Chapter Three – SSS-Rank: Soul Devour
Serena slowly raised her head, eyes wide and searching.
"What… was that?"
Sam didn't answer.
The echo of the chime still lingered in the air, vibrating in his chest like a living thing. A faint shimmer rippled through the room—dust motes catching in it like stars trapped in fog.
He drew a breath to speak—
And flinched.
Something flashed before his eyes, so sudden and vivid that his body reacted before his mind could. He stumbled back half a step as a translucent panel materialized in the air, letters forming with perfect clarity.
AWAKENING TALENT…
A thin white bar appeared beneath the words, filling at an alarming pace—faster than his racing heartbeat.
AWAKENING COMPLETE.
Sam didn't need to read any further to know something had changed. He felt it. A pulse that rippled through the ground, through the air, through his bones. Like the world itself had quietly shifted, rewriting its rules while no one was looking.
The panel flickered once, then rearranged.
⸻
STATUS
Name: Sam Walker
Age: 19
Rank: F (0 / 100%)
Talent: Soul Devour (SSS / Unique)
Attributes:
Strength: 6 | Agility: 5 | Endurance: 4 | Mana: 1 | Mental: 2
Skills: None
⸻
The words Soul Devour pulled his attention like gravity.
As he focused, the text expanded.
Soul Devour (SSS / Unique) — Absorb the soul-essence of a defeated entity to gain a portion of its attributes, skills, or talents.
Sam swallowed.
He didn't need an explanation. He worked at a gym, sure—but he read obsessively. Novels, web fiction, theories. He recognized the situation at a glance.
This is a system.
"What the hell…" he muttered under his breath.
His eyes drifted to his attributes, and his brow furrowed.
"So low…"
Before he could dig deeper, heat surged beneath his feet.
"What the—"
Sam jumped back, nearly tripping over the sofa.
Flames bloomed around Serena's body.
Not wild. Not destructive.
They wrapped around her like a living aura, rising and falling with her breath. Her eyes were closed, her expression peaceful—almost blissful—as if she were basking in warmth rather than standing, literally on fire.
"Serena!" Sam called, knife still clenched in his hand as he stepped forward.
The flames didn't spread.
They didn't scorch the floor, blacken the walls, or singe her clothes.
They simply danced—Beautiful and terrifying.
When her eyes finally opened, twin embers burned where warm brown once had—crimson and alive.
Sam froze.
For a split second, those eyes locked onto his, and something skipped in his chest. The intensity stole his breath.
Then—
"Ehh… why are you looking at me like that?" Serena asked, blinking.
A mischievous thought crossed her face. Don't tell me he's finally realized my supreme beauty?
Sam blinked rapidly and shook his head, breaking free of whatever spell her gaze had cast.
"What was that just now?" he demanded.
"What was what?" she asked, genuinely confused.
"Your eyes. You were… on fire." He struggled for words. He'd felt the heat—but it hadn't really burned. Her clothes were untouched. Not a single hair stinged. None of it made sense.
"Huh?" She frowned. "What do you mean?"
He opened his mouth to explain, but she cut in first.
"Never mind that—did you also get the weird screen?"
Sam exhaled, relieved that she was talking normally again, he nodded.
"Quick, tell me what it says!" she said, leaning forward.
"Only if you tell me yours too," he replied.
"Fine, fine. Now spill."
He recited everything—his status, his rank, his talent.
Her jaw dropped.
"You have an SSS-rank talent?!" she exclaimed. "That's higher than mine!"
"Oh?" Sam said. "What's yours?"
She puffed out her chest proudly. "S-rank. Flame Enchantress."
"And what does that do?"
Her gaze flickered to her interface, and she read aloud—her voice carrying a faint echo, like fire whispering to itself.
[Flame Enchantress] (S) — Born in flame. Now, you command its heart. Heat bends to your will. Light follows your breath. What once burned uncontrolled now dances at your touch—Elegant. Fierce. Unending.
Sam whistled softly. "That's… strangely poetic."
"Of course it is," Serena said, tossing her hair. "Even the system knows how amazing I am."
He chuckled, then nodded at her narcissism. "What about your attributes?"
"Strength: 3. Agility: 2. Endurance—"
She stopped.
Sam's head swung toward her, following her gaze.
The air in the center of the living room had begun to crack.
A thin black line hovered just above the floor, jagged and wrong—like a tear carved into invisible glass. A faint crackling sound filled the room, growing sharper, louder, until it echoed like crystal shattering.
The rift widened.
Beyond it pulsed a darkness that felt all kinds of oppressive and wrong. It pressed against Sam's senses, heavy and suffocating.
It was smaller than the one on the television—barely seven feet tall—but the pressure it radiated was just as disturbing.
Like staring at something that shouldn't be.
As if all that was not enough, Sam could swear he saw a silhouette moving beneath the darkness.
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A/N: I'd love some guidance on how to move forward—should the next chapters lean harder into escalation, or is it better to slow down and expand the world a bit more?