Interlude: The Dark God's Chosen

In the old realm of Dark Heaven, a young man had awoken to find himself in front of a horned female demon with scarlet-colored skin.

“Welcome, my new candidate! We have much to discuss.”

She nearly purred with excitement, her long spiky tail snaking up and down along the chair that she confidently reclined on. Her eyes were a deep dark blue like the vast bottom of the ocean. She wore a sleeveless dress, the color of midnight with stars seemingly interwoven—or more likely—trapped within its soft fabric.

She seemed like a demon straight from the depths of Hell or even the Underworld. Large horns protruded from her forehead with long silky ebony hair flowing down below her neck.

“Wh-here am I? The last memory I can recall was crossing the street to escape and the truck…… Oh, I see. I’m dead, aren't I?”

The short black haired boy glanced at her with a solem gaze.

The demon girl nodded. “You pick up things quickly. That’s going to make this conversation go soo much smoother.”

“Is this… Am I in Hell? Please tell me I’m not in Hell!”

She shook her head as if to fully dismiss his claim. “I'm a fan of your work. None of us dark gods ever expected to witness the atrocities you committed, while still at the age of a fledgling in our eyes.”

The boy's expression of disbelief warped entirely until he displayed a devilish grin. It was as if he was a completely different person.

“I see... I guess I don’t need to put up my facade with someone as scary as yourself. Is there some kind of deal to be made where I get to keep living in exchange for my cooperation?”

The demon sneered. “You guessed correctly, human. However, you won't be able to go back to the world you knew. There is a more primitive world where the concept of ‘magic’ truly exists, as well as species that are vastly different biologically and physically from what you are accustomed to. You will live there for now on—as long as you agree to the pact”

The boy’s face ecstatically reacted to the end of her explanation. He seemed truly excited about this proposition. “Now when you say species, you mean other intelligent races besides humans, correct?”

“Mmmmmmmm.” The dark goddess avoided eye contact by laying back in her long chair, but let out a loud purr.

“You are once again right on the money. There are many different types of creatures, like the beast-kin who can be almost any animal imaginable from your old world. Do they interest you?”

The boy nodded eagerly. “There were shows and stories back in my world about hybrid people with cat tails, dog ears and what-not. As a kid, it really hooked me, and because of it I decided to get into genetics and my current line of work. I wanted to create the first true hybrid person. Part human-part animal.

“Ah, like a cat man or dog girl and whatnot?”

“Yup, but I wanted to test my findings on living people and just glimpse at the results… I believe I must have been caught quite early on in my trials, though my memory is still somewhat hazy.”

“No need to fret. We will bestow upon you our assistance and allow you to do whatever you please with the beast-kin. All we require is your undying fealty—your permanent cooperation.”

“I assume you have something specific if you desire my loyalty. Name it. If it doesn't cause me too much trouble, I'm all in.”

While they both wore malicious grins, only one of them was the real devil. She propped herself up from her dark lounge chair and leaned in.With a confident gaze and a coquettish smile, she laid out her proposition in front of the young man.

“I want you to kill this man as well as a few troublesome creatures that have stepped out of line. As for the first target—he is the Savior, chosen by the gods to save one of the continents from the Lords of Tyranny and their expansion campaign. And what a folly that is. We had worked so hard to establish the Calamity Empire in the distant past as a way to rally all the monsters and demons together under the same cause—the annihilation of all humans and beast-kin”

She swiped her hand in front of her, resulting in a black void roaring into existence and spitting out an image. It fell lightly into the boy’s lap as he inspected it. It showed a picture of a young teenage male with ashen-colored hair and amethyst eyes.

“This guy's the savior? He looks like a total edgelord loser that got kicked out of school after acting suspiciously. He doesn't seem like a threat at all.”

He tossed the picture back to the dark goddess.

“On the surface, he's a foul-mouthed idiot that can cause even the purest of hearts to despise him. However, he has potential for tremendous growth—not only with his mentality, but with his abilities as well. He is already ruthless when it comes to slaying our kind, thanks to that goddess and her Skills, he is an even more dangerous foe. He has only been granted a gift from a goddess….as well as one of our own…”

“Someone like you assisted him? Why? It seems so illogical.”

“Why do you enjoy toying with the lives of young women? Is there sound logic behind what you do?”

She brushed his question by tossing out another.

“Because it interests me and because it’s fun, of course. No logic is required in the pursuit of entertainment.”

“The same is for us dark gods. We don’t yield to reason—no, we only do what entertains us. It sustains our immortal lives without having to rely on those religious fanatics that worship those fools in Heaven.”

“Riiiiight. So stopping this kid will be entertaining to you?”

She gazed at him, her eyes full of desire and greed. It was something the boy was quite fond of himself and could relate to with ease.

”I want nothing more than for the human world and their gods to fall into ruins, but it isn't always that simple. Anyways, I have said too much already. We must get you going.”

“What kind of assistance will you give me?”

“So you are on board, I assume?”

“I don’t think I have a choice in the matter, but this proposition seems to benefit both parties either way. You can count me on me to get the job done”

He leaned closer to her on his wooden chair, making it lightly creak with his strength while adjusting his glasses.

“You are just as wise as I thought you would be. We will get along great. What is the one thing you desire? If it is within my abilities, I will grant it to you.”

The boy rubbed his chin for a moment in thought. “Hmmmm…. Can I have two things, perhaps?”

“A greedy one, aren't you? But that's what I like about the corrupt young people of your world. Very well, I will hear you out. “

“First of all, I would like a companion to assist me on this slaughter quest.”

“Ah. You were aware he also had a companion and wanted to level the playing field, right? I did not expect this. You have truly surpassed my expectations.

But I really just wanted a companion to do my bidding and all the meticulous grunt work, he thought to himself.

“Of course, though I don’t know what species they are…”

“She is a bat beast-kin that knows a few handy Skills at the cost of her happiness. She has gotten the Savior out of a few predicaments already. You could say she is the main reason he is still breathing.”

The dark portal appeared once more, expelling another image into his lap. It was of a tan, purple-haired girl with black wings, fangs with an amalgamation of purple, pink and red colored eyes. The boy's heart pumped faster than it had in years.

She's so cute. She is definitely my type. There's so many tests I would like to do to a girl that is part-bat as well…

“I see, well then for the companion I would like….”

He leaned over and whispered in her ear like an excited child asking Santa for his Chris. The demon was shocked at first, but nodded soon after. “You truly are an interesting man. Lord Eternal should be able to help you with that. After all, you will be starting from his castle.”

“Great! And the other thing I want is a special Skill. I want [Skill Negation].”

“Come again?”

“It's the ability to negate any skill sent my way or used in my presence—even transformations. I want to nullify—destroy it—if you will.”

“Even though the majority of your enemies on the continent will be primarily magic and physical weapon users?”

The Savior doesn't use magic, correct?”

“Indeed, he doesn’t even possess a proper weapon last I checked.”

“Then that's all the reason I need.”

“Very well, it is done. And here, take this. It will allow you to check your status as well as observe the status of anyone around you. It also has a special feature that can be voice activated. I know how you modern humans enjoy everything being convenient. It will drain a majority of your mana, but in return, it will allow you to absorb any single spell or ability with a chance to reflect it or convert it into mana for your own use. I’m sure I don’t need to explain what mana is?”

“No, but I will use the power of science to unearth all its deepest secrets.”

“I like the sound of that. Now, here.”
A dark piece of armor clasped around his wrist. Engraved inside it was a golden holographic rectangle.

He lightly touched it with his pointer finger. It stuck out of the armored bracelet vertically, like one of those missile launchers on the back of a truck. He took one look at it and smiled, fully immersed in its design. The hologram displayed a larger projection of what it had just shown him.

“I also added a little bonus, courtesy of the Lord of Calamity, himself. With it, you can take the form of a medium-tier demon and gain bonuses depending on which Blessings of Tyranny you choose. You will also be allowed to visit the majority of the Lords of Tyranny and receive their blessing. If you are able to screw up the Savior’s journey or kill him, you will be greatly rewarded with riches beyond your wildest dreams.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

He took a look at his new apparent “status.”

[Name: Ivorn]—[Class: Destroyer]—[Level: 1]

[Skills:Blessing of the Dark God of Destruction (MAX), Skill Negation (RANK 0), Demon King Metamorphosis (RANK 0)]

[Status: Overly Excited]—[Attack: 50]—[Defense: 100]—[Magic: 250]

What could possibly be the power behind these holograms? Certainly magic couldn’t be it? That would be ludicrous. I must inquire further once I get my bearings, he thought.

“Hmm. No surname? That is something I haven't seen before in my Destroyers.”

He firmly shook his head.” I never had a family. I got my name from a children's book in the orphanage. No one there got a last name unless they were one of the lucky few ‘chosen ones’.

“How tragic,” she said in a sarcastically sat tone.

“It's alright. I never sweat the small stuff. I’m a genius, after all”

“Agreed. Moving that aside, though, your stats should be significantly higher than a normal level 1 human because of my Blessing. You could be on par with the Savior in no time with it.”

“That sounds good and all, but I want to be at a high enough level to obliterate him. I want to take his girl and grind him into nothingness. So, I'll bide my time. Either way, he will be no match for me when I decide to find him.”

“I look forward to it. My apologies, I haven't introduced myself yet; how rude of me. I am Morgala, a dark goddess of death and destruction. And you, Ivorn, are my newly appointed Destroyer.”

The young man stood up from his chair, his golden eyes gleaming like a hunter lurking in the darkness….and they had just found their prey.