THRONECHAPTER 2 — The First Kill Teaches the Rules
Aren Veylric stood where the creature had vanished, his breath coming in short, uneven pulls.There was no blood.That was the first thing that disturbed him.The street should have been painted red. The thing that had lunged at him had been close enough for him to smell it—rot, metal, something acidic that burned the throat.Instead, there was nothing.Just scorched concrete, warped inward as if pressed by a giant invisible thumb.And silence.
The wrong kind again.Aren swallowed and slowly raised his hands in front of his face. They were trembling, but uninjured. No claws. No black smoke curling from his skin. Nothing that explained what had just happened.Yet the memory of it lingered.The pull.
The moment reality had bent.The black screen hovered quietly before him.
TARGET ELIMINATED
Experience AcquiredStability: Maintained Demon Core: Dormant (0.3%)
Aren stared at the words."…Demon," he whispered.The word felt heavy in his mouth.He had played games. Watched anime. Read stories where systems appeared and people gained power.
It had always been fantasy—something distant, exaggerated, safe.This wasn't safe.A scream echoed from somewhere to his left.Aren flinched and looked down the street.Smoke rolled between broken buildings.
Fire alarms wailed in the distance, their rhythm broken and erratic. Sirens tried to rise, failed, and died mid-howl.The city was bleeding out.Another scream—closer this time—cut off abruptly.Aren's chest tightened.
The screen shifted again.
SURVIVAL DIRECTIVE ACTIVE
Priority: Secure Resources
Priority: Avoid High-Threat Zones
Priority: Do Not Engage Multiple Hostiles
Aren let out a shaky breath."So… you can talk," he muttered.The screen did not respond.Figures emerged at the far end of the street.Three of them.Once human.Now twisted in different ways—one dragging an elongated arm that scraped sparks from the ground, another hunched so deeply its spine pierced its own back, the third moving with jerky, insect-like motions.They hadn't seen him yet.Aren's instincts screamed at him to run.His legs refused.Not because he felt brave.Because something inside him was… awake.
Watching.
Judging.
The Demon Core pulsed faintly in his chest, like a heart that wasn't his own.The screen flickered.
HOSTILE GROUP DETECTED
Threat Assessment:—
Unit 1: E— Unit 2: E— Unit 3: DRecommendation: RETREATAren took one step back.
His heel crunched glass.The sound echoed.All three heads snapped toward him.The air grew thick.They charged.Aren turned and ran.Running Is a Skill TooHe didn't sprint blindly.That surprised him.Instead, his mind felt unnaturally clear—angles, distances, obstacles all lining up as if highlighted. He vaulted over a fallen sign, slid under a dangling power cable sparking violently, and cut into an alley barely wide enough for a car.One of the creatures slammed into the wall behind him, screeching in frustration.Aren didn't slow.His lungs burned. His legs screamed. But something—something else—kept him moving past the point where he should have collapsed.The alley opened into a collapsed parking structure.Bodies lay scattered inside.Human.Monster.Indistinguishable in death.Aren skidded to a stop behind an overturned van, chest heaving. He pressed his back to the metal, every sense stretched to breaking.Footsteps scraped outside.More than three.
He covered his mouth to keep his breathing quiet.The screen pulsed faintly, as if sensing his fear.WARNINGDemon Core resonance increasingEmotional trigger detectedAren squeezed his eyes shut."Don't," he whispered."Not again. I can't—"A memory surfaced without permission.
A woman laughing.A small hand gripping his finger.A voice calling his name from another room.Gone.All of it gone.The world had taken it without asking.His eyes opened.Cold.Focused.The Demon Core responded.Not violently.Not yet.
The screen shifted.SKILL UNLOCKED
(PASSIVE)
Abyssal Pressure (Sealed)
Effect: Hostile awareness under stress
Aren felt it immediately.
The creatures outside the structure slowed.Not physically.Instinctively.They circled, hesitant now, as if sensing something they didn't understand.Aren leaned forward slightly and peeked through a crack in the van's door.One of them crept closer.Too close.The pressure in his chest built again—stronger than before, darker.Aren raised his hand."I don't want this," he said quietly.The creature lunged.The world twisted.The air compressed.The creature slammed into the ground mid-leap, its body folding unnaturally as if crushed by gravity itself. Concrete spider-webbed beneath it.It didn't scream.It couldn't.The other two fled.Aren dropped to his knees, gasping.His hands were shaking worse now.The black screen appeared, steady and merciless.
TARGET ELIMINATED
Experience Gained
Demon Core: 1.1%
Aren stared at the percentage."So that's how it works," he whispered.Kill.Grow.Survive.He laughed once—short, hollow."Figures."The city burned around him.Above, the sky watched without blinking.And somewhere far beyond human understanding, the system logged another successful step toward something far greater than survival.
End of Chapter 2
In a world where running was mercy and killing was currency,Aren Veylric had just learned the first rule:Hesitation only decides how painful it gets