Antvance into the Unknown

30. Live Evil, Part 5

The larval sea, that’s what I started to call it. No idea how large that endless plain of black rock is, but I haven’t seen a single inch that wasn’t covered in demon larvae fighting to survive. There are millions of them.

It didn’t take long to reach Level 5 and unlock my first evolution, but I didn’t take it right away, there is so much still to learn. Later, I’d maxed my mutations and formed a core, and only after that was I prepared to take the next step. Good thing I did.

The hardest part was finding a place free from conflict where I felt safe in case the evolution knocked me out—which it did.

Returning to the fray in my new form was almost too easy at first. The normal demon larvae couldn’t hurt me, and my increased strength and more potent weapons gave me an absurd advantage. But that was only at first. It wasn’t long before others found me, others like me. Only then did I come to understand the unspoken rules of the plains. You weren’t supposed to punch down, at least not too much. In order to evolve and grow beyond this second stage, I was supposed to prey on those who managed to evolve as I had.

So that’s what I did. It reminded me of the old days in a way. No longer was the melee as intense or relentless as before; instead, it was a series of duels, one-on-one battles of skill and wit that gave strength to the winner, death to the loser.

I won. Of course, I won.

Every now and again, the smaller ones would gang up and try to bring me down, but I was larger, stronger, and my Skills had advanced far beyond theirs. There is nothing they can do to me. In that way, I reached Level 10, but again I waited. Only when all of my mutations and my core were pushed to the limit did I feel prepared enough to make that step.

My final opponent was tough, having reinforced their hide during their evolution, which was the wrong choice. Although it’s difficult for my claws to break through, their weapons aren’t enough to inflict damage on me either. We fought for a long time, and though it may have appeared as though it was a standstill, I was always winning.

When the defences of my foe finally gave way and the despair began to rise from them, I could almost smell it. A feeling of overwhelming, unrivalled joy shivered through me, and I closed for the final blow, which is when I first heard it.

[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 2.]

The first time I’ve managed to Level that Skill. I’ll ponder over what it means later—with my meal complete and my hiding place secured, high on a precarious piece of rock with a crack running down one side. In the end, I don’t understand it and am unable to work out why the Skill Levelled at that time. There wasn’t anything I was doing consciously to activate it. Was it perhaps passive in some way? But what way?

Shrugging it off, I make my final checks and evolve. For my first evolution, only three options were presented, and each were quite similar. Initial Demon Larva became Developing Demon Larva, and each choice gave a flavour of different stats and bonuses. Most of my success had come with my claws, so I chose the option that granted me the most physical power. It even came with augmentations to my two arms that allowed them to snap through the air as fast as whips. Other than almost doubling in size, my body didn’t change much, still a sack of tar-covered meat with a mouth and two arms tipped with razor-sharp claws.

This second evolution is a little different. I progress from Developing Demon Larva to Prime Demon Larva, except the choices are more divergent. I’m careful, as an assassin should be, and examine every option with forensic detail, but I can’t hesitate too long. While I’m going through these menus, my rivals out in the larval sea are growing stronger. I’d come close to dying so many times already, a single second, one upgrade, one Level, could be the difference between living and dying. There is no way I’m going to end up in another demon’s gut. I refuse to become Biomass for another’s growth.

So, I stick to my strengths, choosing the option which allows me to further enhance my advantage in strength and speed. Defence is important, and that’s why offence comes first. This evolution will allow me to add a weakening aura to my claws that will infect the Mana of any enemy I strike, draining them of their energy and making them more susceptible to my blows. This will pair well with the penetrating mutations I already chose for the blades on my hands, ensuring the effect will go through.

For the rest of the evolutionary energy, I use it to further enhance my Might, with the dregs being pushed into Toughness.

When I awake, I’m still a sack of meat, but once again, I have grown much larger, towering over my initial size. With my preparations complete, it’s time to get back down into the endless plains of battle. The weakest demons are now almost not worth the time it takes to eat them, the second stage not much better. It’s the others like me that I seek out, and our battles are mighty, crushing many beneath us as we fight.

The divergent paths are showing more sharply at this stage, and some of my foes fight with bewildering magic, blasting me with fire, dazzling me with attacks on my mind or launching beams of pure energy from their extremities. Others are tough, hard as rocks and heal rapidly, wounds closing before my eyes. Yet some are huge, as I am, powerful arms covered in barbs, claws, spikes, even mouths or suckers that attempt to drain my blood. I beat them all by being swifter, more brutal, more cunning. In each case, I become intoxicated by their fear and despair, and I continue to hear it.

[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 3.]

[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 4.]

[Demonic Convergence has reached Level 5.]

Then I advance it, curiosity alone demands it.

[Demonic Convergence of Slaughter has reached Level 2.]

[Demonic Convergence of Slaughter has reached Level 3.]

[Demonic Conv…]

I stalk the plains like a conquering king, only giving way when I spot any who are higher above than I, but those are few and far between. As my victories pile up and my strength accrues, my confidence grows, rapidly striking at my foes one after another.

I’ve barely slept, barely rested at all, and Level 20 soon comes. Again, I wait. The rewards for those who are patient cannot be denied, and I gather my power until I reach my perfect strength.

Again, things are different. I’ve reached the end of the larval stage, it seems, as none of my options include those terms. Instead, it’s time to pick a more advanced form.

[Pupal Demon of Slaughter.]

Was this the purpose of the Demonic Convergence? Perhaps it’s related to my evolution in some way? Regardless, this was always the option I would choose. It’s suited perfectly to my style and I relish in the new form I’ll take. No longer a graceless blob, I will change, becoming a scythe-armed nightmare with lithe limbs, able to stand on strange, double-jointed legs. This is more like it!

I pick over each of the details with care, ensuring my choices will harmonise and work together to better become a part of my perfect strength. Only then do I confirm my choices, ready for the embrace of the dark to swallow me as my body undergoes its metamorphosis.

Only, that doesn’t happen. Instead, I’m pulled from my body, my mind dragged down to a different place, a place of endless, torrential red, where the fires burn black and hot enough to scorch my very soul. There I see a being so large I can’t comprehend it, and for the first time in so many years, fear grips my whole being.

This creature towers over me like a human towers over an ant, a nightmarish representation of the demon larva, covered with eyes and mouths and seated on a vast throne. The throne shifts, and with horror I realise the chair itself is part of the creature’s body. Slowly, the creature stirs, the air itself thickening like blood, pressing me to the floor like a worm.

[Ahhhhhh. Another has come, after so long.]

The voice shreds my Will and fills my head with echoes of gibbering whispers and despair-filled screams as one of its eyes opens to focus on my tiny, huddled form. How could anything this powerful exist? What is this world?

[Yessssss. Tell me, pitiful one. How does it feel to kneel before your God?]