The rain on Planet Vanguard-4 didn’t fall; it bled. It was a thick, oil-slicked downpour that smelled of sulfur and heavy metals, drumming a relentless, metallic rhythm against Lucian’s dented Bronze-grade chest plate.
"Move it, zero-resonance trash! Keep your eyes on the radar!"
The harsh voice of Squad Leader Vance crackled through Lucian’s cheap, static-heavy earpiece. Up ahead, Vance and three other elite vanguard soldiers strode confidently through the mud. Their Silver-frame exo-suits hummed with smooth, hydraulic power, their plasma rifles casting a bright, reassuring blue glow against the jagged stone walls of the abyssal trench.
Lucian dragged his feet, his muscles aching under the dead weight of his standard-issue ballistic gear. In a military that worshiped Genetic Resonance, Lucian was an anomaly—a flat zero. He couldn't sync with the neural networks of advanced mechs, nor could he channel the energy weapons that defined modern warfare. To the United Federation Military, he was a meat shield. A disposable scout sent ahead to trigger traps so the valuable soldiers wouldn't scratch their paint.
"Sir, the atmospheric interference in this canyon is spiking," Lucian muttered into his comms, his voice raspy from the toxic air. "My scanner is cycling through dead frequencies. We should head back to the perimeter."
Vance didn't even look back. "Shut up and keep walking, Lucian. The high command needs the coordinates of the energy anomaly in this sector. If a zero-res like you dies, the Federation loses a uniform. If one of us dies, it costs millions of credits. Do your job."
Suddenly, the blue light from the squad's plasma rifles flickered.
The low hum of their Silver-frame suits stuttered, dropping a octave before dying completely. The sudden silence in the trench was deafening, save for the patter of the oily rain.
"What the hell? My power core just dropped to ten percent!" one of the soldiers shouted, panic bleeding into his tone.
"Calm down! Manual override!" Vance ordered, but his voice shook.
A low, guttural vibration shook the ground beneath their boots. It wasn't an earthquake. It was a rhythm. Thump. Thump. Thump.
From the pitch-black darkness of the trench ahead, two massive, glowing violet eyes opened. Then four. Then a dozen.
"Abyss Beasts..." Lucian whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs.
A horde of quadrapedal nightmares, covered in jagged, obsidian-like armor plates, surged out of the shadows. They were high-tier predators, creatures that usually required a full detachment of Gold Mechs to suppress. Against a squad with dead exo-suits, it was a massacre waiting to happen.
"Form a perimeter! Shoot!" Vance screamed.
The soldiers pulled their sidearms, but the conventional kinetic rounds ricocheted harmlessly off the beasts' armored hides. The first beast leaped, its jaws snapping shut around the neck of a Silver-frame soldier, crushing the metal and bone like a dry twig.
"Retreat! Fall back to the transport!" Vance yelled, his elite composure shattering instantly. He didn't look at his squad; he didn't look at the wounded. He ran.
Lucian raised his standard-issue rifle, firing three shots into the eye of an approaching beast. The creature roared in irritation, swiping a massive, clawed forearm across Lucian's chest.
The impact felt like a speeding hover-truck.
The Bronze-grade plate shattered. Lucian was launched backward, flying over the edge of a steep, hidden fissure he hadn't seen in the dark. The wind was knocked from his lungs as he tumbled down into the absolute darkness of the abyss, the sounds of his screaming squad fading into the distance.
Lucian hit the ground hard, the agonizing sound of snapping ribs echoing in his ears. He coughed, spitting a thick mouthful of blood onto the cold floor.
He couldn't move. His vision was tunneling, fading to a hazy grey. His visor was cracked, and the toxic air of the deep cavern was already burning his lungs. So this is it, he thought bitterly. Dying in a hole on a forgotten rock, all because my DNA didn't have enough spark.
As his hand slid limply across the ground, his fingers didn't meet mud. They brushed against cold, perfectly smooth stone.
With the last of his fading strength, Lucian forced his eyes open. He wasn't in a natural cave. He was lying on a massive, circular altar made of pure, polished obsidian. The altar was etched with strange, geometric runes that seemed to pulse with a faint, dark violet light, drawing the blood pooling from his shattered chest.
As his blood filled the grooves of the ancient stone, the air in the cavern grew heavy—so heavy that the falling rain outside seemed to freeze mid-air. A suffocating pressure descended, crushing the residual pain in his body under a wave of absolute dread.
A sound echoed. It wasn't a voice, but a sharp, digital chime that resonated directly inside his brain, accompanied by a glowing crimson interface that burned through his closed eyelids.
[Warning: Host life signs dropping below 3%.]
[Ancient Genetic Lock broken by compatible bloodline archetype.]
[Analyzing Host...]
[Genetic Resonance: 0.00% (Abysmal Failure)]
[Soul Waveform: Compatible with the Forbidden Core.]
[Initiating emergency protocol: Purging weak human genetic data...]
[Warning: Restructuring will cause extreme agony.]
"Aghhh!"
Lucian screamed as a sudden, violent heat surged through his veins. It felt like liquid fire was being pumped directly into his heart. His muscles tore and knitted back together in milliseconds. The weak, ordinary cells of his human body were being systematically dismantled, replaced by something denser, darker, and infinitely more terrifying.
[Soul Merge Complete.]
[The Demon Monarch System has awakened.]
[Current Race: High-Blood Imp (Rank 1 Demon)]
[Level: 1 (0/100 EXP)]
[HP: 150/150]
[MP: 50/50]
[Strength: 15 | Agility: 18 | Constitution: 15 | Intelligence: 12]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Assimilation (Rank: EX) — Allows host to consume and extract energy from both biological life and mechanical matter.]
The agonizing heat receded, replaced by a cold, predatory rush of pure adrenaline. Lucian pushed himself off the altar, his eyes snapping open.
The darkness of the cavern was gone. To his new sight, the pitch-black cave was perfectly illuminated in a sharp, crimson hue. He looked down at his hands. His nails had sharpened into short, obsidian-like talons. His skin was pale, mapped with faint, glowing violet veins. The agonizing pain in his ribs was completely gone, replaced by a dense, coiled strength that made his old body feel like wet paper.
Above him, a heavy thud echoed.
One of the Abyss Beasts from the trench had tracked the scent of his blood, crawling down the jagged walls of the fissure. It landed on the edge of the altar, its jaws salivating, its violet eyes locking onto him.
Earlier, this creature was a death sentence.
Now, looking at it, Lucian didn't feel fear. A cold, dark instinct welled up from the depths of his soul, demanding submission from the beast before him.
A new prompt flickered in his vision:
[Quest: First Blood]
[Objective: Eliminate the Lesser Abyss Beast.]
[Reward: 50 EXP, Skill: Shadow Step.]
Lucian let out a low breath, a fierce, dark smile spreading across his face as his eyes glowed a vibrant, terrifying crimson.
"Let's see what this system can do."