Birth

The Bottomless Abyss, the gathering place of all evil in the Multiverse, was also the opposite of all kindness, beauty, and innocence.

This was an evil land where friendship, familial love, and romance did not exist—only betrayal, slaughter, and destruction.

The Primordial Sea of Demons lay within the Bottomless Abyss. It could also be called the Styx, running through the endless planes of the Bottomless Abyss. It represented ultimate death and symbolized the most fundamental cornerstone of the Multiverse. It devoured everything that approached it; even gods would be consumed completely if they touched its bright red waters. Yet it was also the birthplace of demons, where countless demons were born.

Scarlet radiance shone down from the several scarlet celestial bodies in the sky, illuminating the boundless riverbank.

As the Styx's tide slowly receded, countless eggs were left behind.

They were roughly half a person's height, their shells covered in either scarlet or black patterns. As time passed, they continuously expanded and contracted, like the most primitive and savage fetal movements. If one listened carefully, one could even hear the creatures within roaring.

A consciousness gradually awakened inside one of the eggs.

"Kill, kill... hungry... kill."

"Who... am I...?"

Reason gradually suppressed the wildness of instinct. Chaotic memories converged in his mind, seemingly belonging to someone named Li Ye.

They were incomplete, fragmented and intermittent, somewhat like a third-person perspective, as though he had watched a movie in full.

But the movie had nothing distinctive about it. It was entirely ordinary and mediocre, with nothing worth mentioning and no qualities that could make anyone nostalgic.

The newborn existence instinctively rejected such a life. It was as though it was telling him that everything about him had been meaningless.

Just then, a voice echoed from the depths of his soul:

Your true name: Stuart. Ogarisa. Asalon... Kelifor. Orsaga.

At the same time, the Inheritance Memory belonging to demons flooded into his mind.

A long time later.

"I... am not Li Ye. I am Stuart. Ogarisa. Asalon... Kelifor. Orsaga!!!"

"I am a demon!!!"

A pair of slender, barbed Claws pierced through the shell of the Demon Egg amid roars and shouts.

Li Ye—or rather, Stuart. Ogarisa. Asalon... Kelifor. Orsaga—crawled out from within, becoming the first individual to hatch among this batch of Demon Eggs.

He stood 1.4 meters tall. His head looked somewhat like a fusion of a human and a wolf, with long fangs made for tearing flesh apart. His eyes had neither whites nor pupils; his entire eyeballs were Blood Red. His limbs allowed him to walk upright like a human, but he had only three fingers, all covered in scales and barbs, with exceptionally sharp fingertips. His short tail swished behind him like a whip, and its sharp, coldly gleaming tip made it clear that it was no mere decoration.

Looking at the celestial bodies in the sky, he gritted his teeth. "I, Orsaga, will never live out my life in mediocrity..."

A true name represented the Foundation of Existence of a demon. It was everything they were!

Only the demon itself could know its true name. Once it was fully exposed, it would become the most fatal weakness possible, leaving its life and death in another's hands. Thus, demons could only choose a portion of it to use as a name.

The word Orsaga that he had chosen meant black sky in Demonic Language.

Hunger surged through him, and his stomach acid felt as though it were about to corrode even his stomach lining.

Turning his gaze toward the eggshell at his feet, Orsaga's Demonic Instinct told him to eat it. It was his first meal.

Orsaga did not resist. Though the memories of his former human self found it somewhat unsettling, he knew perfectly well that he had to do it.

So he tore apart the shell and ate it piece by piece. As he did so, the scales covering his body, which had been somewhat soft due to his recent birth, gradually hardened as though they had undergone a transformation.

Before he could recover from the sensation of becoming stronger, a voice sounded beside his ear.

The Evolution System has been activated: Thank you for using it!

A line of information also appeared at the corner of his vision.

Host: Stuart. Ogarisa. Asalon... Kelifor. Orsaga

Race/Level: Demon Race/Infant Demon

Strength: 5 (5)

Speed: 6 (5)

Constitution: 5 (5)

Magic Power: 6 (5)

Soul: 8 (5)

Talents: Soul Devour Evolution (evolve autonomously by continuously devouring souls), Slaughter Evolution (evolve autonomously through continuous battle and slaughter), Combat Instinct (innately possesses an extremely strong talent for combat)

Skills: None

Evolution Points: 0

Note: The values in parentheses are the standard levels of a normal newborn Infant Demon. Every additional point increases the current attribute by one-fifth. For example, 6 points is one-fifth stronger than 5 points, and 7 points is one-fifth stronger than 6 points. The increase is percentage-based.

Looking at these things, he immediately understood what they represented thanks to the memories of his Previous Life. He muttered, "A system? A Golden Finger??"

His speed and magic power were relatively high, likely because this body was more gifted in those two aspects. As for his soul having a strength of 8, that was probably due to the fusion of a human soul and a demon soul.

When he focused his attention on it, a stream of information entered his mind. It was the system's operating guide.

After spending some time absorbing it, he understood the purpose of the Evolution System.

It converted the energy of slain life forms into Evolution Points to strengthen oneself!

A trace of delight flashed through his eyes, but then he thought of Slaughter Evolution. Was that not a demon's instinct?

Did he really need this system meddling with it?

Wanting to test it out, he first turned off the system's absorption and conversion functions. He then walked over to another egg, picked up a large stone, and smashed it down hard, breaking through the shell and exposing the underdeveloped demon inside.

Despite its condition, the underdeveloped demon did not die. It struggled desperately instead, glaring viciously at Orsaga.

Expressionless, Orsaga threw a punch and smashed its head apart, killing it instantly.

Using a demon's Talent Abilities, he seized hold of the other demon's intangible soul. Then, picking up its corpse, a fierce glint flashed through Orsaga's eyes as he began to feed.

The shrieking soul and scarlet flesh became his nourishment, building his foundation.

As he ate, he felt it strengthening him. It was a demon's Talent Abilities: evolving oneself through slaughter and devouring souls.

After finishing, he picked up the stone again and smashed it toward another egg.

Unlike before, he activated the system's absorption and conversion functions this time.

The process was exactly the same as before, except he did not feel even the slightest bit stronger.

However, the Evolution Points interface within the system had increased to 15 points.

Ten points had come from devouring the soul, while the remaining five came from consuming Blood Food. In other words, the soul made up the larger share.

Closing his eyes, he evenly distributed those 15 Evolution Points among his various attributes and silently made a comparison.

Not long afterward, the enhancement ended. He opened his eyes, delight appearing within them.

The system's conversion efficiency was roughly twenty times that of a demon's innate talents!

This meant that given the same resources, he would grow at least twenty times faster than other demons. It was something an ordinary demon could not even dream of. And beyond simply improving physical attributes and soul strength, the system's more important function was using Evolution Points to evolve all kinds of abilities.

The number of Evolution Points required varied depending on the strength of the ability.

Thinking of this, he could not help turning his gaze toward the other Demon Eggs. Orsaga understood that they were the first fortune of his demonic life.

He remembered clearly that when he had first been born, the eggs on the riverbank had been quiet. But now, some of them were already making strange noises without stopping. That was a sign that the bodies within were nearing maturity. Before long, new "siblings" would likely be born.

Moved by the scene before him, Orsaga set the system so that half the Evolution Points gained each time would automatically strengthen his body and soul, while the other half would be kept in reserve. Then, clutching the stone, he began smashing the eggs one by one, from near to far.

Even after gaining intelligence, demons had no sense of kinship. Infant Demons, who possessed no intelligence and only wild instinct, had even less. Only the strong could leave this riverbank and reach other layers of the abyss. The unqualified would either become stepping stones for other demons or be remade when the Styx rose again. There was no third option.

Crack!

Crack!

Sounds like eggs being smashed began to echo from this corner of the riverbank. The Demon Eggs around him seemed to sense the danger and began to stir restlessly as well.

Orsaga did not choose to devour the demons' flesh. Eating physical flesh bite by bite was too slow; it took several minutes to finish one, seriously reducing his efficiency. So he chose to keep the greater and discard the lesser, taking only the demons' souls.

Intangible souls could be squeezed into balls and swallowed whole, one after another. It was wonderfully convenient!

Though he used only half the Evolution Points to strengthen himself, Orsaga could still clearly feel himself growing stronger bit by bit as his slaughter continued. The stones that had required both hands to lift not long ago could now be carried two at a time in one hand. That indescribably wonderful feeling began to consume him.

The bloodiness in his eyes unconsciously deepened. The humanity of his past was gradually being worn away by the Slaughter Instinct of an Abyss Demon. Orsaga had already noticed it, but he had no particular thoughts about it. He was now an Abyss Demon. Brutality might influence his personality, but it would not affect his reason. It was part of what it meant to be a demon.

Unlike Flesh and Blood Life such as humans, just as slaughter was a foundational component of demons, emotions such as brutality, greed, and destruction were also among Orsaga's primary components. His very existence contained a small part of the endless evil within the Multiverse.

There was no remaining pure despite emerging from the mud. He was the mud. He was evil!