Dual System: Ascension of A Nameless Nobody

“Heh…” Dae-Mon smirked, seeming to enjoy his confusion.

An elongated tongue slithered out from the unnatural mouth, stretching across the blade and touching his hand as he reared back in disgust–managing to free his blade from the gritted teeth.

Just as he pulled away, he looked back up to realize Dae-Mon was already compromising his moment of disgust to go for an attack, shifting his other arm into three sets of chains formed of razor-blades.

“–“

His eyes widened; in his uneven footing at that moment, he wasn’t able to use a [Blink Step], watching as the malicious chains were being pulled back and flung towards him.

“Raaagh–!”

A warcry roared out not in confidence, but of fear sounded out, being produced by Sol, who charged forward with his spear held out in front of him as if he was sieging a castle–interrupting Dae-Mon’s attempt to take his life as Sol lanced the spear right through the man’s abdomen.

“–You still have fight left in you, do you?” Dae-Mon said even whilst being pushed back by Sol’s spear-driven charge.

The red bandana-wearing man didn’t respond, not out of pure distaste, but because the words were stuck in his throat while being brought so close to the inhuman foe before him.

Fear was surging through his veins, but he pushed on, charging forward as he pushed Dae-Mon back through the hall.

“…Sorry, but I don’t so much like this ride,” Dae-Mon smiled.

The charge came to a stop as Dae-Mon planted his black-steel boots against the ground, gripping onto the spear for himself.

Pushing back with his single hand, the pink-haired man plucked the spear from his flesh, allowing the gaping hole to instantly close as he looked down at the trembling, hazel-haired adolescent with a cheerful, yet haunting grin.

“I wonder how angry I could make that other one if I plucked your eyes out? I’m curious,” Dae-Mon said in a quiet threat.

“Err…” Sol let out in quiet fear._.

Before such a reality could come while Dae-Mon slowly reached his fingers out towards Sol’s eye, both Jeong-Hui and Yeong-Un appeared from the left and right, catching the human of pure evil by surprise.

“Oh? All three at once? It’s getting lively here! I love it!” Dae-Mon called out in excitement, “Let’s try this one out–!!!”

Dae-Mon allowed both of his arms to retain their normal shape, taking the daggers of the red-haired assassin into his left arm, and the edges of the dual spellblade’s swords into his right.

It was a perplexing, nonsensical strategy for him to allow himself to be cut, but he began to reveal why as when the two tried to retrieve their weapons—they were stuck.

The pink-haired man clutched his muscles fervently, displaying his unequivocal control over his body as he grinned wide.

“What the fuck?!” Yeong-Un let out.

“–!” He continued to try pulling his daggers out.

Sol joined in the attack after composing himself against, slamming his spear right through Dae-Mon’s chest, who once again, didn’t seem to mind as his smile didn’t diminish.

“My playground is in the flames of Hell. My only respite is in the suffering of others. All that is unholy, I embrace! In the Dead Man’s keep, I rule! Into The Bowels of Hell: Horizon Beyond Insanity!”

–Suddenly, from the mysterious invocation that met all of their ears, the space around them warped and was quickly swallowed by a veil of utter darkness before reality itself revealed a new form.

Their weapons were let loose, prompting all three to leap back as they stood at three different sides of the unknown domain.

It immediately presented itself with a horrendous stench of putrid, rotting flesh; the floors were overlaid in rusted steel plates, but didn’t completely cover the abhorrent flesh beneath. The walls were built similarly, with the rustic steel sloppily hiding the repulsive death of the true walls.

Dangling down from the ceiling, an array of chains swayed and clanged together, releasing a hellish chime as Dae-Mon grinned wide.

“Welcome to my playground, friends,” Dae-Mon said.

Without any warning, the pink-haired ruler of the hellish space allowed one of his arms to completely shift into a dozen ropes of steel, flinging the abundant number of chains that extended outward towards Sol.

They moved with a mystical sentience, not allowing the frightened young man any chance to evade their grasp before completely wrapping him in their cold grasp.

“Sol!” He yelled out.

“Crap-! What the fuck is going on here?!” Yeong-Un sharply asked before running to Sol’s aid.

None of them were fast enough as Dae-Mon used the bulk of chains that moved as naturally as his limbs to begin swinging Sol around, slamming him into the walls repeatedly before thrashing him against the ground with a laughter sunk into utter enjoyment.

“Aha-ha-ha! I hate to break my toys too fast, but I gave you all enough time, right?! Right?! I can break you all I want now–!!!” Dae-Mon laughed out manically.

As Yeong-Un reached his position first, Dae-Mon released the chains from Sol, who was now laid out in a pool of blood on the ground, before swiftly shifting his chain limbs into a shield of flesh, blocking against Yeong-Un’s flame-enchanted blades.

“Oh! So hot!” Dae-Mon said in what should’ve been pain, but was still amusement.

“Grggh-! I’ll fuckin’ kill ya’ for hurtin’ them!” Yeong-Un threatened.

Dae-Mon responded by countering with a sharp kick that released in a small boom, knocking the aggressive spellblade back, “–All bark and no bite! You even growl like a dog, too! Aha-ha!”

From behind, he flipped his daggers around, aiming to cleave right through the devilish man’s skull.

Again, their attacks were thwarted as Dae-Mon twisted his head around unnaturally, splitting his mouth into two separate forms before catching both daggers with his unnaturally-formed mouths.

“What the–!?” He let out.

Kicking off of the man’s body to enable a [Blink Step] he launched back just in time to avoid being cut by one of Dae-Mon’s limbs that shifted into a chainsaw, witnessing the man’s mouths reform back to their natural shape.

…It’s too much. He can change his body in whatever way he sees fit! He thought.

After leaping back, he rushed towards Sol to check on him, seeing that Yeong-Un was engaging with the devilish fiend once again.

“Sol!”

He rushed over, picking his hazel-haired friend up, who was groggy and hardly conscious, bleeding from a gash on his head, with new bruises quickly forming on his pale complexion.

“Sol!”

He rushed over, picking his hazel-haired friend up, who was groggy and hardly conscious, bleeding from a gash on his head, with new bruises quickly forming on his pale complexion.

“How tenacious!” Dae-Mon smiled as he looked back, seeing Yeong-Un rushing towards him with a superhuman burst of agility.

“Red Tiger, Raging Dragon!” Yeong-Un yelled out.

The man’s dark-blue coat brushed wildly in the new winds formed by his lightning and fire enhancements that wrapped around his flames, flexing his scarred arms as they were bare due to his rolled-up sleeves.

Just as the swirl of aggressive flames came, mixed in with roaring electricity, Dae-Mon morphed his arm into a grotesque shape, increasing its size many times over as it maintained its fleshy constitution, bearing a giant mouth at the end.

“Yum-yum!” Dae-Mon grinned.

The gigantified mouth that formed from his colossal, monstrous arm parted its massive, pearly white teeth as it swallowed the lightning-infused flames in one go.

Yeong-Un’s eye twitched as he witnessed his attack be easily dismantled, continuing to rush forward without delay, “–What the hell are ya’ anyway?! You’re not human!”

“Oh…” Dae-Mon’s expression momentarily frowned as he shrunk his arm back down, grinning again, “…Did I ever claim to be human? Sorry about that.”

“Huh?!”

With a single blink, Dae-Mon’s eyes shifted; the sclera becoming abyssal black and his irises inhabiting a six-pointed star shape while his body itself morphed.

He grew bulkier by a small, but noticeable margin, with his height increasing and curving horns protruding from the sides of his head while his smile widened so much that his mouth split open to make due.

The restrained darkness unleashed itself, flooding the abhorrent domain with winds of malice born from an unending abyss that forged itself through sickness, depravity, and bottomless bloodlust.

Sol regained consciousness just then, being helped up by the frizzy-haired assassin who looked over as well, witnessing this horrific reveal.

Crumbling away to dust as if his restraints were shattered, his all-black armor faded into lifeless chunks, leaving only his pants.

“Am I dreaming…? Wake me up from this nightmare, please…” Sol said weakly, exhausted by the dreadful sight.

“I wish this was just a nightmare…” He replied quietly.

Dae-Mon’s physiology shifted in completion, with tattoos stretching over his body in the shape of black, indecipherable symbols; his fingernails became claw-like, a tail sprouted from behind him, and his bright-pink hair seemed to grew, flowing down his back as his complexion dimmed to a gray.

[Artificial Devil Dae-Mon | Level 37]

“See? I was never human from the start,” Dae-Mon smiled, tapping one of his horns.

As Dae-Mon prepared for his first assault in his revealed, demonic form, he extended his hand towards Yeong-Un’s shock-driven face, allowing a sharp-toothed hand to manifest on his palm as he grinned.

–Though what halted the assault was not Yeong-Un himself, but another.

He dashed in with his flowing, vermilion locks swaying in the abhorrent winds, using his dagger to cut through the man’s wrist, lobbing his hand off before sheathing both of his daggers.

“Oh?” Dae-Mon held a surprised, but unaffected expression.

Of course, the severed hand instantly reconnected itself to the wrist stump, recovering in an instant–but he knew that before he even cut it off.

He used that bought second to sheath his assassin skills, unsheathing instead his alternative specialty, taking a fighting stance.

“…Oh?” Dae-Mon let out again, intrigued.

Sweat dripped from his chin as he remained composed, breathing in and out to calm himself, though it hardly helped to quell his rapidly beating heart while he was in the face of such pure evil.

…I’m practically out of spirit. In that case, martial arts is going to reach further than my assassin abilities. He’s recovering from killing blows, anyway. If I can wear him down, maybe I can find something, or at least allow Sol or Yeong-Un to find his achilles’ heel, he thought.

“Fire-head…” Yeong-Un said.

“Back me up,” he said, glancing back.

He knew well that the fresh rage burning inside of the sharp-toothed comrade of his was an invaluable asset in this battle, receiving a nod without hesitation as Yeong-Un held his twin blades high.

Sol stumbled over, holding his side as he kept his spear in hand, wincing with each breath he took.

“Sol…” He let out in surprise, seeing the injured man backing him up as well.

“…I’m…not out just yet,” Sol gave him a weak, but reassuring smile.

By some stray miracle or curse, Sol hadn’t seemed to see the blood that trickled down his head, just narrowly avoiding his eyes.

He looked forward again, accompanied by his two most trusted comrades as they stared down the smiling devil.

“Let’s have some fun~” Dae-Mon said.

“…If fun involves killing ya’, I’m game,” Yeong-Un responded with a fiery conviction.