Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

Chapter 143 The Artificial Devil

In that moment, through a mixture of desperation and insurmountable intent to kill, those two desires intertwined like a double helix, spiraling into a new adaptation of the Evolution System.

As such, Dae-Seong was able to adapt to what he himself perceived as a threat, not having to wait for an attack to counter.

I see…so that's it! Jun-Seo realized.

Just as the burgundy-haired, scar-bodied man came to figure this out, he raised his guard, manifesting an intangible shield just as the monstrous greatsword was brought downward.

It wasn't nearly enough–

SWOOSH.

A torrent of power; a mixture of crimson flames and verdant winds that propelled it into greater potency laced into the slash itself, exuding a blast against Jun-Seo's impromptu shields, shattering them completely and slashing down into the man's flesh.

"Phh…!"

Pouring from Jun-Seo's closed lips, blood immediately poured out as the greatsword cleaved into his right shoulder, cutting down into his torso in a brutal fashion.

Using his bare hands to hold the blade back as it attempted to cleave him in two, Jun-Seo yelled out as blood poured from his lips, squirting from his newly forged wound as he pushed back against the sharp edge of the greatsword.

"I will not fall here–!!!" Jun-Seo roared out.

[5 seconds remaining…]

[4…]

It was a test of strength; a clash of power; a contest of will–he pushed down with all of his might, holding the dragon-winged handle with all of the burning strength in his body as blood squirted from his strained wounds. On the other hand, Jun-Seo pushed up against the blade, allowing his hands to get eviscerated, seeping his crimson fluid in heaping amounts as his fingers began to be cast off, but he roared out all the same.

[3…]

This meeting was the decider between life-and-death for both men; the final clash that would settle who would remain victorious.

"Cast: Infernal Sin!"

Without using his hands as a point of guidance, Jun-Seo yelled out the invocation desperately. The verdant flames howled, spawning in a pillar that engulfed the both of them for a few seconds.

Even with those few short seconds, it should be lethal, as the hell-born flames burned hotter than any man-made blaze. Even so, the inferno dissipated–leaving the caster unharmed, but the silver-haired man suffered various burns, yet continued to press with even more strength.

"...How're you still standing?!" Jun-Seo yelled.

There was no response as he was solely intent on driving his blade downward, pushing his body past its limits with small, but continuous adaptations that drew out the maximum strength from his opponent as well.

Jun-Seo boltered himself with every ounce of strength in his body, forcing his black veins to press against his pale skin as he continued to try and hold the blade back with his shaking hands.

[2…]

Deeper and deeper, the blade carved into Jun-Seo's torso, continuing the slow, grueling process of splitting him in two.

Finally, the crow-caped man's hands had been sliced too far to hold onto the blade anymore as most of his fingers fell to the bone-forged floor below.

[1…]

"I-I will not…! Not after everything–!!! Not after all of this time–!!!" Jun-Seo yelled out as blood seeped from his mouth.

He continued to ignore the man's spiels, pressing down with all of the willpower he had as he felt his own garments become soaked from his own blood loss from beneath.

[Cooldown over.]

Immediately, just before the sharp steel that was now dyed in his abhorrent, black blood, Jun-Seo screamed out, "Cancel: Death–!!!!!"

Not later than when those syllables left his spewing lips, the greatsword cleaved through his body in a gruesome, resounding squelch as his heart was torn to shreds and his bones cut through like brittle, finishing the prolonged slash by severing the man diagonally.

But, just as quickly as Jun-Seo's body was bisected into two, jagged halves, his flesh reconnected itself from meaty tendrils that stretched from his mutilated tissue. In a disgusting moment, his body was stitched back together, bringing him back to life with his last moment, death-preventing invocation.

Jun-Seo smiled with his blood-painted teeth, "--I made it!"

–However, the look on his silver-haired foe's expression was not one of shock or despair as he had expected; Dae-Seong was already midway through another attack, not having wasted a moment as his focused eyes, full of hatred and commitment to that emotion, looked deep into his very being.

What? Jun-Seo questioned.

Squelch.

That massive blade once more pierced his flesh, this time being speared through his torso–directly being sent through his malicious, still-beating heart with no mercy on its edge.

"...Merciless, that's what I said, is it? Heh…An understatement. You're unstoppingly unforgiving."

Jun-Seo spoke, but didn't seem resigned to death yet.

The silver-haired man slowly drew his greatsword from the man's chest, allowing the newly-made gaping hole to seep out his rushing, black blood before stepping back and falling to a knee.

"Huff…"

All of the wounds he had taken had finally reached him; taking that knee, he found the momentary strength he had flee from his body as he used his large blade to keep himself sitting on his quivering knee.

"...Huff…"

As he sat there on his knee, blood trickled down his body, squirting out of the various gashes left on his shredded form.

It was hardly painful; running down his body with a fleeting warmth, all he could do was sit there as his entire life seemed to be reminisced.

As he looked up again, still huffing as his breathing persisted raggedly, he could see Jun-Seo still standing, even with a heart that was no longer functioning, the man still seemed to be pressing on.

"--"

"I…long since abandoned my humanity…Dae-Seong," Jun-Seo spoke parted words, holding an abhorrent smile as most of himself had been painted in black blood by this point, "...The threshold between…demon and man…I march on that fine line, but now…I cross it…"

Just then, once more, an aura of thick darkness, dense with malice, poured out from the man's position as he reached into the hole in his torso, gripping the shredded remains of his human heart, clenching it tightly as the blackened blood seeped into his hand.

"...I surrender my humanity! I discard it! All that is holy! All that is sacred…! I recognize only darkness! Death, destruction, and despair…I surrender myself to it–!" Jun-Seo yelled out as his abyssal blood began to seep from his pores, clutching the remains of his heart.

Those tattered remnants of his heart somehow began beating once more, thumping with an abnormal volume.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

"Ars: Demonification!"

With that invocation turned malediction, the abyssal blood that spewed from his pores flooded out, wrapping around the man's form and engulfing him as the wild torrent of dark fluid shifted into many hands, caressing him in its malignant love.

All he could do was watch as he slowly brought himself to his feet once more with his shaking, strengthless legs, silently spectating the horrific transformation.

"Huff…" He slowly walked back without a word.

While the dreadful alteration was occurring, he reached down to the floor, retrieving his fractured glasses and returning them to his face before adjusting them.

Through his imperfect lenses, he saw the terrifying abhorrence that filled the realm with such darkness; the black hands swirled around the figure in a pillar of intertwining malice.

"What a bother…" He mumbled to himself tiredly.

At this point, he was too far on the brink to even register fear; death itself already had its grips entangling his body–all he could do was spectate what was to come with his half-closed, bloodshot eyes.

Once the array of abyssal hands of varying sizes, miniature and colossal, finished caressing the figure held in the spiral of altering darkness, they spread out like a blooming flower, unveiling the man within who had been reshaped by the abyssal fluid.

What laid in the newly-formed lake of dark blood was a taller figure, slowly being revealed to his eyes as the darkness washed away.

By all means, it was a horrific sight; the man's body had been grotesquely transfigured–his bones painfully extended to increase his height and reach, with his arms being split down the middle from his middle finger tip up to his shoulder, leaving new, demonic arms sprouting out as the abandoned halves of his old limbs still flowed from his shoulders.

"--"

It was the same for the being's legs; they were split apart to give room for new, bull-like legs to sprout out, leaving his old limbs still clung to his form.

The one who was once human stood there for a moment in sheer awe of their newfound power, moving their inhuman, tattoo-covered arms in the air slowly as if taking in their hellish grace.

"...So you've really done it–you've abandoned your humanity altogether…" He commented, witnessing the abhorrent spectacle.

The red-haired, once-human had a tail sprouted from behind him, as well as many tattoos of black symbols and lines stretching across his body, now exhibiting black veins that bumped demonic blood in full.

But, there was one more step to the process, apparently–one most repulsive and that came as a shock to the man witnessing the ritual that went beyond human depravity.

Jun-Seo raised his hand, conjuring his fingernails to shift into claws with his new demonic constitution while holding onto his own hair with his other hand as if to hold his head still.

"--!"

In a brutal fashion, the demonic, black-eyed man stabbed his claw-like fingernails into his neck, beginning to vigorously saw away as his head slowly loosened from his shoulders.

Dae-Seong couldn't let out a word during this grotesque process, simply watching with wide eyes as he tried to bide time to slow his inevitable bleeding.

Through an orchestra of abhorrent sounds of flesh being sawed away, the inhuman figure finished the deed by using his other hand to tug his own head off of his shoulders, tossing it aside as the demonic entity now stood without a face.

–It was only for a moment as from the gaping hole in its blood-spewing neck did something begin to emerge, rising from the crimson wound.

First a pair of curved horns came through, soaking in fresh crimson before the shape fully sprouted into a completely new head; bearing curved, obsidian horns, a glasgow smile, and eyes that have lost all humanity.

The ritual was finally complete; the swirling pools of abyssal liquid were absorbed by the dry environment of intertwined bones, leaving him on the receiving end of the otherworldly-evil gaze of the newly born entity.

Its very existence was taboo; a step in evolution sacred from God's will–the descension of man to demon. The air was wrapped tightly by its natural malice, spreading an unseen darkness through the realm like a wildfire.

In essence, it was unrestricted, total evil; a force of nature that existed solely for the misery of others, destruction, and to inflict total depravity on the world, it was–

[Artificial Devil Jun-Seo | Level 48]