When I returned home after a long day at the labs, the first thing I wanted to do was greet my bed. Unfortunately, I was also a responsible adult and thus needed to check my e-mail.
Rule #1 of being an adult: communication make and break lives.
Rule #2 of being an adult: e-mail was your best friend.
I groaned as I chugged my way across the apartment room towards my Core i7-970, 32 GB memory, and GeForce GTX 1080 fit computer.
My pride and joy...
I put her together, piece by piece, hardware by hardware.
And yet my job kept me away from my games.
EVE Online, Stellaris, Europa Universalis 4, Rainbow Siege 6, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch ...
My lovely collection of games...
Sitting in dust.
I booted up the PC.
As for why I didn't answer such e-mails on my phone...
Well, the company I work for, the ******* Chemical Industries, has strict policy regarding smartphones in lab workers.
They don't exist in your possession when you are on your job site.
As such, I just switched over to a flip phone. Made life easier too.
Unfortunately, this has degraded my own social life a bit hard. With no access to a smartphone, my access to social networking sites were limited. If that didn't make my life hard, most of my friends chatted over smartphone exclusive apps.
But hey, at least I make $215,000 a year, so not that much of a biggie for me.
Still, thinking about it, it's been three months since I sat down on my computer, and it was to check for work related communication e-mail. Dearly me, if the past me saw me, then he would declare me heretic on the spot for checking my e-mail outside of my own computer regularly and not taking care of our baby enough.
Username: [emailprotected]
Password: ******************
And I'm in.
31 New E-mails in Inbox ...
Scam here. Link there. Spam marked.
And hello, someone calling themselves a fan?
[Dear Akallas Von Aerok,
Hey there. I'm a huge fan of your works. But I'm not here to just say that. No, I wanted to ask you to write a Worm CYOA...]
The letter went on and on about why the fan wanted a Worm CYOA.
And then at the last part, he would agree to "donate" through Matreon four thousand dollars if I wrote a fifty-thousand that matched my other works in terms of quality.
What did you think my response was?
"Hell yes."
That's how I found myself sitting in front of my computer with CYOA Version 3, the latest of the "releases" for those wanting to make a Worm CYOA. It was an interestng little read, from top to bottom, because it was a Worm CYOA maker focused on making Worm a cross-over rather than ... well, Worm-only fanfiction. Nonetheless, it made the shindig a bit interesting...
And being the oddball that I was, I just loved the concept of Wildcard. For each point, it granted the main character a random power.
Ha!
Just imagine the power to generate bubblegum .... by chewing. You would never be able to eat anything without tasting bubblegum. Actually, as funny that is, life would be hell. Beef and bubblegum do not go well together.
Nonetheless, it was what I wanted for my main character. Now, how many points did I have? Of course, I chose the god mode for that juicy ten points! But ... I can go a little bit farther. Considering that this character was going to be a big hitter -10 points meant ten powers with varied levels of destruction-, why not add little disadvantages like "Without a Map" for 2 more points (by dropping him off in Ellisberg) and make him be Wanted by a lot of people for 7 more points (ABB, E88, and Merchants want to kill MC at all cost, and the Protectorate/PRT wants the MC in jail for crippling a few heroes)?
It would put the MC with 19 points.
...But to round it off, why not a Geas?
"May not help Taylor Hebert directly."
Yup. Fits in with the story.
20 points.
And let's roll em...
[co*ckatrice Physiology – Changer 7]
[Happiness Inducement – Blaster 8]
[Air Manipulation – Shaker 8]
[Multiple bodies – Master 6]
[Disguise Mastery – Stranger 4]
[Internal Energy Combustion – Striker 3]
[Peak Human Flexibility – Brute 3]
[Polearm Construction – Striker 3]
[Skin Removal – Striker 9]
[Feral Mind – Brute 5]
[Sand Manipulation – Shaker 6]
[Prehensile Connective Tissue – Brute 8]
[Wood Manipulation – Master 7]
[Benevorous (feed off goodness of foe) – Shaker 9]
[Water Manipulation – Shaker 7]
[Biological Manipulation – Striker 10]
[Energy Blast – Blaster 5]
[Umbrakinetic Constructs – Shaker 10]
[Blood Manipulation – Shaker 9]
[Power Thief – Trump 7]
And then I whistled at the list I managed to cook up.
Sure, there were useless bits here and there with low numbers (Feral Mind and Peak Human Flexibility), but it had quite a bit of extremely versatile powers (Biological Manipulation and Umbrakinetic Constructs).
I tapped my chin in thought as I went over the list.
On a whim then, I sent the list to the supposed paying fan.
To my surprise, I got a quick reply.
[Enjoy.]
Did he mean he was okay wi-.
_ _ _ _ _
-th it?
I blinked and I blinked again.
I was no longer staring at my computer screen. I was no longer staring at my baby, and instead, I was staring at a brick wall with peeling paint. I slowly got up from where I had been sitting (and when did I go from sitting in a chair to sitting on the ground without me noticing it?) and looked around.
The house itself had this musty smell about. It reminded me a bit of the lab. Chairs were strewn about in the dining room. The kitchen was lightless and quiet.
Actually, now that I listed, there was a sound-
Thump.
Dundundundun Slam.
I slowly turned around.
And blinked.
The thing blinked at me too. It looked nothing like a person. It had a fish's head but the body of a molten moss crossed with a horse. Its arms were too long and hairless. Its two stubby legs sat on the ground almost on the same level as its butt.
"INTRUDER!"
And then I knew I was in trouble.
Then it jumped at me.
Without thinking about it, I threw my fist forward.
Hey, I may be a lab rat, but I held black belt in karate, tae kwon do, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Then something amazing happened.
The shadows around me formed a spiked glove around my fist, and that smashed into the fist's face.
Its face caved in and green blood splattered out of everywhere. It shuddered for a second before falling.
"Okay, what the f*ck is going on here?" I muttered to myself, staring between my fist and the unconscious fish-horse-moss thing.
The shadow gauntlet surrounding my fist disappeared soon afterwards, leaving me befret of weapons once more, but by then, I had gotten a general idea of what had happened to me.
"Son of a bitch!" I roared. "I got f*cking ROBed!"
On one hand, shouting like a madman was not smart. Immediately after I shouted, I heard a stampede outside the house. Wasting no time, I ran to the nearest window and looked out.
I wet my pants right there and then.
I saw a literal horde of varied creatures demolishing everything in their path towards me.
I backed away from the the window and tore into my hair.
"Okay, okay, think! What powers did I get? There was like twenty of them! Think, think, think, thin-!"
...
co*ckatrice. The mythological dragon with eyes that induce death.
Multiple bodies. An ability that I can use to make more bodies.
And just like that, I was no longer the prey.
I was the hunter.
PRT officers manning the survelliance station at Ellisburg became curious.
"Hey, Elton, doesn't that look strange?" PRT agent Boyavar, a former Sergent of the USA army, asked his partner.
The two stared at the screen showing the dozens of Nilbog's creation charging towards a single house.
"Probably they found someone who's been hiding," Elton replied idifferently. "Poor chap."
Boyavar scoffed. "You mean they found a 'fresh meat,' and are racing for it?"
"Pretty much. I've seen it happen before."
And then the house exploded.
"What the-?"
Through the screen, they saw nineteen titanic creatures rise up.
"... Are those co*ckatrice?"
"A what?" Elton turned to Boyavar.
"You know, those things with a rooster's head but a dragon's body! Do you watch any fantasy shows?"
The two stared at the screen and watched as the co*ckatrices just glared at the monsters approaching them, and all of those monsters dropped dead.
".... Hell, it has eyes that kill with a look. Those are f*cking co*ckatrices, and Nilbog doesn't make mythological creatures," Boyavar hissed as he jumped out of his seat.
"Hey, what's wrong?!" Elton demanded, surprised by his partner's sudden movement.
"Look at them. They're all identical to each other! There's someone else other than Nilbog in there, and it's going to blow up on us!" he shouted as he ran for the nearest long range communications: his phone. He dialed the nearest PRT office.
"PRT East Northeast, how may w-"
"This is PRT Officer Boyavar at Ellisburg Survelliance Station, PRT identification code Charlie-one-seven-one-one-three-Gamma-Charlie-Bravo-Alpha-Bravo. I need immediate connection to Director of your local branch," he said in the calmest tone possible. "Nilbog may have just been engaged by another parahuman."
Director Piggot stiffened in her chair when the PRT agent at Ellisburg explained to her exactly what was going on.
During the time between his call and the transfer to her office, creatures resembling the mythological "co*ckatrice" clashed in a battle against Nilbog's creatures, all of which were streaming out of every nook and cranny of Ellisburg. It has yet to be concluded, but the images showed a one-sided slaughter.
co*ckatrices (co*ckatri for plural?) just glared at Nilbog's creations for them to die. The smarter ones avoided direct eye contactand fought on, and yet, if they got close enough, the furious swipe of the co*ckatrice's forearm was enough to knock them aside, if it didn't kill them. The really smart ones banded their fellow abominations together to launch a swarm attack.
Then the co*ckatrice would open its maw and roar.
And what a roar it was.
The very air seemed to vibrate in a conical path of destruction. Any in front of it would be pulverized to mush. Those caught on the edges would have their limbs torn off by the pressure.
"Thank you for alerting me to the situation, agent." She hung up and called a number on speed dial. There was a moment where the phone rang its obligatory tone before someone picked up. "I need to talk to Chief Director Brown. It concerns a new situation brewing in Ellisburg."
I laughed.
So this was what having limitless power was like?
Why did I ever keep myself confined to a mere two hundred grand a year? There was so much more I could have done with my time! What was two hundred grand in face of this awesome power?!
My first body roared as five of Nilbog's creations (what else could they be?) jumped at me. My [Air Manipulation] worked its magic and turned my roar into a typhoon of hypo-pressure cone of death. The bodies of the "goblins" vibrated before popping like balloon.
I laughed harder.
Here was Ellisburg, the boogieman's throne, and I was absolutely crushing everything.
One by one, my co*ckatri(?) heads turned towards the center of Ellisburg. Where Nilbog was sure to wait for me. I couldn't help myself. I laughed.
I was going to kill someone.
I -or rather we, despite my being able to sense through all of my "clone" bodies- marched towards the center of Ellisburg. We took a single road and ran.
That's when the true power of the Goblin King struck us.
Elton and Boyavar had popcorn out and they weren't feeling guilty at all.
They were in the front row seat of what was possibly the destruction of a S-class threat to the world. Of course, they were going to watch it with a snack to keep them occupied!
"Holy sh*t, Nilbog is going all out."
Whereas this new cape fought dozens of Nilbog's abominations in the skirmish in the outskirt of Ellisburg, they were now being engaged by thousands of them.
And the newcomer was winning.
Where Nilbog met the claws and the killing glares of the new cape with his entire supernatural army, the newcomer met that army with the unnerving power of the air.
Elton watched in awe as one of the co*ckatri tossed a goblin into the air, and then bisect it to pieces with nothing but a hiss. Then it would spin around and whip up a typhoon with its wings, shredding any goblin in front of it.
His favorite, though, was the Roar of Popping.
"Oh, another one got ROP'ed."
Boyavar glared at him. "Really?"
"What? At least I can claim that I made that name up."
"It's stupid as f*ck. Roar of Popping. Couldn't you just go with Roar or even Roar of Death?"
"Bah. Too corny."
And again, they watched as the very attack happened again.
This time, it was made by all nineteen co*ckatri. They stood in a ring with their backs to each other and blasted the goblins.
Everything around them was destroyed. Trees, grass, houses, and the goblins fell away. They either popped or grounded into rubble.
"Oh man, check this out," Elton said after briefly looking up.
"What?" Boyavar looked up too. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"Triumverate's in town?"
"A bit too late for the show, though."
"Hmm."
There was nothing around us now. All that stood in our path was slain.
... Damn, if that didn't make me feel good.
We laughed.
Clap clap clap.
We stopped laughing and turned towards the source of the noise.
And to our shock, there stood the Goblin King.
Nilbog.
"I haven't seen this kind of destruction since the last time the PRT sent their heroes and goons after me. And you're certainly no hero; you kill too easily. To whom do I have the pleasure of-?"
We didn't waste time. All nineteen of us blasted him with our Roars.
Nilbog didn't quite pop; all nine of us were using different air pressure. Instead, he caved in and popped at the same time.
Kind of like looking at an implosion within an explosion.
We co*cked our head in confusion.
That's it?
The S-class threat that has the PRT shaking in its boots...
That's it?
I was expecting ... something more. Like in those fanfiction where the main character fights Nilbog in a bloody war.
This is it?
The only thought Alexandria had as she and her two friends slowly approached the center of Ellisburg was this: "it's a massacre."
There was at least ten thousand dead bodies and about half as much as that body mass in unidentifiable mess.
She had personally wanted to rid of Nilbog from the map, but had been blocked from doing so by others within Cauldron. Even if she had been given the go, she imagined that her assault on Nilbog wouldn't be this bloody...
Nonetheless, either a new or unknown cape had done this.
This massacre of Nilbog's forces.
It was ... eye-raising and certainly worrying. If this new cape was territorial like so many others, then Nilbog hadn't been defeated; he would have been replaced.
Our noses picked something up in the winds.
We looked up.
Our eyes widened.
Hastily, an image was thrown together.
Eidolon was the first to spot them.
Nineteen creatures all looking towards them.
Just like he had been told in the briefing, he didn't meet their eyes, opting to stare at their feathers and scales.
Dragon, these co*ckatri may be, but they were nothing like Lung in his most advanced form. They were like the dragons in fairy-tales. Shiny scales covering their bodies. Power unimaginable held within their roars.
He wondered how they would fare against him.
It was to his surprise then that one of the co*ckatri approached them ... with a rider.
I was nervous as hell, but I also knew better than to show off any weakness like that. This was like and also different from my fights in the rings.
You sized the other party up to determine your action, and you assumed the other party did the same. Thus, you kept your guard up and any weakness hidden. At the same time, my life was on the line. If the Triumverate believed that I was a threat because of my powers, then I would be on the run.
So, I made an image of a warrior. I made another clone. Using [Blood Manipulation], I created spiked yet flowing armor and helmet to cover the clone and my identity in protection. I used my [Polearm Construction] in conjunction with [Blood Manipulation] to create a giant lance made out of crystallized blood. On top of these, I rode one of my co*ckatri bodies to meet them.
Should the Triumverate burn those two bodies, I had eighteen more bodies to use to escape them. Fast and powerful they may be, but all of my bodies were capable of using all twenty of my powers without restriction. Even killing the two bodies I sent to meet them would be a serious battle that would leave at least a city block inhabitable.
I kept to my "edgy" image, and I hoped to God that this doesn't spiral down.
"So the heroes finally show up to the pest control... I wasn't expecting you at all."
"So the heroes finally show up to the pest control... I wasn't expecting you at all."
Alexandria felt something irk at that. Even so, she kept a tight leash on her emotions. It wouldn't do for her emotions to be the cause of alienation of this cape.
"Do we have name to call you by?"
A name.
Huh. I don't have a cape name.
What name should I go by? Oh boy, this was a new territory.
"Definitely a new cape," Legend muttered to his friends. "Taking too long to say it."
And then I had a name!
I looked up to the Triumverate.
"Call me the Crimson King."
"Is it because of the blood?" Eidolon asked in earnest.
"Hmm, no. Blood control is but one of my weaker powers." The way they stiffened told me exactly what I meant by what I said.
'I'm a grab-bag, and I'm really strong.'
It was a subtle play of intrigue. I knew that Alexandria was sure to get it, if not Eidolon. I hadn't expected Legend to get it; all of my memories of Worm told me that Legend was the less politically involved than Alexandria and thus less experienced in the art of intrigue such as this, minor it may be. Perhaps he wasn't as "naive" as he appeared in the book.
I hope that it wouldn't tickle Eidolon's little problem, though. You know, the one in his head and not in the hands of his powers.
"As you can see, my control over blood means little when my creations like this co*ckatrice can easily sweep aside pest like Nilbog." As if to assert the point, I had my co*ckatrice thrill, the very act causing the ground around us to shatter and cave a little. Of course, this was my "co*ckatrice ride" body just increasing the pressure around us on the ground level incredibly high for just a quick second.
Eidolon seemed impressed, at least.
...Wait, wasn't that a bad thing? He's not going to hold back if we get into a fight.
Alexandria did not let the co*ckatrice scare her. No, the only thing that scared her about the mythological creatures turned into reality was their ability to kill with a glare.
She was invulnerable to most forms of combat, but the co*ckatrice glare of death was one she did not want to test, and with more of them ready to back this "Crimson King," any and all battles with this cape might result in her death.
Unless she fought blind, but her other senses would not be able help her in combat as much as sight.
No, what truly worried her was the cape's ability to control blood. He called it one of his weaker power, and he was obviously comparing it to the co*ckatrices he made, but it was a power that may be more capable of hurting her than any other.
After all, she was a creature of blood and flesh. Stop her blood, just hold it in place, and she would die like any other.
Legend was curious.
Crimson King appeared to them out of nowhere. He didn't remember seeing the rider in the brief skirmish of the video that took place on the outskirt of Ellisburg. It meant that either the rider appeared later, and he remained hidden. And as menacing as he looked, he should have no reason to hide.
That meant that the man appeared later.
But why?
I turned away from the Triumverate, seemingly ignoring them. Of course, my co*ckatrice ride body kept an eye on them, but my "Crimson Knight" body looked to the centero f Ellisburg.
"The vermin is gone, but this wretched town remains."
On command, the rest of my bodies moved out of the center of the town towards us. Triumverate stiffened. Legend's hands glowed just a little. Eidolon hunched a little. Alexandria tensed, her joints bending just a bit.
Details hard to see -except Legend's glowing hands- but ones I could tell with my new bird sight.
Funny that.
Anyway, they were tense, but I was not.
I mean, why would I be? I dont intend to fight them.
So just 500 meters before the rest of my bodies reached me, they split off, going around in a circle until their backs were turned and the city was in front of them again.
Then they roared.
Hyper pressure airwaves vibrating fast enough to cut through steel -as limited in range as they were- sped out across the field.
Buildings, trees, and corpses of Nilbog's armies disintegrated before the might of my roars. They were louder than jet engines. They were more powerful than hurricanesriances and tornados. Even to my surprised eyes, they appeared as wrathful claws of an unspeakable force reducing everything to dust.
Once they were far enough to not affect our speech and hearing, my Crimson King body turned to the Triumverate.
"One must be thorough in pest control, no? Clean-up is always part of the job."
_ _ _ _ _
A/N: Okay, a new story. I am debating on which to continue this: this or my other new story. I always like Worm CYOA SI, and both of these stories are (even though Devourer is kind of less in that regard. That one is just Homunculus Pride(FMA), and Tahm (God of Highschool) put together). For those of you who read both, leave a message on which you would like to see. Of course, I won't be completely swayed by public opinion (I write for fun and myself), but I do get swayed.
Also the e-mail on this chapter is fake.
