[City of Atlas]
In the middle of the city of Atlas, Daniel walked calmly, dodging the crowd that filled the streets with laughter, shouting and raised bottles.
"Yeah! Woohoo! Yuhu!"
The shouts mixed with the burst of fireworks and the sour smell of liquor floating in the air. Everyone was celebrating the same thing: the creation of the Jaeger reactor and the restoration of the energy that had saved people from freezing to death, securing a prosperous future for both Atlas and Mantle.
"Jacques Schnee is dead!" a woman shrieked, stumbling with a bottle in her hand before letting out an euphoric laugh.
And of course, many more were celebrating the death of Jacques Schnee.
Daniel was genuinely surprised by how fast the news had spread. Only a few hours had passed since he himself learned about it, and already all of Atlas and Mantle were shouting it. The rest of the world probably knew too. He could imagine Menagerie organizing some kind of festival, maybe even declaring the day a national holiday.
"Come here, handsome boy!"
The voice snapped him out of his thoughts. A woman, clearly drunk, threw herself at him while laughing, grabbing his neck clumsily and leaning in to kiss him.
"What the hell?" he said, pushing her away with annoyance.
"Bold!"
His hand moved before his head processed it, giving the woman a strong slap.
SLAP.
The hit echoed loudly, too loudly. The woman flew several meters before crashing into a wall. Daniel stood still for a few seconds, blinking, trying to process what had just happened. He had not measured the force of his strike.
"Damn…" he muttered, walking toward her with caution. He crouched to check her; luckily, she was still breathing. She was only unconscious.
He exhaled in relief, running a hand over his face. "Ufff…"
He looked around, making sure no one had seen him. When he confirmed that the crowd was still too distracted to notice, he leaned down again, slipping his hands into the woman's pockets. He pulled out a bundle of bills, some coins and a couple of valuables that he quickly stored in his coat.
"I need to be more careful," he thought as he stood up. He had not meant to hit that hard, it had not been his intention. He simply still did not control well the strength he had gained after absorbing the stats of those huntresses.
And also thanks to Rosella's curse, which kept increasing his strength a little more each day, although he knew it would not last much longer. It was almost complete.
[Werewolf Curse: 78%]
The increase had been so abrupt that in just a few weeks, he had gone from having the strength of a simple hunter trainee to the level of an experienced professional. He could not deny he enjoyed that feeling of power, that protection that now wrapped around him, but the idea that a big part of his strength depended on someone else's stats unsettled him. If his link with Ruby or Weiss broke, most of that power would disappear with them.
He needed to train more, strengthen his real body, not depend only on what the system lent him.
Exhaling with frustration, he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. It was not worth overthinking it.
He kept walking through the crowd, watching the celebrations that kept the city burning bright. Jacques Schnee's death had stolen all the attention, overshadowing the reactor's inauguration. In Mantle, especially, the festivities sounded louder than ever.
Daniel gave a faint smile. He had to admit that when he came up with the idea of using Sadako to get rid of Jacques, he hadn't planned for the man's death to coincide with the reactor's opening. Although, thinking about it now, it felt ironically fitting.
But what truly surprised him was that the general had allowed him to leave the academy facilities without restrictions. No escorts. No visible surveillance. A luxury he hadn't expected.
He was absolutely sure no soldiers were following him, and to confirm it he had used his shared-vision ability with Aegis. Nothing. Nobody trailing him. And if someone had been, Aegis would've told him immediately, even without needing the ability.
He could only assume this lack of surveillance was because the general knew Jacques Schnee had been responsible for the latest attempt on his life. And now that the magnate was dead, he probably thought Daniel was no longer in danger.
Even so, he couldn't help glancing at a camera that turned in his direction, its red lens blinking… Or maybe the general simply felt confident letting him roam free through the city, trusting GLaDOS to keep him under constant watch.
Either way, Daniel appreciated not having a squad of soldiers breathing down his neck.
It took him a while, but he finally reached the warehouse district. As he approached, he could see a tall metal fence surrounding the entire sector. He didn't bother looking for a gate or trying to jump it. Focusing, he let his body turn intangible and slipped through the structure with ease.
His new semblance was truly fascinating. He would've loved to have it when he infiltrated the Atlas tower; everything would've been so much simpler. Still, it had one small inconvenience: it took too long to activate. Only a few seconds, but in a fight or an emergency, those seconds could be fatal.
He knew it wasn't a flaw in the semblance but his lack of practice. He was convinced that, with time, he'd manage to trigger it instantly, just like he'd done with Neo's. Sure, that one had taken him six months to master almost completely, but now he had far more experience.
He was confident this time would take less.
It didn't take him long to reach the warehouse. And of course, he didn't bother looking for an entrance there either. He slipped through the wall again, turning intangible.
As soon as he crossed it, the first thing he saw was GLaDOS —or rather, her avatar— working at a table a few meters from where he'd just entered. She didn't look surprised.
"Ever heard of knocking?" she asked without lifting her gaze, her tone dripping with annoyance.
Daniel grinned, approaching her with mocking steps. "Doors are for losers who can't walk through them."
The sound of his voice didn't go unnoticed. Immediately, a familiar figure appeared from around a corner: Rosella, as excited as she could be, watching him with a small smile.
"You're back!" she shouted as she ran toward him, throwing herself straight at his chest.
The impact never came. She passed right through his intangible body and crashed into the back wall.
"Sorry," Daniel said with a half-smile. "In this mode, no one can touch me."
Rosella got up rubbing her head, laughing awkwardly. "That's awesome, boss!"
"No!" Daniel raised a hand, stopping her with a confident grin. "I'm not just awesome… I'm unstoppable!"
He spread his arms, still enjoying the effect of his new semblance. "If no one can touch me, no one can hurt me. Come on, try it. Try to damage me!"
He lifted his hands dramatically, taunting them.
Of course, GLaDOS acted first. She grabbed a knife —Daniel had no idea where she'd pulled it from— and threw it with perfect accuracy, aiming straight at his crotch.
The knife passed through him harmlessly, flying a few more meters before sticking into the wall.
"You think you're hilarious, don't you?" Daniel complained, scowling at the area she'd targeted.
Rosella didn't fall behind. Her claws flashed for a second before slicing through the air, passing cleanly through his neck without leaving a mark.
"See? Rosella at least puts effort into it."
While he spoke, he noticed a slight movement to his right. A slightly taller Sadako, looking much more polished than he remembered, appeared from behind a corner, watching him with curiosity.
"Sadako, you try hitting me too," he challenged, crossing his arms with a confident smile.
She didn't run. She simply approached slowly, wearing that unreadable expression Daniel always struggled to decipher.
"It's fine, take your ti—"
He didn't get to finish.
BAM!
Sadako's fist slammed into his face with far more strength than he remembered. The blow hit him square in the nose, making his eyes shut as he stumbled backward, losing his balance completely.
He fell, unintentionally deactivating his semblance in the process.
Luckily, before hitting the ground, he managed to stretch his hands out and grab onto the first thing they reached. Two soft, rounded, absurdly plush surfaces.
He opened his eyes. He knew that sensation.
It was a butt. A very firm and very attractive butt, if he were allowed to judge.
His fingers, almost by reflex, squeezed once more. The skin molded perfectly to his grip, warm and soft. But the instant he did it, a horrible feeling ran through him. A very, very bad one.
[Image]
"Please… Aegis, tell me this is Rosella's butt," he said out loud, not daring to look up.
Aegis, who had been resting on his head until that moment, immediately hopped down to the floor, scurrying away.
"You're on your own, kid," he said as he darted out of sight.
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment. The next thing he heard was GLaDOS's cold, sharp voice.
"I see you still don't know your place, after all."
"Deus misereatur nostri..." he muttered with resignation, a tear running down his cheek as he slowly lifted his gaze.
[Image]
As soon as he did, he found a gun barrel aimed straight at his face.
"It was an accident…" he tried to say, but laughter slipped out the moment he recognized the weapon. "HAHAHAHA!"
GLaDOS narrowed her eyes. "You find this funny?"
Daniel nodded, still with his hands resting on her ass. "You're not gonna shoot me."
She lifted a brow. "And why do you think that?"
"Because I recognize that gun," he answered with a smug smile. "That's the Misfortune Gun. It has a probability lower than zero of hitting its target."
"So you're not gonna shoot me with tha—" he managed to say, right before his hands accidentally squeezed GLaDOS's ass again.
[GIF]
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The click of the trigger cut him off as a dozen shots tore into his chest.
— [minutes later] —
The room felt painfully awkward. Daniel sat on a metal table, shirtless, eyes half-closed and an irritated expression fixed on his face, staring at an overly cheerful GLaDOS. She hummed something obnoxious while working with a set of surgical tools, extracting the bullet fragments still lodged in his chest.
At one point, GLaDOS lifted her gaze. Their eyes met. She rolled hers and sighed before looking down again.
"I already told you I'm sorry," she muttered, with absolutely no sincerity, focusing back on her task.
"No, you didn't."
"That's because I'm not sorry. And could you stop regenerating for one minute?" she snapped. "It would be easier if your wounds didn't keep closing every time I try to pull these things out."
"Ha…" Daniel let out a dry laugh. "My deepest apologies if my natural, automatic biological processes inconvenience you."
As soon as he finished talking, GLaDOS looked up at him with a proud, arrogant smile.
"I forgive you."
Without waiting for a reply, she sliced a bit of skin open with a scalpel and used tweezers to pull another bullet out. Daniel didn't flinch. He wasn't sure if it was because GLaDOS was simply that good of a doctor or because his pain tolerance had skyrocketed, but the discomfort was barely there.
Even so, he brought a hand to his temple as a migraine began forming.
"Anyway… why was Sadako able to hit me?" he asked, still annoyed. He was sure he hadn't deactivated his intangibility. There was no reason she should've been able to land that punch.
"Well…" Rosella said from a few meters behind him.
Daniel turned his head slightly, watching her. She was putting some kind of collar on Aegis, who wasn't resisting at all. He remembered the time he'd thought about putting one on him; he immediately abandoned the idea, imagining Aegis cutting off one of his fingers while he slept.
"Sadako is a sort of ghost," Rosella continued. "And where I come from, ghosts can usually turn intangible, so… maybe Sadako's intangibility cancels yours out."
"Sadako can turn intangible?" Daniel asked, confused, glancing at her where she stood quietly watching the scene. "Can you turn intangible?"
Sadako didn't answer. Not a word. Not a gesture. She just stared at him without blinking.
"I'll take that as a maybe…" Daniel muttered, feeling frustration gnawing at his chest… or maybe that was the scalpel, he wasn't sure.
He felt cheated. Sadako had an entire arsenal of abilities, and yet, when he slept with her, the only thing he got was Nensha. He wasn't even sure what the hell he was supposed to use it for.
"Done… I'm finished!" Rosella suddenly announced, lifting Aegis with a proud smile. He now had a small metallic collar wrapped around his neck.
"Cool," Daniel said. "What does it do?"
"It's a translator," she replied with excitement. "Now I'll finally know what he says. Come on, say something!"
"Something," Aegis said. His deep, clear voice came from the tiny speaker.
Rosella's face fell when he didn't add anything else.
"At least you know it works," Daniel offered, trying to cheer her up.
But that didn't help much. Still annoyed, she set Aegis on the floor, grabbed a pair of surgical tools, and joined GLaDOS in the not-at-all-pleasant task of pulling more bullets out of his chest.
At this point, he felt like the Operation game mascot, except without the satisfaction of buzzing when they touched the wrong spot.
"Changing the subject…" he said, hoping to soften the atmosphere, especially because he could feel their movements growing more aggressive, like they were competing to see who could rip out more metal. Between the burning sensation, the metallic clinks, and the constant tugging, he figured a distraction would help.
He took advantage of the fact that Sadako had moved closer, watching the scene with an interest he decided not to question.
"I'm curious what happened to Jacques Schnee," he murmured, looking at her with the faint hope she would finally tell him something.
Sadako simply stared at him.
[Flashback effects]
Jacques Schnee was on the verge of collapse. His hair was a mess, deep shadows clung under his eyes, and his hands trembled with a nervous twitch he no longer bothered hiding. He had barely slept in days, convinced that monster would return to his dreams. His shoe tapped the floor impatiently as he stared at Shion Zaiden, the professional huntsman and expert on Nightmare Grimm that General Ironwood had assigned to him.
Shion had just finished evaluating him, but the verdict was not what Jacques demanded to hear.
"You are not under the influence of any Nightmare," he said calmly.
Jacques clenched his teeth.
"Useless…" he thought, fury boiling. He had heard the exact same verdict from several supposed experts. But he refused to believe it. He couldn't accept that those nightmares—those nightly horrors that were pushing him to the brink of madness—had no explanation. They had to come from a Grimm. They had to.
"Though… I admit I feel some kind of presence around you," Shion added, frowning, giving Jacques a small spark of hope that didn't last long as he quickly shrugged. "But I don't know what it is… or how to treat it."
Jacques let out an indignant growl. "Then you're useless!"
He shot to his feet and stormed out of the room, followed closely by Klein and the half dozen huntsmen he had hired. He marched straight toward his safe room, muttering curses under his breath.
"Tell General Ironwood that the expert he sent is an incompetent fool," he complained, quickening his pace while Klein patiently wrote everything down.
"An incompetent fool…" the butler murmured. "Anything else, sir?"
"Yes. Tell him to send someone better and stop wasting my time again."
Klein cleared his throat softly into his hand. "Sir… aren't you forgetting something?"
Jacques stopped for barely a second, irritated. "Today's the reactor's activation."
"Don't remind me," Jacques growled, continuing without turning around. He didn't have time for a damn reactor, nor for its creator, nor for his traitor daughter who slept with the competition. His life was the only thing that mattered now. And only once he was safe would he take care of everyone else.
He reached his safe room minutes later. A completely enclosed chamber, accessible only to him. Nothing but a bed, a computer, a television, and the basics needed to survive.
He stepped inside, slammed the reinforced door shut, and breathed with the false certainty that no one could reach him in here.
Or at least, that's what he wanted to believe.
He sat in front of the television and turned it on, searching for anything that might clear his mind.
"Power has been restored across both Atlas and Mantle," the reporter announced with a smile from a Bullhead, showing the cities fully illuminated and functioning. "All thanks to the reactor—"
Jacques switched the TV off before she could finish, letting out a grunt as he pushed himself up from the couch and dragged a hand down his face. He didn't want to hear anything about the reactor, he didn't want to hear anything about them, he just wanted to lie down for a moment, even if only to fool himself into thinking he could sleep.
He barely took a few steps when the television flicked back on by itself, filling with static.
Static, white noise, no signal.
Frowning, he grabbed the remote and pressed the power button repeatedly, jabbing it a couple more times before throwing it to the floor when nothing happened. Annoyed, he yanked the power cable out, managing to shut the screen off… for a couple of seconds before the static surged back, lighting the room faintly.
A shiver crawled down his spine as he stepped back, watching the TV remain on, flickering in sync with his breathing.
And then things got worse: the room's lights began to flicker once, twice, three times before shutting off completely, plunging the room into darkness, save for the pale glow of the television.
"Oh, shit…" he whispered, feeling his throat dry as he backed away.
Turning toward the door, he rushed to grab the handle, pulling with all his strength but unable to move it.
"Help! HELP!" he shouted, pounding on the reinforced door as his knuckles started to ache.
Outside he heard movement, huntsmen trying to force the door open without success.
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" he yelled, hitting it harder.
That's when he heard it.
Water.
A drop falling. Then another. Forming a steady drip that had no business existing in that room, sending a cold sweat down his neck as he slowly turned his head toward the television.
The image was no longer static, revealing a dark, deep well that seemed to stretch far beyond the screen, letting water spill onto the floor, forming a small pool that crept toward his feet.
"This can't be happening…" he whispered, his voice cracking as he stepped back a little more.
"It's a dream… it's just another dream…"
But he knew it wasn't.
Inside the well, a figure began to take shape—first a shadow, then a twisted outline—until a decayed hand pushed through the screen as if the glass didn't exist.
"No… no, no, no…" he muttered, stumbling into a table and falling back against the wall, repeating under his breath, "I'm asleep… I'm asleep… I'm going to wake up any second…"
The creature finished coming out, hitting the floor with a wet thud, its soaked hair covering its face while gray, broken skin dripped water as it dragged itself toward him in unnatural movements.
"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" he screamed, his voice mixing with the pounding of the huntsmen on the other side of the door.
A flicker from the lights illuminated the room for an instant, making the creature vanish… only for it to appear, on the next flicker, directly in front of him.
"AHHH!" he shouted as she lifted her head, revealing a destroyed face, dead yet aware eyes, crawling closer as cold hands grabbed the sides of his face, pinning him to the floor with no room to move.
And Jacques watched her open her mouth—wider, and wider, far wider than anything that should've been possible—seeing her jaw distort as he tried to slide back without managing to break free, without truly understanding what he was looking at, feeling the air catch painfully in his throat.
The next thing he heard wasn't a scream, but a sharp shriek that exploded inches from his face, bursting his ears and turning into an unbearable ringing that tore through him from the base of his skull to the center of his chest, forcing his body to writhe uncontrollably while the creature kept him pinned.
Then he understood, realizing in a visceral flash that the pain flooding him wasn't his, but hers, unloading every drop of it through his body, pushing him into convulsions as every muscle strained to its limit. His eyes opened too wide, stuck there, unmoving, freezing a look of pure horror in his features, every line locked in place with no chance to relax.
His mind fractured in pieces as his breathing faltered, growing erratic, and his heart began to slow, each beat weaker than the last until it finally stopped altogether.
Only then did the creature let him go, letting his head fall to the side as she pulled away with clumsy movements, dragging herself across the floor and slipping back into the television, returning to the very place she had emerged from, as if she had never been there at all.
When the huntsmen finally managed to force the door open, bursting into the room and switching on the emergency lights, they found only the body of Jacques Schnee lying on the damp floor, no visible wounds, clear signs of struggle, cold skin, and that expression of absolute terror carved into his face.
[End of flashback effects]
"What's she doing?" asked Daniel, buttoning his shirt now that there were no bullet fragments stuck to his chest, watching Sadako, who had been standing still for several minutes, staring blankly, not reacting at all since he'd asked her what happened to Jacques Schnee.
Rosella stepped closer, waving a hand in front of Sadako's eyes, moving it back and forth without getting any response.
"I think she's remembering what happened to Jacques Schnee."
"She knows we can't see what she's remembering, right?" Daniel asked, then shrugged as he began turning toward the others. "You know what, it doesn't matter. How about we go celebrate?" he added, inviting the rest of the girls in the room.
Rosella nodded quickly. "I'm in." Then she looked at GLaDOS, who nudged her with an elbow. "Ah… guess I'm going too."
"Perfect, team dinner," Daniel said, picking up Aegis and placing him on top of his head before walking over to Sadako. He held her by the waist and lifted her; she stayed stiff as a board, not bending at all when he turned her.
"That's everyone. Let's go." And he walked out of the storage room, followed by all of them.
—//—
Author's note:
The chapter is incomplete. I'm missing a few scenes and several explanations, and I didn't have enough time to add them. I also wasn't happy with how it turned out: I liked it when I first wrote it, but when I read the translation it didn't feel fluid. I hope you enjoy it and, second and more importantly…
[Image]
Prototype left me a review! I've been waiting for this moment for over a year—checking his profile, stalking him, waiting for him to slip up and comment anything anywhere. And he finally did. It fills me with joy, so I decided to write a chapter based on one of the fanfic ideas I had, as a sort of tribute. I'm not sure how it turned out; I hope it's good. I'm planning to write two more chapters as a continuation of this one, obviously with +18 content, or maybe just one, depending on how it goes. Sometimes it gets tiring to write the same thing over and over, so this helps me switch things up with something shorter.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you like it.
Kisses and hugs, rats!!
—//—
[Simps Counterattack… Again?]
In the middle of the city, walking calmly along the sidewalk, there was a young man whose name did not really matter too much… although, for narrative convenience, we would call him Jason. He walked while smiling as he checked his phone, finishing another fanfic and feeling quite satisfied with the ending.
Like any reader who had already survived more than fifty chapters, he decided it was a good moment to leave a review with his deepest thoughts. In his case, a positive one.
For his bad luck, at the exact moment he tapped "post," the universe decided he had already lived enough.
A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck him directly.
He did not even have time to look away from the screen; the flash wrapped around him completely, consuming him in a white whip and reducing his body, in a matter of milliseconds, to a pile of smoking ashes that scattered over the sidewalk.
The passersby who witnessed the scene would swear later that the lightning had pulverized him… which was particularly strange, considering that the sky was completely clear and there was not a single cloud.
Unfortunately for that poor soul, his fate was not the sweet rest of death, but something much worse.
—/—
Disoriented and confused, Jason opened his eyes without understanding where he was or what had happened to him. The first thing he noticed was that he was still standing, although now he found himself in what looked like a defendant's bench.
Around him, gigantic cosmic entities rose in an infinite void, watching him from impossible heights. Deafening voices echoed everywhere, crashing against each other.
Around him, gigantic entities rose in an endless void, watching from above as deafening voices echoed everywhere, clashing with one another.
"I feel disgust!"
"Let him burn!"
"Filter his browsing history!"
The shouts came from every direction, each one wishing him a more cruel punishment than the last.
Jason tried to remember what had happened, placing a hand on his head while searching for the last clear moment he had: the flash, the discharge running through his body… and then, nothing.
He wanted to ask what was going on, opening his mouth to demand an explanation, but discovered he could not produce any sound. His voice simply did not respond, stuck in his throat.
The chaos kept increasing, the entities roaring in annoyance, until a single voice rose above all the others.
"SILENCE!"
The thunderous sound was so powerful that the floor under his feet vibrated. In an instant all the entities went quiet at the same time.
Jason lifted his gaze, swallowing as he saw a gigantic figure, even more imposing than all the others, seated on a platform made of pure light.
"The Court of Good Taste is now in session," announced the entity he now recognized as the judge.
The phrase left him even more lost. A court? A trial? Good taste… of what? The questions piled up faster than his brain could process.
"Please, bailiff," the judge continued. "Read the crimes for which the culprit here present is accused."
Jason, finally recovering his voice, tried to intervene, raising a hand. "Do you not mean the accused and not the culprit…?"
"SILENCE!" the judge roared.
"The accused may only speak when ordered."
Jason, not very bright but with enough survival instinct, closed his mouth immediately.
The bailiff, an entity covered with a glowing robe and a face impossible to distinguish, stepped toward the center of the platform, holding a scroll so long it dragged across the floor as he unrolled it.
"The accused here present stands before the Court of Good Taste for the crime of having surpassed the limit of bad taste that a mortal being can reach."
Jason felt all eyes fix on him, judging him without mercy.
"He is accused, among other things, of: wearing Crocs with socks; putting pineapple on pizza; abusing mayonnaise; combining white socks with formal attire; wearing clothes with gigantic logos or counterfeit brands; wearing formal shoes with sweatpants; wearing shirts with cringe phrases; phone cases with furry ears; sunglasses indoors; mixing expensive wine with Coca-Cola…"
The bailiff kept reading, extending the scroll with no intention of stopping. The list went on and on with no apparent end.
"You cannot judge me for that!" Jason shouted, stepping forward and raising his hands. "Many people do those things! If you condemn me for that, you would have to condemn at least half the world!"
"He admitted it!" several voices from the jury shouted at the same time.
BAM. BAM.
The sound of the judge's gavel echoed through the entire chamber, imposing silence. His severe gaze fixed on Jason, analyzing him.
"You are right," he admitted in a deep voice. "Many people commit those crimes…"
Jason felt the "but" coming.
"But…"
"Damn…" he thought, lowering his head.
"No mortal has committed each and every one of those atrocities!" the judge roared, striking the platform.
The jury erupted into furious shouting. Bottles, rocks and even a chair flew from the stands, throwing them at Jason, who ducked and dodged projectiles whistling around him.
BAM. BAM.
The gavel struck again, stopping the rain of trash.
"You surpassed the limit of bad taste," the judge explained, leaning toward him with solemnity, "when you left a positive review for the fanfic Simps Counter Attack."
The entire chamber filled with exclamations of pure horror.
"How could he!"
"Idiot!"
"Did anyone see my charger?"
"Death to the blasphemer!"
One of the entities in the jury even fainted in a dramatic gesture, placing a hand on its forehead before falling backward.
Jason, pale as a ghost, raised his hands defensively.
"Wait! I can explain!" he exclaimed, sweating heavily. "I had nothing else to read that day and I was bored! I really did not like it!" he let out a nervous laugh that only made everything worse.
The judge, annoyed, stood up abruptly, slamming both hands on the platform.
"You lie!" he roared, making the columns of light vibrate. "You say you did not like it, but you read every single one of its chapters!"
A bead of sweat slid down Jason's forehead as he took a step back, swallowing.
"I-I was very bored…" he muttered, trying to justify himself, but he did not finish because a massive screen appeared above them, lighting up the whole court.
"We ask for discretion for the following evidence," the judge announced with solemn tone.
On the screen, a capture of his review was projected: five stars, a shining heart, and the comment "Pretty good read I'd recommend reading..."
The judge only managed to look at it for two seconds before vomiting into a metal bucket that an assistant brought to him quickly.
He was not the only one. Several entities in the jury did the same, covering their faces and groaning as if they had witnessed an indescribable atrocity.
"Take that away!" the judge complained, turning his gaze aside. "I have seen enough… I am ready to give a verdict."
His eyes returned to Jason, sharp and almost amused.
"Any last words?" he asked with a mocking tone that only promised disaster.
Jason, who had already had enough, took a deep breath as he straightened his back, tensed his shoulders and fixed a sharp stare on the whole court before jumping onto the defendant's bench.
"You know what?!" he shouted with strength, his voice charged with defiance. If they were going to condemn him, at least he would leave with his head held high.
"Yes, I liked it!" he declared, letting a smile form on his face while the jury gasped in horror, some raising their hands to their mouths as if he had just confessed a war crime.
"I enjoyed it! I do not know why, but I read all of it! And I would read it again!" he continued, laughing with an almost maniac laugh that echoed through the entire chamber.
"I am not ashamed of my tastes! And yes, I put pineapple on pizza! What are you going to do about it, huh?! What are you going to do about it?!" he challenged them, spreading his arms with an almost theatrical gesture while he looked at everyone with a mix of pride, madness and resignation.
The silence that followed was quite worrying.
Only his heavy breathing could be heard, at least until a voice from the jury whispered something so quietly that Jason barely heard it.
"Isekai…"
Another repeated it, louder this time.
"Isekai… x2"
And then another. And another.
Until, in a matter of seconds, all the gigantic entities began chanting it, pounding the stands and moving in unison.
"ISEKAI! ISEKAI! ISEKAI! ISEKAI!"
The judge smiled. A twisted, mocking, almost satisfied grin deformed his shining face. He slowly raised his hands and the chant stopped immediately.
"Jason," he pronounced, his voice deeper and firmer. "This jury finds you guilty of the crime of having terrible tastes."
The judge paused, seeming to enjoy the tension. "Your punishment…" he announced, lowering his gaze toward him with a smile.
"Will be isekai… Enjoy the rest of your miserable life, filthy animal!"
BAM!
The gavel struck forcefully and as soon as it did, the floor under Jason's feet opened abruptly, breaking like glass.
A vortex of light sprang from the abyss, spinning violently and pulling him in.
"AHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, falling in a spiral, feeling the light devour him completely until his consciousness faded.
And suddenly… nothing.
Absolute emptiness.
No sound.
No touch.
No thought.
Only infinite darkness. He did not know how long he floated there without any sense of time or body, at least until little by little his senses began to return.
First came hearing: the first thing he heard was a pair of female voices. He did not recognize them, although something inside him insisted that he did.
Then sight arrived. In front of him there were two girls, both beautiful. One had red hair and deep green eyes; the other was a brunette with brown eyes and an annoyed expression.
[Image]
Pain came after.
A brutal stab shot through his head, forcing him to press a hand to his temple while foreign memories flooded his mind and mixed with his own, twisting him completely.
Images. Names. Memories that were not his.
And when the mental whirlwind finally calmed, he understood everything. The girls in front of him were Emma and her dormmate, Madison.
"And how did you know I went out with Josh? Were you following me? And what if I book a room with him? We are only friends. You really need to stop acting like you are my boyfriend," Emma said with annoyance.
Jason blinked, confused by Emma's sudden harshness, but understanding what was happening: they had reincarnated him inside the same fanfic for which he had been condemned. Now he was Jason Carter, the supreme simp.
The memories of the original Jason hit him all at once, clashing together, showing him every detail of his pathetic record: when Emma had cramps, he ran off to get her pads; when she caught the flu, he cancelled conferences to take care of her; when it rained, he showed up like a loyal dog with an umbrella. All his money went into gifts—flowers, chocolates, dinners—spending without thinking, hoping that someday Emma would return those feelings.
And Emma, of course, knew about his feelings. She simply was not interested in returning them, but she kept him close, enjoying the gifts and the attention while she went out with other guys.
And now, he was that idiot.
He looked at Emma for a moment, letting the memories settle. He felt nothing. No anger. No sadness. Not even affection. His own will rose above that of the original Jason, separating clearly who he was and who that lovestruck idiot had been.
He did not think what Emma had done to the original Jason was right, but he did not care much either; he was too tired and too fed up with hearing her voice. He had better things to do, like having an existential crisis.
"You are right. We are only friends," he said with calm, turning around and walking away, trying to hold on to the little dignity that body still had.
Emma frowned, taking a step toward him. "Do not exaggerate, Jason. We are still good, right?"
He kept walking, without answering.
"Do you seriously think you can compare yourself to Josh?" Madison added in a venomous tone, showing a mocking smile. "Josh drives a Porsche, darling. You are just a small-town boy from Iowa," she laughed with smugness, as if the Porsche were hers.
Jason did not pay attention, mainly because he did not know what a Porsche was; to him, all cars looked practically the same.
He kept walking, speeding up until the girls' voices faded in the distance. He let out a sigh of relief, finally feeling a moment of peace.
But the universe was not willing to give it to him.
In front of him, floating in the air, a blue screen materialized with a sudden flash.
System activation complete.
Welcome to the [Strongest Simp System].
"FUUCKKKKKKK!"
—//—