Marcus awoke with a sharp breath, his body drenched in cold sweat.
The apartment was quiet…too quiet. The kind of quiet that made his skin crawl. The ceiling above him flickered faintly with glitching shadows, like static from an old CRT screen bleeding into reality. His mouth was dry, and his limbs felt like steel bars had been grafted into his bones.
"You're awake," a voice slithered in, low and sharp like a wire being pulled taut.
Fang was perched upside down on the ceiling, one leg dangling lazily, arms crossed, the ever-present smug grin tugging at his lips.
Marcus groaned. "Not the best wake-up call."
"You've been asleep for three days. At this rate, you're going to sleep through your own ascension," Fang drawled. "Lucky for you, Daddy Processor left me here to babysit your sorry ass."
Marcus sat up slowly. His head throbbed with pressure, like something inside him was... growing.
The glitch in the corner of the room widened.
"Marcus," Anomaly's voice whispered through the static. It wasn't sound. It was a presence. It wrapped around his mind, threading thoughts like a puppeteer with silk strings.
"You've completed the initial calibration. Phase One awaits its final act."
Marcus flinched.
"I thought... the dungeon was the end of Phase One."
"No. That was preparation. A test of strength. But strength alone doesn't evolve the system. You must devour the seed."
"…Seed?" Marcus's voice cracked.
Bethany.
Images rushed through him—her voice, her laughter, the way she held herself with pride and fire. Something about her had always felt... familiar. Kindred, maybe. But now—
"She's one of them?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"One of the four," Anomaly confirmed. "The decoys the gods claimed to have destroyed. A lie, cleverly maintained. I orchestrated their escape and planted them where I knew you'd find them."
Marcus swallowed. "And Bethany... she's not just a decoy."
"No. She carries a seed. Left by the Divine Father himself. A parasite meant to consume you if you failed to devour it first."
Marcus shook his head. "I won't kill her."
"You don't need to kill," Fang said, flipping down to land silently on the floor. "You just need to eat."
"Same damn thing."
"No, Marcus," Anomaly's tone softened for the first time, like a teacher correcting a child. "This is evolution. You devour not for power, but survival. If you leave her untouched, the seed grows. It will take root in you... and then she'll devour you instead."
Marcus clenched his fists. His eyes burned, not with tears, but with the simmering energy of rejection, confusion, rage.
"This is sick."
"You chose this," Anomaly replied. "You just didn't know it yet."
Fang tossed him a dagger, his weakest one, dulled at the tip but still humming with intent. "She's alone. Her core's starting to hum. She doesn't know what's inside her yet. You hesitate now, and she'll become something worse than either of us."
Marcus caught the blade. The weight of it sank into his palm like guilt itself.
"I... I can't," he said again, quieter.
"You're not a hero," Fang said, his grin disappearing. "You're a predator. And if you don't learn to eat, you're just meat."
The silence that followed was unbearable. Not from lack of sound—but the weight of truth.
"I'll give you this much," Fang said, cracking his neck. "You got heart. Shame it'll get you killed."
Marcus stood. "Where is she?"
Fang's eyes gleamed. "Two blocks west. Still in her apartment. The seed inside her is beginning to stir. You'll feel it the moment you get close."
Marcus turned toward the door, blade tucked under his hoodie.
"Don't do anything stupid, Marcus," Anomaly said. "This is your moment. Accept what you are. The system can only carry the Godkiller forward once the first true meal is consumed."
He hesitated at the door, shadows swirling in his peripheral vision.
"Fang," Marcus muttered.
"Yeah?"
"If I mess up… take her out."
"Gladly," Fang replied, but there was something solemn in the way he said it.
The Berlin night was cold. Clouds drifted across a pale moon, and the glow of the city was dimmed by flickering street lights, half of them glitching like corrupted memories.
Marcus moved quietly, every step echoing louder than the last. He could feel her now…Bethany. She radiated something old, something monstrous beginning to crack beneath the skin of the familiar.
He reached her building. The seed pulsed like a beacon inside her.
As he neared her door, his heart thundered louder than the sirens that once chased him in nightmares.
"Bethany," he whispered.
Inside, she stirred. A flicker of her core responded, not with recognition—but with hunger.
He raised the dagger. His hand trembled.
"You're not human anymore," Fang whispered into his ear, materializing from the shadow. "So stop pretending."
"I don't want to become a monster."
"You already are."
And as Marcus stepped forward, eyes dimly glowing, the blade tightened in his grip—not as a weapon, but as a key.
A devourer must eat to awaken.
Marcus stepped into the dimly lit apartment.
Bethany stood at the window, her silhouette illuminated by the dull city lights. Her long coat draped over her like a cape, and her hands were tucked into her sleeves. She hadn't turned to look at him yet but she knew.
The air crackled.
"You came," she said, voice calm but distant. "I felt it. Something in me… recognizing something in you."
Marcus didn't speak. He could feel it, too. The seed inside her pulsed like a second heartbeat. Each beat echoed in his skull, like a countdown.
"I don't know what's happening," Bethany said, turning to face him. "But something's waking up inside me. Something that doesn't belong."
Her eyes were soft—but beneath them, shadows danced. Static crept along her cheeks, fracturing reality around her. One second, she was Bethany. The next, something else flickered into her place—something ancient.
"I need to help you," Marcus said, lying to himself. "There's something inside you—"
"You're not here to help," Bethany interrupted. Her lips trembled. "Are you?"
Marcus lowered the dagger.
"No," he whispered. "I'm not."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
She lunged first.
Bethany's hands twisted mid-air, forming jagged claws. Static burst from her spine, and her voice split in two, one voice hers, the other something deeper, unholy.
"IT'S TOO LATE, MARCUS."
He ducked under the swipe, rolling across the carpet and swinging the dagger upward. It struck her shoulder but barely pierced the skin. Sparks flew.
Bethany hissed, eyes blackening. Her veins pulsed with blue light.
"I didn't ask for this!" she screamed, voice fractured by something deeper inside.
"Neither did I!" Marcus shouted back, barely avoiding another slash.
They clashed again. Her strikes were raw, wild, desperate. His were calculated, precise—until emotion cracked through.
He hesitated. Just for a moment.
She took the opening.
A blade of corrupted light exploded from her palm, slicing across his chest and sending him sprawling into the wall.
"You're going to kill me," Bethany said, staggering. "Aren't you?"
Marcus coughed blood. "No. I'm going to devour you."
Bethany froze.
The seed inside her reacted instantly. A pulse erupted from her chest. Glyphs formed in the air, ancient and divine—shackles placed by the gods.
But Fang's voice echoed in Marcus's head:
"Don't forget what you are. You're the eater of false miracles."
Marcus stood.
He raised the dagger. It began to glow.
The glyphs shattered like glass.
Bethany screamed—not in pain, but in release.
Light exploded from her body. The seed tried to flee. It tore away from her core like a parasite caught mid-feast, but Marcus was faster.
He plunged the dagger into her chest—not to kill, but to consume.
The system activated.
[Devour: Core Seed of the Divine Father - Initiated]
Processing… Decryption in progress…
Bethany's form disintegrated into glitching fragments, her soul unraveling like thread into a hungry black hole centered in Marcus's chest.
He wept as it happened—but he didn't stop.
Seed devoured. Class: False Devourer neutralized.
Anomaly confirms synchronization. Processing Phase One evolution…
Then he felt it.
Deep within the void of himself—beneath the layers of fear, strength, and hesitation—something stirred.
A heartbeat.
A second one.
A core.
It unlocked with a cracking sound that didn't come from his ears but his soul. The void he always carried… bloomed.
Devourer Core: UNSEALED.
Devourer System v1.3… initializing true form.
[Unlocking Seal 1…processing…]
Pain flooded him, but he welcomed it.
His body lifted slightly from the ground, consumed in black and violet flames. Glyphs spiraled around him, symbols he couldn't read but understood.
He fell to one knee, gasping.
"I…" he whispered. "I can feel everything."
Power unlike anything he'd tasted coursed through him—not stolen, not borrowed, but his.
Fang stepped from the shadows, clapping slowly.
"Finally," he said, smirking. "You've stopped being pathetic."
Marcus turned, eyes glowing a deep crimson hue.
"She's gone," he said. "And I didn't want to do it. But I did."
"Good," Fang said, tossing him a flask. "Now drink that. You're about to hurl your lungs out otherwise."
Marcus caught it and took a sip. Instantly, the burn in his veins cooled, and the pressure inside his skull dulled to a manageable throb.
"Where's Anomaly?" he asked.
"He's watching. Always watching," Fang replied, looking up toward the ceiling. "But he's impressed. Said you're finally worthy of what comes next."
Marcus stood fully now, the floor beneath him cracking from the pressure of his newly awakened core.
"What comes next?" he asked.
Fang grinned, wider than ever.
"Phase Two."