours of nightmares for attacking him.

Without another word, the Heavenly Knight of Fire teleported away from the Monster Lord's castle, leaving the other two to stew in their thoughts.

***

[Author's Note:]

Sudden sneak peak into tragic backstory! Who would've guessed that the apathetic boy who died from his brother pushing him out of a hotel window would have a traumatic past that caused him to hate the idea of non-consensual sex so fiercely? It's almost as if the story was building up to this sneak peak into Kevin's past before his death!

But seriously, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially the content of the 'Update.' I hope the lot of you enjoyed reading it! I was thinking of making this the end of Volume one in the system, and making the next chapter start volume 2. You know, break it up so it's easier to scroll through in the future.

Should I do that? And if so, what should Volume 1 be called? Best suggestion will be used, as I want you guys to have a hand in this, and the person will be mentioned upon me naming the Volume!

Also, the foreshadowing of the four lucky ladies who will eventually get to spend a LOT of time with Kevin in the future. How deep will this rabbit hole go? Why would he need them in the first place? Are they the reason he was drawn to Sentora in the first place, despite not wanting to be repeatedly accosted by sex-happy monsters?

Find out...not next time, but over the next fifty or so chapters as I write them. This isn't Dragon Ball. Go home.

PS: I've gotten a comment from someone about the cover. Anyone got any art you think would do better with the story? Comment the art and a reference to where it's from, and I'll see about applying it

PPS: Already got one person stating something about his female forms needing semen in the future. I will state plainly right now: He will never have sex with a man, hardly have sex in his female forms, and they primarily exist because the Being is actually me and I like tormenting this little shit

PPPS: *sigh* I can't believe I have to point this out, but a lot of people are making this misconception, so I feel like I have to: The System didn't gain Sapience with the update. It will still have minimal lines and be a background function at best, it's just that its voice was changed to give it the illusion of emotion. It still has no will or animosity. All of that comes from the Being. aka: me