Night had fallen quiet — too quiet.
The city lights glimmered like distant fireflies as Arin walked home from another long day of work. He carried a half-filled bag of groceries and the dull fatigue of someone pretending to live a normal life.
But under his calm face, power churned.
Every second, the System whispered inside him.
> +1 CP
+1 Qi
He'd stopped noticing it consciously, but the energy inside him no longer felt human. His senses stretched beyond the ordinary — every vibration in the air, every breath of wind, every sound of distant cars.
He had become something else.
Yet that constant growth came with a side effect — a hunger that gnawed at him like an invisible parasite.
Sometimes he felt it when walking past a building — the instinct to absorb the concrete, to pull the energy from metal beams or light poles.
It wasn't hunger for food. It was hunger for existence itself.
Tonight, it was louder than usual.
He reached a bridge crossing over a small river when the air suddenly trembled. His body froze on instinct — muscles tensing.
The night sky rippled, like a reflection disturbed by a drop of water.
And then, it cracked.
A thin, jagged line tore through the heavens, glowing white for an instant before expanding. The stars bent around it, warping like glass under heat.
From that rift, a burning shape fell — a meteor wrapped in black and red light. It screamed through the air and crashed deep into the forest outside the town.
The shockwave hit moments later — strong enough to rattle windows across the valley.
Arin's heart pounded, not from fear — but from the pull of energy calling to him. He could feel it even from here, dark and ancient.
He dropped the grocery bag and leapt from the bridge railing, landing silently on the other side. His legs blurred with Qi, propelling him across the open fields faster than wind.
---
The forest was burning when he arrived.
Trees smoldered in circles around a deep crater, smoke curling toward the moon.
At the center, something was moving.
It stood nearly three meters tall — a figure of darkness and muscle, its skin split by glowing red veins. A pair of horns curled backward from its skull, and its claws dug into the earth as it struggled to rise.
Arin's System reacted immediately.
> Analyzing...
Race: Demon
Tier: 3
Status: Severely Injured (Power reduced 99.999999999%)
Current CP: 10,000,000
Arin exhaled slowly, his mind racing.
A Tier 3...? Even injured, that's ten million CP.
That meant this thing was still twice as strong as him — maybe more, depending on its abilities.
The creature's crimson eyes flickered open, focusing on him. For a moment, the Demon simply stared — then spoke, voice low and broken like thunder across a graveyard.
> "Another… mortal world. Still crawling with light."
It coughed, black blood spilling from its mouth, sizzling as it hit the ground.
> "How far have I fallen…?"
Arin said nothing. His hand clenched into a fist, black smoke coiling faintly around it — the visual echo of his Absorb skill waiting for a command.
The Demon slowly straightened, its enormous frame cracking as bones shifted back into place. Its energy spiked, shaking the ground.
> "You… smell strange, human. Like a god and a void had a child."
Arin smiled faintly.
> "I'm just passing by. You, on the other hand — shouldn't exist here."
The Demon's lip curled.
> "Then erase me, if you can."
The ground exploded.
The Demon vanished from sight, reappearing in front of Arin with a roar. Its claw slashed horizontally, air pressure cutting trees in half. Arin barely managed to duck, the strike grazing his cheek.
He countered with a blow to the ribs, but it was like punching a mountain. Pain shot up his arm. The Demon barely flinched before kneeing him in the chest, sending him flying backward through a tree.
Arin hit the dirt, gasping. His ribs burned, but he forced himself to stand.
> Ten million CP… even weakened, it's unreal.
He wiped blood from his mouth and grinned.
> "Alright. Let's test something new."
His hand opened, and shadows erupted around it. The Absorb skill came alive, a low hum vibrating through the air. The grass under his feet withered instantly.
The Demon paused, sensing it.
> "What trick is this?"
Arin didn't answer — he dashed forward, closing the distance. His fist connected with the Demon's chest — and this time, the black mist leapt from his hand to the Demon's skin, spreading like ink in water.
The creature roared, grabbing his wrist, but it was too late. Its corrupted essence started draining into Arin, threads of red light being pulled out of its flesh.
Arin's eyes widened as power surged into him — raw, violent, unrefined. His veins burned with energy.
The Demon headbutted him, breaking the connection. Arin flew back, crashing into a stone wall.
He groaned, wiping dust off his face, but the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
> "It works."
The Demon snarled, eyes burning brighter.
> "You dare consume me?"
It raised its hand, forming a pulsing sphere of black-red energy — a miniature star of destruction. The air screamed as it fired.
Arin's mind screamed move! — but instead, he stepped forward, raising his own hand.
> "Absorb."
The black mist exploded from his palm, devouring the attack midair. The destructive sphere shrank, twisted, and vanished into nothing — its energy sinking into Arin's arm like smoke through fabric.
The Demon staggered.
> "Impossible…"
Arin was panting heavily, sweat dripping from his chin. His arm trembled violently, black veins crawling up to his shoulder. He could barely contain the energy inside him.
But he smiled anyway.
> "Guess it's possible."
He dashed forward, his movements sharper, faster — the absorbed energy fueling his Qi. Their fists collided midair, the shockwave flattening the forest.
The battle became chaos — two blurs of darkness and light tearing through the night. Each hit left craters, each miss shattered trees. Arin's body screamed in pain, but the System kept updating, feeding his mind real-time information.
> Absorbing demonic energy...
+50,000 Qi...
+50,000 CP...
+70,000 Qi...
+70,000 CP...
....
He couldn't stop. The hunger inside him had awakened fully now — driving him forward.
The Demon tried to crush him with a final strike, but Arin twisted, slammed both hands against its chest, and roared.
> "ABSORB!"
The world went silent for a second — then erupted.
Darkness spiraled upward like a tornado as Arin's power consumed the Demon's body from the inside out. Its red veins dimmed, its flesh cracked like stone, and its scream echoed across the valley before dissolving into ash.
When it was over, Arin stood trembling in the center of the crater. Black mist coiled gently around him, then faded.
The System chimed softly in his mind.
> Demon Essence Absorbed.
+4,000,000 CP
+4,500,000 Qi
Current Tier: Mid-Tier 1 (Planet Level).
Mutation Detected: Black Core forming.
He looked down — a faint black sigil glowing on his chest, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Then, his vision blurred.
The power was too much — his body shutting down to protect itself.
He fell to his knees, breathing hard.
> "Heh... guess... I won..."
And then darkness took him.
Hours later, three streaks of light broke through the clouds — Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan.
They hovered above the destroyed forest, eyes wide.
Vegeta frowned.
> "What in the hell happened here?"
Gohan's voice was uneasy.
> "That energy we sensed... it's gone now. But whatever caused it—wasn't human."
Goku's eyes narrowed, spotting the unconscious figure below — Arin, lying amid the ashes of the Demon.
> "Wait... someone's alive down there."
Vegeta growled.
> "You're kidding. He's the source of that energy."
> "Maybe," Goku said. "But he's hurt. Let's take him — we'll figure it out later."
> "Fine. But if he wakes up swinging, he's dead."
They landed, lifting Arin's limp form.
Under the moonlight, the black sigil on his chest pulsed once — like an eye slowly opening — then faded as they vanished into the sky.
Complete Chapter 5:
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