The dungeon pulsed before Renji like a living thing, its entrance a swirling void of black mist. It was not just another dungeon—it was something deeper, older.
Something that had been waiting.
Renji stood at the edge, his heartbeat steady but his mind in chaos. His vision blurred between reality and something else, the influence of the Ancient Entity growing stronger with every passing second.
Behind him, Hikaru grabbed his wrist.
"Renji, don't." Hikaru's voice was firm, but there was an undercurrent of fear.
Renji turned to him eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. "You don't feel it?"
"Feel what?" Hikaru snapped. "All I see is a death trap. And you're walking into it like it's calling your name!"
Renji exhaled, glancing back at the swirling abyss.
"It is."
---
The moment his foot crossed the threshold, everything changed.
The world outside vanished.
There was no stone floor beneath him, no dungeon walls. Only an endless abyss.
Renji floated weightlessly, his body suspended in darkness. The space around him felt alive—like it was watching him.
Then, voices whispered.
Thousands of them.
Layered on top of each other.
Some desperate. Others amused.
Another one enters.
Will he shatter?
Or will he become more?
Renji clenched his fists. "Shut up."
The voices laughed.
And then—they attacked.
---
Shadows burst from the abyss, forming grotesque shapes. Their bodies twisted and merged into towering creatures—monsters that should not exist.
Renji moved.
His claws lashed out, slicing through one of the creatures—but its body was not flesh. It was something else. Something formless.
The wound healed instantly.
The creatures laughed.
Your strength is meaningless here.
Renji gritted his teeth.
Then the pain struck.
A force tore through him from the inside, his very existence unraveling.
He screamed.
---
Through the pain, the whispers grew louder.
Then, a familiar voice.
You are not strong enough yet.
Renji gasped, his vision flickering. "You… again…"
The Ancient Entity's presence was overwhelming now. It was here.
A massive shape loomed in the abyss—a shifting, amorphous mass of eyes and mouths, staring at him from every angle.
You seek to evolve, yet you hesitate.
You fear losing control.
Renji gritted his teeth. "I control myself!"
Do you?
The entity lunged.
---
Renji's body convulsed.
The darkness wrapped around him, pulling him deeper into itself.
He was drowning in it.
The Ancient Entity's power surged, pushing against his mind, whispering, demanding—
Let go.
Become more.
Give in.
Renji roared, his will clashing against the overwhelming force.
And for the first time—
He pushed back.
The darkness cracked.
The voices screamed.
And Renji tore himself free.
Breaking the Chains
He landed hard, his body collapsing onto solid ground. The abyss was gone. The whispers had stopped.
Renji was still himself.
But something had changed.
His arms trembled—his mutation had grown again. His veins pulsed with an unfamiliar power.
The Ancient Entity had not won.
But neither had he.
They were merging.
---
A deep silence followed.
Then, a single voice.
You are… interesting.
Renji exhaled, rising to his feet. His claws retracted. His breath steadied.
He had survived the trial.
And he was stronger.
But he was also closer to becoming something else.
He looked ahead.
The abyss had transformed into a colossal chamber. Ancient symbols lined the walls—not human symbols.
At the center of the chamber, something waited.
Something sealed away.
Renji stepped forward, his instincts screaming a warning.
This wasn't just a dungeon.
It was a prison.
And something inside wanted out.
---
Renji stood in the heart of the dungeon, his breath shallow as he took in the sight before him. The colossal chamber stretched endlessly, its walls covered in pulsating veins of black energy, each one thrumming with an ancient power. Symbols—alien, twisted—were carved deep into the stone, glowing with a sickly blue light.
At the very center, bound by shackles of pure energy, was something sealed away.
It was massive. A shape that refused to be defined—shifting, twisting, contorting in ways that defied logic. At times, it resembled a humanoid figure, then an amorphous mass of eyes and limbs, then something worse.
Renji felt his stomach churn. His instincts screamed at him to leave.
But something else—something deeper—compelled him forward.
A whisper slid into his mind.
You've come far, child of the cursed.
Renji's jaw tightened.
The Ancient Entity inside him stirred. It wasn't speaking, but he could feel its reaction—its presence wrapping around him like an unseen hand.
This thing… this prisoner…
It knew him.
---
Renji approached cautiously, every step sinking deeper into the weight of the dungeon's oppressive aura. As he neared the sealed being, the energy chains that bound it flickered—reacting to him.
You carry the scent of the first abyss.
The voice was not spoken aloud. It resonated inside his skull, clawing at his consciousness.
Renji exhaled sharply, ignoring the splitting headache that followed. "What the hell are you?"
The shifting form rippled, as if amused.
A mistake. A warning. A path you may one day walk.
Renji's fingers twitched. He didn't like the sound of that.
The Ancient Entity inside him finally reacted. Its presence pressed against his mind, exerting an unseen force of dominance.
And for the first time—
The sealed horror shuddered.
Ah… you are already tainted.
A sharp ringing filled Renji's head, and suddenly—
---
Darkness swallowed his sight.
He was somewhere else.
A battlefield stretched before him—mountains of corpses, rivers of blood.
At the center of the carnage stood figures unlike anything he had ever seen—towering beings wrapped in shadows, their forms shifting between monstrous and divine.
They fought with raw power, their strikes splitting the very sky apart.
And amidst them—a single figure, standing alone.
It was… him.
No.
Not him.
But someone like him.
A being that had walked the path of monstrous evolution to its very end.
Renji's breath hitched. The vision collapsed, and he was back in the chamber, the prisoner's gaze locked onto him.
Do you see now? The fate of those who embrace the curse?
Renji staggered back. His head felt like it was on fire.
His mutation—the power he had absorbed from the dungeon's core—reacted violently. His veins pulsed with a new intensity, his claws twitching as if responding to an unseen command.
The Ancient Entity inside him whispered, its voice colder than ever.
Do not listen to it.
---
Renji clenched his fists, his mind racing.
The prisoner—this sealed horror—was powerful. But it was still bound.
And yet, it knew things.
Things about him.
Things about what he was becoming.
He exhaled, stepping closer. "If you know what's happening to me, then tell me."
The horror shifted, its form unraveling into a thousand writhing tendrils of darkness.
You are no longer merely human.
You are the vessel of something greater.
And if you continue… you will become something that cannot be undone.
Renji swallowed hard.
Deep down, he already knew that.
But hearing it from something this ancient made it feel… real.
He shook his head. "And what about you? Why are you locked here?"
The shackles pulsed.
I am a failure. A warning. The first of the cursed who walked too far.
Renji's blood ran cold.
This thing—this being trapped in the abyss—had once been like him.
And it had failed.
---
A sharp crack split the silence.
The air around them rippled.
Renji's eyes darted toward the walls—the symbols were shifting.
Something else was reacting to this encounter.
Something watching.
The sealed horror's form twisted violently, its voice suddenly urgent.
Leave. Now.
Renji didn't move.
But then—
The entire dungeon shook.
A rupture split across the chamber's ceiling, black tendrils of corrupt energy pouring from above.
Something was descending.
Something that did not want Renji to hear any more.
The sealed horror let out a laugh—a sound filled with mockery and pain.
Ah. So they finally come to silence me.
Renji's instincts screamed.
Whatever was coming—it wasn't a dungeon monster.
It was something worse.
---
The chamber collapsed inward.
Renji's body moved on instinct, leaping backward as the air itself seemed to shatter. The corruption that poured through the rift was not like dungeon energy—it was something else entirely.
And from within the rupture—
Figures emerged.
They wore no armor. No uniforms.
Just flowing black robes and masks devoid of features.
Yet Renji knew instantly—
They were not human.
The sealed horror let out a final whisper.
Be careful, cursed one.
They do not serve the dungeons.
They serve the ones who made them.
Renji's pupils shrank.
The ones who made the dungeons?
Before he could react, the masked figures attacked.
---
They moved like ghosts.
One moment, they were standing still.
The next—they were upon him.
Renji barely raised his arms in time before a crushing force slammed into his chest, sending him flying across the chamber. He twisted mid-air, claws extending, and countered with a swipe—
But they were already gone.
He landed hard, skidding across the stone. His instincts flared—he ducked just in time to avoid a blade of pure void slicing where his head had been.
These things were fast.
And worse—
They were coordinated.
A second figure lunged at him from behind. Renji twisted, lashing out with his mutation-enhanced strength. His claw connected, sinking deep into the figure's torso—
Only for it to melt into shadow.
Renji cursed, leaping back. "Tch… what the hell are you things?"
The masked figures didn't answer.
They only attacked again.
---
The battle raged, but Renji was at a disadvantage. These things weren't like dungeon monsters—they weren't bound by instinct or rage.
They were controlled. Precise. Ruthless.
And slowly—they were pushing him back.
A pulse of cold energy surged behind him. The sealed horror stirred one last time.
You will not survive them.
Renji's eyes narrowed. "Then what do you suggest?"
The shackles on the horror flickered.
Take my power. Take my last strength.
Renji hesitated.
He had seen what happened to those who took too much.
But he was out of time.
The masked figures closed in—their final strike incoming.
Renji made his choice.
He reached out.
And the world was consumed in darkness.