[SS 2.89] Privacy Policy (Part 2/3) (Patreon)

Wait, the administrator? What?! Didn’t that mean— Angelica didn’t get to finish that thought. She froze. It wasn’t like when things slowed down when using Auto-Color or Parry when things slowed down. Her mind, her body, her breath, it was all frozen in time. The candle wicks stopped dancing. Her two companions became lifeless. It was as if the very world around her had ceased to exist. Yet before her, at the center of a circle, it was as if she could see a shroud of something that wasn’t really there.

A yawn mixed with a sigh echoed around the room. And then a voice entered her mind, but it didn’t stop there. It surged through her body, rattling her flesh and bones, reverberating with her existence. Though the words didn’t seem to match the power at play. 

“Ngh, I was in the middle of such a pleasant nap. So why is the system suddenly blaring in my ears? Which one of you fools made it go haywire this time?”

That voice—her voice. It was unlike any Angelica had ever heard before. It was softly spoken yet overwhelming. Deep and verbose yet light and whimsical. Calm yet irate. Cute yet demanding. Terrifying yet seductive. This voice could only belong to one being. Angelica was completely confident that the woman whose voice was enrapturing her could only be Demon Lord Ferrul. 

“A human disguise, huh? Let’s get a better look at you.” On top of the being completely rattled by Ferrul’s voice, Angelica suddenly felt the Demon Lord’s gaze upon her. It was beyond just feeling like she was being undressed by her eyes. More like she was being stripped away, layer by layer until Ferrul saw her very soul. 

This led to a literal out of body experience. Angelica’s vision was shifted, suddenly staring at Merlina’s crouched backside. And suddenly, she could move again, sort of. She was in her Puck form, and could wiggle her semi-translucent arms, as if she were a ghost. But that was it. There was no escape otherwise.

“A cute little Puck. To think you’re the one causing me this vexation. Alright, let’s see what all this fuss is about. Hmm, I recognize this tag from the logs. You were the one who had the Racial Skills error. I guess that wasn’t just a fluke. Well, you actually have an Alias this time. Gelic… I’ll remember that.”

“So what’s the problem?” A bunch of random mouth noises followed, like a clerk trying to fill the silence while waiting for their programs to load. Except then Ferrul suddenly started bursting out laughing. “Well isn’t that something. This isn’t the first time a Demon has attempted the Rite of Unknowing, usually to not blow their cover when duping Summoners. There’s a failsafe to make the pretty lights and all that nonsense, to make it look like it was a success. Except in your case, it actually was supposed to succeed.

“But why? I see. One of your Secrets is causing this. Don’t worry, I can’t see them, nor your True Name. If I could call those up whenever I wanted, then there’d be no faith in the system. As for what’s actually happening, though, well, it isn’t hard to guess. So very interesting. Alright… and… fixed. The rite will work for you. That wasn’t so hard. Stupid system. It should have been able to do that itself, but I did get to see something interesting at least.

“I should probably give you an Achievement for that. But that would require creating a whole dataset of Summoner variables, and I don’t feel like it right now. So this will have to do.”

[You have gained 1 stack of Amusement]

[Achievement Hunter: Rank 3 unlocked]

Apparently the system wasn’t going to give her the spiel about what had come with that rank-up yet like it usually did. Not that Angelica could possibly be distracted by anything else at the moment. Ferrul had her full attention. 

“Apparently, that’s not all. There’s some other stuff on your file. Might as well take care of those while I’m here. Hmph, a complaint. So my system isn’t good enough for you, huh?” The Demon Lord let those words linger for a moment, allowing the likely feigned annoyance to cause Angelica to sweat for a bit and begin to draft an apology in her mind, which would mostly just be pleading for her forgiveness. 

“But it’s a fair argument. Very well, I’ll update Muse to have the effects from the Catalogue enchantment as part of the base kit. It’s flagged to be patched in the next build release. That may be some time because it’s a lot more work, not that you’d care, since you already have it. Though, here. I can give this to you now.”

[You have been refunded 1 GP]

“And… you have another error from earlier this evening. Quite the busy thing, aren’t you? Three errors and you haven’t even been alive that many months. At least this one’s another easy fix. Sorry, but I’ll have to know this one, since I’m making it up right now.

[Secret: Unredacted unlocked | Due to your Summoner Secret, you are able to learn Summoner information that is normally hidden from Demons due to rites]

“There, that should take care of it. Since no one else should have it, I can just add it to the private repository, so it doesn’t need to actually be patched directly. Yay. I still don’t know how you’ve found yourself in this situation, but that’s not important right now. I’m glad this was caught at a convenient time. Actually, no. It wasn’t convenient at all. You owe me a nap, Gelic, and I never forget those in my debt. Hopefully, one day you will become useful enough that I can cash it in.

“Hmm… and you’re going to keep being a pain in my side, aren’t you, if you keep breaking my system like this. It kind of makes me want to just quarantine you fully, but I suppose I shouldn’t stifle your uniqueness. So I guess I’ll just keep letting you break it, except I’ll put the onus on you to fix it. Very good. You already have the Pedant Attunement. That makes this easier.

“So take this Skill. It doesn’t have a description since it’s technically a debugging tool, but the name should be pretty self-explanatory. What isn’t, though, is how to properly use it. You need to find the logic and present it as a solution. It doesn’t have to be the exact right answer, just something that the system will accept as plausible. 

“Anytime you create an error, try to deduce the logic yourself and activate the Skill. If it works, then I don’t get bothered, and the less I’m bothered, the less likely I am to directly intervene. That’s a good thing for you. Let’s just leave it at that. I don’t really care how else you use the Skill, as long as you at least make an attempt to fix errors yourself. It’ll probably help you with any tricky Contracts if you follow the same methodology, and the more you grow it, the more it will help. There’s a chance it may very well save your life one day, assuming you have enough Competence.

[Active Skill: Exploit Loophole Lv.1 unlocked]

[Pedant Attunement has improved from Touched to Embraced]

“Alright, my work here is done. You may praise me at your leisure when you are able to move again. Ah, I should mention, that even though this is just a fragment of my consciousness, since it has made contact with the Circle from your rite, well… it probably won’t hurt too much, and those two Summoners seem capable. I’m sure everyone will be fine. Farewell, Gelic. You are an interesting one indeed, so I look forward to seeing what you become. The next time we meet, I hope you can show me what you’re Worth.”

Time unfroze, and Angelica found her soul shoved back into her body. The Circle in front of her flickered for just a moment before it suddenly exploded. All three women were shoved back, but the impact quickly diminished. A thin veil appeared in front of them like a barrier, coming from Pathos who had her hands out. She lowered her guard a moment after, when the outward force ceased, only to desperately raise it again when a new power emerged.

Angelica’s blood on the Circle suddenly burst into flames, which ignited the rest of the paint as if it were gasoline. But it wasn’t normal fire. No, it was far too hot, far too absurd for that. They were the fires of Hell. She recognized them immediately. Apparently because of contact with Ferrul’s consciousness, the Circle used for the rite had become a gate straight to Hell. Heat billowed outward and the stench of brimstone filled their nostrils. 

Thanks to Pathos’ protection, which Vystal had begun pouring her own mana into, they avoided being roasted alive. Well, Angelica would have been fine, but she feared the fate of the other two. They would have ended up like the room around the portal, which despite being made of brick, had begun to melt. But their desperate attempt to stave off the fiendish power became a plight to stay away from it. 

The portal suddenly imploded like a black hole, with the Circle swirling beneath it, drawing everything toward it, consuming the candles that had been dotting the room. It ate itself alive, stripping the markings from the rite until there was nothing left. Then it all ceased at once, the room cut off from the other plane entirely, as if nothing had been wrong, with only the melted scars of the space left as proof that anything had been awry.

“They say Circles tap into Hell directly, and that’s how we bring Demons here,” Pathos said once everything had calmed. “But that was absurd, I’d say.”

“Merlina!” Vystal ran over to Angelica who was still kneeling on the ground. “Are you okay? You’re trembling!”

Was she? Only now did she really connect with her body again, and yes, she absolutely was. Her body was shaking nonstop, her bones rattling within her flesh. Ferrul’s overwhelming presence hadn’t just scarred the room, but Angelica’s entire existence. She had experienced something similar when she caught a glimpse of the Archdemon of her Cult, Morgo Gorgo, but this was honestly incomparable. And it had only been a fragment? Just how strong was she? The Demon Lord could very well be more powerful than every Demon combined. 

“Uhh, yeah.” Angelica took a deep breath, trying to compose herself—failing on the inside, but at least managed to look better on the outside, getting her body to stop shaking. Though her mind kept thumping like it was her heart, unable to get everything that had transpired out of her head. The experience had been so sudden and random, to the point that it felt more like a dream than reality. In a way, she wished she had imagined it, because that would be easier to grasp.

“Did the rite succeed?” Pathos followed up after her condition was confirmed.

“Y-yes,” Angelica answered truthfully, and though she knew it was probably oversharing, she found herself unable to contain the words. Someone had to know, or keeping it bottled up would kill her. And maybe it would go a long way into explaining what had just happened. “They’re right when they say that it’s a Pact with the Demon Lord. I thought… I thought I was going to die when I heard that voice.”

“The Demon Lord spoke to you?” The Senior Summoner’s eyebrow raised, though there was a genuinely look of concern in her eyes just beneath it. “Are you certain it wasn’t another Demon? What did they say?”

“No, it was Demon Lord Ferrul.” Angelica spoke plainly. Pathos should be able to sense the truth in her words, but there was also no reason to spill it all. “She said she would remember my name.” 

“She?” Vystal jumped on that. “Ferrul is female?”

“I wouldn’t focus on that,” Pathos argued. “It’s said that the Demon Lord can take on many forms, and two accounts rarely match up. That’s why it’s hard to gauge the authenticity of the claims. But if you believe it so, Merlina, then I believe you. Perhaps it has something to do with your unusual condition why Ferrul chose to get involved. But all that matters currently is that the rite was a success. If you’ll please escort her back, Vyre, I’ll tend to things here.”

Apparently now that the rite had been confirmed, they could be more open. Vystal had likely told Pathos that she’d shared her True Name. Maybe that was a test somehow to confirm that the rite had actually worked, since maybe she’d be unable to share it otherwise.