Ghost Basilisk
Kai had shut his eyes so hard that it felt like someone was trying to gouge them out and he was helpless against those attempts.
Selene's hissings were ringing in his ears like the cries of a newly born baby. He wanted to take her in his arms to marvel at her evolved state, but the light crackling sound and Petyr's gasps foretold an unavoidable danger beyond a perceivable source, making him think better of it.
-Master, master,- she called out to him. -Master, I can see. I can see.-
Kai felt maturity in her hisses, mixed with power and her will to prove herself to him. He could feel her happiness, and once more he found himself facing a being whose happiness he could not snatch. Item-M had shown the same happiness when she had found out about his Glitch.
What Selene had found for her to show such deep and apparent emotion while calling out to him baffled Kai.
-Good. Good,- Kai hissed, failing to think of something better to say. -I am proud of you.-
'I am proud of you?!' Kai thought wryly, not believing what he had just said.
To Kai's surprise, Selene's hisses became ecstatic, her scales rattling like the pattering of raindrops amidst a rainstorm. -Yes, master. Yes!- she hissed, beaming. -Now I am your strongest Power. I am more beneficial than her.-
Kai noticed the menace hidden behind that "her". There was only one "her" other than Selene with him in the room, and he wondered what Item-M had done to earn Selene's quirky ire.
-Calm down,- Kai hissed. -Are you using a Skill?-
He must find the reason for the danger first, Kai reasoned. There were only three beings in the room who could be the source. He was not, Kai knew. Item-M's state was worse than himself, he knew that too, given that her Perception was lower than him.
-Yesss- Selene hissed cheerily. -I didn't like how he was looking at me, master. So I killed him.-
'Killed?!' The words thundered in Kai's mind. But even more absurd was their implication. 'What did she say? She killed Petyr because she didn't like how he looked at her?'
Even Kai, with all his insanity and convoluted thoughts and reasoning, killed no one just because he didn't like how they looked at him. Every kill must have a potential benefit, such words were the basis for him to hold on to his ever-elusive sanity.
Kai shuddered. He must not let this go on any longer.
-Cancel the Skill,- Kai hissed authoritatively. -And I forbid you to kill anyone without my exclusive permission.-
The absence of Selene's hisses unnerved Kai.
And then Selene said something which Kai would never forget.
-Selene Stormborn will kill anyone she wants!- she hissed, snapping back at him with an attitude.
But then her tone changed almost instantly. -Yes, as master commands, I am canceling the Skill.-
To Kai's astonishment, her tone changed once more after that.
-Maybe we should just go back to sleep, as there is no benefit in staying up when our master has no use for us.- she lapsed into silence with this last hiss.
'What the actual fuck is happening?!' Kai had never been so perplexed by something. It felt to him as if there wasn't one Selene, but many versions of her hissing at each other, trying to come to a single rational conclusion.
The danger receded as Selene stopped hissing. Kai, though still wary of an uninvited and unexpected impending danger, opened his eyes. As he had guessed, there was no sign of Petyr. If he hadn't known that Petyr was nothing but memories given substance, then he might have mourned his absence.
Then his eyes landed on the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
She was color come to life. She was white, and white was her. All colors around Selene seemed to bow in defeat and shame. She had gained length again, Kai observed. Selene was around 6 ft long, but she was on the leaner side. She seemed more like a viper and less like a cobra or any other snake species to him. But there were elements to her that Kai failed to rule out.
'A new species!' Kai concluded with utter fascination.
She raised her head, flicked out her tongue, and then looked up at him.
Kai's eyes narrowed. -You still can't see?- he hissed, questioning what seemed obvious to him. -Didn't you tell me you can see now?-
Her right eye had become darker than before, now looking like an ocean of black blood to him. Her left eye was pale, murky yellow, with millions of geometrical forms and incomprehensible many-dimensional patterns rippling within it. It repulsed him, Kai found to his distaste. Her dragon-like scales rattled with every tiny slither, and illusory black and yellow alternative rings traveled across her slim and sleek body now and then.
-I can, master,- Selene hissed, defensively. -I can see only with my third eye. But my Skill activates itself if I were to open it.-
Behind him, Item-M slowly turned her head, and Selene's head snapped in her direction.
Kai's instincts roared, prophesying a deadly but certain outcome.
-Selene!- Kai hissed angrily. -You Will know your place.-
Selene stared at Item-M with her blind eyes for a moment before looking away. Kai could swear he saw the vertical tear in the middle of her forehead tremble. Despite the unmatched fury on his face and in his words, within him, his heart was racing with wild excitement.
Kai was more than happy. There was scarcely a word in the dictionary which could describe his feelings right now. One more Item had just become a part of his power. And though in his Inventory now dwelt a legendary-grade Item, Kai knew in battle prowess, even Item-M wasn't the match for Selene now.
"What… What is she, master?" Item-M asked, utterly bewildered by all the hisses and the evolved serpent. "She looks different. She…"
-/She feels different,/- Kai said, completing Item-M's words. -/Let's find out what has she become after being corrupted by two alien parasites./-
He crouched down. Selene didn't need any command to slither toward him. She yawned; her mouth as black as the abyss. Then she kissed his chin, with the same familiarity as before, her forked tongue moistening his skin.
Kai ran his hands over her scales, caressing her, as a hidden attachment welled up inside him. This was his bond with her.
Selene slithered off the floor, her long body coiling around his waist and chest, and finally came to rest after taking a turn around his neck. She put her head on his shoulder, and within a moment, went to the realm of dreams.
Kai felt the strength hidden in her muscles and adjusted his eyes to look at her Stats.
[
Beast: Ghost Basilisk (magical beast)
Grade: D- (growth)
Type: Unknown
HP: 110
MP: 180
SP: 80
Attributes-
Strength: 12
Agility: 17
Stamina: 11
Perception: 22
Intelligence: 18
Breath: 8
Abilities-
1. Intangibility
2. Soul Chill
3. Lunatic Corruption
Skills-
1. Ghost Neurotoxin
2. Earth Vibration Sense
3. Petrification
]
-Yes,- Kai hissed, gently. -I am proud of you, I think.-
Selene squirmed, turning into a mass of mist that glistened silver, and melted into Kai's body.
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