Chapter 9: New Skill...

Lying lazily on her bed with a cheezy smile on her face. Her black hair was tied in a messy bun, giving way for her pearly white skin and deep dimples to be fully displaced. Her jade eyes formed two crescent moons, fully fixed on the laptop on her lap. Her bed was littered with chicken sause, giving her once white bed spread a red pop.

The room itself was no better. Littered on the floor were clothes due washing over three weeks ago. The odour was potent, strong enough to kill even the strongest of beasts, but for some reason, Ashley seemed completely oblivious to the killer odour. It seemed like the owner of the mess and some immunity to it.

A workaholic from birth, the sight of the room and the human being that dwelt in it made it seem like her twin sister came to visit, if she had one.

As for what she was watching, it was a video about a very popular young man on Picktok who just tricked his girlfriend into sending him 100,000,000 point then dumping her the next day. Many thought how such a thing could even be possible, but Black Mask showed that, as ling as you use your brain, anything is possible.

The middle aged woman couldn't control her laughter, jerking back and forth like a dog in heat. In all her years if life, she had never watch something as hilarious as this. It just made her seem sorry for her generation. Why weren't they able to produce content as funny and educative as this?

Perhaps it was due to how uptight the rules were then in contrast to know. Nowadays people could go out in public and do whatever they want without being judged for it. That was the beauty I being alive in the 32nd Century.

"Hahahahaha...Damn this guy's content are on fire! Never thought skipping work for once could feel so good!" Although Ashley had to inspect some x-ray scans she received from work and report her observations tomorrow, she felt like life was short, and that nobody should waste time on what they don't enjoy when they could always do it later.

Coming out of the video, onto his main account page, Ashley went on to scroll to some of his old videos, having exausted whatever new ones he had already posted.

However, before she could click on one of the older videos, Ashley began to feel a shotting pain in her abdomen. It was as though her ribs were twisting in their own. The pain quickly spread to get legs, causing veins to unusually bulge out. The pain later spread all the way to her chest, reaching her torso and eventually overcoming her head. The pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Akin to one's soul burning in the eternal flames of hell.

"Aaarrhhh!!!!!" Of course she screamed in pain, pushing her laptop as it smashed upon hitting the floor, but the didn't care, the pain didn't allow her to think straight.

Eventually, something worse began to happen as her flest began to tear open. Blushed gushed out of her openings, painting her already red bed sheets a shade darker.

She didn't know how long the seizure had lasted, but the next thing she knew, her eyelids began to feel heavy. Ashley had lost a lot of blood, and turning her head to the side, she could see some of her internal organs sticking out on the bed.

With blood shot eyes, Ashley's head lowered onto the soft below as her eyes glued shut. Never to be opened again.

__ __

Leo couldn't muster the strength to send his brother out of this world. For some reason, a part of him still loved and cared for the bastard. What was worse was that the pain Leo was feeling was still drastically increasing at an inhuman rate. If Leo doesn't do anything soon, he was sure he would wake up to be surrounded by everlasting flames.

Looking through the other options, there were only two left. Remembering all the hardship Leo went in getting the system, the names, the beating, the petty errands, Leo couldn't bring himself to sacrifice something so valuable. For one, having the Beasting System greatly, in fact, exponentially increases his chances of survival in this destopian world.

On the other hand there was his mother, the woman would carried him for none months in her womb, the woman who took care of him since he was a baby till not up to a week ago. The woman who turned her back on him when Milo turned out to be the better sibling...

For some reason, whatever hatred Leo had for Milo paled in comparison to that he had towards his mother. The fact that Milo treats him like shit became something normal to Leo. However, for his mother, the only person he had ever cared about, whom he treasured more than his life, to choose to side to that serpant over him...

Words could not explain how heartbroken Leo was when his mother uttered her first harsh words against him.

"Look at you, always laying around eating my food and growing fat! You can't even make yourself useful and help Leo go to the convenience store. What a useless waste of space. I should have filed for an abortion when I conceived you!"

Although Leo was by no means fat, the words still felt like a flaming dagger to his heart, piercing through completely. It wasn't the words that actually hurt, but the person that said them.

Realizing where his true hatred lied, Leo didn't feel any hesitation towards sending the other out of this world.

[ Ashley Tseab ]

[ Would you like to sacrifice her? ]

[ Yes ] or [ No ]

With no hesitation in his actions, Leo decided to select yes...

[ Ashley Tseab has been selected. ]

[ Your wounds are healing. ]

[ Your wounds are being transferred to Ashley Tseab. ]

When the system mentioned that Leo had to make a sacrifice, he never expected this to be case. In his eyes, this seemed more like a transfer of burder rather than a sacrifice. Although it still was in a way. A sacrifice of pain.

Leo could see his wounds healing at a visible rate. If it was Leo five years ago, he would have had a heart attack from experiencing such a thing. However, five years older, and an endless experience with system books, something like this just felt like a walk in the park for him.

With in two minutes, all his wounds had fully healed up. His veins and internal organs had gone back to normal.

[ You can't pour from an empty cup ]

[ As a young Beast Tamer, you have fulfilled your number one priority in life, putting your needs before others. As such, despite not being given a quest, the system has chosen to reward you for your determination. ]

[ As a reward, you get to choose between these two skills. This is a once in a life time opportunity, so choose wisely! ]

Leo could not believe his eyes upon reading the messages. The initial shock of sacrificing his mother was yet to set in, so for now Leo was just happy to learn that he could aquire a new skill despite just obtaining the system.

The system then went on to display, three consecutive skills, but no additional information. Leo was about to ask the A.I. why there wasn't any additional information about the skills, but bit his tongue before doing that. After the A.I. had ignored him during his time of need, Leo developed a moderate loathing towards the A.I. However, knowing he would eventually need the system for worse case scenerios, Leo would have to find a way to get into her good books, despite not knowing how he got into her bad books for that matter.

[ Cataclysm ]

[ Illusion ]

[ Liberation ]

Reading through the options, Leo's interest was quickly drawn by the first skill. Being someone who was kind but still had a violent side to him, Leo thought that this would be the perfect fit for him. However, reading the other skills available, Leo began to think otherwise.

From common knowledge, Leo assumed that the first skill entailed the ability to destroy. While the second gives the ability to create an unreal scinerio. However, the third skill was a completely different story. The name alone was too little to guess what the skill entailed. Leo didn't want to admit it, but he was somewhat drawn to the mystery of the skill. He wanted to pick it, but knew that if it turned out to be a shitty skill, there was no way to go back and pick another one. No refunds!

[ I advise host to choose liberty. ]

A soft sweet female voice sounded in Leo's ear, causing her to grind a low curse in anger. It wasn't when he was caught up with the announcer, not when he was slowly dying, but now that he was choosing a skill that the A.I. known as Sera decided to speak up.

Mere words could not describe the mental pain and suffering Leo had to endure this whole time. Having to go through such a nerve wracking experience on his own wasn't exactly a walk in the park. If it weren't for the experience Leo got from being a member of thr Green Scale Gang, he was sure would have had a mental breakdown when he had to face the furious fat announcer.

And worse of all, it felt like Sera loved it. Like she drives some sort of sick satisfaction from watching him sweat and breakdown before her eyes...or whatever she uses to see him.

This just further worsened the view Leo had of her. Because of this Leo didn't respond as he went on to select the skill HE thought would suit him most.

[ Skill Cataclysm has been added to host's skills. ]

[ Skills Available ]

[ Active Charge ]

[ Cataclysm ]

A satisfied smile plastered onto Leo's face. For some reason, going against what the Sera said lightened his mood a little bit. As I said before, Leo isn't someone who likes being controlled and will do everything in his power to prove that point to whoever he comes across in his life.

The A.I. let out a loud sound, an action that greatly surprised Leo. Someone who had substancial knowledge when it comes to computers, Leo knew about the latest A.I. systems the world were currently developing. However, he had never heard of a system that acted so...human. If it weren't for the robotic vibrations present her voice, Leo would have thought he was speaking to an actual woman. A woman with a seductive voice.

But at the end of the day she was still an A.I. the A.I. that abandoned Leo on his time of need, and Leo wasn't sure if he could forgive her for that.

__ __

The atmosphere was dark, cold but most especially eerie. The landscape was eerily calm, as if someone highly important had just died. The landscape was mostly muddy, with purple and red trees scattered across the swampy landscape. Located on the largest piece of dry land in the vicinity, stood a fortress which could reach the heavens.

The fortress was blue in colour, with a giant weird insignia on the wall along with flags having the same insignia mounted on the corners.

Deep inside the castle, in a large dark throne room, what could only be described as a mass of muscle sat comfortably on the throne with a relaxed expression.

"Looks like someone has finally activated sister's power." He said with a wide grin, which instantly dropped when he saw who had gotten such power.

"What?! How did sister Serevia's power end up in the hands of such a lowly mortal?!!" He yelled in anger, slamming his right fist on the table next to the throne, causing the cup of black blood on it to spill on the floor.