Crack... Crack...
As if responding to a signal, countless demon eggs along the banks of the Stygian River began to split open.
A chorus of howls and roars filled the air.
The newborn demons, each with wildly different appearances—some insectoid, some humanoid, others beast-like, and some simply shapeless, writhing masses of flesh—let out their first instinctive roars as they emerged into the world. Then, without exception, they began devouring their own eggshells to replenish their nutrients.
Once they had finished their shells, their eyes turned toward the yet-to-hatch eggs around them—and to the weaker-looking peers nearby. Each and every one of them was driven by a primal instinct: grow stronger as quickly as possible, or become food for others. Failure meant death. There was no other outcome.
And so, the slaughter began.
Driven by their innate thirst for blood, they lashed out at their targets with claws, fangs, tentacles, and stones. They might have been hunters—or prey. No one could say who would survive.
The endless riverbank was soon bathed in the blood of young demons. The most basic rule of the Abyss was laid bare in this moment: kill, plunder, devour—let everything become nourishment for one's own growth.
There was no mercy. No compassion. Only those who emerged victorious, bathed in blood, could walk away from the riverbank as true demons—bringing slaughter and destruction to the rest of existence.
---
At first, facing the attacks of the other demons, Orsaga was clumsy. The other newborn demons, fearless and driven by nothing but the instinct to kill, managed to land a few wounds on him.
But as time passed, the demon instinct within him awakened, sharpening his skills at an alarming rate. It was as if he'd undergone countless brutal battles—he could now spot an opponent's weakness at a glance and knew how to deliver a fatal blow with ruthless precision.
Thanks to his superior physical attributes and quickly growing combat proficiency, Orsaga could now twist off heads and tear through bodies with ease. And with his evolution system constantly enhancing his abilities, the gap between him and the others only grew wider.
His body, once 1.4 meters tall, now stood close to two meters. Thick, corded muscles rippled across his frame, and the scales on his body had grown tougher and denser. Among the crowd of small, stunted young demons, he was a towering giant.
After killing hundreds of them, he had long since met the conditions for evolution—he could break through from a juvenile demon to a lesser demon at any moment. However, the overwhelming number of enemies left him no chance to do so.
Evolution came with a forced period of unconsciousness. If that process were interrupted, the result could be permanent damage—crippling and irreversible. He needed a quiet, safe place for the breakthrough… but there was no such place on the riverbank.
Although he had met the requirements to leave the riverbank—and the Abyssal Will had already granted him permission—he wasn't planning to leave just yet.
His inherited memories contained plenty of information about the deeper layers of the Abyss. Without exception, every piece of knowledge pointed to one truth: the outside world was far more dangerous.
That meant he had to harvest every soul he could while he still had the advantage. Finding such a vast number of weak targets out in the wild Abyss would be nearly impossible. He wouldn't leave until the very last moment.
However, his current pace of killing was no longer keeping up with his needs. So, he turned his gaze toward the System Panel.
---
[Host]: Vareth Ogarion Xal'Thaz Orsaga
[Race]: Demon
[Rank]:Juvenile Demon (Ready to evolve)
[Strength]: 15 (5)
[Speed]: 17 (5)
[Constitution]: 16 (5)
[Magic]: 19 (5)
[Soul]: 22 (5)
[Talents]:
• Soul Devour Evolution – Evolves through the consumption of souls.
• Slaughter Evolution – Evolves through combat and killing.
• Combat Instinct – Innate mastery of battle.
[Skills]: None
[Evolution Points]: 2,858
---
The evolution system did not work automatically.
As Orsaga had already configured, half of his evolution points were reserved for strengthening his body and soul, while the other half remained unused. To proceed, he had to manually assign those points to specific enhancements. The system would then list available upgrades based on his request, from which he could choose.
Orsaga voiced his needs to the system:
"The flesh and blood are mostly going to waste. I need a way to extract the essence. And while I have magic, I can only use it for basic body reinforcement. I need more offensive options."
[Blood & Flesh Extraction Options]:
1. Blood Manipulation – Use magic to extract the essence of flesh and blood (1,500 points).
2. Organ Modification – Modify specific organs to extract flesh and blood essence (300 points per organ).
[Attack Enhancements]:
1. Destructive Magic Enhancement – Increases the destructive power of magic (1,200 points).
2. Bloodline Element Awakening – Randomly unlocks elemental control (fire, lightning, wind, etc.) from the host's demon bloodline (1,000 points).
3. Bloodthirst Slaughter Mode – Consumes magic to enter a slaughter state, greatly enhancing physical stats (1,000 points).
After reviewing the options, Orsaga selected:
Organ Modification (hands and tail)
Destructive Magic Enhancement
Bloodline Element Awakening
As his choices were confirmed, his evolution points rapidly drained. The tips of his fingers and tail began to mutate—scales proliferated, turning into hardened black shells with syringe-like micro-ports. By piercing these into enemies, he could extract essence regardless of whether the target was alive or dead. The only difference was resistance: the living might struggle; the dead would not.
His magic surged within him, bubbling like molten acid. Once a gentle warmth, it was now an aggressive, corrosive force. Simply releasing it around his body caused nearby demons to rot without even being touched directly.
But the most astonishing change came from the Bloodline Element Awakening.
The previous enhancements, though physically uncomfortable and mildly disruptive to combat, hadn't posed any serious issues. Despite the temporary side effects, Orsaga could still crush the other juvenile demons like a one-handed adult swatting children.
But when his bloodline awakened, it felt like every vein in his body was going to rupture. The pain blindsided him, freezing his movements. It was the most excruciating sensation he had ever experienced—so much so that he nearly collapsed on the spot.
Sensing his vulnerability, the surrounding juvenile demons wasted no time. Though they didn't know what was happening, their instincts told them to seize the opportunity. They swarmed him, hoping to tear him apart and devour him on the spot.
In their eyes, Orsaga was worth dozens of their kind.
Enraged, Orsaga cursed the system's lack of warnings. He had assumed the process would be smooth like the earlier body enhancements. Desperate, he spread his newly strengthened magic outward, forming a protective field to buy himself time.
Seconds passed—agonizing, endless seconds.
Just as a demon breached his magical defense and touched his scales, the turbulence inside his body calmed. And then came the surge—a volatile, seething force, burning with the fury of his rage.
Blood-red flames erupted from his body, using magic as fuel. They engulfed everything within ten meters.
The flames were alive, worming into enemies through pores, mouths, and eyes—burning them from the inside out.
Against this inferno, the juvenile demons' durable scales and absurd vitality meant nothing. In mere seconds, they were reduced to corpses.
Gazing at the charred remains around him, Orsaga made a silent vow: from now on, he would only evolve in a safe place. The evolution system was a rigid tool—it answered only what was asked and offered no warnings or explanations.
Still, it was a lesson well-learned.
Everything had gone too smoothly since his birth, and he had started to grow arrogant. But here in the Bottomless Abyss, surrounded by demons, arrogance was a death sentence.
The bloodflames still burned, fueled by his magic. Orsaga withdrew the magic, extinguishing the flames and leaving behind nothing but ash and scorched earth.
"Too wasteful... I burned all the usable flesh. Until I can control the intensity, this will only be used in life-threatening fights."
Looking up at the star looming in the sky, he noted its position. When it fully descended, the Stygian river would rise, flooding everything on the shore.
It was already halfway down.
"Still have some time…"
Orsaga resumed the slaughter.
After three rounds of enhancements, his efficiency soared. And now, with his blood-extraction abilities, each kill granted more evolution points, leaving behind nothing but desiccated husks.
Time passed.
As the star neared the horizon, the slaughter on the riverbank came to an end. The only survivors were those strong enough to hold back and harvest souls deliberately. The weak had all been eliminated—converted into nourishment for the victors.
Orsaga gave the battlefield one last look, then silently invoked the victor's right—and vanished from the riverbank.