Shadow Monarch in DC - Chapter 23: The Price of Power.

Lin ShuYi was sentenced to death by the traitorous Emperor for a treasonous crime he didn’t commit. Before drinking the poisonous wine on the execution ground, he stared up at the snow falling from the sky and said to himself, “This is for the best, I will be a cook in my next life! I miss roast chicken…”

Lucy Gray was a tech genius—until a stranger smiled, pulled the trigger, and ended his life.But death wasn’t the end. It was a recruitment.Dragged before a pantheon of ancient gods, Lucy learns his soul has been drafted into the Holy War—an eternal bloodbath in which Gods fight across shattered realms. Out of thousands, he was soul #4,000, chosen by Seraphine, the Goddess of Rebirth and Suffering.Now reborn in a dying world of Ogres, Giants, Beastkin, Dragonkin, and Elves, Lucy is a human among legends—a species exiled and nearly forgotten, for reasons that make him hated.Armed with nothing but defiance, sarcasm, and a bizarre ability to steal and master the powers of others, Lucy has one job: survive the impossible.The gods wanted a pawn.They got the wrong dead man.

True evil needs no reason to exist.

“All living creatures must die, but I wont. ”

Once known as the most talented and knowledgeable scholar/philosopher across three continents, he basked in the praise and reverence of those around him. However, tragedy struck one fateful night when he bore witness to the cold-blooded murder of his entire family. Driven to madness, he embarked upon the path of power, the path of negative energy, and thus, The Great Demon, Badur, was born.

In a single day, a mountain of corpses were stacked, many of which fell to his blade. However, during his final pursuit of revenge, he met his untimely demise. His soul was extracted and cast into the void, where it would endure eternal suffering.

However, his jouney would not end here……

“What do you desire?”

A grotesque creature floating in the void asked while staring at the bruised and beaten soul of a young man.

[Ding!! Host has received Void grade Treasure]

[Ding!! Goal has been set : Attain True immortality]

A new lease at life is presented

A deal with a Demon filled with resentment

A new journey, a new Dawn

With that the great Demon, Badur is reborn

ps: the book won't progress the way other novels have been progressing. if you don't like a unique development then maybe this isn't the book for you.

He kept her by his side, never letting go! “Please, can you let me go?” “Impossible,” he said, “unless you're no longer my only one.” After they fell in love, he declared possessively, “I want to keep you by my side, to make you belong only to me. You can only love me too, your mind, your world, must be filled with only me.” Yet his domineering love sent a chill through her.