Location: Floor 1 - The Outland Dungeon Exit
Sofia Vileblood stared at the massive, heavily reinforced stone doors that marked the absolute boundary of the Outland Dungeon. Then, she slowly turned her head, looking back at the colossal, jagged tunnel that stretched vertically upward, vanishing into the unfathomable depths of the earth.
"Kyouya," Sofia said, her voice laced with aristocratic disbelief. "How exactly did we arrive at Floor 1? I was within your soul partition for exactly seventy-two hours. Walking up ninety-nine floors of a legendary dungeon takes months."
Kyouya leaned against the stone wall, casually dusting off his dark suit. He pointed a finger straight up at the ragged, perfectly circular hole punched through the ceiling.
"Walking is for people who care about dungeon mechanics," Kyouya smirked. "While Nova was busy analyzing you, I needed to get to the exit. So, I just flew straight up. Used my skills to blast a vertical tunnel through every single floor."
Sofia blinked. "What about the floor bosses? The abyssal guardians?"
"Oh, they ran away," Kyouya chuckled. "I had Nova broadcast a copied fragment of your [Demon Lord Aura]. The moment the monsters felt you coming up the elevator shaft, they practically scrambled over each other to hide in the corners. Turns out, your reputation is an excellent crowd-control tactic."
Sofia sighed, shaking her head. This boy operated on a level of disrespect for the world's laws that was frankly astounding. But there was a pressing issue.
"My aura is a beacon," Sofia noted, looking at her hands. "The moment we step outside, the Church's detection wards across the continent will scream that the Demon Lord has surfaced."
"Not anymore," Kyouya replied, tapping his temple. "Through [Absolute Gluttony], we’ve effectively spoofed your mana signature. To the world's System, you register as a high-level, undefined anomaly, but not a demon. Furthermore, historical texts never recorded your actual name. They just call you the 'Blood-Drenched Demon Lord' or 'Crimson Sovereign.' So, you can introduce yourself as Sofia Vileblood, and nobody will bat an eye."
"Convenient," Sofia noted. "And you?"
"Kyouya Kusanagi sounds too foreign for this continent," he said. He opened his status window, swiping through the interface. "Nova, execute the alias protocol."
[System Update: Concealment Skill Level: ERROR]
[True Name: Kyouya Kusanagi (Hidden)]
[Alias Registered: Cain Ashford]
"From now on, call me Cain. Cain Ashford," he declared, adjusting his cuffs. He then stepped closer to her, his expression turning deadly serious. "But Sofia, listen to me. There’s a side effect from copying your skills. I absorbed [Hunger for Slaughter]."
Sofia’s eyes narrowed. "That is a reactive curse. It triggers violent bloodlust."
"Specifically, it triggers when I hear the name 'Goddess Kamiya' spoken by humans," Kyouya, now Cain, explained. "Nova has established a firewall block on it in my internal System, so I shouldn't go on a sudden murder spree. But it's an Error-tier skill. I can't guarantee it won't leak. Just... be aware of it."
With a heavy push, Cain shoved the massive stone doors open.
Brilliant, blinding sunlight poured into the dungeon for the first time in millennia. The scent of salt, ocean brine, and fresh vegetation washed over them. As their eyes adjusted, they stepped out onto a pristine beach.
They were on an island. Surrounded by the endless, sparkling expanse of the Azure Ocean. There were no ports, no fishing villages, no ships. Just dense jungle and crashing waves.
"Well," Sofia deadpanned, her crimson cape blowing in the sea breeze. "This is a tactical oversight. We cannot fly across the entire ocean, Cain. Even if your MP is an infinite System Error, your physical vessel still relies on stamina. Flying consumes vast amounts of physical endurance. You will pass out halfway to the Eastern Continent and drown us both."
"Then we build a ship," Cain said simply.
Sofia didn't even look surprised. After living in his memories for three days and watching him casually break reality, building a ship from scratch seemed mundane.
<Host,> Nova’s voice suddenly chimed in Cain's mind. <I believe it is prudent to inform you. Due to the symbiotic link during the partition, Entity: Sofia Vileblood possessed full viewing access to your internal memoryscape. She has witnessed your past on Earth.>
The atmosphere around Cain instantly plummeted to absolute zero.
The sound of the crashing waves seemed to mute. The air grew dense, suffocating, and terrifyingly cold. Cain turned to face Sofia, his golden-ringed eyes practically glowing with a defensive, hostile edge. His casual demeanor was instantly replaced by the aura of a cornered predator.
"How much?" Cain asked, his voice a low, dangerous whisper. "Did you see all of it?"
Sofia met his hostile gaze with absolute, unbothered calm. She didn't summon her magic or back away. She simply looked at him with that same, melancholic understanding she had shown him earlier.
"I saw enough," Sofia said softly. "I saw the boy who baked cakes to survive. I saw the loneliness. We are bound together now, Kyouya. No, I mean Cain. If we are to survive this world and whatever games that false Goddess is playing, we must be trustworthy to one another. You know the trauma of my past because you tasted my blood and soul. It is only fair that I know yours."
Cain stared at her for a long, tense moment. His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. Slowly, the terrifying pressure in the air dissipated. He let out a long, shuddering exhale, running a hand through his dark hair.
"Fair enough," he muttered, looking away toward the ocean. "But don't bring it up again."
"Deal," Sofia smiled faintly. "Now, Architect Ashford, how exactly are we building a ship on a deserted island?"
Cain cracked his neck, his mind instantly shifting gears. "We're building a steamship. Magic-powered vessels draw too much attention from naval patrols. A steam engine is loud, but it blends in with the industrial tech of the Sunderland Nation, which is exactly where we are heading."
He opened his [Infinite Inventory] interface. "I absorbed a massive amount of raw materials while eating my way through the dungeon, and Nova synthesized the rest. We have tons of high-grade coal, cast iron for the engine blocks, wrought iron for the hull fittings, and plenty of brass and copper for the pipes and boiler."
He pointed to the dense jungle behind them. "For the hull, we need timber. Nova already scanned the island. There’s a massive grove of ancient Oak trees about a mile inland. Perfect for a sturdy, medium-sized hull. We'll rig it with a foremast and a mainmast to utilize the wind and conserve coal."
"And the sails?" Sofia asked.
"Wild hemp," Cain answered, his eyes gleaming with engineering excitement. "The island is covered in it. I'll use wind magic to harvest the oak and hemp, use [Absolute Gluttony] to refine the iron ore, compress the wood to industrial standards, forge the boiler, and weave the canvas simultaneously."
Sofia stared at him. The sheer volume of technical jargon, boilers, cast iron, steam mechanics, structural rigging, hit her ancient, magical brain like a physical blow. Her eyes scrunched up into adorable, confused >< shapes, her head actually spinning.
"I... I feel dizzy," Sofia murmured, rubbing her temples.
Cain looked at the terrifying Demon Lord, currently defeated by the concept of an industrial revolution. He let out a fond sigh.
"Just sit on that rock," Cain pointed to a smooth boulder near the beach. "Sit there, look pretty, and watch me work."
Location: Valerius Capital City - The Grand Cathedral Depths
Miles beneath the pristine white streets of the Capital, the atmosphere was a suffocating void. The deep cells of the Grand Cathedral were lined with Blackstone—a rare mineral that completely absorbed and nullified all ambient mana.
Inside the central cell, General Vane hung suspended by his wrists, the golden, anti-magic chains searing deeply into his flesh.
Lucius stood perfectly straight in front of him, his silver-and-gold armor gleaming faintly in the dim torchlight. Behind Lucius stood four heavily armored Cathedral Guards, their spears at the ready.
"Year 366," Lucius spoke, his voice echoing beautifully but coldly against the damp stone walls. "You were summoned as the Vanguard of the Shield. You fought alongside three others. You cleared three major abyssal gates. And then, at the siege of the Crimson Plains, you turned your greatsword on your own party. You slaughtered them, and you walked into the Demon Lord's domain."
Vane slowly raised his head. His remaining abyssal eye glowed faintly, staring at the divine incarnate with profound exhaustion. He didn't speak.
"Why?" Lucius asked. "What catalyst drove a Hero of Justice to massacre his own kin?"
Silence stretched through the cell. Vane simply closed his eye.
"The man is stubborn as a mule, Lord Lucius," one of the guards muttered, stepping forward. "Perhaps we should utilize the inquisitor's tools to loosen his tongue..."
Lucius didn't speak. He simply turned his head, fixing his celestial blue eyes on the guard. There was no anger in Lucius’s gaze, no threat. Only an absolute, horrifying emptiness that made the guard's soul instinctively scream in terror.
The guard instantly paled, taking three rapid steps backward. "A-Apologies, my Lord! We will wait outside!"
The four guards practically scrambled over each other to exit the cell, slamming the heavy iron door behind them.
Lucius turned back to Vane. "I do not require torture to find the truth. I simply require an answer. What did the Demon Lord show you? What twisted magic or false promise made you change your allegiance?"
A low, raspy chuckle escaped Vane's cracked lips. The sound echoed eerily in the cell.
"The Demon Lord?" Vane coughed, spitting a glob of dark blood onto the stone floor. "I have never met the Demon Lord, boy. In all my decades in the Abyss, not once did the sovereign grant me an audience."
Lucius’s perfectly smooth brow twitched slightly—a microscopic crack in his divine facade. "If you had no master guiding you, then why did you betray humanity?"
Vane looked up, locking his gaze with the Chosen One.
"Because I looked past the System," Vane whispered, his voice trembling with a dark, terrible certainty. "I saw the strings attached to our souls. I saw what happens to the Heroes when they fulfill their purpose. I didn't betray humanity, boy. I betrayed Her."
Vane leaned forward against the burning chains, a manic smile spreading across his face.
"The Goddess Kamiya is not a Goddess," Vane stated, the words hanging in the air like a lethal poison. "She is a parasite. And you, her perfect little sword, are the blindest of us all."
For the first time in over a century, a deep, unsettling wave of unease washed through Lucius’s core. The emotion was so foreign, so deeply suppressed by his divine blessing, that he didn't know how to process it.
Lucius abruptly turned on his heel. "Your mind is broken by abyssal corruption. You will face the executioner at dawn."
As Lucius walked out of the cell, Vane’s hollow laughter chased him into the dark corridor.
"Run away, Chosen One!" Vane taunted, his voice echoing off the stone. "Keep escaping the truth! But when She pulls your strings, you'll remember my words!"
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