---
Nero crouched behind a jagged outcrop, his sharp black claws gripping the scorched stone. The birthing grounds were steeped in chaos. Growls echoed through the sulfurous air, claws scraped against rock, and the stench of blood mixed with smoke.
It was a battlefield of newborn demons—tearing each other apart in a primal frenzy. Hunger, rage, and instinct ruled them.
And Nero felt it too.
But he wasn't like them.
He tamed the hunger, funneled it through discipline honed in his past life. He wasn't just feeding—he was evolving.
A crack of stone drew his gaze to the right. Two demons clashed nearby—one cloaked in flickering embers, the other radiating a pale mist. Fire and ice. Natural enemies, yet both vicious in their newborn ferocity.
The frost demon dodged a blaze and retaliated with an ice spike that skewered the ember demon through the chest.
Opportunity.
Nero moved, silent as a shadow.
The frost demon turned—too late.
He pounced, claws flashing. His strike tore through the demon's throat. It flailed, wheezed, and bled out in seconds.
Victory.
------------------------------------
> System Notification <
Enemy defeated.
EXP Earned: 40
Total EXP: 95 / 100
DGP +30 (Total: 120)
-------------------------------------
He knelt over the corpse and hesitated for only a moment before tearing into it. The meat was cold and bitter like frozen liver, but rich with power.
A shiver passed through him as the energy coursed into his being.
------------------------------------
Gluttony Effect: +1 DEX, +1 INT
------------------------------------
He exhaled, steam rising from his lips.
His body pulsed—sharper, leaner. He felt the gains clearly now. The incremental strengthening that came with each kill, each bite.
---------------------------------
[Status Window]
True Name: Numen
Alias: Nero
Race: Demonkin (Variant - Non-Elemental)
Level: 1
EXP: 95 / 100
STR: 5
DEX: 6
VIT: 4
INT: 7
Traits:
GOD Furnace (Locked — Unlocks at Level 10)
Gluttony (Active)
*Fire Resistance (Low)
*Ice Resistance (Low)
Skills:
Nero Style: Feral Form
Ice Thread
DGP: 120
---------------------------------
He stood, body throbbing with life and bloodlust. Each kill was more than survival—it was a step toward transcendence. The others fought without purpose.
He fought to ascend.
Another echo rippled across the field. Footsteps—heavier. Another demon, larger, with strange markings along its arms, emerged from the black mist. Its eyes burned with two colors—red and blue.
Dual element?
Nero grinned. His claws flexed.
"Come then," he muttered. "Let's level up."
---