Reborn with the Devil's system-Chapter 48

The moment Elias stepped through the portal, he knew something was wrong.

It wasn’t the stench of rot that hit him first—it was the sound.

A low, ceaseless wail drifted through the darkness. Not human. Not even beast. Something older. Something hungry.

Behind him, Kael grunted and raised a hand to his temple. "This place—it’s alive."

Myra drew her blades, her armor responding to the pulse of corrupt energy. "Threadspace is never supposed to be like this. It’s not just dark. It’s... backwards."

> [System Alert]

You have entered Shadow Sector XIII – Forbidden Zone

Warning: Reality Stability = 3%

System Support: Limited

Threat Level: Catastrophic

The air shimmered with data corruption. Red streaks ran through the sky like infected veins. In the distance, black spires jutted upward, clawing at the heavens.

"Fan out," Elias ordered. "But stay within the range of the system anchor. If you stray, I can’t guarantee resurrection."

His soldiers nodded, wordless. They were veterans—survivors of the Stormfall and the Reaper Siege. Yet even they looked shaken in this place.

Elias could feel it too.

Here, in this realm... the System did not reign supreme.

---

Deeper into Sector XIII

They passed abandoned structures that bled shadow from the walls. Every building looked like it had once been part of a thriving world — cities, shrines, arenas.

Now they were all ghosts.

Kael stopped by a mural etched into a stone wall.

"Elias," he whispered, his fingers tracing it.

The mural depicted two kings—one of light, one of shadow. Between them, a tree cracked in half, its roots bleeding into two separate realms.

At the base, tiny words in cursed script:

> "The System is not a god. It is a throne waiting to be broken."

Elias stared at it.

He had seen something similar before—in his father’s forbidden books, long ago. The stories of what existed before the system chose its first wielder.

Before the Devil’s Crown.

> [System Memory Fragment Recovered]

Origin: Unknown

Content: "He who rewrites the laws shall one day meet the one who was never written."

"That’s Azeron," Elias murmured. "He was never written into the code. He’s beyond it."

Myra stiffened. "Then how the hell do we kill something that isn’t supposed to exist?"

"We find its core," Elias said, voice steely. "Everything leaves a trace."

---

Meanwhile — Azeron’s Temple

Far above Sector XIII, on a shattered platform that floated on threads of corrupted essence, Azeron watched Elias through a shard mirror.

His mouthless face trembled with something resembling a smile.

"He comes," he whispered. "Good. Let the last monarch walk into the graveyard of his own kind."

Behind him, three beings knelt.

Not humans. Not creatures.

Unbound.

They shimmered with unstable forms—one made of smoke and chains, one of molten glass, the last a childlike figure with glowing eyes and mouths across its limbs.

"They still believe in boundaries," Azeron said softly. "But here, we devour boundaries."

He turned his head as if hearing something distant.

Then spoke again.

"Prepare the girl."

---

Back with Elias

The team reached a broken coliseum, half-sunken into the dark earth. Symbols of the system flickered on its arches, unstable and weak.

Elias stopped. "We make our camp here."

Kael looked around. "Camp? You want to rest here?"

"No," Elias said. "I want to draw him out."

He pulled a shard of system core from his pouch—one pulsing with pure code.

Then he stabbed it into the ground.

The air screamed.

> [You have issued a Beacon Challenge]

Target: Monarch Azeron

Response Time: 00:59:59

"I’m calling him," Elias said. "Let’s see if he still hides behind ghosts."

They formed a perimeter.

They waited.

Time slowed.

Until a ripple tore across the sky.

A portal formed above the arena—dark, crimson, and wide.

And out stepped a girl.

She couldn’t have been older than sixteen. But her eyes were hollow, glowing with stolen light. Her body shimmered—half-human, half-data stream.

A vessel.

"Elias Black," she said. Her voice echoed unnaturally, as if layered with many others.

"I am the Herald."

> [System Update]

Threat Classification: Apostate Vessel – Tier: Omega

Status: Linked to Monarch Azeron

"Step aside," Elias warned. "This path leads only to destruction."

She smiled—a mechanical twitch.

"He welcomes you to your execution."

And then she charged.

---

The Battle Begins

Kael lunged forward, his lightning spear crackling. "I’ll handle her!"

But the girl split into three, moving at impossible angles.

She stabbed a data spike into the ground—instantly corrupting the system terrain. Blades of shadow rose, slicing through defensive runes.

Myra vanished in a blink, reappearing behind the girl—but her blade phased right through her.

"She’s not fully here!" Myra shouted.

Elias raised his hand.

> [Command: Code Bind – 4th Circle]

Status: Executed

Chains of glowing system-thread burst from the earth, wrapping around the girl. She screeched—then detonated a portion of her body, breaking free.

"This is not a fight," Elias muttered, scanning her structure.

"She’s a message."

Suddenly, the girl’s body stopped moving. Her head snapped upright, and her eyes bled red static.

A voice spoke through her.

Azeron.

"Welcome to my graveyard, Elias."

Elias stood his ground, cold fire in his eyes.

"I’m not here to mourn. I’m here to end you."

The vessel’s mouth split.

"Then bleed."

The girl’s body exploded, releasing a cascade of shadowfire that scorched the arena. Elias raised a shield just in time, but the force cracked his barrier.

Kael dragged two wounded Guardians back.

"Seven down. They’re not going to survive another attack."

Elias looked up at the portal that still hovered above the coliseum.

And stepped forward.

"Then it ends now."

---

Closing Scene

He summoned his blade.

Not steel.

Not system-forged.

A weapon made of everything he’d survived.

The blade of the first Monarch.

And stepped into the air, rising toward Azeron’s gate.

> [Final Warning] ƒrēenovelkiss.com

You are entering Paradox Class Zone – Survival Rate < 15%

Do you wish to proceed?

"Yes," Elias whispered.

Because even if fate stood against him...

He had already chosen to burn fate down.

The world on the other side of the gate was wrong.

There was no sky—only a dome of pulsing, fleshy threads twitching like nerves. The ground was a patchwork of forgotten timelines, stitched together with corrupted code and sorrow.

Elias stood alone.

Kael and Myra had stayed behind to hold the anchor. No other Guardian could cross the gate without their soul code collapsing.

This was a one-way path.

The moment Elias stepped through, the gate sealed behind him with a sickening hiss.

> [Zone Entered: Throne of Ruin – Core of Shadow Sector XIII]

Dominant System: Crimson Vow

System Compatibility: Hostile

Interface Access: Blocked

Survival Timer: 06:00:00

Elias clenched his fists.

No system support.

No allies.

Just him.

And whatever the hell Azeron had become.

---

The Corridor of Echoes

As Elias moved forward, walls of black memory began to take shape around him—recordings of twisted timelines, fractured simulations, and people he once knew, living out versions of reality where he had failed.

One showed his mother—burning, her screams looped endlessly.

Another showed Kael, stabbed by a younger Elias.

"Stop it," Elias growled.

The air responded.

A thousand voices whispered:

"We are your future, Elias Black."

He raised his hand—and called upon the deep core of the Devil’s System. Not just what was allowed—but what was forbidden.

> [Override Executed]

Mode: Soul Dominance

Reality Corruption Resistance +80%

Stability Restored – Temporarily

The illusions burned away in black flame.

But Elias knew they’d be back.

They were the heartbeat of this world.

---

The Heart of the Sanctum

He reached it after what felt like hours—a colossal chamber, shaped like the inside of a dying star.

In the center stood the Throne.

A twisted thing of bone, glass, and rusted code. Wires slithered out from it, connecting to the warped remains of system shards—each one flickering with broken laws and corrupted values.

And on the throne...

Azeron.

His form was more stable now. He had grown a torso that resembled human anatomy, clothed in blood-red robes laced with shifting symbols.

His face was still sealed—no mouth—but his eyes radiated pure malice.

"You came," he said, though his lips didn’t move.

His voice rippled through the data air, like a virus infecting the soul.

Elias didn’t hesitate.

"You’ve hijacked a forbidden zone. You’ve stolen soulcodes. You’ve recreated your own corrupted interface. Why?"

Azeron rose from the throne.

His feet didn’t touch the ground.

"Because your system is a lie."

> [Crimson Vow Interface – Passive Broadcast Engaged]

"Monarchs are not chosen. Monarchs are built."

He spread his arms.

Behind him, the wall split—revealing thousands of suspended bodies. System users from ages past, all in stasis, their minds connected by crimson thread.

"Every time the system killed," Azeron said, "I retrieved them. Reconstructed them. Freed them."

"By turning them into your slaves," Elias spat.

"No," Azeron whispered. "By removing their choice to suffer."

He raised one hand—and the bodies began to wake up.

---

The Battle for Control

> [Incoming Threat Detected: Crimson Legion]

Units: 1,427

Class: Parasitic Codewalkers

Command Unit: Azeron

Elias summoned the Monarch’s Sigil, his divine weapon—a blade that changed shape depending on his will.

Today, it burned like molten judgment.

The first of the Codewalkers leapt forward—an armored knight with half its face decayed into binary ash. Elias sidestepped and sliced clean through it.

The body twitched—then exploded into red static.

They came like a wave.

Elias moved through them like shadow and fire.

> [Kill Chain Initiated – 9x Multiplier]

[Ability Unlocked – Crimson Execution]

Effect: Each kill stacks stored energy. At 12 stacks, unleash a blast that cancels corrupted code.

He reached 12.

The moment he did, the air crackled.

With a roar, Elias slammed the blade into the ground.

The arena detonated in a radius of blinding white fire, incinerating over forty of the enemies.

And then...

Azeron moved.

Fast.

Inhuman.

He appeared behind Elias—his fingers crackling with red-black lightning—and drove his hand into Elias’s back.

Pain exploded.

> [WARNING: Integrity Breach]

Health Dropped to 63%

System Sync Damaged

Regeneration Paused

Elias fell, coughing blood.

Azeron stood over him, his gaze almost... pitying.

"Your system gave you power but no purpose," he said. "Mine gives them both."

He reached out—and tried to hack Elias’s soul.

---

The Counter-Hack

But Elias wasn’t just any user.

He had rewritten death.

And now... he rewrote control.

> [Override Protocol Engaged]

Manual Command Line Initiated

Accessing Forbidden Root Layer...

Authority: Monarch Prime

Elias’s eyes burned gold.

His body surged with unstable energy—and he grabbed Azeron’s wrist mid-hack.

"Nice trick," he growled. "But I don’t play by rules."

He unleashed a blast of soulcode directly into Azeron’s arm, blowing it apart in a spiral of black fire.

Azeron stumbled back, face finally reacting in shock.

Elias rose, breathing hard.

"Endgame," he said.

> [System Evolution Unlocked – God of Dominion: Phase One]

Ability: True Override – Temporarily grants absolute command of hostile systems within a limited zone.

The chamber trembled.

Azeron steadied himself, then let out a low, keening sound that shook the air.

"You’ve only delayed the collapse," he hissed.

Elias lifted his blade again.

"Then I’ll delay it as long as I have to."

They clashed again—this time, evenly.

Every blow shook the reality around them. Shards of code rained like glass. The throne cracked. The walls screamed.

Somewhere, in a deeper part of the Threadspace, a new figure stirred.

Eyes opened.

Golden.

But cracked with red veins.

"The Monarchs awaken," it whispered. "But soon, the Gods will return."

A new entity had sensed the war—and was watching.

Waiting.

For both systems to fall