Stealing My Way To Power

Cole watched dispassionately as Coil was forced to go through his final struggle. His body moved mechanically as his hand was forced upon the deck to draw more cards. He could see the sheer terror and fear that was dwelling in those pupils so Coil obviously knew what was coming for him and he dreaded it from the bottom of his heart.

He had offered to have Tattletale shoot Coil's kneecaps both as an offering to satisfy her vengeance and to gauge how bad Coil's fate was. If he flinched or drew pain from the gunshots then it was obviously not something too drastic but Coil did not move an inch. The dread in those eyes was clear to see as his body mechanically drew the cards. He was not worried about the pain that came from his broken kneecaps when something far worse was going to happen.

Once Lisa had her fun he held her back and backed away so they would not get involved with what was to come. He knew of several cards that would lead to some rather complicated consequences for them if they did wind up working here.

Lisa seemed oddly fine with him holding her back as she did not offer much of a fuss even as she looked over at Coil with some glee. There was something off with her but he could not really hit the mark on that. Maybe it had something to do with her finally getting the vengeance she craved.

As Coil drew card after card he felt excitement as certain cards were drawn. The negative ones did not really matter to him but the positive ones were rather good. For example, The Sun that vial that lay in Coil's hand could turn anyone who drank it into a level 9 adventure of whatever class they choose. Frankly, that sort of powerup was already impressive enough in this world and he could either drink it himself or create a brand new Cape to help him along.

If he drank both of them he could even reach level 12 all by himself. When those that reach level 20 can fight against the gods themselves a level 12 adventure was just as impressive.

He was tempted to snatch those vials out of his hands as soon as they appeared but he knew better than to get close to the guy right now. As more and more things appeared Lisa looked on in a daze as if she could do nothing but try to comprehend the incomprehensible.

As Coil finally drew the card that spelled his doom Cole let out a deep breath. Out of all the negative cards the Void was not so dangerous to those around the user. He watched as Coil's soul was dragged out of the guy and stuffed into one of the gems lying at his feet. He was a bit shocked that the item holding his soul was so close but he did not really need to know too much about it.

He looked over at Coil's body which was still breathing and living despite not having a soul but living was not really the correct word to describe his current state. Lisa was still in a daze but she seemed to get out of it even if she was staring at the gem that contained Coil's soul with an odd almost fascinated look.

Seeing that he frowned and placed his hand on her shoulders to knock her out of it. She looked over at him with that daze still on her face not really reacting as he expected from the sudden touch.

"Are you okay?" He asked with concern as he was moments away from taking action. He was not too close to the girl but she was in this state because of his experiment so he felt a certain amount of guilt over what would happen to her.

Thankfully his question seemed to breathe some life back into her as the daze faded and there seemed to be light back on in her eyes. She looked over at him and smiled mischievously as if his display of care was something she had won.

"I'm fine, all of that was just a lot. My power is both shouting at me and freezing as it tries to understand what it just witnessed." Lisa spoke out with a small smile. Hearing her words instead of being reassured Cole froze and cursed not thinking about her involvement.

Her Shard had just witnessed an artifact from a completely different world and this strange new thing was like candy to a Shard that wanted to find more and more Data points. Hopefully what it witnessed was not enough to truly freak the Shard out. He really did not want to deal with the Shard Network focusing in on what was happening right now.

His only saving grace right now was that The Warrior was too lost in its own pain to really pay attention to the Shard Network so they have been working on autopilot for the most part. The shit part is that there are beings that are paying attention to the Network due to their nature.

The biggest threat is the fucking High Priest Shard as this might get one of the End Bringers thrown at his city to gather more information on this strange Data Point.

There has been an End Bringer attack earlier this week so he should have some time to prepare for that but it really was a good chance that Ziggy is going to come for Brockton Bay.

God, he would say he missed the time when his life was simpler without this power but that would be a fucking lie. His life was basically a shit show after shit show and he eventually cracked and had a Trigger event. Without his power, he was honestly considering trying to trap himself in a Grey Boy bubble to avoid the Golden Morning mess.

Which really was a testament to how bad his mental state was back then. Honestly, he was surprised he was handling things so well but he would not say his current actions were the most mentally sound. Then again when you are facing a fucking Space Whale trying to devour multiple parallel dimensions you can't play it straight.

There has to be a certain amount of reckless hope to face foes like that after all.

"You good boss?" Lisa asked with her own concern as she reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder as a gesture of support. A strange twist of fate when their positions switched so quickly but sometimes things just worked out like that.

He took a deep breath and gave her a wry smile that tried to show his stability. He may not like what might happen but he can't waste time worrying about it over and over again. Not when he could spend his time chasing away that nightmarish future.

"I'm good, just a little worried about what your power freaking out means," Cole stated simply and Lisa froze in turn. She could not tell why he was unnerved by her power glitching out but at the same time having that fact thrown at her also drew her attention to it.

Her Power acting as it currently was, is a rather concerning situation after all. She looked over at him with slightly shaky eyes to ask the questions plaguing her mind but paused.

From his own reaction, she could tell he was worried but she could not know the true details that worried him. As far as she was concerned he should have no insight into her Shard's condition other than the plain worry he showed her. She was wrong but that was what she got for making assumptions.

He had no intention of showing how she was wrong as placing that worry on her shoulders was needlessly cruel and anything she knew her Shard would know.

"We will figure it out, don't worry," Cole spoke out softly and returned the gesture of support she showed earlier as he placed his hand on her shoulders. She looked away with a frown on her face but the slight shake in her body did ease a little.

He disliked that he could not really help ease her mind right now but that was the price they had to pay. Maybe he should have never brought up the situation in the first place but it was too late to retract his worry. The damage had already been done after all.

Hopefully, as her Shard recovers from the Data Surge she will relax but that worry will be building at the back of her mind for a good long while.

"I don't want to go back to a world without my power boss." She said simply with worry clear on her face. She was showing her vulnerability clear as day as this was something she did not want to face desperately.

Lisa knew that the weak got taken advantage of and without her power, she was just another girl in the sea of people. Again he wanted to offer some sort of comfort but anything he said would seem hollow unless he told her the truth.

"Well, you probably know that I am a Trump so if you do lose your power I can promise you a different power in return," Cole spoke out softly trying to calm the girl who he needed to run the shadow cabal here.

It was mostly an empty promise as he knew that she was not going to lose her Power over this but she did not know that. So his words would serve the purpose of binding her tighter to his cause and to ease the worry that was starting to claim her.

Lisa paused again this time not freezing in panic but a little shocked at the offer. She looked over at him trying to measure his sincerity, she had to rely on her own intuition in this case but she seemed to see what she wanted as the tension running through her shoulders bled out.

"Thanks, boss, that means a lot." She let out softly with a small genuine smile danced across her face. His own mood calmed down as she relaxed as he did not want her to be upset about this in the first place.

Now that the sudden trouble that he brought up was taken care of he could get a handle on his loot. The gold and gems were offloaded to Lisa to do with as she pleased as he had no use for them but he did keep some gems that he thought Tammi would like. He also took a look at the gem containing Coil's soul.

As he stared at the gem he could see flashes of his soul and images of giant snakes coiling around his still frame. Clearly he was not having a good time in there and those snakes were likely the guardians that the Void card assigned him. If he wanted to free the guy's soul he had to break into the dimension contained in that gem and defeat the guardians holding onto Coil's soul.

Not that he was going to do anything like that. The guy was pretty worthless to him as he was. His power was interesting but there were better things for him to do than fight literal giant snakes to save a guy who would really not appreciate the effort. So he tossed the gem into his inventory to forget about the thing.

After the gold and gems were accounted for he moved on to the magic items that came with the Sun. One was a cloak that seemed to be made from the hide of a Manta. He could not tell what it did but the effect was likely to happen when someone wore it so he could experiment with it later.

Then there was a decanter. The thing was crystal clear and seemed to be filled with water. He opened it up to test a theory and started to pour the water out. He was not really thinking about where he was pouring it but he ended up pouring water over the soulless body of Coil which had Lisa snickering. Cleary making a mockery of Coil had her in a better mood.

Again he acted like he meant to do that as he closed up the decanter and put it away. The water levels did not lower so it should be an endless Decanter of water but it might just have that effect with any liquid placed in the Decanter. That would require a different experiment but again it was something he could find out later.

Next was the slip of paper from the Viser. Having the answer to any question he wrote on it would be very good but he had to think about it to make the best use of it. The first thing that came to mind was to ask for a list of End Bringer attacks for the next year. That way he could find out exactly how much impact his little display had on the network but there might be better questions to ask.

Finally, there were the XP bottles and he held both of them with a satisfied smile on his face. This was the real treasure in the bunch after all. It was power pure and simple and it would provide him some further gains.

He opened up the first one and drank it with a smile. The liquid going down his throat almost seemed ethereal in nature. It was clearly there but not at the same time. As he finished it he frowned as it was not the situation he was expecting. 

He thought that drinking that potion would allow him to pick a class and level up but that was not the case. He did level up and he did have a class but it was not based on his choices but was simply based on who he was at that moment.

So he became an Arcane Trickster. Which was fitting even if it was not something he wanted in this moment. He would have preferred to go all in on magic after all but you win some you lose some.

The Skills he gained from Kaito had now morphed from something that was the peak of humanity to something truly supernatural. His ability to sneak, lie, persuade, and act was simply something amazing to see. Not to mention the outrageous acrobatics feats he performed became even more outrageous.

He could feel as his body was further fortified by the Archetype that was building into and he was truly supernatural in the fields he excelled in with a DEX and CHA domination.

That meant his magic was lesser but he could work with it.

He received the cantrips Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion, and finally the true gem On/Off. Something he did not see often in D&D but it allowed him to turn electronics off and on as he pleased from a distance. A real game breaker against Tinkers here.

Finally, he had some spell slots that were empty as he had to use the last feature of his class. Spell Theft, meaning he could steal any spell from a person he saw. Sadly that might have to stay empty for now as there was no way to see Spells in this world….unless he could use it to steal powers? That would be amusing.

Knowing what drinking this potion did he saved the second one instead of drinking it. Leveling his Arcane Trickster further was not going to give him the spells he wanted so he might as well upgrade Tammi so she could be protected better.