"Zul Amon Delsin."
The sorcerer sipped his tea, his piercing blue eyes studying the boy before him. They were in the headmaster's office at Vaelarths, Academy of Sorcerers. The headmaster, Izhar, was an aged man, clad in deep blue robes, his hair a fading silver.
Across from him, Zul stood smiling, his sword pointed directly at the headmaster.
"Help me reclaim what is rightfully mine."
Izhar set down his teacup, contemplating the audacity of the young heir. He was a 7th-circle mage, one of the most powerful sorcerers on the continent. Usually, securing an audience with him was impossible unless one belonged to the Royal Family.
Yet Zul had arrived at the Royal Academy, demanding a meeting.
Naturally, his request had been denied. He wasn't even allowed past the academy gates. But Zul didn't care.
Soon, the Royal Army came for him.
With no other choice, Izhar had descended.
"Why do you think I urged the Royal Army to wait and brought you here?" Izhar asked.
Zul smiled.
"For one, it would be disgraceful if a mere child requesting protection were to be dragged away by the Royal Army. And second… You realized that a fight at the academy's gates would stain its reputation, didn't you?"
Izhar raised an eyebrow. "Such bold words."
His aura erupted.
A crushing spiritual pressure swept across the academy, forcing even the Royal Army's sorcerers to sweat under its weight.
Izhar had always stayed detached from the empire's political struggles. He cared little about its affairs. But the academy was his turf, and he wouldn't stand for conflict at its doorstep.
"Intimidating someone a third of your age? Isn't that a little petty?" Zul asked, unfazed despite the suffocating aura. His sword remained raised.
Izhar studied him. "Petty? You don't seem to understand what kind of man I am. While other powerful sorcerers fight wars, I remain here, enjoying peace. 'Petty. Cowardly.' I've heard those words before… but I don't care." he stepped forward. "You have disturbed my peace. If you don't provide a valid reason, I will not hesitate to kill you—even if you are a child."
Just then, Zul's sword began to glow. Inscriptions surfaced along the blade. Izhar narrowed his eyes. The suffocating pressure vanished, and he sat back down.
The trickster had seen what the Ghoul had not. This sword was one of Zul's fortunes. He had always carried it, unaware of its true value.
"This blade bears the 'Inscription of Promise,'" Zul said. "A gift from your son."
Izhar's fingers twitched slightly.
"At my birth, your son presented this sword to my parents. He made a vow—to protect me and teach me sorcery. The proof is this inscription, which has revealed itself in the presence of your aura."
For the first time, Izhar's gaze softened.
The Ghoul was a Great One, a being of supremacy. Even after taking Zul's body, it had dismissed human memories as insignificant.
But the trickster?
The trickster saw everything.
It was a master of opportunity, of exploiting hidden fortunes and wielding them as weapons.
Currently, Zul's consciousness was dominated by the Ghoul, but the trickster remained lurking beneath the surface.
Because in the end. The Ghoul and the Trickster were one and the same.
Izhar was well aware of Zul's situation. His son had indeed made such a promise, but he had never acted on it. The reason was simple. Zul was mentally crippled. After losing his parents at a young age and enduring countless assassination attempts, Zul had not grown stronger. Instead, he had become nothing more than a puppet of his sister.
This was common knowledge.
Izhar's son had never seen the need to help a boy who couldn't even recognize the sword's value.
"My son told me you grew up to be a disappointment." Izhar smiled. "And yet, you withstood my aura. Fine. Tell me, what is it that you seek?"
Zul sheathed his sword.
"I have no desire to learn sorcery here or to become anyone's disciple. I understand that the Inscription of Promise grants me that right. But instead, I want justice. My sister schemed against me. However, I am weak, and I plan to change that myself. So, grant me access to some of the academy's resources."
♤♤♤♤♤
Zul stood atop a spiritual chamber within Vaelarths Academy.
A sacred place, reserved only for the best students, it was filled with pure, concentrated mana—a space where sorcerers could ascend to the next circle of power.
The mana pulsed around him.
"This mana… It's strong."
The Ghoul understood that it had to regain its power.
Its abilities were sealed—so it had to evolve and learn new skills.
But before that, there was a more pressing matter.
The dragon eggs were losing warmth.
Without a furnace to sustain them, they would die.
The mana here could be used to build a furnace, but that was too dangerous.
If the dragon eggs were discovered, it would trigger a catastrophe. Every major power would come hunting for them.
The Ghoul could not afford that risk.
At its current strength, even Izhar was beyond its ability to kill.
It had to get stronger.
The mana within the chamber began to swirl, drawn toward Zul.
[High-Concentration Mana Consumption Initiated]
According to the trickster, Zul's identity was too valuable to discard. It would bring him great benefits in the future. However, his family fortune was under the control of his sister. He had to become strong enough to reclaim it.
The human territory was not suitable for the Ghoul's evolution, so it had to leave.
"I will return."
♤♤♤♤♤
[[Skill: Metamorphosis (Active)]]
As an innate trait of ghouls, Metamorphosis could not be sealed.
[[Skill: Devil's Five Incarnations (Active)]]
When given a choice to keep two skills, the Ghoul had chosen:
Endless Burden Devil's Five Incarnations
[[1st Incarnation: Zul Amon Delsin (Initiating Slumber)]]
[[2nd Incarnation: The Ghoul (Creation Underway → Metamorphosis Activated)]]
Zul's body began to shrink.
His frame became lean, his eyes turned blood-red, his flesh tightened—his entire being twisted.
The mana in the room surged, drawn into his transforming body.
The trickster had another reason for choosing to fight at the Delsin Mansion.
Zul's sister's flesh.
Endless Burden resets the timeline, but it does not affect the Ghoul's body or the dragon eggs.
That meant the Ghoul was not hungry.
In the battle, he had consumed many knights.
Their essence remained within him, combined with the high-concentration mana in this chamber, allowing him to create a second incarnation.
The disturbance in the room was felt immediately.
Izhar teleported inside.
"Huh."
But Zul was gone.
Izhar had sealed the room. Escape should have been impossible.
His eyes narrowed.
"Delsin's bloodline innate ability… I see. How could he have awakened it?" he carrased his chin. "Interesting." Suddenly, he flinched. "Oh. Now what do I tell the Royal Army?" he sighed. "My peaceful life...."
♤♤♤♤♤
The Ghoul found itself standing on a rock, surrounded by dead trees and a blood-red sky.
[Bloodline Skill: Teleportation (Unlocked)]
The Delsin family's bloodline had a unique ability—Teleportation.
However, not all members could awaken it. Even Zul, a direct descendant, had never shown any talent for it, but his sister had, and when the Ghoul consumed her flesh, he absorbed her ability.
The human territories were not suitable for the Ghoul's evolution. His identity as Zul is involved in too many conspiracies, but it was also too valuable to abandon. The trickster felt there was more to why the Emperor wanted the Delsin state, and why Zul was born with red eyes, the same as the Ghoul, when others of the Delsin bloodline had onyx eyes. There were many secrets, but he lacked the strength to pursue the truth, and others in the human territory would not allow him to grow.
So it had chosen a better place.
Grrrr!
Grey Beast Wolves emerged from the shadows, sensing an intruder in their territory.
They charged.
The Ghoul's body was small—only four feet tall.
Its limbs were thin, bones visible beneath its skin.
Its face was twisted, its flesh blood-red, its mouth unnaturally wide—Teeth sharp. Jagged. Hungry.
As it transformed, Zul's clothes fell. They were far too big for him now. He only grabbed the pouch with the dragon eggs and leaped back. Using his claws, he dug and buried the eggs. Carrying them in battle was too risky.
Grr!
The wolves charged toward him.
The Ghoul drooled.
The hunt begins.
-
Character Profile: The Ghoul (Devil's 1st Incarnation)
Name: Zul Amon Delsin
Title: The Ghoul | The Guardian | The Cursed One
Class: None
Attributes
HP: 5,000 / 5,000 Strength (STR): 220 Agility (AGI): 185 Intelligence (INT): 160 Endurance (END): 250 Magic (MAG): 130
Skills
Plunderer (Sealed): Absorbs the memories, flesh, bloodline, and abilities of those consumed. Forage (Sealed): Detects living beings within a certain range for sustenance. Endless Burden (9th Circle Skill)(Auto): Embeds a task within the Ghoul's essence, allowing it to cycle indefinitely until completion. Predator's Hunger (Passive): Increases physical attributes with each devoured enemy, but comes with an insatiable hunger. Curse of the Guardian (Sealed): A forgotten ability linked to his vow, preventing him from harming the dragon eggs. Shadow Step (Active - Sealed): Allows instant movement over short distances within the darkness. Ghoul's Regeneration (Passive - Sealed): Rapidly heals wounds unless inflicted by holy or fire-based attacks. (.....sealed)
Status Effects
Seal of Light: The majority of the Ghoul's original abilities and status are locked due to stepping beyond the Demonic Woods. Hunger Suppression: His monstrous instincts are temporarily dulled as long as he resists consuming flesh. Trickster: A hidden malevolent being lurks within you, seeking to reclaim control.
-
Character Profile: The Ghoul (Devil's 2nd Incarnation)
Name: Unnamed
Title:
Level: 1(0/200 exp)
Attributes:
HP: 1,000 / 1,000 Strength (STR): 50 Agility (AGI): 70 Intelligence (INT): 50 Endurance (END): 50 Magic (MAG): 50
Skills
Endless Burden (9th Circle Skill)(Auto): Embeds a task within the Ghoul's essence, allowing it to cycle indefinitely until completion. Predator's Hunger (Passive): Increases physical attributes with each devoured enemy, but comes with an insatiable hunger. Curse of the Guardian (Sealed): A forgotten ability linked to his vow, preventing him from harming the dragon eggs.
Status Effects
Trickster: A hidden malevolent force lurks within you, seeking to reclaim control.
-
2nd Incarnation was his form in the beginning, when he was not a great one, but just a lowly ghoul born into this world.
Once again, he was a lowly being. But his heart trembled with excitement. How many centuries had it been? The humans who came to his forest were too weak for him. He was a predator who had been hunting only weak creatures for centuries.
A predator feels true joy when he finds prey worthy of hunting. Now that he was weak, every prey was worth hunting.
Grr!
The wolf screamed as sharp claws pierced its eyes. Its neck was bitten and torn apart.
Grr!
Kyhahahahaha!
The little creature smiled.
It also suffered bites from the wolves.
[You have suffered critical damage.]
The Ghoul leaped above the dead trees, jumped down atop a wolf, and bit its back.
The wolf screamed in agony.
It leaped from one to another and kept biting.
[You have suffered critical damage.]
The Ghoul lost both its arms, yet with its sharp teeth, it didn't stop; all of the demon wolves were dead.
[You Have Slain 12 Grey Beast Wolves]
[12 Exp Added]
'Only 12?' the Ghoul frowned. 'Well, they were weak.'
The Ghoul looked at his claws. They were long and sharp. He recalled the days of his birth. This place was known as the 'Desolate Valley of Beasts, Velmogar.' Once, different kinds of beasts roamed these lands—Ghouls, Redhounds, Grey Wolves, Crawlers, Oars, Goblins, Bats, Serpents, Deadwyverns, and many more. Velmogar was as vast as a continent, so the different beasts would all create their territories. And only leave to hunt.
Beasts grow stronger by feasting. Soon, those who hunted a lot evolved into greater beings and gained intelligence. Thus, Demons were born. Hierarchy evolved, terrotiers divided properly, soon Demons Lords were also born.
The one who broke the hierarchy and laid waste to Velmogar was the Great One. One Ghoul that devoured anything that came in its way. Unlike other ghouls, he did not care for survival. He lived only for the thrill of the hunt. He hunted the strong and became strong.
'At that time, there were no screens.' He looked at the screen in front of him. He didn't know if others also had it; the only thing he knew was that it appeared after he made the vow and was imprisoned in the Demonic Woods. He did not pursue the origin of the screens since it was related to the vow. Prying into the reasons for the truth erased from his memory would only cause the trickster to awaken further. He didn't feel suspicious because the one who erased his memories was himself. He trusted that he would only do that for a good reason.
During his first evolution, all he did was continually eat to get stronger, but now, the system helped keep track of his strength. It also provided things like Exp and Points. It certainly was useful.
The wolves were feeble. Currently, he was at the outskirts of Velmogar, where beasts roamed—the territory of wolves. Moving further, he would face stronger beasts and even worse demons. He once caused the extinction of all the demons millennia ago. But since he didn't bother killing the weak beasts, they must have evolved back into powerful demons. 'Heh, time for another extinction.'
'But first, I need to eat.'
The Ghoul gathered all of the wolves' corpses and began to eat. He did not even leave the bones.
[You have eaten low-quality meat.]
[No change in attributes]
The Ghoul knew that would be the case. But he had to eat them.
Never leave a corpse behind. This was the absolute and only rule in Velmogar.