Chapter 69: The System Loses It

[YES! YES!]

It shot back and Arlo’s eyebrows furrowed.

[You are getting too attached, Arlo.]

[You almost got attached to that Captain Ennessa, and even now you feel a stupid sense of guilt toward her.]

"What do you mean by a stupid sense of guilt toward her..."

Arlo asked annoyed.

[You wanna know what I mean by that? You really wanna know that, Arlo.]

"Well, I do."

[What I mean is...if that Perfume Ennessa use to test you had worked, and you coughed. You’d be dead, killed by her own hands.]

It said and he froze.

[And your naive little ass is still thinking you have to one day repay her for her help. Do you not understand?]

[You ran away from a monster that would have killed you, regardless of what you both had.]

[And the only reason you don’t know that...you don’t see she is a monster is because you got attached.]

To that, Arlo could only remain silence.

[And now, you almost died blocking an attack from a person, who repaid your initial help with not putting her claws through your throat!]

[Do you see the brewing circle of your idiocy Arlo?]

[That’s what getting attached does to you! It makes you weak, never strong.]

"But...but."

[Tell me, what if you had died?]

[Would it have been worth it?]

[Would dying for her have been worth it? You would have died for nothing, Arlo.]

[She and her family will move past it. No matter how many years it takes, your death will eventually be forgotten.]

[And all your people back in Umbrasol.]

[The royals guards who died to carve you a chance of survival. Your father’s undeserving death.]

[Imagine all of that, laid to ruin because you wanted to be seen a hero for a girl you barely knew for a week.]

[Never ever, ever again, risk your life for anyone. Do you understand, Arlo?]

The System said, its anger and frustration as clear as day.

There was silence for a while, before the word cut through.

"I understand, system."

[Good!]

[A second occasion like this will never occur, or the second before you die, I’ll implode myself within you, giving you the most horrific pain you have ever experienced in your life.]

[The pain of your cells violently imploding as an unparalleled level of power tears apart every single bit of life within you, and I’ll magnify your senses by more than a thousand times, making sure you feel every phase of that pain.]

[It will drive you to madness thousands of times before you’re finally reduced to nothing but dust.]

[Trust me, Arlo, I’m the most vengeful existence you will ever meet and have ever met in your life,]

The System threatened fiercely as Arlo raised an eyebrow.

"You can implode within me?"

[Yes, I can.]

[Even right now. Have you forgotten, Arlo? My consciousness is the one that fused with you.]

[Once you die, I will also be wiped out, and unlike you, I won’t go down so easily.]

[I have goals to achieve too, Arlo, far more important goals than your mundane ones, and I’m damn serious about them.]

[You think you’re the only one who will die if you die? You’ll drag me down with you, and that I can’t allow!]

’Hmm, no wonder you’re so worried,’ Arlo thought to himself.

[That said, your hero act did trigger some strange protocol within the System.]

==============

[Congratulations on completing the Hidden Quest.]

[Hidden Quest: An assassination attack has been made on someone familiar to the Host. Prevent the assassination from coming to fruition!]

[Rewards Given:

I) +6 Level-Up Cards!

II) +3 Ability Upgrade Cards.]

"I never expected that at all," Arlo mused in quiet surprise.

"Activate System Interface."

[System Interface]

[Name: Arlo]

[Title: None]

[Race: Lesser Arcana Human]

[Cultivation: First Core Cyber Enhancer| Middle Magic Apprentice Realm]

[Level: 9]

[EXP: 700/1000]

[Level-Up Cards: 5]

[Does the Host wish to level up?]

"Yes."

[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 10. +10 Attribute Points gained.]

[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 11. +15 Attribute Points gained.]

[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 12. +15 Attribute Points gained.]

[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 13.+15 Attribute Points gained.]

[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 14.+15 Attribute Points gained.]

[Total Attribute Points: 70.]

]Congratulations, Host has crossed the Level 15 mark. An extra bonus benefit has been granted.]

[Host is ready to evolve!"]

"Evolve?" Arlo couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the information.

[Yes. You have reached a milestone in your System level.]

[The System now deems you worthy of an evolution, an evolution of your Infinity Joker Bloodline,]

The System explained as Arlo furrowed his eyebrows.

"And will that have any effect on me?"

"Yes, positively," the System replied before the holographic panels flashed before his eyes.

"Does Host wish to evolve?"

"I hope it all turns out well..." Arlo thought before steeling his mind.

"Yes."

[Host’s evolutionary state capability is being accessed.]

[Final state is being determined.]

[Final state has been determined.]

[Congratulations, Host will now undergo evolution in 3... 2... 1.]

[Host’s evolution will now begin...]

The System notification flickered continuously, and suddenly, Arlo dropped to his knees where he sat before his body slammed sideways onto the ground against his will.

A bout of drowsiness overcame him, and he found himself rapidly sinking into darkness.

____________________

"YOU FAILED THE MISSION!"

The brutal roar, sounding like the echoes of an ancient devil, resounded through the darkness of a hall dimly lit by a couple of crimson candles hanging throughout the place.

The faint light revealed the two entities present there.

One was a figure on all fours, his entire body repeatedly quivering as if bolts of electricity were being passed through him, while the other was a dark coffin covered in crimson-red runes that seemed to drip with blood, suspended in mid-air despite the absence of any platform beneath it.

"You deserve more than death for your failure! And you even dared waste my power without killing the princess. You deserve something even worse than death!" The ear-grating voice resounded from none other than the coffin.

"Forgive me, My Lord! Forgive me!"

The figure kneeling on the ground, someone Arlo would have recognized as the one who sent him crashing into the distance, cried out as he furiously begged for his life.

"I care not for your mundane life. Calling it useless would be giving it too much praise."

"What I want is a reason! A reason not to wipe you out of existence right now!" the voice replied.

"I do, Lord, I do! You see, Lord, the only reason I failed was because of a boy. A boy who was beside the princess."

"He is an anomaly, Lord! An anomaly!"

"An anomaly!??"

"The truth is, the boy was no doubt younger than the princess, yet he was able to resist my full attack power and save the princess’s life with his own."

"That should have been more than enough to wipe him out, yet I hear he is still alive!"

"Besides, Lord, the boy was much faster than us, and he also has a strange pair of wings. A pair of huge white wings, like an angel!"

"Impossible! Tell me, what does he look like..." the ancient figure sealed within the coffin asked, his voice booming through the darkness of the hall.

The figure kneeling on the ground raised his head and immediately began narrating everything that had occurred during the mission, including Arlo’s strange white body and white wings.

"There’s no doubt about it. Someone from the Eboncrest has had his bloodline regress to that of a fallen angel."

"A fallen angel! Just how long has it been since the appearance of one within the clans?"

The figure rambled on before the hall eventually fell quiet.

"Now that a failed assassination attempt has been made on the princess, they will no doubt raise their guard to the limit."

"Bring me the boy. I have no need for the princess anymore."

"She is nothing compared to a fallen angel, and less attention will also be placed on the boy."

"I believe we have spies within the academy..." the voice said as the kneeling Vorath nodded.

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. Bring the boy to me. Once I absorb his bloodline, not only will I be able to escape this seal, but I will also grow stronger than ever before."

"MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

A spine-chilling laugh echoed through the hall as he cackled like a true devil, sending pulses of fear through the poor messenger’s heart.

"You can leave now, and if you fail this time, there will no longer be a reason for you to continue existing."

"You have a week to bring that boy to me, dead or alive!" he threatened fiercely.

"Yes, My Lord. I will not disappoint you this time..."

He promised before immediately jumping to his feet and running away from the hall, reducing the place to eternal silence once more.

"The True Ancient Voraths will be awakened once more, and we will end this senseless law with those foolish Humans!"

The voice, filled with a maddening amount of conviction, rang throughout the dark hall as the two crimson candles suddenly died, leaving the place in pitch darkness once again.

____________

Within a dimly lit room, the stench of putrid flesh and blood filled the air, assaulting the senses of anyone who dared enter.

Tracing the source of the smell, a young man coated in gooey black substance could be seen lying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of his own blood mixed with the foul-smelling substance.

A large skin-like layer covered him, as though he had shed his own skin, making the anomaly surrounding the young man even more bizarre.

His breathing however remained steady, his chest rising and falling, proving that he was still alive.

The figure was none other than Arlo, whose eyebrows soon quivered and then...

SCROOOOOCH!

A scorching beam of crimson light flashed through the darkness as he snapped his eyes open, releasing the beam from them.

With a gentle push against the ground, he shot upright into a sitting position, his eyes scanning the room before his attention turned to his hands, followed by a golden notification panel appearing before him.

[Congratulations on your successful evolution.]

[You have now evolved from a Lesser Arcana Human to a Higher Arcana Human.]

[Your Strength, Agility, and Perception stats have been doubled.]

[Your Infinity Joker Bloodline Skill Playful Magnifier has evolved, and you have also awakened new Infinity Joker Skills.]