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Eldritch Horror? No, I'm A Doctor
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"Hey System, what the fuck just happened?! What the fuck was that freak that crawled out of my mouth?!"
Ren sat on the blood-soaked floor of his operating room, naked and trembling. The memory of that being—pale skin, dark void eyes, metallic halo, twenty writhing tentacles—was burned into his consciousness.
That was you.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"
That was you. The one that has been sealed.
Ren's blood ran cold. "What... the one that has been sealed? Don't tell me... is it that freak with the three masks that fought Brother Lu?"
Nope. That's another you. But you can't know about that right now.
"This bullshit again!" Ren slammed his fist against the floor. "You and your cryptic fucking answers!"
Now I will cut the crap and get straight to the point.
"Finally."
The you that crawled out of your mouth is the one who holds the fragments of the Law that you consumed, willingly or unwillingly.
Ren froze. "Law? You mean..."
Yes. The fundamental forces of the universe. You've been consuming them since you arrived in this world, absorbing them through your surgeries, your transformations, your very existence. But you couldn't control that power yet. Your human consciousness would have been obliterated by the sheer magnitude of it. So that part of you, the part that holds the Law, was sealed away.
"And the rank advancement broke the seal?"
Partially. You ranked up to A-rank, so your body can now withstand some of that power. That sealed self was awakened for the first time. You got a taste of what you really are beneath the human facade.
Ren looked down at his hands. They were shaking. "Then why was it sealed again?"
Because you can only use a portion of that power. If you tried to wield all of it at once, you'd burn out completely. Your consciousness would be consumed by the Law, and you'd become nothing but a vessel for primal forces. That sealed self has to remain locked away until you're strong enough to integrate it fully.
Don't get me wrong, though. You're not that weak anymore.
Ren blinked. "Did you just compliment me?"
...You didn't hear anything.
Despite everything, Ren smiled. "Awww, you cute little thing. Who's a good boy? Who's the good boy?"
Fuck you.
"Okay, jokes aside." Ren's expression turned serious. "Why did that thing look so barbaric? So primal?"
The Laws of the universe are considered part of nature, and nature wants to be whole again. When a Law is fragmented, those fragments have a primal instinct to consume other Laws and become complete. That's why your sealed self looked so feral. It was driven by pure instinct.
I used another Law to suppress it. When Law meets Law, instinct tries to fight. That's what you witnessed—your sealed self trying to devour the suppression, trying to consume more power to become whole.
"So I'm carrying around fragments of universal Laws inside me, and they want to eat each other."
Essentially, yes.
Ren took a deep breath. He wasn't just a doctor anymore. He wasn't even just a monster. He was a container for the fundamental forces that governed reality itself.
"So what now?"
Now, now. Aren't you curious what you gained from the rank advancement?
"Hmm." Ren stood slowly, his naked body still covered in drying blood. He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a surgical gown, wrapping it around himself. "I suppose I am."
Let's check your skills.
A notification appeared in Ren's vision, glowing with ethereal light.
PATH OF LAW SELECTION
Available Paths:
Path of ????? - CANNOT BE SELECTED
Path of ????? - CANNOT BE SELECTED
Path of Identity and Skin (Core Path) "You show who you really are when you wear the skin that is not yourself." The Law of Metamorphosis. In a universe where observation defines reality, the mask becomes more real than the face beneath. Identity is performed, and in that performance, you touch the divine lie of creation: that anything can become anything, if only it believes the fiction deeply enough.
Path of Disease (Core Path) "Destruction, decay, and extinction." The Law of Entropy. All things must pass into dust. Disease strips away the lies of permanence and reveals the truth: you were always temporary, borrowed matter arranged in patterns that cannot hold. To walk this path is to become the herald of endings, the hand that guides existence back to the void.
Path of Obsidian (Core Path) "The element that is sharp and lethal and protective." The Law of Defined Edges. Where one thing ends and another begins this is the fundamental question of existence. To be is to be distinct from what you are not. To exist is to cut yourself free from the infinite and declare 'here I begin, here I end.' Protection and violence are the same act.
"What is this? Why can't two paths be selected?"
The Path is the way you walk with the Law. It's the fragment of Law that you can wield right now with your current power level. Each Path represents a different aspect of the Laws you've absorbed.
"So if I choose one, I'm stuck with it?"
For a while, yes. Until you rank up again. The Law can be leveled up the more you understand it. The deeper your comprehension, the more power you can draw from it.
But be warned: the moment you choose one Law, that Law will become somewhat stabilized. A small portion of it will return to the universe, restoring balance. People, places, and things connected to that Law will be affected.
"Wait. Are you saying I can wield Law now?"
No. You can use a tiny part of it. When you stabilize that fragment, the rest of it will be restored to the universe. Think of it like borrowing a cup of water from the ocean. When you choose a Path, you keep the cup but return everything else.
"Choose carefully, then."
Exactly.
Ren stared at the three available paths.
Law of Disease is out immediately.
"The herald of endings, the hand that guides existence back to the void."
That's just poetry for mass death. If I stabilize this Law, even partially, plagues could resurge. New diseases could emerge. People would die in agony.
I became a doctor to save lives, not end them. Even now, even as a monster, I can't let that go. Do no harm.
So this one is out.
That left two options: Identity and Skin, or Obsidian.
He paced across the operating room, stepping over Adrian's unconscious form.
Path of Identity and Skin:
The Law of Metamorphosis. The idea that in a universe where observation defines reality, the mask becomes more real than the face beneath it.
Every human wears masks, plays roles. We're all performers. The "true self" is a myth we tell ourselves to maintain continuity.
But what if that's not a weakness? Quantum mechanics says observation collapses probability into reality. So the self you present to others becomes what you actually are in their reality.
This Path says identity is performed. You can become anything if you can perform the fiction well enough. The categories we use living/dead, human/monster, self/other aren't real. They're just stories, skins we wear.
This fits what I already do. I modify bodies, change appearances, alter fundamental structures. If cultists are hunting me and the military is watching, being able to change my identity completely would be invaluable. I could walk among them unseen.
But there's danger. Wear someone else's skin too long, and you may forget which one is truly yours. Ultimate freedom and ultimate danger.
Path of Obsidian:
The Law of Defined Edges. The philosophy that existence is fundamentally about boundaries. Where one thing ends and another begins.
Obsidian is born from extreme heat and pressure, cooled into something harder and sharper than steel. A properly knapped obsidian blade has an edge only a few molecules thick. It doesn't cut, it divides. It creates boundaries.
This Path says that to exist is to be defined. To have edges. To be distinct from background chaos. Sharpen your edges and you become more real, more present.
Protection and violence are the same act: the defense of boundaries against those who would blur them.
Practically, this means weapons. Armor. Barriers. The ability to cut through anything and protect anything.
But it's rigid. And there's a deeper concern—if I walk this Path, I'm accepting that existence is fundamentally about separation. Cutting myself off from everything else.
Always alone, always distinct, always separate.
Ren stopped pacing.
Two philosophies.
Identity and Skin: the mask becomes more real than the face. You can be anything, but you might forget how to be yourself.
Obsidian: existence is separation. You become something that cannot be broken, but also something that cannot merge with anything else.
Which one am I?
I was Ren Hector, a doctor. Then Dr. Nox, a horror surgeon. Then something that crawled out of my own mouth with void eyes and a crown of spikes. Now I'm choosing what I'll be next.
One asks: who do you want to be?
The other asks: where do you end and the world begins?
Ren closed his eyes.
What do I need to survive?
Identity and Skin: I become the ultimate infiltrator. I can be anyone, go anywhere. The cultists will never catch me. The military will never contain me.
Obsidian: I become the ultimate warrior. I can cut through any obstacle, defend any position. The cultists will break against me. The military will learn I cannot be threatened.
Which one is true to who I am?
Am I the surgeon who transforms flesh, who lives in the space between what was and what will be?
Or am I the scalpel, sharp and clear, cutting with precision?
Both, probably. I've always been both.
He thought back to that being with void eyes and a metallic halo. It was primal, instinctive. But it had presence. When it existed, there was no question about what it was. It was absolutely itself, completely defined, undeniably real.
Is that what I want? To be that absolutely defined?
Or the opposite? To be so fluid that I'm never trapped, never forced into a shape I don't choose?
Ren opened his eyes and stared at the selection screen.
"Fuck it."
His finger moved toward one of the choices.