RISE OF THE HOLY DEMONIC GOD
Chapter 115: The Disciple of the Abyss: Engraved by the Forbidden Art

Within the endless void of the Trial of the Abyss, broken shadows crawled through the dark.

Half-formed replicas of Rey—dark copies, fractured and decaying—dragged themselves across the abyssal waters. Their destination was singular: toward the real Rey himself, who stood locked in yet another battle far ahead.

He was surrounded. Nine Dark Reys, sword-users all, circled him like starving predators. Three more copies stationed farther back loosed volleys of blackened arrows in his direction.

But this wasn't new. This wasn't terrifying. Not anymore.

Because this was Rey's 108th attempt.

He fought not out of rage, not out of hope—but out of habit. A mechanical, numbed response after countless cycles.

How long had it been? Days? Weeks? Perhaps an entire month spent trapped in this cursed loop. He couldn't tell anymore. He had stopped counting after the first dozen deaths.

When this trial had begun, he had desperately searched for the so-called Abyss Will, yearning for escape. But now? He no longer cared. He hadn't even tried looking for it this attempt.

He just fought.

Fought without reason. Without purpose. Without emotion.

He wasn't sure why, but this attempt felt… different. He wasn't angry. He wasn't scared. He simply felt… empty.

As if something vital had eroded away inside him.

Lost in thought, Rey barely registered the katana slicing into his ribs. Dark blood splattered onto the black waters below.

Expressionless, Rey looked down at the wound. He didn't flinch. Instead, his hand gripped his massive hammer—before it morphed into a sword mid-swing, slicing cleanly through the Dark Copy that had struck him.

The shadow clone disintegrated without a sound.

He could now shift weapons mid-battle, channelling mana flow between forms. A small achievement after countless deaths and wasted attempts.

But even that progress felt hollow.

His mana manipulation remained crude—half-learned and half-incorrect, stalled at partial completion. Without guidance, without someone to point out his flaws, he was trapped in mediocrity.

No matter how many times he died and returned, Rey remained… stuck. Fading. Fighting without progress.

But as Rey drifted into this numb spiral, someone—or rather, something—was watching.

And it wasn't pleased.

{Abyss Will POV}

The Will of the Abyss stirred.

It, who had once been hailed as the Voice of the Abyss, turned its gaze upon the insignificant Tier 0 human who now battled endlessly within its realm.

At first, it hadn't cared.

A mere mortal. Another weak insect wandering into the edges of its domain. One is not even worth a passing thought.

Until the Will sensed something… wrong. Something dangerous. Something familiar.

Months ago, its very existence had been shaken.

A power unknown and pure had invaded its essence—subtle, yet unstoppable. Even the Abyss itself, a dimension of death and entropy, had bloomed with this mysterious force. Its own strength surged beyond previous limits, nearing a threshold it had believed unreachable.

At first, the Will rejoiced, attributing the surge to its own evolution. But when it traced the source of that mutation… it found something chilling.

An art, a creation it had forged countless aeons ago, made by his existence, had been corrupted. Twisted by a power darker and purer than the Abyss itself.

A power worthy of worship.

Since then, the Will had submitted silently, serving that unknown force. For it had received a single command:

Prepare the medium. Train the vessel.

That vessel… was Rey.

At first, the Will was confused. This mortal bore no bloodline. No special physique. No hidden strength. In every sense, he was talentless. A common human.

Yet the signature embedded in him—however faint—was undeniable. He carried a fragment of that supreme darkness.

And so, the Will obeyed. It could not afford disobedience.

It tested Rey.

It broke him.

Again. And again. And again.

Initially, the Will had expected quick failure. On his first attempt, Rey couldn't even defeat fifty shadows before dying. His body lay shattered, soul flickering on the edge of oblivion.

The Will nearly discarded him.

But… something stopped it.

Even as Rey's body rotted within the abyss, even as the corruption of pure abyssal energy bathed him, the human did not succumb. His sanity, his mind, his soul—none were corrupted. The abyss could not consume him.

That intrigued the Will.

Curiously, it resurrected him.

And watched.

Rey died again. And again. And yet… he fought harder each time.

The Will had never seen this before. Not from a mortal.

Not from anyone.

And somewhere along the way… it made a mistake.

It started speaking to him.

What began as a silent observation became a reluctant conversation. Rey, ever stubborn, kept requesting advice. The Will, irritated, eventually yielded—granting him a minor boon, a small adjustment to his physical capabilities.

It thought that would satisfy him.

It didn't.

Rey adapted. He evolved.

From raw physicality to crude mana control. From clumsy weapon-switching to adaptive combat.

Slowly… the mortal learned.

His growth wasn't extraordinary. In truth, it was pathetic compared to higher beings. But the sheer willpower he displayed… the refusal to surrender… it gnawed at the Will's mind.

It was annoying.

And yet… it couldn't look away.

In time, the Will realised something terrifying.

Rey wasn't just surviving. He was changing the Abyss itself.

Every attempt, every death, every act of defiance—it all fed back into the realm's foundation, subtly altering its very structure.

He was polluting the Abyss.

With his existence.

With that supreme power hidden inside him, still dormant.

And now, watching the boy wander aimlessly, fighting soullessly in his 108th attempt, the Will felt… conflicted.

He wasn't growing anymore.

He was breaking.

This wouldn't do.

The master who had given the command wouldn't tolerate failure.

Rey needed to be pushed. Forced to evolve. Even if it meant shattering him further.

The Will of the Abyss decided.

It would interfere.

No more passive observation.

No more waiting.

The time to act… was now.

__

By his 97th attempt, Rey had been improving. Each failure had sharpened him, each death hardened him.

But after that… nothing.

His growth stopped. His ceiling, reached.

Even the Abyss Will

—who once watched him with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance—found itself… bored.

'That's it? After all this…?' it mused, voice thick with disdain.

Yet deep down, it wasn't satisfied.

And so, at long last, it acted.

Just a slight adjustment. Barely a flicker.

It tweaked a thread of Rey's emotions—just enough despair, just enough hopelessness to ignite the will to fight harder, to refuse this endless cycle.

Not enough for Rey to notice.

But enough to push him toward survival.

And somewhere amidst this, the Will realised something shocking.

He remembered the boy's name.

A name belonging to no cosmic powerhouse, no ancient bloodline. Just a talentless human.

Yet, despite being called worthless, despite lacking everything…

That name had lodged itself into the Will's mind.

Rey.

And the realisation made the Will chuckle.

'Maybe… this trash isn't so bad after all.'

Meanwhile.

Rey collapsed onto all fours, gasping, blood dripping endlessly from his wounds.

Death should've claimed him by now. But it didn't.

Instead… silence.

Utter, terrifying silence.

Then, he saw it.

Reflected in the black, stagnant water beneath him… his face. His reflection.

But something was wrong.

His reflection was… smiling.

Confused, Rey reached for the water.

And in that instant, a hand shot up from beneath the surface.

A jagged, formless hand—pitch-black, fingers too long, dripping with darkness—snatched at his face.

Rey stumbled backwards in shock.

Then, everything around him… froze.

The crawling Copies of himself—hundreds of them—stopped mid-motion.

Time itself felt like it had been chained.

'What… the hell… is happening?'

His wide eyes flicked back to the thing emerging from the water.

It wasn't another copy of him.

Its body was formless, featureless. A round, shifting mass without skin, without structure. Only two glowing white eyes, and a crescent-shaped mouth… grinning.

Then, a voice.

That voice.

The same voice that had tormented him for over a hundred deaths.

"Hah… Finally. After all this time, you manage to find me."

The being yawned lazily, voice thick with amusement. "Do you know how bored I've been, Rey?"

Rey's thoughts splintered. He couldn't understand.

This thing… this was the voice in his head?

The one who'd tormented him? The one he'd been searching for?

No… it had been under his feet the entire time.

He looked down. No shadow.

He realised now. His shadow had been missing for god-knows-how-long.

Because it wasn't a shadow anymore.

It was this.

"Oh my. You really are beyond shocked. I expected that reaction," the being chuckled, voice distorting like a broken transmission. "But don't worry. Since you finally found me, I'll give you a little something."

It grinned wider. "My guidance."

Rey's throat moved, but no words came out.

"You are…" he tried.

"Oh? Right. You still don't know. Listen well, mortal."

The being's form pulsed. Its grin widened.

"I am the being they call the Abyss. The Voice of the Abyss. But my real name… that's a privilege."

It leaned closer, as if telling him a secret.

"Ordyn."

The name hung heavy in the air.

"A self-made name, true… but only a handful of beings across existence know it. And you should be honoured, Rey. Because now, you do."

It chuckled like a child who had discovered a new toy.

"Now, bow down, and respect your new master."

Rey couldn't speak. Couldn't think.

"Silence, huh? Fine," Ordyn snarled, tone shifting from playful to irritated.

"Let me show you what my 'guidance' feels like."

Before Rey could move, Ordyn surged forward.

With a single swipe of its limb, it grabbed Rey's wrist, yanking him upright as if he weighed nothing.

"What the—"

THROW.

Rey was sent flying into the air like a ragdoll, blood trailing behind him.

Below, he saw Ordyn crouch.

Then…

BOOM.

A crater erupted where Ordyn had been standing. The shockwave blasted outward as if the abyss itself exploded.

Rey couldn't even scream before gravity reversed, or perhaps Ordyn's will pulled him down.

Straight into the black waters.

The impact shattered his mind.

He sank.

Darkness swallowed him.

But this time, it was different.

Hands. Thousands of black, clawed hands clawed at his body, dragging him deeper.

He struggled. Fought.

But they wouldn't let him go.

When he looked up, the last thing he saw was Ordyn.

Standing at the edge.

Waving.

With a stiff, eerily human smile.

'Bye, foolish disciple. Next time, I'll beat some sense into you properly,' Ordyn mused as he vanished, leaving Rey to sink.

The abyss repaired itself.

And Rey?

He fell.

Deeper and deeper, into absolute darkness.

No light.

No sound.

Not even his Night Vision worked. Not here.

He couldn't see. Couldn't move.

Couldn't think.

It wasn't metaphorical.

He really was being dragged down by countless hands.

'No. No…'

Panic surged.

His body resisted, but his mind screamed.

He tried to convince himself: 'It's imagination. Just fear.'

But he knew.

The hands were real.

'Don't imagine anything else. Don't… if I think of a monster, it'll—'

He stopped. He refused to finish that thought.

He forced himself still.

But even his heartbeat felt too loud.

Sleep tugged at his eyes.

No. Stay awake…

But he couldn't.

His body betrayed him.

As his eyes closed, in that endless blackness, something opened its eyes.

Two white, glowing eyes.

Floating in front of him.

He couldn't see its shape.

Only its stare.

A presence beyond comprehension.

Beyond death.

Beyond darkness.

And as Rey's consciousness collapsed…

It smiled.

"You really took your sweet time before showing any reaction to such dense Abyssal energy… truly impressive," the voice echoed, resonating with pride and sarcasm alike.Ordyn—no, the Voice of the Abyss, the eternal keeper of the deepest secrets—spoke slowly, like he was both amused and annoyed.

"Your core… It's unlike anything I've seen before. If I had the right, I might've torn it out and replaced it just to study the reaction. But alas—" his tone dipped into mockery, "—that being watching over you wouldn't hesitate to erase my existence the very moment I tried."

His white eyes shimmered like twin abyssal stars. "And now that you've become my disciple, I'm not the kind of master who steals from his student. So…"

He raised his hand and touched Rey's chest. The moment his fingertip made contact, the entire sea of darkness around them howled.

A terrible, cosmic roar filled the space, as if the Abyss itself was rebelling. The waters churned into storms. The space trembled. Reality bent.

Something unworldly was emerging.

Ordyn's breath grew heavy. His glowing eyes dimmed momentarily as a shard of pure existence began surfacing from within him—glimmering with black and crimson energy, radiating a power that felt ancient, absolute… forbidden.

"If anyone had begged me to pass down my Art before receiving its blessing," Ordyn muttered, voice growing sharp, "I would've buried them in the lowest layer of this realm and let them rot. But you… You're different."

He stared at Rey, a hint of genuine emotion piercing his otherwise unreadable face.

"You're the second. Only one before you ever touched this Art. And he died long ago. That makes you the last bearer."

The shard pulsed.

"This is a fragment of my very existence," Ordyn declared. "Engrave it into your soul. Do not disappoint me."

And with that, he plunged the shard into Rey's chest.

It bypassed flesh, mana, and mind—and embedded itself directly into his soul.

A Soul on Fire

Rey's soul screamed in silence.

A foreign presence drilled itself into his very core—alien, yet terrifyingly familiar.

The shard paused, as if analysing the host… and then it found it.

The same energy. A flicker of abyssal essence within Rey—lesser, raw, but matching.

That was enough.

The shard anchored itself.

Then, it burst.

But there was no explosion. No energy released. Instead, the power compressed, crystallised, became silent—but deadlier.

The fragments began to float, orbiting Rey's soul in perfect concentric circles, glowing with erratic red and black light. Then, slowly, the fragments formed runes—twisting letters that no language could explain.

They wrapped around his soul like living tattoos, weaving a seal into him—an irreversible bond.

Within minutes, the red glow was devoured by deeper shadow. The runes turned pitch black, then faded from view, disappearing inside him like they'd never existed.

But the seed was planted.

And one day, it would bloom into something the world wasn't ready for.

....

Rey's body floated once more in the Abyssal sea. But this time… it was different.

He wasn't aimlessly drifting.

He was being guided—moved by purpose, not chaos.

Within him, the runes glowed faintly, rhythmically, like a heartbeat. Whispers of the Art began to form, flowing through his soul like veins in a body.

The runes were circulated all around his body, with energy pulsing with powers like absorbing some kind of ancient energy.

And then… visions.

Unwanted, unknown, uncontrollable.

Memories that weren't his. Echoes of lost battles. Forgotten spells. Emotions are buried across lifetimes.

They appeared, overwhelmed him… and vanished.

And through it all, his soul began to understand. Not consciously, but instinctively.

Somewhere deep inside, Rey felt something… cracking.

The shackles of his old self.

The boy who had failed 100 times. Who sought strength. Who feared weakness. That boy was dissolving.

His thoughts drifted between memory and silence, between rage and stillness, between the need to fight and the temptation of surrender.

Was it worth going back?

What awaited him in that world?

He could stay here. Forever. This endless stillness… it wasn't so bad.

But then—a snap.

A shatter within.

Something inside him broke. Not his spirit—something else. A barrier. A wall that had blocked him from reaching the next stage.

And when it fell, something new rushed into him.

Not Abyssal energy… but something even older.

Far Below, in the Deepest Shadows

Ordyn blinked.

"…So he did it."

He stood at the far end of the Abyss, watching it all unfold like a god observing a petri dish.

"Well, well. He broke through it. Guess I forgot about the kid… It's already been, what—293 years?" he smirked. "Time really flies in this place."

He narrowed his eyes.

"I wonder what you'll become now, my foolish disciple."

....

Rey's body was… different.

Still the same on the outside.

But within, the Art had taken root.

He no longer remembered who he was. Or what he came here to do.

Just a whisper of a shattered memory—a forbidden art learned beneath an endless sea of darkness.

Every time he tried to recall it, it slipped away, like smoke through fingers.

That was the true nature of the Art: it could be comprehended, but not remembered.

Only its true wielder could feel it, not teach it.

It could not be passed down, copied, or stolen.

That's why it was Absolute Rank.

It wasn't knowledge. It was instinct.

Time passed. He didn't know how long.

Days? Decades? Centuries?

There was no time here.

And then… he hit a wall.

He couldn't go further.

The room he saw was silent, white, and endless. A mental cage.

Until, suddenly—

A pull.

From above.

A force yanked him out, tore through the illusions and layers of trance.

A door appeared—the very same one he entered through long, long ago.

Light poured from it.

Ordyn's voice echoed one last time.

"Well… a bit disappointing, but expected from a half-dead soul like yours. Until we meet again, my foolish disciple."

And with a dismissive wave, Ordyn hurled Rey through the door—back into the light.

A Dream… or a Warning?

Rey's body floated into consciousness.

His eyes fluttered, his breath shallow.

It felt like waking from a dream that had lasted lifetimes.

Did it even happen?

Was it real?

Was he still him?

All he knew was that something inside him had changed forever.

A seed had been planted. A curse. A gift. A mystery.

But what did it cost?

Were his memories intact?

Were his family still alive?

Had the world changed… or just him?

He didn't have the answers.

But one thing was certain.

Even though he still doesn't have them but the mystery around him isn't going to stop just now for sure.

To be continued…

What's next for Rey? How has mastering this powerful art transformed him?

After years in the Abyss plane, will he recall the faces and memories of those he once loved? Are his family members still alive, waiting for him to return?

If you're eager to uncover these mysteries and explore Rey's journey further, prepare yourself—more thrilling chapters are on the way!