“Drake? What are the chances?” chuckled the man lightly, walking forward.
Drake put his hand up in caution, snapping an ember of breathing fire to life in it with a red magic circle.
Natto, why can’t I see his alias or level.. Drake asked, his body going cold as he eyed Stewart wearily.
[Dn18&@)dn Level *%]
“He must possess an obscuring item. They are not uncommon outside the tutorial but he would have to craft such an item here, get lucky with a quest reward or…”
Drake felt unsettled. He knew Stewart, they had even been acquaintances at work. It was a bad memory but he had even been the one who invited him to that party so long again.
Drake felt a piercing shiver go down his spine, as he saw Stewart’s eyes glow green briefly, but Drake didn’t miss the shift.
“Oh what do we have here? Why are you level 10 still bud… And you? You’re Shot? Oh…” Stewart laughed, nearly falling backwards as his spine bent with his chortle, his hand going to his forehead like a classic anime villain.
“This is just too good, you can’t make this shit up!” Stewart shouted, going upright to look at Drake again, “Drake I knew you were still alive but you seem to be doing pretty well after everything is said and done huh? Last you told me you had started your own Art Business and were doing pretty well no?”
Drake flinched. Stewart was one of the few non-family members Drake had kept in contact with when everything happened. Stewart was empathetic over the phone, apologizing for bringing him to the party, saying he had no idea such a thing would happen.
He had even checked up on Drake every few weeks seeing how he was doing, then suddenly stopped when Drake mentioned he was actually doing better financially compared to when he was working, and steadily doing better overall.
The memory left a bitter taste in Drake’s mouth but he responded, keeping his eyes and aura scanning to make sure the other people who were shrouded didn’t move.
Drake opened his mouth to answer, but muttered, “Marked…” under his breath on Stewart just in case he vanished again.
“Yeah, that’s right, luckily all that hard work I had put in for all those years pulled me up by my bootstraps, along with a bit of luck from some algorithms on some social media,” Drake answered finally, trying to stay calm and casual.
Stewart scoffed, almost disappointed that Drake had said he was doing well. His demeanor far different from how Drake remembered him.
“Ha! Isn’t that how it’s always been with you! Just a bit of luck…” Stewart’s face scrunched up as he spat to the side, “Surprised you didn’t just off yourself after you got fired. At least those other guys had the decency to stay the lowly bastards they were and never got back up.”
Drake’s eyes turned to points hearing that, “What do you mean?”
Stewart laughed, “You think it was a coincidence you got fired for that bullshit? Who do you think told HR about your little escapade you dumb chump,” Stewart said, giving a ratty snicker.
Drake’s magic winked out suddenly as he lost concentration for a split second, his aura leaking out as well, resulting in a wince of confusion from Stewart.
“Drake? What is wrong? I have never seen you so upset or unsettled, who is this rat?” asked Natto.
Drake ignored her, unable to answer the question. His mind doing flips trying to piece together Stewart’s words.
“Are you saying the reason I was fired wasn't even Marrisah’s fault..? It was you?!” Drake asked, his hands shaking.
Stewart shook off his confusion and put on another sneer, his haughty condescending attitude returning, “No, she knew~,” Stewart said a swing of his arm enunciating the word, “She may have done it for money but she knew. Personally I just had to get rid of you. Couldn’t have you taking my job, now could I?”
Drake tasted iron. He had bitten his lip.
Stewart continued, “Please… don’t be so upset. It isn’t like you were the first, or the one and only. Had this little system not given me the opportunity to have so much fun, I would have done it to many more. Oh by the way, is this one with you?” Stewart asked, giving a wave of his hand.
A moment later, two black clad figures appeared, a third person sitting on the ground.
“Theo!” Drake shouted, taking a step forward, but stopped at Natto screaming in his head.
“Drake! Not another step! I do not want to leave Theodore either but you still have your debuff! Think calmly, he is still alive. You…. We need to buy time until it is gone,” Natto said, her voice dripping with concern.
Drake cursed looking at the debuff.
Divine Frailty [F Rank]
4 Minutes 27 SecondsStewart spoke again, “Oh so you do know him! That makes this all the more poetic,” Stewart gave an sinister grin, his hand moving to the side of his leg, a knife sliding out of the holster, “I’m going to have you watch as I take him apart, just because he knows you,” he chuckled wildly, the knife flying from his hand embedding itself into Theodores thigh.
Theodore shrieked in pain, his head finally rising up to see Drake. Theodore’s eyes went wide at the sight of him.
And Drake could see it in his eyes. Regret. Apology. Frustration.
Drake glared at Stewart, “You sick fuck!” he roared, his jaw tightening.
“Haha! Good! Don’t think you can even do anything anyway, everyone here is well above your level for one. And one move. I’ll be all over you just like HR was,” Stewart snickered.
“You can’t be serious that you would do all that just to keep me from getting promoted and taking your position? Don’t you have any integrity?!” Drake shouted back.
“Integrity? Puh-leaseee… Not only do I not have it, neither does the world. Imagine my surprise when all I had to do was just send an anonymous tip that you had been harassing someone at the party. Then just a quick exchange of money to Marrisah and a letter saying she corroborated my story and that was that. What a world we live in right?” Stewart smiled.
“You have no remorse for what you did? You ruined my fucking life!” Drake screamed, his voice so loud it sounded almost like a banshee, “It wasn’t just my job! You ruined my entire life! Any opportunity I might have had in the job market, friends, colleagues, any spectrum of a relationship gone!”
“Oh boo hoo. Honestly if I knew it was going to be that easy, I would have gone further. I should have went further you fucking jackass! It would have been just a few more hundred dollars in a few more peoples hands to put you in jail for much worse,” Stewart laughed again, “It went much easier for the next two but I went a bit too far and they stopped taking the reports seriously,” Stewart continued shrugging his shoulders, as he walked over to Theodore.
“Do you even know what kind of vile injustice you perpetuated! You ruined my life, fine. I was lucky and I had a supportive family and I bounced back. But those other people… How many fucking lives did you destroy just for your own fucking selfishness?!”
Not even missing a beat Stewart answered, “Hmm, at least 4 didn’t bother keeping track and I lost count after that.”
Drake felt his tooth almost chip under the stress of his jaw.
“You’re not human…” Drake muttered.
“Hmm?” Stewart said, cocking his head and hand in a listening motion.
“You aren’t human! Do you know how hard it already is for people to take those types of allegations seriously!? And all you did was make it so no woman, no person! Whoever reported another one of those cases at that company would even be looked at seriously. You set the bar back for everyone for years, if not more! Those false accusations did more than just ruin the accused’s lives,” Drake shouted, his voice becoming broken, “You were put in charge to take care of employees, and you manipulated all those people for what? To keep a job you weren’t qualified for? For pleasure?!”
Stewart pulled another knife from his side, playing with it in his hand, “Are you done..?” he said his face glazed over in boredom, “I did it because I could. With you it was for my job, and I liked Marrisah. Seeing you get along so well with her pissed me off so I decided to get rid of you. But after that? It was just so easy to put you out of the picture, I decided to do the same with a few more people, and got myself a nice little spot near the top! Doubled my pay in less than a year.”
“Drake? What are you doing? Stop! You need to wait!” Natto yelled.
Drake couldn’t hear her, his mind had finally gone blank in anger. He slowly stepped forward, his Aura going out of control, and washing over the outpost.
Eight other figures in black shimmered into vision, fear in their eyes. Some shaking after dropping to their knees, others desperately chanting their skills and spells again to vanish.
Drake didn’t care for the background characters, his eyes were trained on only one person right now.
Stewart.
Drake’s eyes cascaded in an eerie glow of yellow, blue, and green. Fixed on the man, with unbridled fury and unprecedented bloodthirst.
The beast inside him was scratching at the cage, and Drake wasn’t about to stop it.
Tyrannical Aura P1(4%) [F Rank]
The monster inside you refuses to be below others. The world is meant for you to take your place above it. You are the epitome, the apex, the ever oppressive Tyrant. Your word is law inside your domain. This skill gives access to Aura. The passive ability to inflict your will upon the world within a certain distance. Allows user to perceive their surroundings within a 3 meter sphere around themselves (Increased based on Proficiency) Aura suppresses anyone inside your sphere that is of your rank or lower, giving a perpetual 10% debuff to all combat stats and momentary fear. (Increased based on Proficiency) Aura momentarily disrupts any and all spells or skills being casted when will is flexed. Must be of equal or lower Rank. Additional Effect: Devourer - Any target inside your sphere of influence has a beneficial buff removed once per hour.
Arthur_Inverse
Apologies for the chapter being on the shorter side, but it's just how the lead up ended up panning out.
Thank you for reading as always and I hope you've enjoyed the chapter!
For those that have some insight into what has happened recently, I thank you for all your support, and words can not express my thanks. May you all be blessed and have a wonderful week.
I would like to thank all the wonderful people that have become patrons.
I would like to give an extra thank you to :
BelligerentGnu, Scott F. Fletcher D. Yang A. Aaron R. and Liam B.
A bigger thanks to my T2 Patrons: Shadowpulse, Phntm, Fallacha, Gavin T. Mike, Melanie S. Premium_Marzen, Sphinxes, xerxes, Shaunna H. Mark T, Brayan R. Gabriel, and Benji
And a massive thanks to my T3 Patrons: Jesse M. C Alex G. Bum Bumbo, Paul F. Liam B. Green S. Eb, dmf, Richard M, Richard R. Pergamon, Gavin T, Primo, Carolyne, Zane, Thomas B W. Zachary G., Patrick W. al, Michael W. Kevin D. Dave the Technician, skeri123, Tsula and Leon O.
A overwhelming thanks to the only T4 Patron:
Mello
And a special thanks to my first two patreons:
M. Mollegarrd, and Mr. Redd.
If you would like to also become a patron you can find the link at the bottom of the chapter or at patreon.com/Arthur_Inverse where you can read ahead from 1 chapter up to 12+ chapters as Draft Edits.
P.S. If I ever miss you in the shoutouts please just send me a message on patreon.
“Drake? What are the chances?” chuckled the man lightly, walking forward.
Drake put his hand up in caution, snapping an ember of breathing fire to life in it with a red magic circle.
Natto, why can’t I see his alias or level.. Drake asked, his body going cold as he eyed Stewart wearily.
[Dn18&@)dn Level *%]
“He must possess an obscuring item. They are not uncommon outside the tutorial but he would have to craft such an item here, get lucky with a quest reward or…”
Drake felt unsettled. He knew Stewart, they had even been acquaintances at work. It was a bad memory but he had even been the one who invited him to that party so long again.
Drake felt a piercing shiver go down his spine, as he saw Stewart’s eyes glow green briefly, but Drake didn’t miss the shift.
“Oh what do we have here? Why are you level 10 still bud… And you? You’re Shot? Oh…” Stewart laughed, nearly falling backwards as his spine bent with his chortle, his hand going to his forehead like a classic anime villain.
“This is just too good, you can’t make this shit up!” Stewart shouted, going upright to look at Drake again, “Drake I knew you were still alive but you seem to be doing pretty well after everything is said and done huh? Last you told me you had started your own Art Business and were doing pretty well no?”
Drake flinched. Stewart was one of the few non-family members Drake had kept in contact with when everything happened. Stewart was empathetic over the phone, apologizing for bringing him to the party, saying he had no idea such a thing would happen.
He had even checked up on Drake every few weeks seeing how he was doing, then suddenly stopped when Drake mentioned he was actually doing better financially compared to when he was working, and steadily doing better overall.
The memory left a bitter taste in Drake’s mouth but he responded, keeping his eyes and aura scanning to make sure the other people who were shrouded didn’t move.
Drake opened his mouth to answer, but muttered, “Marked…” under his breath on Stewart just in case he vanished again.
“Yeah, that’s right, luckily all that hard work I had put in for all those years pulled me up by my bootstraps, along with a bit of luck from some algorithms on some social media,” Drake answered finally, trying to stay calm and casual.
Stewart scoffed, almost disappointed that Drake had said he was doing well. His demeanor far different from how Drake remembered him.
“Ha! Isn’t that how it’s always been with you! Just a bit of luck…” Stewart’s face scrunched up as he spat to the side, “Surprised you didn’t just off yourself after you got fired. At least those other guys had the decency to stay the lowly bastards they were and never got back up.”
Drake’s eyes turned to points hearing that, “What do you mean?”
Stewart laughed, “You think it was a coincidence you got fired for that bullshit? Who do you think told HR about your little escapade you dumb chump,” Stewart said, giving a ratty snicker.
Drake’s magic winked out suddenly as he lost concentration for a split second, his aura leaking out as well, resulting in a wince of confusion from Stewart.
“Drake? What is wrong? I have never seen you so upset or unsettled, who is this rat?” asked Natto.
Drake ignored her, unable to answer the question. His mind doing flips trying to piece together Stewart’s words.
“Are you saying the reason I was fired wasn't even Marrisah’s fault..? It was you?!” Drake asked, his hands shaking.
Stewart shook off his confusion and put on another sneer, his haughty condescending attitude returning, “No, she knew~,” Stewart said a swing of his arm enunciating the word, “She may have done it for money but she knew. Personally I just had to get rid of you. Couldn’t have you taking my job, now could I?”
Drake tasted iron. He had bitten his lip.
Stewart continued, “Please… don’t be so upset. It isn’t like you were the first, or the one and only. Had this little system not given me the opportunity to have so much fun, I would have done it to many more. Oh by the way, is this one with you?” Stewart asked, giving a wave of his hand.
A moment later, two black clad figures appeared, a third person sitting on the ground.
“Theo!” Drake shouted, taking a step forward, but stopped at Natto screaming in his head.
“Drake! Not another step! I do not want to leave Theodore either but you still have your debuff! Think calmly, he is still alive. You…. We need to buy time until it is gone,” Natto said, her voice dripping with concern.
Drake cursed looking at the debuff.
Divine Frailty [F Rank]
4 Minutes 27 SecondsStewart spoke again, “Oh so you do know him! That makes this all the more poetic,” Stewart gave an sinister grin, his hand moving to the side of his leg, a knife sliding out of the holster, “I’m going to have you watch as I take him apart, just because he knows you,” he chuckled wildly, the knife flying from his hand embedding itself into Theodores thigh.
Theodore shrieked in pain, his head finally rising up to see Drake. Theodore’s eyes went wide at the sight of him.
And Drake could see it in his eyes. Regret. Apology. Frustration.
Drake glared at Stewart, “You sick fuck!” he roared, his jaw tightening.
“Haha! Good! Don’t think you can even do anything anyway, everyone here is well above your level for one. And one move. I’ll be all over you just like HR was,” Stewart snickered.
“You can’t be serious that you would do all that just to keep me from getting promoted and taking your position? Don’t you have any integrity?!” Drake shouted back.
“Integrity? Puh-leaseee… Not only do I not have it, neither does the world. Imagine my surprise when all I had to do was just send an anonymous tip that you had been harassing someone at the party. Then just a quick exchange of money to Marrisah and a letter saying she corroborated my story and that was that. What a world we live in right?” Stewart smiled.
“You have no remorse for what you did? You ruined my fucking life!” Drake screamed, his voice so loud it sounded almost like a banshee, “It wasn’t just my job! You ruined my entire life! Any opportunity I might have had in the job market, friends, colleagues, any spectrum of a relationship gone!”
“Oh boo hoo. Honestly if I knew it was going to be that easy, I would have gone further. I should have went further you fucking jackass! It would have been just a few more hundred dollars in a few more peoples hands to put you in jail for much worse,” Stewart laughed again, “It went much easier for the next two but I went a bit too far and they stopped taking the reports seriously,” Stewart continued shrugging his shoulders, as he walked over to Theodore.
“Do you even know what kind of vile injustice you perpetuated! You ruined my life, fine. I was lucky and I had a supportive family and I bounced back. But those other people… How many fucking lives did you destroy just for your own fucking selfishness?!”
Not even missing a beat Stewart answered, “Hmm, at least 4 didn’t bother keeping track and I lost count after that.”
Drake felt his tooth almost chip under the stress of his jaw.
“You’re not human…” Drake muttered.
“Hmm?” Stewart said, cocking his head and hand in a listening motion.
“You aren’t human! Do you know how hard it already is for people to take those types of allegations seriously!? And all you did was make it so no woman, no person! Whoever reported another one of those cases at that company would even be looked at seriously. You set the bar back for everyone for years, if not more! Those false accusations did more than just ruin the accused’s lives,” Drake shouted, his voice becoming broken, “You were put in charge to take care of employees, and you manipulated all those people for what? To keep a job you weren’t qualified for? For pleasure?!”
Stewart pulled another knife from his side, playing with it in his hand, “Are you done..?” he said his face glazed over in boredom, “I did it because I could. With you it was for my job, and I liked Marrisah. Seeing you get along so well with her pissed me off so I decided to get rid of you. But after that? It was just so easy to put you out of the picture, I decided to do the same with a few more people, and got myself a nice little spot near the top! Doubled my pay in less than a year.”
“Drake? What are you doing? Stop! You need to wait!” Natto yelled.
Drake couldn’t hear her, his mind had finally gone blank in anger. He slowly stepped forward, his Aura going out of control, and washing over the outpost.
Eight other figures in black shimmered into vision, fear in their eyes. Some shaking after dropping to their knees, others desperately chanting their skills and spells again to vanish.
Drake didn’t care for the background characters, his eyes were trained on only one person right now.
Stewart.
Drake’s eyes cascaded in an eerie glow of yellow, blue, and green. Fixed on the man, with unbridled fury and unprecedented bloodthirst.
The beast inside him was scratching at the cage, and Drake wasn’t about to stop it.
Tyrannical Aura P1(4%) [F Rank]
The monster inside you refuses to be below others. The world is meant for you to take your place above it. You are the epitome, the apex, the ever oppressive Tyrant. Your word is law inside your domain. This skill gives access to Aura. The passive ability to inflict your will upon the world within a certain distance. Allows user to perceive their surroundings within a 3 meter sphere around themselves (Increased based on Proficiency) Aura suppresses anyone inside your sphere that is of your rank or lower, giving a perpetual 10% debuff to all combat stats and momentary fear. (Increased based on Proficiency) Aura momentarily disrupts any and all spells or skills being casted when will is flexed. Must be of equal or lower Rank. Additional Effect: Devourer - Any target inside your sphere of influence has a beneficial buff removed once per hour.
Arthur_Inverse
Apologies for the chapter being on the shorter side, but it's just how the lead up ended up panning out.
Thank you for reading as always and I hope you've enjoyed the chapter!
For those that have some insight into what has happened recently, I thank you for all your support, and words can not express my thanks. May you all be blessed and have a wonderful week.
I would like to thank all the wonderful people that have become patrons.
I would like to give an extra thank you to :
BelligerentGnu, Scott F. Fletcher D. Yang A. Aaron R. and Liam B.
A bigger thanks to my T2 Patrons: Shadowpulse, Phntm, Fallacha, Gavin T. Mike, Melanie S. Premium_Marzen, Sphinxes, xerxes, Shaunna H. Mark T, Brayan R. Gabriel, and Benji
And a massive thanks to my T3 Patrons: Jesse M. C Alex G. Bum Bumbo, Paul F. Liam B. Green S. Eb, dmf, Richard M, Richard R. Pergamon, Gavin T, Primo, Carolyne, Zane, Thomas B W. Zachary G., Patrick W. al, Michael W. Kevin D. Dave the Technician, skeri123, Tsula and Leon O.
A overwhelming thanks to the only T4 Patron:
Mello
And a special thanks to my first two patreons:
M. Mollegarrd, and Mr. Redd.
If you would like to also become a patron you can find the link at the bottom of the chapter or at patreon.com/Arthur_Inverse where you can read ahead from 1 chapter up to 12+ chapters as Draft Edits.
P.S. If I ever miss you in the shoutouts please just send me a message on patreon.
