New Year, New Me

I have no idea how long I remained in that mass of black void in a ball. But I could feel something was wrong. I felt like I was afloat in the depths of the ocean, with no sense of direction or purpose. I knew, that I had to race to get to the surface, but I had no idea what was up or down. 

A race against what, I had no idea at first, but then I could feel it. There were other adrift alongside me. From the dark depths of the black waters, I could start seeing inklings of faces, all who wore rage as they looked back at me. I had no idea why they were mad at me, nor did I care, until I recognized one of them. Then it dawned on me. They were all the demons I had consumed so far. 

Upon this revelation, the waters clear up a bit, then thousands of demons look at me suddenly. Then, in a deafening chorus, they all speak out at once. The sound of a thousand voices crying out against me, is too much. Even when I hold my ears. Wait... ears. Looking down, I find that I'm back in my old, disgusting human body. Maybe that's why the demons were upset. 

Then, I, no, we could feel it. The surface. In a rush, all demons begin swimming upwards in an attempt to be the first one there. I could feel it in my soul, that I needed to be the first one to emerge. But, I was no swimmer. Everyone else has no issues as the distance between us increases and I fall far behind. 

It was difficult, as the demons were still talking, messing up my concentration on swimming. Rage begins to bubble inside me. These demons all had just as much chance as I had in life, and yet they were blaming me for them being weak. Their constant voices echoing across the waters only served to fuel my anger. Unable to contain it any longer, my chest swells, and my mouth opens.

"SHUT UP!" I scream, and there is silence. 

All around me, bodies of demons, with looks of shock, begin to slowly fall back into the depths. Looking at my hands, I'm no longer in my human body as I start to swim up. Around me, demons see my advance to the surface and cry out, but it goes ignored as I continue my ascent. 

With a final push, I break through to the surface and I can feel as if I can breathe. Looking down, I can see the hundreds of demons faces slowly receded until they fall into the void. Smiling at my victory, I suddenly become aware that I'm being watched. Looking around, I find nothing in the far horizon. Then I look up to find a ghostly monster that must be three stories tall looking down on me.

Its mask was much like a skull, but slenderer towards the jaw. Large, jagged plates crown at the top of its head. Around its neck is a row of thin, white spikes. It reaches out, and I see long fingernails with holes lining them. Fearing this was a trap, and I was about to get eaten, I take off running. Until I crash into a wall of light that forms around me. I begin to slowly ascend towards the monster, and I accept my fate. Well played on its part, as I never once felt this was a trap until too late. 

The ray brings me all the way to the monster, who touches me on my own mask. Once he does, everything becomes clear and I feel a bit silly. This was how I looked from my evolution. I just didn't recognize it because the mask was different from my own. 

The ball of darkness, swells for a second before large white, skeletal hands pierce through the veil. The ball dissipates, revealing my new form and I take a look around. I was almost as tall as some of these mountains that form across the land of the demon world. 

I can feel the demon world respond to my presence as I continue to passively absorb the mana from it. It sends waves of malice, and malevolence towards me, which I embrace. I was used to these negative emotions, plus it felt like they came natural to me anyway. After a couple of moments, the world calmed, relaxing its assault on me as if welcoming me as well. Now, how much mana I was taking from the world increased. 

Instinctively, I also knew everything I could do with my new evolution. I had something called a cero that I desperately needed to try immediately. An ability called Kumon, which was akin to the portals the demons had, but I could just spam it to go anywhere, while they had to perform their rituals to activate it. Then finally, the Negacion, the beam that it used on me, which isolates a person from the dimension they're currently in and brings them straight to me. Pretty useless in most situations, but I had an idea on how to use it. 

Raising a hand, and forming a fist, I punch the air in front of me, and grimace at how slow I am compared to my last form. Well, it makes sense as you can't be this big and retain your speed. Looking around, I pick a target in the distance away from me. My mana pools into the air in front of my mouth, forming a black ball with a red radius. Sending more mana into it causes it to swell as the black turns to purple and what appears to be jolts of electricity arc from it and little red balls of energy rotate around it.

When the ball will accept no more mana, my mouth opens and I eat it. Opening my mouth once more, the force at which the beam shoots out causes my head to fly back a bit with recoil. The beam shoots off into a mountain, causing a massive explosion that creates a dome. I watch in amazement as after a couple of seconds, the dome disappears to reveal a huge smoking crater where the mountain once was. 

It was at that moment I knew, I had to limit test myself. Unable to contain my excitement, the air before shimmers, and I reach out and unfold it like a curtain. Stepping into the dark void, the air smooths out as if nothing happened.