Chapter 5: Status (a)
Heat. Glorious, pooling heat. The imp reveled the warmth gathering in it's gut.
It skidded to a stop, a chunk of its arm gone, but it steamed as it sealed, already healing.
It crunched down on the black fragment still in its mouth, swallowed the blood and gore whole, then dashed back into the fray.
The dead littered the pit floor. Twisted, torn and steaming. Six Corpse Worms still moved, and the imp was already sprinting toward the next.
It ducked a snapping maw, leapt onto the side of one, and bit deep into a bone mask. The black shard cracked. The worm spasmed. Dead before it hit the ground.
Another lunged. The imp didn't stop. It stabbed its claws into the side of the creature's body, climbed fast, tearing into its side as it writhed. Teeth found the black again. Blood sprayed.
Four left.
The ground pulsed underfoot, flesh and bone growing wild with the fresh blood. Tumors burst open mid-stride. Bone stalks pushed up like spears.
The imp adapted.
Every movement counted. It started cutting tighter angles, timing bursts. It wasn't avoiding damage, it was controlling it. Flesh tore, but not deep. Bruises, not breaks. Cuts that sealed fast enough to fight through.
The next worm was desperate, forcing it to open its mouth too early. The imp shoved its arm in sideways, forced the jaw down, then bit the face clean off.
Three left.
One came from the flank. The imp caught it just in time, ripped it's face apart before it could fully lunge.
Two left.
Then it slipped, foot skidding across a pulsing stomach sack growing from the ground.
That second of imbalance was all the next worm needed.
Broken teeth sank in.
The imps foot tore clean off.
Hitting the ground, the imp snarled in pain. No time to recover. The last two were already on top of it.
As the worms closed in from both sides, something inside the imp refused. For the first time, it felt pride. Indignation.
It wasn't prey.
The small demon dragged itself forward—
Then launched upward between them, mouth wide, claws tearing. One worm coiled around its torso, crushing. The other lunged for its throat.
The imp twisted.
Tearing the biting worm's jaw off at the hinge, then slamming its elbow into the skull of the second until the mask cracked.
Then it bit.
Once, twice, three times.
The last worm dropped, twitching, bone mask falling away in splinters.
The imp collapsed to its knees, breathing heavy.
Steam rolled off its body. Blood boiled in its wounds.
It was healing.
Wounded, bleeding, but alive.
It crawled over to the nearest corpse, sank its teeth in, and fed.
[SYSTEM // NOTIFICATION]
[Quest // SURVIVAL // COMPLETE]
[Conditions // Remain-alive]
[Reward // Level-Up / Basic-System-Access]
[Distributing....]
[Level-Up // +1]
[Soul Integrity // +1%]
[AP+3]
The imp froze mid-bite.
It didn't feel stronger. Not in its limbs. Not in its skin. But something deep inside shifted. A slow, creeping pressure rolled up its spine and settled behind its eyes.
Not power.
Presence.
Then the next hit came.
[SYSTEM // NOTIFICATION]
[Basic System Access // UNLOCKED]
[Inventory Space // UNLOCKED]
[Racial Ability // Savage Feed // UNLOCKED]
The imp hit the ground, seizing.
Every muscle locked.
A scream built in its throat but never made it out. The pressure behind its eyes ruptured, and for a moment, it couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
Then... release.
Like a wall had been torn down inside its head. Color. Sound. Meaning. The world split open, and the imp could breathe again.
[User has displayed potential beyond its species. Unexpected.]
The imp caught that.
It sat up, coughing blood and rubbing its eyes with the back of its claw.
"What... happened?"
[User has gained initial access to system functions. Think: Display.]
It frowned, watching the bones of its foot continue growing, muscle and skin knitting over bone with a hiss of steam.
It snarled.
'Display.'
A glowing, dark red panel appeared instantly. Before, it had seemed weightless, almost faded. Now, it had form and mass
The imp reached forward. Its claw touched the screen, then recoiled. Hesitated, then pressed again.
It was warm. Gold lettering shimmered under its finger.
Its mind twitched, then pulled. The knowledge unlocked earlier began to surface. New words began to mean something.
"Imp?"
[The lowest-ranked demon in Hell... lucky.]
The imp ignored the voice and kept reading.
[Racial Profile // Imp]
[Classification // Lowest Tier Demon]
[Origin // Formed from ambient hate / fear / excess soul waste]
[Lineage // None]
[Status // Mindless by default]
[Note]
[No recorded evolution. Considered a cursed strain. Non-viable. Born with no True-Name.]
[Physical Profile]
[Height // 2.5–3 ft, upright]
[Skin // Leathery, blistered / red, gray, or ash-black]
[Tail // Prehensile, sometimes spiked]
[Social Position]
[Absolute bottom of infernal hierarchy]
[Behavioral Traits]
[Feeding // Consumes flesh, bone, trash, ash, corpses]
[Communication // Screeches, barks, limited mimicry]
[Movement // Erratic, swarm-based, highly territorial]
[Reproduction // Environmental spawning only, all male]
[Personality // None, pure instinct]
"Male?"
He glanced down. Nothing. Just bare, leathery skin.
"Seems... strange."
[Keep reading. Suggestion: Place your finger at the bottom of the screen and drag upward.]
He stopped patting the smooth spot, tilted his head, then followed the instruction, dragging his claw.
As the screen shifted, more text slid into view.
He squinted, reading slowly.
[Combat Profile]
[Weapons]
[Claws // Flesh tearing]
[Teeth // High bite pressure]
[Tail // Stabbing, choking]
[Innate Traits]
[Heat Resistance // Immune to fire/low-tier Hellflame]
[Dark Vision // Full clarity in pitch black]
[Wall Crawling // Vertical/inverted traversal]
[Stealth // Near-silent when calm]
[Minor Shifting // Limited liquefaction to slip through cracks / Unstable]
[Magic Affinity // None]
[Lifespan // Hours]
[Weaknesses // Weak to Light / Easily enslaved by ritual, authority, or spellbinding]
Any excitement the imp once felt was fading. Every line of text screamed the same thing.
Trash among trash.
"I'm weak."
He stared past the screen, eyes fixed on the rotting bodies of the Corpse Worms. Something tightened in his chest, black and low, like a knot pulling tighter.
"You made me different... I'm not like them. I want to be stronger. I want to understand these things you put in my head."
[Bloodlust detected. Recommendation: Feed.]
"No feed! Make me stronger!"
[Suggestion: Complete system familiarization. Press tab labeled 'User Profile.']
He snarled, rage and need crashing together beneath his skin. For a moment, he almost ignored the voice.
But then he pressed the tab. Another screen unfolded, clean and sharp.
At the top was an image. His own face. Staring back.