Johnny stared at the young girl in disbelief as Frank said, "This is my little sister."
When Frank said she was disabled, he didn't think it was this bad. He honestly didn't know how she was still alive. She literally didn't have anything below her knees or elbows. Where her eyes should be were empty sockets. Johnny would have thought he was looking at some kind of fake body if he hadn't seen how Frank treated her and the fact that she was breathing.
"Do you think you can heal her?" FRank asked.
Looking at FRank's hopeful expression, Johnny redid his assessment of FRank. He was just as messed up as everyone else. Johnny could see why the rest of the family would want to ditch her. It was impossible for her to live without any help, given her body's condition. He was sure they did try to find people with healing powers to help her but eventually gave up when nothing worked.
It would be kinder just to let her die instead of living such a hellish existence.
"What?" Johnny blurted out.While FRank had warned him ahead of time before dropping that secret, Johnny still didn't expect to hear she had been a mermaid. When Frank said inhuman, Johnny really thought he meant something like an extra limb or fused body parts. Those were cases he had heard about in the media. Fins and a tail were way off the mark."I know it's hard to imagine, but it's true," Frank said.There was no reason for Frank to lie to him, so everything he just said had to be true. However, it was still hard for Johnny to swallow. He was now getting any idea why she was missing her limbs. It wasn't a pretty image and was definitely a good reason to stay away from them since nothing good would come from staying by their side."You've probably put the pieces together, but yes. My family removed the fins and tail to make her seem normal. There are plenty of people without limbs. She would still draw attention, but it wouldn't be as bad as if she kept them," Frank said.It soun
When Johnny opened his eyes, he was momentarily confused by his surroundings. IT certainly didn't look like his apartment. IT was way too nice for him to be able to afford and wasn't his style. Then his memories from the day before came rushing in as he abruptly sat up. That's right. He had faked his death and had gone to Frank, who hid him at his place until Johnny figured out his next move.Johnny got to his feet and grimaced down at his clothes. Even though it was brand new and a gift from Frank, he had worn it for far too long. He checked the drawers to see if Frank had left him more clothes to change into. A pile of brand new clothes with the tags still on greeted him. Picking up one of them, he glanced at the price tag and instantly regretted it. He would never be able to pay it back.Forcing himself to forget he saw the price and act as if he hadn't seen anything, he cut the tags. As he was about to change, he paused and took a moment to smell himself. His nose wrinkled in disg
Johnny found himself shutting his mouth and staring into Katherine's calm expression. That was pretty depressing to hear, but it was probably better that she was being realistic about it. Optimism could only get someone to go so far. He would have thought she was too naive or sheltered if she kept holding on despite everything that had happened to her.Placing a hand on her head, he tried to feel his healing power work on her. Unfortunately, just like before, he couldn't tell if it was having any effect on her. It would be nice if his system showed up to explain what was going on. He couldn't help but feel awkward touching her head without any clue if his power was doing anything.After several moments, he awkwardly asked, "How do you feel?""I'm not sure," she said.That wasn't helpful in the slightest, and he asked, "Do you not feel anything at all?""I do, but it's hard to explain," she said as she frowned.Well, he supposed it was better than it not working at all. Unfortunately,
"You two are getting along," Frank said as he stepped into the room.Johnny and Katherine looked away from the TV to stare at him as the former said, "Hey, sorry for bothering your TV."Frank waved off Johnny's concern. "I don't mind. I did leave without saying a word to you.""Brother, welcome home," Katherine said as Frank went to hug her.Watching the siblings interact, Johnny wondered if he could have had something like that. He quickly shook those thoughts out of his head, as there was no point in thinking about what ifs. It wouldn't change a single thing, and it would only make him miserable. Well, he was more miserable than he was now. Frank and Katherine broke apart, and the former turned to Johnny."I assume that you already watched the news," Frank said.Nodding his head, Johnny said, "Yeah. It was hard to miss."Frank winced. "I really didn't want either of you to find out about that.""It's not your fault. Neither of us expected it to be on the news," Johnny said.Frank ga
Suddenly, Johnny slipped on a puddle. As he waved his arms around, trying to keep his balance, his mind whirled with questions. Where had the puddle come from? He was pretty sure it hadn't been there the first time. If it had, how did he miss it the first time? It was a pretty big puddle. When he finally regained his balance, he froze as he felt someone behind him."Who are you and what are you doing here?" Dorothy demanded.Well, that explained the puddle. She must have created the puddle after she passed by. Johnny wasn't sure how he didn't pick up on her plan when she passed by. There hadn't been a hint that she had planned to smoke him out in her mind. Had she really been able to keep it out of her head, or had he let his guard down and failed to catch it?"Answer me," Dorothy said as she poked his back with a gun.That was a bit unexpected. Johnny hadn't thought she would be carrying a gun. He couldn't recall her carrying one in the test, but the point was moot. If he didn't say
Johnny and Frank stared at her gobsmacked. Did she really just say what they thought she said? No, there was no way Johnny could believe it. It was such an outlandish idea that he had to be hallucinating. Why would she suggest making him the head of an enemy family? It made absolutely no sense. They didn't even know each other. This version of Dorothy only knew him as a stranger.It would have been a different story if this was the Dorothy from the test. Then she would have a good reason to put him in the seat. They knew each other and had even been engaged to each other. If he became the head of the family, then she would have a large influence over the family too as his wife. However, none of them mattered in the real world.Frank was the first to recover as he asked, "Dorothy, what do you think?""I'm thinking that this is the perfect time to overthrow the family, and what better way than to place someone like him in the seat?" she said."I doubt it'll be that easy. Even if we some
Several days passed since the incident, and Johnny had done his best not to think about it. Of course this was easier said than done when everything kept reminding him about it. He literally couldn't escape it since he was trapped indoors until he felt certain he could go out without being recognized right on the spot. Johnny sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose."What's wrong?" Katherine asked."I just have a lot of thoughts on my mind," Johnny said as he removed his hand."Do you want to talk about it?" she asked."No, I rather not," he said.There was no way he was going to tell her about Dorothy's suggestion or what was going on with the top families. He couldn't bring someone who was estranged from her own family and was crippled into the picture. Johnny didn't mean it offensively, but it was the simple truth. She had no way to help him. It would only bother her and possibly stress her out like it did to him.Of course, that was only if Frank was willing to let Johnny talk
Johnny's head moved so fast that he thought he might break his neck. Of course she didn't even notice, but he didn't care about that. His mind was completely occupied with what Katherine just said. Did she really say she wanted to talk to Dorothy about the Burns family? Why? She had no connection to the family and had no reason to care about what happened to them.It wasn't like the family was the reason for her condition, and she was seeking revenge against them. If anything, she should be seeking revenge against her family in that case. The Burns family also didn't help her either. Frank would have mentioned it before if that was the case. Johnny didn't think the man would hide such information from him.Unable to come up with an answer, he finally asked, "Why?"Katherine tilted her head to one side as she asked, "Isn't it obvious?"No, he didn't think it was obvious. If it was, he wouldn't have asked her in the first place and had gotten straight to the point. There had to be somet
Hello everyone. I forgot to add a note in the previous chapter. Anyway, I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along. I really appreciate it. Now for the news you have been waiting for.Johnny's story has ended and turned out shorter than Billy's story like I expected. With its end, I currently have no ongoing stories on this site.I've decided I'll take a break from the site. How long the break will last I'm not quite sure. Hopefully, the break won't be long, and I have a new story up within the year, but we will have to see.Just like with Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race and Rise of the Desperate: Billy Wood's Save and Restart System, I might do a rewrite or remake of it.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.As I stated before, if you want to stay in contact with me, you'll probably have to use F*
"By the way, I don't mean to rush things, but the time limit for the hour is until I return," she said.That certainly caught Johnny's attention as he demanded, "How long is that?""A couple more minutes," she said.A couple minutes wasn't a lot of time to come to a life changing decision. He still needed more time to think. Did he really want to take a chance and accept the offer, which meant leaving everything he knew, or should he stay and weather whatever the system had in store for the world? Weighing the pros and cons of each decision, he could feel sweat forming on his head."I need to go. Have you come to a decision?" she asked.After a brief moment, he said, "Yes.""Well, what's your decision?" she asked."I'll take the offer," he said.She smiled as she said, "Good choice."Suddenly, Katherine slumped over alarming Johnny, who rushed to check up on her. She appeared to be still breathing, and there didn't seem
"Okay, I'm listening," Johnny said."I'm glad to see you can be reasoned with. I've heard of others who aren't so fortunate," the intruder said."Others?" he said."We'll get to that later," she said as she attempted to make a waving motion.Unfortunately, Katherine's missing limbs made that a moot point. It honestly made Johnny uncomfortable seeing Katherine's body attempt to do something an ordinary person could do. He wasn't the only one put off by the situation. The intruder grimaced as she settled back into the wheelchair."Anyway, I'm here to give you a proposal from the system," the intruder said."What?" Johnny snapped."You heard me right. The system would like to offer you a deal, and it's up to you if you want to accept this," the intruder said.Johnny's mind whirled over what she said, scarcely believing what she just said. The system wanted to offer him a deal? This was completely unplanned. He had never heard of t
Johnny blinked. "Wait. EVeryone?"He couldn't believe what Frank was saying. Was he crazy? Did he really want to let the whole world know about the monsters being able to receive messages from the system? It would be complete chaos. Johnny was exactly advocating to tell no one. Far from it, but he couldn't see how it would help anyone to inform the public about this information."Well, not everyone," Frank said. "I'm referring to the authorities as this is a matter of security.""Will they take it seriously?" Johnny asked."It's hard to say. It's possible everyone will think it's a joke, but it's also possible that some will take the warning seriously," Frank said."I see," Johnny simply said."If that's all, I'm going to take my leave and let you get some rest," Frank said as he stood up.Johnny nodded. "Got it."Right as Frank was about to go out the door, he said, "Actually, there are some people who want to talk to you if y
Johnny's eyes snapped open as he sat up abruptly. His mind was moving at several miles per hour as he scanned his surroundings. He had to stop her before she got away. However, the monster was nowhere in sight. He wasn't sure how long he had been out cold, but he supposed it was a bit much to expect the monster to linger just because he told her to stop.More importantly, he was no longer in that place considering the lack of lava. Taking a good look at his surroundings, he deduced that he was back in his own world, which set him on edge. How did he get back? As he wondered who or what had brought him back, the door to the room swung open. He stared at the sight of Frank leading the backs of doctors and unknown men."Johnny, you're awake," Frank said as he rushed over to check on him.A tad bit uncomfortable with how Frank was acting, Johnny asked, "Frank, what happened?"Frank grimaced. "It's a bit of a long story. First, we should make sure you're okay."As soon as he said that, Fra
As Johnny stared at his mother, wondering why he felt uneasy about the whole thing, it finally clicked. "You're not my mother.""What are you talking about? Of course I'm your mother," she said.Johnny shook his head as he took on a relaxed stance. "No, you're not. I don't know why you're pretending to be here, but you should just give up now. It's not going to help you in the long run."The woman also dropped her stance and shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Well, this is unexpected. How did you know?"Rather than admit that it was just his gut instinct, he said, "I have no reason to tell you.""I suppose I should have figured you would say that," she said calmly.She was far too calm for his liking. He knew nothing about it here other than she was a fake, which didn't mean much in the end. It wasn't like he would have gone easier even if she was his mom. However, it did explain why she killed his father without batting an eye, but it begged the question of where his real mother wa
Johnny ignored his father, as he was just relieved that his healing power and fire power helped him survive his father's attack. His fire power apparently gave him some resistance to fire, and his healing power healed whatever managed to get past his fire resistance. He took advantage of his father's shock to lunge at the man and return the favor.He landed several punches before his father recovered from his shock and shielded against the punches. Johnny didn't let up and continued to barrage his father with punches, hoping to get past his defenses and continue his original onslaught. After some time, his father apparently had enough and roared as he unleased a wave of flames. With a grunt, Johnny was forced back, though he was unharmed.His father glared venomously at him as he snarled, "That's enough. I'm going to end this."With a bravo that he didn't completely feel, Johnny said, "Just try it. You're just going to fail again."As his father was about
While Johnny didn't like the idea, he didn't have much of a choice. Sticking around wasn't going to do anything except waste time and put himself in possible danger. With no one else with him, he had no one he could rely on if he was suddenly attacked by a bunch of monsters, which was a serious risk. He didn't want to take that risk."Where do we meet up?" Johnny asked."We'll try to continue with the plan and head for the head of the family's office," Frank said.Just as Johnny was about to protest that idea, he heard a loud animalistic roar. He frantically checked his surroundings and didn't see anything. Before he could feel relieved, he heard screams and shouts on the other side. He placed his hands on the rubble, hoping to at least find a small opening to get a better look at what was happening."Frank? What's going on? Are you okay?" Johnny asked frantically.There was no response except more shouting and fighting. He was completely in the da
Even though Johnny had said he wasn't going to let the matter go, wasn't it a bit much to storm the Burns family's home just days after his decision? He thought it would take a couple weeks to prepare. They couldn't take down such a powerful family in just a few days. What was everyone thinking? He wondered if they all had lost their minds."Johnny, is something the matter?" Frank asked as the car headed for their intended destination. "You don't look good.""I just can't believe we're moving in now," Johnny said."You have nothing to worry about. Everything has already been sorted out," FRank said."Are you really sure we're good to go?" Johnny asked."You have nothing to worry about. The plan was already in motion before you decided to throw your hat in the ring. It's been modified to include your involvement," Frank said.Frank might have said it to reassure Johnny, but it didn't in the slightest. Johnny had been at the meeting discussing