**The next day,** Dax stood in the guards' courtyard where four prisoners awaited judgment—three demons and a minotaur. his face emotionless and void he said. "Can I keep my opponent corpse?"
"Yes," Dalia sighed, resignation heavy in her voice.
Dax began examining his potential opponents, starting with the caged beast—a Level 80 minotaur. When the creature noticed Dax's gaze, it roared and slammed its fists against the bars, unleashing a wave of primal fury. Instantly, crackling currents of electricity surged through the cage, forcing the minotaur to its knees, muscles twitching violently.
Unfazed, Dax moved to the next prisoner—a towering Level 88 demon, nine feet tall, its obsidian horns coiled like a crown. Its muscles bulged with restrained power, and its eyes were voids of endless darkness.
**"Wow. You're just like the minotaur,"** Dax mused, voice dripping with mock admiration. The demon remained silent, exuding an unsettling calm. Through his **Origin Eyes**, Dax detected something lurking behind the demon—a spectral hand, its surface etched with glowing, otherworldly inscriptions.
*"Master, that's an envoy of the gods. It's masking its aura."* Inerous warned.
"Who is this guy?" Dax asked, intrigued.
"Dantatos the Possessed—a devout follower of the Blood river Cult, worshippers of the evil god Val. His captors found him drenched in blood, yet he offered no resistance when shackled. Like an obedient slave he followed them."
Dax's finger snapped toward him without hesitation. **"I choose him."** The other prisoners no longer held his interest.
"Hahahahaha!" Dantatos erupted into manic laughter.
Dax smirked. **"This is how it should be—a man who can smile at the face of death."** Dax shrugged his shoulder walking to Dalia.
*"Master, the arena is prepared."* A demon guard approached Dalia.
Dalia studied Dax, her thoughts unreadable. "Are you certain? That demon is a Recognition Realm expert, and you're still in the Mortal Realm. Reconsider." Her concern was thinly veiled—Dax was too valuable to lose.
Dax shook his head and followed the guard. The crowd roared as he entered the arena, but he ignored them, standing motionless as he awaited his opponent.
**"Inerous, record this fight,"** Dax ordered.
*"Yes, Master."*
When Dantatos entered, the colossal chains binding him clattered to the ground. "Human, you have no survival instinct," he sneered. "You could have picked anyone else. Yet you chose me."
*Dax remained silent devoid of emotion.
In an instant, crushing pressure erupted from Dax's body, pressing unto the demon.
Dantatos muttered a prayer under his breath, offering Dax's head as a sacrifice to his god. The demon steadied himself, resisting the force.
A grotesque broadsword materialized in his grip, its hilt shaped like the floating hand above him. The weapon pulsed, its fingers tightening around Dantatos' palm as if alive.
"Your name will be forgotten beneath my feet," the demon declared, eerily calm.
"We shall see." Dax replied. Vanishing from his spot as he appeared in front of Dantatos unleashing a devastating punch.
"Vegas Dome!" the demon chanted. A translucent barrier flared to life, intercepting Dax's strike.
Dantatos raised his blade, and a wretched whisper slithered into Dax's mind:
**"Alkeem nazarik tasheer."**
Dax froze.
His body locked in place, his mind screamed at him to *move*. But Dantatos was already swinging—the blade arcing toward his neck.
Time slowed.
Dax felt intoxicated, his thoughts sluggish.
**Abyssal Scales.**
The moment steel touched his throat, a shockwave of energy detonated, hurling Dantatos backward.
The chanting ceased. As Dax regained control.
Dantatos lunged, unleashing a barrage of slashes—each strike precise and lethal. Dax parried, their clash displaying a storm of sparks. The crowd roared, intoxicated by the violence.
**Killing Series: First Form—Dead Jab.**
Dax shifted stance, fist aimed at Dantatos. A memory flashed—his father demonstrating the **Killing Arts**, the way he compressed his intent into a single, flawless strike.
*"The key,"* his father had said, *"is to compress your killing intent into your attack."*
Dax exhaled.
In a state of enlightenment Dax body went on autopilot as His trait predator took cover his body.
**BOOM.**
The arena trembled as Dax forced his killing intent inward, condensing it into his body. A dangerous euphoria flooded his mind—his movements sharper, his senses hyper-alert.
**"Magnificent,"** Dantatos breathed, awed. **"A worthy sacrifice for Sparda."**
Black tendrils of energy erupted from the demon's sword, the hilt's fingers elongating, piercing Dantatos' flesh. He vanished—reappearing above Dax brandishing his blade.
"Blade of Rebellion!"
A spiraling vortex of darkness hurtled toward Dax.
Dax lost in his trance took four steps to his left his footprints searing into the stone. The attack missed by inches.
Dantatos stabbed forward, aiming for Dax's stomach.
**CLANK.**
The blade screeched against something impossibly hard.
Dantatos' eyes widened. **"How—?"**
One moment Dax wax on the arena the next—he began to relieve every kill, every dissection and every experiment that ended in screams.
Dax appeared in the lab wielding-no control over his body he observed how he harvested Gagarion's heart.
Meanwhile on the arena Dax dropped to all fours like a wild beast, his eyes bleeding crimson, the golden veins on his scales changed from gold to a dangerous crimson.
He moved at an extreme speed, brandishing his claws at him.
Dantatos barely dodged but that didn't stop Dax attacks. Five gashes tore across his chest.
Dax struck again. And again.
Each kick, each slash, dripped with killing intent.
The demon staggered, bewildered.
"How is this possible."
Unknown to Dax, his heart had been devouring the compressed killing intent inside him. A bright red essence gathered, forming a strange seed—then everything froze. The killing intent vanished. The phenomenon stopped abruptly.
The crimson seed floated before Dax's heart... then merged with it.
Dantatos, surprised by Dax's sudden stillness, hesitated. *"What is this human planning now? Don't tell me he still has another trick."* He quickly backed away, putting distance between them.
"Enkida!"
Dantatos' muscles spasmed violently.
**"Ugh—!"** He screamed as his bones cracked. His hollow eyes trembled, a blue iris forming within them. When he spoke again, his voice was dual-toned—one male, one distinctly female.
*"You summoned me for this weakling?!" Enkida the feminine voice asked. dantatos was a capable man he only summoned when the enemy was strong.
With a snarl, he raised his hands. **"Dark beast from the shadows of hell—heed my call! Slaughter this insect!"**
A massive serpent materialized, wreathed in dark energy, its fangs dripping venom.
---
Above the arena, a handsome man with long horns observed the battle with intrigue. **"Who is that demon?"** he asked the maid beside him.
**"Master Amon, that is Dantatos of the Blood River Cult—a dark aura specialist,"** she replied.
Amon's eyes gleamed. **"I want to purchase that demon."** His tone dismissed any possibility of Dax surviving he had a goal and that was to get a powerful slave.
As he stood, he glanced down at Dax with open disdain. **"Filth."** He spat on the floor.
Moments later, Dalia entered. **"Brother Amon, what brings you here?"**
**"Junior sister, your beauty outshines even time itself,"** he greeted, bowing his head slightly. His cold demeanor softened—Amon had always doted on his sister.
**"Master orders your return. The Black Water Realm opens in six months."**
**"What?!"** Dalia's voice dropped to a whisper. **"Don't lie to me, Amon."**
**"I would never jest about this,"** he said solemnly. **"You must be at the Black Water Capital in five months."** Then, shifting topics: **"That demon, Dantatos—I'll buy him for 500,000 mid-grade mana stones."**
Dalia's mind raced. *I promised Dax the corpse. Will he see me as selfish? Untrustworthy?* Her resolve hardened. *No. This human is too valuable.*
**"1 million,"** Amon countered, interrupting her thoughts.
Dalia smiled coyly. **"senior Brother, while your offer tempts me, I must decline. Instead... let's wager. If Dax loses, you get Dantatos and a free memory-wipe rune. If he wins, you pay me the stones."**
Amon scoffed, pointing at the arena. **"Look at him! That human is lost—either he dies or becomes a vessel for evil spirits."**
Dalia hesitated, watching Dax's frozen form. Then, steeling herself: **"I bet on him. He will win."**
Amon's eyes narrowed. *when did she start trusting a human talk less a slave ? There should be more to this...*
..
..
**"Specter Hand!"** Dark curse marks slithered up Dantatos' arm. Invisible hands grabbed Dax, yanking him toward the serpent—which struck him with its tail, instantly releasing a cloud of corrosive gas.
*You have inhaled a lethal toxin.* Dax received constant notifications from the system.
Dax coughed blood, his body embedded in the arena wall. His chest caved inward, organs dissolving faster than his regeneration could heal.
Dantatos approached, mockingly remorseful. **"I warned you. Why didn't you listen?"**
Suddenly, he burst into laughter—then stopped cold, his demonic horns gleaming. The serpent carried him to Dax's broken form. His grip tightened around Dax throat picking him up effortlessly. **"You'll make a fine evil spirit."**
---
Unconscious and oblivious , Dax found himself strapped to a cold metal table under blinding lights. A white-haired man stood over him, pressing a surgical blade to his chest.
Dax tried to scream—but no sound came out from his mouth. He tried to move— but his limbs were bound.
In that moment The man began cutting.
Horror struck Dax. *The face above of the man operating on him belonged to him.
**"This is too familiar."** He mentally called: *Inerous!*
.
.
Dax was replied by a cold silence.
The blade traced his sternum, as fingers slid between his ribs, gripping his heart. Pain seared through his body ands mind, as his reflection cut him open with precision.
Darkness swallowed him—then he awoke elsewhere, strapped upright. His own voice echoed: **"Commence Project one fourteen."**
A robotic arm injected a serum into his neck. His skull swelled grotesquely, intense pain surged through his head like it was about to explode at any moment.
Dax tried to scream but his mouth didn't budge. Dax let this feeling register in his mind he had made up his mind, he never wanted be under the mercy of anyone.
suddenly he was welcomed by a familiar but cold Darkness, embracing him the way a mother would embrace her child.
**"So this is what is like to be killed."** a wave of realization washed upon dax.
"To be the perfect killer one has to understand how to be killed."
Suddenly he appeared before his heart. There, floating ominously: the crimson seed, radiated pure killing intent.
*What is this? This wasn't here before!*
Inerous' voice finally replied: *"Master, I believe you have greater concerns.