The morning sun struggled to pierce through the heavy mist that cloaked the ruined outskirts of Ebon Hollow. Crumbling buildings leaned like weary corpses, their windows hollow eyes, and the silence was unnerving. Elias Black stood atop the broken remains of a clocktower, his coat fluttering in the wind, crimson eyes scanning the horizon. Every inch of him pulsed with something new—a power that whispered promises of vengeance and dominion.
His fingers flexed. Sparks of shadow licked at his skin like flames from another realm.
The Devil's System hummed in his mind.
[Quest Updated: Collect 1000 Sin Shards to unlock the First Seal of Damnation.]
Elias smirked. "Only 873 to go."
Below him, the sound of chaos stirred. Screams, muffled by fog, and the distant clang of metal against bone. Ebon Hollow was no longer just haunted by myths. Since Elias returned, the predators of the dark had awoken. He wasn't the only one changed by death.
He leapt.
The air howled past him before he landed silently atop a rusted van. Before him, a group of masked raiders surrounded a young woman. She was bloodied, her back against a concrete wall, wielding nothing but a broken pipe. Her breath came in ragged gasps.
"Leave her," Elias said, voice cold.
The raiders turned, mocking laughter fading as they saw him. One stepped forward, wielding a machete. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?"
Elias didn't reply. He stepped off the van and raised his hand. The shadows responded.
Tendrils shot out like serpents, wrapping around limbs, necks, and weapons. The machete-wielder screamed as his arm twisted backwards, bones cracking like dry wood. Another tried to run, but the shadows dragged him screaming into the alley.
It was over in seconds.
The girl stared, trembling. Elias walked up to her and offered his hand.
"You're safe now."
"Wh-what are you?" she asked, still breathless.
Elias smiled faintly. "Just someone who came back wrong."
She didn't take his hand.
[Sin Collected: 24. Current Total: 151.]
The System was pleased. Elias turned and disappeared into the mist again, the screams of the dying raiders still echoing.
---
Across the city, in the catacombs beneath a long-abandoned cathedral, a gathering was taking place. Figures in crimson robes stood in a circle, chanting. In their center, a massive stone altar pulsed with ancient runes. Behind it, a man stood—tall, elegant, with eyes like black glass.
Lucien Valemir.
Elias' older brother.
Unaware of Elias' return, Lucien had taken over the Cult of Crimson Rebirth in the aftermath of the tragedy at Blackthorn Lab. He had always been the favorite, the chosen one. Elias had merely been the experiment.
Now he was a threat.
A scout entered, bloodied and breathless.
"My Lord… it's him. He's back."
Lucien's expression didn't change, but the room fell silent.
"Bring me everything you know. I want his movements tracked, his allies broken. If he thinks he can oppose me with that cursed system in him, he'll learn who truly commands the darkness."
---
Back in the ruins, Elias found shelter in the remnants of a chapel. He sat in silence, gazing at his reflection in a shattered mirror. His skin looked paler. His veins were darker. His eyes, no longer human.
He remembered the lab. The cold metal. The betrayal.
He remembered dying.
Then the voice.
Would you trade your soul to live again?
He did. And now he bore the weight of that deal.
[System Notice: New Entity Detected - Lucien Valemir, Bearer of the Crimson Crown.]
Elias sat forward.
"Lucien," he whispered.
It was time to stop collecting shards quietly. If Lucien was involved, things were about to escalate.
Outside the chapel, shadows thickened. A hunter in black armor crept forward, twin axes glinting with poison. He was one of Lucien's assassins.
But Elias already knew.
He stood, calmly, turning as the hunter lunged.
Their blades met, steel against shadows.
The fight was brutal. The hunter was fast, trained to kill enhanced beings. But Elias was reborn. Each strike fueled him. He moved like water, shadows answering his every will. The hunter managed to wound him, but Elias responded by driving a spear of darkness through the assassin's chest.
He collapsed, coughing blood, staring up at Elias.
"He knows you're back."
Elias knelt beside him, crimson eyes burning. "Then tell him I'm coming."
The hunter smiled through blood, then died.
[Sin Collected: 38. Current Total: 189.]
Elias stood and walked out as the chapel began to collapse behind him.
The war for Ebon Hollow had begun.