The Cheat Seed

Chapter 14

Blood pooled beneath Marcus's trembling form, his vision swimming as pain consumed him. The fox approached with predatory grace, its ninety tails swaying hypnotically behind it. The creature's muzzle dripped crimson as it licked Marcus's blood from its lips, satisfaction gleaming in those ancient eyes.

Marcus dragged himself backward with his remaining arm and legs, leaving a dark smear across the temple floor. His breath came in ragged gasps as shock set in, his body's natural response to catastrophic injury.

"System..." he wheezed, voice barely audible. "Help..."

No response came. The fox continued its approach, unhurried, savoring his desperation.

Darkness crept into the edges of Marcus's vision as blood loss took its toll. His consciousness began to slip, the world around him fading.

"Marcus... Marcus..."

His mother's voice cut through the darkness, warm and familiar. The pain receded as Marcus felt himself drifting away from the temple, away from the fox, away from the agony.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a place both familiar and strange. A perfect recreation of his bedroom back home, down to the posters of Cypher on the walls and the scattered textbooks on his desk. But the edges of the room seemed blurred, as if painted with watercolors that hadn't quite dried.

His parents stood at his bedside, expressions caught between happiness and grief. Dave lurked behind them, eyes red-rimmed but smiling nonetheless.

"Where am I?" Marcus asked, rubbing his eyes with both hands.

Both hands. He stared at his right arm—fully intact, as if it had never been torn away.

His mother's smile widened, though it didn't reach her eyes. "We miss you, son. Come back home, quick."

"Yo, come back already," Dave added, his voice thick with emotion. "It's boring... and lonely without you here, bruv." A tear slid down his cheek, glimmering like a diamond before vanishing into nothing.

The room began to dissolve around the edges, his family drifting away as if carried on an invisible current.

"Don't go!" Marcus reached out with his restored right hand, desperate to hold onto them. "I'm COMING!"

The moment the words left his mouth, searing pain shot through his arm. But not the phantom pain of a missing limb—this was different. This was the agony of rapid cellular regeneration, of bone and muscle and skin knitting together at impossible speed.

[Skill Created: Hyper Regen]

[Skill Perfected: Hyper Regen]

[Due to regenerating after getting damaged by a God Slaying Monster, latest skill will be evolved]

[Skill Evolved: Hyper Regen to Almighty Regen]

Marcus snapped back to full consciousness, a primal roar tearing from his throat as he leapt to his feet. His newly regenerated arm gleamed with fresh skin, pristine and unmarked as if it had never been injured. His eyes blazed crimson as Doom activated instinctively, black aura enveloping his fists.

The fox retreated a step, something like uncertainty flashing across its ancient features.

[Due to Intimidating a God Slaying monster, Specific skill Evolved]

[Skill Evolved: Doom Evolved to God Slayer's Aura]

[Skill Abbreviated to GS Aura]

The temple darkened as Marcus's aura expanded, bloodred energy radiating from his eyes and coalescing around his form. The pressure it generated pressed against the fox, forcing the massive creature to take another step backward.

Marcus matched its retreat with an advance of his own, the dark energy swirling around him like a tempest.

"My turn," he whispered.

In a flash too fast for normal perception, Marcus vanished from where he stood and reappeared directly before the fox. The creature's eyes widened as Marcus's gaze locked with its own. The temple floor beneath the fox cracked as Marcus's aura intensified, crushing the beast downward with the weight of his presence alone.

Not waiting for the creature to recover, Marcus spun and delivered a devastating kick to its jaw. The c***k echoed throughout the temple, reverberating off the golden walls like thunder. The shockwave from the impact demolished the landscape behind the fox, pulverizing stone into dust.

[Skill Created: Nuclear Kick]

[Skill Perfected: Nuclear Kick]

[Due To inflicting huge amounts of damage on a God slaying Demon, the latest skill evolved]

[Skill Evolved: Nuclear kick to Galaxy Breaking Kick]

[Skill Abbreviated to GB Kick]

"Ohoh?" Marcus raised an eyebrow, intrigued by this evolution.

Before the fox could recover, Marcus drove his fist into its already fractured jaw. The bone splintered completely, tearing free from the beast's skull and sailing through the air before impaling itself on a nearby tree.

[Due To inflicting huge amounts of damage on a God slaying Demon, the used skill evolved]

[Skill Evolved: Nuclear Palm to Galaxy Breaking Palm]

[Improvised skill has evolved too]

[Nuclear Fist evolved to Galaxy Breaking Fist]

[Skill Abbreviated to GB Palm]

"Just as I thought," Marcus grinned, stretching his limbs as if waking from a pleasant nap rather than recovering from near-death.

He rotated his head, loosening stiff muscles, and hopped in place a few times. "Hah... refreshing."

The fox lay before him, blood pooling from its ruined mouth. Its tails, once proud banners of its power, now drooped lifelessly against the stone floor. The creature's life force ebbed visibly, each labored breath weaker than the last.

"How does it feel to lose blood now, Foxy?" Marcus asked, remembering his own recent brush with mortality.

He turned away, his attention caught by something glinting within the fox's severed jaw. As he approached the tree where it had lodged, he eased the pressure of his aura, allowing the dying creature some peace in its final moments.

[You call this peaceful? It f*****g doesn't have a jaw!]

"Shut up, System, and what's with the language?" Marcus frowned at the unexpected profanity.

[I am integrating myself into the User slowly, so...]

"So you're becoming me and my thoughts slowly?"

[You got it!]

Marcus pondered this with mixed feelings. The computerized voice had been annoying, but if the system adopted his personality...

He shook his head, banishing images of a foul-mouthed AI with his tendency toward reckless decisions. "Whatever," he muttered, focusing instead on the object embedded in the fox's jaw.

Kneeling beside the tree, Marcus examined what appeared to be a crystal. It pulsed with orange and black light, nestled among broken fangs and b****y tissue. He carefully extracted it, wiping away gore with a scrap of cloth from his tattered pants.

"What's this?" he asked, turning the crystal in his palm.

[That, my user, is the crystal used to integrate the 90-tailed Demon Fox into your body]

"Eh?"

[It simply means that you can make the beast your own and command it however you want]

"You mean like a summoner or tamer?"

[Hmm... Yes, summoners are those who summon beasts from the Demon world using magic, but tamers are those who bond with beasts they capture in dungeons]

"In my case, it's a tamer, right?"

[Yes]

Marcus frowned, remembering his academy lessons. "But being a tamer is tough. It all depends on the trust between the tamer and the beast. If the beast doesn't trust you, then it's impossible..."

His voice trailed off as he looked at the dying fox. Its life bar had fallen below 10%, blood still seeping from its mangled face. Despite everything it had done—despite tearing off his arm and nearly killing him—Marcus felt a strange connection to the creature.

He approached the fox and knelt beside its massive head. Slowly, he reached out and placed his hand on its forehead, stroking the soft fur. The fox's eyes, dimming with approaching death, fixed on him with what might have been curiosity.

"I'm sorry, buddy," Marcus said softly. "There was no other choice but to defeat you, and I believe it was the same for you."

He continued petting the creature, feeling its heartbeat slow beneath his palm. "That's why... I'll save you."

The fox's ears perked up, its eyes widening with what seemed like disbelief.

Marcus raised the crystal to his forehead, remembering the ritual described in his academy textbooks. The bond between tamer and beast began with acceptance—the tamer accepting the beast's essence into their own.

The crystal dissolved into his skin, warm energy spreading throughout his body. Intricate patterns formed across his flesh—a living tattoo that started at his right wrist, climbed up his arm to his shoulder, and spread across his chest. The design depicted the fox in all its glory, fangs bared at his wrist, its ninety tails split evenly between his chest and back.

[Skill Created: Perfect Tamer]

[Skill Perfected: Perfect(X2) Tamer]

[Due to taming a God Slaying Demon, The Recent skill will be Evolved]

[Skill Evolved: Perfect tamer to Universal Tamer]

Pride swelled in Marcus's chest as he felt the fox's consciousness merge with his own. Their minds touched, exchanged impressions, formed a tentative bond that would strengthen with time.

He pumped his fist in triumph. "Yes! The God Slaying Demon is mi—"

The realization hit him like a bucket of ice water.

"Wait... WHAT'S A GOD SLAYING DEMON???"

The temple fell silent save for his echoing question. As the fox's physical form dissolved into light, flowing into the tattoo now adorning his body, Marcus felt the weight of what he'd accomplished—and what it might mean for his future.

He'd just bound himself to a creature powerful enough to kill gods. What exactly had he gotten himself into?