My System: An Evolved Computer I Made With My Unique Ability—

Chapter 97 First Round— Badge Fight IX

An intense aura enveloped Cherry as he stopped Siril's attacks. Curious, Siril dropped to the ground and reverted to his human form. He was getting tired anyway and he grabbed the opportunity of Cherry's uncharacteristic actions just so he could get some rest. Nevertheless, he wondered why Cherry suddenly stepped in when a few moments ago, she was cowering in fear and almost ready to run away from the scene.

It's as if she did a one-eighty and assumed another personality contradictory to who she was.

'Oh, right. Sassu.' Siril said in his mind, finally understanding why. 'I guess she can take it from here.'

Like a predator gazing down on her prey, Sassu smiled while waving the nine badges she was holding towards Vulcan and his group. She seemed cheerful yet malicious at the same time, which made Vulcan rethink about attacking her right then and there. "You want these badges? I can't give them to you. I promised Cherry I'll keep them safe and rescue Siril over there. Hey, Siril, you doing all right? You seem to be having a hard time so Cherry switched with me."

"Yeah, thanks," Siril simply responded.

Vulcan couldn't tell what was happening. A few seconds ago, the girl was running as far away as possible, not even daring to taunt them for a fight. But now, she even went as far as to stand in front of them without activating a sliver of her superpower.

Although Vulcan felt a bit awful for attacking such a defenseless girl, he knew that this is a competition and that backing away just a little bit would be disadvantageous for him. With that thought, he nodded towards Grior and Clara who seemed to get what he was trying to relay to them.

However, one thing struck him as odd. Somehow, Siril reverted back to his human form and was totally dependent on the girl. 'Does that mean she's stronger than him?' Vulcan asked but his thoughts were a step too late.

Grior already started firing wind blades at Sassu.

Sassu leaned to her right but the wind blade still grazed her left shoulder, much to her dismay. At that instant though, something weird happened to Grior.

First, it was his arms that seemed to turn into a disgusting purple color before his skin seemed to have melted away. Grior screamed as he felt the stinging pain of his muscles directly touching the air. Both his hands turned that way, making him collapse on the ground. "What's happening?! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" He screamed in desperation as tears unconsciously flowed from his eyes.

Clara and Vulcan got to work healing Grior. While Clara gave him recovery and regeneration buffs, Vulcan gave him at least a week's worth of sleep using his power but nothing happened. The deterioration aggravated and Grior howled more intensely as seconds passed.

Once his skin peeled off, his muscle started turning into light pink color and it dripped on the ground. That's right, it's as if his muscles turned into ice cream, and a mushy pinkish goo formed on where he was standing. There was no pain anymore, but it seemed so disgusting that Clara and Vulcan almost fainted at the sight.

Even Siril couldn't stomach the scene. With his gag reflex activated, he ran towards the nearest tree and puked his breakfast. "Gahh~~~"

"You shouldn't have done that. How dare you leave a scratch on my shoulder. Cherry won't be pleased if she finds out." Sassu shook her heads, approaching Clara, Grior, and Vulcan with a mischievous smile as if she would eat them alive if they get allowed her to get near.

"You, what's your name?" Sassu asked, pointing at Clara who was trying to heal the melted muscles of Grior.

"Clara,"

"I see, Clara, can you heal this scratch? I promise I'll return your friend's arms back to normal if you do. I won't even ask for your badges because that would already be rubbing salt to the wound but I'll ask the three of you to leave us alone... after Clara heals my wound, that is."

Clara shook her head. "No, heal my friend's arms first. And then I'll heal your scratch."

"Fine, fine, you don't have to be so nitpicky about it." Sassu continued.

In an instant, Grior's hand returned back to normal as if nothing happened. At first, Vulcan thought that the girl had some sort of illusion superpower but he couldn't rule out the fact that Grior's screams were real. He definitely felt something weird happen to his body and by no means was it an illusion if he felt it. That's why Vulcan kept quiet about it.

Shaking his head, Vulcan then grabbed Clara's and Grior's badges and handed them toward Sassu. "It's our loss. Take it."

"No, just scram before, you know, I change my mind! Ah, wait! If it's not asking too much, your superpower is based on reset or something, right? Can you heal my good friend Siril over there before you leave? That would be nice." Sassu cheerily said, pointing at Siril who was just wiping his mouth after puking.

"You mean, we get to keep our badges and go away if we heal your good friend over there?" Vulcan asked as if it was open for negotiations.

"Yes, however you take it is fine by me."

"All right,"

Vulcan approached Siril and touched his head. Suddenly, Siril felt great vigor in his body as if he was just woken up from a good night's sleep. He couldn't wrap his finger around the sensation but he felt more energetic than usual. Also, the scratches all over his body were removed as well as if they didn't exist in the first place. 'What a scary superpower indeed.' Siril thought after muttering a soft thank-you towards Vulcan.

Without further ado, Clara, Grior, and Vulcan left the vicinity as Sassu enthusiastically waved her hands towards them. Siril shivered while staring at Sassu. 'That girl is downright crazy, all right.' He told himself. In hindsight though, it was thanks to her that they got out of the situation unscathed.

"Aight then~~~ say, what should we do now, Siril? Should we have some alone time together or should we regroup with our leader and the others? They're just nearby, I can sense their life-force from here." Sassu continued.

...

A few minutes later,

"And you know what she thought next? You won't believe it, Siril! She thought that using her superpower is cheating in this Badge Fight! Can you believe her? Stupid Cherry, she thinks it's unfair to use her superpower when everyone's typically doing it. Had she used it back then, she'd have been able to defeat everyone and regroup with Satoshi and the others." Sassu complained while walking beside Siril, arms behind the back of her head.

"Then, why didn't you do it? Why didn't you just defeat everyone and be done with it? Now that you've taken over, you got her powers at your disposal, right?" Siril asked, confused.

"No no, even if I did, I'm still just a split personality from Cherry. I'm still under her no matter what happens. Back then, her only wish is to save you, and that I did. I'm going out of my way to regroup here so we can regroup with leader and the others, you know. Although Cherry won't like it, I deem it better for her so she won't have to use her superpowers that much."

"I mean, if she gets used to using her superpower, then what would happen to me? I'd probably disappear from her mind. I solely exist as a balancer in her mind, you know. After all, Cherry wouldn't use her superpower at all costs... that's why she subconsciously created me to use it in emergencies. With that said, it won't be long now before we switch consciousness again. I guess it will a goodbye, for now, Siril. Honestly, it was fun spending time with you. "

Upon saying that, Sassu leaned in and kissed Siril by the cheeks. To say the least, Siril was dumbfounded, so much so that he froze in place. And right at that moment, Cherry's consciousness switched back and the first thing she noticed was that she was giving Siril a peck on the cheek.

"W-w-whajhadfadfalsd~~~ " Cherry exclaimed, flustered. Even Siril didn't understand what she said. As her face turned a notch redder, she turned her face around so she wouldn't meet Siril in the eyes. "I'm sorry," She squealed as a hiccup interrupted her.

"Oh, you're back," Siril said. It took all of his being to keep his poker face while he covered the lower part of his face with his right hand. He felt his legs shaking, and his head felt feverish he could've sworn steam was rising out from it. Fortunately, there was a disturbance nearby and he reined in his overflowing embarrassment, refocusing on the distraction.

"Oh, Siril?! Cherry's here too." Satoshi then called before Siril could call out to him first.