Seth felt the potion drip down into his mouth, it binded his body together as it was completely absorbed by him. It felt pure, it felt right
His body turned still and cold as the potion brought stimulation to all his cells. Seth couldn't help but convulse, his vision rapidly blurred as the colors started saturating. He felt stronger, better, it felt ecstatic.
Although his vision was a blur and colours kept expanding, his mind felt light, everything felt clearer then before. It was a transcendent experience, he was surpassing human limitation and going beyond.
Bit by bit, his vision slowly cleared up as the surroundings became discernable. The scene in his basement returned to normal, as the fragment of Nika slowly pulsed.
He had successfully become a Sequence 9 Mischief Maker, his forehead instantly suffered a stabbing pain as all the knowledge of the potion appeared in his mind.
He possessed various abilities, not normal for a Sequence 9 Beyonder Seth felt. The first ability was more akin to a trait, then an actual ability.
It was called Monstrous Physique, it strengthened his physique and made him more durable. His strength and speed had a noticeable increase, and he had gained regeneration, being able to regenerate minor wounds in mere minutes. While substantial wounds took hours, and sometimes days.
Consumption of food increased his regeneration. He also gained minor adaptation as the more wounds he received, the more durable his skin would become and would regenerate faster.
The next ability he gained was a rubber body, which basically made his body gain the properties of rubber. Allowing him to stretch, bend, bounce, inflate and twist his body parts, he gained immunity to blunt force attacks and also bodily attacks.
It also made him immune to electrical attacks due to rubber's natural insulating property. The next ability was called Decryption.
It allowed him to recreate the truth behind anything related to mysticism or predict the development of events just from bits and scraps of evidence. It allowed him to decrypt dreams, illusions, mysteries, locations of enemies.
The decryption extended to being able to uncover Honorific names of Deities, the incantations to various charms and the secrets behind Sealed Artifacts. It also imbued him with a vast amount of knowledge.
The last of the abilities he gained was called Supernatural Resistance, which allowed his body to withstand supernatural powers aimed at him. It allowed him to reduce the negative effects of Sealed Artifacts and touch incorporeal existences. This power also allowed him to sense if there was any supernatural power at work.
"....."
In the Moretti Household,
Klein quietly hummed as he collected water to clean some mutton, he started a fire and took out a knife before chopping the mutton into small little pieces.
His thoughts wandered to an earlier confrontation with the police, Would the expert that visits me be able to figure out that I'm The Fool? Klein thought with agitation, if they figured out that he was running a cult in his free time. He would surely be dragged to the churches for 'Purification'
Klein lightly laughed with anxiousness, That surely wouldn't happen, would it? Klein thought to himself before he focused his attention back onto the mutton he was cooking.
He had only a few hours before Melissa came, so he set aside his agitated thoughts and focused on cooking. He took out a condiment box and added some spices before he placed a saucepan on the stove and waited for it to heat up.
Klein rummaged for the carrots from yesterday and cut them into pieces with the onions he bought today.
When he was done with his preparations, he took out a small can from the cupboard and opened it. There was not much lard left in it.
Klein took a spoonful, put it in the pan, and melted it. He added in the carrots and onions and stirred it for a while.
As the fragrance began to pervade, Klein poured all the mutton into the pot and fried it with care for a while.
Klein had wanted to add some red wine, or at least some cooking wine. However, the Moretti Family couldn't afford those luxuries, and so he had to make do with whatever was available.
After stewing for about twenty minutes, he opened the lid, put the tender peas and cut potatoes in it, and added a cup of hot water and two spoons of salt.
He closed the lid, lowered the fire, and exhaled satisfactorily, waiting for his sister to reach home.
As seconds turned into minutes, the fragrance in the room intensified. There was the allure from the meat, the rich smell of potatoes, and the refreshing scent of onions.
The smell gradually mixed up, and Klein swallowed his saliva from time to time, keeping track of the time with his pocket watch.
After more than forty minutes, some not-so-brisk but rhythmic footsteps approached. A key was inserted, the handle was turned, and the door opened.
Melissa came in with a dark expression and seemed to smell something good, "Smells good.."
She answered with a bit of jolliness but her face was dark with pain, her eyes were slightly red as if she had spent a few minutes crying.
She took off her veil hat and doubtfully asked Klein whether it was him who made it, as far as she remembered. Klein wasn't much of a cook.
Klein saw her eyes which were slightly red as he came close and softly touched her shoulder, "What happened, Melissa?"
Melissa tried to shrug it off, but Klein pressed on. Her chest rose as she whimpered, "Seth got himself into some trouble recently, he had been pushing me away for a while, but instead of asking him what happened. I started ignoring him….
"We met each other today, and he vaguely explained his situation. I feel like he's in trouble, I want to talk to him but he told me to stay away! I don't even know if my best friend is going to die!"
Melissa cried silently, as Klein rubbed her shoulder, "No worries, I've met Seth before. I'm sure he can take care of himself. If you're still worried, I'll go and visit him tomorrow."
Melissa doubtfully looked at Klein as she wiped her tears, "Will you?..."
Klein nooded, "Yes I will, because you're my sister."
_____
A/N - Died from cringe on 3 seperate occasions while writing this