Chapter 34 - The Special One, Antevorta

Chapter 34

Small pointed horns grew on his head as patches of red strands adorned his grey hair.

His grey eyes turned wholly back with a glint of red hue in his pupil. The demonic tattoos on skin flared and expanded, consuming his skin.

As the pain settled, Calen chanted, "Malef. Icarum. Excitator—Avath!"

Looking at the monster, he grinned, "Yeah, you are not the only one with a true form. How does it feel? Do I look great?"

However, despite his false sense of bravado, he knew this devil form had a time limit.

Cambions were authentic citizens of the Abyss. However, because of their dual nature, they couldn't access their devil aspects or delve into the true nature of their human side. They were stuck in the middle.

Centuries ago, this notion all changed as a renowned cambion mage found a way to tap into his cambion side. He named this the Devil Trigger—otherwise known as Malef Icarum Excitator.

From his younger years, his clan forced him to master the ability. They exercised the ritual that gave him the demonic tattoos, grafting the occult symbols with the blood of his close ones.

Although he never activated the devil trigger because of his foxy persona, there was another reason for it. The mere thought of the ability hit too close to home. It made him aware of who he truly was.

Feeling the superhuman strength brooding in him, Calen took the advantage, bursting out in great strides as he attacked.

The monster scoffed, "Puny theatrics. That won't save you."

It lunged for Calen, intercepting his advance. Suddenly, it dematerialized into wisps of mist, later converging behind Calen through the mist. 

With an insane burst of speed, Calen tried to evade. After his transformation, he could keep up with the monster easily.

But the monster's attack was nothing more than a feint. It seemed to be unable to hold form and collapsed into a cloud of mist.

'Fuck me. It did it twice. That is just blatant cheating,' Calen's mind raced as he looked around.

In that same second, the monster descended from the ceiling. It pounced on him like an apex predator, and when Calen tried to counterattack, a merciless claw pierced his chest, extracting his heart.

Blood spewed out of Calen's mouth. 

He said with trembling eyes as he caught  sight of two monsters, "You got me. It was never a mirage but a clone. Wicked tri–"

Before he could finish his words, his body succumbed to the fatal injury and he collapsed to the ground.

The monster grinned, munching on his heart.

Suddenly, the entire world froze as if time had ceased. The mechanical ticking of a clock echoed throughout, and the world glowed with an eerie grey light.

Each time the ticking sound occured, time would rewind, reverting back to the time point when Calen was still alive. After the tenth sound, the grey light began to diminish and the world froze once more.

It stopped at the exact time when Calen was just about to be sneak attacked by the monster. 

Instantly, the grey light washed away and a sharp stream of information flowed into Calen's mind.

Calen's composed smile turned to a frown, which then transformed to a devilish grin.

Just as the monster's clone was about to kill him, he turned around and seized its looming claws, scratching its arms with his fingernails.

Calen's grin widened. "I see. So that's it. You have been waiting for this moment, haven't you? Hiding your clone just you can kill me once the time arrives. I admire your dedication."

The monster was confused."How did you know? Impossible."

With a smile on him, Calen distanced himself from the monster. His eyes glinted as he found the statue of Kathuk by his side.

Calen explained, "The thing is, I have fucking time of my side!"

"Blatant nonsense. You were just lucky!" The monster roared.

Calen shook his head dismissively, "Who know?! Now, shall we get ready for a round two?"

He thought to himself, 'What is taking Ren so long? Did she leave me to die?'

He knew he could very much die here. He had only see one trick of the monster, not everything.

Meanwhile, he had shown all his cards.

He had revealed his two numens and devil trigger.

Numens were special abilities tied to the soul. They weren't necessary powerful, but they could all survive even death.

From a young age, Calen became aware of his original numen [Angel of Iniquity, Melkira].

It wasn't much of an ability, but it granted him the chance to consume other numens with conditions albeit. However, numens weren't easy to come across. It was only later on he consumed his second numen [Antevorta].

It was his game changer. It granted him conditional semi-immortality. Each time he died, time would rewind ten seconds into the past and he would gain every information of his death that he saw from his perspective.

Calen grinned. 'I truly am the special one.'

He might not be able to use ether now but once he did, with years of practice, he would be unstoppable, and he would exact begin torturing everyone on his list of revenge, beginning with New Order.

Swinging the statue, Calen scared the monster away. He didn't try to attack, but merely evaded everything that came his way.

He had to buy as much time as he could. Even though that came at the cost of a few injuries.

Luckily, the monster hadn't figured out the trick to his seemingly ultra perceptive skills. However, it's attack were changing continuously. It gradually learned from it's previous actions, displaying better tricks more and more.

Suddenly, the monster stopped and ran into the mist.  It began singing which caused Calen's face to run cold.

'No!!' Calen screamed in his mind.

He had nothing to block the song from his ears. 

He knew this was a blind spot in his numen. Once the monster's melody enthralled him, it was game over.

Not even going back in time could save him. If he went back ten seconds into the past after death, it was highly likely the information would flow into his enchanted self.

It was meaningless.