[You have encountered an Abyssal Demon.]
"Hey... You’re seeing this too... Right?" Ace said softly as he kept his gaze locked on the beast.
"An Abyssal Demon? Here?" Leon’s eyes wavered like never before, every cell in his body screamed only one thing.
Run.
An Abyssal Demon was a beast from the first trial, and it was only supposed to hunt in the Devil’s Playground, so for it to be this far out meant one thing.
"You..." Leon stepped away from Ace, staggering like he had seen a ghost. "You brought it here... That thing never should have left the Devil’s Playground, but because of you it did... It followed you here."
"What are you talking about?" Ace blinked, then dragged himself back, his hands and legs trembled uncontrollably.
"I have to get out of here... Alex was right about you. You are a dead weight!" Without thinking twice, Leon turned and ran away as far as his legs could take him.
"Hey! Leon!" Ace stood to his feet immediately. "Wait! Leo-"
"I prefer my meals resisting and attempting to fight for their miserable lives, but he ran after sensing the incomprehensible difference in power. Was really the best a human can do? Pitiful."
Almost at once, a crushing pressure swept over him like a tsunami, and from behind came a deep, distorted voice that made the air tremble.
"W-what..." Ace glanced over his shoulders, and there it was, hovering right above like a huge tree.
"It... Can talk?" He couldn’t believe his ears.
"How unfortunate."
Run... Run!
That’s all his nerves screamed as the creature’s crimson eyes flared to life.
"Gh-Bleh!" Before Ace could grasp what had happened, a sharp pain tore through his stomach, as if his ribs had snapped. A mouthful of blood burst from his lips, forced out by the blow.
Then the creature flung him from his hand, backwards into the air like a ragdoll.
To prevent wasting time, it targeted the weakest amongst the two after gauging their Soul-Energy, and Ace had none.
It was intelligent, too smart to be considered a regular beast of the first trial. That was why the Devil’s Playground was the most terrifying sector of the first sanctuary.
The Abyssal Demon glanced over his shoulder at the direction Leon ran in. It was a bit faint, but from afar, he could sense the Soul-Energy of two more Awakeners.
It’s mouth salivated instantly at the thoughts of the savoury meal it was about to have, but when it turned to have its first, Ace wasn’t there anymore.
"Hm?" All that remained was the trail of blood that he left as he dragged his body through the murky grounds.
A smile curled up the side of the abyssal demon’s face.
The Abyssal Demon enjoyed the slow chase, the thrill of hunting, of knowing his prey was running, afraid. Each step, each movement, made it feel in control. To him, Ace was nothing more than something to be caught, something beneath him.
There was a certain satisfaction in it, in proving it’s dominance so clearly.
It made the moment last longer. It made the victory sweeter.
And when it was finally over, he knew the meal would feel far more worth it.
It didn’t take a while before it caught up to Ace’s bleeding body. It scratched the surface of the trees with it’s long, demon like claws as it approached him, creating several sparks that flew off the surface of the tree
As soon as Ace managed to stand to his feet, it drove it’s leg into his stomach. Then the beast followed with more aggressive punches and kicks to his stomach and face.
The force of the strikes knocked him off his feet and sent him flying into a tree.
"It’s over, human." The Abyssal Demon loomed over him, its shadow swallowing what little light reached the forest floor.
Its eyes burned with a cold, hollow hunger, fixed entirely him as it couldn’t endure the scent of his blood any longer.
Ace could barely move.
His body trembled, his breath became shallow, and blood still dripped from his shoulder. The demon stepped closer, slow and certain, as if savoring the final moment before the end.
’Why?’ He whispered in his mind, tears slowly escaping the corner of his eyes as he lay battered and bruised on the ground.
A low, guttural sound escaped its throat, something between a growl and a laugh as it lunged forward for the deciding bite.
Then.
Out of nowhere, a second beast burst from the darkness, slamming into the Abyssal Demon with a violent force. The impact shook the ground, tearing the demon away from Ace just before it could devour him.
"W—What?"
The Abyssal Demon let out a sharp, furious roar as it was thrown aside, its claws digging into the earth to regain it’s balance. It snapped its head toward the beast, eyes flaring with rage.
It was an Abyssal Wolf.
It was just as monstrous, if not more. Its body was a bit larger than normal wolves, with four furry legs, red eyes with a sharp and long claws at the end of each leg, a tail, and it held the half the same presence the demon did.
The scent of Ace’s fresh blood had attracted it.
For a brief moment, everything stilled.
Two horrors of the abyss faced each other, for now, their attention no longer on the broken human behind them, but on each other.
It was a battle of who would claim the prey!
Battles like this happened every once in a while, while other beast went through the trouble of hunting down their prey, some beasts fights them for the right to eat their hard work.
It was this chain reaction that made the sanctuary so dangerous, because they didn’t have to worry about just one beasts, but many others.
The two denizens of the devil’s playground clashed with a violent crash, tearing into each other with claws and teeth. Their roars echoed as they fought, smashing through trees in a frenzy.
The wolf struck hard, raking wounds into the Abyssal Demon’s chest. Dark blood spilled, and the demon staggered, its growl turning sharp with pain.
But it didn’t fall.
With a sudden surge, the Abyssal Demon seized the wolf, overpowering it in a brutal struggle. Then there was a snap, a sharp, sickening snap followed by complete silence.
When it was over, the demon stood tall, and in its hands, it held the wolf’s head, torn clean from its body as blood dripped slowly to the ground.
"Now then." The demon dropped its head, then focused it’s attention to it’s prey.
But when it turned around, Ace had long left, seizing the window of opportunity the Abyssal wolf had created by battling the demon for the rights to his head.
The demon violently threw the wolf’s head away, then gave chase to Ace with a furious roar, using the scent of his blood to track him down
"HELP! PLEASE!! SOMEBODY!!!" With a raw, desperate shout, Ace screamed for help as he limped pitifully while attempting to escape the demon’s chase.
He knew screaming was a terrible idea, but the demon’s roar proved that it had already tracked him down, so he took the risk, he took the big risk in hoping that there was someone... Anyone, who’d hear his pleas.
Then suddenly, a cold chill ran down his spine before he felt a sharp, unbearable sting at his back as the demon’s spiked tail swung into him and flung him into a tree with a bone crushing force.
"N—No..." Ace sobbed softly as he tried to drag himself backwards, but every bone in his back was broken, and he was paralyzed.
The demon wasted no time. It lunged at Ace, sinking its fangs into his leg, crushing it and swallowing it whole.
"NO! NO! HELP ME!!!" Ace screamed in despair as the demon lifted him effortlessly with its fangs.
Desperately, he grabbed the root of the nearby tree, trying to pull himself free, but his strength was pitifully weak against the demon’s immense power.
The stub of the root Ace clung to, hardened by years of dirt and time, snapped under his grip. And the demon hoisted him into the air effortlessly.
Ace’s eyes darted back toward the path that they ran out from, desperately praying the Awakeners that found them heard him and would come to his aid. But when he saw the empty and silent path, his cries twisted into bitter anguish as the truth sank in.
"Why..." Ace sobbed as the Abyssal demon munched down on him. "How did it come to this?"
Thinking back, ever since the Nexus code descended, it had been this way, bad luck stacked with bad luck.
He lost his father to the New Nexus, then lost his brother too. Just when he had finally left the past behind and tried to lead an actual normal life, he was thrown into this world in.
And to make it worse, fate spat back in his face for his defiance by transporting him to a completely different, and more dangerous world.
It was clear to him, the universe didn’t accept his happiness.
It all linked to one thing, the Awakeners.
Those chosen ones that abandoned him to the creatures of the abyss, and now he knocked at death’s doorstep.
"Screw you..." He mumbled, not out of the pain of being devoured alive. But of the boiling rage and resentment that he couldn’t contain anymore.
"SCREW YOU!!"
"SCREW YOU! YOU DAMN BASTARDS!!!!"
Just as his vision blurred, several system windows flashed all at once right in front of his eyes.
[Ding! The Nexus Glitch has been resolved.]
[Ding! System functions has been recalibrated!]
[Soul System Synchronizing...]
[Ding! Congrats host!! You have bypassed the Developer’s programming! You have obtained the Nexus Code: God-Tier Adaptation!]
[Ding! The host’s HP has deteriorated below the minimum threshold.]
[The God-Tier Adaptation effect has been initialized!]
[Analyzing deterioration....]
[Analysis complete!]
[Adaptive counter measures have been created!]
[You have received a Soul-Shard!]
[God-Tier Adaptation has taken effect!]
[Assimilating...]
"Huh?"
Darkness.
That’s all Ace saw.
No sound.
No color.
Just his body body floating in a cold, endless and absolute void that stretched to infinity.
"W-where... Am I?" He mumbled to himself.
The silence pressed in.
He looked down at himself, then stared into the darkness.
The agonizing pain of being eaten alive was gone.
Even the devil’s playground was gone.
Then he arrived at the only conclusion.
"I’m dead... Aren’t I?"
The realization hit him, but weirdly, he felt a rush of ease.
Then his eyes went wide as a sudden presence pressed against his senses. He spun around, and he froze the second he saw it.
A massive pair of blue, glowing eyes glared back at him, ominous and unblinking.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his words failed him.
"Ace Voltia." A deep, resonant voice echoed through the abyss, cutting straight into Ace’s very soul.
"H—How do you know my name? Who are you?" He finally found the courage to speak.
"You have great hatred and anger in your heart that rivals even mine. I have found favour in you, and I have deemed you worthy to carry on my will."
"Deem me worthy? What are you talking about?"
"Your anger shall be your ally, and my wrath your weapon. Do you accept this fate?"
The voice in the abyss’s question was straight to the point, and it was a bit perplexing.
But here and now, that was all he felt, anger and hate. All the suffering the universe had heaped upon him had accumulated into a single, burning resolve, and at now, he had a chance to set it right.
In a million years, he never imagined something as fantastical as this would happen to him. Yet now, it was before him, a chance, a single opportunity to change his fate.
With a cold voice, he stared right back at the eyes in the abyss. "Yes."
Silence.
Even after he spoke, nothing changed. The eyes continued to stare unblinkingly, their intensity throwing him completely off guard.
"Is that it?" He asked, confused.
"To complete the assimilation, you need to know my name."
"And what is your name?"
For a moment, everything around him froze, as if time itself had paused to unveil the name of the entity that dwelled within the darkness.
Then in a word, the entity finally revealed itself.
"Chronos."