He slapped his cheeks with both hands, the sharp sting grounding him. "I have to focus on what's in front of me," he reminded himself, shaking off the lingering doubts and fears.
The cries continued, and Sasaki felt a surge of determination. He turned towards the source of the noise, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead, knowing that he couldn't afford to be paralyzed by uncertainty and self-doubt. There were lives depending on him, and for now, that was enough to keep him moving forward.
"Yes, I've decided what to choose, and I'll face the consequences."
"There's no point in dwelling on what lies in the future. I can only change the future by acting in the present."
"Future is not set in stone; it changes with your actions now."
"So, let's choose, Sasaki. What do I need to do?"
"The answer is simple: I choose the Origin."
"It's better to become the god of destruction than to be killed as the Demon King. If I have to destroy the world in either case, it's far better to do it as the God of Destruction."
Without further hesitation, Sasaki chose the power of the Origin to ascend to godhood, rather than relying on a system created by an unseen goddess. It felt right to him to choose the Origin because he had met its creator.
Sasaki realized it was pointless to worry about what might happen in the future. It's better to believe in what you can't see. Your eyes can deceive you, but when you close them, you're free from the illusions caused by light. Using this principle, he closed his eyes and decided to embrace the darkness.
For him, it wasn't about greedily killing everything in his path. He wanted to shatter his greed, the greed rooted in the system's mindless killing of demons and monsters for power.
He questioned why only demons and monsters had to suffer when no one in this world was free from sin. Why not humans, elves, dwarves, and beastmen?
What about the other races ruling as kings and queens? Why should only demons suffer? Why should only he suffer? They needed to feel the same pain as these creatures.
To understand the pain of others, you need to embrace the same pain. Only then can you fully understand others.
[The One Initializing...]
[Welcome, Sasaki.]
[Displaying your information]
[Level: 1]
[Race: Demon]
[Chaos Energy: 100]
[HP: Half Immortality]
[Class: Destroyer]
[Skill: Epidemic Bullet (Level 6), Plague Rain (Level 1), Shield (Level 1), ), Miasmic Banishment(Level 1)]
[Unique Skill: Inventory (Level 1), Raven (Level 1), Magic Decode (MAX)]
[Passive Skill: Resistance to All (MAX), Mana Heart (MAX)]
[Inheriting the skill gained from enlightenment: Epidemic Bullet, Plague Rain, Shield]
[Upgrading the skill Epidemic Bullet, Plague Rain, Shield to suit the class Destroyer...]
[Epidemic Bullet upgraded to Shadow Bullet]
[Description: Shadow Bullet a long-range attack that harnesses the concentrated essence of darkness. Forms a dense sphere of shadow energy at fingertip and fires it with accuracy, piercing through enemies and spreading darkness within their ranks.]
[Effect 1: The bullet penetrates through multiple enemies in a line, dealing significant damage to each.]
[Effect 2: Upon impact, the bullet infuses targets with shadow energy, causing their vision to blur and their movements to slow for a duration.]
[HP Reduction: 100%]
[Vision: Partial blindness]
[Agility: 10%]
[Cost: 10K Chaos Energy Per Bullet]
[Plague Rain upgraded to Abyssal Downpour]
[Description: Abyssal Downpour summons a torrent of dark energy from the sky, raining down upon enemies and engulfing them in a destructive maelstrom. This area-of-effect attack devastates all within its radius, drowning them in shadows.]
[Effect 1: Continuous damage to all enemies caught within the downpour, wearing down their health rapidly.]
[Effect 2: Enemies within the downpour suffer reduced visibility and increased susceptibility to additional dark-based attacks.]
[Radius: 50 Meter]
[HP Reduction: 100%]
[Vision: Partial Blindness]
[Agility: 10%]
[Cost: 80K]
[Shield upgraded to Shadows Veil]
[Description: Cloaks in a protective shroud of darkness, rendering invisible and shielding from any magical and physical harm. This defensive ability allows to move undetected, set up ambushes, or evade enemy attacks with ease.]
[Effect 1: While cloaked, takes no damage from magical attacks and physical attacks.]
[Effect 2: Increases movement speed and allows to bypass any physical or magical barrier.]
[Cost: 1K Chaos Energy per seconds]
[Introduction will begin...]
[Introduction to Half Immortality: You will be immune to death as long as your raven is alive. If you die, you can be revived by the raven while maintaining all your powers.
If the raven dies, you can revive the raven. To fully kill you, both you and the raven must be killed at the same time.]
[Introduction to Mana Heart: A physical second heart has been created in your body. In the Illumina system, you had the skill, but now you have a physical heart responsible for channeling chaos energy in your body.]
[You can learn more about it and harness the power of darkness by reading the book "Chaos and Heart."]
[You can obtain this book as a reward given by a quest.]
[You can obtain various books that grant new powers; these secret books will be given to you as part of quest rewards.]
[Your level is reset to one. To increase your level, you need to cultivate your mana heart.]
[Your second system will now function only as an identity system in this world, allowing you to communicate with humans and other civilized societies.]
[The One System, aka I, will erase your existence from this world, which will be treated as your demise. The Goddess of Light will believe you died at the hands of a demon.
Do not worry - many candidates were summoned in the past, and most died before becoming the Demon King. Only one survived until the end, and you were the first candidate.
She will soon summon another candidate. Keep an eye on other reincarnators, but remember there will only be one reincarnator at a time. Do not go around killing them, or she will summon more and more from your world.]
[Miasmic Banishment upgraded to 'Necrotic Eternity']
[Description: This curse invokes the relentless march of time's decay upon the cursed target, condemning them to a fate of eternal deterioration and oblivion. As the curse takes hold, the target's very existence begins to wither away, their flesh turning to dust and their essence fading into the void.]
[Cost: 100,000 Chaos Energy]
[Upgraded skills will remain inactive until you learn techniques received from main quest rewards.]
[End of Introduction]
[Best of luck on your journey, Sasaki, aka God of Destruction.]