PROLOUGE:
In a world where anomalies reign supreme. Hunters began emerging, nations that were reliant with nuclear weapons turned to Hunters to stop this reigning catastrophes. "Eight Heavenly Kings" immerged to destroy the Evil from eating away the planet. The "Eight Heavenly Kings" whose name are:
The Martial King: Krypton, The Heavenly Maiden: Kitsune, The Silent King: Osmosis, The Light Giver: Akai, The Blossom of Jade Pavilion: Hao ling, The Magistrate: Esmeralda, The Hell Fire: Dominick, and lastly The Undead Summoner: Cosmo.
In this world Dungeons appear in many forms from E to SSS+. if Left unsealed, dungeons swell like infected wounds till they burst, devouring cities whole. This is where Hunters come to play, their jobs are to destroy the dungeons and protect the lives of the innocent. But with great power comes with greater responsibility. Once you perish in a dungeon, you never "return".
[Inside the SSS+ Dungeon of death]
Krypton:"Akai shield us with your holy barrier, we need to stall time while Esmeralda and Hao ling are charging up there mana."
Akai: "I don't think I can go any further than this Krypton, we need Dominick's Fire to burn this hellish Demons! We need to assist those five in destroying the core of the Dungeon, we cannot let another catastrophe envelop our world, if we do...Then."
Esmeralda: "Agh! SHUT UP! Those four need to hurry the hell up. If I keep burning mana like this, I'm gonna collapse. And I haven't even watched the latest episode of Alpha and My Omega! Do you know how many cliffhangers they left last week?! I am not dying with that kind of suspense!"
Hao ling:"Now is not the time Esmeralda, We need to charge up before those hel- Agh!"
Esmeralda, Akai, Krypton: "HAO LING!"
A demonic laughter enveloped the surrounding attacking Hao ling while in the process of fighting, this resulted in an injury in her lower abdomen.
Krypton:"Shit! Why now of all places, Esmeralda heal Hao Ling with her injury, Me and Akai will fight this Son of a Bitch."
?!?: "Prideful humans know no bounds into coming in this sacred domain. REPENT FOR YOUR MISTAKES FOR YOU SHALL PERISH IN MY HANDS!"
Wings sprouted in the back of the demonic fiend enveloping the four into a hazy and cloudy fog.
?!?: D!E
MEANWHILE WITH DOMINICKS TEAM:
A raging fire enveloped the hallways, burning everything that came into contact. The stone walls melted under the intensity of the flames as Dominick, the Hell Fire, marched forward with unwavering determination. Beside him were Cosmo, shrouded in a shadowy aura, and Kitsune, her eyes glowing with silver light, her fox tails twitching with anticipation.
Dominick:"I'm getting really tired of these demons showing up like cockroaches. Cosmo, can you sense the core?"
Cosmo:(His voice hollow, echoing like a whisper from the grave)"Yes…it's pulsing, more than three floors below us. Osmosis will shortly arrive in the given destination. But there's something…Alive. Watching."
Kitsune:(Unsheathing her twin blades, her tone laced with concern)"Then we don't have much time. Hao Ling and Esmeralda's mana signatures are fluctuating. We have to finish this now, or they'll be the first to fall."
Suddenly, the hallway trembled violently, bricks falling like hail, and from the ceiling above, a grotesque creature dropped down. Its body was a patchwork of fused demons with multiple heads, limbs, and wings. It was pulsing with unholy energy. It roared, and the air thickened.
DUNGEON GUARDIAN: THE HERALD OF DEATH
Dominick:(Cracking his knuckles as fire coiled around his fists)"Finally, something worth punching."
Without hesitation, Dominick charged forward, his flames roaring like a wildfire. Kitsune vanished in a flicker of light, reappearing behind the Guardian, slashing with surgical precision. Cosmo raised a hand, summoning ethereal chains from the shadows, binding the Guardian's limbs in place.
Kitsune:"Bind it tighter! I'll shatter its heart!"
Cosmo:"Hurry. I can feel its resistance building."
The Herald screeched, snapping through the first few chains with brute strength. Dominick grunted as he took a punch to the side, smashing through a pillar but quickly standing back up, laughter escaping his lips.
Dominick:"Oh, you wanna play rough? I'll show you rough! Infernal Break!"
A pillar of fire burst from his fist, incinerating one of the creature's heads. But the Herald regenerated instantly.
Kitsune:(Eyes narrowing)"It's feeding off mana…That's why the others are weakening."
Cosmo:(Urgently)"Then we must finish it before this demonic glutton consumes them."
Suddenly, a deafening pulse rang out through the dungeon. All lights flickered, and the walls began to shift. A cold voice echoed, far deeper than the Herald's.
???: "all you people seek are salvation…Yet all you bring is chaos. You people defy the natural order, clinging to false hope and reckless power. The cycle must be broken, for as long as beings like you people exist, true balance can never be achieved. You people are not worthy to rewrite the faith of this world…And for the arrogance you people bring, you all shall burn. This world you all fight so desperately to protect will burn with you."
Dominick:(Spitting blood, smirking)"Another wannabe God? Great. Let's end this hellish BRUTE and kill this False DEITY!"
The Herald of Death lets out a grotesque, echoing scream as it broke free from the last of Cosmo's chains. Its form pulsated violently, now glowing crimson as it absorbed ambient mana, the dungeon around it trembling like a beast on the verge of eruption.
Kitsune: (Landing beside Cosmo, breath sharp) "That voice...it's not from this plane."
Above them, the stone ceiling cracked, revealing a massive rift in the air itself, twisting and turning like a wound torn through reality. From it descended a figure, humanoid but malformed. Its body was cloaked in ash, and its eyes glowed with unearthly light. Long, blackened horns curled from its head like a crown of ruin.
[UNKNOWN ENTITY: "THE FALSE DEITY"]
The False Deity:(Voice omnipresent, layered, as if spoken by many)"You cling to power forged from broken faith. The title of Heavenly Kings are nothing when gazing upon me. Playing with relics you people don't comprehend is merely child's play."
Kitsune:(Snarling, stepping forward)"SHUT THE FCK UP! We've bled for this world. You don't get to judge what we've built."
Cosmo: That's the first time I hear you curse...
Kitsune: Lets talk about this later, we have bigger fish to fry.
The False Deity:"HOW DARE YOU MERE HUMAN CALL ME A FISH! Your world will crumble, clinging to false hope. Your sacrifice is meaningless. There is only one salvation. The Death of Mankind."
Suddenly, the Herald of death exploded, flesh and bone twisting into black tendrils that surged into the body of the False Deity. It absorbed the Guardian completely, growing larger, more grotesque. The room darkened. The temperature dropped. Mana surged like a flood.
BACK WITH KRYPTON'S TEAM:
Esmeralda raised both hands, the magic around him expanding like a dome. The demonic fog halted. Time itself seemed to stutter.
Esmeralda:(Softly, as if whispering to the dungeon itself)"Reveal yourself."
The air cracked and shattered, as the fiend burst from the mist, screaming in agony as its body began dissolving into liquid shadow. Krypton lunged in that moment, Fist ready in a divine force, striking down with a Holy punch.
Krypton:"We're not losing anyone today!"
The demon screamed as it shattered, revealing the "dungeon core" behind it, a pulsating black crystal. Hao Ling, still bleeding, looked up from Esmeralda's arms.
Hao Ling:(Weakly)"Destroy it…"
Esmeralda turned to Krypton and Akai.
Esmeralda:"Wait…That's not the core. It's a decoy. The real one is connected to something...deeper."
Krypton's eyes narrowed.
Krypton:"Then where is the real one?"
Esmeralda slowly raised his head.
Esmeralda:"With him..."
BACK WITH DOMINICK'S TEAM:
As the False Deity hovered above the smoldering remains of the dungeon guardian, Dominick clenched his fists tighter, flames erupting around him like a volcanic storm.
Dominick:"You talk big for a corpse in waiting."
Cosmo:(Stepping forward, calmly)"If this is the end, then we decide how it ends. Together."
Kitsune:(Tails flaring, eyes fierce)"Let's show this fake god what real power looks like."
Dominick:"HELLFIRE FORM: INFERNAL KING MODE!"
Dominick's entire body erupted in crimson and gold flames, his armor transforming into molten steel, horns sprouting from his forehead. The dungeon cracked under the heat, the walls dripping like wax.
Cosmo:(Whispering)
"Bound by death, released by faith...Soul Chain: Requiem Vow."
Chains of soul energy laced through the room, binding the False Gods limbs to the walls of the collapsing dungeon.
Kitsune:(Launching into the air, spinning in a cyclone of silver blades)"Celestial Dance: Heaven's Judgement!"
The three attacks collided. Flame, Undead, and light directly into the False Gods chest, shattering its outer shell. It screamed, a sound like crumbling galaxies and dying stars.
The False God:(Wounded, flickering)"You...will not...stop death…"
Dominick:(Roaring)"Then we'll die trying! Raghh!"
CORE NEXUS Beneath the Dungeon of Death:
As Dominick, Kitsune, and Cosmo clashed with the False diety up above, where time moved strangely and gravity bent like water, stood Osmosis alone. The walls pulsed with veins of mana, the very heart of the dungeon humming like a dying god. Before him hovered a massive, obsidian Core Root, tethered by hundreds of glowing tendrils, an anchor not just for the dungeon, but for something beyond this world. Osmosis walked calmly, hands behind his back. His eyes, pure silver and unreadable, it reflected the entire structure before him.
Osmosis:(Softly, more to the world than himself)"So...this is it. The source of the distortion."
A voice erupted from the walls, a voice different from the voice the others heard.
Death: (Echoing)"You've wandered too far, little King. You, who wield silence like a sword, do not understand what speaks beneath your feet."
Osmosis stopped, lowering his hood. His mask cracked down the middle, revealing half his face pale, scarred, eyes glowing faintly.
Osmosis:(Calm and resolute)"No. I do understand. I've heard its whispers since the day I awakened. The world doesn't just need strength, it needs silence. Reflection. And you... are the noise."
The Core Root began to pulsate faster. A humanoid figure distorted and unstable emerged from the shadows, formed from raw dungeon essence. It lunged forward.
Osmosis raised a single hand. The figure froze mid-air. A circle of runesthen appeared beneath it, glowing blue. Then everything inside the circle collapsed inward, crushed by pressure so intense it left no trace.
System Notification:[Forbidden Art: Absolute Compression Activated]
Osmosis walked forward again, unshaken.
Osmosis:"You want to burn the world because you fear what it has become. I want to silence it because I've seen what it can become. But even silence must be earned."
He placed his hand on the blackened root. The entire dungeon shuddered. Light from his body began to flow into the core, not destroying it, but absorbing it.
System Notification: Dungeon Core Absorption: In Progress… 11%... 24%... 37%...
MEANWHILE, BACK ABOVE:
Cosmo's chains began to glow uncontrollably.
Cosmo:(Suddenly alerted)"Wait…The core is moving…no…it's changing."
Kitsune:(Eyes wide)"What the hell is Osmosis doing down there?"
Dominick:(Breathing heavy)"Whatever it is…I hope to hell he finishes before we get torn apart."
BACK TO OSMOSIS:
His body floated, suspended in the center of the Core. Magical glyphs rotated around him, and behind his head, an ancient symbol appeared. The Sigil of Equilibrium. A forgotten power, tied not to one element, but to balance itself.
System Notification: Dungeon Core Absorption: 100%
The darkness collapsed inward, and then exploded into a pure white flash. Osmosis floated down, now shrouded in a cloak of pure equilibrium magic, no longer just the Silent King, but something more.
New Title Acquired:"The Arbitrator of Stillness"
The voice of the real deity of the dungeon cracked with fear.
Death:
"Impossible...You absorbed my CORE!? You shouldn't, no, YOU CAN'T EXIST!"
Osmosis reappeared behind the entity without warning. No noise. No spell cast. No motion. Just silence.
Osmosis:(Softly)"You talk too much."
With a wave of his hand, Death began to fade, like ink dropped in water. It tried to scream, but no sound emerged. A final whisper.
Osmosis:"Return to Silence."
The False deity up above dissolved into silence while Death returned to gods embrace of the deep dark abyss. The dungeon itself began to fracture. Not in stone or sound, but in reality. Time bent unnaturally. The sky above the crumbling dungeon was now a kaleidoscope of shifting dimensions. And in the center of it all floated Osmosis, cloaked in radiant equilibrium magic, eyes closed, his breathing slow.
BACK WITH DOMINICK'S TEAM:
Dominick:"He did it…"
Kitsune: (wide-eyed, horrified) "No…he's not…he's not stabilizing."
Dominick: "What do you mean?"
Kitsune: (Mumbling) "He's disappearing from this world.. Osmosis."
Dominick: "Kitsune…What are you mumbling about?"
Kitsune: (Worried tone) "Nothing.. Maybe I'm just overreacting.."
BACK WITH OSMOSIS:
The cloak of stillness began to crack, like thin ice under immense weight.
Inside his mind, Osmosis drifted between memories, his first awakening as a Hunter, and the day he earned the title Silent King, the whispers of the core calling to him. And now, the price.
Osmosis (internally):"So this… is the cost of balance."
His body began to disintegrate into radiant particles of light and shadow. No scream. No plea. Only silence. A final image formed in the air surrounding him. A lotus of still water, slowly folding inward. The sigil of his title. Then it vanished.
System Notification:
Osmosis: The Silent King
Status: Deceased
Final Action: Core Stabilization Achieved.
Dungeon: Neutralized.
As the silence thicken. A glowing prompt appeared in the darkness like a whisper written in light
SYSTEM PROMPT:"Do you wish to return?"
Yes. [ ]
No. [ ]