Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, Everyone! How're you all doing?
----------------------------------------
Welp, I suppose I was asking for the fictive suicide that were the suggestions of the last chapter...
Don't get me wrong, after some thought, I've decided that there will be a flying fish and a spaghetti monster involved in this story.
Its more like... eh, I don't really know how to explain it.
Anyways, here comes the next chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you enjoy it, let us begin!
----------------------------------------
Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
----------------------------------------
Back In reality... - Leonardo's Room - Leonardo's Point Of View...
----------------------------------------
"ARGH!" I let out an immaculate scream of rage, hunger and sheer soreness as my apparent fourteen hour marathon left me with a body equal to an aching corpse.
How did I even manage to stay so long inside of the capsule without the starvation menu popping up?
Could very well be Harold's doing. Considering how I got disconnected in the middle of a fight, yeah, it probably is."Arh! God-fucking-OW-dammit!" Muttering out a multitude of other alike-meaning bad words, I find myself falling right out of the capsule, my naked body freezing as the temperature of the basement room I lived in wasn't exactly appropriate for my current state of being.
"Oh f-fuck! Urh!" My entire body shook as I grabbed the nearest bucket and threw out the knives I stored inside as I felt my stomach explode outwards. A grey, gooish mass erupted out of me as I felt myself relax, which turned out to be a very bad idea as my bladder decided to act right then and there.
Rage fueled my body as I momentarily lost all reason and logic, rushing down the bathroom door and slamming my fist through it's wooden exterior to unlock it with a spare key on the other side of the door as my outside one was currently too far away. "A-a-a-aahhhhhhhhh, f-fuck me..."
Relieving myself on both ends made me remember yet another unfulfilled need, one I spoke of just beforehand. Hunger.
Gulping in deep as I stared at the meat of my own arms, I promptly punched myself in the face before rushing off to my spare hot-pocket storage and devouring around twelve of the things before calming the fuck down. Finally, with all that said and done, I noticed the stench surrounding me."Dear god, I reek like a bloody corpse... wait a minute..."
Blinking as my recent memories strike against me, I find myself gaping."Wait... did I eat something when those dreams woke me up? I think I did... yeah, we had cuisine for dinner and I ate quite a bit. After that, I laid right back into the capsule..."
Shaking my head out of my stupor, I turn on the tub's water slowly start filling."Fuck, that means I spent way more inside of Euphoria than just fourteen hours... its a wonder I didn't release myself inside of the capsule."
Wordlessly, I prepare my killing clothes, the so-called butcher's garment consisting of a titanium-plated black and red mask, black parka with twenty hidden pouches for small weapons of all kinds, a pair of combat boots with plated heels and a bladed edge up front, because nobody expects an axe-foot, silver-colored pants and a shirt with an axe-sheath tied to its back. Why the silver colored pants? For style, duh.
----------------------------------------
Half an hour later... - The Mansion - Leonardo's Point Of View...
----------------------------------------
Making my way up the stair and into the Mansion's main floor, I am greeted by utter darkness. A ticking clock on the wall tells me that it's currently half past one AM, so no wonder people are asleep.
I promptly decide to walk into the kitchen and prepare myself a midnight snack consisting of six slices of bread, three tomatoes, some salami and a flask of meat-sauce. God, I love meat sauce. Especially when put on things not-meat, like tomatoes. Just the thought of it makes my mouth water.
.... Fuck, I'm still so hungry. As I am eating my prepared meal, one of the guards enters the mansion and, considering the immense dark we were in, figured that I'm an enemy."ASSASSIN!"
An entire squadron of guards charges inside as I promptly stand up and turn on the lights. Turning around, I blink at the rater terrified and surprised guard. With a wave of my hand, I order them away."Piss off."
They gulp down hard and run back outside, but one actually stays behind as he scratches the back of his lamely."Uh, sir? I was told to inform you that your father and sir Evans are waiting for you in his office."
A nod to the guard is enough to send him back to his duty as I finish my rather dry meal in peace and then walk down a long hallway to reach my father's office, but not before stopping at the end of the corridor.
You see, each one of the hallways in this mansion has an immense reflective mirror at the end of it which encompasses the entirety of the wall. This rather astute design choice of father allows the guards of this mansion to see and react any would-be assassin who would try to stab them in the back... it also serves me to take a damn look at myself whenever I come through here.
Standing at one meter and eighty centimeters, I'm not the tallest person around, but I am also in no way short. My long, unkempt hair is tied into a ponytail, its show-white coloration has proved to be a weakness on more than one occasion, as a white ponytail is apparently something easy to see in the dark. My skin matches this by being a deathly form of pale, a fitting color for someone who only goes outside in order to kill people or because school. My eyes, much like in the game, each possess a gold iris, the fruit of a medical operation, one of the few things I've actually wanted in this life, alongside another little improvement inside of my mouth.
You see, because I often found myself being disarmed and caught in the hands of a brutish strongman as a child, I eventually had all of my teeth pulled out to replace the weak enamel and dentin with synthetic titanium that proved to be fully capable of being said replacement. Restoring the roots of each tooth was a very painful process, but as an R-Positive, its nothing that couldn't be done.
Granted, I have to regularly intake pills which carry the necessary bio-materials for my teeth to grow and repair normally, but once you get used to doing it every morning you stop noticing it eventually.
Why I did this, you might ask? Isn't it obvious? To tear the flesh from their necks like a starving vampire when they dared shove me into a body-lock.
Shaking my head out of my stupor, I turn my head around and knock on the door before entering it to see Mr Evans conversing with my father in his uniform, which means they were successful in dealing with his former wife and now we have an actual General on our side... just one more step closer to owning Italy as a whole."Ah, it's good to see that you've finally woken up, my son. Paul here has a rather generous gift for you."
Quirking my eyebrow at the general and my father, I ask."A gift?"
Evans then claps his hands ecstatically before taking an intricate black box off the table... huh, isn't that the kind of box which the military uses to store R-Orbs?
And before anyone asks, R-Orbs are... well, black orbs of condensed biomass which is used by special and rare soldiers to fuel regenerative capabilities which are provided by equally special nanites created by their own body which is caused by a certain bio-chip implanted in their brains beforehand.
Uhh, in short, they're the military equivalent of ReGel pills and the like."Yes, a gift. Ever since you saved me, I've felt the need to repay you somehow so when I finally managed to get back on my feet with the help of your family, I decided to pull several strings to get you these."
He places the box on a table nearby and lets out a heavy sigh before continuing."Albeit, I was truly surprised to hear that you are an actual R-Positive."
Ah, so that's what this is about. I'm about to get some upgrades, it seems."Is that really so strange?"
He blinks before blasting a rather stunned look towards my father."You never told him about it?"
To his credit, my father simply shrugged."I did not believe it to be of much importance... I mean, even if the ability to use ReGel is great, its not something rare. As for him being an R-Positive well..."
He lets out another sigh."There was no real way for me to make use of that fact, even if he knew the full extent of what that meant."
A nod from Evans as he turns back around to face me."I see... very well then! Would you like me to explain further on what you can do as an R-Positive?"
I nod back as I sit down onto a nearby chair, figuring that this is going to be a long conversation. Evans then opens the black box to reveal five pitch black orbs of condensed biomass, alongside what appeared to be a biochip with a red glow and a bunch of instruction books. He takes the biochip and then hands it to me."This is a Military grade biochip, the RAUv2, short for Regenerative Access Unit version two. Much like your usual biochip, once installed, it allows a select persons brain to recognize ReGel and R-Cell pills and orbs alike, but unlike them, it also has the ability to store said pills for later use upon swallowing. In addition, it's ability to regenerate, dispense energy, improve sensory overlay and form synergy with the human brain is five times greater than its civilian counterpart."
"I.. see? And you want me to put this into my head?" A singular hand drags itself across the back of my head, a metallic scar hidden away by the ponytail I mentioned earlier as my fingers cross the surface, seeking something...
He waves his hands in a defensive manner as he replies."W-well, yes. But only if you want to.. I mean, I can see how putting something like this into your brain would appear... unsavory. Plus, I have heard that the procedure is not something painless and that, even if one is an R-Pos... what are you doing?"
Finally, my fingers find what I was looking for, a singular black thread connecting the biochip inside of my brain with the outside, allowing for it to be pulled out on a moments notice. My own design, I might add, as I often exchange these whenever a better version comes out. A throw a look towards my father as I grab a firm hold of the thread."You got a lighter?"
Closing his eyes as he sighs again, he throws me a lighter."Argh, I knew this would happen."
"W-w-what are you d-doing?" Evans exclaims with worry in his eyes as I promptly tear out the old biochip from my brain, blood spurting out like a geyser as pain erupts all over my body, shock striking me everywhere and... having little to no effect at all as all I do in turn is bite my lip in frustration before shoving the new chip inside."W-w-what the h-hell?"
Wasting no time at all, I light the lighter and use it to cauterize the skin on the back of my head as a part of my hair burns alongside the skin, stopping the gushing blood with ease."J-just wh-?!"
"Mr Evans... please, calm yourself." My father tells the man with an annoyed voice as I take one of those black orbs and swallow it.
Chip Implantation Successful Scanning body...
To my surprise, a blue screen forms at the top left corner to my eyes, becoming easier to read as I focus onto it and nearly disappearing as I look away. I let out a breath of annoyance."Ugh, as if I didn't have enough of these in game.. Oh well, at least its something I'm used to."
Tuning around towards a still terrified Evans as I put out the fire on my head, I say."Paul, don't look so disgruntled. I can't feel pain... and most emotions, anyways."
"C-can't feel emotions? Or pain?" He asks with another stutter as my father explains.
Body Scan Complete - Status: Severe Damage R-Orb status scanning...
"Yes... I'm afraid that my son is a very unlucky.. or should I say lucky?; individual, suffering from both Alexithymia and Psychopathy disorder." Ah, the perfect lie. One even I believed to be real until recently... when I found out that I was actually cursed to act like this... but I wonder if that truly is the case or maybe one of my ancestors had the disorders.. probably.
While Psychopathy is self-explanatory, let me fill you in on what Alexithymia is. Alexithymia is a personality trait which sometimes appears before the application of social disorders and serves only to make the usual treatments for said disorders relatively ineffective.
Alexithymia is defined by:
1. difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal, like pain for example.
2. difficulty in describing emotions
3. inability to express desires, due to a severe lack of fantasy.
4. a stimulus-bound, externally logical and emotionless cognitive style.
Orb Status - 1/5 Activating Orb...
"O... O... Oooooh, that feels good..." An unlikely sound echoes from my mouth as I feel the skin on the back of my head regenerating, the lost hair re-growing.
Evans ignores me and then turns towards father as he nods."I... I see. Yes, that explains most of his actions already. Thank you for telling me of this... but... does that not make him... the perfect R-Positive?"
A blink from my father is all it takes for the man to shake in his seat."Oh? Do go on, Mr Evans."
He gulps in deep."W-well... I was wondering if.. if your son would be willing to become a field test-subject for our armies.. more immoral and dangerous genetic experiments. This would allow us access to several bleeding edge technologies that are only plausible for an R-Positive."
"So you want me to let you turn me into a guinea pig?" I ask him with quite a bit of spite as the rampaging, overpowering feeling of an active R-Orb begins to fuel my body.
User Body Healed; 95% mass remaining. Detecting Nanites...
"W-well, yes but, it won't come without any benefits! You'd gain access to a basically limitless supply of R-Orbs, the best grade ones, as well as any upgrades you'd like.. well, the latter actually depends on your efficiency." I stop myself as I quirk an eyebrow at the man."Efficiency? Which would mean the people who I'd be working for already have a scale with which to process said efficiency, which would mean that I'm not the only test-subject out there."
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The man's shoulders slump downwards as he lets out his own heaving sigh before explaining."Look, while my wife did indeed ruin me economically, the real reason why I lost my military ranking is because I kept on investigating things which my government.. our, government, did not approve of me investigating."
Oh? How very original. Evans, unknowing of the smirk on my face, continues."I've found a certain.. project, so to speak. The GSP, short for Gene-Seed Purification. It is one of our governments secret projects created in an effort to form an army of supersoldiers which they plan to use alongside other secret weapons in order to put themselves on equal grounds with America, Russia and Japan."
"And you believe that, should you bring my son forth as a willing test subject, not only would you regain your rank completely, but also expand our own influence in the process." My father speaks with a slightly threatening tone as the man quivers in fear.
The Scan has detected 500 civilian grade nanites. Purge/Salvage operations are available, please think your choice.
Salvage.
Order Detected; Salvage starting...
"I hope you realize that this requires much more trust from our side than you currently posses, Mr Evans." My father continues as he lets out another sigh before leaning back into his chair."However, it is not something I am disinterested in... get me into contact with this organization first, then we shall see what we shall do next, understand?"
"Y-Yes, sir!" And with that, the man sprinted outside, most likely to grab hold of the first phone he sees.
Salvage Completed. You currently posses 0/2500 nanites. Would you like to start fabrication? Est; 2 hours to completion.
Start fabrication.
Order Detected; starting fabrication of Nanites. Error; more material required. Please intake two more R-Orbs.
Without even bothering to say a word, I promptly swallow two more orbs and lay back down into my chair as I feel my entire body churning and writhing in response."You sure you should be swallowing those like that?"
"The chip is making me new nanites and needs the material." I reply as he quirks an eyebrow at me."I thought those were made naturally by your body once the chip's in?"
"Not these ones, apparently. But, I guess I should expect that from military grade nanites, they appear to be far stronger than normal and did you see how quickly the chip fixed my skin, which was burned might I add and it even restored my hair!" I exclaim semi-happily for whatever reason as my father smirks.
"I take it that means you like it?" A nod is his reply.
Necessary material acquired; re-starting fabrication.
"Very well then... perhaps I shall accept his proposition then?" I shake my head in negative."No father, that would be a bad idea as they would use me in an effort to control you. The government must fall first and once we are in control of the project... well, lets just say that I'm fully willing to be the test-subject should that particular condition be fulfilled."
Another nod as he gives out another sigh."Yes, I can see your point. Very well, I suppose I should go tell Evans the news before he does something stupid. As for you..." Another quirked eyebrow from me as he dramatically stops himself from finishing that sentence is all he needs to give me a massive and quite bloodthirsty smirk as he turns around towards a picture of Mona Lisa.
Then he promptly tears it off the wall, exposing a rather old and quite ominous looking safe."Behind this safe lays the unawakened form of the Shōkyaku-shobun-shimasu, or Yomi as you called her, I suppose."
I grin at him."Finally giving me the axe, are you? And what do you mean by unawakened?"
He grins right back at me as he continues, one of his hands doing the safe's combination and unlocking it, but not opening it."While the original form of the weapon is indeed an axe, it has the ability to take a different form depending upon the user and their synchronization with said Weapon."
Then he turns around towards me and begins to leave the room, but not before placing a piece of paper into my hands."I've gone out of my way to prepare this particular target for you tonight, my son. Have fun using your new toys out there."
I blink at him in confusion as I turn my head down to stare at the bounty in my hands before grinning savagely."Oh dear father, I surely will."
A spree of deep, maddening chuckles escapes my father as he closes the door and leaves the room. My goal; assassinate a politician who lives in a well defended mansion. My orders; kill everything and leave no witnesses.
There's a reason why I love my dad so much, hah!
With that said, I approach the safe and open it to reveal a floating mass of writhing tentacles, white and red dancing together in a most... Uhh, what's the word?
Approachable?
Touchable?
Absorbable?.. wait, that's not even a word.
Anyways, they look very nice.
Shaking my head out of my stupor, I promptly decide to shove my hand inside of the mass on instinct, watching in grim admiration as the tendrils penetrate the skin of my arm and infuse themselves inside.
Warning!; secondary brainwave frequency detected! Available actions: Purge/Ignore/Designate
Warning!; unknown organic material detected. Available actions: Purge/Ignore/Designate
"Hmm, what's this? The machine can sense my presence... how odd... the technological marvels of the humans grow greater with each host I inhabit." A strange, almost ethereal voice is heard resounding within the room as I shiver from the sound but manage to ignore it as I send my order to the biochip.
Designate to both.
Order Detected; Designating... Please choose a designation.
Yomi.
"W-what? The Human knows my name?!?" That same voice from before echoes throughout my very core as I find myself shivering again. Whomever and whatever Yomi is, she must have been quite the powerful lady to have this much of a terrifying effect on me.
Success! Unknown Organic Material and Secondary Brainwave Frequency have now been designated as; Yomi.
"I'll just say it right now so we can avoid any future misunderstandings, I can also hear you as well, Yomi." I say out loud as the voice goes silent for a moment.
"What? Really? Well now, I guess there really is a first for everything." Yomi replied with curiosity clear in her voice, the strange and terrifying feeling no longer effecting me as it seemingly disappears.
"A-ah, sorry about that. I'm just not used to my hosts hearing me instantly... usually, it takes some time for this to happen... and a couple of murders, too." She says with an imaginary smirk appearing in my mind.
"It probably has something to do with me being a killer." I casually reply to her disembodied self as I hear laughter echoing in my mind."And quite the accomplished one as well! Four hundred and thirty six kills... for someone your age, you've certainly spilled a lot of blood already."
Four hundred and thirty six? Has it really been that many?"How do you know the exact number of the people I killed?"
A rather amused HA!, type of sound echoes as she replies."Well, I just read the number from your mind. Would you believe that your brain actually counts how many people you've killed for you? This is the reason why killers such as you and I have the ability to *feel* that we've killed many people."
Really now? Well that's an interesting tidbit to know.
Notice; you now posses 250 nanites. Passive Regeneration is now available. Nanite Fabrication is now 10% complete.
Oh wow, that was quick."Oooh, what's this? You've got these adorable little robots popping out of your stomach and running all over your body! They're so cute!" Yomi's ecstatic voice echoes out, making me quirk an eyebrow as I open the door and leave the room with the bounty paper in my hands.
A rumble is heard coming from somewhere inside of me as I open my mouth to reply."The Nanites? Cute?.. That's a new one."
"Nanites? Is that what they're called? AWWW! Adowable little nanities!" Oh my god, I can already feel that this chick is gonna be fun to have around.
Lets just hope that she does not find everything so cute."Anyways, can you tell me about yourself, Yomi?"
"About myself?.. Something tells me that you aren't asking about my story." I shake my head in negative."No, I've already dreamed the gist of it and the rest can come on its own if you ever feel like telling me. As for what I meant... well, I'd like to know what you can do for me as your host? Do I get some new special powers or?"
She starts laughing."Hah! You wish, brat! You're gonna have to prove yourself to me if you want me to share my glorious power with you!" She exclaims before an imaginary blink and shrug are sent my way."That said, we've already established that you're a murderer, which is kinda the test I usually do; kill somebody."
"Which leaves you in a position where you can't decide weather to just give me power or try cooking up another test?" I suddenly find myself in front of the door to leave my mansion as silence follows my question.
Soon after, I get my reply."Na na naaaah. You see, curses don't work that way. As a dark spirit bound to you by a curse, I require a condition to be fulfilled before I can offer you anything, much less give you any sort of power."
I see."Alright then Yomi, what do I have to do?"
"Cut off either of your middle fingers with an axe, hehe!" A savage, toothed and inhuman grin is shown to me through thoughts as she replies with sadism clear in her voice. Stopping dead in my tracks, I promptly burst out laughing as I turn around towards a nearby fire axe and, breaking the glass with a punch, I use it to cleanly sever the middle finger of my left hand with a rather emotionless expression upon my face.
The finger falls to the floor as the guards around me squirm where they stand and I let out another maddening laugh."W-w-w-w... what in the fuck?!" Yomi's flabbergasted voice forces me into another spree of laughter as I feel an ethereal energy being released from within me.
The condition... has been fulfilled.
Warning!; Bodily damage detected. Halt Fabrication and Heal Damages?
Halt and then resume once the healing is complete.
Order Detected. Processing advanced order... Success. Nanite Fabrication will resume in 20 seconds.
"Gh!" A strangled grunt escapes me as I watch my finger being restored, glowing orange light forming outwards as the Nanites gather and begin forcefully generating cells as the bleeding instantaneously stops.
"What?! That's cheatinnnnng! Humans aren't supposed to regenerate like thaaaaat!" She exclaims with a sing-along voice and an imaginary pout as I let out another laugh before leaving the mansion to see my butler eagerly awaiting in front of my personal limo, ready to deliver me to the location of my current target, most likely.
"Says you." Is my only reply as poor Yomi continues to pout inside of my mind. Letting out another laugh, I hand Jeremiah the bounty paper as the butler bows and nods, getting inside the car in order to prepare for the drive.
Settling down inside of the limo and closing the door, I start opening the various secret containers around me and claiming my weapons from them, like my very own Jagdkommando Tri-Dagger Fixed Blade Knife. Damn, this guy was really hard to get and very, very costly.
Named after the Austrian Armed Special Forces Operations group, the Jagdkommando really lives up to its elite namesake. The blade has three sharp edges that twist to a point. The seamless, yet functional, design of this knife is brought together by grooved faces and drilled holes.
The Micro Tech Jagdkommando is a devastating fixed dagger with a 12-5/8 inches of overall Length. The blade is 7 inches of sharpened 440A stainless steel with a bead blast finish and grooved triple edge twisted dagger blade with drilled hole design. The bead is a blasted waffle design of 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum with a hollow handle and threaded end cap. The Handle can be used to store small survival gear or cord (which is not included). A Black waffle design 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum threaded "sheath" cover with lanyard holes on both the handle and end cap.
It would be wise to mention how, while these are usually numbered and each possess their own ID, mine does not, thus making it utterly illegal. But, as an Assassin, that's not really an issue, now is it?
Also, I call him Eliot. Why? Hell if I know... wait, I think that was the name of the first person I killed using this thing.
Shrugging to apparently nobody as I finish equipping myself with weaponry, which alongside the knife included an Desert Eagle Mark XIX, caliber .50AE and my titanium Hudson Bay Axe, I let myself lean into the comfortable seat of the limo and closed my eyes in order to meditate until the destination was reached.
----------------------------------------
Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...
----------------------------------------
I hope you all like the new design, especially you Killashard, as it was your opinion that drove me to removing the Don't Mind me line breaks from the middle of the story.
Also, sorry for the time it took for this chapter to be finished. The fact that it wasn't the easiest one to type down so far combined with the business around my new college hasn't done much for my update speed.
----------------------------------------
Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! See you soon, guys and girls!