In a barren wasteland, a lone white rabbit stirred awake. Its body felt heavy, almost paralyzed, as if the very ground were holding it down.
Before it loomed a colossal beast, wounded yet terrifying. Even on the brink of death, the creature's presence alone could have crushed the tiny rabbit. Its golden eyes studied the trembling animal, not with hunger—but with curiosity.
The beast's breath came in ragged waves, shaking the cracked earth. Still, its voice thundered across the land, echoing off distant mountains.
"...Hello, little rabbit. Would you like to make a pact with me?"
The rabbit's ears flattened. It could not speak, only shiver beneath the weight of the voice that rattled the heavens.
I shall let my soul reside within your magic core," the beast rumbled, its voice like a crumbling mountain. "In exchange, I will grant you the gift of flight, and a handful of my lesser abilities.
"Most importantly…" The creature's eyes burned faintly. "I will pass on my special art—Devouring. It is a rare skill, a branch of the ancient Sin Arts. With it, you will be able to consume what you cannot overcome."
The air grew heavy, crackling with power.
"These gifts should allow you to reach heights far beyond your current stature. In return, little one, you shall bring me back. I will slumber within your core, awakening from time to time. Perhaps, when you need me most, I will even lend you my strength."
As the beast's final words faded, its massive body began to collapse. Cracks split across its form, each fragment breaking away into the air. But instead of striking the ground, the pieces dissolved into dust, vanishing into nothingness.
From the ruin of its body, a single flash of violet light burst forth. The light lanced straight into the rabbit's chest—sinking deep into where its magic core pulsed faintly.
The little rabbit convulsed violently, its tiny frame trembling as if it would tear apart. With a final shudder, it collapsed, consciousness slipping away.
Around its body, threads of purple energy wove together, hardening into a cocoon of light. The shell pulsed and cracked, like an egg about to hatch, as the rabbit's form began its first transformation.
The cocoon stood silent, unmoving, as time bled away. Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Seasons shifted, and still the shell of violet light endured.
At last, a year to the day, cracks splintered across its surface. Light spilled through the fractures until, with a deafening snap, the cocoon shattered.
From the fragments emerged a creature no longer resembling a simple rabbit. Its fur gleamed a deep violet, a mane of pure white framing its head like a crown. A horn of radiant light jutted from its brow, while delicate wings—no larger than a human's hand—unfurled with a faint shimmer.
As the newborn beast collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, the remnants of the cocoon exploded outward. The blast swept across the Demon Continent, shaking earth and sky alike.
Drawn by the surge of power, lesser monsters gathered in droves. They beheld the transformed creature and, trembling, lowered themselves in reverence. To them, it was not prey. It was not a rabbit.
It was something divine.