The darkness around me rippled — like dark dissolving into water — and then slowly shifted into something else entirely. A vast field stretched out before me, filled with flowers that glowed softly under a silver light. The air was warm, calm, and smelled faintly sweet, like a dream that didn't want to end.
It was… beautiful. Almost painfully so.
The man who called himself the Demon God — Luciferin — hovered above the sea of flowers. Eight wings spread wide behind him, each one more divine than anything I'd ever imagined. Four were pure white, shining with a light that felt holy… and the other four were black as night, swallowing that very light in their wake.
The contrast made my chest tighten. It was perfect — terrifyingly perfect.
He looked down at me, eyes glowing like molten gold and burning embers at once. And for a moment… I couldn't tell if I was supposed to kneel, run, or weep.
Because somehow… it felt like I had seen him before.
"I'll help you, Adrian Kade. I'll fully sponsor you," Luciferin said, his voice calm but heavy, like it carried the weight of something I couldn't see. "But I need one thing from you. Will you comply?"
That smile—small, almost human—made my chest tighten. It wasn't evil, but it wasn't kind either. It was the kind of smile that hides too much.
One thing?
It sounded like a damn contract. I thought sponsorships were simple—a sixty-forty kind of thing. The sponsor gives sixty percent of their power, and the rest is on you, showing their name, their pride.
I blinked, staring up at him. The words felt unreal—like I wasn't supposed to even hear them.
"I know these measly sponsorships usually require that sixty-forty split," Luciferin said, his tone almost amused, like he was talking about children's games. "But I'll do a ninety-ten."
He floated closer, the air around him shimmering with both light and shadow.
"I'll give you everything, Adrian. My essence, my blessing, my power. In return, all you have to do is ascend—to a Demi-God, using my name, my status as the Demon God. Once you reach Monarch tier, I'll help you become a god of your own title, your own epithet."
His red eyes gleamed, locking onto mine. "And when that happens… the only thing I ask is that you help me. Just once. After you've become a god."
The field was quiet except for the wind brushing against the flowers. My chest felt tight. Ninety-ten, sounded to good to be true.
But right now I need this.
"I have a few questions. First, why would you want to help me and sponsor me? Second, what's this thing you want me to help you with? There are a lot of people you could've chosen—so why me? And third… why does it feel like we aren't meeting for the first time?"
I bombarded Luciferin with questions, but all he could simply say was—
"Theomachia."
"That's all I'll say. If you think you've got time, you don't — your friend will die soon. Hurry. Choose."
"So that's all I get, huh?" I said, and there was a chill in my voice I didn't recognise.
I had no choice. "Fine" — I agreed. I accepted if it meant getting stronger. I didn't give a single fuck about the how. Even if it meant killing the innocent.
A laugh bubbled up from somewhere dark and ugly inside me — sharp, hungry, almost proud. My vision blurred at the edges and then snapped crimson; my eyes flared the same deep red as the Demon God hovering before me.
"Ha. That's nice. Good luck." He smiled, slow and terrible. "One piece of advice: always trust your instincts, and never believe what you hear. People lie. They're trash and don't deserve second chances. The gods you worship are garbage."
The words landed like a cold stone.
"Goodbye, my old ⬛⬛⬛."
What? I didn't get the last word. Your old what.
It sounded like a whisper and as I asked further the space began to crack. And it went back to Black. And then my body convulsed violently with purple and red energy coming out of me. My body began to change.
My black hair turned to a glistening white. And the red eyes stayed the same but with a predatory glow. The slitted pupils of a dragon
I became a bit taller and a bit more muscular until I heard a mechanical chime.
[Ding.]!
"What? I didn't get the last word—your old what?"
My voice echoed in that collapsing dreamscape, desperate and small. Luciferin's lips moved, but his words were swallowed by the sound of cracking glass.
Then everything shattered.
The field, the flowers, even the light—all broke apart like a mirror hit by a hammer, and I was plunged back into blackness.
And then the pain came.
My body convulsed violently as purple and red energy burst out of me, threads of power twisting like serpents under my skin. My veins burned, my bones creaked as if being reforged.
My hair turned white—shining, almost metallic under the void light. My eyes, still red, now glowed with a predatory gleam. The pupils thinned, slitting like a dragon's.
I could feel my body stretch, strengthen—becoming something else, something other.
Then, piercing through the chaos, a mechanical chime echoed in my head.
[Ding.]!
[Merging with demonic core complete.]!
[Initiating physical statistics.]!
[Welcome, heir of chaos.]!
[As a reward for awakening AGAIN, you'll get the unique Authority: {Death's Friend}.]!
[Deaths Friend: As the companion of death, you cannot die. But doesn't mean you are immortal. The authority can grow beyond immortal.]!
"Crazy… is this what pure awakening feels like?"
The energy surged through me like a storm that didn't know when to stop. Every nerve, every inch of muscle—it all burned and begged for more.
"It's amazing," I laughed, breath sharp and uneven. "I want more. MORE!!"
The words ripped out of me, raw and unfiltered. I sounded insane—no, I was insane. Power like this… it didn't just change you. It peeled you open.
And beneath the layers of fear and doubt, I found something else.
A grin crept onto my face before I even realized it. My heart raced, not from panic but from excitement.
It seemed awakening didn't just reveal your strength—it exposed who you really were.
And me?
Mine just happened to be a little sadistic.
Which, honestly… I didn't hate.
<[End of chapter 12]>!!