Creeeeeeak!

The sealed doors open at long last, as a gust passes through his face.

Everything looked different and felt odd,

Eerie yet majestic, mysterious yet magnificent.

So I guess this is the throne room or its outer area?

I can’t seem to detect the presence of any monsters but Athena surely detects the source of all the distortion close.

So I guess I have to move forward until I find the king.

As he took his next step to walk, a flurry of fiery blasts came at his feet with the voice of a woman shouting from above.

“Halt!”

After climbing all the way up, I finally heard a voice that was not a groan of a monster or an undead repeating about defending over and over again, but of an actual living person.

I was happy to hear the feminine voice but it seemed like the voice wasn't happy to see me.

So I responded, “Hey! Don’t attack me, I’m friendly so can we talk?”

“Where are you? Are you stuck in this place like me too? We can leave together; I’ve slain all the monsters, and I’m going to beat the one who sealed this place and leave.”

The feminine voice furiously replies, “You impertinent fool! How could a mere mortal like you find this place? It was you, who made all the sigils disappear.”

I replied… “Huh!? What sigils? Is something wrong with you? Don’t you wanna leave this damned place?”

The voice replied, “Silence mortal, know your place. You’re speaking to a demon queen. None can enter or leave this place. Its doors to the outside will never open.”

With a smug, I replied, “A demon queen who can’t even show her face? My ass.”

In a flash, she appeared showing her elegant wings, winter white hair, scarlet eyes, enchanting horns, and skin so fair, that even the moon would be jealous of her beauty.

With great displeasure, she stares at me, while I admire her beauty.

I give her a greeting saying, “…Hi!” as she punches me right in the gut.

Owwwww! Aughh… what’s wrong with you, I just said hi.

At least, show me the way to the King, I don’t wanna fight I just want to ask him to let me leave this place, someone teleported me here by mistake.

“Listen mortal… I don’t believe you, not a single soul has entered this place ever since the war. There is no king, nor do I believe someone teleported you here by mistake. I do not know your ploy or how you got into this place, but the doors of this place will never be open as long as I’m alive.”

“If you want to stay alive then wander of this place forever, until you die from hunger, I’ll keep protecting this place from outsiders like you.”

With a slight smile and irritation, I whispered in front of her… “From hunger once again?”

She replied, “Once again? What do you mean by once again?”

I responded, “Death does not exist for me, nor the hunger. You’re protecting a place that doesn’t even exist in history books, believing you’re doing the right job but you were only causing suffering to those outside of this room wandering saying just two words to defend.

You didn’t grant them the peace that you should’ve provided them, you made them suffer until they lost their sanity. So don’t expect me to believe you’re doing some duty while torturing the people who chose to remain loyal to this place.

She angrily said, “SILENCE!”

“You don’t even know or understand your own words! You insignificant being!”

I replied gritting my teeth, “Sure I don’t understand it but what I understand is you’re a coward.”

…

At an invisible speed, she approached and sent him flying.

Ack! Fuck! I could feel she penetrated my defenses so hard I could feel a crack in my chest.

And to provoke her further, I said, did I strike a nerve or simply tell the truth?

“So mortal you’ve chosen death? I tried showing mercy but I’ll kill you now!” she said.

To which I responded, “Do your best Miss Demon Queen. I don’t care if you don’t want to live in this place but I’ve got no choice but to go through you!”

She responded, “You impertinent fool! You cannot defeat me; I’ve been training in this place ever since I was born. A mere mortal like you could never hope to defeat no matter how strong you are.”

“I’ve mastered the oldest and wildest of arcane magic, transcended my demonhood beyond my father’s, and gained mastery over physical and magical combat without ever skipping a day. There’s no chance for you to win in any way possible.”

So you’re saying you’ve been honing your techniques up to this day? I asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

“So how old are you?” I questioned

To which she questioned back, “Why’d you ask?”

You told me you’ve earned mastery and reached the peak of combat so I want to know how much did it take to reach this level.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She reluctantly answered, “21,000 Years.”

But then my tongue slipped, “So, you’re an old hag then?”

And with that, she was massively triggered by my comment.

“The fuck did you just call me!? You mortal, I’m going to murder you!”

HEY! First off stop calling me mortal! My name is Kazuma! Or for short Kaz! And second, do your fucking best! Flashes middle finger

Gritting her teeth she said, “Prepare for your funeral.”

I replied, “Sorry funeral doesn’t exist for me.”

“DIEEEEE!!!”

Very well then, I’ll give you a battle worthy of those 21,000 years, so do your best trying to kill me.

(Athena, you know what to do.)

( ( “Understood… but I warn you this opponent is not an easy one, if possible dodge her distortion attacks.” ) )

(Okay.)

Charging in while drawing a slash from the Emberblade from the right, she shifted her position to left in an instant dodging. My eyes weren’t able to see a thing with all the active passive skills and buffs.

Before I could turn back and attack, she whispered something into my ear from behind.

“It’s useless”

Then she cast a barrage of fiery and demonic spells, which I didn’t know of. More so, her unmatchable speed made it impossible for me to land a successful “Consume” on her.

Then as I got hit she asked with confusion on her face,

“How are you unscathed after facing all those attacking without dodging?”

Why don’t you find it out yourself? Oba-chan.

(I’m stupid for calling someone as beautiful as her an old lady just to enraged her but I need to find an opening for “Consume” As she started getting faster, I could feel her attacks piercing my defenses. Despite having cheats and defensive and armor skills I felt a tiny bit of pain.)

Then, I saw a pendant around her neck, which gave me a strange feeling. Athena responded to me inside my head, stating that this pendant was the main source of distortions.

Then I heard some words,

“STOP DAZING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT!”

In a flash, she kicked me from the left sending me flying, as I lay on the ground.

She sits on top of me and starts punching the heck out of me while saying, “MY! NAME! IS! Isabelle! AND I! AM! STILL! 21! YOU GODDAMN FOOL!”

You forgot to add thousa… and the punching continues

She continued with her rant, “This palace is calibrated with space and time magic, which maintains and preserves it. Therefore, it does not let me age even after thousands of years.”

And to distract her and to appease my curiosity, I asked her about the pendant.

To which she replied while maintaining the barrage of punches, “SHUT UP!!!!!!”

(Is she really that enraged by calling her an old lady… uh… she said her name is Isabelle)

(This is so annoying)

Consume!

Finally got some distance as she moved away after getting hit by consume.

With confusion on her face, she said, “What did you do!? I feel weak…!??”

The bonuses I received were insane, every attribute gained over 100,000 stat points. In an instant, I felt a tremendous surge of power within me. While I didn’t receive any items, I did acquire several magical spells & skills, along with demonic skills and magic. However, I couldn’t use them since I don’t understand how magic works yet. As for the demonic abilities, they remained inaccessible as well, likely because I’m not a demon. Nonetheless, I could still utilize the other skills I got from consuming her.

I amazed her and myself how fast I had gotten and in confidence, I told her, “Now I hold the advantage.”

To which she quickly reacted back, “It’s still useless, I can reset back and gain my strength back.

She waved her arms in a circular motion creating a yin-yang gesture as she put her hands close near her pendant, it started to glow with purplish distorted hue.

And her strength had returned back, like how monsters from distortion came back.

Not to mention she was still much faster than me, even after obtaining her stats.

(She’s hiding her true powers.)

(Well I can take advantage of this new glitch to make myself more OP! I may not even need hacks in the future if I can farm my stats like this.)

And so there was nothing but greed in my mind, as I attempted to lure her and cast “Consume” but she was still fast as hell.

I’ve used “Consume” like 12 times on her now yet she’s still much more powerful.

She angrily shouted, “WHY WON’T YOU DIE!?”

It reminded me of a game I once played, so I just told her “Hax Babe” and got kicked far away.

I’m pretty sure she couldn’t have understood what it meant.

Hey at least tell me about the pendant, I know it looks important but it’s unfair you keep using it to return to your original state.

She replied, “Hmph! Not as unfair as you stealing my strength and using it against me.”

( ( “Well she does have a point.” ) )

(Why are you taking her side now all of a sudden?)

( ( “Well I felt like sharing my opinion on the matter.” ) )

Then Isabelle spoke, to answer your curiosity, “The pendant is carved with arcane runes which derive the space and time magic while keeping it active.”

“But now is the time to end this.”

Grrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

She charges up as the floor shakes violently,

Fwhoooooooooooooooosh!

…

What happened!? Where is she!?

I felt a truly powerful presence right above me, that could nearly make me kneel with the sheer amount it carried.

As I looked up, I saw her body transformed, changed into a pure demonic being. To me, she looked more attractive than before and scary too…

“It’s been such a long time since I used this form. Mortal congratulations for making me go this far, you’re probably the first one and last person who’ll get to see this, so I’ll give you one last chance to surrender before I kill you.”

(I’m tired of her calling me mortal again and again…)

Stop calling me mortal! My name is Kazuma! I’ve already told you before, learn it!

And so, both try to attack each other while dodging, one uses her speed and the other blinks away.

They would run from each other while attacking each other.

Then Athena said all of a sudden, ( ( “I’ve been experimenting with the distortions on various skills and successfully embedded its power within “Consume”. Would you like me to evolve the skill?” ) )

(Wait what? What do you mean?)

( ( "It means exactly what I said. Through this venture, I've discovered new potential for your skills, and “Consume” was the most suitable one. If we were to combine the distortions inside us, the skill would transcend beyond its current limitations. The exact nature of these changes will only become clear once the evolution is complete. Shall I proceed? I guarantee this will provide a tactical advantage in our current situation." ) )

(Yes do it.)

( ( “Please wait while the skill is being evolved.” ) )

…

[Alert: You Have Evolved Consume to Devour]

[Devour] - (An advanced form of [Consume] now empowered by time and space magic and shaped by the user’s will. This skill allows the user to fully or partially absorb enemies, gaining their stats, skills, or items, or simply weakening them. It also lets the user obtain or duplicate items (from enemies) without theft. Additionally, the user can acquire hereditary powers through absorption. This skill deals massive damage to strong foes and can execute or spare weaker ones easily. It works on both living and non-living targets, offering vast versatility in or outside of battle.)

Damn, I can control and manipulate the powers of Consume’s RNG with “Devour” now.

I guess this is what was happening behind the back when I got the undead sage’s staff and other bosses' weapons.

( ( “Alert, It is possible to learn demonic transformation to use demonic skills by using “Devour” on her while she’s transformed.” ) )

So after hearing that, I stopped for a moment to make the demon queen think that I was dozing off once again, and right when she got near me to attack, I concentrated all my focus on grabbing her hand.

Vine Bind!

“Argh! Let go of me,” she said.

Devour!

[Alert: You Have Learned New Transformation]

[Demonic Ascension]

But what’s more surprising was, that the stat points hit another bonus by getting 300k individual stats for each attribute.

Smirk (I’ve already become a monster before my story could even begin.)

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

Fwoooooooosh!

She was at a loss for words for what she looked at and what she felt as I transformed,

“You! How could you!?“

“Who… are you!?”

“What are you!?”

“How could a mortal, use demonic ascension!?”

“It’s not possible, you’re no demon you have the scent of a mortal.”

I Spoke, “My scent? Try again.”

[Alert: Stealth has been activated]

[Your footsteps and smell are now suppressed.]

“(I cannot smell his scent anymore), what kind of abomination are you!?”

Abomination? Come find it out yourself.

“I will destroy you!”