After he slayed the jaguar, he walked up to the beast and took its core and remains after it had sublimed in white and red misty light.
"Level 1," Max frowned. He had hoped that his first fight would be against something more deadly but he remained optimistic as he was in a no-rank dungeon and an endless possibility and flow of monsters still remained yet to be destroyed.
"Now where do I put these?", he questioned.
[Inventory: An infinite storage space]
"Inventory," he repeated almost in a questioning tone unsure if anything was supposed to happen or not.
[Item acquired: Level 1 core and 3 other jaguar remains]
"Neat. This could come in handy."
He walked further into the dungeon across the cave-like path searching for more monsters to kill.
He walked for a while before noticing that he hadn't seen a single other person since he got here.
He came across a hole on one side of the wall. Some noises seemed to be coming from it.
He walked cautiously up the entrance and peeked in through a crack.
"Excellent!"
Within there was a colony of gulwaks and skeletons. Looked like thousands judging by the space they are occupying.
'If I can kill them all and level up silently in their cave, I'm sure to reach level two or three easily.'
Though enthusiastic, Max was cautious about going in at least not without a well thought out plan.
DESTROY
A voice sounded.
"Who said that?", Max asked, uncertain of the direction the word came from. He activated his Null zone for one tenth of a second and then ignored the sound after confirming there was no one else around.
He heighted his guard and went on with his plan formulation.
DESTROY!!!
Again the voice noised with even more commanding authority. This time the command lingered, echoing for a while in the haze of confusion and scrutiny.
He could hear a voice but not through his ears. There was no one else around and his skill couldn't have been wrong, nor did he miss something.
He stringently analysed the path of the command before rightly inferring its origin.
The authoritative voice wasn't coming from around him but rather:
"It's in me," he said with a curious arm over his frame trying to sense whatever it was.
It sounded scary and powerful. Like its command alone was an instruction and a threat in one. Daring to do something precarious if its words weren't obeyed.
But what could a mere voice do?
"Annoy him to death?", Max smiled.
"Destroy? Who are you?", Max asked the voice imperatively, adjusting his tone to match its.
But there was no response.
The enigmatic voice was silent.
"Don't wanna talk huh? That's fine."
Despite the eerie development, somehow Max knew or rather could feel that this voice – no not a voice cause it bore a form– this thing inside him though unknown and a bit obscure was now a part of him.
Unfortunately, bonded to his life source and fused to his core.
He didn't know how but had a good hunch of when.
"The Nexus," he guessed. "That's when it happened, isn't it. But how?", he questioned.
DESTROY
Again the vile command blared inwardly causing Max to question its reasonability.
But that time, it was not asking any more. It had had enough delay. It was now demanding.
Something inside him sparked. A surge ensued and brought to life a corrupt essence lurking deep within.
[Corruption- Extreme(60%)]
The inner center of his core darkened and polluted dark aura over itself. Black fumes escaped from the innermost of the consumed core and slowly crept shadowy tentacles over his masculine frame.
The darkness surfed over his arms and part of his legs but only in feeble cracks though not in the least bit relenting or compulsive.
After a blink, his eyes glistered crimson red and shared in the same venomous and ravenous infection as the rest of him.
Mind, spirit and soul all got swallowed in a sea of eerie thoughts and memories. The haze of vulgarity and brutality stained the sanity and consience of the drifting soul.
DEssTROY, KIlL, ELiMaTE. I'm YOuuR ONllY CoMPANjON. FAtE haS NO ShaRE For YOU. A ppURE SoUL IS AlL I NeeD. I HAvE ALl THe POWer YOU NeED. FLesH. BlloOOD. CArnNAGE. CoMe WiTh mE.
The words partly didn't make sense. His vision was painted bloody red and muscle bolstered in rocketted ruggedness.
Somehow, with this vile takeover he felt himself getting stronger. Feeling power breaking through the roof.
His instincts soared and heightened. All his stats had under went a tremendous multiplication. His Null zone skill wasn't activated. This was all him.
This was a raw power. An original. One that fed upon a soul, pure of heart and exchanged virtue for demonic powers.
Max quite didn't feel any different. The voices he had heard in his head sure sounded evil but with the knowledge that this thing could make him stronger instantly, who cares so far he was still in control.
It wasn't controlling him or destroying him, as a matter of fact, he was the one controlling it and its power or at least so he thought.
He turned towards the parliament of skeletons and gulwaks within the side cave and smiled ravenously.
His body reacted on his own though still under his will.
He leapt into the cave and at the centre of the armed undeads.
Fierce, bold and powerful. His new form feared no danger.
He tore through the armed defense with his sheer might. Bare handedly crushing skulls and reaping limbs.
He struck with average might but each blow was never bereft of a catastrophic effect.
The carnage after a while seemed to norm him.
He delighted in the exhilaration of annihilation.
Every attack he launched as just rightly sufficient for a finish within his head came out a little bit more disastrous and cataclysmic as envisaged.
The demon was growing and slowly taking over with every punch.
His eyes shimmered in a brighter crimson hue stating his slow loosening grip over his own control.
His attack became less oriented and more wild.
The flux of power within him amateurly escaped with no respective angle, dissipating surrounding monsters.
His attacks indicated that Max was losing himself and that someone else was slowly rising within.
{YOUR MINE NOW. YOUR SOUL IS MINE. I NOW STIR YOUR LIFE AND YOU NO LONGER ARE IN CONTROL. WHO AM I YOU ASK? THAT'S CLASSIFIED BUT FOR YOU/ME, I AM THE FORBIDDEN VILE AND YOU ARE NOW MY SLAVE.}