Demon Anomaly System

Chapter 10: Luck

His mind awakened in a sudden panic, he jerked back and fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. Scrambling, by the time he stopped moving, he was chest-deep in blood.

It took a moment to realize what had happened, where he was.

The base of the chain.

He didn't remember coming down the rest of it. He was just here, and that realization made his skin crawl. He'd lost time. Dove straight back into being controlled by instinct.

Back into something less.

He looked toward the bead. And for the first time, he felt it. Whatever it was, it radiated a heavy malice. Dark, and unending.

He crawled back to shore, cautiously toward the island's edge, the shoreline sharp beneath him. His eyes stayed locked on the altar holding the bead. And the fourth statue standing over it.

This one was different. Worse. He didn't know its race, but he didn't need to. It somehow felt familiar. 

A massive creature, its body was swollen and warped, rolls of bloated flesh spilling over itself. Its limbs were thick, pocked with what looked like boils and rough growths.

And its face...

A boar.

He didn't know the word until it hit him. But there it was. A face like a broken boar, tusks split and jagged, eyes hollow and sunk deep into its sockets.

It towered over the altar. Two cleavers raised. Frozen mid-strike. Like it had been about to chop something for sacrifice.

[Object appears to possess Corrupted Soul Integrity. Chance of Failed Integration... High. Risk of Corruption and Death.]

"Why did you say it was food?! If I die, then it is not food!"

The words came out too loud. He winced, tail wrapped tight to his side.

He didn't like yelling here. Not with those things watching.

"Even if I survive... then what? Still going to starve. Still dead."

[Only viable option for continued existence. For now.]

He needed something to bite. Anything. The system wasn't wrong, but it didn't mean he liked it. Didn't mean he didn't feel bullied. He gritted his teeth, swearing the thing was enjoying this.

"What will it do to me?"

[Full Effects... Unknown.]

'Hate you...'

Crushing a rib fragment beneath his claw, he looked around. No exits, no alternatives. Just the altar and the bead.

"This better work. Or I swear...I will tear you out of me before I die and throw you in the—"

[System exists outside of physical space once assimilated by User. Good Luck.]

He reached the altars edge.

The imp paused, unsure if good luck was for eating the bead, or for throwing the system in the ocean. Either way, it was time to do this. He needed to focus.

He gripped the cold stone, pulling himself up. The blood bead hovered just before him. Perfectly still. The imp felt like somehow that drop held more blood inside it than the ocean around him. More weight. More pressure.

He gulped as he glanced up. The cleavers still hung in place, the boar-faced statue watching in silence.

He inched forward.

Opened his mouth.

And bit.

He flinched back, body tense...waiting. But the blades didn't fall. Nothing moved. He exhaled, relief washing over him. Then swallowed—

BU-DMM!

He dropped, collapsing onto his broken legs in a curled heap. His heart felt like it had detonated in his chest, to the point he didn't even register the bone fragments that had torn through the skin of his thighs.

And it got worse.

Still balled up, he could feel it, every vein from his skull to his tail bulging, twisting under his skin like lightning-fed worms.

Then... Rupture.

[!! WARNING !!]

Blood sprayed as his skin and veins burst, forced out by something else. Something black and hot, growing inside him.

The small island was painted red as the eruption spread.

His body spasmed. Then snapped straight, arms and legs stretched, back arched to the point of breaking. 

He finally screamed.

[!! WARNING !!]

[!! FULL BODY CORRUPTION DETECTED !!]

[!! HOST SOUL UNDER ATTACK !!]

[Soul Integrity // 41%]

[Soul Integrity // 40%...!! WARNING !!]

[Soul Integrity // 39%...!! WARNING !!]

The pain was no longer pain. It was consumption. He couldn't see the warnings. Didn't register the voice screaming in his head. But he felt it, his soul unraveling.

[Soul Integrity // 37%...!! WARNING !!]

Thread by thread.

As the system counted down, all he could think about was not exploding. Every nerve, every flicker of instinct was focused on staying intact. Just holding.

[Soul Integrity // 35%...!! WARNING !!]

He didn't even notice the boat that was drawing close. Or the cloaked figure standing on it. He was even blind to the light the stranger held, eyes having already burst when his body ruptured.

"...Interesting..."

The voice floated over from a small craft. Barely large enough for a few passengers. The boat drifted silently across the surface of the blood ocean. At the stern stood a tall figure, completely draped in black, one pale white hand gripping a lantern.

[!! WARNING !!]

[!! UNKNOWN EXTERNAL ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED !!]

[!! WARNING !!]

[Soul Integrity // 32%...!! WARNING !!]

The figure leaned forward. The voice was layered, masculine and feminine, like two people speaking at once.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? Tsk, tsk, tsk…"

He lifted the lantern, and the light detonated. It didn't just shine, it claimed. It lit the entire cavern at once. Shadows didn't move, they fled.

Even the blood at the island's edge recoiled, dragging back like it wanted to escape.

[!! WARNING !!]

[!! UNKNOWN EXTERNAL ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED // ATTEMPTING QUARANTINE...FAILED !!]

The imp spasmed again, soaked in blood and trembling. But the light washed over him. Warm. Steady. His muscles stopped seizing. The pain quickly began to fade as his skin knit back together, his veins reforming.

[Soul Integrity // 33%...!! WARNING !!]

[Soul Integrity // 34%...!! WARNING !!]

A calm warmth began flowing through him. Gentle. Invading every corner of his small, broken body.

Something no imp had ever felt before.

Comfort.

It wrapped around his soul like a blanket, pleasure blooming behind his bubbling eyes as they reformed. And as the numbers climbed, as the system's alerts fell silent, he finally let go.

His body went limp, and he slept.

Unaware of what was changing.

Unaware of the figure watching over him.

----

"Mine!"

The imp shot up, claws snapping at empty air.

It took a moment for his mind to catch up. But the second it did... he froze.

Someone stood in front of him.

The cloaked figure.

"Do not fear, little Ashkin. I mean no harm."

It was strange, normally, no matter the situation, he would of ran. But the voice was soft. Disarming. Something in it made the imp hesitate. Made him want to listen.

But that wasn't what really shook him.

It was the face, or what wasn't a face. Just empty space beneath the hood. A purple void, smooth and still.

"It is rude to stare."

He couldn't help it. Didn't know he shouldn't until it was too late. A vision slammed into him, his own death. He watched himself get beaten. Torn apart. Eaten alive by the other imp, the one who had the system first.

He screamed without making a sound.

The boatman raised his lantern, light pouring into the imp's face, and the vision shattered.

"I should have been more forceful. Do not look directly into my hood. All you will see is the way you were meant to die."

The imp blinked. Rubbed at his face and didn't look up again. Instead, he looked around and was instantly shocked.

No statues. No altar. Just blood. An endless ocean of it. He was on the boat now, drifting through the red.

"Where are you taking me?"

The boatman tilted his head.

"Very, very interesting… So you can communicate. I was unsure. Thought it might be mimicry. But you understand, do you not?"

The imp frowned. Kept his eyes low.

"I do. Now who are you? And where are you taking me?"

The cloaked figure didn't answer right away. That alone put the imp on edge. Not being able to look at its face felt like a weakness. Like being hunted.

He already felt small compared to the stranger. The boatman stood at least ten feet tall, his ams long and unnatural. His skin was pale, too pale to be alive, but there was blood through its veins. The imp could see it.

"I am called Charon, and I am taking you to a passage. One that leads back up. Even the dead have no business here, little Ashkin. So neither do you."

The imp narrowed his eyes.

"Then why are you here?"

Then, something strange happened. Something the imp had never heard before. Laughter.

Charon laughed.

And as the sound rolled across the boat, tingles crawled across the imp's skin. He didn't like it.

He envied it.

"Why am I here?! That's a question I have asked myself more times than I can count this past century..."

The boat rocked with the motion. The imp tensed, ready for something, anything.

Charon steadied.

"For bringing me that moment of amusement, I will grant you a further boon. Not the answer to why I am here…"

He tilted his lantern slightly.

"…but an answer to a question you have yet to ask."

'Yet to ask?'

The imp said nothing. Just waited. Not excited or afraid. Just quiet.

"You are an anomaly. Something that should not exist."

The imp's heart skipped.

"I can see layers of death clinging to you. You were not meant to survive. And as long as you remain in Hell… you will never know peace."