Mictlantecuhtli let out a brief sigh as he stared into the infinite void that overwheld him. Up was black, down was the sa, and the only difference in the endless abyss was the single golden ray of light that shimred faintly in the distance. It beckoned him, almost as if it held all the answers to the questions that had been plaguing him.
Taking a deep breath, Mictlantecuhtli began to walk, his skeletal feet barely making a sound against the shifting, cold surface beneath him. The ground felt like water, fluid yet solid enough to stand on, an impossible contradiction fitting for the Lord of the Dead. He moved closer to the portal, but before he could cross its threshold, a voice echoed from the darkness, halting him in his tracks.
**[Why did you let that runt kill you so easily?]**
The voice was deep, resonating with an ancient power that seed to challenge the very void itself. Mictlantecuhtli smirked, the grin spreading across his skeletal face, a dangerous glint flickering in his hollow eyes. He had tried his best to hide the truth—he had allowed Axel to win. But now, it seed the ga was up.
"What's it to you?" he sneered, turning slightly toward the source of the voice. "Did you expect to crush him? To destroy him over and over, until his humanity was nothing but a fading mory? That's not my role." His voice, though calm, carried an undertone of defiance.
The being, still hidden in the shadows, let out a low, guttural growl. **[You have no idea what you've done. By sparing him, you've dood him to a fate worse than death.]**
Mictlantecuhtli's grin widened, a dark amusent playing on his features. "Dood him? You speak as if the worst is yet to co." His skeletal feet scraped against the watery darkness, each step slow and deliberate as he moved toward the golden light. "I am the ruler of the undead. I choose who is worthy of my appraisal, and that boy has suffered enough.
He has earned my favor, though that does not an I hand out gifts freely."
As he neared the light, the abyss seed to ripple, the voice becoming more insistent. **[He isn't ready. By making it easy on him, you've left him vulnerable to forces far greater than you or I can control.]**
Mictlantecuhtli paused, his eyes narrowing as he considered the words. "Perhaps," he murmured, more to himself than to the voice. "But just because he has gained power from the shadows does not an he is destined to be consud by them. I see more in him than you do." Without another word, he stepped into the golden light, leaving the voice to echo behind him, a lingering threat in the darkness.
---
**Axel's eyes widened as he read the notification:**
**[You have lost all will to lie.]**
**[You can no longer lie. Your mouth must speak the truth, and you have lost a small portion of your rationality.]**
A twisted smile ford on his lips, though his mind raced with dread. _How will I survive without lying?_ he wondered, a cold sweat breaking out across his skin. Lying had been his shield, his way of navigating through a world full of deceit and danger. Without it, he felt exposed, vulnerable.
The next notification flashed in front of him.
**[You have permanently activated your Job Class – Cursed Devourer.]**
**[Price of twenty years out of user's life has been paid.]**
Axel's heart skipped a beat. Twenty years. The cost felt staggering, far more than what he had expected when he had made the desperate choice in the heat of battle. He swallowed hard, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. _Life cheats at every corner._
He quickly dismissed the notification, moving to the next one, which appeared more promising:
**[You have gained rewards. Choose to equip them.]**
**[You have found the Smile of a God and have been granted three wishes.]**
Axel's breath caught in his throat. _Three wishes?_ His mind raced, a flood of possibilities overwhelming him. His first thought was imdiate, visceral: he could bring back his mother, heal her from the brink of death, maybe even save his father.
"I—" Axel hesitated, his tongue heavy in his mouth as he struggled to form the words. But sothing in the back of his mind scread at him to pause. Three wishes, without boundaries, without limits, ca at a price. Nothing was ever truly free.
His eyes narrowed at the notification, suspicion creeping in.
"I wish my mother recovers permanently and..."
The system interrupted him with a cold, chanical response.
**[One wish has been processed. Now to your next wish.]**
Axel froze, realizing with a jolt that the system had stopped him before he could make the second part of his wish. _It knows what I'm thinking._ He clenched his fists, feeling the weight of his decisions pressing down on him. Each wish held unimaginable power, but with it ca the terrifying uncertainty of what it might cost.
He needed to be careful. Very careful.
Axel spoke again, his voice quieter this ti. "What is the price of the wishes?"
The system responded without hesitation:
**[Each wish cos with a great price.]**
**[A great calamity will befall you, affecting everyone around you. You will lose your humanity for one, and for another, you will beco the thing you fear the most.]**
His blood ran cold. Axel stood frozen, the weight of the words crashing over him. He had never expected such a steep cost. Still, could he really turn back now? His family—his mother—was at stake. But the price...
losing his humanity, becoming what he feared most...
Taking a deep breath, Axel made his final two wishes. The system accepted them without further comnt, and within monts, another notification appeared, signaling his return to the mortal realm.
---
Axel materialized in an alley, but it wasn't the sa alley he had left. This one was larger, darker, the walls grimy with age and neglect. Confusion tugged at him as he surveyed his surroundings, his mind spinning. He was sowhere unfamiliar, sowhere... wrong.
Ahead of him was a bar. He frowned, feeling a strange pull toward it. The neon sign flickered weakly, casting a dull glow over the entrance. Axel hesitated, his hand lingering on the cold, tal knob before he slowly turned it and stepped inside.
The bar was dimly lit, reeking of stale alcohol and smoke. His eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom, scanning the room for anything familiar. And then he saw him—Rowin, sitting alone at a table littered with empty bottles. But sothing about him was off. Rowin's eyes, normally sharp and calculating, were glazed over, hollow. It was as though he hadn't drunk a drop, yet his soul seed shattered.
"Axel," Rowin muttered, his voice low and shaky, barely audible over the din of the bar.
Axel's heart skipped a beat. Why had the system brought him here, to Rowin of all people? The sense of unease only deepened as he walked toward his old comrade, his footsteps muffled by the thick tension in the air. Axel waved cautiously. "Hi, Rowin."
As he reached the table, the atmosphere seed to shift, a palpable heaviness settling over them both. Sothing was wrong. Axel could feel it, a growing dread in the pit of his stomach.
"You've missed too much, Axel," Rowin whispered, his voice trembling as his eyes finally t Axel's. There was sothing dark in his gaze, sothing that sent a chill crawling down Axel's spine.
***Author's plead***
If you have been enjoying the story till now, please gift dragon or magic castle. Or anything you can give freely I don't have anything of value to than my books. Please give it value. (Begging sincerely.)
Thanks for reading. Really appreciated
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