NOVEL NEXT B1 | Chapter 2 - Awakening
Cassandra
Year ???? | Month ?? | Day ??
“-subject Wrath is going along very nicely so far,” I hear almost as soon as I wake up.
The voice, along with whoever they’re talking to, sounds very muffled, as if there’s some sort of barrier between us. What’s more, is that I feel like I’m floating inside of some sort of liquid.
I try to open my eyes, only to not get any reaction at all.
What did those… invaders? I’m guessing they're invaders. Anyways, what did those invaders do to me that’s left me like this…?
“That’s good to hear, but when are you going to start the brainwashing?” An authoritative voice says to the other one.
Brainwashing? Not really sure what that means, but it certainly doesn’t sound like something good.
The other voice replies back without any hesitation, “We will be doing that the day after she’s fully mutated.”
Mutated?
Now that, I understand. But is it something they’re doing, or is it because of that heart thing?
Also, did they call me Wrath?
What’s with that name?
I try to furrow my brows, only for my body to still be unresponsive.
At least I can still feel everything, so I know my body is still humanoid, despite whatever the mutation they’re talking about is.
My thoughts begin to slow down as the voices start fading away.
Damn, guess I’m going back to sleep…
The last thing I hear before falling back under is, “I also heard that one of the high generals is coming for this invasion.”
An unknown amount of time later
My eyes slowly begin to flutter open, and I find myself floating in some sort of cylindrical container full of… is that blood?
Oh, wait, I can move again. Although only barely.
I look down slightly, only to find that I’m naked in the container, and that I have some sort of tube connected to a mask covering the lower half of my face.
My brows furrow at this sight, but I lightly shake my head to focus on what matters right now.
How long have I been unconscious? And what’s happened to the kingdom since that initialization thing?
Suddenly, another one of those strings of words appears in front of my face. Although maybe I should just call them System notes or something, because not having a name for it will get old at some point.
Warning: Sin Organ Fully Integrated
Your species has now changed from Human into Embodiment of Wrath.
My eyes widen slightly at the warning.
That… would explain why they called me Wrath before.
Not saying that I’m not confused or upset about this, buuut I think there are more important issues at hand right now.
Like that brainwashing thing they mentioned be-
My thoughts are interrupted as a light clicking sound comes from outside of the container. I squint my eyes in the hopes of getting a clearer sight of whatever it is that’s outside of the container, only to fail to see clearly enough to make anything out except for some faint silhouettes.
Right as the warning disappears, I begin to hear the same voices from the last time I was awake, except slightly clearer now.
“It looks like Wrath is finally finished mutating,” the voice of the subordinate from before says. “At this point, we should be able to proceed with the brainwashing by tomorrow.”
Ugh, that brainwashing thing again.
Wait, finished mutating?
Actually, now that I think about it…
I stretch my head to look down at my body, only to find not all that much different. Still the same modest, humanoid body. Although, it’s kind of difficult to tell from this angle.
Suddenly, something catches my attention and I turn my head to look at my hand.
Claws…?
Yeah, those definitely weren’t there before. I’m pretty sure that I’d remember having claws.
I wonder if I have fangs too?
Too bad my mouth and face beneath the mask seems to be completely numb for some reason.
Anyways, it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to find any of the other mutations right now. Not while I’m bathing in some tube of blood.
The voices have been continuing as I’ve been looking at myself, but they’ve mostly just been chatting amongst themselves about some high general that’s just recently visited.
Not really something I care about at the moment, but it could come in handy to know about later.
My thoughts are interrupted again as a System note appears in my vision.
Personal Announcement
Congratulations! Thanks to your change in species, you have gained the following Racial Skills!
The Calling of Wrath – One of the seven Sin skills. Allows the user to perform one of three actions weekly:
Temporarily shapeshift into a powerful beast chosen at random.
Let out a roar that brings out Wrath amongst every living creature who hears it.
Pour all of the user's accumulated Wrath into a single attack, drastically increasing its damage potential.
Claws of Wrath – Grants the user a very small amount of life-steal when using their claws to attack another living being.
Fangs of Wrath – Grants the user a true damage bonus when biting another living being dependent on the emotional states of both parties involved.
Hmm.
So, I guess I do have fangs after all.
Maybe the suitors will stop trying to propose to me now that I have claws and fangs?
The thought rolls around in my head for a few moments, but I’m drawn back out of my head by the entry of another voice into my captors’ conversation outside of the blood tube thing.
“Sirs, we have a situation with Lust,” the new voice says in a hurry, “she’s making the doctors over there…”
If I could laugh right now, I’d probably laugh at his unfinished statement.
It’s just pretty hilarious, despite my situation.
Anyways, that piece of information is rather interesting.
It means that I’m not the only Sin here. And if my Calling of Wrath skill is a Sin skill, I’m guessing that Lust girl probably used whatever her Sin skill is called.
Calling of Lust, maybe?
Not like it matters.
I hear sounds of running as I’m assuming the three people in whatever room I’m in rush out to deal with that situation.
But what confuses me, is that not even two minutes later, I hear a loud shattering noise, followed by some footsteps.
Someone came back?
Guess not everyone cares about that Lust girl after all.
Anyways.
Status.
I think that was the-
Name: Cassandra de Luna
Species: Embodiment of Wrath +
Level: 1
Class: N/A [To be assigned in 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 47 seconds]
EXP: 0
Talent/s: True Body, Attuned(46%)
PHYS: STR – 2.1, DEX – 2.4, RES – 2.0
MENTAL: INT – 2.5, WIS – 2.4, MP – 20
Skills
-right command.
Yep.
Wait, what? It’s only been a few days?
Huh.
I would’ve thought that it’s been a lot longer than that, but I guess that’s a good thi-
My thoughts come to a crashing halt as another loud shattering sound echoes through the room and I find myself being tugged by the rushing blood towards what is now a large hole in the side of whatever container I was being held in.
Holy shit.
I take advantage of the situation to finally look around the room I’m in.
Unsurprisingly, it looks like some sort of mad alchemist's lair. Except with a lot of strange, metal tools that I’ve never seen before.
And a couple of other containers that look a lot like the one I’m currently half-in.
That said, the most interesting thing is the large man in some sort of fancy armor standing in front of me with a frown on his face as he shakes off some glass from his fist.
His undamaged fist.
Huh. He’s strong.
He also seems to be rather old, considering the gray hair on his head and in the stubble on his chin.
And that’s not all. When I make eye contact with the man, a very small System note appears in my vision.
Name: ???
Level: ???
Oh? So I just have to make eye contact to-
The man suddenly clears his throat while seemingly avoiding looking at me.
It’s at this point that I realize that the thing covering my mouth is gone and I was washed onto my back right in front of him somehow. While naked.
A light blush creeps onto my cheeks, but it doesn’t last long before he tosses some articles of what I’m assuming are clothing at me. Clothing that just randomly appeared in his hand from seemingly out of nowhere. The man then waves his hand, creating another one of those mirror things from before, showing some sort of dark forest on the other side.
He doesn’t seem like too bad a-
The man suddenly picks me up while wrapping the clothes around me, making it so that he doesn’t touch my skin, before tossing me into the mirror with the clothes.
“Oof,” I grunt as I land in the grass of the dark forest.
When I turn back to look at the mirror thingy, the man just looks at me and says, “Don’t feel like you owe me anything, because I’m only doing this for my own position’s benefit.”
He… huh?
“If you tell anyone from the New Earth Alliance about what I’ve done, I will kill you,” he says before waving his hand while adding, “Not like anyone would believe you anyways.”
The mirror then vanishes, leaving me still naked with a pile of clothes in the middle of a forest.
Excuse me, what?