The Fat God System

"What are you doing here?" a woman's voice said. It gathered Hugh's attention away from the party and into the woman who spoke to him.

The first thing that Hugh noticed was her yellow puffy dress. Under the bright lights of the venue, the woman seemed more than stunning.

It was only after the woman blocked the light behind her that Hugh finally saw her face.

"Serena," said Hugh. She had a confused face as to how Hugh was able to get into the party.

"How did you get in here? Were you…were you stalking me?!" exclaimed Serena as she slowly stepped back away from Hugh as if he had a disease.

Hugh almost burst out laughing at Serena's accusation. It was so out of place that no one would believe it. Why would Hugh waste all of this effort just to see Serena?

Hugh admitted that Serena did look beautiful tonight, but it was not enough for him to be smitten by her. The undesirable personality of hers will always get in the way.

"You flatter yourself. I'm here with someone formally," Hugh explained. He would rather not have Serena toss him out right now since he still had not found Aric or Maverick.

Serena heard Hugh's explanation, but there was still a sliver of doubt in her mind. She still kept her space against Hugh.

"Whatever. Just don't come looking for me later," Serena stated as she lifted her chin and displayed a superior look in Hugh.

Then, Serena quickly turned around and started to walk away from Hugh. However, her steps were quickly stopped as two people were standing in her way.

"Serena, darling!" exclaimed an older woman with a black dress. It was clear that the passage of time had gone to her, but there was still a sliver of beauty in her face.

"Serena," an older guy stated without much exclaim or emotion. However, it was clear from his eyes that he seemed to be familiar with Serena.

"Mom! Dad!" Serena exclaimed as she finally saw her parents for the first time this evening. She quickly ran up to them and gave them a big hug with both of her hands.

Serena's mother reciprocated the hug and she was happy, evidenced by the big smile on her face. Her father, on the other hand, did not show much happiness in seeing his daughter.

"Have you been well?" asked Serena's mother. She took her hand and parted Serena's stray hair as a caring mother would.

"How about your grades?" interrupted Serena's father. He did not even wait for Serena to answer her mother's question to ask her about school.

"Never mind that, dad. It's a party, it's a time to let go," Serena said with a bit of exasperation in her voice. She quickly wants to change the subject so as not to be asked such mundane questions.

"Where's Aric?" Serena's father asked. As soon as Aric's name was mentioned, Hugh's interest was piqued. He turned towards them and listened carefully for what they had to say.

"Why are you looking for him?" asked Serena who was confused as to why they had an interest in her classmate. She was not even sure how they came to know of Aric's existence since she had not told them anything.

"It's for your arranged marriage of course," Serena's father said without much emotion even though he had just dropped a bombshell.

"What?" Serena was dumbfounded by what her father said. She shook her head as she did not think that she heard the right thing.

"Oh, dear. You shouldn't have surprised her like that," Serena's mother said as she slapped her husband on the wrist.

"Mom?" Serena questioned with a bit of confusion and anger in her voice. Serena seemed to have already guessed the answer as she slowly stepped away from her parents.

"This party is for our family, Serena. Both of our families agreed that this will be the most beneficial move for everyone," explained Serena's mother.

Hugh was just as surprised as Serena. He did not think that an arranged marriage was still prevalent in this day and age.

He even felt a little bit of pity for Serena since she would not be able to marry for love. Even rich kids seemed to have problems just like poor people.

Hugh shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave. Since their plan did not give him relevant information, Hugh decided to leave. It was rude to eavesdrop on a family conversation.

Just as Hugh turned to leave, he suddenly felt a hand in his wrist that prevented him from leaving. When he turned around, he realized that Serena has his hand.

Serena and Hugh looked at each other. Hugh's eyes were filled with confusion, but Serena's eyes had hints of helplessness and persuasion.

Then, Serena turned to her parents and said, "I can't marry Aric, I already promised myself to him."

Hugh was wide-eyed at the current situation. He was so caught off guard that he could not deny Serena in time. He could only stand there speechless as Serena tried to convince her parents.

It seemed that it was not just Hugh who was surprised, but also her parents and a couple of people watching them.

There was silence after Serena said those words. It gathered more and more attention until practically everyone was looking towards them.

Serena's father was more angry than surprised. Hugh could practically see smoke coming out of his ears as he watched Serena holding hands with Hugh.

Serena's mother was beyond surprised. She had one hand covering her mouth, and one hand clutching her pearls.

The rest of the party were chitchatting amongst themselves as they tried to figure out what was happening.

There was one thing in common with everyone there. They were all against Hugh marrying Serena, including Hugh himself.

"You must be joking, Serena!" shouted her father. Hugh could feel the pressure around him start to get harder and harder until his knees almost buckled.

"It's true. He already touched me in precious places," explained Serena. Her eyes were filled with determination in her mission to avoid the arranged marriage.

Hugh was once again wide-eyed with Serena's words. One second, she was saying that they were getting married, the next second, she was saying that they had already gotten intimate.

This was the limit. Hugh would not stand to let Serena spit lies anymore. He opened his mouth about to say something, but Serena gave him a sharp look.

"Isn't that right, honey?" Serena said as she crushed Hugh's hands and gave him a signal not to say anything.

Hugh winced for a little bit, but he was still determined in telling the truth. He once again opened his mouth about to say something, but Serena interrupted him again.

"Don't you remember that time when you tackled me and touched my body?" Serena said as she gave Hugh another sharp look.

Hugh furrowed his eyebrows about to say something, but he remembered something.

Back when he was trying to find the invader, he did have a run-in with Serena. Some unfortunate events occurred which led to Hugh tackling Serena and accidentally touching her breast.

Hugh could not deny that this did not happen, so he was once again left speechless. Unfortunately for Hugh, it seemed that Serena's father was also done with words.

Serena's father started to emit black smoke as he walked towards Hugh with a menacing look. It was clear that he wanted to kill Hugh for stealing his daughter.

The black smoke started to swirl and finally form into an elaborate spear complete with intricate designs. Hugh could see some electric sparks from the spear, giving it another layer of threat.

Hugh knew that the spear was deadly. His instincts were telling him that he would have no way to dodge it. Even with all of his skills active, he would not be able to come out unscathed from the spear.

Nevertheless, Hugh watched the spear with all of his attention. He never left his eyes off it, but after a few moments, it suddenly disappeared.

The next thing that Hugh saw was the spear directly in his eyes. It was only at that moment that he fully processed what happened.

Hugh flinched his body as he realized that the spear was only a few centimeters away from hitting his eyes. Thankfully, the spear seemed to have been stopped.

Hugh's heart was beating a thousand times per second as he saw his life flash before his eyes. He was only a few centimeters away from certain death.

"Sorry, no killing of students here," a man with glasses said. He had the spear in between two of his fingers. He was able to stop Hugh from dying with just his middle and pointy finger.

Hugh took a big breath. He looked at the spear, but something in the background took his attention. He looked towards the spectators and found someone familiar.

Aric was looking at him a few meters away as he was mingled in the crowd.