Ishita was looking at Tanya, concerned.

"Woah," Tanya said. "You—" she pointed at Sebastian. "You and Richie… He's the memory fucker."

Sebastian held his hands up. "I'm aware of what this likely pertains to, but—wait. Memory fucker?"

Tanya stared at him, letting the vitriol sink into her voice."It's the name I've been using for the guy who wiped a section of my memory. You can see why I wouldn't be best pleased, right?"

"No, I knew that much." He tilted his head, looking fascinated for the first time since they'd come in.

It proved that the rest of what he'd said about Tanya being a tattoo summoner was fake.

"Do you know a man by the name of Adder, perchance?"

"What's it to you?" Tanya spat back.

His eyes glazed over.

Tanya felt a heavy sensation in her head.

"Intriguing. You gained your powers with him. I wasn't aware," Sebastian said.

"Get out of my head," Tanya said, face flushing with the effort of not cussing him out or worse.

"Can we get back to the deal?" Ishita asked.

"Give me a minute," Tanya said.

Not only had they wiped her memory, but they'd robbed her blind too. She guessed that was more Richie's prerogative than Sebastian's. He didn't seem the type. Not that she supposed money even mattered anymore. Tanya was far more interested in pushing to find out why.

"You get one question, I get one question," Tanya said. "Both tell the truth. Then I fix up this tattoo."

"How do you know you can?" Sebastian asked.

"Trade secrets," Tanya replied. She tried to smirk, but it came out as more of a snarl.

It had clicked into place while she watched the memory. The moment Tanya had given up on trying to capture the thought experiment in the tattoo was the moment it failed at doing what Sebastian wanted it to.

All Tanya had to do now was check.

She focused on his tattoo with her overlay, and the information filled her vision.

• • •

Name: Esquire Frames Wielder: Sebastian Salvatore Type: Accessory Level: 3

Attributes Impact: 4 Absorption: 6 Resilience: 2

Ability

Aura of Legitimacy While worn, the user projects an air of confidence and intellect. Those listening will assume, unless given doubt, that you believe in what you are saying, potentially increasing the effectiveness of persuasion, negotiation, and social influence attempts.

• • •

She was right. At the time, she'd been considering a tattoo that suited how Sebastian carried himself. It cleared a lot of things up that Tanya hadn't noticed sooner. Adder's snake was created to capture his intimidation, which had mixed with Tanya's fear. Amy's tiger represented her birth year and how her mother had said it protected her. Maria's plants were always supposed to be as realistic as possible, and Maria told her horror stories of their effects to distract herself during the tattoos.

Maybe that meant there were some genuinely nice tattoos out there, too, or maybe the moment of fear that brought most of them to life ended that possibility.

All Tanya knew was that right now, she wanted to know what Richie had done and why, and get out with this pact changed.

"Three questions," Sebastian said. "Quick fire. Then we complete the deal."

Tanya nodded.

"Question 1," Sebastian began. "How do you know why the tattoo didn't work?"

"I can see the Interface of the tattoo, and that's what it does, lined up with the intention I had for making the tattoo."

Tanya could see he wanted to ask follow-up questions, but she didn't give him a chance. "How did you or Richie know to come to me?"

"Aha, that's an easy one. A statistician I went to Cambridge with was one of the first to study the phenomenon. His Class: predicting most likely Classes in individuals."

Now, Tanya was the one floored with more questions. She pushed them down.

"Question 2: What Unique Classes do you know of?"

Tanya clenched her jaw. She didn't like handing this over, but at least he wouldn't know who they were. For a moment, she considered lying and only giving a few, or making them up, but he definitely had some kind of mind-reading reading so it wasn't worth risking it. "Mecha Combatant, Bunker Wizard, Foley Artist, Mercy Killer, Fifi Handler—"

Sebastian's eyes grew wider at the last one.

Tanya tried to remember more specific ones she'd heard in passing. "Bandwith… something… Beacon?" Tanya remembered from Mrs Eceer's story. She focused, feeling her brain buzz in a way she had only felt since her Concentration became superhuman.

The estate.

"Bowler, Otherworldly Physician." It came easier the more she focused. She remembered her conversation with Adder's guys. "Bone Harvester and Blood Saint." Then, even further back, she remembered that first news show she'd seen. "Crash Test Dummy." Finally, with a look at Ishita that she hoped summed up how she felt, "Drunken Chaneler."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

She'd likely missed some, but she'd tried. She checked her Concentration, it was down by 6 since before she'd started brainstorming.

"Illuminating," Sebastian said.

"What did you and Richie want with Adder?" Tanya shot back.

"We needed to find out how he got Firestarter and help it down that pathway. It was an important element in others getting theirs."

"But doesn't influencing people to get Classes make 'em less likely to get them?"

"Quick brainstormer. That's your final question," Sebastian said. "We had a good little back-and-forth thing going, but I suppose I can be flexible."

Tanya cursed herself, clenching her nails into her hand. "Go on."

"You can't instruct someone on how to gain a Class, but if a situation you put them in leads to actions that make them Worthy, then it will unlock as normal."

Upon first hearing, Tanya thought that felt unfair—that let people manipulate the Classes people got. However, she supposed Ian would fall in that camp, and if people couldn't influence each other's Classes at all, fighting a person could never count.

Sebastian was staring at her expectedly.

She'd missed it.

"Say again?" she said.

"Question 3: What does every level up you have ever receive do?"

Anger and nervousness curled in her gut.

She could tell that it was carefully worded. Her rage built as she considered the amount of information he was requesting. She stared at her Notifications tab, deciding how best to approach this.

Fuck.

It was hard to regret it too much when she now had so much information to trade with Adder.

She looked for any loophole she could find.

They literally start with Level Up—how many loopholes can there be with—

Not all of them did. Tanya noticed that Achievements didn't.

That was a start.

He also asked what they do, not what they are. If she were careful, perhaps she could stick to a very limited summary while still just about meeting the question.

System, what is a level up?

Colloquialism from planet Earth, often found in video games and other media—

No, what does it mean to you?

Question not found.

That was good. If it wasn't a regimented concept, she felt pretty certain about leaving out Achievements altogether. Arguing that notifications that started with Level Up weren't, in fact, level ups felt like too much of a stretch.

Hold on…

Tanya looked at a Level Up Notification, then another.

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled Tattoo Summoner to Level 5.

Congratulations!

You have unlocked an Ability Merge. This allows you to combine two Abilities together to broaden their options and leveling potential.

Would you like to see your choices?

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled up Tattoo Summoner to Level 6

Congratulations!

You have unlocked a Major Ability Crossroads. These are Abilities you choose rather than just unlock.

Would you like to see your choices?

• • •

The initial message was often structured the same, with what had been levelled and the concept of what it had unlocked, for example, Ability Merge or Ability Crossroads. Seeing the exact options was technically an expansion of that message.

'What does every Level Up you have received do?' Fuck you, Salvatore. I'll tell ya.

To prove her point even further, Tanya began reading through the messages exactly.

At first, Sebastian was holding his pen, waiting to write.

The moment Ishita realised what she had done, she stifled a laugh.

Sebastian put his pen down.

More time passed as Tanya read through Notification after Notification. She was convinced Sebastian was sticking it out at this point through sheer stubbornness, or maybe to see if she'd slip up.

She didn't.

"Level Up! You have leveled up An Inkling of Control to Level 3. An Inkling of Control has received a Minor Ability Boon. Level Up! Assistant is now—"

"You may stop," Sebastian said.

"You sure?" Tanya said innocently. "I'm only a few days into the Apocalypse."

Sebastian's mouth curved into a wide smile. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, if you're sure," Tanya affirmed, barely hiding her taunt.

They stared at each other.

"Smart," Sebastian said, still smiling.

"Almost perfect question wording," Tanya replied.

If it hadn't been for the conversation they'd just had, Tanya may have been worried about Sebastian's rebuttal to her tricking him like this. However, what she saw in his eyes was grudging respect. It seemed he was only ever shitty within the letter of the law.

"So, the tattoo, fix it for me," Sebastian said, offering out the arm again.

Tanya squinted at it. "I could fix it if ya want, but it's more dangerous than doing a new one."

She wasn't sure if that was true, but she'd never changed a tattoo before that had been levelled. The only ones she'd changed after designing at all were right before shop opening; a group of weapons where she practised adding magic to simple weapons so she could upgrade them for a specific person on the fly. It had been so Vitality-intensive for what it was, she hadn't done much beyond those initial tests. She didn't want to tell Sebastian any of that. Unsureness was giving him just as much knowledge as a fact would—if not more.

"And if I don't need this one?" Sebastian asked.

Sebastian hadn't seemed to know what she was thinking. That meant the mind-reading was an Ability he had to activate. She just had to seem not suspicious when she lied.

"Well, it's level 3, so it's not like you've had no use for it."

Sebastian smiled. "Just checking you really can read it." He nodded. "Then make me a new one."

"Not glasses, I assume. That way you can wear both at once," Tanya said, grabbing her sketchbook from where it balanced over the edge of her knee and opening it again. She'd forgotten it was there in the returning memory and following conversation.

Sebastian nodded thoughtfully. "How does the Vitality drain work with two Summons out at once?"

Tanya cursed. She didn't know the answer, and she'd never tested it.

Her expression must have given it away because Sebastian's smile became a smirk. His eyes sparkled with an otherworldly shimmer.

"Test it now. I'll wait."

Fuck this guy. First thing I'm doing at home is a tattoo to stop mind readin'.

It wasn't like he couldn't test for this information himself. Tanya wondered if it would give him a vague idea of her Vitality, but she suspected he could guess that other ways.

"I'd need some way to time it," she said.

"I have perfect time recall."

Of course ya fuckin' do.

It took all of Tanya's self-control not to say it aloud. Instead, she just scoffed and stood, the chair screeching across the floor from the lack of care she shoved it back with. She summoned a Basic Sword from her ankle in one hand and the broach of Minor Delirium in her other hand. Neither of those gave anything away from just looking at them, just how she liked it.

"Time," Tanya said.

Sebastian nodded.

She watched her Vitality, waiting for it to go down 1. It was slow nowadays. They stood in a tense silence for a few minutes. Tanya put Minor Delirium away, to then test with just one.

"New timer. We'll be a while longer," Tanya said.

Ishita began asking questions about the Pact changing process.

It was pretty much what Tanya expected; Sebastian would handle the entire process in his Interface. Ishita would need to stay there for the length of time it took, but aside from being relatively still, Sebastian had no other needs of her.

He predicted it would take a couple of hours.

Sebastian was predictably cagey about how the Ability actually worked, but Tanya gathered it was System-related, as he referred to lots of reading and careful thought being needed. Knowing how The System had worked with her own Class, Tanya guessed it was as close to real Earth law as the System had understood. She barely knew anything about law, but television shows made it seem like a lot of very specific wording of long forms and perfectly timed eureka moments, so she imagined it like that.

Finally, her Vitality ticked down one.

"What were the timers?" Tanya asked.

"12 minutes 53 seconds and 36 minutes and 24 seconds," Sebastian said.

Tanya furrowed her brow. Technically, that could be partly down to Minor Delirium having higher Vitality drain, but she doubted that was all of it.

"So I was correct," Sebastian said. "Two Summons being out don't just add, they multiply in some way."

Tanya hated this guy, but she didn't want to be responsible for killing him.

"I've not changed a tattoo that's been levelled like this before. I don't know how dangerous it'll be."

Sebastian looked between Ishita and Tanya. "That's why we have a Martyr here. I suppose it's finally time to make a Pact."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.