"The Lockwood Station should be..."
Damon had just made his way across the entire town.
There it stood, the only reason this place was even called a Town instead of a Village.
The place was especially empty, with one extra large sturdy platform made to accommodate even Magical Beasts. As for the rails, they were more bloodstains than metal.
Near the tracks, a sign reminding him of old-school RPGs welcomed him...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Cap Town ← Pallet Town → Amber City!
Please Get Your Ticket Ready!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
If anything, the place seemed really quiet, a little too quiet, perhaps...
"What's the point of hiding? Come on out already. I can hear your breathing from miles away. " Damon suddenly uttered as he stood still. He had known for a while, but only now did he deign to expose his stalker.
"?!?"
A certain shadow by the road trembled, a cat coming out of it.
As it stepped forward, its tiny limbs could barely support its weight. Even now, it remembered the scene of Damon casually holding a still-beating heart, and facing a God. But taking its courage with both paws, it stood before Damon, who sized it up.
"Still here? Shouldn't you be with those thugs?"
The cat knew that this human was DANGEROUS... but it also knew that this meeting was the opportunity of a lifetime. Thus, it resolved itself and...
"MIAOW!" It was a cry that came from its very soul.
"You want to follow me?"
Never had a cat nodded its head with such passion. Was it a cat or a bobblehead?! Seeing this, Damon gazed at the creature, his Abyss-like eyes landing on it. As the cat started trembling with even more passion, Damon slowly enunciated with complete calm.
"Endless struggles. Eternal despair. The most pitiful death. That's all I'll bring you. Give it up. Be a cat." Damon murmured, yet his words felt thunderous in the deadly quiet atmosphere. It was a clear and complete rejection!
Hearing this, the cat's expression changed as its head hung low.
At first, it began as self-doubt, but then it quickly morphed into something else.
Why? Why did it have to be like this?! So what if it was a puny cat?! Would it forever have to scavenge for scraps? NO: It couldn't accept that! Suddenly, it felt a fire rise from its tiny body, one that kept growing until it couldn't hold it anymore!
"Miaow... Miaow... MIAOW!" What started as a weak plea of indignation quickly turned into a roar of anger. So what if it was merely a cat? It still had its Pride! At this moment, the cat disappeared.
All that remained was the Fortune Neko, a role it had played to perfection in the last weeks. Fear was replaced by Pride, the Pride of a weakling facing the strong and still refusing to bow down! Heaving and puffing, it gave one last boiling look at the human...
The human. He was smiling.
"?!?"
Damon chuckled, pointing at the critter's defiant eyes. This was something he could use! "This Flame. Never let it extinguish." Then, without a word, he resumed walking, leaving an utterly stunned cat behind. The thing was so expressive that Damon could almost hear its thoughts.
Flame? What Flame?! It had to be a good thing, right? It wouldn't just grow even stronger and turn it into a barbecued cat, right?! But just as its small cat brain was about to overheat from the new information, Damon brought it back to its senses.
"What are you waiting for? You coming? It's almost here...." Damon focused on the train tracks. In the distance, he could already hear their ride's powerful lamentations.
— ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! —
The blaring of the horn came first.
This thing imitated the roar of a Silver Behemoth: the true overlords of the Blue Zone! In fact, countless Tamers and Monsters had fallen to them.
Then came the rumbling, the very platform beneath their feet shaking.
The tracks grunted from the stress, the thing approaching them built like a tank, and HEAVY, that much necessary in the Wild.
Then, it finally appeared, a testament to humanity's adaptability. It was a nightmarish locomotive that looked more like a monster of metal than a machine. As soon as it saw it, the poor cat couldn't help but gulp, its entire body arching.
"Miaow!" (SCARY!)
So many spikes! So many splattered corpses adorning it! This thing had crushed every living creature in its path so far. It wasn't just a locomotive; it was Death on Wheels! In fact, the station's broadcast automatic security system had already started blaring warnings.
[Warning! Warning! Mortal Danger Detected! Please Steer Clear of the Tracks!]
[Warning! User is too close to the Rails! Please Move Back! Or Else—]
"Skip. C'mon, let's go. Our ride's here."
Not only did Damon forcibly mute the System Warning, but he even fearlessly stepped onto the tracks! In fact, his eyes were already scanning the Cargo Train intently. "Where were those again? If I remember correctly, they should make a T shape... Yep, there!"
Damon VS Cargo Train
Damon faced the beast, waiting for the perfect timing. He waited, waited, and waited some more. By now, he could already sense the stench of death that accompanied the metal giant. He even took the time to place the cat on his shoulder, like a backpack, getting ready.
"Miaow!" (Master, we gotta run!!!!)
"Keep calm and watch."
— ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! —
Not yet, not yet. A bit more. NOW!
Damon lunged, throwing himself at the thing, deadly spikes magnifying before his eyes. Then he... grabbed one?! A certain black cat couldn't believe its eyes. Was its new master actually spike-proof?! Those things looked sharper than its fangs... HOW?!
To the naked eye, the spikes indeed appeared sharp all over, but that wasn't actually the case. There were actually some dull(er) parts meant to allow easy maintenance. That's what Damon had grabbed with all his soul! Still, there had been a cost to this maneuver...
Sharp pangs of pain began pulsing in his arms, legs, and his entire fucking body. Damon held through sheer will, knowing that loosening his grip would instantly mean Game Over. Heck, had the wagon been a tiny bit faster, he would have bursted from the impact alone!
"God, do I miss my Awakened Body. Up we go... ouch!" Damon grumbled. He endured the pain, slowly climbing the spikes until he was able to board the damn thing, flopping inside.
He was so tired, so damn tired.
But before he could actually enjoy his well-deserved rest...
"Ding! Welcome to the Lockwood Happy Trainride! Please Present Your Ticket!"
In the dark, two blue gleaming eyes appeared, peering right at them. A golem. An actual Golem? Damon couldn't help but shake. As far as he knew, according to the timeline, the first Golem Unveiling should have been months from now, at the very least.
Before them stood a rock being, one that looked like an Easter Statue had been given limbs. Right now, it was peacefully holding a gigantic rock hand out, awaiting their ticket. God knows what would happen if this thing got mad. Seeing this, the cat freaked out.
"Miaow!" (Master, what should we do? If we dash through the wagons, maybe we can outrun it?!)
Damon observed the thing. The joints were crude, the rock plating DIY-looking, and it had even been signed with a chisel rather than the regular mass-production tool. It had to be a prototype! Wouldn't that mean that it still had the initial flaws the early models had?
"Admin. Password. Login." Damon uttered warily.
1....2...3...4... if the eyes of the thing suddenly started to glow red, running would be their only salvation. Never had a few seconds seemed as long as those right there. Then the thing suddenly opened its mouth and...
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Access Granted! Welcome Aboard Admiral! Please Give This Model A Directive!"
Oof! Damon and Pet uttered a collective sigh of relief, Damon already ready to capitalize on the opportunity. "Show me to the Head Locomotive and unlock it. You can do that, right?" He had barely asked when the Golem led the way.
They were guided to the belly of the Beast...
— Crackle! Crackle! Crackle! —
The fire welcomed them, the furnace powering the train burning brighter than their future.
How many Beast Cores burned in this damn thing daily? Wouldn't it be great if he could grab a couple of those? Sadly, he knew that it was far different than "hacking" a prototype golem. Stealing would trigger countless alarms and cause him even more trouble.
But that didn't mean that there wasn't any point in coming here.
Every time a Beast Core melted in the furnace, a bunch of light Particles erupted out! While most were instantly devoured by the greedy flames, it still didn't stop them from lingering a little while before disappearing. Seeing this, Damon sat cross-legged, focusing.
"Miaow?" (Master, what are you doing? Wait... the lights, they're moving?!)
Like witches desperate to escape a bonfire, some of those lights rushed to Damon as he absorbed more and more of them! He was akin to a ravenous black hole as more and more particles entered him, giving him a faint reddish aura.
[Congratulations! Absorbed 0.01 Soul Power! You're growing Stronger!]
[Congratulations! Absorbed 2.07 Soul Power! Nice Going!]
[Congratulations! Absorbed 5.23. Soul Power! Continue?!]
That's when Damon opened his eyes; they glowed red.
At this moment, he felt so full.
Yet, he knew that if he kept going, his mortal shell would shatter. At this moment, his technique was akin to someone repeatedly tasing themselves, hoping to attain lightning resistance. It was VERY forceful!
Grunting, he forced the power to circulate inside him. It felt like acid flowing in his veins, smaller capillaries already bursting one after the other. At this rate, it wouldn't be long for his entire body to shut down. He needed an outlet for all of it; he needed a sacrifice!
Grabbing a metal shard, Damon suddenly stabbed his own eye! Instantly, his blood started mixing with the Mana.
[Ding! User's Sanity is Dangerously Low! Warning! Warnin—]
[Error! Error! Sacrificial Processus Detected!]
"System. Forcefully begin an Awakening!"
Damon ordered. This generally unknown function of the System allowed one to trigger the Awakening process. Letting it occur naturally? That was for people with a living wish! Then again, it was different for Damon: this wasn't his first time.
He suddenly felt all the energy he had accumulated turning into a storm as the Soul Power went WILD!
[L-Launching Assisted Suicide! Please Standby! Triggering Awakening!]
[You're Near Your Breaking Point! Give Up? (You Should.)]
"Not yet! Keep going!"
Stop, and he'd forever be a cripple. Even as blood vessels kept bursting, he remained still. Just a little more, and he'd unlock the next level. Just a little more, and he'd be able to push through. Just a little more and...
[C-Congratulations! Successfully Awakened! Please Select a Class!]
Damon could barely see the screen that appeared.
All he could see was BLOOD!
Yet, he felt the classes. As his finger hovered over them, he somehow instantly knew what they implied, a flux of memories invading his brain. Those were experiences, real ones from Class Holders, all ending with utter tragedy...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Please Select a Basic Class!]
| Duckmancer! |
| Heart Demon! |
| Demonic Magus |
| World Destroyer |
| Unleashed Chronomancer |
| Immortal Blood Slaughterer |
....
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
And the list bloody went on! Was this what the System called "Basic" nowadays? No, it was clear that his return to the past had messed it up big time. Damon barely glanced at the options, instantly knowing what to pick.
[Congrats on Becoming a Weak Demonic Magus!]
[Please Pick a Starting Skill!]
| Demonic Tongue |
| Demonic Touch |
| Demonic Bolt |
The answer was obvious, so obvious that the skill was even bold: Demonic Bolt. It was the only ranged ability, and it wasn't as useless as talking with Demons. After all, those creatures only respected the strong and would never submit easily. Once more, he instantly picked.
[Congratulations on Being a Fool! Successfully Selected Demonic Touch!]
[Damage: Low. Range: Even Lower. Usefulness: Doubtful!]
Damon chuckled. This was the same System that had told him about the "Silver Emblem". One had to know that the stronger-sounding a Class was, the harder it was to level up. Demonic Magus contained Demonic, and that's all he actually cared about.
After all, what made Demons so terrifying was their endless Evolution Potential.
"Miaow?!" (Master, are you fine? What happened?!)
"Oh, that? No biggy. Just Awakened."
As Damon shrugged, the poor cat felt like its ears had stopped working. Just Awakened. Just Awakened. Awakening to a human was like a regular animal turning into a Magical Beast: it was that amazing!
Had its master actually said, "Just Awakened," like it was no big deal at all?! By now, he was even happily warming his hands near the furnace as if it were a trash-can fire.
"Step one done! Next stop, Amber City!" But just as Damon was very casually rejoicing, he suddenly felt it. Staring into the distance, it seemed as if his gaze could peer through the 5 meters-thick metal walls as if they were paper thin.
— SHHHH! SHHHH! SHHHH! —
First came the cold, so intense it stabbed at the souls of the living. Then came despair, one that always followed those hollowed and ever-hungry creatures. Then came the darkness as Despair started leaking into the train. Only then did they finally appear.
Dark, ethereal silhouettes passed right through the walls, the train's defenses totally useless.
[Specters Have Appeared! Prepare to Die!]
The creatures had sensed their lives and were coming to collect. There was a reason night travel was banned... and a very good one at that! It had long become common knowledge not to tempt fate, the night unforgiving.
"Miaow?!" (M-Master...)
The poor cat froze, its miaow dying in its throat. A primordial fear invaded its tiny heart, despair filling its entire fluffy being. At its body completely ignored its commands, it understood. Those creatures were DEATH!
"You guys sure are late to the party..." Damon casually remarked.
Only then did the cat remember that its owner had just Awakened! No wonder he was so confident! Any time now, he would blast them with a fireball, an icicle, or anything all-powerful and magical-like! It was so hopeful that it almost freed itself of the despair, almost...
"You want my soul? Sure, but you won't enjoy it, I promise. Ah, as for the cat, it's mine, so no touching, alright?" Damon nonchalantly spoke to a Specter as if an old buddy. No, he was even making big No-No-No squares gestures in the air.
The Cat froze. The Specter froze. Even the Air froze.
Damon didn't even bother putting up a fight. This was fucking madness! Even the Monster's empty eye-sockets were suddenly filled with incredulity. Had there ever been easier prey? Still, not one to turn down a free meal, it floated down and dived in.
A second later, it created a gray chain of Negative Energy that extended, linking them both! As the Specter began devouring the human, the scene turned incredibly chilly. At this point, the end result was clearer than the day.
[You're being devoured by a Specter! Warning! Warn--?!]
Specter, System, and kitten alike became speechless. That's when the one draining Damon suddenly started... vomiting ectoplasm all over?! The ectoplasm spurted on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and all over the poor Golem! As for the Specter, it retreated in a hurry.
"See. What did I tell you? I'm not tasty at all." Damon crossed his arms over his chest.
He had lost pretty much all his power, but he had retained this. Mere time travel couldn't have completely wiped out a thousand years of Corruption. His very soul made him the nemesis of that specific species that only fed on Life and Hope.
To them, he was like a burger full of grade-S shit!
Thus, the strangest scene soon appeared...
"Come back! Why are you running?! " Damon was not only untroubled by the Monsters, but he was actually chasing them around! "Come back, I said! Donate Ectoplasm now, save a life! Please, I'm trying to level up here!" Alas, those things were pretty fast.
Still, that didn't mean that Damon was completely unsuccessful, either.
[Successfully Bullied Specters!]
[Obtain Fresh Ectoplasm!]
[Obtain Fresh Ectoplasm!]
[Obtain Fresh Ectoplasm!]
....
Why did this almost make him seem like the bad guy? He would have kept going, but sadly, all good things were bound to come to an end. In the distance, he could already spot Amber City. Sighing, he grabbed the cat, shouting one last command back.
"Last order. Wipe your memory of this event. Replace it with one of those cultist freaks trying to hijack the train... and failing."
"Understood, Admiral! This Model Shall Comply!" It then gracefully powered off.
That's when Damon Jumped off the Train, rolling as he landed.
As for the last few kilometers? He walked them diligently.
Amber City was almost as he remembered it, except for its defense perimeter being less guarded and a bit brighter. What was up with that flashy orange barrier? While it was only supposed to affect the Monsters, its color sure was aggravating!
Luckily, it didn't take him long to sneak inside. That's when started the gargantuan mental exercise of recalling a life he barely remembered living. How many years had he spent here back then? Too fucking many. Sighing, he began navigating the streets.
"Go up Sunflower Street..."
"Turn right at the Fried Chicken place..."
"Cross the half-demolished and totally haunted Garden Tunnel..."
"Can't miss it. It's this towering and shitty apartment complex, alright... 50 Shades of Poverty."
The place was cheap, almost as cheap as its inhabitants' lives, with many missing person posters adorning its walls. As for whether those missing cases were even handled by the authorities, that much was doubtful at best.
Taking a deep breath, Damon climbed the many dilapidated floors with purpose, his heart beating faster with every step. Even for him, this would be a first. Yet, he didn't feel apprehensive but rather... hopeful? Then, he finally reached his destination.
"Floor 42, apartment 404."
There it was, the dwelling of a spineless, ambitionless, cowardly bastard, definitely the guy he hated the most in this world. At this moment, it was also the place he had to be, and for a very obvious reason. This was 100% the source of the Time Conundrum.
– Knock! Knock! Knock! –
The place was as decrepit as its owner's aspirations. With every knock, a layer of paint would crumble off the wooden door. There was no answer whatsoever, yet Damon kept knocking, unrelenting. Then, after god knows how long...
"Fine, fine! I'm coming, you bastard!" A youngster opened the door, fuming.
Everything about the youngster screamed Lazy, from the messy hair to the slouching posture, but the real issue was the guy's gaze. That worm had long given up on life, merely surviving at this point.
But that dead gaze changed as soon he saw Damon. He froze, shell-shocked. His face, which could have been called handsome given proper care, instantly twisted into a grimace of fright.
"Y-You, who the hell are you?!" That reaction was very normal...
After all, he was looking at an exact copy of himself! The only difference between Damon and the young man was the new scar above the eye. This was the HIM of the original timeline and the source of the conundrum, which would soon be resolved.
"Hello, Damon. A perfect night to die, isn't it?"
[Congrautlations! Encountered Yourself!]
[One Must Die for the Other to Live!]
[Kill? Murder? Slaughter? Pick one!]
Damon glared at the System as if bullying it. After a few seconds, a new option finally appeared, one only possible in such a special case.
[Absorb Target? Warning! Insanity All But Guaranteed!]
Insanity? So what? He was already insane...
Memories, fears, dreams, Damon would devour them all!
He opened his maw wide, revealing the darkness within, and then he... ate a soul?!
A cat by the side watched it happen, traumatized. It saw the torrent of darkness erupting out of its master, it saw the poor soul scream in agony, overwhelmed, and it saw it all enter its master's belly.
Why did he look more terrifying than a Specter? How was he doing that?! More importantly, what did a soul taste like?!
[Ding! Successfully Resolved Time Counundrum!]
[Congratulations on a New Beginning!]
[You Are Now Damon Malum!]
"Damn right, I am!"
At this moment, the nearby kitten was trembling even more than any time before. What kind of master had it just chosen?! No, seriously, what the actual fuck?!!! And now he seemed frozen in place... glowing?!
Damon was actually fighting a battle of his own:
[Ding! Unsealing Locked Memories!]
[Try not to Drown in Them!]
.
.
.
[A/N] Damon: to overpower, tame, subdue, conquer & Malum: evil, wrong