He stopped moving entirely. Stood three metres from the heaving, half-present mass of the creature's wounded body. Raised his blade one last time.
One strike. Measured to the decimal.
Abyss-breed HP
5% — Taming threshold reached
Super System · Taming Window Open
Target HP: 5% (threshold met)
Core bond: intact
Taming available: YES
Place dominant hand on the creature's Core anchor point to establish bond.
Corrupted Demetrons, once tamed, can grow stronger through combat. Base stats will recover over time. Current stat suppression: –10%.
The Abyss-breed was still. Not dead — its surface still rippled, slow and exhausted — but its frenzy had collapsed into something quieter. It watched Raiden with three asymmetrical points of dim light that functioned as eyes.
He walked toward it.
Jester made a strangled sound from somewhere behind him. "Raiden — that's — you're walking toward the —"
Raiden pressed his palm flat against the creature's anchor point. It was cold, and then it was not cold. It was resisting, and then it was not resisting. The Core bond that had been placed by whoever stole it from the vault — a stranger's tether, hasty and impersonal — dissolved, and something else formed in its place. Not a chain. Not a command. Something closer to recognition.
The creature exhaled — a long, dimensional sigh that sent ripples through the visible air — and went still beneath his hand.
Super System · Taming Complete
Corrupted Demetron bonded: Abyss-breed (Unnamed)
Bond type: Super System tether — unique, permanent
Current level: 34 (corrupted) · Growth potential: Unlimited
Strength 310
Agility 280
Magic 440
HP 5% (recovering)
Note: Tamed Corrupted Demetrons retain dimensional abilities. Bond allows non-verbal command relay. Entity growth accelerates in sync with bonded swordsman's level progression.
Jester arrived at his side, out of breath, one boot slightly scorched, eyes wide.
"You tamed it."
"Yes."
"You tamed a level thirty-four Abyss-breed on day four of being a swordsman."
"Correct."
Jester looked up at the creature — which was slowly, cautiously, beginning to move again, circling behind Raiden with a strange gravitational instinct, as though it had already decided where it belonged. It was larger than a house. It had no eyes that made sense. It was the most dangerous thing Jester had ever stood next to.
"Does it have a name?" Jester asked.
Raiden considered this for a moment.
"Not yet."
"Can I name it?"
"No."
"What if I name it something good?"
"Absolutely not."
Above them, the sky beyond Emperor Territory was darkening — not with the approach of night but with the gathering of something else entirely. Raiden's system flagged it three seconds before he heard the sound: a low, subterranean frequency that he felt in his chest more than his ears.
His Super System updated with a single, stark notification:
Super System · Threat Alert
Emperor-breed Demetron detected: 4.2 km northeast
Estimated level: ??
Classification: Data insufficient — beyond current measurement parameters
Trajectory: Converging on your position
Warning: Emperor-breed attracted by Super System manifestation event (registration, Day 1). Proximity escalating for 96 hours. Current convergence is intentional.
Recommendation: Retreat to dome immediately.
Raiden stared at the alert for three full seconds. The Abyss-breed behind him pressed closer — its damaged body somehow radiating a protective instinct it hadn't possessed twenty minutes ago.
The Emperor-breed's frequency deepened. Closer now. Trees at the basin's edge began to crack.
"What does it say?" Jester asked, watching Raiden's face.
"It says we should go back to the dome."
"Should we go back to the dome?"
A long pause.
"Not yet," said Raiden.
Jester closed his eyes. Reopened them. Looked at the gathering dark on the northeastern horizon, at the white trees beginning to splinter at the ridge, at his best friend standing calm and still in the middle of Emperor Territory with a tamed Abyss-breed at his back, looking at something the rest of the world hadn't seen yet and not blinking.
"You know," Jester said quietly, pulling flame back into his blade, "when they write about this later, I want it noted that I was extremely apprehensive the whole time."
"I'll put it in my memoir."
"Thank you."
The Emperor-breed crested the ridge.
And Raiden finally understood why no one had a level number to put beside its name.
— End of Chapter III · Volume I continues —
Chapter III notes: This chapter introduces the Abyss-breed as Raiden's first tamed Corrupted Demetron — a creature that will grow alongside him through the infinite progression of the Super System. The Emperor-breed cliffhanger ends Volume I's opening arc and sets up the first true confrontation of the story. The question of who stole the Core, and why they summoned the Abyss-breed in Emperor Territory specifically, remains unanswered.