Bathtub thoughts

"Huuh"

Letting out a breath Arthur's head rose back above the water in the bathtub, a displeased expression impressed onto his face.

Mere minutes ago he had been rhapsodic, but now the true reality of his situation had set in.

The reality that he was unequivocally, absolutely fucked, beyond belief.

He had somehow been magically transported into his favorite novel.

One that had death, despair, and corruption creeping around it's every corner, not to mention a war so disastrous that it would destroy 90% of life on the planet at some point in the future.

That in in of itself probably would have been fine, Arthurs own world was like that and he had lived a good 25 years in it.

But what wasn't fine was that the world in the novel was a magical one, with dragons, beasts, elves and the like.

Arthur was capable yes but he wasn't magical in his capabilities.

Which was now something that he unfortunately needed to be.

He had been transport into the body of Sebastian Krùos one of the 3 major villains in the novel, just behind the monster king and ,the main characters own mother, the queen of the elves in importance.

But there was more to it than just that, Sebastian was one of the most complex characters in the entire novel, which was what was giving him grief.

A shining example of this is that Sebastian is the son of Tushar Krùos, one of the strongest humans on the planet, and the personal advisor of the Emperor of Mankind.

He was known to all, noblemen and peasantry alike, even amongst the other nations of the world. Cruel, deceptive, and hatefull, he was an advasary to all, and a friend to none.

So as a result, many held grudges against him, but most had not the power to kill him, so they did the next best and hired assassins to kill his son Sebastian Krùos, aka the person's who's body Arthur was currently inhabiting, in an attempt to hurt the famously unfeeling man psyconsciously.

Due to this Sebastian was forced to become the cold calculative villain he became in the novel just so he could survive.

But that was for Sebastian, for Arthur what this ment was just like on Earth, his life would be in constant danger, just now the people sent after him would have magical powers.

Rubbing his face, Arthur almost let out a sob in self pity.

With a groan Arthur laid his neck on the back of the tub and faced the ceiling.

"What am I going to do, Ughhh!?"

How was he supposed to run away from people that could run faster than a lightning bolt and have enough strength to non-chalontly destroy a skyscraper.

Much less actually try and fight them, as whilst Arthur was a pretty skilled person and confident in his martial art abilities, and the fact that he knew his way around quite a few types of weapons, he wasn't self absorbed enough to think he was that strong...

there was also the fact he was in the body of a small child.

And worst of all it wasn't even avoidable from his viewpoint, as it wasn't even his fault people like that would be sent after him, it was a dude he didn't even know's fault.

Meaning there was nothing he could do about it.

Wriggling around in the bathtub, Arthurs face contorted as he tried to think of some sort of solution to the predicament he found himself in.

But try as he might he could only give himself a horrible headache.

"Maybe I should just resign myself to my fate." Arthurs voice had turned almost unnervingly monotone.

He grabbed the sides of his head to apply some pressure and alleviate the pain, but then, just as he was about to give up, it struck him...

He had been transmigrated inside the body of Sebastian Krùos, one of the MAIN villains of the novel.

Not just some scrub or extra, but someone who could compete with and sometimes beat the main character, someone important.

Arthur grabbed the edges of the tub and shot up, his previous giddiness having returned in troves.

There was a reason Sebastian had survived long enough to come into conflict with the main character despite the many attempts on his life, that came with being the son of Tushar Krùos.

His power, or more specifically his potential for power, and the fact that having that potential ment it gave Tushar, who despite being Sebastian's father would not care for him like a father should as it wasn't in his personality, an incentive to protect Sebastian.

Like everyone else in the novel Sebastian was born with latent talent and potential.

So Arthur could just train whatever talents that Sebastian had and get as strong enough within a certain period of time to impress Tushar enough to provide him with protection.

But there was one problem with Arthur's line of thought, he had no idea what Sebastian's, or now his, talents were.

As whilst Sebastian was an important character in the novel, to the best of Arthur's memory and what he could remember, his talents were never directly said or shown.

But, luckily for Arthur, reopening his status window and reading it would be a quick remedy for that.

Before in his being elated and subsequent gloom, he forgot to read the system before dismissing it.

Laying back down into the tub, Arthur cleared his throat with a cough.

"System."

It took a few moments but eventually with an electronic noise, the blue screen once again popped into Arthur's view.

[Phys.] [Map] [Magic] [Stats] [Skills] [Talent]

"Yup, just as described in the novel 6 tabs."

Reaching towards the tab that was labeled talent, just as his pointer finger hovered over it a loud screeching sound assaulted Arthur.

Reeling back Arthur quickly covered his ears but it did nothing as the screeching sound got louder, and louder.

It felt as if something was scratching and ripping at his brain, and eventually the sound was so loud that he couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

Yet somehow, as the screeching reached that apex of noise Arthur stopped feeling the tournament of something ripping at his brain instead it got replaced by a subtle but much more profound feeling, one of clarity.

A clarity like he had never felt before.

Taking his hand off his ears Arthur, in an almost trance like state, looked forward once more at the system screen, which was now blood red.

It read...

[Archive disturbance detected, initiating manual override]

The words disappeared as quickly as they came, replaced by a small bar that started to fill.

After the bar was about halfway full it stopped dead, and was quickly replaced by another set of words.

[Manual override failed, initiating reset sequence]

The bar once again appeared, and once again got to about half full before it was also replaced.

[Reset sequence failed... reason unknown, initializing search]

This time when the bar appeared it quickly filled to full.

[Anomaly found]

Upon reading those words an incredible sense of forebodind as well as pressure washed over Arthur.

[Extermination process started]

Instantly Arthur's entire body turned clammy and he felt his heart begin to tighten in his chest.

His breath shortened and his vision began to turn fade as the pressure that he was feeling increased ten fold.

It didn't stop there, no, the pressure continues to increase a hundred fold, a thousand fold all the while Arthur began to sink further out of consciousness.

But then just as the pressure reached it's apex, it stopped as suddenly as it came.

"Huuuuuh!"

With a large gasp, color returned to Arthur's world, but that wasn't what he was focusing on, no.

Whilst what had happened was horrifying, Arthurs brain practically failed to register it as he was still in his trance like state, staring at the blood red system screen.

[Extermination process failed... Initializing Assimilation]

This time the screen went blank as a gentle feeling embraced Arthur.

It felt almost like a a giant heating blanket had been wrapped around his body.

The warm embrace wasn't the only thing that that came along however, there was also something else, the feeling of something that wasn't his entering his mind.

One Sebastian Krùos's memories, all 8 years of life he had experienced.

Eventually the memories stopped coming and the system screen changed once again.

[Assimilation partially succeeded... returning to normal operations]

With that final line, the system screen slowly turned back to it's original blue color, and Arthur once again regained full control over his body.

"Huuh" "Huuuh" "Huuuh"

Letting out a few shallow breaths Arthur looked up at the ceiling, not even bothering with the system.

"What the hell just happened?!"

Arthurs mind was a mess trying to process what had just happened to him, along with all the new memories he suddenly gained.

Not only was his mind a mess but his body was also as cold and clammy as it could get.

Slowly bringing a hand to his face, Arthur closed his eyes and massaged his temples.

Grabbing at his chest with his free hand felt his heart beat that breakneck speeds.

Taking a few more, deeper, breaths tried to calm down as he began to organize his thoughts.

As he did a few words stood out to him.

"Archive, Assimilation, Amalia"

He repeated the phrase a few more times as the meaning of the words began to sink into him, as best they could.

The first two, were things he had read on the red status screen, and while he had next to no idea what archive could be referring to, he did have, what he thought was a pretty good guess, on what assimilation.

"It was what appeared on the screen just before I received Sebastian's, his?, memories, so it almost definitely has something to do with them."

"After all assimilation usually means absorbing or retaining something of some sort so it makes sense."

But there was something that, worried wouldn't be the right word, itched at the back of Arthur's mind.

"Before the red system went away it said partially succeeded, does that mean I was ment to obtain more than I already did?"

The though really only left him with more questions than answers, so he decided to leave it alone for the time being as to not get another headache.

The last word, was infact a name, one he somehow recognized very well and not at all.

"Amalia"

It was the name of Sebastian's, his?, it was complicated, twin sister.

He recognized the name and person attached to it very well, as they were definitely the most prominent person in the memories he had gained from the "assimilation".

But also, her existence in his memories perplexed him to no end, as in the novel there was no mention of Sebastian ever having a sibling, much less a twin.

"Ughhh, so much to think about!"

Rubbing his face Arthur let out a complaint.

"You know what, I already have a killer headache, I'll deal with it later!"

Arthur decided to put away the topic for later as he felt he had to little brain power left to do any thinking.

"But a sister huh?" A solem expression appeared on Arthur's face as he said that.

"No!" Shaking his head Arthur quickly gave himself a slap.

There was no need to drift there.

"What to do now... Oh wait."

Suddenly remembering that he still hadn't actually read his status screen, Arthur finally turned back to it, and began to read it.

[Phys.] [Map] [Magic] [Stats] [Skills] [Talent]

[ ]

|Martial|-

{Body}: [Martial Arts] - (Full Body)

[Breathing Arts]

{Weapon}: [Swords] - (Short Swords)

[Bows] - (Long Bows)

[Daggers]

Magical- N/A

|Alchemical|-

{Crafting}: [Potions] - (Stamina) (Strength)

[Magic Circles] - (All)

{Transmutation}: [Body Alterations]

|Other|-

{Musical}: [Instruments] - (Piano) (Flute)

{Worplay}: [Acting]

[_____________________________]

After reading the talent tab a perplexed expression etched itself onto Arthur's face.

"Odd"

It was very odd indeed, whilst Arthur didn't know what Sebastians talent screen looked like as it was never shown, he had some ideas of what it should have looked like based off of a few of Sebastians quotes.

Like how one time he mentioned he had an immense talent for all kinds of ice magic which was why it was so surprising and odd that next to the "magical" section of the screen it just said N/A.

Another thing was the fact that there was a musical talent section under |Other| something Sebastian had stated he didn't have in the novel.

Arthur wanted to not think about it and just let but he had the feeling that doing that wouldn't be a very good idea.

Though after a few moments of thinking Arthur realized he didn't even really have to try and think about it as there was one very easy explanation that he was already passively contemplating.

It was the word assimilation.

Or more specifically what partially succeeded ment in the context of the word.

Under the assumption that assimilation meant the absorbing of something else into an already pre-existing structure it made sense, at least to Arthur.

As essentially what happened, or at least what Arthur thought happened, was that through assimilation Arthur had somehow absorbed part of Sebastian's own soul, as how it was described in the novel was one's soul influenced what talents and skills they were born with.

But since Arthur hadn't managed to absorb the entire thing he only got some parts like Sebastian's memory and probably a few other things Arthur didn't know he got.

Whilst also not getting something like Sebastian's talent for ice magic.

That would also explain how Arthur had talent for instruments specifically the piano and flute on the system screen, as those are things Arthur had been talented in all his life.

So by extension of reasoning, that also probably meant the entirety of the system was jumbled together between Sebastian and Arthur's self's, he just had to check.

But the entire line of reasoning Arthur thought up raised another question, would it just be self now considering he had probably absorbed a decent chunk of Sebastian's soul, could he even be considered Arthur?

Exasperated Arthur groaned out "That's a heavy thought!"

Logically, at least according to Arthur's own logic, the answer was probably yes and no.

Arguably in spirit he was probably... almost definitely Arthur since not only did he have 25 years of memories compared to a collective eight he had just gained moments prior but the whole idea of assimilation proved the point that it was Arthur taking in something else and incorporateing it not the other way around.

But in body he was definitely Sebastian, no other way to put it really.

Rubbing his temples Arthur sighed "But there's more to it than just that."

He knew that better than most, there was more to a person than just them, there was also the people around a person, and how they veiwed them.

And considering whose body he was in and the fact that Arthur didn't want to die horrible torture filled death, not that he specifically knew that's what would happen if he was found out to not wholly be Sebastian, Arthur slowly made a decision.

Bringing up his other hand from his chest Arthur started to nibble at his nails.

And after a few seconds he muttered out "If people are going to refer to me as such, I guess I am just Sebastian from here on out."

To determine who you truly were, it wasn't a decision that could be made loosely but, considering the possible alternatives he could come up with, it seemed like a decently easy enough decision to Sebastian.

"Well guess I should make sure of my theory before actually going all in on it."

With that Sebastian went to select the [Skills] tab of the system, but just as he was about to close click it...

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

A knock at the door to the bathroom interrupted him.

Turning to the door Sebastian looked at it for a moment before a voice almost boomed from the other side.

"Young Master Sebastian I must implore you to please exit the bathroom as it has already been 40 minutes, and from the sound of it Young Miss Amelia is getting impatient."

It was the same woman who had been there when he appeared in his bed, the woman he now knew to be his personal maid named Sunniva.

Letting out a soft sigh the woman's words Sebastian looked at the system for a moment before muttering a quiet "Dismiss."

He watched it disintegrate out his vision before he quickly unclogged the drain of the bathtub and stepped out.

Walking to the door of the bathroom Sebastian creeped it open and stuck his right arm out.

With a slightly raised tone he spoke to Sunniva "Give me my towel and clothes, after I get dressed well leave."