The Underworld was an unforgiving place for those without status, power, or family to rely on. He had learned that long ago and He had none of the three.
The young devil crouched low behind the jagged remains of a crumbling rock formation, his breaths ragged, his body covered in dirt, sweat, and dried blood. His dark purple hair clung to his forehead, the uneven strands soaked with grime. His mismatched eyes—one a piercing silver and the other a deep crimson—scanned the dimly lit cavern. The howls of daemon beasts echoed through the darkness, but they were the least of his concerns.
He had been betrayed.
Again.
The hunting party he had joined, a group of low-class devils struggling to scrape together enough magic stones and beast materials to survive, had abandoned him. Left for dead the moment things went south. It wasn't the first time. He had always found a way to survive and return alive.
But this time, he wasn't sure he'd make it out alive.
His body ached from wounds, and his magic reserves were nearly empty. Without any backing to learn magic, he had spent years honing his physical strength just to survive, but against a pack of daemon beasts, with even a Mid-class Beast, just his strength wouldn't be enough. His vision blurred as exhaustion gnawed at the edges of his consciousness. If he passed out now, he'd never wake up again. Dying alone, betrayed.
He let out a humorless laugh. What a life he had lived.
Loneliness and betrayal were things he had long gotten used to.
His thoughts drifted back to the past to his first betrayal, to the woman who had abandoned him at the age of seven. His mother. A devil of noble lineage, but not from any current well-known clans that held actual power in the Underworld. She had once given up everything for love, forsaking her status to be with his father, a low-class devil. Only for his father to leave her, never to be seen again.
She had blamed him. Hated him. In a desperate bid to regain her place in her clan, she had cast him aside, throwing him into the wild like discarded trash. And so, he had learned the harsh truth of the world, power and status dictated everything. Without them, he was nothing. No one.
A low growl snapped him back to reality. The daemon beasts were closing in. His hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms. He had survived too much to die like this.
Luckily fate had other plans.
A scream rang out through the cavern, of one of his former companions. The fool had lingered too close, trying to loot a body prematurely. A massive daemon beast had torn into him, crushing his leg in its maw. Blood pooled beneath him as he writhed in agony.
"Please... help me!" the man sobbed, desperation seeping into his voice. "I'll give you anything! Anything!"
The man cried out to him, Marcus if he remembered correctly, was one of the men who had so happily agreed to toss him and others as bait.
Looking at him, suffering like that should not have brought him this much joy, but seeing he may die at any moment he'd take whatever source of joy before he was torn apart.
He had already started to accept his fate when something happened.
Something within him stirred.
His body burned, and his mind ignited with clarity. A voice, no, a force, whispered to him, offering him a deal of his own. Power surged through his veins, flooding every cell with an intoxicating strength unlike anything he had ever felt before.
A single word surfaced in his mind: MetaEssence.
His mismatched eyes glowed with newfound intensity. He stepped forward, his exhaustion gone, his body revitalized even if only a little. His voice was cold.
"Anything?" he repeated.
The dying devil frantically nodded. "Yes! Money, fame, anything, everything, just save me!"
A smirk curled on his lips. "I accept your offer."
The moment the words left his mouth, He felt an invisible force wrapped around the desperate devil, and Himself, binding Them in ethereal chains. The deal.
He moved quietly, Making sure that the beasts didn't hear him, The Mid-class was still deeper in the carven, it had not pursued them, probably waiting for the weaker beast to bring the kill to it after they had killed them.
And for that he was grateful, against a High-Mid class he was powerless but these weaker ones he could deal with. well on a normal day anyways, as he was now he had to be extra careful even with the sudden boost of power he had just gotten.
It wasn't anything significant, just a little bit of magic back into his empty tank and a little of his wounds healed up but that was good enough for these three low-class beasts.
Picking up a stone he threw it towards the opposite side of the carven and the moment the beasts turned their heads he launched immediately without hesitation. He had learned long ago that if you hesitate even for a moment you're as good as gone.
Using his broken dagger, he stabbed the first one in the eye, before throwing sand and stones into the other's eye and kicking the last one in the head, he reached into his pouch an pulled out his last potion, an acid potion and chucked it into the second beast mouth as it roared trying to shake the sand out of it's eye.
It immediately started to choke and burn through, he focused on the first, pulling out his dagger dodging the claw swipe and running towards the last beasts that stood back up after the kick an raised his left hand at it, using one of the few spells he knew.
A fireball.
It wasn't anything powerful but it was enough to wound the beast as he jumped and came down on the head hard and fast with his dagger ending the beast and rolling away to avoid the jaws of the first beast.
He stood, facing his foe, the wounded beast glared at him with its one eye. fury and hunger shining in it's eye.
He stood tensed as he backed up little by little before the beast lunged at him, rolling to the side he called upon his magic again, this time aiming at the ground.
Blasting it, causing a dust cloud, blocking the view of the beast as he lunged at it from the side, dagger gleaning as it pierced the beast at the side.
Howling it tried to claw his face off, dodging again he removed his blade and plunged it into its skull.
It swayed a little before falling to the ground.
Gasping and panting, he stood up to examine his work, making sure all three were dead before he moved to the fallen devil.
He didn't waste any time grabbing Marcus and hauling ass out of there as he felt the mid-class start to move.
It wasn't long before he had both of them out of the cavern and grabbing on of the emergency teleportation scrolls that he had hidden outside at the beginning of the mission just in case. It was something he had started to do when once in the past he was left alone and nearly died so he started to keep one somewhere close by like the entrance of the cave he avoided carrying all of his teleportation scrolls with him in case it got damaged like today.
He activated the scroll and in an instant, they were both teleported back to his home.
Dropping Marcus on the floor the instant they appeared in the room.
It wasn't anything special, a small room containing his things, one window, a bed, a table, and a single small bathroom.
It was an abandoned place, barely standing when he found it 5 years ago, and did his best to keep it standing over the years as he worked on it as time moved on. Now it was at least looking like a livable place compared to the rundown place he had found.
Dropping down on the bed from exhaustion, he looked at Marcus and couldn't help the giddiness.
"Now that we have escaped from what would have been quite a grusome death" He said cooly as he regarded the man "It's time to payup. I'm sure the excitement hasn't made you forget that you owe me".
"I don't know what you're talking about"
Marcus certainly seems to have found his second wind because the dude was clearly trying to play it out.
"Ohhh is that so. I remember someone saying they would give me anything If I saved them"
Marcus growled, "It doesn't mean anything".
This fool was injuried and out of magic and he thought he could scare him like this.
Sure if they were in top condition Marcus was stronger than him as a Low-Mid Class devil and him barely Mid-Low class but here, now, when this bastard was still looking like he had one foot in the grave.
He must think that despite being not at full condition he could take him.
'Well sorry for the poor sap but the moment he made the deal it was already Over'. He couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his mouth.
"Well, it doesn't matter if you remember or not. That deal was made and now I get to decide what I want from the 'anything' and what I want is....Everything" he finished coldly.
"You riches, your magic, your power, your very life, Everything".
With that, he felt a slight shift in his mind before the deal was activated.
He watched as Marcus' very essence was being stripped away—his power, his magic, his life force. All of it flowed into him, filling the void that had once been his empty reserves. The man's screams faded into silence as his body withered.
And he, the once weak devil, stood reborn.
Power. Power coursed through his veins.
For the first time in this miserable existence since his reincarnation, he had something to look forward to. A chance. A future.
What was once a future filled with hopelessness was now bright with possibilities,
He let out a slow exhale, his mind already working through the possibilities. He would never be powerless again.
And so, the devil who had been thrown away by his own blood took his first step toward a brighter future for himself.
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