Everything was dark.
Ren's body floated weightlessly in a vast expanse of nothingness. There was no pain. No heat. No cold. Just… emptiness.
Was he dead?
The last thing he remembered was the Executioner's blade tearing through him, his blood staining the ruined city. His sword had fallen from his grasp, his body broken beyond repair.
Now, he was adrift in the void.
[ERROR: SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED]
[USER LIFE SIGNS – CRITICAL]
[REBOOTING…]
Even the System was flickering, struggling to keep him alive.
His thoughts were scattered, fading.
Is this it?
After everything… was this how he ended?
Was this the fate of the Forgotten One?
Would the world move on, never remembering that Ren Kisaragi had ever existed?
A hollow rage bubbled in his chest.
No.
Not like this.
Not after everything.
He had survived being abandoned.
He had fought monsters beyond imagination.
He had bled, adapted, grown.
And now, the gods wanted to erase him?
His fingers twitched.
His mind screamed into the void—
"I'M NOT DONE YET!"
A slow, eerie chuckle echoed through the abyss.
It was deep, ancient, impossibly vast.
A voice not of man, not of god, but something else entirely.
"Heh… So, you reject the embrace of death. Good."
Ren's eyes snapped open.
There was something here with him.
The void shifted, coiling around him like a living entity. Shadows stirred, forming into a massive, cloaked figure.
Its form was impossibly tall, its body a swirling mass of black mist and piercing violet eyes.
The being loomed over Ren, studying him.
"You are at death's door, mortal. The gods have abandoned you. Your system fails. Your body is broken."
Ren gritted his teeth. "Yeah? Thanks for the update. Who the hell are you?"
The figure grinned, revealing razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the darkness.
"I… am the Abyss."
Ren froze.
The Abyss?
The thing the Celestial Order feared.
The thing he had touched when he absorbed the Abyssal Core.
"You are standing on the precipice," the Abyss continued. "Life and death, existence and oblivion. But you… you are special."
Its countless violet eyes glowed brighter.
"The gods erased you. Fate ignored you. But here, in the Abyss, you are seen."
Ren's heart pounded.
This thing… this entity… was looking at him like a worthy investment.
And he wasn't sure if that should terrify him or excite him.
"So, mortal… I offer you a choice."
The darkness coiled around him, whispering promises of power.
"Accept the Abyss. Become something beyond gods and fate. Or…"
The void shrank, revealing a distant, fading light.
"You die."
Ren swallowed.
This wasn't just a simple decision.
This was a point of no return.
If he accepted this power, he wasn't just rejecting death.
He was defying the gods themselves.
…But that was the whole point, wasn't it?
His lips curled into a smirk.
"Fine," he said. "I accept."
The Abyss laughed, deep and rumbling.
"Good."
And then—everything collapsed.
Agony.
A flood of unimaginable energy tore through Ren's body.
His bones cracked, reformed. His skin burned, then cooled, then burned again.
The Abyss was remaking him.
[WARNING! SYSTEM INTEGRITY COMPROMISED!]
[WARNING! UNKNOWN ENTITY FORCING INTEGRATION!]
Ren's vision turned red.
The System was fighting back.
The Abyss laughed.
"Foolish machine. You will adapt… or you will break."
The System screamed—a chorus of fragmented warnings and errors flooding Ren's mind.
Then—silence.
[System Override Complete.]
[User: Ren Kisaragi – Abyssal Integration 15%]
[WARNING: Further Integration May Result in Permanent Changes.]
Ren gasped, clutching his chest.
His heartbeat was… different.
Stronger.
His body felt lighter, faster, sharper.
Like he had been unshackled.
He looked down at his hands—
Dark cracks of abyssal energy ran along his arms, pulsing faintly before fading.
He was still human… but something else, too.
And he could feel it—
A new power, waiting to be unleashed.
He looked up at the Abyss.
"What now?"
The being grinned.
"Now? You wake up."
The void collapsed.
And Ren opened his eyes.
Ren gasped awake.
Pain slammed into him instantly, a brutal reminder that his body was still broken.
He was still lying in the ruins, his blood staining the ground. The Executioner stood over him, its sword raised for the killing blow.
A single second remained before death.
But now—
Ren was different.
The Executioner's golden eyes flickered.
"…What is this?"
Ren grinned through bloody teeth.
"You're about to find out."
[ABYSSAL POWER UNLOCKED]
[NEW TRAIT: VOID ASCENDANT]
[NEW SKILL: ???]
The air twisted violently.
And the Executioner—for the first time—took a step back.