NOVEL NEXT Chapter 74: Title: Vessel of Wrath
He was a direct successor to a line of cosmic tyrants, a new beginning for a power that had been purged from the world.
A need, sharp and urgent, gripped him. He needed to see himself, not in a reflection, but in the cold, hard data of the system Thalyss had given him. He needed to understand the tool he had become.
He focused inward, and the familiar black screen materialized in his vision, the red demonic script blazing with new intensity.
PLAYER INTERFACE
[Personal Info]
Name: Caelen
Race: Primordial Demon (Lust)
Age: 19
Affiliation: Thalyss's Legacy
Title: The First Incubus | Scion of Draziel
Status: Primordial Awakening Complete (Stabilizing)
Primordial Type: Demon
A cold satisfaction settled in him. Primordial Demon. The words confirmed everything. The title "The First Incubus" was a declaration of his unique origin, while "Scion of Draziel" tied him directly to the terrifying entity he had just read about. The concept of a "human form" was gone now; this was his only state now.
[Abilities]
Primordial Authority (Passive/Active)
Description: You are authority made flesh. Your existence imposes a hierarchy on all demonic entities.
Passive Effects:
All demons sense you as a higher lifeform. Lesser demons obey instinctively. Demon beasts avoid confrontation.
Royal-class demons feel their authority suppressed in your presence.
Active Effect: Issue direct commands to demons within range. Resistance scales with their strength relative to your evolution.
Bloodline Override: Can overwrite existing demonic contracts or oaths, forcing loyalty to you.
Abyssal Charm (Passive - Aura)
Description: An intoxicating aura of desire that emanates from your very being. Your presence alone induces vulnerability, attraction, and emotional sway.
Effects: Weakens resistance, fosters trust and obsession. Intensity scales with proximity and intent. It cannot be fully suppressed.
Primordial Birth (Active)
Description: Create a seed of pure primordial corruption.
Effect: Transforms a target into a high-tier Incubus or Succubus, irrevocably binding them to your will.
Side Effect: Newly transformed demons experience periods of uncontrollable lust and heightened dependence on you.
Cooldown: 10 days.
Warning: Overuse risks severe drainage.
Lightning Demon Form (Active)
Description: Unleash your primordial nature, sheathing yourself in an armor of concentrated demonic lightning.
Effect: Grants a 5x multiplier to all base stats. All demonic abilities are amplified. Physical form becomes a conduit of crackling energy.
Drawbacks: High energy signature. Duration is limited and scales with Endurance.
Soul-Weapon Synchronization (Passive - Temporary)
Description: A runic imprint allows temporary overwriting of a weapon's affinity requirements.
Effect: Upon physical contact, can force a temporary bond with any weapon.
Status: Unstable. Foreign essence insufficient for prolonged use. Essence drain detected.
[Combat Skills]
Stormedge Coating: Channels lightning into a weapon, allowing attacks to ignore armor.
Volt Breaker: A high-speed dash that transforms the user into a bolt of lightning.
Radiant Conduit: Envelops the body in demonic lightning, redirecting a portion of incoming damage.
Thunderbrand Touch: A touch-based attack that releases lightning inside the victim's nervous system.
Eros Fang: Claws charged with dark crimson lightning that overwhelm the victim with waves of ecstasy and agony.
Succubane Claw: A grapple that stimulates the enemy's nerves, inducing bliss to override their will to fight.
Sin-Eater's Embrace: A drain that absorbs life-force or mana while flooding the target with crippling pleasure.
[Stats]
Strength: 712
Endurance: 705
Agility: 828
Intelligence: 718
Resistance: 699
Demon Energy: ??? (Primordial Well - Incalculable)
Caelen's eyes lingered on the numbers. The Agility stat, boosted by his lightning affinity, was significantly higher.
But it was the final line—Demon Energy: ??? (Primordial Well - Incalculable)—that truly resonated. His power wasn't a pool to be drawn from; it was a wellspring, a source as deep as his lineage.
He dismissed the screen. The information was a map of his own soul. He now knew what he was, and the knowledge was a weapon. He looked around the archive, no longer seeing a repository of old knowledge, but a strategic command center.
He reached for another text, this one a dense, theoretical work on demonic energy. The concepts, which would have been incomprehensible to a mortal, felt instinctive to him now.
He read about the inherent Corruption of demonic energy, how it warped everything it touched. He understood Dominance, the automatic suppression he exerted.
The text described Overcharge—the ability to fuel simple spells with his demonic energy, turning them into devastating hybrid attacks. It was all there, a natural extension of his being, not learned but remembered.
His plan to train and manage those around him felt like a necessary but minor logistical task. The true scope was vaster.
Thalyss hadn't just given him a chance to save Emma; she had handed him the banner of a revolution against the cosmic order.
A cold, determined focus settled over him. The Scion of Draziel was ready.
But then, a flicker of something else surfaced. A memory. Not of power, but of a feeling. Emma's smile, the way she looked at him before any of this happened.
The intensity of his current thoughts, the sheer commanding force of his will... would she recognize him? Would the girl he wanted to save be terrified of the demon he had become?
The thought was a crack in his absolute certainty. He had been acting on instinct, on primordial impulse.
He had commanded Silas, strategized over Velantra like a resource, all with a cold efficiency that felt entirely natural. But was it too intense? The man he had been would have hesitated, would have felt doubt.
He pushed the uncertainty aside, but it didn't vanish entirely. It remained, a small, quiet counterpoint to the roaring power within him. He would free Emma. But perhaps he needed to remember that the goal was to bring her back to someone, not just to win a prize.
He needed to find Lucy. Seralyth's training was acceptable, but he needed to see the spark of Wrath she carried firsthand.
He turned from the shelves and walked toward the archive doors, his steps echoing with purpose. The game had changed. He was playing for a throne, but he had to ensure there was still a heart left to sit upon it.
He needed movement, action. He needed to see their strength and be used at his disposal. Focusing inward, he reached through the Demon Link, a skill he had scarcely considered until now. At the moment, it was less a conscious monitoring and controlling and more of a sense skill of their territory.
He could feel them—Evelyn, a bright, stable spark in the gardens; Emma/Velantra, a turbulent, divided sun contained elsewhere; and Lucy.
Lucy was a pulsing star of contained fury. He oriented on her and left the archives, his steps silent and swift on the polished stone.
He found them in a secluded training courtyard, one wall open to a breathtaking, unnerving view of the blackened sky.
The scene was a study in contrasts. Lucy moved with a feral, explosive grace, a whirlwind of dark energy and sharp, precise strikes. Her attacks were meant to kill, honed by a lifetime of hunting before her own transformation.
And she was being effortlessly defended by an elf he had never seen.
The woman had hair the color of frost-touched white, with faint blue undertones, and eyes like chips of glacial ice. She looked ancient, far older than Seralyth, her beauty sharp and cold as a frozen lake.
She didn't attack, only defended, her movements so minimal and efficient they were almost imperceptible. A parry here, a slight sidestep there, each motion perfectly neutralizing Lucy's onslaught without expending any visible effort.
The air around her was frigid, and Caelen realized she wasn't just using ice magic; her very presence seemed to leach warmth from the surroundings.
Seralyth stood observing from the sidelines, her expression one of clinical interest. Caelen moved to stand beside her.
"Your associate is... formidable," Caelen stated, his eyes fixed on the trainer.
"Nivolis has existed since the first snows touched these mountains," Seralyth replied, her voice a low murmur. "She understands tempering and must be cooled to hold an edge. Otherwise, it simply burns out."
As he watched, Caelen's vision shifted. The system interface, now more integrated with his senses, superimposed data over Lucy without him consciously willing it.
It was clearer, more detailed, as if the system itself had learned and adapted.
[Personal Info]
Name: Lucille Desmire
Race: True Demon
Age: 20
Affiliation: Caelen's Faction
Title: Vessel of Wrath
Status: Loyal (100%)
Primordial Type: Demon
Affinity: Ice and Fire
[Stats]
Intelligence: 312
Strength: 358
Agility: 410
Endurance: 425
Resistance: 295
DM Count: 15,000
The numbers registered, but his mind snagged on one thing, freezing his thoughts. Title: Vessel of Wrath.
The words screamed in his mind. Vessel. It was the same word he'd used for Emma, a container for another's power.
A cold dread, entirely separate from his demonic nature, trickled down his spine.
Was Lucy the same? Was she just a container, waiting to be filled by the spirit of the Primordial Sin of Wrath? Had Thalyss not just given him allies, but delivered vessels for the ancient powers?
He stared at Lucy, at her lashing tail and now burning eyes. Was she even her? Or was she just a shell, like Emma was now for Velantra? The thought was a violation. His grip on the balcony rail tightened, the stone groaning under his fingers.
Seralyth noticed the sudden tension radiating from him. "What is the matter?" she asked, her voice cutting through his spiraling thoughts.
Caelen didn't look away from Lucy. "Her title. 'Vessel of Wrath'. What does it mean?"
Seralyth was silent for a moment. "The title is her own. It reflects her nature."
"That's not what I asked," Caelen said, his voice low and dangerous. "Is she a vessel like the angel is a vessel? Is she meant to be... occupied?"
Understanding dawned in Seralyth's ancient eyes. "Ah. You wonder if she is a chosen host for the original Sin." She considered it. "I do not know. The Primordial of Wrath, Ravethor... he was different. Of the Seven Sins, he fought the most. Not just against the Virtues, but against his own brothers, against any who challenged him. The stories say he lived for the battle itself. While the other Sins were strategists or corrupters, he was pure, unending destruction."
She looked at Lucy, who was once again being calmly subdued by Lyra's impeccable defense. "There is evidence that some of the Sins were truly destroyed during the Evasion. Their essence shattered. Wrath, it is said, fought to the very last. No one knows what truly became of him. Unlike the others, there is no evidence of him slumbering or dying in battle. Only that he fell."
Caelen processed this. So Lucy might not be a pre-ordained host. She might simply be a demon whose power so perfectly mirrors the original Sin that the system labels her as such.
A successor, like he was to Lust. Or... she could be a perfect, empty container, and the shattered spirit of Wrath was still out there, waiting for a home.
The knowledge he had gained in the library now felt heavy, tainting everything. It wasn't just history; it was a potential future.
Were he and Lucy the start of a new age of Sins? The idea was intoxicating and terrifying. He looked at her, no longer seeing just an ally, but a potential key to apocalyptic power—or a tragedy waiting to happen.
"Make her stronger," Caelen commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Whatever she is, she needs to be strong enough to withstand it. Or to command it."
Seralyth simply nodded. The training below continued, but for Caelen, the stakes had just been raised to a cosmic level.
-
["If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to drop a power stone or add it to your library—it really helps me keep writing!.]
[SORRY FOR THE LATENESS, TRYING TO ADJUST THE OLDER CHAPTER"]