"Onii-chan! You need to get up." I flail at my alarm clock, missing it twice in a row. "I-If you don't get up now, th-then I'll have t-to-" I finally disable the alarm on the third try.
I stare at the ceiling. Blue lines seeming to race across it, instantly reminding me of the events of the day before. Suddenly my alarm clock wasn't as funny as it was when I first got it. I get up and head downstairs earlier than usual, but still not early enough to beat the rest of the household down.
"Sup bro!" Clara waves at me in between bites of cereal.
"Hey." I wave back, still not quite believing the drastic change since not even a full day ago. Still weird to not be bitched at by either of the females of the house after a full ten minutes in their presence.
"Greggie!" I'm bundled up in a hug from behind, overly large breasts stifling my chance at any oxygen. "Did you have a good night of sleep? You've got a big day of school ahead of you, make sure to eat up properly-"
Clara sniggers at me, vaguely mouthing 'Mama's boy' at me when Alice isn't looking.
I flail around before I'm released, vague promises of doing my best enough to escape to the table with a bowl of my own.
I tune out of their conversation. Clara's padlock taunted me. An open mission was tempting, but the end result was all too likely to end up just the same as it had with Alice yesterday.
And I wasn't interested in that. I shift my leg to try and conceal the tightness in my lower half. At all. Alice gives me a concerned frown and I finish the bowl and escape the kitchen before she can offer a 'solution' to the problem.
I wanted to test out my power at school before going any further.
My plans for experimentation at school are dashed the moment I get onto the bus. Exactly like my neighbours, everyone else had their challenges locked out. Jake, who sits next to me in Computing, locked. 'CONDITIONS NOT MET'. Same with Aidan at the back row. Sparky gives me a lazy nod as I sit next to him, passing through the locked padlock as if it was made of smoke.
When I make it inside the school, there's no change there either. Nothing. Nowhere. Not Taylor. Not any teachers. Not the jocks in PE class. Not the gangsters smoking outside of the gym. Not the other nerds gaming in the IT room.
A day wasted. It was obvious what the problem was. Clear the tutorial to continue. My problem was that I wasn't really sure if I could complete the tutorial without turning into a hentai protagonist. Which, don't get me wrong, sounded great and was a huge improvement over my previous life - but I really shouldn't cross that line with family, however much of a nightmare they were.
No matter how tempting it was.
…but I was stuck if I didn't. And really, I couldn't deny that on every victory my life had at least somewhat improved. That seemed a likely trend to continue. And, coming back to the key point – if I let myself stop here, my power did nothing. Entirely wasted. My dreams of becoming a hero were dead in the water.
I drift through the lessons of the day in thoughtful silence, if anyone noticed I was quieter than usual – they didn't say anything. Not that I was expecting anyone to. I head home on the first bus back. Heading up to my room to browse the internet immediately. My power didn't seem to have real-life applications so far other than the obvious result of winning a challenge. That was unusual, for a power – I didn't doubt that there was more that I had yet to discover.
As far as the rest of the world was concerned, things had always been this way. I just had a very good relationship with my family and always had. If this continued, and I spread the effect to schoolmates – I assume that it would be as if I was just a normal guy. Albeit on the higher end of the popularity scale. We'd have to see. I need to deal with Clara and Alice first.
Back to my logic – the lack of real-life applications and the fact that the system always named the reward implied to me that other rewards were possible, or at least locked behind the tutorial. Shitposting on PHO did nothing to drag me from my thoughts, and when I finally earned myself another temporary ban I kick myself away from the machine with a pained sigh.
There's nothing for it. I stand and leave the room, turning left towards my sister's bedroom. I kick open the door – spotting her browsing at her computer immediately.
TUTORIAL
VEDER HOUSEHOLD 6/8
(WRLD)
She glances up in surprise. "Wh-"
"Challenge." Another new modifier.
I pick myself up from my bed immediately once the world finishes forming. Listening at the door, I can hear the tell-tale music from her room. I muse to myself as I creep down the stairs to grab a weapon. WRLD? What would that be?
The question is resolved for me as I hit the bottom step and almost walk into Alice. I flail blindly to my side for a weapon that I don't have yet, backpedalling as Alice simply frowns at me. "Greg? Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." I blink. A car horn blares in the background.
WRLD. World. The real world. Or at least a more accurate representation of it. Other people were now reflected here, doing their usual routine. "I'm fine." I manage.
That made things harder. I doubted my mother would let me walk around the house as freely with a weapon. If I had to repeat my previous feat of starting a house fire, I would be stopped – the neighbours would call 911. Pedestrians might notice or smell something was up. Walking around with a bloodied axe chasing after a would-be victim would also be out of the question.
But at the same time… if this was the only modifier then this should be almost comically easy. I can see it potentially greatly increasing difficulty if it was paired with something else, but this wouldn't be any trouble at all. I slip out into the back, unlock the shed and grab my usual axe. Tucking it behind me, under my shirt I turn and walk past my mother – who gives me a concerned frown as I pass, but continues on without further comment.
It's all too easy. Clara's scream brings Alice running, but the world is fading again before she even reaches the top of the stairs.
SUCCESS
Reward: Clara Veder +
I'm getting better at this.
The world flickers back to life. Clara stares at me, clad only in her underwear – the lower half of which was pooled around her ankles as her fingers dance across her exposed, hairless slit. I flick my eyes to the screen. Porno. I flick my eyes back to her as a deep, red flush spreads across her face.
"Have you heard of knocking!" She almost screams at me, cheeks burning with humiliation.
I could dodge this conversation.
TUTORIAL
VEDER HOUSEHOLD 7/8
(REAL) (WRLD) (TIME)
THREE modifiers. One of them new to me. "Challenge." I'm already moving on autopilot before I can even see the floor of my room.
I already knew that TIME started a reinforcement counter. I dash outside to the shed. The best weapon in my immediate area, far superior to the kitchen knives. My mother doesn't walk into me at the stairs this time, I can vaguely see her on the couch reading a book. I ignore her.
The lack of music in the corridor should have been my first warning, but when I burst into Clara's room with axe already swinging overhead I swiftly realise that nobody is home.
REAL. Reality? Realistic? Was my actual target now going through her regular life as usual as well as the people around me?
"Mom!" I charge down the stairs, hiding the axe behind my back. "Where's Clara?"
She gives me a surprised look as I rush to the doorway, looking harried. "Clara? I think she went out for her daily jog." Fuck. Fuck!
I rush out the door, taking a moment to properly secure the axe behind me as I run. Nobody should look close enough to realise what it is while it's hidden by the shirt – and there weren't too many people on the streets anyway.
I run anti-clockwise around the block. My sister never used to exercise, so I had no idea what her usual route might be. I shove past a stranger, ignoring his outraged cry as he falls to the ground. I'm on a timer. I can't afford to be nice.
I complete my search around the most likely street, checking out the nearby park as well. I'm already panting desperately for breath. Can't find her. I glance at my watch. Three minutes gone. I'm running out of time.
I double back to the house, lurking around the one place she is likely to return to sounds like a better plan than hoping she walks into me. I slip back inside the door, up the stairs and hide behind her door.
The police show up again once five minutes have passed. They don't seem as bloodthirsty or as rushed as they were last time, I wasn't sure if that was due to one of the modifiers or if it was just because I hadn't aggro'd my sister yet.
I can feel the footsteps coming up the stairs. My room is opened, then closed again a short moment later. "Keep searching. He could be anywhere." The gruff voice commands. I tense as my sister's door is opened, but the policeman doesn't fully enter the room – just giving a cursory inspection before turning away.
"Hey, Mom! I'm home!" I shift my weight as I hear my sister's voice from downstairs. My target talking and interacting with other people – that was different. Probably the effect of REAL at work. She doesn't comment on the police – and neither did Alice, come to think of it.
I swear under my breath as instead of footsteps on the stairs, I hear clattering in the kitchen. A glance towards the window shows a police car slow-driving down the street, yet more officers trying to find me outside the house.
I settle down into a more comfortable position. This ambush was my only chance. There were still at least two policemen in the house, the odds of getting past them and closing the distance to my sister were slim-to-none. I would just have to wait until she finished eating.
I tap my watch again, the time informing me that ten minutes had passed. There's a brief commotion elsewhere in the house. "Coming through!" A frown at the young voice. Why would- "Let's see... my scanner's saying that there's someone in what looks like the living room. Another in the kitchen, and I'm getting some vague signs of life in the rooms upstairs."
"I'll check the kitchen!" A young girl calls out. An instant later she calls out again. "He's not here!"
"Not in the living room either." Another boy calls out. I know that voice. Aegis. The lamest of the wards. Good at bleeding.
The fucking Wards showed up as reinforcements? After only ten minutes?
"Let's spread out upstairs then." Gallant. The horde rushes up the stairs. "The far room!" How the hell could Gallant know that? Since when could he see through walls? I heft my axe, glancing at the window. A moment later, Kid Win hovers past it and waves at me smugly while speaking into his helmet.
"Phew. I'm not built for running." A boy sighs as he enters the room, still hidden behind the door. A masked face leans around to face me. Clocks filling my vision. "Now, are you going to come quietly?" I swing my axe at him, he brings his hand up as if to bat it away – and at the very instant that it touches him, it's as if my hand was trying to punch concrete instead of swinging a weapon. I clutch at the hand, releasing the time-locked axe as Clockblocker frowns at me. He extends a finger towards me, which I shy away from – fully aware of his power. "Sorry, buster." A grin comes to life under his mask. "You're axe-ing for a time-out!"
Someone punches me from behind, through the wall. I swear roughly as I stumble forward into the Striker. "Your jokes are sh-" His finger prods my cheek.
I try to complete the sentence, suddenly fully trapped. The full suite of wards is lazing around opposite me, my view somewhat obscured – as if trying to see through a bubble bath. Was that Assault behind them? I try and shift my muscles, already knowing in my heart that it was futile. Containment foam could handle Brutes with ease. Never mind baseline humans. My jaw refuses to move in order to speak, and they seem content to sit and wait for the police to take me away.
Once I realise that I'm not dead, I try and take in as much detail as I can. There was possibly a chance to get away here, and all of this was new information to me. With nothing else to do, I try and keep track of time and the new reinforcements that trickle in as I am transported away. My sister comes out to stick her tongue out at me with a smug look, Mother barely seems to acknowledge that I'm being dragged away for no particular crime.
It looks like it wasn't the entire local Protectorate team that joined the fight at the 15-minute mark. A minute after I'm removed from the house, Armsmaster joins the escort – with the Wards idly commenting that Miss Militia was now in position. The Van ride doesn't give me a great view of the next arrivals – but fortunately, I get a glimpse of Dauntless teleporting towards us as I am roughly deposited into a cell after being sprayed with something that starts melting away at the containment foam to allow me to move again.
How long was I going to be stuck here? I had assumed that they would just kill me once the foam was off, but now I was just sitting here waiting for the end to come – and nothing was happening. Could I actually be permanently held here? Unable to die, unable to leave and unable to win? Wasting away until I died of old age? That was a chilling thought.
One single police officer stands opposite my cell, the rest of them were doubtlessly nearby – surrounding the building or guarding my target directly. I didn't have anything that could threaten all of them at once or master them, but I strongly suspected that the possibility that I did was why they were doing that.
I drum my fingers, not even entirely sure how much time had passed. More than an hour. Maybe even two? Three? The guard isn't a conversationalist and there's no clock. Movement from the lone guard draws my eye. His revolver inching up towards me from the other side of the room. I glance at the police officer. "Just get it over with." I didn't want to die, but I was confident that like the first time – it wouldn't stick. The alternative scared me more at this point.
The officer blinks, glancing down at the gun pointing at me and swiftly pockets it again as if not even realising he was doing it. Strange. This was the longest I'd ever been in a challenge, perhaps there was some kind of soft-enrage timer to prevent stalling? Not something to automatically fail me, but that would make things progressively more difficult as time went on until I won or was defeated. Enemies slowly getting stronger, or more resilient against whatever I was stalling them with.
Or in this case, increasing the bloodlust of people that weren't my target. The policeman's expression, strictly professional earlier – contains a sneer of hatred and a barely contained snarl now. I imagined that if I was back at the house, my mother would be absently sharpening a kitchen knife right now.
It's only a minute or two later that his gun is out of its holster again, slowly rising up to point at me – like last time, seemingly without him even realising what he's doing. I close my eyes, opting not to say anything this time. I hated the suspense, I just wanted it over with at this stage.
The gun barks, one bullet into my chest and a second landing in my shoulder as I recoil. I can hear more shots being fired, but nothing else hits me. I force my eyes open as I let out a choked gasp, collapsing back onto the floor as the cop reloads. "Learn to fucking aim. Idiot." I spit at him. Open target, not moving – and he can't even get a headshot? All of the pain I was in was entirely his fault, and I was allowed to complain about it all I liked!
"He's resisting!" The policeman yells, taking cover to the side of the cell. "Get on the ground!" As if I was capable of anything else.
I'd have to give him a better shot next time. I wanted it to be clean, quick and over with – this hurt, even if not as much as the slow, painful first death. Something about the inevitability of this one felt worse. The anticipation – I was dead the moment the Wards arrived, and it's just taken me a few hours to finish dying.
The wall behind me ruptures as an explosion knocks me to the ground again the moment I pull myself back to my knees. I cough up blood, turning to see what the commotion was. Half-a-dozen capes teleport past the hole, each one looking ready to murder me. I look past them, into the hole they made.
Looks like they all aggro'd once the cop attacked me. I don't even see the blaster that takes out my legs, my attention is behind the teleporters. Behind Dauntless. Behind what I'm pretty sure was Crawler from the Slaughterhouse 9. Behind the Triumvirate, all floating in the air as the rest charge forwards. No. Behind them. A soft, golden glow fills the sky. Oddly peaceful. I can barely see the figure of the Golden Man, highlighted against the brilliant light he's holding in his hand.
And then he throws it, like Zeus himself smiting his enemies with his thunderbolt. It doesn't hurt as it washes over me and the rest of the attacking capes, in fact – what pain I was feeling is washed away as if carried by a current. Almost blissful in contrast to the phantom pain from my legs and the bullet wounds in my chest.
Thanks Scion.
You're a pretty cool guy.
FAILURE
Hint: You can gain a significant advantage in REAL and WRLD missions by observing the people around you. Patrol patterns will be unchanged, appointments will be kept and the target will still follow their usual pattern for the day of the challenge. Observe your target closely, and find an opening that you can exploit!
Note that some challenges will always be set on a certain day and time – while others might begin at the very same moment you start the scenario!
Thanks, hint. I worked that out the moment I heard 'Clara' and 'Jog' in the same breath. Useless.
I feel my body being shoved forward before I can even see where I'm being pushed to. I'm pushed down into a chair right as I regain my vision, catching an eyeful of the porno on the screen.
My sister jumps into the free space behind me, pushing me right onto the edge of the chair as her arms encircle mine. "You can't just run into my room like that Greg." She lectures into my ear. "I'm feeling all kinds of embarrassed right now, so I'm going to have to take my revenge."
I already know where this is going, and when her hands manage to undo the buttons of my schoolwear and extract my cock – it should be no surprise that it was already fully erect. It turns out that having a highly attractive, almost-naked girl draped over my back is right up my alley.
"Such a pervert." She massages it with one hand, reaching out for the mouse with the other. "Just what were you planning to do with this, hm?"
I'm just going to accept it. There's no running from this. Especially considering I have another level past this stage for both Alice and Clara. "Would you believe me if I said nothing?"
"No." She disagrees. "I think I know exactly what my poor, perverted brother wanted to do by bursting into his sister's room during her alone time." Is that how she wanted to phrase it? "I won't stand for it, so you're going to sit here and look at porn – and I'm going to treat your body like the meat that it is. Let's see how you like it, huh?"
What is my life becoming? "Alright." I take in more details of the screen. "So, shall I just keep watching this, ah, 'Horny step-brother pounds slutty-'"
She reaches across the desk and closes the tab before I finish the title. Her face is burning red in the reflection of the screen. "Find your own! Actually, I'll find some for you."
She continues to stroke my cock as she slowly navigates through a surprisingly large number of bookmarked porn sites. My mind drifts as her delicate fingers continue to pleasure me. "Hey, Clara?"
"F-feeling sorry yet? I won't stop until we're done!" She declares, opening up a full page fanart titled 'Alexandria Defeated' with her spare hand. "You like this stuff, right? You're always leaving tabs open on your computer-" I never leave tabs open on my computer. Or any search history. Amateur mistake. I pity the fake version of myself for his weakness.
"It's not about that. It's just – isn't this weird to you? We're brother and sister, and yet you seem fine with doing things like this." I was trying to scope out the mental gymnastics that she was doing thanks to my power more than I was actually trying to stop her. Might be useful to know for the future.
"Maybe legally, but we aren't actually brother and sister – so it's totally fine." She presses against my back harder. "Though that still doesn't mean that you can burst into my room uninvited. That's not fine at all. Learn your lesson. Pervert." She's the one jacking me off because I walked in on her, how am I the pervert?
"Half-sister then." I roll my eyes. "Semantics."
She tilts her head at me. "Huh? Did Mom never tell you?" I get a sinking feeling in my chest. "Dad was really into getting cucked-" I make a plaintive attempt to cover my ears, which is blocked by the position of her arms. I had an image of my father that I really would prefer to remain intact. "-so Mom has no idea who my father actually is. Could be any of like, five people. I've met a few of them before. Pretty boring." She clicks her fingers together and taps me. "You don't know who your mom is, I don't know who my dad is – we have a matching set! All while not actually being related, funny how that works out huh?"
Was this my power? Or were things always like this? I suspected I didn't want to hear the answer. "Please don't say any more."
She pokes my cheek with a frown. "Wait, does that mean that you've been the way you are this entire time while thinking we were actually related?" I didn't want to know what 'memories' she had of me that I didn't know about. "That's degenerate of you little bro. All of that anime has corrupted you." She smirks, idly grinding herself against my back. "Well, if you're into that kind of thing – then let your big sister take care of you."
She intensifies the pace of her handjob – and now that this was apparently not actually incest, my mental resistance folds like a house of cards. It isn't long before I let out an involuntary gasp to signal my approaching climax.
She continues unabated, an almost laser-like focus to her actions as my cock twitches once, twice and then sprays a blast of my seed skyward. Some of it splatters over her hand, some droplets land onto me – but the vast majority sprays forward, directly across her desk. She lets out a shrill cry at the result of her actions. "My computer!" Clara lets go of me and dismounts from her position on my back to dash towards the screen. She rubs at it with a cloth, looking slightly incensed at having to clean it despite it being entirely her own fault. "Why'd you have to cum so much little bro?"
For my part, I just laze back into her chair and enjoy the view of the bottomless girl bending over her desk to clean off my cum. It's a nice view. Now that I've been informed that it technically isn't incest, I'm feeling a lot more relaxed about this. "I feel like I am the only innocent party here."
"Whatever." She flings the cloth aside to face me with hands-on-hips, seemingly with no awareness as to her current state of dress in front of a guy. "I hope you've learned your lesson."
"Absolutely." I reply. If I walk in on Clara at the right time, I get 'punished' with a handjob from an attractive girl. Awful.
She lets out a pleased noise. "Good. Then feel free to leave whenever you want." A tint of red creeps across her face. "I was doing important things before you arrived, and I need to get back to it immediately."
I almost leave. But I've played enough hentai games to know my next steps. "Don't let me stop you." Even aside from the fact that I was still horny, and only getting more so – I imagined that the final remaining reward for Clara would be a straight-up sexual relationship. Which made it quite likely that I could push for everything short of that. "It's only fair to let me watch now, right?"
She takes half a step back. "Wh-what gave you that idea? That was a punishment!"
"Well, I simply happened to catch a good look at you when I walked in – and that happens all the time between us right?" Educated guess, but from her reaction I think it's an accurate one. "You're the one who took things past that point. It's only fair for me to even the scales a bit, so I think I'm going to watch." I leer, scooting forward in the chair – hand inching out to cross the space between us. "Unless you would prefer me to return the favour entirely…? I'll leave the choice up to you."
She freezes in indecision, which I take as a sign to start wanking myself right in front of her. I still had juice in the tank, so to speak, so it wasn't a chore at all to bring myself back to full mast.
She doesn't move away. One hand snakes up her body to grope a breast, the other sliding over thigh to brush against her lower lips. She shifts, a flush on her face. "Little bro…" Her voice trails off as she bites her lip and starts to touch herself in earnest. "You're such a pervert. Really, the things I do for you."
She leans back onto the desk, legs widening of their own volition. One finger slips inside her slit, slow and repetitive motions seeming to be her preferred method so far. Her eyes remain locked to my cock, following every stroke I make with an almost-hungry gaze. I increase my pace, while she adds yet another finger as she mewls in response to her own ministrations.
It's an arousing sight – the knowledge that I could be losing my virginity inside her glistening core right now if I had won the last challenge is almost painful. It's amazing how quickly I came around to the idea in the end. Tomorrow. I would try out Alice's final challenge later, even if I did expect to lose. Then, tomorrow I would claim them both.
More so than I already had. Or was about to. I stand, still beating away at my cock. She follows my movements with wide-eyes, not doing anything to conceal her exposed body as she fingers herself to ever-higher peaks of ecstasy. I come to a halt right in front of her, my intentions immediately clear. She shifts slightly. "Again? All over your sister?"
I grin. "You're goddamn right." I blow my load at the perfect time, the first ropey strings of cum landing at almost the very instant that she begins quivering and shaking from her own orgasm. She's already sitting in a small puddle of juices, but my blast sprays fully across her chest – her shaking only encourages my seed to pool together and drip downwards with the help of gravity. A small pool forms in her belly-button, while white streams fall from her well-rounded breasts, down her side and come to an eventual stop at her hips.
I take in the scene.
Mine.
I shake my head. Unable to hide the satisfied grin on my face. "See you later sis."
"Pervert! Knock next time or else!" She barely misses me with a cushion as I duck out of the room.
I'm not horny anymore, but I need to get a look at Mom's challenge as soon as I can. Every day that goes by without me beating both of them is a day wasted.
And now I'm fully sold on the idea of the two bitches I shared the house with being transformed over the span of mere days into… well, my two bitches. It's for a good cause. I need to get past this tutorial, nothing I can do about it – and, in all honesty. Nothing that I would do about it now.
Alice blinks as I poke my head into the living room. "Are you alright Greg? Looking for something?" She makes a questioning face.
TUTORIAL
VEDER HOUSEHOLD 8/8
(ZONE) (REAL)
I ignore her. "Challenge." Another new modifier. ZONE. That could mean a lot of things, the previous modifiers were fairly simple – so I'm sure this will quickly become apparent as well.
I blink as the ceiling fails to fill in, belatedly realising that I've been dropped outside – staring up at the night sky. Ahead of me is the usual gate to my house, nothing unusual. What is unusual is the gigantic wall of holographic hexagons that encircles an area about ten metres from all points of the house. I walk back towards it, halfway into the road before I prod it. It's as solid as it looks, and seems to be a solid candidate for the ZONE modifier.
I can't leave? Doesn't look like I can reach parts of the back garden or the neighbours' houses either. Not the worst obstacle, I almost always keep myself limited to the house anyway. Nothing's forced me to leave aside from the disastrous first attempt, my arrest and me acquiring supplies for the house fire. I doubted that would have changed for this one anyway.
It's dark enough that I can stroll around outside the house with relative impunity and not be concerned about being spotted. The windows all seem locked, both doors as well. Lights are on upstairs, and I can just spy my sister lounging around the kitchen waiting for something to finish cooking in the oven.
I'm going to have to break in one way or the other, and it's going to be loud.
Why couldn't we keep a key under a gnome or something like any other household?
I head to my trusty shed, it doesn't matter if it's locked – the window on the side has been smashed for as long as I can remember, I cut myself slightly on the glass as I heave myself in but it's a small price to pay to arm myself with my weapon of choice. I throw the axe out onto the grass before clambering out the way I came, thankfully without further injury.
Now. Plan? I don't think I had one. Or particularly needed one. There weren't any modifiers of note other than REAL – and while the presence of my sister was surprising, it ultimately didn't change anything. I could break-in, chase her down and then go and re-enact a horror movie with my mother immediately after. In every iteration, my sister had been the easiest of them all to overpower. Her being upstairs only made things easier, keeping her away from the kitchen knives.
Based on the last challenge I did, my gut told me that stalling and waiting for Clara to go upstairs was a non-starter. The simulation didn't like me waiting aimlessly hoping for the situation to improve. Inactivity would cause it to make my life harder, it might be more flexible considering I would be waiting with a plan – but I don't think I even needed the extra time, without another modifier to worry about it should be a simple win for me.
Well then. Best get to it. I opt to break into the living room first rather than the kitchen, my hope being that Clara would come running to find what the noise of breaking glass was – instead of running away from the axe-wielding psychopath breaking through the kitchen window.
The axe proves remarkably effective at making a hole, but not so effective at making one that's easily cleared by me without more cuts. I barrel through anyway, landing just as my sister turns the lights on – staring at my bloodied, sprawled form in horror before screaming and running away.
There goes that plan. I chase after her – there's nowhere to really run except the kitchen and the stairs. She goes for the stairs, probably hoping to hide in her room. I'm faster than her up the stairs, taking them two at a time to close the gap between us faster and faster. I barely make it in time to lodge the door to her room open with my foot, requiring another second to throw my body weight against the door to send her sprawling. She tries to backpedal away from me. "Please, don't do th-"
Thunk.
Easy. The hardest part is the effort required to dislodge the axe afterwards. I turn and make my way through the door again. This shouldn't end until Alice died as well, I hadn't heard anything so I could only assume that she was hiding somewhere.
"That's as far as you go." A gruff voice sounds. Close. Too close. I glance up blankly. Scruffy beard. Stupid baseball cap. Unfriendly look in his eye. Vicious looking shotgun cradled at the hip. Dad. Johnny Veder himself. Back from the dead. With a shotgun. Can't forget the shotgun.
There's a pang in my gut at the sight, eyes turning slightly watery. "Why-" I begin, immediately before my world is filled with pain – a dull roar the only indication of what exactly it was that hit me. My chest feels like it's been run over by a truck, a blurry glance at the wall behind me shows at least a scattering of bloody holes and marks where the shells passed through me and then through the wall. It takes me a moment to work out from the angle of the wall and the painting on it that I've already fallen to the floor.
I give a wet noise of protest as a boot presses heavily onto my chest, the shotgun now pointed directly at my head. My dad gives a humourless grin. "Maybe this will teach you to stay away from my family!"
The pain doesn't quite register before I die, which is probably a mercy.
FAILURE
No shit. Who invited my dad? I mean, it was nice to see him – but some warning would have been nice. Not to mention the gun, I don't remember him ever being big on those when I was around. Something for the challenge? Or just an aspect of his past personality? There certainly shouldn't be any guns around the house normally, I would have used them for every challenge yet if there was. I quickly read the smaller text below the result.
Hint: ZONE challenges are often well-defended locations that require planning to break into. Alerting your enemies too early can swiftly lead to you being overwhelmed by their superior numbers and firepower!
Plan your attack to make your first strike as crippling to their defences as you can, then take down as many enemies as you can before they raise the alarm! Note, some ZONE missions will allow targets to evacuate if they reach certain vehicles, exits or capes. If the target successfully extracts, increasingly powerful enemies will start to spawn and the following modifiers will be applied to all NPC units: (BERS) (LUST) (FOCS) (CTRL) (ALRT) (HUNT)
That's a lot of modifiers that I'm not familiar with. The fact that they can be applied to people is a hint about their nature on it's own, but I can only make guesses about them at this point. I don't think evacuation was a possibility on this challenge – I didn't see mother, but if she was upstairs then she never tried to flee. Clara didn't seem to think that it was an option either, based on how she tried running to her room and blocking me out.
I sigh, drawing a curious glance from both of them. I shake my head, bemused. "Nothing, just working out some plans for tomorrow." And it would have to be tomorrow, the timers on these were longer than they had been for previous challenges. Six hours left on Clara. Eight on Alice. Would they continue climbing if I failed again? Would other people have higher numbers as well?
I would find out, undoubtedly.
Tomorrow.
I awaken bright and early the next day. Today was the day I finished the tutorial. It was likely also going to be the day that the household was going to complete its transition into falling entirely under my sway if the rewards continued going as they had so far. I wasn't going to lie to myself anymore, I was looking forward to it. Apparently my morals are surprisingly easy to squish once the possibility of handing in my V-card becomes real.
I stroll down the stairs, bouncing with unusual confidence. My sister half-turns to look at me as I arrive at the bottom. "A bit early today bro?"
"Had something to do." I murmur distractedly, heading towards her as she turns back around to stare into the microwave hungrily. I slip my hands under her shirt absently. "Quick question, what's your usual jogging route these days?"
She doesn't resist as my hands slide over her toned belly, slowly creeping higher with every second I go unchallenged. "Mm? Through the park to the train station, back along the street to where the bus picks up and then straight back here along the road. Why, planning to join?"
"Maybe another time. Challenge." The feeling of her soft skin splinters and vanishes into nothing, the world reforming just as fast as usual.
TUTORIAL
VEDER HOUSEHOLD 7/8
(REAL) (WRLD) (TIME)
I check my watch. The same time as my first challenge on this round. I slip downstairs. She got back to the house shortly after the police arrived. About… six minutes in? I didn't jog, but I didn't think it was an unfair guess to say that it took about three minutes to the bus stop. That meant she was somewhere between there and the train station right now, approaching the house.
I dive downstairs in a rush. Alice isn't paying much attention to me, and I quickly tuck a knife into my back pocket at the same time as I grab the keys for her car. A bruised and battered old thing, but fully functional. I knew the vague mechanics of how to drive – and I manage to get the car started and trundling out of the drive without any issue.
The road is fortunately quiet, I don't do anything complicated or suspicious. Just driving in a straight line down the road, keeping an eye out for my sister coming the other way.
I don't see her on the way up, and after more than a few stop-and-starts I manage to spin the car around in a 180. I sit and wait, not even a full minute later I am rewarded. My sister crosses the road in front of me, clad in running bottoms and a sports bra – coated in a thin sheen of sweat and most importantly, not immediately noticing that I was the guy in the car across the road.
I let her get a head start, letting another car curve around me and go on his way before I get the car moving again. Accelerate. Accelerate. Gear change. Accelerate again. I fly past a red-light, almost entirely on top of her before she looks behind her to see what the loud noise getting closer to her was. I catch a brief look at her shocked face before two tonnes of iron and steel send her bouncing down the road like a ragdoll.
There's a storm of shocked beeps and car horns around me, but ultimately nobody stops me from driving up to her fallen body. They probably assumed that I was going to help her. She stares up at me with hatred as I approach, already retrieving the knife from my pocket. Her limbs are at a funny angle, and she doesn't make even the smallest attempt at moving them.
I don't want, or need, to guess at the state of her injuries.
Shink.
None of it's real. It's all over now.
SUCCESS
Reward: Clara Veder +
My hands are already back in position before I even see what's happening, now blatantly groping her breasts as she grinds her ass back into me.
"What's gotten into you this morning?" She quizzes, an amused lilt to her voice.
One hand drops to the lower half of her clothes, slowly drawing them down. "Do I need a reason?"
She harrumphs. "No, but you aren't usually this energetic at this time. I feel like I should be worried for you." She stops my hand with her own, pulling the bottom half of her outfit down in a no-nonsense fashion. "I've got a class to get to soon, so stop teasing me and fuck me already." Her now-bare ass presses back at me again.
"Greg! Clara!" I groan as Alice enters the room.
Talk about bad timing. "Challenge."
TUTORIAL
VEDER HOUSEHOLD 8/8
(ZONE) (REAL)
This time I take my time, easing my way into the shed and grabbing myself both my regular axe and a sealed, unmarked cardboard box. This time I wouldn't be trying anything reckless. The modifiers weren't all purely negative for me. WRLD and REAL, in particular, let me abuse and anticipate the likely reaction of my targets – something that I had been thinking of overnight.
So instead of bursting through the tough window, and putting the entire house on alert – I drop the cardboard box a few steps in front of the door and ring the doorbell. Hiding just around the corner gives me a perfect ambush position. Why break-in when someone can open the door for me?
The door opens. "Hello?" Clara pokes her head through, taking a second to look around. I don't move from around the corner, barely able to see her shadow moving on the ground. She seems to notice the box, stepping away from the house and crouching down to investigate. That's when I finally step forward. I'm used to the axe now. A solid connection right at the top of the spine and she crumples noiselessly, I didn't know if she would die immediately – and I didn't really care. The door was open, and one enemy was down.
I didn't want to try and fight my way into my parents' room. For all I know, Dad keeps the gun under his pillow or something. No, I need to abuse the REAL modifier again. I walk to the kitchen, drag a chair over to the centre of the room – and using it as a stand I poke the test button of the fire alarm.
The immediate burst of noise is near-deafening, but it's sure to bring the two upstairs running once it doesn't stop immediately. I can't hear their conversation, but I can hear the door slamming.
It's my father that comes storming into the kitchen. "Clara! How many times have I told you-" He reels as I slam the sharp edge of the axe in a blind swing from the blind spot next to the door. Blood splatters as I feel something in the axe give way. I toss it away, noting the awkward angle that the blade was now at. I run across the room and grab two of the shorter kitchen knives. Less likely to break, easier to stab with.
He's on the floor, still not comprehending what happened. I approach, a slight sinking feeling in my stomach as he whimpers pitifully. This… was possibly the only kill I felt bad about to date. I only had good memories of my father. Alice and Clara used to be terrors, I didn't know the faceless friends that had been involved in Clara's challenge.
It's not real.
He whimpers again, trying to speak.
I look away, swallowing a bit of bile in my throat. Just need to end it. Make it quick. That's how I wanted to go out when things were reversed. "Goodbye, Dad."
I make a small, violent motion. He stops moving. I repeat myself a dozen times – I know how long I can cling to life with serious injuries. This might not be real, but I didn't want to inflict that on him. The end result looks more like an abstract painting than a human person, but I'm sure that he isn't alive and in pain anymore. That's all the mercy I can give.
…that wasn't the way I wanted to see him again, but it's nice in its own way. Somehow better than just being there one day, dead and gone the next. As twisted as it sounds. I clench the knife harder in my hands as I march up the stairs. I had to follow through. The only way is forward. Become the new man of the house. Get past this tutorial. Change the world.
Even if I didn't get any other rewards from my power, the amount of good I could do if I just crossed eyes with a villain only briefly was phenomenal. I didn't know what my power would do to guys yet, but becoming a heroic version of Heartbreaker wasn't a bad thing.
Actually that comparison was awful and probably too fitting. I would just have to hope that my power kept me concealed on that front, at least until I was more set-up than I am now.
I don't go through the door myself, I just sit and wait. I won't be reckless here. She would come out on her own – the alarm was still going strong, she would lose patience eventually.
After a minute she still hasn't come out, but after two, the doorknob shifts. I stab her in the stomach before she's even pulled the door open. The other knife swinging in wide to stab her in the side. I ignore the gasp, the scream and the begging for mercy that comes immediately afterwards.
It's over. She tries to wrestle one knife from me, unable to stop the second as it finds its way directly into her eye. My arm slips through her head as both knife and body become immaterial.
I let out a sigh. Finished. Eight out of eight.
Onto the real challenge, I assumed. The rest of the world.
SUCCESS
Reward: Alice Veder +
"Mom." I call out behind me, immediately resuming my task of groping my sister. "Get over here."
"Coming!" I hear her set something down on the table and then hurry over.
Both of them maxed out according to my power. Nothing else to do. "You're both… obedient, right?" Alice tilts her head at me. "You're going to do as I say." It feels right. I know that it's true.
"Greggie I am the adult of the house." Alice gives me an amused grin. "Don't think that just because you're a boy-"
"Strip." She pouts, whipping her shirt up and over her head before starting to work at her bra.
"I'm only doing this because I need some loving too. Don't think that I won't ground you just because of your dick." I listen to the words, but they're meaningless. Actions speak far louder than words. It only takes a moment before her naked body is obediently presented before me, like a puppy expecting a treat. The personality is there. At least, the new personality. Like she's just submitting unconsciously and justifying it to herself in whatever way she can.
"Whatever." My pants drop down to gather at my ankles. "You just kneel down there and watch as I take your daughter." She drops to the floor obediently. There's a dark pleasure in it. Ironically somewhat muted by the fact that her new personality hasn't really done anything revenge-worthy. But I can't quite let go of several years worth of built-up spite that easily. If nothing else, I knew that the woman she used to be would have hated this with every fibre of her being. That's enough for me.
Clara presses back at me, not quite able to insert my dick herself. "I have a bus to catch. Hurry up already. If you just want to ogle my ass then do it in your own time."
I press forward on command, succeeding at lodging myself inside her where her efforts had failed. She gasps briefly at the insertion, placing hands on the counter in front of her to support herself. I don't pause to let her gather herself, simply powering on forwards as I finally, finally, cashed in my virginity. It lives up to the hype. Soft, velvety walls press down around me as I piston in and out of her tight slit with everything that I have. Better than masturbation. Way better. From the sounds she's making, I'm confident that she's enjoying it too.
One detail can't help but catch my attention. Not enough to get me to stop, but enough to cause me to question it. "Hey, Mom?" She perks up. "I've fucked Clara plenty of times before, right?"
"Greg! Mind your language." She scolds, before relenting. "But, I suppose you have been like this for a while. Why?"
I look down at the smudged droplets of blood that have already been smeared across my dick. Broken hymen. "No reason." This was proof. My power tried to adjust everything it could to support the changes it made, but it wasn't perfect. It missed things. Occasional inconsistencies. Nothing concrete. It even remembered to add my sister's characters to my friend list in every game that I had tried yesterday. My online guild buddies had asked me to say hello for them the next time that I saw her. But clearly, it didn't get everything. Otherwise, I wouldn't be taking my sister's virginity when I had apparently already taken it months, if not years ago in their new memories. It seemed basic, but that's what it was.
Or perhaps my power just didn't really understand people. It skipped the steps between one stage of a relationship and the next, ticked all the boxes for 'In a relationship' that it could find, leaving Clara and Alice in a state where sex was a perfectly regular, common-place and expected activity despite never actually having done it with me. It can handle data fine. Chat logs. Photos. Perception. Some fake memories that lacked just enough detail to not quite stand under scrutiny.
It's all guesswork on my part, but in either case, it meant I needed to display some degree of caution around thinkers. Everything looked fine from a distance. But if I could find an inconsistent detail up close and personal, then someone with a power might be able to as well.
…not that I needed to be worried about that right now, when I was balls-deep inside the most attractive girl in the room and miles away from any capes. I return my focus to the hot, moist core in front of me – pressing deeper and further than I had previously, taking my own pleasure at the higher notes being extracted from Clara's throat.
My hands weren't idle either, having had an enjoyable grope of her breasts – now I had brought them down her body to rest on her ass. Alternating between squeezing a handful and using them as handholds to drive myself deeper, I was almost spoilt for choice in terms of just how lewd her body was.
She makes an impatient noise as her own watch beeps at her. "F-fuck. My bus. How long are you going to take? I have to clean myself up after this."
I don't release my pressure on her. "As long as it takes. You'll just have to wait until I cum, even if that means missing class." I'm half-joking. I mostly want to see her response.
"A-as if I'm going to wait that long!" She doesn't move to leave, despite the words. In fact, the only thing she does is start slamming herself back onto my cock - taking my full length in earnest for the first time.
"Alright." It's not like I don't have an education to get to as well. My cock shivers in warning. "I'll hurry up and cum then. As soon as you tell me when and where you want it." I glance at the time. "And you don't have any time to clean up afterwards. You'll need to run straight there."
"You're an ass." She mutters under her breath. "Just cum inside me. Right where you are. I'm on the pill, it doesn't matter."
I accede to her request almost on-demand. A hot flood of sticky cum billows out of my cock and plasters her inner walls in increasingly powerful spurts. I make a few more slow thrusts to ensure that I've milked the last of it out inside her, before extracting my thoroughly soaked dick from her leaking cunt.
"Finally." She turns to face me, rolling her eyes as if I had taken too long in the bathroom. Her face is still red and flushed, a hint of shakiness still rolling throughout her body – but it looks like she's ready to go. She pulls her panties up, ignoring the wet squish that they make as they are pressed against her dripping snatch. The rest of her clothes follow a moment later, and before I can say anything else she's retrieved her meal, donned her bag and sprinted out of the door.
There she goes. My prim and proper sister will be spending most of the day chatting up her friends while sitting in panties absolutely soaked with my seed. Nice.
Alice shifts on her knees. "You need to get ready as we-" I frown at her, making a shushing noise. I was having a moment. No need to ruin it by nagging, however well-intentioned.
"It's fine. I'm going to have a shower and then catch the late bus in." I tell her, already thinking of my plan for the day. "I'll see you in the afternoon." I could waste time with her now, but after the last day and a half, I was more sexually drained that I had ever been before. I simply wasn't up to it right now.
My late arrival at school draws a few raised eyebrows, but nothing comes of it aside from a stern reprimand from a teacher. Irrelevant. Really. I was a thousand miles away while they lectured me about punctuality. Thinking about my next target. Hell, my next target could be the teacher. The newly-unlocked padlock tempted me, but I wanted the first to be special.
…who was I kidding. It was going to be Taylor. We shared the next class together. If I arrived late enough she would already be sat down when I arrived, and nobody else ever sat next to her – which would let me cruise into prime position.
And then?
Bam.
Knock her off her feet with as many challenges as I can blitz through in a row. How many before I drop the first time? Three? I think I could manage three. I liked Taylor, don't get me wrong. But she's kind of weedy, has no friends other than me and probably isn't much good in a fight.
It was pretty likely that she would be even easier to deal with than Clara. I might not even need any convoluted strategies unless the modifiers are particularly harsh. It wouldn't even be a challenge. Somewhere in my soul, I felt five words resonate within me at the prospect of the upcoming fight.
"Meh, I can take her."