CHAPTER 17

It had been two days since the battle against Rose, and the atmosphere in the mansion was still gloomy. To an outsider, it would have seemed like a haunted house. I was in my room, going through some papers that Sophia had brought to me. I had asked her to find out everything she could about Rose and the other fragments.

I was skimming through the information, reading about how all fragments had innate abilities that were unique to them - information that I already knew. As I was reading, I found a lot of useless information and discarded it, until I stumbled upon something interesting. I learned that all fragments had certain restrictions on their abilities that could only be broken once they had absorbed all the other fragments. These restrictions could come in different forms - like how my hidden skill temporarily removes a fraction of my seal if certain conditions are met.

The most popular fragment, the 'copy cat', as Rose liked to call him, had a restriction that only allowed him to keep a stored ability for 14 days. Rose's restriction was the most serious and also gave her the most advantage when the conditions were met. Each life served as a seal to lock away a part of her power - at nine lives she could only fight with pure physical strength, at eight she could use ki, and at seven she could use a little magic. And so on.

As for the restriction on Rose's abilities, it wasn't too difficult to meet. She just had to die at least twice to trigger it, and then she could escape from any scene, even if it was a battle of fragments.

"This..." I began, but my voice trailed off.

"How the hell am I going to collect all the fragments if one of them has the ability to escape any entanglement?" I muttered.

Another thing to note was that there was another fragment with a nine-lives ability, but it was different from Rose's. He could live nine lives simultaneously, and each version of him could be either male or female, and come from any race. Each had its own unique personality. However, his main body was completely powerless and could not interact with other people. On the other hand, each of his clones was very powerful, whether they were mages, battlemonks, marksmen, or whatever else, and they were all connected to each other.

Based on all the information we had gathered, fragments could be divided into two categories - defensive and offensive. The offensive ones actively went around searching for other fragments to challenge, while the defensive ones stayed put. The 'copy cat' was originally defensive, but constant harassment from other fragments made him switch sides.

I think I'll create my own faction, the neutral. Unlike the defensive, I'll proactively seek out fragments who directly or indirectly attack me, while still remaining neutral as long as I'm not provoked.

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BAM! BOOM!! BAM!!!

In a dimly lit room, objects were flying back and forth in an explosive display of power.

"This is unfair," a voice said, "Why am I the only one with such harsh restrictions?"

BOOOOM!

"Ouch," the voice said, "Even the other guy's restrictions aren't as harsh as mine. He even gets to experience life from different perspectives!"

BAM!

"....."

Silence

Sometime later a dark chuckle echoed through the room. "Little boy, I promise you, your end will be more miserable than that of your sister."

"That's it," the voice said, anger evident in it's tone. "I'm not going to take this anymore. I'm going to change the rules."

"You think you can change the rules?" another voice taunted. "You're just a weakling, a nothing."

That was the last straw. As if on cue a cracking sound echoed and a swirling vortex of energy appeared within the room ravaging everything in site.