[The Unrecorded Divinity quivers with excitement…]
[The Unrecorded Divinity requests permission to fuse your title—Child of Madness—with your Evil Eyes.]
NOX agreed without hesitation. His Divinity rarely acted, but when it did, the results always defied reason.
It was the same when it created the Pathos Emotion System, bending reality itself. Or when it Divined—or perhaps even created—the timeline he now existed in.
A flicker of excitement stirred within him, tempered by unease.
'I just hope I don't end up blind,' NOX mused.
After all, his Evil Eyes were still in the midst of assimilating into his Divinity, and the idea of an unexpected fusion was enough to put him on edge. But this wasn't a merger of flesh and bone—it was a fusion between a Title and a Skill.
[Your title—Child of Madness—resonates with your Evil Eyes!]
NOX continued forward, his pace deliberately slow, every step exuding theatricality. Beneath the blindfold, his eyes stirred, a sensation both foreign and familiar.
What truly caught him off guard, however, was his Divinity's excitement. It was a mere battle against Awakeners who hadn't even glimpsed the Realms of Ascendency—yet it quivered with anticipation.
'Does this thing actually enjoy these fights?'
'Wait… is my Divinity a battle maniac?'
'Or worse… a pervert that enjoys watching me beat up weaklings?'
The moment NOX lost himself in thought, a tremor ran through his being.
Beneath the blindfold, he felt his body vibrate—not as if shuddering, but as though unraveling at the seams.
His existence itself was dissipating.
First, his skin eroded into a crimson mist, then his organs, his bones, and even his blood followed, dissolving soundlessly into the unseen. Yet, there was no pain, no sensation of loss—only the eerie awareness of being unmade.
Before NOX could fully comprehend the shift, a familiar voice resonated in his mind.
[A transformation beyond reason is born.]
[You have obtained the skill—Nameless Horror: Crown of the Nameless King (Embryonic Form).]
At the exact moment NOX disappeared, the familiar voice resonated within him, delivering its message.
But outside, reality fractured in the minds of those watching.
At first, there was only silence.
Then, panic.
The soldiers had been tense from the start, but now, their discipline cracked. NOX had simply vanished. One moment, he was there; the next, he was gone.
No energy fluctuation, no burst of power—just a void where he once stood. It defied reason, and their minds scrambled to make sense of it.
"What the—?!"
Weapons clinked as warriors instinctively raised their guard. Their eyes darted across the battlefield, scanning for any trace of movement, any sign of an attack. They checked the ground, the sky, even each other—as if expecting to find NOX lurking in the shadows. Yet, no shadow moved, no air stirred. It was as if he had never existed at all.
"Is this an illusion?" one muttered, voice laced with unease.
"No… illusions have traces. This… this is something else."
The unspoken truth settled over them like a suffocating fog. They were trained, hardened soldiers, yet this was different. It wasn't just an enemy vanishing—it was something unnatural, something that gnawed at the edges of their understanding.
And the unknown bred fear.
Their emotions swelled—fear, uncertainty, restrained panic—all flowing into NOX's unseen grasp, feeding into the storm of his transformation.
Within the intangible abyss of his existence, NOX felt his new form, or rather, the absence of one. He was formless, nameless, a shifting entity untethered by flesh. He did not have a body in any conventional sense—no limbs, no eyes, no structure. He simply was.
His perception had changed. The world no longer existed in light and shadow but in pulses, reverberations of emotions, thoughts, and intentions. He felt the soldiers' fear as a thick, sluggish wave, their confusion as a sharp, erratic static. Time itself seemed stretched thin, his awareness slipping between the cracks of perception where meaning blurred.
[Skill: Nameless Horror: Crown of the Nameless King (Embryonic Form)]
[Description]: A paradoxical being that should not exist. In its embryonic form, the user becomes a formless, nameless entity, severed from conventional existence. Curses and fate-bound abilities do not apply, for that which is nameless cannot be bound by causality. However, this state is incomplete, requiring the consumption of Emotion Points to maintain form and presence.
[Limitations]: Currently, the user can only exist as a shifting, formless horror, incapable of affecting destiny. Full transformation remains beyond reach until true understanding is attained. When fully realized, this power will transcend reason—turning the user into something that defies recognition. Those caught in its wake may not even recall that they ever existed.
[Emotion Point Cost] : High.
NOX absorbed the information, his awareness sharpening.
So, this embryonic form was merely the first step. In its full realization, he would not just be an unseen horror—he would be an impossibility. A being erased from fate itself.
The weight of such power was unfathomable, but for now, he was limited to this shifting, nameless state.
The price of sustaining this form was Emotion Points, yet NOX did not concern himself with that. The soldiers before him, their festering dread, their spiraling paranoia—they were his golden geese, feeding him endlessly.
Invisible, intangible, he lingered in the void between perception, watching, waiting.
He first checked his Emotion Points.
'Two million,' NOX mused, a flicker of amusement in his thoughts. 'And all from a few… emotionally volatile teenagers. Such delicate little things. Such generous… livestock.'
"Increase my Strength, Agility, Constitution, Acuity stats by 100,000 each."
[Consuming 50,000 EP to...]
[Consuming 50,000 EP to...]
[Consuming 50,000 EP to...]
It was crucial to understand that NOX, in his current formless state, possessed no inherent physical strength.
His "Nameless Horror" skill rendered him imperceptible, not powerful.
He was a nightmare to his enemies because they could not perceive him, because he did not exist within their frame of reference. This intangibility made him immune to any form of attack.
However, it also meant he lacked the means to physically interact with the world. Therefore, he needed to amplify his core stats using Emotion Points, essentially channeling raw emotion into tangible power.
He watched the soldiers as they now appeared as humanoids pulsing with emotions in his vision, and with a smirk, he stirred.
And finally, he moved….
[You have created the skill—Silent Execution.] [Cost: 500 Emotion Points.]
NOX drifted through the battlefield unseen, a phantom slipping through the cracks of existence itself.
Slowly, he moved behind the first soldier, watching, waiting.
The young Rank 4 Awakener stood tense yet unaware, his breath steady, his grip firm on his weapon. He believed he was ready.
A whisper, colder than death, brushed against his ear.
"Shhh… no need to be afraid. Just let go."
Before the soldier could even shudder, a blade slid through his throat, severing flesh in a single fluid motion. A hand—cold as the abyss—clamped over his mouth, muffling the final gasp. His body twitched, then fell limp. His sword slipped from his fingers, clattering softly against the bloodstained ground.
His body collapsed, eyes still wide in shock.
Blood seeped into the pristine stone of Astraeus Academy's courtyard, dark rivulets pooling in the intricate carvings once meant for grandeur.
NOX remained still.
The world did not move. Time stretched, turning seconds into eternity.
A breeze stirred, carrying the scent of blood. The other soldiers remained unaware, still standing in formation, their focus locked ahead. No one had seen it. No one had felt it.
Yet, something was wrong.
A heartbeat passed. Then another.
For a moment, silence hung thick in the air, broken only by the distant murmurs of students and faculty, oblivious to the horror taking shape before them.
Then—
"Enemy attack!" someone bellowed…..
'How… predictable,' NOX mused, a flicker of dark amusement in his thoughts. 'They always scream. As if it will save them.'