Darkness stretched in every direction, vast yet confined. Diablo blinked and found himself standing in a black space no larger than a building, the ground smooth and without texture, the air still and weightless. His footsteps echoed faintly even though there was nothing for sound to bounce from.
Before he could question it, a voice rang out — mechanical yet commanding, reverberating inside his skull.
[Demon System initializing…]
A line of crimson text unfolded in front of him, burning letters against the void.
[Welcome, Diablo. You have died as a human and been reincarnated as a demon.]
His breath caught. The words didn't fade. They hovered there, waiting.
[This is the Demon System.]
[Its purpose: to guide you, to cultivate you, and to shape you into the strongest demon in the multiverse.]
The letters pulsed like a heartbeat, then scattered into a hundred fragments of red light.
Diablo stood motionless, his mind catching up to the reality. He wasn't dreaming. He wasn't hallucinating. This was his second life.