[ Location: Hawkins Public Library - Reading Room ][ Date: June 7th, 1985 - Friday Night ]
The library was a war zone.
Books were flying like startled birds an tables were smashed into kindling.
The air was filled with black feathers, dust, and maniacal laughter.
Pennywise was fast. Unnaturally fast.
He scurried across the ceiling, dropping down to slash at me with claws that extended like switchblades.
I ducked, rolled, and blasted him back with a Telekinetic Push.
BOOM.
He hit a bookshelf, shattering it.
Encyclopedia Britannica rained down on his head.
"Stop moving!" Pennywise hissed, his face splitting open to reveal rows of shark teeth that spiraled down his throat. "Let me eat you! Stop resisting!"
"I'm high in cholesterol," I quipped, panting heavily.
My chest burned. "Bad for your heart."
'He's too strong. Physically, I can keep up with the Aether reinforcement. But he keeps regenerating. I cut off a leg, he grows two more. I can't kill him this way. I'll run out of stamina and he will stay the same.'
I looked at the floor. In the center of the room, amidst the debris, was the circle I had drawn with Invisible Ink (revealed only by my mana).
The Seal.
'I need to get him in the circle. Ofc He won't walk into it. I have to bait him.'
I stumbled back, feigning exhaustion.
I let my Aether energy cloak flicker and die.
I dropped my sword arm, letting the tip of the blade hit the floor.
"I... I can't..." I wheezed, leaning against a pillar.
Pennywise's eyes lit up like lanterns.
"Tired?" The Clown giggled, unhinging his jaw. "Yes, humans gets tired, Gods don't."
He dropped from the ceiling, landing right in the center of the room—directly inside my circle. He loomed over me, his mouth opening wide to show the Deadlights.
"Time to float, Vivan."
I looked up and I wasn't scared.
In fact I was smiling.
"Gotcha."
I dropped my sword.
It clattered on the floor.
I ripped my shirt open, revealing the seal I had painted on my own stomach. A complex black spiral that throbbed with my heartbeat.
I slammed my hand onto my solar plexus.
"EIGHT TRIGRAMS SEAL!"
[ Ability Active: Fuinjutsu ][ Energy Source: Aether ]
FLASH.
The circle on the floor lit up gold. The markings on my stomach burned like fire.
Golden chains—made of pure, condensed energy—shot out of my torso.
They didn't just wrap around Pennywise.
They pierced him and locked onto his essence, not his physical shell.
"WHAT?!" Pennywise shrieked.
The Deadlights in his throat flickered. "What is this?! It burns!"
"It's your leash," I roared over the sound of rushing wind.
I pulled.
I pulled him into me.
The massive spider-clown body began to distort and stretched, spiraling like smoke going down a drain. It was being sucked into the seal on my stomach.
"NO! NO! I AM THE EATER! I DO NOT GET EATEN!"
Pennywise drove his claws into the floor, tearing up the concrete foundation. He thrashed, trying to anchor himself to reality.
"You're not eating," I gritted my teeth, feeling my veins turn into liquid fire.
It felt like I was swallowing a star.
"You're paying rent!"
I yanked harder.
My Spirit (120) against his cosmic weight.
With a final, ear-shattering scream, Pennywise lost his grip.
WHOOSH.
The massive entity compressed into a ball of orange light and slammed into my chest.
[ Location: Vivan's Mindscape ]
I was standing in my bedroom. But it wasn't my bedroom.
The walls were steel. The window looked out onto a void of dark, deep water.
And in the center of the room, where my closet should be, stood a massive iron gate. On the lock, a paper tag fluttered. [ SEAL ].
Behind the bars, two giant orange eyes opened.
"You..." the voice boomed, shaking the room. "You trapped me in a cage."
"It's a nice cage," I said, standing in front of the bars.
My mental avatar was wearing a sharp suit.
I adjusted my tie. "I have cable."
Pennywise slammed against the bars. They rattled but held. The runes glowed blue.
"I will drive you mad," he hissed, his claws scraping the metal. "I will whisper in your ear until you claw your own eyes out and I will make you see your friends die a thousand times."
"Try it," I said calmly.
'I have Occlumency Level 5. You're on mute if I say so.'
I turned my back on him.
"Welcome to the team, Bozo. Try not to make a mess."
[ Location: The Library - Reality ][ Time: 9:15 PM ]
I gasped, falling to my knees.
The silence was sudden and violent.
The books stopped bleeding. The shadows stopped moving. The library was just... a library.
A destroyed library, but a library nonetheless.
My stomach burned. I looked down. The seal was etched into my skin, black and intricate. It faded slowly, sinking under the flesh until it was invisible.
I felt... heavy.
There was a hum in my blood that hadn't been there before.
A low, chaotic frequency.
Fear.
I stood up and walked to a window and looked at my reflection in the glass.
My face was pale.
But my eyes...
They weren't brown.
For a second, they flashed Bright Orange.
Vertical pupils.
Then, they snapped back to normal.
[ System Alert: New Form Unlocked. ]
[ Title: Jinchuriki of the Macroverse. ]
[ Passive: Fear Eater is now permanently active. Mana regenerates 200% faster in hostile environments. ]
[ Active Skill: Deadlight Projection (Locked - Requires Synergy). ]
I laughed.
A shaky, tired laugh.
"I did it," I whispered, picking up my sword. "I actually did it."
RUMBLE.
The ground shook.
It wasn't an earthquake.
I looked out the window toward the Steelworks.
A howl echoed through the night and sounded like a thousand rats screaming in unison.
The Mind Flayer.
It felt that its rival was gone.
The territory was open.
"Yeah, I hear you," I said, watching the distant trees shake as the hive mind mobilized. "You're next."
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