NOVEL WEB Chapter 50: Chapter 12: Cost
Chapter 12: Cost
"Where did—?! Why?!... Can I?"
The imp stammered, eyes wide and greedy.
Charon towered over him, lantern gone, a cleaver in each hand, and even in his, they looked big.
They were heavy things. Rusted. The blades were black with age. Their handles were twisted metal that crawled up the back of the blades like veins, dark and blood-red.
Tools made for chopping. For dismembering. For ending.
Love at first sight.
He didn't care if they were too big. Didn't care if he had no right. If the boatman was offering, he wasn't about to refuse.
"Just take them. They will adapt. As for your question of where, I am sure you remember. They will not be serving a purpose there anymore. Might as well be put to use."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Besides, they are too crude for my taste."
The imp stepped forward. His claws clicked as he reached out... anxious... cautious. The moment he grabbed the handles, Charon let go.
The imp winced. He expected to drop them, expected pain. But when he opened his eyes, the cleavers had changed.
Shrunk. Refined. Perfectly sized for his hands. He lifted them, eyes locked to the blades. The balance. The heft. They felt weightless, but carried the weight of the world to him.
His first possession.
Not scavenged. Not stolen.
His.
"This is where we part, little Ashkin."
Charon's voice felt heavier now. Final.
"You have an immense journey ahead. One I suspect will be... extremely interesting. I look forward to hearing about it if we meet again."
The imp hesitated. He didn't want to say it. Didn't like how it felt crawling up his throat. But the warmth, this strange pleasure inside him, demanded acknowledgment.
"Although I now owe you... thank you."
He didn't wait for a response. Didn't trust himself to. He leapt from the boat, cleavers tight in his grip, landing with a stumble on the slick stone.
Almost slipped again, because behind him, Charon exploded into laughter. Louder than before.
"Wonderful!"
The ocean of blood began to churn. Waves crashed and popped. The scent of boiled iron hit the air like rot on fire.
Charon's laughter seemed to cook the sea.
"Such a marvelous day! Continue to break expectation! Yes! You're welcome, little demon! To thank someone—yes! That is what one should do!"
The imp flinched, nodding nervously. Then bolted toward the passage, just in case the universe tried to take his cleavers away.
Slipping into the darkness as Charon's laughter echoed behind him, he finally left the Heart of the Maw behind.
And he didn't realize, that once Charon's boat finally vanished from the blood shore, disappearing completely in a blink—
The system exploded.
[!! WARNING !!]
[!! HOST PARASITE DETECTED // ATTEMPTING QUARANTINE...FAILED !!]
[!! MUTATION IMMINENT !!]
[!! INTEGRATION PATH // UNKNOWN // SYSTEM CANNOT ANALYZE FOREIGN WEAPON SYMBIOSIS !!]
"Huh?"
----
The imp didn't know.
Didn't feel it.
But earlier, just before he had left Charon's boat, in that moment, the imp had done something no other demon had done before.
He had genuinely thanked someone.
And Charon? He knew, in that miraculous moment, he'd made the right bet. He was all in.
Even as he traveled back the way they'd come, even as the boat cut silently across the blood, crossing the distance in moments, his mind burned with possibilities.
'A demon. No… an imp. How marvelous.'
His boat slowed at the island of the altar.
Charon looked up, his eyes tracing the towering statues surrounding him. Three monuments to gods whose names had long since been forgotten.
But not by him.
He forgot nothing.
"I wonder how you'd all feel in this moment. Would you resent me?"
His gaze shifted to the smaller, fourth statue, the bloated, ex-cleaver-wielding beast.
"I know your answer already. Too bad. Truly. I sympathize."
Nothing replied. But unseen, beneath Charon's hood, he smiled anyway. Waiting.
Turning to the far end of the cavern, he didn't have to wait long. He raised his lantern, black robes stirring in the unseen wind.
"It's been a long time since I've had a day such as this. To end it this way... I will have to thank Sister next time I see her..."
The cavern bloomed with light.
"Such luck."
Blinding. Pure.
From the edge of the blood sea, something massive emerged...shrouded in smoke and hunger.
A behemoth.
All mouths. All teeth and tongues. The smoke surrounding it peeled back in sheets beneath the light.
"Looking for something? Silly question, no need to respond."
It didn't even have time to scream.
Its flesh melted. Its bones disintegrated. Even as the cinders tried to escape, fleeing into the blood, the light devoured them too.
Charon lowered his lantern, and the glow receded. He looked once more toward the path the imp had taken.
"Luck be with you, little Ashkin. You are going to need her."
Then, like a breath forgotten, Charon's boat faded, his presence disappearing. A ghost swallowed by calm waters.
----
Panic.
Pure, immediate and brutal. The imp had tried everything. Clawed, screamed, even bit his own arms, but the cleavers wouldn't let go. They'd somehow reinforced his skin, he couldn't even use one to chop the other off.
The panel blared in his face, lights flashing like alarm bells. But it didn't matter. His grip wouldn't break.
"I am going to kill you!"
He roared the words into the dark, thrashing against nothing. Cursing the boatman. Cursing himself. Cursed for being so stupid.
Nothing in Hell was for free.
Pain crawled up his arms, slow and sharp. The metal veins wrapped around the cleaver handles had begun to burrow. He'd only noticed when it was too late. When he tried to pull away, they pulsed. Responded, diving in deeper into his forearms like drills.
He didn't know yet, but they were heading for his heart.
The system had been screaming automated alerts. Until suddenly, the voice cut in.
[Recommendation: User Soul Integrity at 50%. Current User body can withstand a 5% sacrifice, if willing, probability of Quarantine will increase.]
"Fifty percent?! When did–nevermind, do it!"
He didn't hesitate. Couldn't. Every muscle in his body was tensed. He strained, snarling, as the metal continued to climb.
Nothing stopped it. Nothing slowed it.
Finally, the system responded.
[System // Notification]
[Administrative Request // Soul Integrity // SACRIFICE]
[User Confirmation // Received]
[Administrative Request // ACCEPTED]
[Processing SACRIFICE // -5% Soul Integrity]
[Soul Integrity // 50% → 45%]
[WARNING // Evolution Requirement Status // UNLOCKED → LOCKED]
He hadn't even realized he'd unlocked it. There was still a hidden requirement, he knew that much. It must've triggered when he consumed the bead.
And now? Locked again. Taken. That truth burned deeper than the metal burrowing in his arms.
His rage almost drowned the pain. Almost. And only for a moment.
[Initializing SACRIFICE...Iinitiating in 3...2]
"Hurry!"
[...1]
[!! WARNING !! // SACRIFICE Initiated]
Then it hit.
Agony. Not from his body, but through it. Like something was sawing through his soul. No teeth, no claws, just a dull, dragging grind. A tearing without blood. A scream that didn't come from his throat.
It didn't feel like dying.
It felt like wishing for death.
[System // Notification]
[SACRIFICE // COMPLETE // SUCCESSFUL]
[QUARANTINE Probability // Increased from 5% → 15%]
[Attempting QUARANTINE...]
'Fifteen?! I'm gonna die...'
[...!! FAILED !!]
Everything vanished.
The world was gone.