Item-M

A pair of enormous paper wings flapped on Meg's back as she landed.

The moment her feet touched the grass, the wings broke off, tiny bits of paper flying away with the wind like snow. Behind her, the two paper Megs also crumpled and fell. Now she was again an old woman, with such a look of awe that Kai had never seen before on anyone.

She stepped towards him, her eyes glistening like two silver pearls under the moonlight. The pride that she had shown before now vanished as she looked up at him. With every step, she trembled, an unknown shaking wreaking havoc inside her.

Kai noticed it all. He had expected some kind of reaction from her, but not this, whatever it was. Kai wanted to bury the fear of almighty in her heart by making her know he has a Glitch. There was only one thing he had wanted to say by showing her all his cards; either submit or die. Nothing else was possible after knowing this much about him.

Yet… this chain of events had strayed away from the expected path too much for even him to make sense of.

"Is… Is this true?" Meg whispered, looking at the Dementor-Kai. "Do you really have a Glitch?"

For the first time, Kai could feel a monstrous amount of happiness in someone, and yet, he knew he wouldn't be able to suck it out. It was like the happiness itself had choked the pipe, preventing its flow from her to his mouth. Kai's breath rattled as he tried to force it, trying to take even the tiniest drop of happiness out of her. He failed.

'Let's see where it's going first,' Kai thought, nodding to Meg.

"Finally, finally," she muttered, her knees hitting the solid rock. "Oh! If the High Priest knew you had a Glitch… Haha! He will regret his command now. Haha!"

'Has she gone mad?!' Kai wondered. He canceled the Dementor's transformation and landed on the ground. Selene hissed, slithering around his shoulders, and then burst into a mist, entering his body. Kai looked back. Cersei came striding towards them with one look.

Cersei looked at him, her green eyes matching his hazels, and Kai knew she understood what he wanted her to do. This thing he lacked with Petyr.

"There is no shame in bending your knees for someone like my lord," Cersei said, smiling. "Lift your head with pride and look into his eyes. All those who serve him will know greatness, Margrethe. Serve him with your flesh and soul, and you will get back what was yours, and much more."

The corner of Kai's lips twitched upon hearing Cersei's speech. 'Well, she always presents me as some god,' Kai thought, amusingly, but denied nothing. The young Cersei knew what she was doing, and he wouldn't steal her thunder if she wanted to show Meg her loyalty to him.

Meg shook her head but looked up at him, anyway. "Can you…" she began but cut her words in between. "May I have the honor of seeing your Glitch?"

"Presumptuous!" Cersei snapped. "You dare demand proof from him? Do you not know what awaits you, old hag? You should kiss his feet with that mouth of yours and not try to bite him with your blasphemous words."

"Cough!" Kai felt his cheeks going red. Cersei was overacting, and if she wasn't, then things had gone even more serious regarding her. Kai observed the beauty standing on his left with her back straight as if all his power was hers to take pride in, and all his goals were ambitions borne of her dreams.

This wasn't the time to confront her, though.

"I dare not," Meg mumbled, staring at Kai's feet. "For millions of years, there has never been a Chaos' Contestant with Glitch. The mind sees, but the heart wonders ."

'What?!' Kai's eyes widened. 'What the hell does she mean by millions of years? Didn't the System tell me there are two more Contestants above me on the Worth-Stat Ranking?'

Cersei picked up on Kai's expression. Like Petyr, she too knew everything that was to know about Kai and his powers.

"What do you mean by that?" Cersei asked. "Surely there are many Contestants with high Worth Stat in the Primordial Tower."

Meg snapped her head towards them. "You don't know…" she said incredulously. "Yes. How would you know? You can only get Glitch before entering the Primordial Tower. Then no matter what, and no matter how high the Worth Stat becomes, it has nothing to do with Glitch."

'This?!' Kai gaped and realized the mistake he had made by assuming things. A Glitch meant a high Worth Stat, but a high Worth Stat didn't mean a Glitch.

'Individualities, when manifested into the Material Plane, are called Glitches. The Price paid for their freedom is called Worth. So the higher the Worth, the more price was needed to free the Individuality.' Kai recalled Chaos' words. The price was paid in the beginning, during the resurrection. The rise in Worth Stat later had nothing to do with this price.

Realization dawned on Kai, but one thing still troubled him.

Cersei took care of even that. "Then what about the Tournament of Worth?" she asked. "Doesn't the winner get a Glitch as a reward? And what are these millions of years you spoke of?"

Meg took a deep breath as if steeling herself for a future she wasn't sure of. "During the last Tower Battle, millions of years ago," she said, "when the Old Ones fought for Authorities, Chaos lost the Authority to pay the price of new Contestants' Glitches. Since then, only Order's Peak has seen Contestants with Glitches, not Chaos' Valley. But only the top figures from the Temples and the Empire know of it. So, to hide the truth, they let the rumor spread that one can get the Glitch by winning the Tournament."

'Tower Battle? Old Ones? Authorities?' Kai understood nothing. The one thing he was sure of was that Meg was a card worth paying a huge amount for if he would have to. There were secrets hidden deep under the simple knowledge of ascending the floors. And Kai wasn't sure how much time it would take to unearth those secrets.

Now that he had become involved in these things, he would have to know them eventually.

"Only Order's Contestants can get Glitch from the Tournament of Worth after winning it by dying and resurrecting again," Meg continued. "The winners from Chaos get hushed by the Empire. They buy their silence by compensating them, to be specific. That's why… I… I beg you. Show me. Show me and I will swear a Soul-Blood Oath to serve you, regardless of the consequences."

Kai rubbed his head.

Too many things had happened out of his expectations. Too many big words, and too much incomprehensible information. Not that he didn't want it, but he needed to sort out all these things. All he wanted was to overwhelm Meg and force her to become his slave. Though he hadn't heard of his Soul-blood Oath, he had found out from Chaos for 500 Mission Credits that he could use slave contracts, performing the same function.

The only thing that rocked his head was that showing Meg his Glitch meant letting go of the chance of devouring a Pokemon.

'One step at a time,' a voice repeated the words in his mind. 'One step at a time.'

Kai looked at Cersei and nodded. The Character frowned, not liking that this old woman was forcing him to prove himself, he could tell. And her frown had cost many of their lives. Kai shuddered, thinking about what Cersei was planning now when she smiled a little.

"Very well," Cersei said. "You want him to prove himself, right? Pay the price for it."

"An… anything," Meg answered, lifting her head.

"Take out your Pokemon," Cersei commanded, smiling. "A life for your absurd request. That's a good price, I think. Let you know what happens when a servant puts demands on his lord."

'You too have put demands, Cersei,' Kai thought. But he liked the idea. Kai knew how much Meg liked the Pokemon, and if she would let go of the Pokemon, then he would know she already belongs half to him.

Meg trembled, but her hand was already reaching for her Inventory. Kai narrowed his eyes, sensing the emotions. The happiness and sadness within her were getting buried by the emotions of servitude. A blue light came out of the Pokeball, materializing into Squirtle.

"Squirtle…" the Pokemon cried joyfully, sensing Meg's presence.

Selene slithered out of him and flicked out her forked tongue. She, too, seemed to have sensed it.

-It's not food- Kai hissed. Selene yawned, kissed Kai's chin, and went back to sleep.

Meg gawked at this sight and Kai's mouth but said nothing.

'Well, she didn't show any hesitation in giving up her Pokemon, so I won't torture her, either,' he thought. Kai glared at Cersei, who was smiling victoriously as she looked at Meg and her Pokemon. "Tell… her…" he commanded Cersei and reached for the Pokemon.

"Squirtle?" the Pokemon backed away, hoping towards Meg. But the old woman just looked at Kai, silent tears streaming down her older face. Kai grabbed the Pokemon's tail and lifted it as it cried for Meg to give it a command.

"Squirtle, don't attack," Meg said, not looking at the Pokemon. "He won't hurt you."

The Pokemon calmed down, and Cersei sneered. "Marvel at the sight," she told Meg. "My master's Glitch is Blood Devour. He can devour any beast's blood essence and can get its Abilities and Skills. You saw his transformation, right? That one was from devouring a Dementor's blood essence."

"Blood Devour…" Meg mumbled, her eyes now red and purple from all the tears.

Kai looked into those eyes. He crouched and rubbed the tears away. "Reborn… today…" he told her. "Reborn… my… servant. Blood Devour!"

[

Calculating Worth…

Glitch 'Blood Devour' is now awakened for 55 minutes in this World

]

Red heat erupted uncontrolled out of Kai's body. Both Cersei and Meg had to back away as puffs of steam came out, blurring his figure. A monstrous hunger roared in the language of gluttony inside his chest, and the full brunt of this gluttonous thought fell on Squirtle. The Pokemon's survival instinct kicked in, and it wriggled maniacally, trying to get away.

It took a deep breath, preparing to attack Kai.

But then a mass of silver mist left Kai's hand, by which he was grabbing Squirtle's tail, and entered the Pokemon. A burst of cold froze Squirtle's soul, and all resistance died. The thing in his chest squirmed, and a vertical tear ripped apart his skin. Meg's horrified gasps reached his ears as hundreds or thousands of black tendrils lunged at Squirtle. The Pokemon became a blood paste in almost an instant.

The notification appeared then.

[

The limit of your Glitch, Blood Devour, is full

Do you want to replace an existing Blood Essence?

]

Kai rejected the offer.

All the blood essence from the Pokemon became pure HP and MP. Kai felt himself getting drunk from the overflow of power. All his muscles squirmed, hidden injuries melted away, and pleasure coursed through his veins.

He felt like he could do anything in this state. Anything!

"Kneel!" Kai roared, not aware of his booming voice.

Meg fell to her knees. Her eyes were wide open, and her body shivered in fear and anticipation. "Chaos," she spoke, "I Margrethe II of House Ingrid, swear a Soul-Blood Oath that from now on I live at Blood Demon's command and I will die at his command. That all that is mine is now his. And all that will be mine will be his too. I swear this. Swear! Swear! Swear! Thrice, I swear, in the name of Hastur; HE who is the Dweller in the Depths, the Bringer of Madness and Doom, the King in Yellow."

The entire world seemed to echo with her words. Kai suddenly looked up and found the stars had again turned pale. Meg lifted her hand and pressed her finger to the middle of her head. Her face twisted with pain as she took off her finger. A dull, sickly yellow-colored drop hovered at the tip of her finger, which she flung at Kai.

Kai didn't know what to do with it, but following an instinct, he pointed his finger. It came to stop there and hovered at the tip of his finger.

And then he pressed it in the middle of his forehead.

He felt it. The power that he now had over Meg. With one word, he could make her kill herself, destroy her soul, and obliterate her existence.

'Yes,' he thought. 'Now, this is a true, loyal servant.'

"Rise!" he told her, his voice still booming. "Rise, my Item. Meg, Margrethe, and the Priestess are all dead. Now you are mine. Rise, Item-M!"

Item-M rose, her blood-clouds patterned cloak bellowing. The fervency and reverence in her eyes had reached so high that even Cersei paled at the sight.

"Item-M greets, master," she proclaimed. "What is your command?"

53 minutes to Glitch's Hibernation.

*********

AN: I combined the two chapters in one so that you can have a smooth reading experience. So only 1 chapter today. Like Kai, take one step a time. I don't think explaining everything in a single chapter is a good idea. So I will explain the meaning of her words later in the coming chapters. We are running out of time, and beasts are waiting for us.