Chapter 9 - 10x Reward!

Dagga grinned savagely as he held the black, pulsating core in his clawed hand. Without hesitation, he sank his teeth into it, devouring the essence of the wraith with reckless hunger. 

The moment he swallowed the core completely, thick black smoke began pouring out of his body like a broken dam.

Creed stood a few steps away, his heart pounding as he watched the demon. His mind raced with thoughts of the reward promised by the System. 

'Ten times stronger?' he thought, his eyes gleaming with hope. 'If Dagga gets a Bloodline Ability, I'll get something even better. Something ten times better! Just imagine… ten times stronger than a demon Bloodline ability? I'd be unstoppable.'

But before Creed could dream any further about his overpowered future, Dagga suddenly let out an ear piercing scream. 

"Aargh!" It was a guttural scream that implied only one thing: pain. Extreme pain. For a fiend Demon to scream like an embarrassed Loli such as this, it had to be a lot of pain.

His massive body convulsed, dropping to the ground with a loud thud. The black smoke surrounding him thickened, swirling like a storm around his writhing form.

"Dagga!" Creed shouted, panic lacing his voice. But the demon couldn't hear him. It was screaming so loud no amount of shouting would even reach it.

And since he couldn't talk to it, Creed just stood there, looking dumbstruck. 

He didn't know if what was happening at the moment was a good thing or a bad thing. 'Did the awakening fail?' he thought.

Creed didn't want to lose his protector/slave in this foreign realm. At least not right now when he was seriously weakened!

Blood red runes began appearing on Dagga's body, glowing with an otherworldly light. They twisted and danced across his skin like they were alive, and the air around him crackled with raw power.

Slowly, the blood runes all over his body began to fuse together, gradually congealing into a dark red mark on its forehead.

Creed's fear melted into excitement as he realised what was happening. His lips curled into an eager grin. 'This is it! He's awakening an ability in his Bloodline. Those runes aren't ordinary—they're proof of something big!'

He had read of something similar in his father's journals and was a bit familiar with the concept. 

Those were Primordial Runes, which meant that he was currently tapping into the Ancestral Stream of the demons.

It was a lot of demonic nonsense, but the bottom line was that Dagga was currently awakening!

Dagga's screams echoed through the clearing, but Creed didn't move. His eyes were locked on the demon, his thoughts buzzing like an overloaded circuit. 

'If Dagga succeeds, if the System's multiplier works… I'll be practically unstoppable. No one at my stage will even come close.'

After what felt like an eternity, the smoke began to thin, and Dagga's trembling body grew still. 

Slowly, the massive demon pushed himself off the ground, chest heaving as his glowing red eyes stared down at his own hands.

He had grown taller, muscular, and certainly more ugly. There was also a strange sense of darkness that looked around him, like he was a bottomless abyss...

"I… I have become a Chosen!" Dagga roared, his voice booming with a mix of disbelief and triumph.

Creed blinked. "A Chosen?" he muttered, trying to piece it together. 'What is that? Like a classification? Is that their version of special warriors?'

The revelation sent a chill down his spine. Human special warriors were quite powerful at the same stage, but normal demon warriors were already on par with them.

They could battle it out evenly with a special human warrior of the same stage and would even win in most cases.

'If their ordinary warriors are this strong… how strong is Dagga now? A Chosen must be terrifying!'

Just as Creed opened his mouth to ask about the Bloodline ability Dagga had awakened, the System's familiar chime echoed in his mind.

This time, it was bearing good news!

[Ding! Your marked demon has awakened a special Bloodline Ability; Shadowborn... Multiplying rewards by 10 times...]

[Ding! Congratulations! Host has gained the Bloodline Ability: Nyxara.]

The words had barely registered when Creed felt a sudden, excruciating pain explode through his body. 

His knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the ground like a sack of potatoes, screaming in agony.

Dagga turned sharply, his newfound aura radiating power, but his expression was one of utter confusion. "What's happening? Why are you screaming like you're the one awakening?"

Creed could barely hear him through the pain. His veins felt like molten lava coursed through them, burning him from the inside out. 

Every muscle in his body locked up, his vision blurred, and his screams grew hoarse.

'System, you absolute devil!' Creed cursed internally. 'Did you multiply the pain by ten too?!'

Five agonising minutes later, the pain vanished as suddenly as it had come. Creed lay on his back, panting like a fish out of water. His hair was damp with sweat, and his limbs felt like jelly.

Dagga loomed over him, his massive shadow casting Creed in darkness. "Did… did you just awaken a Bloodline Ability too?"

Creed managed a weak glare. "Would it kill you to ask if I'm okay first?"

The demon shrugged, clearly unbothered.

Ignoring him, Creed slowly sat up. His body felt… different. Stronger, sharper. But it wasn't just physical.

There was a strange energy coursing through him, a power that didn't belong in the light. It was dark, ancient, and filled with an ominous presence.

It felt alive.

It wasn't just power—it was something more, something terrifying. It coiled around his soul like a predator waiting to strike, whispering sinister promises in the back of his mind.

What the hell is this? Creed thought, shivering. He summoned the System interface with trembling hands, desperate for answers.

[Nyxara

Alias: The Curse of the Eternal Shadow.

Description: ???]

Creed's heart skipped a beat. "What the—why can't I see the description?!"

[WebNovel Rising Star II Entry] ALL SUPPORT is appreciated.

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Power stone Goal!

20 PS - 1 Bonus chapter

50 PS - 2 Bonus chapter

100 PS (Quite an achievement as of now) - 3 Bonus chapters.