5 Strange Event
[System can use its own energy for the host to buy an item/skill from the shop. But that would mean system would no longer have its own energy and would be disappear. Do you want that ?]
What did he mean by that? Disappear?! He was not at all happy about it, even though he could not make sense of it all and should have been happy that he had a salvation. He immediately questioned system.
'Wait! What are you saying, system? Even if I get out of this situation, how am I going to survive without you? Or even simply, what about my Hollow instincts invading my mind without you?!'
I had to accept it. I didn't start out in a good situation in this universe and even though I didn't like this system at first I needed him. After all, which traveler would want his system to disappear?
His disappearance in this weakened state was already a kind of death.
Then my questioning was immediately answered by the system.
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[Host has nothing to worry about that. As I discussed with you at the beginning, this system uses souls a fuel. So it's still possible for me to reconnect with you as long as my lost energy is compensated. For some time after I am gone, it will be possible to suppress your hollow instincts, even at a minimum level, and the system will continue to work normally. But you will no longer be able to benefit from any of the system's functions.]
(A/n: System screen is still there, but it only does one thing. And that is to value the souls he kills. So there is nothing to gain from it. Except for the recovery of the system's energy.)
Despite my nervous and gloomy state, I was not too stupid to make an instant deduction from this. I immediately asked the system.
'So more souls are needed to make you active again, or in other words, to make up for your lost energy, right?'
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[Your thinking is correct, host.]
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'And what happens to me if I can't find souls to hunt for a long time or if I can't accumulate enough souls to replenish your energy?'
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[If you don't provide me with enough energy at the beginning, it will weaken my connection with you. In this case, protection of your hollow instincts and access to the system will be cut off. This process will continue until you become a hollow who only seeks souls to satisfy his hunger. Probably after that, I don't think you will care about the system or anything else. All you will care about is the high density of souls.]
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Fuck! That was the worst. If someone had asked me, I could have easily said I had the worst day of my life.
First, I became an ugly hollow in my favorite anime. Then I'd fought two shinigami who wanted to cut me. Then I'd been attacked by a maniacal invisible lizard. As if that wasn't enough, now I was in real danger of losing my mind and turning into a monster who only seeks souls. Oh, if I don't get cut right now by the long-bladed nails of the maniacal lizard...
Of course, I didn't have time to pay attention to that right now. Death was approaching me. I could only do what I could to live a little longer. I opened Shop on the dark blue screen and asked the system.
'Can I choose any of these I want? Is there a limit?'
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[Host can choose whatever he wants, but it will take longer for you to replenish my energy according to the changing price.]
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Oh, yes, that sounds reasonable. But my choice was already clear. I already had my eye on a skill that was my goal before, a skill that could get me out of dangerous situations in the future and now.
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[>Shop - Level 1<]
|Soul-Coin : 322-Sc|
[> Skills: {
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→ [Reiatsu Concealment] = 5000-Sc
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• } <]
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'System, buy it!'
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[Ding! [Reiatsu Concealment] has been purchased! Applying to Host...]
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[Application successful!]
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[Error! Error! Error!...]
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[Warning! Not enough energy to keep the system on! System energy insufficient! Warning!...]
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[Searching for an alternative solution... An alternative solution was not found!]
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[Ding! System going into sleep mode due to insufficient energy...]
•◦•◦•◦
With the sound of the system, my body began to tremble and my whole reiatsum began to fluctuate. Parts of my body would occasionally become translucent and then return to its original state. I already had a feeling in my mind about how to turn it on and off with a thought.
But that wasn't important. I shouted at the system in my mind, while ignoring hollow coming towards me and babbling nonsense.
'System! system! Hey, system!'
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"[...]"
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Yes, it was really gone.
I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about it, but that lizard bastard was going to keep me from knowing for a while. When I heard his voice, there was only one thing in my mind.
"Kekekeke are you scared? Can you understand the difference between us? I... Hey! What the fuck happened?... Where are you? Hey! How did this happen? Tsk..."
The obvious shock and surprise in his voice was obvious to an outsider. Why? It's very simple. Because I had disappeared like him. Yes, [Reiatsu Concealment] makes your reaitsu untraceable. So if a reishi creature like me has this ability, it can become invisible.
Now I was invisible not only to normal people, but to hollows, shinigami and quincys, all of them. That's why I wanted this ability in the first place. Even if they tried to sense me, they couldn't anymore. Unless, of course, they had other perverted abilities.
Chameleon hollow, still confused and starting to get angry at this situation, I was acting with only one thought in my mind at the moment... Run away!
Yes, it was an obvious choice. Just because I had this ability didn't mean I could beat him. Add to that the fact that I was still missing an arm and a leg, and my loss was a certainty.
My only regret was not killing unconscious shinigami. If I had killed him, maybe the system would have come back, but that was not an option right now.
The moment I killed him, he would notice me and it wouldn't matter that I was invisible when his tongue stuck to me. I have to escape miserably with all my speed, with one hand and one leg left.
But I was never going to forget this. This humiliation and fear of death made me much sharper-minded. Most of my old regrets and guilt were gone. I didn't care how many people I had harmed so that I could torture this bastard now and give him a painful death.
One day, I would definitely take the system back and get my revenge.
I left the street, accompanied by his shouts and the noise of him destroying the environment to find me.
Well, it seems that running away was the right decision.
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______________________________
"Sir, you might want to see this."
A man's voice was heard in an almost dark room with light reflected from round windows.
There were some strange devices in this room, cables running along the sides of the room, and in many places glowing monitors that threw light around. The man who made the noise was looking at a strange blue glowing monitor.
"What's wrong? As long as you don't make me deal with Captain Mayuri. Right now he's still working on creating new souls from Konpaku cells. If we disturb him, he'll make me Ahh... Anyway, go ahead. He's been blaming everything on me these days."
A tall man with spiky short hair and three small horns on his forehead said these without changing his expression much.
"Sir, reiatsu of two shinigami assigned to the human world have disappeared one after another."
The man looking at the monitor said with a somewhat serious expression. Hearing what he said, the tall man furrowed his non-existent eyebrows and questioned him.
"Who were these people and where were they last?"
"Sir, they are both from the 13th Division. One is Souma Ejima, 12th seat, and the other is Kyoujuro Saji, who graduated not long ago. Their mission was to deal with a hollow with the ability to secretly hunt shinigami in Karakura City. But now both of them..."
Without much change in his expression, the tall man immediately looked at the monitor and began to study the mission report of the people mentioned.
Their targets were clearly stated. They had to hunt down a hollow, codenamed Chameleon, with some kind of concealment ability. This hollow had long been a nuisance, as it could kill shinigami quickly and unnoticed when alone. The idea this time was that one would act as 'bait' while the other would finish him off. They had researched everything about him. And this was a good solution to finish him off. The people appointed for this mission were chosen accordingly.
As he continued reading the report, he frowned even more when he glanced at the data at the end. (A/n: By the way, he doesn't have eyebrows. I'm just saying)
At first the radar showed 2 shinigami and one hollow. Then it soon became two hollows. But that wasn't the strange thing. After all, it was not uncommon to have hollows in similar places.
The reiatsus of a shinigami with a slightly weaker spiritual energy at first soon disappeared. He could guess who this might be. But interesting was what happened next. After a while one of the Hollows disappeared. And it happened instantly in a very strange way. Was it the shinigami who did it? There were two hollows they fought, and it looked like they might have lost 2 on 2. Maybe at the last moment the 12th seat of the 13th division managed to take one of them.
But it was still something to think about. He knew that the Chameleon must have been where the shinigami received the signal. There could be no mistake about it. His special reiki had, by chance, been thoroughly analyzed on a shinigami who had almost died. So it was certain that he was involved. But what was the other hollow? Had the Chameleon, who had always been alone before, worked with another hollow?
He always felt that there was something strange about it all the time. It was definitely something that needed to be investigated.
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[> Bonus Part <]
(A/n: You can read this part if you want or you can just skip it. It will have nothing to do with the main story.)
He did not know why or how he existed. He didn't even know what it meant to exist. He only knew that he was in the Void. All his understanding of reality was the Void in which he existed.
It had no form or shape. It never understood what it was. Maybe it was a 0-dimensional bacterium. This is how he defined himself after a long time. After much effort, he tried to reach beyond the Void.
Maybe it was just curiosity, a search for creation, maybe he wanted to find something like himself. He wanted answers.
But the result disappointed him. The answers he found were not what he wanted. Still, he didn't give up. He continued to observe for a time unknown to him. He tried to understand what was beyond the Void. He saw various objects, beings, living forms. He analyzed them.
He met weak organisms. He learned what life is. He understood what time and matter are. What is reality? Why do we exist? He searched for answers to many more questions and got some answers.
But in the end he failed again to get answers about himself.
Some of the creatures he analyzed believed that there was a higher being, a god, who had created them. So he always wondered. Did he also have a god ? A higher being who created him ? Why did he create him ? What was his purpose?
There were so many questions to ask and no satisfying answers. Maybe he understood that and went on to learn different things.
He watched many intelligent organisms. They were searching for answers just like he was. He learned many things from them. Gradually he understood himself a little bit. For example, he wasn't like them. He didn't die. He didn't get hurt or sick because he didn't have a form.
Unlike them, he could develop without limits. In wisdom and intelligence, he surpassed most of them in these matters. Still, he didn't think he got enough of what he wanted.
The universes and creatures he saw gave him different purposes. He wanted power too. He wanted to come out of hiding. He wanted to intervene, not just observe.
But In the end, he seemed to take cosmic existence for granted. He met beings that would erase him completely. If it weren't for the Void he was in, he might have disappeared. He had always seen himself as different from the creatures he studied. He had always believed himself to be strictly analytical, not having simple emotions like most of them, and yet at the time he felt fear in some way.
A being completely higher than you, God? He can do whatever he wants to you and you can't argue with that. But in the end it only made him angrier. Why didn't they accept him too? He wanted to learn. He wanted power. He wanted to know more.
They rejected him because they saw him only as a parasite. This made him lose the calmness he had had all this time. He was angry at this unfairness. He held a grudge against those who took this opportunity from him.
But after a long time the solution came to his door. The Void where he had been alone for years was violated by an invader. It was a broken soul.
In the end, if he and it were a good match, he would get what he wanted. He just wanted answers and if he was a parasite, all he had to do was to find a creature that would have a symbiotic relationship with him. In return, it would not only not harm him, it would even benefit him.
As mechanical as he thought of himself, interacting with souls was actually very simple for him. He was a 0-dimensional being. After some trial and error, he was finally able to merge with him, keeping a very important part of his memory.
But after that, as he prepared to enter the universe, he realized that he had overestimated his strength. After all, during his time in the Void, his power had not increased at all. He had only observed, become smarter and more knowledgeable.
He was determined despite everything. He even tried so hard to disguise himself with his remaining strength so as not to be noticed by other Eldritch beings that when he entered this universe, he did not realize that he had been noticed by some low-level beings (according to the others he had met) They had even placed a curse on his Host.
As for his partner, who was now dying in front of him, he too was desperate. It was too risky for him to come this far. But he wanted to try anyway. He couldn't stay in that Void any longer. He was not sure that another soul would come again. And even the energy he was using now to come here and hide would run out when he gave it to him.
Yet he had no choice. He was a parasite and in partnership with the soul in front of him. So he had to trust him.
They had both joined together to come here. It was a real symbiotic relationship and if one tried to harm the other at first, both would be harmed. It was a sacrifice he had to make to get here. If he hadn't, he would have been noticed the moment he left the Void.
But it still wasn't like it was over. He informed him of the last help he could give him.
[System can use its own energy for the host to buy an item/skill from the shop. But that would mean system would no longer have its own energy and would be disappear. Do you want that ?]
From now on, everything was only in his hands.
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A/n : Hey guys! How was it ? Did you like it ?
About the bonus part :
Actually, I was going to publish it in two separate parts, but since I was not satisfied with the story of the system, I shortened it a bit and added it as a bonus part at the end of the chapter. You can read that part if you want, but even if you do, know that it will have nothing to do with the story after that.
