[You have received – Alucard (Castlevania – Animated Series)]
Mari blinked at the screen.
"...Oh. That's either really good or just decent. I dunno," she muttered, tilting her head. "I mean, the TV show version's kind of weak compared to the game version, but… eh. Not bad. I'll take it."
Curious, she tapped the glowing [Click to View Description] button.
A wall of text immediately filled her vision—Alucard's tragic backstory, his vampiric lineage, his emotional wounds, about his long life and thankfully his power set.
Mari squinted. "Yeah, yeah, daddy issues… betrayal... sadness… Ooh, teleportation and Shapeshifting ? Yes please."
Grim floated closer, peering at the screen like a nosy old man reading someone else's mail.
"Hmm. That's new." His pages flipped rapidly, as if searching through his own knowledge banks.
Mari gave him a suspicious look. "What are you doing, Grim?"
The book fluttered nervously, its pages twitching in clear confusion.
"Nothing! Just… updating myself. I just saw a steel bird fly through the sky. Could it be a new magical creature I was unaware of?"
Mari blinked, then followed Grim's gaze upward.
"…That's not a bird, Grim. That's a plane."
The grimoire paused, as if offended by her correction. "A what?" it asked, drifting closer until its leathery cover was practically pressed against Mari's cheek. "What in the Seven Realms is a plane?"
Mari sighed, brushing the book away from her face.
"I'll explain it to you. but later now let me focus on this first " she held up a hand.
"Hmm, but you better explain that to me later," Grim said, backing off suspiciously.
"Yeah, yeah," Mari replied halfheartedly, already tapping on the Character Assimilation button under Alucard's profile.
The moment she clicked it, a rush of energy surged through her body. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before—warm and cold at the same time, sharp yet smooth, like her entire body was waking up for the first time.
Her hand instinctively went to her head, where the wound had been. She blinked.
No pain. She checked her palm. No blood. The injury had healed completely.
"Interesting," Mari muttered under her breath, eyes gleaming.
Grim fluttered around her like a paranoid hummingbird.
"What did you do to yourself?" he asked, circling her like a hawk, eyes narrowed in suspicion (well, metaphorical ones).
Mari just stretched her arms, letting the unfamiliar strength settle into her limbs." Oh, nothing much," she said with a small smirk.
"But how? There was no magical energy coming from you before," Grim said, circling Mari, still inspecting her like she'd just turned into a magical science experiment.
Mari gave him a cheeky grin.
"What can I say? I'm just built different."
Without waiting for a reply, she sighed and tapped the Yes button one final time, less hopeful this time around.
[You have received — Hogwarts Full Set: Bringer of Magical Books]
Mari tilted her head. "Hmm… an okay pull, I suppose," she muttered, watching the system fade into the background.
She glanced over at Grim, who was still floating lazily above her head like a very judgmental balloon.
"Hey, Grim," she called up. "Do you have any spell that can, you know, hide yourself?"
Grim's pages rustled in offense. "Hide? Hide? I am a noble, semi-sentient grimoire crafted by the Archmage Grimgirm! I don't 'hide,' I make people hide"
"Yeah yeah," Mari waved him off. "Well, unless you want a bunch of nosy orphans poking at your floating pages, maybe try making yourself scarce?"
Grim paused, then grumbled something under his breath. With a soft shimmer, he flickered out of sight—still floating there, just invisible now.
"You're welcome, peasant," his disembodied voice huffed.
Mari snorted. "Yeah yeah, lets go home its getting dark now "
- --
Arriving at the orphanage, Mari spotted an older woman with tightly pinned red hair standing near the hidden side exit—the one the braver (or stupider) kids used to sneak out without permission.
The woman's arms were crossed, her sharp gaze fixed right on Mari. There was no warmth in it. No concern. Just irritation. Authority.
Mari instinctively lowered her head, her steps slow, hesitant, as if walking into a courtroom where she was both defendant and guilty verdict.
"Mari," the woman said sharply. "Where have you been?"
It wasn't a question. Not really. Her voice didn't ask—it demanded.
Mari swallowed, fingers fidgeting in the hem of her too-large hoodie." Outside," she muttered. "I know I went without your permission, but the other kids— they forced me to—"
"Stop."
The word cut like a knife, cold, and final. Mari fell silent immediately, her heart thudding hard in her chest.
"I know no one forced you to go outside, Mari."
Mari flinched.
"Everyone else is inside the orphanage. Every single child. Except you." She stepped forward, heels clicking against the worn stone path. "And you don't have any friends here to drag you out with them, do you?"
Mari bit the inside of her cheek, refusing to meet her eyes.
The woman narrowed her gaze. "I also know that you hit James on the head and ran off. So..." she folded her arms tighter, her tone growing colder. "Why did you hit him, Mari?"
"I… I didn't hit James," Mari said, her voice tight, struggling to keep the frustration from cracking through.
Miss Rilda exhaled through her nose.
"Mari, I know the other children can be… unkind. But that's no excuse for hitting someone."
"But I didn't!" Mari's voice rose before she caught herself. She took a breath, forced it out slowly. "Look at me. Look at my head. He hit me. He always does."
She reached up and pulled aside her hair, revealing the dried blood—but there was no bruise.
Miss Rilda shook her head. "There's no abuse here, Mari. Just blood."
Mari's voice dropped softly. "I didn't even fight back. I never do."
Miss Rilda stared. There was a flicker of doubt just a flicker but it passed quickly.
"He says you pushed him first. That you called him names."
Mari laughed bitterly.
"Yeah? Well, he's lying. And everyone knows it. He's the reason the last kid in this body died—" she stopped, catching herself, voice trembling.
"I mean—he's always hurting people. Especially me."
There was a long silence.
Miss Rilda didn't answer at first. She looked down at the ground, then pinched the bridge of her bright red nose in frustration.
"Mari, you won't be allowed to go outside anymore — for two weeks"
Mari opened her mouth, then closed it, opening it again as if to say something more. But after a moment, she simply nodded and followed Miss Rilda inside the orphanage. She wanted to speak up, to argue—but she knew it wouldn't do any good.
"Go take a bath, then head straight to bed," Miss Rilda said, already turning away as she started down the hallway.