Classless Ascension

A lone yellow car flew at high speed toward Metropolis-C. How long had it been since Josh had last visited? He almost felt emotional, almost. 

He had two targets to hunt here. As for Cleaner Jackson? Josh had left him behind, alive and in a temporary coma. He would fetch him again when he was done with the others.

As he arrived in the city, he smiled at the familiar efficiently organized districts.  He picked up his UW, typing in the general Draconic guild chat: 

- Josh MF Malum: I'm back! @Jack the Healer, I have some business with you. Come to the Unstoppable Diner asap. 

- Tank Barbara: Oh crap, run! The devil's back! =P

- Dimitri the Musician: Jack, you better play dead!! 

- Joel the Explorer: Jack will be exploring the afterlife soon… RIP ~ F!

- Raffa Loves Kunais: Hello, Sir! Welcome back, and I hope your trip was fun! Please forgive my friends. It's in their nature to court death.

Josh closed the chat while shaking his head. These guys sure were lively. How was he a devil?! He was super friendly! In any case, he headed to the meeting spot. 

As he entered the restaurant, he was welcomed by the comforting smell of homemade meat pie. Instantly his stomach rumbled as he hollered at the waitress. A few minutes later, he was already devouring plate after plate contentedly. He had missed the old man's cooking. 

He kept going until Jack arrived. The youngster was nervously looking around as he twirled his fingers. Why was he so stressed? Hadn't their last interaction been pretty friendly?

- Jack the Healer: I'm here. What now? 

- Josh MF Malum: There's a man with many plates on his table, do your best to help him. That will be all. 

The youngster noticed the disguised Josh, headed his way, and took a seat with great unease. He seemed utterly confused about what he was doing there. 

Josh calmly enlightened him: 

"Bring me to that to that one friend of yours. The guy who used to be part of the Golden Wolves and who accompanied you to the Gene Corp's base." 

"What?! Oh...alright...but I doubt he'll be very helpful. He's been cooped up in his house ever since coming back..." He sighed. 

"No matter, I'll convince him. Alright, let's go!" Josh left a fat tip for the chef, adding — I like your cooking, old man, I'll be back to it. ;) J.

It didn't take long for the youngster to bring him to a small building at the city's periphery. The quiet was all it had going for it. Such a dwelling wasn't worthy of a successful Climber. What had happened to him? Was it PTSD? 

The youngster pressed on the intercom: "Hey, it's me. Look, I know that you—" but he was suddenly interrupted by a strident sound. 

— Screech! — 

"LeAvE Me aLoNe!" came a high-pitched voice with a changing tone. It didn't sound human one bit! What the hell?! But the being coughed, speaking again, clearly this time: "Go, I'm not fit for civilization anymore. Let me rot away here till I die…." Talk about gloomy and melodramatic! 

"You can go back to Draconic. I'll handle things here." Josh waved the youngster goodbye, who hurriedly left as if pardoned of a crime! He then turned to the intercom again. "Open up, and let me in."

"Or what? I have nothing to lose anymore…." The weird voice scoffed. 

"Oh, believe me, one always has something to lose. Anyway, open up, or you'll have to face Josh Malum's wrath! Muahahahaha!" He playfully added. He was about to continue when came the shouts: 

"Eeek, J-josh Malum?! He sent you here?! WhAt pRoOf dO YoU HaVe?! WhAt dO YoU WaNt?!" 

"Relax, I'm just here to talk about your old guild, that's all," Josh reassured. 

"You promise?" A calm voice resounded again. 

"I promise on my own head!" Josh swore. 

"No, promise on Josh Malum's head! No one crosses him without having a horrible ending!" Said the man. This felt rather weird, but whatever. 

"Fine! ….I promise on Josh's Malum's head!" 

That's when the door was remotely opened. Peering inside, Josh was confronted with a world of darkness. Had the electricity bill not been paid or something? No, there was something else that felt very wrong. 

He could distinguish dust, trash, and even rat remains. What the hell?! It would have been a raccoon's dream house! Then the walls and furniture were all scratched as if by sharp nails. 

But, the most disturbing thing had to be the floor. Josh suddenly realized that it was covered in a thin layer of a viscous substance, one that smelled slightly fruity but sour at the same time. What was that?! 

The slimy stuff seemed to become more concentrated toward a particular door, one that led to the basement. As Josh went to open it, he heard a scream once more: 

"StAy wHeRe yOu aRe! …We'll talk from there, don't come in!"

"No thanks, I'm not sure what happened to you, but now I'm curious. Don't worry. I won't judge." 

Josh decisively opened the door, only to be attacked! In the entrance, there were now spiky fleshy appendages trying to swat him away! He instantly blocked, not losing any ground at all. He even slowly began fighting his way inside. 

It was even darker there. As Josh activated his piercing eyes' ability, he couldn't help but gasp. There he was. The man still had the same face, but his body was completely different!

His limbs were goddamn tentacles! There were even some coming out of his back and torso! It was all wriggling, seemingly twisting in horror after seeing the red glow of his eyes. 

"Y-YoU! hE DiDn't sEnD YoU, yOu'rE HiM!" The creature recoiled in fright, taking a few steps back toward the corner of the room. Yeah, the eyes had given him away. It was eyes he would never forget. 

But then suddenly, the fright seemed to turn to anger as the thing began growling: "YoU'Re hIm. It's aLl yOuR FaUlT ThAt I'm lIkE ThIs! It's aLl bEcAuSe oF YoU ThAt I'm nOtHiNg bUt a fReAk!" 

What?! Had he been affected by the chaos pearl?! This had to be the explanation. But, how?! Three of them had escaped alive. How had he been the only one to show any sign of mutation?! Did he have a special genome or something?! 

As the countless tentacles charged his way, Josh began parrying them all before emitting pure unrestrained killing intent. It seemed to carry terrifying memories for the opponent as he began cowering and even sobbing in a fetal position. 

Josh could only sigh. How was he supposed to deal with this? That's when he remembered the players that had shown similar signs of breaking down and how they had overcome it. He left for a few minutes, coming back with a piping hot cup of hot cocoa. 

Josh forcefully handed it to the poor half-man half-monster. "Drink. It will make you feel better."

As the creature forced itself to sip on the beverage, Josh inquired: "So, start from the beginning, what happened to you exactly?" 

"It's all from that dark purple light from back then. It stuck to me, invaded my body, and changed it, all until I became like this. I tried to treat it, but nothing worked! Now, I'm nothing but an abomination, underserving of living." He cried out. 

"Now, now. Don't exaggerate. It just means you have enormous latent power, one that you can't control just yet." Josh comforted as he patted the man's back, swarming with tentacles.

"What's the point?! I couldn't even keep you away from this place!" 

"Well, yeah. But how long haven't you been Climbing? Not only did you fall behind, but you're getting rusty too. Plus, you obviously have difficulty controlling these new limbs. It will all get sorted with training. Stop over-worrying." 

"What's the freaking point?! I'm a monster! I'm a stain to society!" He barely kept his calm. 

"You're exaggerating so much! Here, let me show you something that will cheer you up." Josh carefully searched on his UW. He soon realized that such godly knowledge wasn't as popular here. Nonetheless, he still found what he was looking for. The fallen had brought it over! 

"Here, watch this. It will give you hope and strength!" Josh wisely nodded. 

At this moment, the man felt confidence in his voice. Did he have a solution?! Was it even possible?! But then he remembered who the guy was. He had slain the entirety of the Gene Corp faction alone and had caused the incident in the first place. 

His hopeful eyes finally landed on the screen….what the fuck was this?! There, an 18+ video was playing. It featured a cute brunette getting all her holes filled to the very brim with tentacles?! 

"W-what is this?!" 

"This? It's called tentacle hentai, and I'll let you in on a secret. Chicks dig tentacles! Well, some of them do." Josh happily shared. Whether it was true or not didn't even matter, as long as it could give the man hope. 

"S-she definitely seems to be enjoying it…." He murmured. 

"For sure! So don't worry too much. So what if you don't look human? You can still find love. You can also Climb. You just need to get used to a new fighting style! As for friendship, this won't be a problem. Aren't we talking just fine right now?" Josh remarked. 

That's when the man realized with a jolt that this was true. He just needed to find more weirdos like this crazy man! 

"By the way, have you heard that I opened a Climber's school? You can head there for training if you want. How about it?" 

"Y-yes….Yes!" 

"Great, then let's prepare for it. But first, you'll have to help me with something. Tell me all you can about the Adamantium Wolves and the Holy Paladin Joseph!"

"Sure….but his name is actually Josef…." He weakly remarked.

"Great! I knew it was a good idea to ask for your help!" Thus, a tentacle monster and a true monster began scheming their next move….