There was no light.
No darkness.
No sense of time at all.
For a brief, terrifying interval, Nekeili did not exist as a thinking being. Whatever fractured state he had been suspended in—whatever artificial stillness his mind had imposed—finally began to unravel.
And when it did, sensation returned all at once.
He had given his answer.
The system had acknowledged it.
Everything that had once been him was taken.
It was not violent. There was no tearing scream or shattering collapse. Instead, the loss came softly—horrifying in its ease. Like tissue paper dissolving in water, his past evaporated without resistance, without residue, as though it had never been there to begin with.
Names lost their weight.
Faces blurred into irrelevance.
Moments that should have anchored him simply… failed to exist.
The Adramadeus system shifted in response.
Its rigid structures warped as void influence bled through its foundations, rewriting protocols that had never been meant to change. Laws bent—not broken—reshaped into something unstable and personal.
A system was being formed.
Not a shared framework.
Not a standard inheritance.
Something his.
A presence settled into Nekeili's mind—not intrusive, not loud, but deep. It threaded itself through his thoughts like pressure beneath the sea.
Designation confirmed.
Unique System Initialized.
Understanding followed.
Drowned Abyss God's Logic System.
All native beings of Adramadeus possessed systems. With his rebirth, this right had been extended to him as well. Leviathan had chosen this world carefully—this much was certain.
But this system was wrong.
Void influence had corrupted it at its foundation. Where others received guidance and measured growth, Nekeili received preparation—his body and mind being primed for a path that led somewhere far more dangerous.
Not yet divinity.
But something moving toward it.
The price for such a violation was steep.
How could a framework capable of dragging a mortal toward apotheosis not demand something equally precious in return?
This was not empowerment.
This was an attempted march toward deification.
An equal exchange.
Power, in return for something that felt like his soul.
That hollow sensation bloomed just as reality slammed back into him.
Nekeili's eyes bulged. His right hand slid further down the rock, fingers numb and shaking. His heart hammered violently as gravity reclaimed him.
Instinct overrode thought.
He swung his free arm wildly, slamming it against the stone and clawing for purchase. Pain detonated through his shoulder as his fingers caught, bone grinding against bone.
He hung there, gasping.
Alive.
Barely.
And empty.
Not grief—he could no longer remember what he had lost well enough to mourn it.
Just absence.
And exhaustion.
As if in response, the system stirred again.
Not with urgency.
With expectation.
Ask.
Nekeili swallowed, blood filling his mouth. His thoughts wavered, fraying at the edges.
"Show me my status and skills."
The system hummed.
Reality slowed.
Status: Nekeili
Designation: Mantling Candidate
Existence Classification: Mortal (Void-Touched)
System Authority: Drowned Abyss God's Logic System
Continuity State: Unstable
Divinity Alignment: In Progress (0.01%)
Core Conditions
Sanity: 72 / 100 (Fluctuating)
Identity Integrity: 81% (Degrading)
Void Saturation: Low → Rising
Soul Capacity: Dormant (No Core Detected)
Physical State: Severe Trauma
Attributes
(Current rank reflects present capability. Potential grade exceeds displayed rank.)
Strength: F (11 / 100)
Endurance: F (13 / 100)
Agility: F (12 / 100)
Perception: D (27 / 100)
Willpower: F (19 / 100) — Anomalous Potential
System Note:
Attribute ranks reflect current structural limits.
Potential grades are sealed until stabilization criteria are met.
Skills
Maddening Spatial Sacrifice (Active)
Void-Resonant Physiology (Passive)
Fractured Will (Passive)
Abyssal Adaptation (Dormant)
Information poured into him—not as words, but as compressed understanding. He skimmed it desperately, barely able to focus.
One skill pulsed brighter than the rest.
Skill: Maddening Spatial Sacrifice
Type: Active | Void / Spatial
Activation: Conscious Intent
Cooldown: Minimal (Mental Strain Accumulates)
Description:
The user fractures local space, displacing themselves through void-assisted translation.
Teleportation up to 10 meters incurs no physical sacrifice
Repeated use causes temporary sanity instability
Exceeding the limit requires void payment, scaled by distance and condition
Possible Void Payments:
Muscle strain, disorientation
Bone fractures, internal shock
Identity erosion (rare, escalating risk)
Warning:
Excessive reliance accelerates mental destabilization.
The void adapts to familiar offerings.
The system's pulses lingered.
Urging.
Then his grip failed.
The rock tore free from his fingers and the pit swallowed him whole.
Activate.
Space screamed.
Reality folded inward and he reappeared ten meters sideways, slamming chest-first into jagged stone. Ribs cracked. Breath fled his lungs.
Gravity reclaimed him instantly.
Activate.
Pain ripped through his leg as space twisted again. He reappeared midair—too close. His shoulder shattered on impact, bone grinding wetly as he ricocheted off the cliff face.
His sanity dipped.
Thoughts blurred.
Activate—again.
The system hesitated.
Then complied.
Something in his spine snapped as he tore through space beyond the safe limit. Darkness crept in as he slammed onto a slanted ledge, rolling, bouncing, breaking—
—and finally stopping.
He lay there, twitching, blood soaking into the stone.
Breathing.
Barely sane.
Alive.
The pit loomed below, silent now.
And deep within him, his Void-Resonant Physiology made it's apparence.