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"Look at these markings—ancient sacrificial runes. That's how it channels divine power to control those weapons."
Jack nodded at the bone knife in his hand. "Heard about that old church that burned down a few days back? Cops said they found hundreds of bodies inside. I'm betting it was this thing's nest."
"It wasn't hoarding corpses for some sick collection."
The old man spat on the Creeper's writhing body.
"It was trying to rebuild the underground underworld it lost—Xibalba. Those bodies were its 'followers' in its twisted mind."
Soren frowned. "Doesn't matter what it used to be. How do I kill it for good?"
Jack hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "I… I'm not one hundred percent sure."
He shook his head. "Just wrecking the body won't cut it. Maybe you gotta sever its link to the stars completely—starve it of its power source?"
Soren glanced up at the night sky, then down at the Creeper that had finally stopped struggling.
Cut its connection to the stars…
He made a decision. "Let's try locking it in Silent Hill."
Dark energy erupted from his body.
The highway around them started peeling away like old wallpaper. Asphalt turned hollow. Dirt and gravel vanished, replaced by rusted iron mesh and pulsing flesh. Below them roared an endless sea of hellfire.
"What… what the hell is this place?" Jack staggered backward, eyes wide with raw terror.
He'd seen plenty of nightmares in his life—mostly this monster—but this was something his brain refused to process.
Patty flinched at the sudden shift, but the second she felt Soren's presence beside her she calmed down.
Countless iron wires shot up from under the Creeper, wrapping its limbs and torso like steel snakes.
The monster realized its connection to the stars was being sliced off. The slow-healing wounds on its body froze mid-regeneration.
It thrashed in panic, but with its power drained it could only watch helplessly as the wires dragged it screaming into the Otherworld.
"Huh?"
Soren's eyes narrowed.
Without the star energy feeding it, the Creeper dried up like an ancient artifact exposed to air. Its body couldn't withstand the corrosion of Silent Hill. Flesh and bone dissolved in seconds.
In the end, all that remained was a single, faintly pulsing heart.
The organ glowed an eerie green, slick tentacles writhing from its surface.
Embedded in one corner was a tiny, high-tech device blinking with a red signal light.
Soren's eyes narrowed. A monster straight out of rural legend with a piece of cutting-edge tech inside it? And the damn thing still had signal inside the isolated Otherworld?
He reached down and picked up the heart. The tentacles immediately latched onto his arm, trying to burrow into his flesh.
"Interesting. Looks like someone's been watching the show."
Soren lifted the heart to eye level, staring straight into the microscopic pinhole camera.
"Evening, folks on the other side of the screen," he said politely.
Then he crushed the device between two fingers. It crumpled into scrap metal with a satisfying crunch.
…
Deep in the mountains of Virginia, a hundred meters beneath an ordinary-looking cabin in the woods.
Inside a massive underground complex, researchers in lab coats moved between stations, voices low and professional.
Embroidered on every chest pocket were the words: Security & Containment Center.
Suddenly one of the wall monitors flickered and went black, flashing a red "404" error.
"Sir! Subject [Creeper] signal lost!"
A technician with a headset jumped up. "We can't confirm termination."
"What?!"
Project lead Sitton stormed over to the console, brow furrowed. "Pull up every feed from the last few days—main screen, now!"
"Retrieving…"
The monitors flickered. Footage rolled.
The Creeper stalking a teenage girl through the woods. The hunt beginning. Then a blurred figure dropping from the sky like a meteor. The Creeper getting absolutely demolished.
The final frame froze on the close-up of a young Asian man smiling directly at the camera and giving it a cheerful little wave.
The screen went dark.
Sitton stared at that face. "Who the hell is he? Do we have a file?"
Fingers flew across keyboards. An encrypted dossier popped up.
"Got him—Soren… wait. He's…"
When the photo of a silver-haired man with a massive sword on his back appeared, Sitton's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"Goddamn it. It's him."
"Lock down all monitoring rights on site. Move Soren's file to highest classification—separate encryption. Mark him as an extreme-threat target."
"But the Creeper's experimental data—"
"Forget that brainless eating machine!" Sitton snapped, waving the objection away.
His eyes flicked to the blood-red countdown timer on the main screen.
"This year's sacrifice ritual is what matters. Is the offering list confirmed? No mistakes. This ties directly into our next phase of research."
"As for that kid… leave him alone for now."
…
Back on the highway leading out of Poho County.
A battered pickup truck limped down the road, looking like it might fall apart any second.
"Static… this is Jack Taggart. We're on East 9 Highway… requesting assistance."
Jack spoke into the radio from the driver's seat, voice exhausted.
In the truck bed, Soren lay on his back, one arm pillowed behind his head, staring up at the stars.
His other hand idly tossed the Creeper's heart up and down—not because he was weird, but because he was reading the system description.
[Ancient Demon Essence (Regeneration) ×1]
[Remnant of an ancient being. Collect specific offerings. May be used for bloodline breakthrough.]
"Bloodline… breakthrough?"
Soren's expression turned thoughtful. So he had to farm materials now? Felt like he was playing some kind of raising-sim game… and the protagonist he was raising was himself.
"Whatever. Later."
He tossed the weird heart into the Silent Hill domain and stopped thinking about it.
Next he checked the quest log.
[Main Quest: The Man-Eater's Feast]
[Completed]
[Rewards: 2000 points credited]
[Bloodline Awakening increased to: 3%]
No flashy light show this time. Just a warm current spreading through his body, refilling the demonic energy he'd burned through fighting and traveling. His reserves felt a little bigger.
Alessa, inside him, sent a wave of pure delight.
[Acquired Talent Skill: Royal Guard — Use demonic power to reinforce the body. While active, massively reduce incoming damage.]
Soren mulled it over.
In the original games, didn't Royal Guard also have a perfect block that absorbed damage and released it back?
The system description didn't mention it, but this wasn't a game. He could figure out the advanced uses himself.
Perfect block, mid-air block…
He already knew the direction. The rest was just practice.
Like earlier on the road when he'd mashed Double Jump and Trickster Dash together on instinct and invented an aerial dash technique.
If he hit a wall, he could always spend points later.
Only downside? It burned through energy like crazy.
Soren felt the freshly restored demonic power in his veins and sighed.
Finally he checked his point total: [4200].
Even with the fresh 2000, he wasn't spending a dime.
He was saving straight to 10,000 for one specific Devil Arm he'd had his eye on for weeks.
[Devil Arm: Alastor]
[Price: 10,000 points]
[Embodiment of the Lightning Spirit—an ancient demon sword with its own will. Grants the wielder lightning speed and unmatched flight capability.]
[Note: The weapon is extremely arrogant. Non-Sparda bloodline holders will suffer backlash.]
Soren remembered the first time Alastor appeared in the stories—straight-up impaling Dante. Back then, watching from behind his uncle, he'd already started drafting his last will and testament.
But the flight ability? That was the real prize.
Sure, it only unlocked in Devil Trigger… but come on—a badass ancient demon sword that not only hit like a truck but could carry you through the sky? Who says no to that?
Besides, Sparda blood ran in his veins. A proper demon swordsman without a proper sword? Unacceptable.
Soren let out a long sigh.
"Still broke as hell…"