The dinging of a panel appearing before me, a foreign sensation that I hadn't experienced in such a long time, signaled the beginning of a chill shooting down my spine. The young man's god marks quivered on his face before splitting open, causing a blast of murky golden blood to shoot out and then freeze upon coming in contact with Aisa's aura.
"W-What the hell is that?" The vampire beside me stuttered, her teeth chattering against each other as she held her shivering body. And before I knew it, she dropped to the ground, unconscious at the sight of whatever Orion had become.
Two swirling black holes had become his eyes while his spear twisted and contorted, creating its own vacuum that began to suck in Aisa's own precious aura. His god marks which had torn open from his cheek and all the way down his neck, torso, leg, and foot suddenly sucked the frozen blood back in, returning to their blackened form.
Even the young man didn't look like he knew what was happening, but from what he could tell, he knew a strong power began to swell within him. Just upon the activation of this skill, he began to quake the very forces of nature. Just upon the activation of this skill, he bent space to his will, the black hole of a spear he held being shining proof of that.
"A demi-god… this is a demi-god. I'm about to witness the apotheosis of a demi-god," I smiled maniacally. I couldn't help but laugh as I witnessed the boy's aura crack straight through my spatial isolation while somehow, Aisa began to match his power.
…
(Orion POV)
[You have taken a step into the realm of the gods]
[Your god marks have been added to your system]
[The system quakes within your body, struggling to handle the apotheosis]
Everything went dark. Everything around me was black. I couldn't see a single thing besides the floating image of a feline with three eyes. Two black pupils hung in their normal position while the remaining one stuck itself into its forehead.
Meow…
It tilted its head as it looked at me. Its black eyes were like the abyss. And as I stared into them, it felt like the abyss stared back. It sucked my mind and thoughts into the very center of its black hole vision.
"Don't be afraid, my grandson… everything will be fine."
The chills which had erupted down my spine due to the appearance of this cat were negated instantly upon hearing a string of familiar words. Wrapping themselves into my dwindling thoughts and mind, I felt even stronger than before, preventing me from losing myself as the cat sucked me in.
VWOOP
I appeared on a plane of blood. Standing on top of it was as easy as breathing, yet when I took a step forward, I plunged into its metallic body. Its properties opened my lips and forced their way into my mouth. My throat was spread open, and my lungs were instantly filled with this liquid of life.
Attempting to swim my way upward, I found my limbs frozen in place. The only thing I could do was wail my head back and forth as the blood began to fill me up from the inside. The pain ate away at my mind, which slowly began to fade away at the lack of oxygen.
And then… everything went dark. Once again, everything went dark.
Blooop…
Slowly, I opened my eyes, the rocking of the blood waves below me shaking my body back and forth. In the sky was a singular eye with a flat, horizontal pupil. It was a dark red but shimmered like a golden sun.
I brought myself to my feet, glancing behind at a presence that almost seemed to call for me. It was instinctive like it was branded into my body to respond to this presence. And, as my eyes looked back before my head turned around, I noticed an army of skeletons surrounding me.
A hundred- no, a thousand- no, a hundred thousand. At least a hundred thousand skeletons expanded around me, creating a funnel that led up a black staircase. And as the bellowing streams of golden light shimmered down onto this expanse of blood, a crown of glistening jeweled bones painted in a red sheen glowed.
"You… must be… him."
On a throne of enigmatic pale-white bones, untouched by the grotesque blood below, sitting atop that black staircase, a single man sat. His robes of black shielded what felt like thousands of god marks. The two black lines that shivered on my face, presenting a new divinity unbeknownst to my status, held the same feeling as the stripes going across his rotting flesh.
His skin was a dark purple, eroded away by thousands upon thousands of solitary years. And as his right leg crossed over his left, leaning against the handle of bones beside him, his robes disappeared into thin air, a gust of wind swooshing past me.
The naked man with no genitalia, whose skin began to churn and twist on his body, began to shift. His outer layer of flesh came up from the rotting purple skin of his and replaced it, becoming a tanned crust, refreshing his body from the millions of scar wounds that I witnessed on his vessel.
His hairless head suddenly began to flow with dark red hair, stretching down his throne like congealed webs of blood. And then, finally, those two eyes of his closed, revealing a singular eye that split open in his forehead. It was beautiful. The only way it could be described was absolutely beautiful.
A star resided in that dark-red eye, shifting with a dangerous aura. It was like the cosmos itself had been concentrated into that very eye. But, the other eyes weren't done as they snapped open, the white sclera turning a deep black. The thick horizontal bright red pupils dimmed until switching in a different direction, turning into two pupils so effortlessly bright, like a cosmic explosion, that my knees buckled, and I took a kneeling position.
A body of light-brown skin layered with thousands of black stripes striking across his body and face. Long dark red hair slowly beginning to form rose vines sprouting it's respective almost instantly into the eerie atmosphere. Then a gaze so sharp that it felt like it pierced through my soul and saw me of whatever it witnessed.
"My lord…" Those words flowed from my mouth like water. They were effortless and felt as if I was talking to somebody I had known for millennia. "... it's you, isn't it?"
All three of his eyes flashed with a scarlet descent, and as his body stood up, the throne of bones beneath him and the crown of concentrated calcium returned to him. They folded neatly along his body, with the throne turning into black robes while the crown punctured itself into the man's head, serving as an array of white horns.
"Hmmmm… Who am I again?"
My body quivered under his words. The rest of the surrounding skeletons awaiting the ruler's command kneeled in unison, a single clack of their jaws resonating together as if welcoming the rebirth of a king. Of a god. This… was a true god.
"The Sangria-Eyed King…" I gulped. "...my lord," I responded effortlessly, the words echoing from the chambers of my chest and presenting themselves on a silver platter for the man to hear. For the man to judge and decide if he was willing to accept my ant-like words.
"Wrong."
All of the bones in my body broke. All of my organs burst. Every single cell in my body exploded. Every single atom in my body released a hellish amount of energy into the surrounding world of sangria red… and then, I regathered at only the glance of his gaze, falling on where I used to be.
"The Sangria-Eyed King. The King of All Kingless Worlds. The First of The Perfect Beings. The First of The Primordial Creatures…. The King of All Chaos… "
Breathing heavily, sweating bullets, and frantically looking around, I didn't even dare to twitch a muscle. It felt as if I attempted to even think the man would eradicate me from existence once again. And as he walked down the black stairs, somehow able to withstand the sheer natural pressure of this man, his form altered yet again.
It was slender. It was slick. It was beautiful. And while retaining the exact same previous features from before, the man turned into a woman, the slight inner folds of the robe displaying her widened hips and slimmed waist.
"You may also call me the Sangria-Eyed Queen. The Queen of All Queenless Worlds. The First of The Perfect Beings. The First of the Primordial Creatures… The Queen of All Chaos…"
The god's voice had adjusted to the body, entering a higher-pitched tone but still retaining the same grittiness and threatening tone which rained on me before. It still planted me on my knees and prevented my mind from even thinking of moving.
"And you must be… him… My grandson."
