The noble looked bewildered, not angry or panicking, why would he be? No one can disable or take powers, that would be ridiculous. Yet here stood Joy, hiding behind a trashcan, reading the notification that just changed her life. This was huge. She wasn’t a failure anymore, she was one of the most dangerous people in the A.S.A! Oh, fuck. She was one of the most dangerous people in the A.S.A. This was bad. Very, very, bad.

It’s taught in schools everywhere, what can happen if you get a Mythic skill. Not directly, of course, but in the history books. Everyone learns about the few who have obtained one. For the Chaotic alignment ones, it’s a bit of a crap shoot what can happen, it really depends on the ability, for Heavenly, it’s a bit simpler. Immediate and forceful adoption into the Emperor’s family. For Demonic, well, there hasn’t been a recorded case of someone with one surviving to cause a problem.

Hearing the noble whisper to his butler in concern brought Joy out of her thoughts, and reminded her to get the hell out of there. Noble scions don’t just go to the Undercity unprotected, that would be a death sentence. They’re required to have guards of Class 3 and above, what this translated to, in simple terms, is that she was super fucking dead if he caught her.

Luckily, it looked like his powers didn’t grant superhuman perception, as she was able to slip away without making a noise, before breaking out into a sprint the moment she was far enough away.

Feeling safe with the distance she had made, she stopped to ponder the truly off-the-wall fucking bonkers thing on that status of hers. Class: Null. That isn’t possible. There has only been one fucking null class in all of fucking existence, and it isn’t in the empire, it’s out in the cosmos eating fucking stars. The only reason the empire lives is that it seemed to have some sort of attachment to it before it went fucking crazy.

She bumped into someone while in the middle of her crises, and muttered a quiet apology while continuing home.

“Now, now, missy, just where do you think you're going?” A two-bit-looking gangster said

“I’m going to level with you right now, I’m in the middle of something big right now, and if you don’t back off I’m going to rip your throat out. Okay?” Joy said nonchalantly, as if stating a fact.

And she really could do that now, Class determined power, and if she was a Null, then she could probably kill him with a breath.

“Damn girl, I was just going to rob you, no need to go all psycho murderer on me!” He exclaimed half-jokingly, then continued, “If it’s that bad, you can talk to me about it?” he said searchingly.

“Are you… trying to hit on me? After directly saying you were going to rob me?” Joy asked, bewildered.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Eh, can’t blame a guy for trying. Based on that look, I’m going to go before you make good on your earlier promise, good luck with whatever is bothering you!” He said encouragingly, then walked away casually.

Unable to process what just happened, Joy’s brain just stuttered.

Wha… what the fuck was that? Was that some commoner joke I don’t understand?

She had heard someone joke back in school that a conversation had blue-screened them before, an archaic term from back when computers ‘crashed?’, but she had never been part of one.

Luckily, that seemed to do the trick of getting her out of her spiral, and she started thinking rationally again. Well, it’s debatable that freaking out and spiraling after getting a fucking Null Class is irrational, but that’s beside the point.

So, what did she need to do? How could she solve this? Was there a solution?

Clearly, going back to the surface is impossible. The stroke of luck she got with spirit vision cannot be understated, the vast majority of Powered individuals couldn’t see status messages, and they had to go to System Terminals to check. That’s why Demonic Alignments are caught so fast, they feel they’ve achieved an evolution, go to a terminal to check, and before the shock can kick in there are already 70 assassins on the way to kill them.

If anyone finds out, Joy is dead, so very, very, fucking dead.

To distract herself, she decided to look at her status again and see the drawbacks that she couldn’t focus on earlier.

Power, Envy | Alignment, Demonic | Class, Null | Progress to next Class level: Null

Total Accumulated Energy: 1446.

Current Strength: Class 4

Description: Allows the user to steal Powers from those they envy, allows the user to enhance said skills with experience, allows the user to steal experience from those they deem lesser

Drawbacks:

Ego - feelings of arrogance and superiority increase with each use.

Psychopathy - Decrease empathy and increase violent tendencies with each use.

The calling of Sin - Decreased ability to resist the use of this power

Demonic Aura - Anyone near you is intimidated, scales with the use of your power

Limited Power - You are as strong as the accumulated energy you have.

Seed of Pride - Hidden

Well, she would be lying if she said that wasn’t concerning, but she couldn’t just not use her power, that would be insane. She would just have to be careful with it and be mindful of each use. If she kept an eye on her mental state, she should be able to handle it.

And if she couldn’t? Well, it’s not like she would care at that point, right? With a slight chuckle at the thought, she continued her walk home, unaware of the chills that just went down the spine of every major faction leader in the Astexian-Solistaris Alliance.