Reborn with the Devil's system
Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

The wind outside the cave howled like a living thing.

Sand swept over the darkened land like ghosts racing across the ruins of a forgotten system layer. Twisted trees bent under the weight of an eternal storm. The world Elias now walked into was nothing like Earth—it was something broken. Ancient. Watching.

Beside him, Ishael’s white hair blew gently, untouched by the storm’s rage.

They had walked for an hour in silence.

"Where are we going?" Elias finally asked, voice hoarse.

"To the Stygian Ruins," she replied. "A fragment of the Architect sleeps there."

Elias nodded, his boots crunching over old bones embedded in the stone path. "And what exactly is an Architect Fragment?"

"It’s the original blueprint," Ishael said, without looking at him. "A piece of the first system—pure, untouched code. It’s the only thing that can rewrite the corruption in you."

He raised a brow. "And you think it’ll just... hand itself over?"

Ishael laughed softly.

"No. It will test you first. Tear through every illusion you cling to. Your body. Your mind. Your beliefs."

"Great," Elias muttered. "Another trial."

> [SYSTEM WARNING]

Approaching Forbidden Zone: STYGIAN RUINS

Host readiness: 47%

Psychological Stability: Moderate

Proceed?

Elias exhaled deeply.

"Proceed."

---

Elsewhere – The Monarchs Converge

Far above them in the Layer of Obsidian Watch, a meeting of high-level Monarchs gathered within a jagged citadel that resembled a bleeding crown. Each of their thrones pulsed with different energies: ice, fire, corruption, void.

At the center stood Steve.

He no longer wore a human smile.

Now, his face was cracked like porcelain, eyes gleaming with black fire.

"He’s moving toward the ruins," Steve said, fingers twitching. "We will let him enter."

"And when he begins the trial?" asked a Monarch cloaked in time distortion—Verrin the Delay.

"We unleash the tether break," Steve said. "Let the fragment test him... then shatter him."

Another voice echoed from the shadows, low and ancient.

"You still fear him, even after the Crown accepted you."

Steve didn’t deny it.

"He didn’t earn the Crown. He was chosen by it. That makes him unpredictable."

The Monarchs nodded grimly.

"Let him bleed," Steve said. "And when he does—I’ll finish what I started."

---

The Ruins Awaken

As the sunless sky shifted above, Elias and Ishael reached the edge of a broken city.

Black stone towers spiraled like twisted fingers clawing at the clouds. Every wall was etched with unfamiliar runes that shimmered like veins under skin.

The moment they stepped through the archway, the world changed.

A pulse—like a heartbeat—rippled through Elias’s chest.

He doubled over.

> [WARNING: Architect Fragment Detected]

Initiating Trial...

Trial Type: Soul Echo

Objective: Survive the Memory Gauntlet

Estimated Success Rate: 22%

Ishael grabbed his arm.

"This part... you must do alone."

And then the world went white.

---

The Memory Gauntlet

He stood in a field.

A real one.

The sky was blue.

Birds chirped.

It was the day his mother died.

He was twelve again—standing outside the burning house, screaming her name.

But this time... he wasn’t helpless.

Elias stepped into the fire.

Through the smoke.

He found her—his mother—alive, chained, crying.

But something was wrong.

She looked at him and whispered: "You killed me." _{free\we\bnov(e)(l).com}

"No," Elias whispered. "That’s not true—"

"You let them. You watched." She lifted a mirror.

And in it... was Steve’s face.

On his body.

---

> [TRIAL 1 COMPLETE – IDENTITY INVERSION]

Sanity Drain: 18%

Stability Remaining: 61%

---

Next memory.

He stood on a battlefield.

Hundreds of people dead—ripped apart.

Blood-soaked weapons in his hands.

Their faces—people he had tried to protect. Some he had saved.

He had killed them all.

Because he’d lost control.

The voice of the Crown whispered behind him:

"More. Feed. This is who you are."

He fell to his knees.

"I’m still me... I’m still me..."

---

> [TRIAL 2 COMPLETE – GUILT LOOP]

Sanity Drain: 23%

Stability Remaining: 38%

---

Final trial.

A child stood before him.

Barefoot. Dirty. Alone.

The child looked up at him with eyes full of pain.

Elias recognized him.

It was himself.

The version before everything went wrong.

Before death.

Before the System.

Before the monster.

"Will you kill me?" the child asked.

"No," Elias said.

"Then will you let me die again?"

Elias dropped to one knee.

"I’m sorry," he whispered. "But I’m not him anymore."

The child reached out and touched his face.

And vanished.

---

> [TRIAL 3 COMPLETE – SELF RECONCILIATION]

Stability Restored: +22%

Architect Fragment – Accepted

System Override – Activated

---

Back to Reality

Elias gasped and collapsed.

His hands sparked with new energy—symbols running down his veins like glowing tattoos.

Ishael caught him before he hit the ground.

"You survived," she said softly.

"Barely," Elias rasped.

> [SYSTEM UPGRADE COMPLETE]

Infernal Monarch – Level 2

Abilities Unlocked:

– Soul Lock (Bind a fragment of enemy’s essence)

– Ruin Pulse (Explosive AOE damage, soul-infused)

– Tether Shield (Auto-reactive barrier linked to your memory tether)

> Current Threat Level: OMEGA+

Monarchs Notified: 7

Steve Status: ENRAGED

They’re coming.

The sky fractured.

Crimson lightning slashed the horizon as waves of void-winds howled through the shattered trees of the outer realm. Ancient pillars of light trembled as forbidden data spilled from cracks in the world’s architecture.

Somewhere deep in the realm’s heart, a system beacon flared—

> [WARNING: OMEGA+ Threat Ascending]

Subject: Infernal Monarch – Elias Black

Code Ripple Detected: Architect Fragment Recognized Host

Activating Contingency Protocol: BLACK STAR

---

The Void Opens

Steve stood at the edge of the abyss—a yawning wound in reality pulsing with black mist and spectral screams.

His cloak whipped around his frame, the wind snarling like a thousand dying gods.

Behind him stood three Monarchs—silent, unsure.

"Are you really going to do this?" one asked.

Steve didn’t answer with words.

He plunged his hand into the abyss.

It tore the skin from his fingers.

His blood sizzled—black, not red—and disappeared into the Void.

From its depths, something stirred.

Something ancient.

Something wrong.

The sky above them cried.

"Release the Devourspawn," Steve whispered.

A moment later, the abyss answered.

A howl erupted—not like a beast, not like a man, but like every nightmare in creation being born at once.

The Devourspawn climbed free.

Fifteen feet tall, humanoid in shape, but utterly inhuman in nature. Flesh that rippled like liquid shadow. Dozens of eyes blinked across its face—each one showing a different world ending.

Steve turned to the Monarchs.

"Follow it," he said. "Watch him burn."

---

Back in the Ruins

Elias had not slept since the trial.

The Architect Fragment pulsed inside him like a second heartbeat. He could feel its whispers now—soft, like the voice of someone hiding in the walls of his mind.

> You are close. The Code remembers you. The design is incomplete... finish it.

He didn’t know what that meant yet.

He only knew that something was coming.

Something bad.

"Ishael," he said, not looking at her. "You said the Fragment accepted me. Why?"

She was quiet for a moment.

Then she replied, "Because it remembers who you were before."

"Before what?"

"Before all this. Before the System. Before even Steve."

Elias turned sharply. "What are you saying?"

"I’m saying you weren’t born into this war, Elias. You were made for it. Forged by the First Code. You’re not just a player in the system... You’re a backup plan."

He blinked, stunned.

"A backup plan for what?"

And that’s when the Devourspawn arrived.

---

The Fight Begins

The air went black.

Not dark—black. As if light had been erased from the world.

Elias felt the presence before he saw the shape. A pulse of void that slammed into his lungs and made him fall to one knee.

The Devourspawn landed with the force of a meteor.

The ground cratered.

Its dozens of eyes all snapped toward Elias.

And every one of them showed his own death.

> [Threat Detected: Devourspawn – Omega Abomination]

Warning: Standard combat protocols insufficient.

Recommendation: Flee or unleash Soul Mode.

"Of course," Elias muttered. "Soul Mode it is."

His aura ignited—dark crimson with streaks of shattered light. The sigils on his arms flared like runes of war.

> [Ability Activated: Soul Lock]

Target: Devourspawn

Status: Partially Bound (78% resistance)

The creature screamed.

And charged.

---

Deadly Dance

Elias ducked the first blow—barely.

The Devourspawn’s claw hit the earth behind him and ripped a trench thirty feet long.

He countered with Ruin Pulse, sending a concussive blast of soul energy into the monster’s chest. It staggered—howling—but did not fall.

Ishael raised her arms, glyphs spinning around her in circles of power.

"Don’t let it touch your core!" she screamed.

Elias spun and leapt upward—spear formed in his hand mid-flight.

He landed on the creature’s back and drove the spear between two eyes.

Black ichor exploded.

The monster howled.

> [Devourspawn Vitality: 83%]

Damage Type: Effective. Soul Burn Active.

But then the creature shifted.

Its body melted into shadow—reforming around Elias like living chains.

He felt himself being pulled into it.

"Ishael!" he gasped.

"Hold on!"

She slammed her palm into the ground.

The glyphs exploded in radiant blue light.

The Devourspawn screeched as half its mass disintegrated.

Elias fell free, gasping.

---

The Final Strike

He was bleeding from the mouth now. His energy nearly drained.

The whispers in his head screamed.

You’re not strong enough yet. Give in. Let the Crown take full control.

He shook his head.

"No."

He remembered his mother.

The betrayal.

His tether.

He would not fall again.

"Ishael," he said, breathless. "Give me everything."

She didn’t hesitate.

She placed her hand on his chest—and transferred raw Architect code into his soul.

> [Forbidden Upgrade Received]

Crown Resonance: 94%

Ability Unlocked: Dominion Over Decay

Elias stood.

His shadow grew—larger than his body, larger than the Devourspawn.

The monster charged again.

And Elias raised one hand.

"Break."

Everything around the creature shattered—its form, its code, its purpose.

The Devourspawn let out one final, universe-ending wail.

Then it was gone.

Scattered into ash.

---

Aftermath

Silence.

Only the whisper of wind.

Ishael approached slowly.

"You did it," she said.

Elias nodded weakly.

But inside... something stirred.

> [Warning: Soul Depth Exceeded Threshold]

You are now beyond System Authority.

You are becoming something else.

Elias clenched his fist.

He didn’t know what that meant.

But he knew Steve would come himself now.

And next time... it would be no trial.

It would be war.