"ROOAAAAAAAAARR!!!" The great white monster spewed spittle all over Rivi and I, its eyes red with fury.

"Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Rivi said amused, and before I could even blink spears of shadow impaled the monster from every side, its movements abruptly stopping as it fell limp like a puppet with its strings cut off.

"It's…dead!" I stared at the monster in shock. Then at Rivi.

She giggled under my astonished gaze. "Well, what did you think of my performance?"

"Shouldn't you be…shouldn't it have been…?" I pointed at her and then at the monster. It was huge, terrifying, was it really just that weak, or was Rivi really just that strong?

"Didn't I tell you that there was nothing in these caves that could harm us? Now come on, don't you want to find a place for your evolution?"

"I-I guess…" I looked blankly at the giant monster corpse. "B-but what are we going to do with this?"

"Butchering it!!" Rivi's eyes widened in horror. "I was supposed to kill it cleanly, so the pelt would be good quality, oh my god, how could I have forgotten? I killed it too fast, I wasn't thinking." She put her head in her hands.

"Uh, there, there." I patted her on the back. "I'm sure it'll still sell for plenty. And besides, do we really need money that badly? I mean, did you not bring enough with you from the dungeon?"

"You can never have too much money." She said so seriously it almost made me want to laugh.

"Ok, well, do you think there were any others in the cave, or do you think this is it?"

"Hmmm," She closed her eyes and I saw shadows pulse from her feet, rushing through the cavern. "It seems he was alone, we shouldn't have any more issues."

"Great, well, why don't you seal me in somewhere around here, and while I'm evolving, you can take your time butchering."

"Ok!" She brightened, creating a box of shadows around a natural indent in the wall of the cave. "Huhhh, this won't be so pretty, though." She turned back to the monster with an air of disappointment.

"Anyways, see you soon. Good luck with your evolution!" She waved at me, and with her wave I felt an invisible restriction being lifted from my soul.

"Wh-what's…" I felt my whole being trembling from deep, deep inside me, as a warmth spread from my heart and electricity seemed to tingle through my extremities. It was all I could do to rush into the black box Rivi had prepared for me, before I lost my balance, and the world faded to black.

Two lights circled in a black void. One was a pure white orb and pulsed periodically as it orbited in a perfect circle. The other was a red flame, which leapt and clawed at the void around it, but always sputtered back into itself.

The red flame chased the other, speeding up in its orbit to clash against an invisible boundary that kept it separated from the white orb, purple sparks flying every time it leapt at the boundary. All of a sudden something shifted, and the white orb, which had been orbiting in a circle, stilled.

The red flame, as if sensing its opportunity had finally come, leapt at the white orb with increasing ferocity. And with every leap it grew closer and closer to the white orb, and the purple sparks grew less and less, until in a final burst of flame, the red flame succeeded in entering the white orb, and the whole thing began to morph and change.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!" I woke up in searing pain as if fire had spread throughout every filament of my being like molten lava. "Ahahahahahahahah" My eyes rolled up as my whole body vibrated and bucked in pain.

I saw visions of claws in the night, of blood-streaked halls, a laughing grin disappearing into mist. My eyes turned red, and my pupils shifted into yellow beast-slits, narrowing in hunger. I tasted blood on my mouth, and I couldn't be sure if it was mine, or some newly-instilled memory.

"KYAAAAA!!" I shrieked, writhing at my body in agony, hoping for any kind of relief. Until I suddenly seemed to see blue eyes in the dark, looking down at me in pity. A sensation of numbness spread through my body, and I nearly blacked out in relief, as I saw the blue eyes turn and a door shut in the void.

"Ah ah ah" I panted, dizzy and delirious from the changes, I looked down at the rest of my body and froze. My legs were gone, in their place red fog roiled and shifted like it was alive. "Wha-what?" I blinked, thinking about my legs, wondering if I had just imagined them being gone, and to my relief the next moment they were back. "Ah," I breathed a sigh of relief, bringing my hand to my face only to freeze again, as my hand was replaced by the same red fog.

"What the f**k is going on!???" I scrambled up from the stone table Rivi had prepared for me, and backed up against the wall. As I did so I watched powerlessly as various parts of my body phased back and forth between their physical form and their fog form.

"Is this…Is this part of my evolution?" I looked at my body dimly, suddenly remembering that I was supposed to be based on a Crimson Wraith. Is this part of my new powers??

"Status," I called, hoping the system would make some sense out of what was happening, only to be dumbfounded by what actually came up.

[System update successful!]

[New version: Melphinoe's System v1.0]

[Developer Patch notes: Hehehe, I updated your system, hope you're happy ;) Lots of new things, so just do some exploring and figure them out yourself. If you have any questions use the new chat feature, and I should be able to get back to you no matter where you are (as long as another god isn't suppressing your powers)

P.S. Tell Rivi I said hi! You guys aren't in trouble, so no need to worry about pursuers o/

-Noe]

[Status]

[Magic]

[Ability Workshop]

[Chat]

[Log]

[Settings]

"What the..!?" The entire interface was different, not to mention the patch notes. "Chat? Ability Workshop? Log? What the hell is all this? I thought—Weren't they just?" I gaped at it. When the f**k were they working on a replacement system? And why on earth didn't they tell me?

I clenched my fist in frustration, before taking a breath to calm myself. Noe has the most infuriating way of helping people that I've ever heard about!

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