{ACCEPT} OR {DECLINE}
In the blink of an eye, Damon subconsciously accepted the request. Anything to get him out of this situation. Anything to make the pain stop. Even if it didn't make sense to him. The {ACCEPT} option flared green and the world around Damon instantly changed.
When Damon opened his eyes, he found himself within a vast hall carved from pale marble and obsidian. Towering pillars rose so high up, he couldn't see the ceiling. He was wearing an ash robe.
Damon stood alone, unable to make sense of anything his eyes were showing him.
Minutes passed then a woman's voice echoed through the hall.
"Did you know? a pure-blood Incubus hasn't existed in eight hundred years?"
Damon turned.
A massive throne manifested a few meters away. Seated upon it was a young woman whose beauty felt unreal; long silver hair cascaded down her back, skin smooth as polished porcelain, eyes the color of molten gold. Every curve of her body was crafted to stir desire, not crudely, but with effortless, overwhelming allure. She was dressed in a golden gown.
On her thigh lounged a small cat with black and red stripes, its eyes gleaming with sharp intelligence as she stroked its back.
"Am I dead?" Damon asked, arching a brow. "I should be dead."
"You are not dead," the woman replied with a faint smile. "I brought you here to make you an offer."
"And you are?" Damon took a step back.
"I have been called many names by many people across eons," she said lightly. "You may call me Selene."
Her gaze sharpened.
"I am the Goddess of Desire. And you are Damon, son of Damon."
"That doesn't-"
The words died in his throat. A torrent of information rushed into his mind. Every doubt or question he had concerning her statement vanished.
"You have pure Incubus blood. A race that has been extinct for nearly a millenium," Selene continued as she rose, lifting the cat into her arms. "Also the only race that can inherit my throne."
"Uhmmm," Damon hummed as more information flooded his mind. "And I'm here because?"
"If you accept to be my Avatar, and your will proves to me what your blood already has, then I will give you power mortals can only dream of," she spoke slowly walking to Damon.
Another stream of information entered Damon's mind.
"I will give you a new life. One where you can be strong enough to crush your enemies and mine. Strong enough to take whatever your heart desires. All you have to do is agree to be my Avatar."
"What happens when I refuse?" Damon asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You don't because if you do, you'll die at Gregor's hands in the prison you made for him," a strange voice left the cat's mouth.
Holy shit! the cat can talk.
Damon was waiting for a stream of info to explain what he had just heard but there was none. He figured out Gregor was the giant in the SSS-Rank Dungeon but that was pretty much the only part of that sentence that made sense to him.
"I do not have much time left," Selene said quietly. "Will you be my Avatar?"
Damon noticed the construct of the throne room start to disappear, leaving darkness in its place.
"Tell me everything there is to know about being your Avatar." Damon demanded with a firm voice.
"Will you be my Avatar?"
"You need me more than I need you, so answer me."
"Will you be my Avatar?"
Irrespective of what Damon said, the Goddess reply remained the same. Damon was unwilling to give his consent without knowing exactly what he would be getting himself into.
He'd rather die than be reborn as a slave serving a different master. She promised him power but not the cost of it.
Damon stayed silent as the walls and floors were eaten away by the darkness, leaving him and the Goddess floating in an endless void. With nothing left to devour, the darkness started to eat away at Selene and Damon
"I won't spend another life as a slave. Not to you. Not to anyone," Damon muttered, their legs already consumed by darkness. "Tell me everything and give me absolute control of my actions. Then I will agree."
In a flash, a sea of information entered Damon's mind. He looked up to meet the Goddess' eyes with a smirk on his face.
"Selene, Goddess of Desire," Damon said clearly, reciting words now carved into his soul, "I choose to be your Avatar in the mortal realm and your candidate in the Gods' Tournament of Power."
"And I Selene, Goddess of Desire, accept you, Damon as my Avatar."
And now we blow bubbles and fight crime.
Selene's eyes instantly glowed gold then the void collapsed.
***
Damon's head was a few inches from the giant's throat when he felt an aura intrude his body, but it didn't belong to him. Before Damon could land, he commanded a gush of air from his lungs and with a powerful cough, forced Damon out of his mouth and onto his hand.
Damon's head was glowing purple, a shade he had learnt to fear millenia ago.
Naturally, he hurled Damon's head toward the cavern wall, desperate to destroy it before whatever was happening could finish.
But he was too slow.
The moment Damon's head struck stone, the cavern erupted.
The explosion shook the dungeon. The ground buckled. Stalactites tore free from the ceiling and shattered across the floor. Dust and debris swallowed the impact site.
Uncertain of what had just occurred, Gregor the giant put considerable distance between himself and the destruction.
For a brief moment, there was silence, then a figure took shape above the ground.
"Nice to see you again, old friend," Damon said, purple eyes glowing and fixed on Gregor. "So this is how we met."
Gregor's blood ran cold.
That voice.
"My beginning is your end," Damon chuckled, dragging a hand through his hair. "How ironic."
Damon got out of the dust to get a clearer view of the giant. Power radiated from him in waves, and the aura that exuded him screamed of danger. Now, the roles had reversed.
Damon was as calm as a clam, but Gregor was in fear induced panic.
The giant turned and sprinted for the only exit. He slammed his fists into the door with enough force to flatten mountains down but it stayed firm. Nonetheless, Gregor kept pounding.
He had been held prisoner for thousands of years and now that he was free, fate had put his jailer in the same room with him.
"Give me a second," Damon said casually, turning away as if bored. "Wake up, Gandalf."
A small black-and-red striped cat materialized on his shoulder.
"Show me what I'm working with."
A voice spoke in his mind.
"Yeah, yeah."
Holographic screens appeared before Damon.
{All contents of the System's arsenal have been unlocked. Duration: 1hour}
{HOST STATS
NAME: Damon
TITLE: Monarch of Desire, He who Pounds,etc
RACE: Celestial
RANK: Z+
HP: -
MP: -
.
Intelligence: MAX
Strength: MAX
Agility: MAX
Sense: MAX
Vitality: MAX
.
SPELLS: All Unlocked!
SKILLS: All Unlocked!
WEAPONS: All Unlocked!}
For a few minutes, Damon scrolled the seemingly endless lists of spells and skills until he found what he was looking for.
"These should do."
{SSS-Rank Skill [Shadow Clone] has been activated}
{Skill [Shadow Clone] has been activated}
{Skill [Shadow Clone] has been activated}
{Skill [Shadow Clone] has been activated}
{Skill [Shadow Clone] has been activated}
{Skill [Shadow Clone] has been activated}
Prepared to beat the shit out of Gregor, Damon turned back toward the trembling giant.
Five copies of him materialized atop the stone carvings around the chamber.
"Gregor," Damon said calmly, snapping his fingers, "we can do this the easy way…"
The clones' eyes ignited with violet light.
"Or the bloody way. Either way, you're not leaving this cell alive."