Fairy Festival

Seeing at their sister chewing so pleasantly, the fairies couldn't help themselves anymore. Their eyes turned crimson, and their jaws unhinged, revealing hundreds of needle-like teeth.

Asher's face paled. He flinched again as another fairy dug her teeth into his flesh, ripping apart a piece of meat from his neck.

He winced in pain. But it was still bearable.

Then the hundreds of fairies descended.

Every inch of his body was covered by starving carnivorous fairies.

From his fingers bit fifteen. From his arms bit thirty. Upper body fifty. Lower body forty-five.

He grit his teeth in sheer agony. Blood flowed from his mouth as his teeth cracked open from the force he used to clench his jaw. Even as he shut his eyelids, the fairies quickly tore them apart, feasting on the jelly and liquid inside.

They entirely consumed his cheeks; the fairies now focused on his tongue.

He couldn't move his hands anymore; they were already only bone.

He couldn't move his legs anymore; They reduced his tendons to pulp.

He couldn't see anymore; his eye sockets were empty holes.

By all means, Asher should have died multiple times over, even with his increased Temperance. But some magic kept him from dying, to feel all the pain of being eaten alive. This was a punishment mission, after all.

He couldn't breathe anymore; his lungs were pierced and eaten from the inside.

He couldn't feel anymore; They had already stripped his skin from his body.

He couldn't... his muscles...

He couldn't... his heart...

...

Days passed, and the Fairy Festival finally ended.

What the fairies left was a ragged skeleton that sat on the ground. Anyone who passed by its pristine appearance believed it to be some monk from a forgotten era.

Some even prayed to it.

But although everything else was eaten away, inside its skull lay a pulsing brain, held together by the last vestiges of magic.

'...' With no sense of sight, taste, touch, smell, or hearing, the poor soul inside was shaken to its core.

[Analyzing completion...]

[Acceptable]

[Completion: S grade]

[Reward: Temperance+10, Fortitude+10]

[E.G.O: Fairy Queen obtained due to sufficient clearance]

Asher found himself lying on a soft bed. His Temperance increased significantly yet again, but it could not completely stifle the days of suffering he experienced.

[Next Punishment: Fourth Matchstick Flame]

He buried his head into his pillow, trying to repress the terrible pain that kept resurfacing in his memory.

Hours passed.

He did not go downstairs to mess with Hal. Even when the old man checked his room, he did not stop brooding.

Hal didn't bother him after that.

After finally releasing his emotions, he sighed and stood up from his bed.

The pillow was damp with tears, but he did not care. Inhuman determination gained from his mission pushed what had happened to the back of his mind.

He was currently in a cannibal's lair, and that's the only thing he needed to focus on right now.

Something small inside him seemed to have snapped. He was laser focused on saving the woman whose name he did not even know. He felt that if he gave up now, his two deaths and being eaten alive for days would all be for nothing.

'This time, I'll save her for sure.' Now, it wasn't for the sake of the woman anymore. She could die, for all he cared.

Because if Asher didn't save her, why did he suffer so much? If he left now... would his agony be wasted, simply like that?

Asher didn't really care about the woman anymore; he just wanted to get his deaths' worth. She was just a goal, a light at the end of the tunnel that would make it so his deaths weren't in vain.

His current mindscape was fracturing, the pain of being eaten alive still fresh in his mind.

Asher checked his stats again. Now his Fortitude multiplied by 3 to reach 15, and Temperance nearly doubled, reaching 25.

He felt much lighter because of his increased Fortitude, and he tested it by punching the slightly hollow wall with his fist.

*Crunch*

What would usually be the sound of bone breaking was instead heard from the wall, with its wooden surface nearly caving in at the force from his fist.

Asher nodded with grim satisfaction.

Then he remembered something. The System gave him something called 'E.G.O' as a reward for the mission. Was that some sort of magic?

[E.G.O is a type of equipment extracted from your experiences in the punishment mission and *****. They can enhance one's defensive and offensive capability.]

"What the heck are five stars put together??"

[It means you are not allowed to know yet.]

"...Anyway, can I see how to use my E.G.O? And what's the information about the E.G.O that I got from that mission?"

[Fairy Queen E.G.O: A set of gear extracted from the carnivorous fairies of the Black Forest. It emits auras of springtime, happiness, hunger, and bloodlust, depending on the mood of the wearer.]

The two items of the E.G.O set were displayed below:

[Winged Fairy (Armor): Clothes extracted from the carnivorous fairies of the Black Forest, it slightly increases physical resistance, but leaves the user more vulnerable to mental attacks.]

[Wingbeat (Weapon): A weapon extracted from the carnivorous fairies of the Black Forest. It is a crude bludgeoning device that deals entirely physical damage. Ten percent of damage dealt is used to heal the user.]

[The Queen (Passive Set Ability): Every 5% of damage taken spawns a carnivorous fairy, which deals slight damage to enemies and heals the user.]

[Simply use E.G.O by thinking of its name in your head, and it will appear in the real world.]

"Woah..." So many prompts flooded his vision that he almost couldn't read them all. However, when he finished reading them, he gasped in amazement.

'Isn't this E.G.O the perfect cycle? Whenever I take damage, a fairy spawns that heals that damage back. Not to mention that the weapon itself heals me!'

He just had to try it on.

'[Fairy Queen]!'

His body glowed softly as something much greener replaced his ragged clothes, and his hand wrapped around a leafy handle that fit his grip perfectly.

He looked in the mirror, marveling at his new outfit. A silky suit, which would have been a garish green color, was instead balanced by an undercurrent of soft blue hues, making him look elegant and cute, like a fairy.

However, deep inside the glimmering folds was the scent of blood, something more feral just waiting to be unleashed.

Wings sprouted from his back, fluttering here and there with a mind of its own. Both his pants and suit were of the same color palette, and he couldn't help but appreciate how well it suited on his appearance.

Asher looked down at his weapon. In his hand was holding a small mace-like club, but instead of a metal bit on the top of the handle there was a green and blue striped egg, which had yet another pair of transparent wings attached to it. The wings twitched lazily as he observed its shine.

'An egg?' He knocked the weapon onto the floor. It was as solid as a rock. Its wings didn't even bend as he pushed them into the ground.

"Er... How do you turn this thing off?"

[Think about cancelling it.]

'[Cancel]!'

The fairy clothes and weapon faded to nonexistence, and were replaced by his regular clothes.

He sat back down on his bed, waiting for nightfall.

As the day went by and night fell once more, he once again stood up and closed the door behind him, and sat in front of the neon restaurant sign, waiting for the woman to show up again.

Soon enough, the woman walked by with worry on her face.

She tried to enter the building, but Asher's hand held her back.

"You don't want to go inside."

"Wha-? I lost my purse, and it has all my money. I have to at least check if it's there." She tried to move her wrist away, yet Asher's grip didn't budge.

As she struggled to shake off his grip, Hal opened the door.

He stared at Asher, confused and angry, but he didn't let that show in his expression.

"Ah, did you lose something, young lady? Many people forget their belongings in my restaurant, so perhaps I can help you." The woman nodded, shooting a glare at the boy that stopped her.

Asher released his grip, allowing her to follow Hal inside.

He silently followed behind them.

Hal quickly closed the door behind him, but Asher leaned forward just as he did so.

'[Fairy Queen]!' The E.G.O from the Fairy Festival appeared in place of his clothes as he opened the door.