The night was still, almost too still.
Elias sat on the rooftop of the dilapidated orphanage where he had once grown up — the place where it all started, where he had died. The memories felt distant now, like echoes trapped behind a thick wall of glass. Since unlocking the Sin Core of Wrath, his senses had changed. He could feel emotions bleed from people. Their anger, guilt, hunger, lust — it swirled around them like invisible smoke, and he could breathe it in.
> [Passive Skill Active: Abyssal Domination]
[Emotion Drain: Minor Regeneration Enabled]
Below him, the town of Whitmoor flickered like a broken dream. Streetlights buzzed, half the town still in denial of the blood war creeping beneath their feet. Steve had vanished, but his scent lingered like a promise. And Elias knew something else — something older — was coming.
He didn't feel fear.
He felt hunger.
---
In the shadowed corners of the ruined cathedral, Sabastin stood with three cloaked figures. The one in the center, a pale man with stitched eyelids, spoke first.
"Phase One was never meant to succeed this fast," he said, voice echoing like metal dragged across stone.
Sabastin didn't flinch. "Elias is responding to the System like no other host in centuries. The Devil's Core is active. It's evolving."
The second figure, a woman with silver tattoos etched across her face, hissed, "He's unstable. If the Council finds out—"
"They won't," Sabastin snapped. "Not yet. He's still raw, still figuring out what it means to be reborn. But mark my words: he will become either our salvation or our end."
The third figure said nothing, but a smile cracked across his decayed lips. Watching. Waiting.
---
Back in town, Elias paced through the cemetery, his cloak wrapped tightly against the night air. He had questions — too many. But the only person who might hold answers was gone. His father. The man who had vanished years ago after experimenting with soul transference and demonic theory.
Or so the records claimed.
A voice stopped him.
"You shouldn't wander alone, not tonight."
Elias turned.
A woman stood behind him — tall, with fiery red hair, dressed in a long crimson coat that shimmered unnaturally in the moonlight. Her eyes burned gold.
He stepped back instinctively. "Who are you?"
She smiled faintly. "Call me Seraphine. I've been following your progress since the Asylum Rift."
"You're with the Council?"
She laughed. "The Council? They're children playing with relics. I serve something older… something buried even deeper than your System dares to look."
Elias clenched his fists. "What do you want?"
Seraphine's gaze sharpened. "To warn you. The First Sin has awakened. And you, Elias Black, carry the blood key that can release it."
His breath caught.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means," she said, stepping forward, "you're not just a host. You're the seed. The Devil didn't just give you power — he left a piece of himself inside you."
Before Elias could react, Seraphine touched his forehead with two fingers.
The world shattered.
---
He was falling through darkness.
Not metaphorical darkness — real darkness. No light. No time. Just void. And within it, he saw glimpses of something massive, chained across dimensions. A horned figure with wings like storm clouds, skin made of writhing shadows, and eyes that bled universes.
The Devil.
> "You are not ready," the voice thundered.
"But they will come for you all the same."
"Awaken the other Cores… or perish."
---
Elias gasped, stumbling back into reality. Seraphine was gone. Rain now poured from the skies, and thunder rolled across the heavens like drums of war.
And something had changed.
His right eye now glowed a faint, unnatural crimson. Not from power — from memory.
The Devil had marked him.
---
Two streets away, Adam waited with a duffel bag in hand. Inside were old research notes, Elias's father's journal, and a worn-out revolver. He paced in front of the butcher shop where they used to hang out, waiting for Elias to return.
A voice broke his thoughts.
"You're the friend, aren't you? The loyal one."
Adam turned — too late.
A hand gripped his throat and lifted him into the air. The man before him wasn't human. His face was split by a grin too wide, his eyes black, his tongue forked like a serpent.
"I've been told not to kill you yet," the creature said. "But rules are flexible."
He threw Adam into a parked car, glass shattering on impact.
Adam coughed blood, scrambling to his feet. "Elias… he'll kill you."
The creature grinned wider.
"That's the idea."
---
Elias felt it.
The moment Adam was hurt, something in him snapped. The blood in his veins turned cold, and the System flared with danger alerts.
> [Warning: Bonded Ally in Mortal Danger]
[Wrath Core Surge: +37%]
[Combat Protocol Unlocked: Sinborne Manifestation]
He didn't think.
He moved.
Within seconds, he was across the town, propelled by shadow tendrils that coiled around his legs and flung him through alleyways like a wraith.
He found Adam bleeding in the street.
And the creature laughing over him.
Elias stepped into the scene like a reaper.
"Step away from him," he growled.
The monster turned, unfazed. "You must be the Devil's pet."
Elias raised his hand.
The shadows exploded outward, forming spears, claws, and armor around his body. A black crown formed faintly above his head — ethereal and burning with wrath.
> [Sinborne Manifestation – Level 1: Active]
[Skill Unlocked: Blood Price]
[Passive Boost: +30% Combat Speed, +50% Damage Resistance]
The creature lunged, too fast for a human.
But Elias wasn't human anymore.
He caught the beast mid-air, slammed it into the pavement, and dragged its face across the asphalt before hurling it through a brick wall.
"You threatened my people," Elias said, stepping forward. "You don't walk away from that."
The creature tried to rise, but Elias unleashed a barrage of chained strikes, shadow blades swirling like a storm. Each hit rang like thunder. Each blow screamed vengeance.
With a final roar, Elias summoned the Blood Price — a ritual mark that burned into the creature's chest.
> "For your sins," Elias whispered, "I demand blood."
The mark pulsed.
The creature exploded into dust.
---
Adam groaned, holding his ribs. "Mate… you look like a bloody demon."
Elias offered him a hand. "Then I guess it's true."
"What is?"
"I'm not just reborn," Elias said, voice hardening. "I'm becoming."
---
Far away, in the City of Ash where the Council of Chains convened, a thousand bells rang in warning.
A new Sin Core had been awakened.
And the Devil's System was no longer dormant.
It was alive.