The clock ticked slowly in the silence of the midnight hour, its echo unnaturally loud in the back alley of Hollowbrook. Mist crawled along the cracked pavement, clinging to Elias Black's boots as he stood under the flickering neon sign of an abandoned tattoo parlor. His breath misted in the cold air, but his mind burned with a vengeance-fueled flame.
He had already taken five souls. Five corrupt, guilty men whose sins reeked in the System's ledger like rot. And yet, each kill only made him hungrier. Not just for blood—but for justice. For closure. For the ultimate reckoning.
"Target located. Proceed with collection," the Devil's System whispered inside his head.
A red arrow blinked over the crumbling door before him. Elias kicked it open with practiced ease. The door splintered inward, revealing a dark corridor that reeked of gunpowder and alcohol. At the end stood a man, tall and gaunt, tattoos coiled around his neck like vipers.
Marlo Dent. Human trafficker. Soul rank: Corrupted Crimson.
Elias didn't wait. He lunged forward, shadows ripping away from the walls and clinging to him like armor. Marlo pulled a gun, but the weapon turned to molten slag in his hands.
"What the hell—?" Marlo gasped.
"Your sins have spoken for you," Elias said, his voice cold and inhuman.
With a twist of his hand, black flames erupted from Elias's fingertips, swirling around Marlo's feet and pinning him in place. Marlo screamed, but the sound was devoured by the darkness.
"Please! I have kids!"
"So did the women you sold."
The scream that followed was brief. Elias absorbed the glowing red orb that burst from Marlo's chest—the soul. It spun into his palm, flickering like a dying star before vanishing into his system.
[+1000 Soul Points Acquired. Skill Upgrade Unlocked: Crimson Bind.]
His veins surged with raw power. Shadows obeyed him faster now, more fluid, as if his thoughts and the darkness were becoming one. But something else stirred beneath the surface.
A presence.
It was like being watched through a veil. Not the Devil. Not the System. Something older.
Elias blinked, the world briefly shifting around him—buildings melting into strange shapes, the mist becoming thicker, choking. Then it snapped back to normal.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" the System whispered.
He nodded slowly. "What was it?"
"A tear in the Veil. A consequence of your ascension. You're drawing attention. From both realms."
Elias didn't respond. He simply walked out into the night.
---
Across the city, in the sanctuary of stained glass and silence, Father Gabriel knelt before the altar. Candlelight flickered across his weary face.
He opened the ancient tome—the Codex of Banished Light. Every time he read from it, the truth made him tremble.
"The Mark has returned," he whispered.
A cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows behind him. "So the Blood Monarch rises again."
Father Gabriel looked up. "No. Worse. This one has the Devil's System. He is not merely reborn—he is weaponized."
"Then we must act before he becomes unstoppable."
---
Back in Hollowbrook, Elias returned to his apartment—a cramped loft overlooking the decaying remnants of the city. He locked the door behind him and slid down onto the floor. The power coursing through him left him breathless, like his body couldn't contain the wrath blooming inside.
"You're evolving quickly," the System said.
"What happens when I reach full capacity?"
"Then... the chains break."
"Chains?"
But the System went silent.
A sudden knock on the door jerked Elias out of his thoughts.
"Who is it?"
No answer.
He crept forward, shadows slinking across the floor with him. He opened the door—only to find a single note pinned to the outside with a dagger.
"We know what you are. Your reckoning comes. — The Order of the Pure Flame."
Elias narrowed his eyes. Blood stained the corner of the parchment. Fresh.
He stepped back inside, locking every bolt. The enemy had finally noticed him.
But he wasn't the same boy who died in a hospital bed. He was reborn. Deadlier. And the Devil walked with him now.
He whispered to the darkness, "Let them come."
And the shadows around him began to laugh.
The city of Arkwright slept under the hush of midnight rain. Its rooftops gleamed like wet obsidian beneath the pale moonlight, and the sound of droplets echoed through alleyways like whispers of forgotten sins. Elias stood alone at the corner of an abandoned warehouse, his trench coat soaked, his eyes burning with a faint crimson glow. The Devil's System pulsed inside him, a rhythmic beat like a second heart.
[System Notice: Soul Tithe active. First stage of awakening begins. Initiate transfer.]
Elias clenched his jaw. The hunger was back. It wasn't for food. It wasn't for revenge. It was deeper—a gnawing thirst for something ancient and raw. Souls.
His fingers twitched as he stepped forward, sensing movement in the shadows. A gang of street-level warlocks had gathered near the old docks, whispering about forbidden rituals. They wore tattered cloaks and bore symbols scorched into their skin—marks of a rogue coven.
"He comes," one of them muttered, eyes wide with dread. "The cursed child. The soul reaver."
Elias appeared behind them in a blur. One by one, he raised his hand, and with each soul harvested, his system's interface glowed brighter.
[+3 corrupted souls collected.]
The leader turned, casting a desperate incantation, but Elias crushed the spell mid-air with a wave of his hand. "You play with fire you can't contain," he growled.
"What are you?" the warlock gasped.
"Reborn," Elias whispered, "with purpose."
His blade slid clean through the man's chest, and as the soul released, a new feature lit up on the system interface.
[Unlocked: Shadow Gate. Allows instantaneous travel to locations tied to the collector's memory. Cooldown: 3 hours.]
Blood mist floated in the air, then vanished as Elias stepped through a newly formed gate. On the other side, he emerged in a dark, windowless room filled with ancient scrolls and skulls stacked like trophies. It was one of Sabastin's old safehouses.
He scanned the chamber and pulled out a leather-bound notebook from a hidden wall compartment. Inside were Sabastin's notes about "Project Avernus" — a last-ditch experiment to fuse demonic code into human DNA.
His breath caught. His name was in it. He wasn't just a victim. He was the prototype.
Anger rose, but the system calmed him.
[Emotion instability detected. Commencing soul balancing.]
A warm rush moved through him as if the anger was siphoned off.
"They're going to come for me," Elias murmured, reading the final line. "But they don't know what I've become."
Suddenly, the air cracked—a sonic disturbance. He barely dodged as a blade of red energy flew past, shattering an entire wall. A woman dressed in obsidian armor stood at the entrance. Her eyes glowed gold.
"Hello, Elias," she said, voice calm, lethal. "You've made quite the mess."
He recognized her immediately. A Valkyric Assassin. Sent by the Council.
He gritted his teeth. "They sent you to stop me?"
"To test you. To see if you're worth the soul you've claimed."
Their battle began in a blink. Her speed matched his, and every blow felt like a thunderclap. Elias drew on the Devil's System, launching a barrage of black flame, but she absorbed it with a mirror shield.
He grinned. "You came prepared."
"I came to see if you could survive."
She swung her blade, slicing a wound across his shoulder. Pain flared, but the system responded instantly.
[Auto-heal engaged. Soul energy consumption: 4%.]
Elias pressed forward, activating Shadow Gate mid-fight, blinking behind her and driving a dagger toward her spine. She twisted, catching it, but not fast enough. The blade nicked her armor.
She smirked. "You're learning."
In a sudden burst of energy, she vanished into black feathers.
[New Entry Logged: Valkyric Agent identified. Level: Unknown. Status: Neutral-Hostile.]
The room now lay in ruins. Elias breathed heavily, the wound still healing. He had won the clash, but barely. He glanced back at Sabastin's journal.
There were others. More like him. Some had failed. Some had become monsters.
But he had survived. No—he had evolved.
[System Alert: Stage Two Awakening unlocked. New objective available.]
Elias opened the system menu and saw a new task:
"The Devil's Bargain: Find the Gatekeeper. Only he can reveal the truth behind your rebirth."
And beneath it:
Optional: Claim 50 souls to gain access to the second tier of the Infernal Tree. Current: 12/50.
He stared at the numbers. The path ahead would be darker. Bloodier. He knew that. But he no longer feared it.
He was no longer just Elias Black.
He was the Devil's vessel.
And the world was beginning to notice.