Dark Parasyte

The air around the throne of Nurrak the Severed Crown shimmered with blistering heat. Magma bubbled lazily between veins of blackened rock as scorched bones jutted from the walls like ornamental tusks. The chamber throbbed with heatwaves, each gust radiating from pits of flame embedded deep into the obsidian floor. The Archdemon of Wrath sat atop a grotesque throne carved from fused skeletons and molten stone, his massive form half shrouded in rising steam. Twin horns curled from his scalp like obsidian blades, eyes glowing like magma vents, fixed in a restless glare, seething with fury and centuries of bloodlust.

Then Corvin appeared.

The air around the demon lord shimmered then split.

A ripple of Aether parted the fabric of space, silent as a blade drawn in the dark, and Corvin Blackmoor stepped out of the veil. His cloak dissolved like shadow smoke behind him, revealing the tall, broad shouldered form of a war worn elf. His silvery hair was pulled back tightly, and his cold steel gray eyes met the Archdemon's with not even a flicker of fear.

"An elf," Nurrak snarled. His voice was a furnace, each word cracking the air like a splitting faultline. "You come here… to my throne… alone?"

Corvin tilted his head, smiling slightly. "Alone? That's generous. You were never truly alone, Nurrak. Not since I arrived in your domain."

Nurrak rose from his throne with a growl that rolled across the chamber like a collapsing mountain. Magma sloughed from his armored hide, veins of fire coursing across his skin. "You…"

"Yes," Corvin interrupted, taking another step forward. "It was me who destroyed your legions at Tharn Karog. Me who tore down your Dreadlords and drained your Dark Sovereigns until nothing remained but soot and screams. I saw your Demon Lords beg for mercy as their power became mine. You ruled this land like a king before my arrival Demon but now, you rule over ash. You're the last."

Nurrak's bellow shook the foundations of his fortress. The throne cracked behind him. "I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB, ELF!"

The Archdemon lunged.

The chamber exploded into chaos.

Twin geysers of lava erupted from beneath Corvin's feet as Nurrak slammed the earth with both fists. The elf launched himself skyward using gravity magic, spinning mid air like a silver comet. He conjured a swirling aegis of jagged earth and searing fire that blocked the lava mid eruption, redirecting it outward with explosive force.

Nurrak roared again, ripping a nearby stalactite from the ceiling and hurling it like a spear. Corvin raised both hands, streams of blue and violet Aether circled his arms as he compressed the incoming boulder with gravitational pressure, shattering it mid flight into harmless shards.

Then the ground quaked.

Nurrak charged like a living mountain, each step a thunderclap. He brought down a molten axe of magma etched stone, wide enough to cleave a hill. Corvin conjured a longsword made of coiled lightning. Their weapons collided, sparks, lightning, and molten shards exploded outward.

Corvin ducked and pivoted, redirecting the demon's momentum. With a thought he lashed a tendril of fire around Nurrak's ankle, dragging him to one knee. The demon retaliated instantly, sending a shockwave of earth spikes erupting from the ground. Corvin dodged, barely, one spike slashed across his ribs.

He rolled, blood trailing from his side, but stood.

Now it was his turn.

Dozens of thin space threads slithered from his fingertips, invisible wires lacing through the battlefield. He sent volleys of fire wrapped in wind, carving channels through the air. Lightning burst into the gaps, striking true. One bolt cracked Nurrak's chest armor, sending magma spilling down his torso.

The Archdemon slammed his fists into the floor, and the entire battlefield lifted, floating boulders spiraled upward under gravity manipulation. He hurled them one after another. Corvin conjured a dome of telekinetic force that split and redirected the debris in spiraling orbits.

Back and forth they clashed.

Nurrak summoned a storm of brimstone hail, jagged and pulsing with infernal heat. Corvin answered with a blizzard of freezing wind and arching lightning that collided mid air in a flash of boiling fog and thunder.

Then Corvin surged forward.

He released a hybrid spell, liquid flame braided with lightning and sharpened by piercing wind. It exploded in a cone of elemental carnage against Nurrak's chest, sending the Archdemon staggering.

Nurrak collapsed to one knee but he wasn't done.

Roaring with a fury drawn from the depths of the Infernal Plane, he summoned a final surge. Gravity collapsed in around him. The battlefield cracked as a maelstrom of heat and mass converged into a singularity of destruction. Volcanoes burst from the stone as magma rained from above.

Corvin, panting, bleeding, still burned and bruised, summoned everything he had.

He became the storm.

Space rippled around him. Aether flowed like blood through silver veins. Shadow and light coalesced in his hands. He split the incoming gravitational pulse with precision space magic, reversed its pull, and hurled it back wrapped in flame.

Their final clash shattered the sky.

For a moment, all was blinding light.

When it faded, only one stood.

Corvin, shaking and scorched, stepped toward the crater where Nurrak once stood. The Archdemon's body lay crumbled, steam and fire still flickering from its remains.

Corvin knelt beside him, one hand hovering over the cracked, molten heart.

"Now… you're mine," he whispered.

And began the Absorption.

--

As the final wisps of the archdemon funneled into his core, Corvin stood motionless in the scorched ruins of what was once the infernal throne chamber of Nurrak, Archdemon of Wrath. The air was heavy with the tang of sulfur, the stone beneath his feet cracked and glowing faintly with lingering magma veins. Steam curled upward in lazy coils, drifting between jagged spires of blackened rock and scorched bone. The throne, now shattered to slag and ash, crumbled silently behind him.

His breath was steady. His wounds sealed. His heart calm.

But his mind was anything but.

Thousands of years of memory surged through him like molten steel flooding cold iron. Instincts, movements, spells, every scar, every scream, every triumph Nurrak ever experienced now belonged to him. Muscle memory layered atop his own, older and deeper than many mortal nations. The sheer force of demonic will seethed beneath Corvin's skin, tempered only by his iron resolve.

He flexed his hands. Sparks of magma danced across his fingertips before extinguishing. "So this is what you were," he muttered, letting the words hang in the humid air. "All that wrath. All that might. And in the end, it was mine to claim."

His vision shimmered momentarily. Not from injury or exhaustion, but from sheer overload. His veins thrummed with power, hot, ancient, and volatile.

And then he willed it still.

The status screen materialized before him, hovering in a translucent azure frame, glowing with threads of silver and emerald script.

STATUS SCREEN

Name: Corvin Blackmoor

Race: Dark Parasyte - Ascendant Stage (Sylvan Elf Lineage)

Level: 103

Stats:

• Mana Control: S+

• Physical: S+

Affinities:

Basic Elements

Fire (SS-)

Water (S+)

Earth (SS-)

Wind (S)

Secondary Elements

Lightning (SS-)

Magma (SS)

Metal (S+)

Ice (S+)

Steam (S+)

Acid (S+)

Poison (S+)

Rare Elements

Plant (S+)

Life (S)

Death (E)

Dark (S+)

Psychic (S+)

Blood (S+)

Healing (S+)

Arcane Elements

Space (S+)

Gravity (S-)

Aether (S+)

Skills:

• Shadow Siphon

• Absorption

• Telepathy

• Telekinesis

• Teleportation

• Mind Walking

• Dimensional Pocket

• Regeneration (10%/min)

• Necrotic Command

He stared at it, eyes scanning each value with meticulous precision. Fire and Earth, once pillars of his foundation, now pulsed with SS rank power. Magma, brighter still, glowed a deep crimson gold. Even Lightning, recently honed, shimmered with raw ferocity.

He chuckled under his breath.

"SS-, huh? That's the next barrier then," he murmured, brushing cinders from his cloak, now frayed at the hem. "Let's see how long it takes me to tear it down."

Another thought emerged, quieter, deeper:

He hadn't simply won a battle. He had dismantled a kingdom of wrath. Dismantled it with methodical precision. With magic and steel. With silence and fire.

The Circle would learn. The Synod would whisper. Aurelian Dominion would watch. Iron March will maneuver.

And those who once thought of him as a useful blade or disposable tool or a threat?

They would begin to fear.

The screen pulsed once.

[Threshold for Second Evolution Reached.]

[Proceed with Evolution?]

[Yes] [No]

His gaze turned to the scorched ground, aether moved, earth moved. A cavern one hundred meters deep, twent meters side and 5 meters high. He enhanced the walls and conjured blocks of condensed ice blocks to decrease the heat. As he did on his first evolution, he took off his clothes and sat down in his birthday suit. Called his system, and murmured Yes.

--

[System Interface Expanding...]

[Threshold Confirmed: Level 103]

Planarch tier achieved.

Absorption matrix stabilized

Affinity map refreshed

Processing evolution vectors based on accumulated essence.

Analyzing primary absorbed strains: Demonic - Human - Elven - Beastkin

Candidate compatible with multiple Second tier evolution pathways.

[Choose One Evolution Path]

[1] Aetheric Elf

(Unique Evolution)

Nature bound Aetheric evolution that aligns your soul with the laws that govern magic itself.

Passive: Law Perception: Gain basic comprehension of fundamental threads and rules of magic, including cause and effect, origin point weaves and elemental structure.

Trait: Runecraft: Elemental Rune formation.

Perk: Runebreak: May destabilize or hijack stabilased rune formations of spells already in effect.

Enhanced Sight: Able to perceive magical truths woven into the fabric of reality, beings, and objects.

[2] Flameborne Tyrant

(Hybrid: Human - Demon)

A brutally physical evolution drawn from absorbed demon lords and high level humans.

Passive: Overcharge Body: Strikes, leaps, and spellcasts ignite with fire backed kinetic bursts.

Trait: Infernal Resilience: Resistance to extreme environments and corruption.

Perk: Demonic Transience: Once per day, erupt into a berserk form doubling physical endurance, defense and attack for 30 seconds.

Form: Taller, broader frame. Blackened skin etched with shifting runes. Two curved horns. Ember lit eyes.

Aura: Causes fear in weaker beings within 10 meters.

Weakness: Reduced mana efficiency and conductivity. Vulnerable to holy or purifying energies.

[3] Shifting Aberrant

(Amalgam)

A chaotic identity consuming form made from every siphoned and absorbed organism: elf, human, demon, feralis, beast.

Passive: Adaptive Morphic Core: Immune to repeated magic types or damage sources.

Perk: Essence Surge: Once per day, release a storm of chaotic essence that annihilates both allies and enemies in a radius of hundred meters.

Form: A formless, swirling mass of shadowed tendrils, flickering with remnants of faces and voices.

Weakness: Cannot pass as mortal. Induces existential dread in most living beings. Susceptible to banishment or containment magics.

Proceed with Evolution?

[View Full Status]

[Choose Path]

Corvin contemplated each and every one of the options. It did not took long for him to confirm the first one. Aetheric Elf, a being whom can see the higher form of mana and magic. A being who can read the structure of the weaves, he noticed the description saying "Gain basic comprehension of fundamental threads and rules of magic," and this sentence alone was enough for him.

[Selection Confirmed: Aetheric Elf]

Transformation begins now.

Corvin's body contorted in the cocoon as the change began.

The world didn't shudder.

It yielded.

Even the infernal mana of Nefrath stilled, as if listening. Space around Corvin began to ripple, not like heat, but like fabric folding into itself.

The lightless caverns dulled to silence. Aether flowed not through the air but through existence itself. The boundaries of the physical world dissolved. He felt the breath of the world inhaling him. Trying to recognize, to identify him.

He did not glow. He resonated. Bones sang. Mana chimed. His pulse became rhythm.

Runes surfaced from under his skin, not inked, but unveiled. For the first time since his arrival to this amazingly fertile world he saw how aether, the universal form of mana getting in formation, treads being weaved, coming together to form the runes that translaeting how the will of the caster will manifest in the fabric of reality. They crawled like ancient memories, threading through his veins, wrapping his ribs, etching into the back of his hands. Swirls of fire, latticeworks of gravity and stilled lightning stitched themselves into his flesh, his blood, his soul.

But they were not spells. They were equations. Blueprints.

He could recognize them. He couldn't unmake them, not yet. He needed to see more, to understand more too absorb more.

Fire became formula, Gravity became syntax and... Aether became malleable.

He raised his hand, and it surged to meet him, not as a tool. But as kin.

Corvin stood beneath the high celing of his cavern, reborn in silence. No taller. No broader. But impossibly denser. The threads of the world twisted subtly to accommodate him.

His hair shimmered with strands of light. His breath shimmered like prismed wind. His heartbeat sounded like a chime of a bell struck across.

A new status prompt slid before his mind's eye:

[System Notification]

Evolution Stage Advancement Confirmed.

Dark Parasyte Stage Progression:

Dormant State: Pre Evolution Phase - Passed

Stage I: Awakening Stage - Passed

Stage II: Ascendant Stage - Passed

Stage III: Transcendent Stage - Active

Your essence has evolved beyond calculated parameters. Multiple life strains been recognized and internalized. As an Aetheric Elf, your soul now resonates with the fundamental laws of magic.

Progression: 3 out of 5 evolutionary stages achieved.

[Species: Dark Parasyte]

[Race has changed to Aetheric Elf]

[Level: 3]

He whispered with his voice barely audable:

"Let's see what else is hidden behind the veil."