I glanced over my shoulder. Isaac was already wrapping up his share of the lesser Devils, moving with lethal precision. Across the room, Arthur and Sera were also finishing their fight, though it looked like Arthur was taking his sweet time breaking every single bone in his targets' bodies before finishing them off.
Now I can finally focus on the Stele, I thought. Let's see what kind of memory I inherit this time.
I moved toward the floating Crown of Thorns. I jumped, flaring my Event Horizon beneath my feet to create a temporary, invisible platform of hardened space. Landing silently, I reached out and grabbed the dark, jagged artifact.
Immediately, a string of system information flashed across my vision. It felt ancient, entirely different from the standard prompts Kallisto usually provided:
[Pathway: One of the Seven Deadly Sins (Pride)]
[Tier: 3]
[Class: Fallen One]
[Ritual Requirement: Make someone stronger than yourself kneel before you.]
[Ether Catalyst Needed: Tier 3 Crystal]
Hmm. It seems the ritual is already complete, right, Kallisto?
[Notice: Affirmative. Although Raphael delivered the final blow to the King, you were the one who forced him to his knees. The conceptual conditions of the ritual have been met.]
Perfect. "Kallisto," I commanded mentally. "Consume the Stele as a Memory Fragment."
[Initiating absorption process...]
I braced myself, expecting a flood of epic visions—clashes between Gods and Angels, or a glimpse of the fallen Archangel I had seen previously. But nothing happened. Just an empty, hollow silence.
What happened, Kallisto?
[You have successfully consumed your second Memory Fragment.]
[If you are wondering why you did not experience a vision, it is because this specific fragment contained no lingering memories. It was merely a conceptual vessel.]
Oh. Okay, well... what now?
[Consume a Tier 3 Ether Crystal. Since your ritual is already complete, the catalyst will trigger your evolution to Tier 3: Fallen One.]
I didn't hesitate. I pulled one of the glowing purple Tier 3 crystals from my pocket and crushed it, absorbing its pure Ether directly into my core.
The moment the energy hit my bloodstream, an explosive surge of power washed over me. The memory of the King bowing before me flashed in my mind, synchronizing perfectly with the dark, empty vessel of the Stele I had just consumed. When my vision cleared, I was standing back on the invisible platform, feeling lighter but immensely more dense with power.
[Congratulations on reaching Tier 3.]
[Notice: Deleting the abilities 'Shadow Weave' and 'King's Aura' to forge a vessel for one of the Ten Unique Skills.]
Wait, what? A Unique Skill? And what do you mean you're deleting my abilities?!
[Acquired Unique Skill: Yog-Sothoth, The Omniscient Gate.]
[Primary Power: Absolute Calculation and Universal Knowledge.]
[Sub-Skills Unlocked:]
Thought Acceleration: Speeds up the user's cognitive processing by a million times.
Future Calculation: Predicts all possible attack trajectories and outcomes.
Gate Weaver: Allows instantaneous teleportation across any dimensional boundary.
I stared at the glowing blue text, utterly speechless. This... this is completely overpowered compared to my previous abilities.
[Affirmative. Unique Skills operate on a fundamentally higher conceptual level than standard Pathway powers. Because there are only ten in existence, your physical and spiritual vessel required the sacrifice of lesser abilities to safely anchor its sheer weight.]
A sacrifice for absolute power... yeah, that makes perfect sense, I thought, a vicious grin spreading beneath my mask.
[Additionally: Event Horizon has reached Level 3.]
[You can now utilize all three applications of Event Horizon simultaneously.]
[Warning: Unique Skills cannot be copied, but they can be usurped. If you are killed, the victor can physically claim the skill from your soul.]
I'll keep that in mind, I thought, a cold shiver running down my spine. The power was absolute, but it painted a massive target on my back.
"Hey, Luci! What are you doing up there? We're done here!" Isaac shouted across the chamber, pulling me from my thoughts.
I let the invisible spatial platform dissipate and landed gracefully on the stone floor. I walked over to Sera and tossed him the Crown of Thorns. Since I had already extracted the Memory Fragment and used the completion of the ritual to advance to Tier 3, the Stele was just an empty vessel to me now.
Sera caught the jagged crown effortlessly. His amber eyes flickered as his Pathway system analyzed the artifact.
"Hmm... One of the Seven Deadly Sins," Sera read aloud, his gaze shifting from the dark thorns directly to me. He smiled—a knowing, sharp expression that made it clear he understood exactly what I had just done.
I simply nodded, neither confirming nor denying it. I let him keep his assumptions.
"Let's go see about that cocoon now, shall we?" Sera said, turning his attention away from me and back toward the grand iron doors.
As we regrouped and began walking back toward the cathedral nave, I reopened my mental link.
Kallisto.
[Yes.]
Where do these Unique Skills actually originate from?
[The Sea of Concepts.]
Sigh. Is literally everything born from the Sea of Concepts?
[Yes. Maybe. Who knows?]
Stop giving me that vague answer.
[If you want the absolute truth: No. Living species such as Humans, Elves, Beastkin, and Dragons are biological entities born of the physical realm. However, all magic, Pathways, Artifacts, and Unique Skills are conceptual anomalies birthed directly from the Sea.]
That's more like it, I mused. So, tell me something else. How much absolute authority do I have over my Cenotaph? Could someone break into my domain and steal the Tier 6 Spindle... or my new Unique Skill?
[Your authority over the Cenotaph is high, but it is not absolute. Your domain can still be breached.]
What? Breached? How?
[High-Tier Awakened—specifically those specializing in Soul, Mind, or Conceptual Manipulation—could theoretically bypass your defenses and force their way into your Cenotaph. Even if they cannot wield the full power of a Sin, they could steal your stored artifacts or exert control over your domain.]
I frowned, my new Thought Acceleration already processing the terrifying implications of that weakness.
So I need to be extremely careful around anyone with mind-control or soul-manipulation powers.
[Affirmative.]
When we reached the grand iron doors and pushed them open, the massive, pulsating dark cocoon was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, sitting upon a throne woven from absolute darkness, was the very Devil we had been hunting. The hibernation was over.
"Did he complete his ritual?" Isaac asked, his voice tight as he gripped his sword.
"It seems so," I replied, my eyes locked on the creature.
"Be ready to fight," Arthur rumbled. He immediately took the vanguard position, his draconic aura flaring to life. We were standing at the top of the grand staircase, looking down at the newly evolved Demon Lord in the lower hall. At the very least, we had the high ground.
Then, the creature spoke. His voice was a foul, grating resonance that felt like scraping rusted iron against bone.
"Humans are such weak, pathetic creatures," the Demon Lord sneered, his grotesque features twisting into a mockery of a smile. "Yet, they love to claim everything in this world as their own. Even the almighty elves, who can survive for a thousand years, do not possess the sheer arrogance of humanity."
He leaned forward on his throne of shadows. "But as you can see, the very humans who infested this island were nothing more than livestock to me. Even those foolish pirates who thought they could harness my power... they were all just pawns, consumed for my ascension."
He stood up, his oppressive aura flooding the room. "So tell me... who do you think is truly the lesser being? Me, or your fragile kind? Of course, it is—"
"Hey, bastard! You talk way too much!" Isaac shouted, completely cutting off the villain's grand monologue.
I couldn't help but give a little smile. The sheer irony of Isaac—the guy who literally never shut up—telling someone else they talked too much was almost comedic. Bro, you should really look in a mirror sometime, I thought to myself, drawing Bad News from its holster.