Alugard, the Zombie King, lay sprawled in the center of his rotting throne room. His grotesque, half-decayed form was supported by jagged slabs of bone and flesh that writhed with necrotic energy. The stench of death clung to the chamber like a lover. One of his generals, a towering female ghoul with runes etched into her skull, had just carried him back from the battlefield, the remains of his pride leaking from the gaping wound in his torso.
"That lunatic," Alugard snarled, his voice like gravel grinding against a rusted blade. "He thinks he can kill me. Just like that?" His gnarled fingers twitched, trying to clench into fists but failing. "I hope… no one escaped."
"I am certain, sire," his general answered coldly, though her voice trembled beneath the surface.
But even before her words settled, one of the minions screeched—a shrill, guttural cry that echoed across the throne room. The ghoul general turned sharply. It was one of her subordinates, a lesser undead, eyes wild with fear.
"It's… it's a mental note. From him," the minion whimpered.
The general's shoulders stiffened. Her gaze dropped. A tear rolled down her blood-streaked cheek. She said nothing more.
For the message wasn't new.
She had already received it.
She had felt his death.
Her mate… her husband… slain by a red-haired boy—a child barely old enough to wield a weapon—dragging two corpses and two breathing siblings behind him. Her pain leaked into the very air, the blood in the walls whispering vengeance.
Alugard's rotting eyes narrowed. He watched the general's silence with grim understanding.
"he was your mate."
"Yes, my king."
"Then revenge will be yours."
He stood. Not fully recovered, but animated by fury. His necrotic power flared.
"Send a thousand of our spawn into the tunnels. Now. Tear the roots apart. Bring the living to me—alive. No one escapes. That child… the one with fire in his hair—he will scream before the end."
The minions scattered, their screeches becoming a chorus of impending death. Within minutes, the hollow tunnels began to quake under their march. The hunt had begun.
Elsewhere, deep in the forgotten veins of the earth, E999 wandered in silence.
No armor. No weapons. Just him and four children—two , walking together in the tunnel.
Yet the silence around them was awkward, not mournful. E999 walked ahead, lost in thought. The system buzzed quietly in his mind, processing kill data, level progress, and ability upgrades.
"Still not enough EXP," he muttered internally. "Need something big. Something that won't just level me… but evolve me."
Behind him, the children stared.
They didn't cry. Didn't ask to be carried. They simply walked, eyes glued to the red-haired man who carried death as easily as he breathed. Yet something lingered in their stares—something unspoken.
E999 finally stopped, not turning, just speaking.
"Ask."
The three boys exchanged looks before turning to the girl. The only one brave—or curious—enough to give voice to their question.
"Who were those people?" she asked, "The ones who smelled like… us?"
E999 tilted his head, thinking.
They deserved the truth.
"Those," he said, "were remnants of your kind. Your race. I'm not your father—your nose should've told you that by now. Your family—your grandfather, uncles, everyone in your village—was slaughtered by the demons of this world."
A long pause.
"My job," he added, "is to eradicate them."
Silence returned. But this time, it was not awkward.
It was heavy. Alive.
The children said nothing. No one cried. No one asked why.
They already knew the world they now walked in was cruel. Unforgiving.
"So is that all?"He asked.
The girl nodded. The others did too, in perfect unison. Something shifted.
His system suddenly displayed their stats again. Names. But something about those names felt… outdated. Like ghosts clinging to children who had already moved on.
He frowned.
"Not anymore," he whispered, then turned toward them.
"You two," he said, pointing to the remaining boys. "From now on, you shall be called Belial… and you, Azazel."
The boys' eyes widened. A glimmer of pride replaced the dull haze of sorrow. To be named after the gods of their people—their true gods—was a sacred rite.
Julius, the eldest, stepped forward.
"May the will of our Father be done," he said, falling to his knees. His voice trembled not with fear, but power. "We shall eradicate the demons until we ourselves are erased from the world."
The others dropped beside him, heads bowed, hands clenched over their chests.
An oath had been made.
And the system responded.
°~[Our Lord and Father recognizes their loyalty to His Will. The blessings of our Father have been laid upon them. Their growth shall now surpass natural limits.]~°
°~[You have unlocked a new skill:]~°
°~[Summon]~°
E999 blinked, a rare smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Lucifer was always generous with those who honored Him.
He opened the interface.
°~[Skill: Summon]~°
°~[Rank: Divine (MAX)]~°
°~[Description: The ability to summon your chosen ones no matter which universe they reside in. Allows teleportation to their location and trading positions with them.]~°
°~[Summons:]~°
°~[Julius Morningstar]~°
°~[Belial Morningstar]~°
°~[Azazel Morningstar]~°
°~[Apollyon Morningstar]~°
E999 paused.
Apollyon? He hadn't named anyone that.
"System," he asked mentally, "who changed her name?"
°~[Our Father deems the name you gave her unfit. He has granted her a divine name. Their surname shall be Morningstar, for He is now their true Father.]~°
E999 exhaled, lips curling into a smirk.
"As expected of you, my Lord."
But just as he was reveling in the divine upgrade, something tugged at his awareness.
A tap—sharp and heavy—slammed into his shoulder.
He blinked, snapping out of his trance.
The children had stopped moving. So had he.
And they weren't alone.
The air smelled foul—acid, sweat, rot, and something worse.
He turned his head slowly.
Dozens of beady eyes stared at him through the dark.
Chimera ants.
Over twenty of them. Each one mutated—beasts fused with creatures long extinct. Fangs like swords. Claws like saws. Wings that hissed when they moved.
He looked at the kids. The fire in their eyes had returned.
His own smile widened.
"Well, kids," he said, stretching his arms, cracking his neck.
"How about we start from here?"
His voice dropped an octave, rich with intent.
"Let no one escape."
Julius and the others didn't hesitate. They stood tall, eyes glowing with divine rage. The first steps of their vengeance had arrived.
And E999?
He laughed.
A cruel, delighted laugh that echoed through the tunnels like a death knell.
"Hahahahaha… Finally. Time to level up."
The air was thick with tension, a stillness before the slaughter. E999 stood tall, shirt torn and eyes glowing faintly crimson. Behind him, the four vampire children—Julius, Belial, Azazel, and Apollyon—stood with grim expressions. Their small frames trembled, not from fear, but from the instinctual bloodlust crawling under their skin.
All around them, the tunnel walls echoed with the skittering of limbs. Thirty chimera ants—grotesque amalgamations of beasts and insects—encircled the group. Some crawled on the ceiling, others hissed on the ground, barbed mandibles clacking in anticipation.
Click-click-click.
Hssssssss.
E999 grinned. "Let's dance."
The first chimera leapt.
WHAM!
Its body slammed into E999, claws raking across his chest, sending him skidding backward. Blood sprayed. The others surged forward, all thirty descending in a frenzy of screeches and snarls.
CRACK!
Julius elbowed the skull of the closest ant, shattering its face. Acid sprayed from its broken carapace, sizzling across the ground.
Ssssssssssst!
Apollyon lunged into a blur of motion, her fingernails lengthened into claws. She danced between antennae and fangs, slashing across their bellies. SLISH! SLASH! Guts hit the ground like spilled soup.
Belial was savage—grabbing one by the horn, yanking its head down and SMASHING it repeatedly into the floor until its skull burst like a melon. SPLORT!
Azazel jumped on the back of another, tearing out its wings mid-flight. The chimera shrieked in agony, spiraling and crashing into the wall. THUD!
E999, blood running down his face, shot back into the fray.
BOOM!
He slammed his fist into one's chest, the shockwave blasting a hole straight through its torso. Bone and chitin scattered.
But the ants were fast. Two latched onto his back, biting down.
CRUNCH!
Pain tore through him as razor mandibles dug into his shoulder and thigh. He roared and spun.
WHOOSH!
His elbow cracked one ant's neck with a disgusting POP!
Another bit into Apollyon's arm. She shrieked but didn't flinch—her other hand speared into its eyes, dragging them out with a wet SQUELCH.
Blood painted the walls.
"Together!" Julius shouted. "They're targeting him! We cover!"
They rushed in.
Azazel screamed with fury, his face twisted into a feral grin as he punched through a chimera's chest cavity, ripping out its heart and shoving it into the mouth of another. CHOMP. The beast choked and stumbled, giving Belial a chance to cleave its skull in two with a makeshift blade of bone he ripped from a fallen one.
SHHHHRRRAAAAAK!
Another chimera lunged toward E999 with a blade-like stinger aimed for his neck.
THUD!
Julius intercepted, ramming his knee into its chin. Its mandibles snapped off. The boy twisted mid-air and landed on its back, stabbing down with a chunk of jagged metal until the creature stopped thrashing.
Apollyon vanished briefly, her body flickering like a shadow. She reappeared behind three ants and SLASHED—a spray of gore erupting as their legs collapsed beneath them, severed tendons spurting dark blood.
SCREEEEEEEE!
Ten more surrounded E999. They piled on him.
CRASH!
The tunnel floor cracked under the weight. Chitinous limbs pinned him down. Fangs dug into his limbs.
He grunted. "Not. Enough."
Then—
FWOOSH!
His aura ignited.
Hellfire.
His body erupted in black and red flames. Ants shrieked, screeched, melted.
SZZZZZZZZZZT!
The heat seared the ground, warping stone. Their corpses twitched, cooked from the inside. E999 stood up from the carnage, steam rising from his skin, eyes glowing like twin eclipses.
He staggered.
Blood loss. Dozens still remained.
But so did his rage.
"Julius! Back formation!" he barked.
Julius nodded. "Belial, Azazel, rotate. Apollyon, support!"
The children moved like they'd trained their whole lives.
Belial tanked two charging ants, smashing his head against one's mandibles, breaking it clean off. THUNK.
Azazel rolled under another, clawing up its belly, TEARING the guts from inside and tossing them like ropes.
Julius used Belial's back as a launchpad, flying up and SMASHING his fists together into an ant's skull mid-air. CRAAACK!
Apollyon surged forward, releasing a scream that cracked the stone. Her voice shattered the eardrums of the closest chimera, and she used that second of disorientation to skewer five of them with a jagged metal beam.
STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB!
E999 dropped to a knee. Blood pooled beneath him.
The system rang.
°~[WARNING: fatigue signs unstable its been maxed.]~°
He ignored it.
"This is what I need," he muttered. "This is… perfection."
Another ant tried to flank him.
BOOM!
He backhanded it into the wall. Chunks of its body exploded.
The last seven ants hesitated, trembling.
"Now," E999 whispered. "End it."
The children swarmed.
One after another, the last ants died.
CRUNCH!
TEAR!
SPLATTER!
Their shrieks were drowned out by the sound of vengeance.
Finally—silence.
Nothing moved in the tunnel but the dripping blood and the panting breaths of four young vampires and their crimson-haired guardian.
Then it came:
°~[LEVEL UP!] [Level: 10]~°
°~[New Tabs Unlocked: Shop | Map | Storage]~°
°~[New Skill Acquired: ???]~°
°~[Evolution Commencing...]~°
E999 blinked. His vision blurred.
Then he felt it. The blood vial—the Remaining dose—bubbling in his heart.he would have to level up enough to finish it and access portion of his father energy and knowledge.
He pulled it out, uncorked it, and downed it.
It burned through him like molten iron.
°~[You shall be knocked out in: 9… 8… 7… 6…]~°
His limbs grew heavy. He turned to the children.
"…You did good," he rasped.
°~[5… 4… 3…]~°
They rushed to him, still catching their breath. Their clothes soaked in blood, their faces dirty, yet proud.
°~[2… 1…]~°
"Goodbye," he whispered.
And then—
THUMP.
E999 collapsed, unconscious, right in front of them.
The children stood in stunned silence, their chests heaving.
They looked at each other.
Julius took a breath, eyes steady. "Protect him until he wakes."
They all nodded.