Daniel stepped through the next door, his heart steady despite the unknown awaiting him. He had survived the chaotic storm of the Second Circle, a maelstrom of psychological and physical torment. Whatever came next, he felt a burgeoning confidence, a quiet readiness to face it. His new powers, Charm Resistance and Stormstep, hummed beneath his skin, a subtle promise of enhanced capabilities.
The atmosphere changed immediately, assaulting his senses with an overwhelming, sickening force. The air became heavy, thick, almost suffocating, clinging to his lungs with a viscous quality that made each breath a struggle. A foul, dark swamp stretched endlessly before him, constantly pelted by an icy, dirty rain that seemed to seep into his very bones. Rivers of filth and refuse snaked through the landscape, their surfaces glistening with an oily sheen. Rotting, skeletal trees clawed at the gray sky, their branches draped with what looked like decaying moss, and vast, bubbling mud pits dotted the desolate expanse.
Daniel found himself at the center of this grotesque tableau, lying in a cold, filthy slush, battered by the ceaseless, icy rain. The smell was the worst a putrid blend of stale vomit, decomposition, and an indefinable, cloying sweetness that made his stomach churn. Everywhere he looked, he saw them: the lost souls of gluttony. Bloated, pallid figures, their skin a sickly green, crawled through the muck. They were perpetually vomiting, and each time someone retched, a swarm of other emaciated, dead-eyed figures would converge, ravenously devouring the expelled filth as if it were a gourmet meal. This horrifying cycle repeated in every corner of the circle, a macabre feast of self-degradation.
In no other time had Daniel felt such intense nausea. His gorge rose, a bitter taste filling his mouth. It felt like he was going to vomit, but the sheer horror of what he had just witnessed, the sight of the dead consuming the vomit, forced him to clench his jaw, fighting desperately against his body's natural reaction. He could not become one of them, even for a moment. He tried so hard not to vomit, his entire being focused on suppressing the urge. He pushed himself up, his boots squelching in the foul slush, and instinctively activated his Stormstep power.
"Ha-ha-ha..." Daniel gasped, the sound ragged, like he was running out of breath, as he blurred away from the spot where he had almost succumbed. The storm-like speed carried him a good distance, leaving a faint afterimage of his struggle. "Thankfully, I have that." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, still tasting the bile of suppressed nausea.
At his back, a low, guttural growling vibrated through the air, a sound of immense power and predatory hunger. Daniel spun around, his eyes widening in horror. A massive, three-headed hound-like beast, easily the size of a small truck, emerged from the murky depths of the swamp. It was Cerberus, the Guardian of Gluttony. Thick ropes of saliva, mixed with slime and bile, drooled from the middle head's gaping maw, splattering onto the foul ground. The left head was covered in rotting flesh and squirming worms, its eyes burning with a dull, insatiable hunger. The right head constantly gnashed its teeth, breaking its own fangs only for them to regrow instantly, a horrifying cycle of self-mutilation driven by endless craving. Its matted black fur was slick with mud and filth, making it appear even more monstrous.
The beast attacked, sensing Daniel's defiance, his refusal to partake in the circle's grotesque ritual. It moved with astonishing speed, a blur of black fur and snapping jaws, its massive claws tearing at the air, attempting to devour Daniel whole. Daniel used his Stormstep, blurring again, superseding Cerberus's initial charge. He was fast, faster than anything he had ever encountered, but Cerberus was no mere beast. It was a guardian, a creature of this realm, and it was catching up with Daniel's speed, its three heads snapping, its growls echoing through the swamp.
"F*ck! What should I do?" Daniel cursed under his breath, dodging another powerful swipe that would have ripped him in half. He was moving, but he wasn't escaping. "We'll be doing this forever! I need to do something!" The thought of an endless chase in this putrid place was worse than any physical pain.
A desperate, disgusting idea sparked in his mind. It was repulsive, but he was in the Circle of Gluttony, and perhaps fighting fire with fire, or rather, vomit with vomit, was the only way. He forced himself to gag, and then, with a violent heave, he vomited in every direction, creating a wide, repulsive splatter.
The Cerberus, driven by its inherent gluttony and the System's rules, immediately diverted its attention. Its three heads plunged into Daniel's vomit, devouring it along with the dead souls that had already converged on the fresh offering. The beast gorged itself, its massive body shaking with the effort, its growls turning into sounds of strained consumption. Finally, after being forced to unknowingly eat everything just to find Daniel, Cerberus retched. A torrent of foul, black bile, mixed with the swamp's muck and Daniel's own expelled contents, erupted from its mouths. The sheer volume of its vomit attracted an even larger swarm of the dead, who descended upon the beast, completely preoccupied, immobilized by the sudden bounty. Cerberus was stuck, its own gluttony turned against it.
A shimmering door appeared on the very edge of the circle, a beacon of escape. But to reach it, Daniel had to pass through a literal mountain of the dead, all of them feasting on Cerberus's vomit. He took a deep breath, fighting down another wave of nausea, and activated Stormstep once more. He blurred through the grotesque scene, his feet barely touching the ground, weaving through the writhing, consuming bodies, the stench overwhelming him.
The moment he landed on the solid stone before the door, a terrifying, guttural roar erupted from behind him. Cerberus, having finally cleared its mouths and shaken off the dead, surged forward. Its form seemed to contort, becoming even more grotesque, its eyes burning with a furious, berserk rage. Dead figures, animated by its fury, began to appear beneath the mud and near the door, clawing their way out, creating a new, immediate obstacle. Cerberus was running aggressively towards him, faster than before, its hunger now mixed with a vengeful wrath.
Daniel closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm, and raised both his hands, palms facing the enraged beast. "Wisdom of Raphael, Seal of the Mind's Eye!" he commanded, his voice firm, infused with a newfound authority.
The System chirped, a series of complex codes flashing through Daniel's internal vision, putting the newly created sub-power of Wisdom of Raphael, Seal of the Mind's Eye, into action. Daniel's eyes glowed with an ethereal, golden light, and twin beams of pure energy pierced from his outstretched hands. The beams didn't strike Cerberus directly, but rather created an illusion of vast, endless human flesh, mountains of souls, and an infinite expanse of the dead, all ripe for consumption. The illusion was so potent, so perfectly tailored to Cerberus's deepest, most insatiable desire, that it made the monstrous hound stumble, its three heads turning, its eyes glazing over as it became utterly lost in the tantalizing mirage.
"Now you behave, you little dogs," Daniel said, a triumphant smirk touching his lips, despite the lingering nausea. "Have with that until I pass this circle."
He didn't wait. He walked through the dead, who were still eating the mud and everything they could find, his stomach churning, forcing himself not to vomit again. As he passed the Third Circle, he cast a final glance back at the magnificent, yet pitiable, beast. He felt a pang of something akin to pity for Cerberus, forever trapped by its own insatiable hunger, but he couldn't take it with him. Not yet.
[MABUHAY! YOU JUST PASSED THE THIRD CIRCLE!] The System's voice resonated with a sense of finality and triumph.
[YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE POWER OF INFINITE STOMACH!]
A profound, yet oddly pleasant, emptiness settled within Daniel. It felt like a vast, limitless space had just opened up inside him, a void ready to be filled.
[New Power Gained]
Infinite Stomach: Grants a limitless inner dimension where Daniel can store Energy-Based Attacks, Weapons & Artifacts, Souls or Spirit Essences, and other intangible and tangible objects. This will be his extra pocket for mana accumulation.The limitation would be: Daniel must first expand his mana as it is the structure of this inner dimension; the more mana he gains, the more rapidly the inner dimension expands.The system will inform if it's Devourable or not.
"Oh great! That means I can devour Cerberus then later on I can summon it?" Daniel's eyes widened, a mischievous glint appearing in them. The idea of having such a powerful, albeit grotesque, companion was thrilling.
[SYSTEM: Yes.]
"Okay, let's get along, doggie," Daniel mused aloud, looking back at the illusion-entranced Cerberus. "I hope you won't become aggressive and berserk when I let you out. I'm looking forward to meeting you. Now let's do it!"
[SYSTEM: Infinite Stomach activated! Prism Jail!]
A shimmering, crystal-like construct, formed of pure energy, erupted from the ground around Cerberus. It encapsulated the massive beast, freezing it mid-illusion, its three heads still lost in the mirage of endless food. The crystal prison, with Cerberus trapped inside, shimmered, shrank, and then vanished out of thin air, going right toward Daniel's stomach. He felt a strange, satisfying thump within him, as if something immense had just settled into its new home.
"Wahhh! Now, I'm liking this even more!" Daniel exclaimed, a genuine grin spreading across his face. The nausea was gone, replaced by a surge of exhilaration. This journey, once a terrifying ordeal, was becoming an adventure of self-discovery and power acquisition. "Let's keep moving! I can't wait to be reincarnated and see how far I've become!"
With renewed vigor and a sense of eager anticipation, Daniel walked through the door and entered the next circle, ready for whatever new challenges and powers awaited him.