RISE OF THE HOLY DEMONIC GOD

As the eight books started to arrange themselves neatly in two rows and four columns, Rey, with Aiden's help, began to see the potential and titles of the books he was going to choose from. However, what he found left him in utter disbelief and on verge of collapse.

What Will presented in front of him was not something that could be given merely as a compensatory gift. He was certain that there was a motive behind such a generous gift from Will's.

He began to imagine scenarios in which he was enslaved by Will to work for him and do various tasks.

But brushed it off, as he was not a cursed person at the moment, so he couldn't come to a conclusion just yet.

The eight books he received were:

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1. Anathema Genesis Protocol (Body Refining Art) {Potential: Absolute Rank} 
2. Eclipse Convergence Technique (Qi Cultivation Technique) {Potential: Absolute Rank} 
3. Astral Convergence Technique (Mana Cultivation Art) {Potential: Absolute Rank}
4. Eternal Transcendence Codex (Psyche Cultivation Art) {Potential: Absolute Rank}
5. Dominion of Eternal Weaponry (Battle Art) {Potential: Absolute Rank}
6. Codex of True Runes (Manual Art) {Potential

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"Who--Whole books are absolute. What the actual heck is going on here?" Rey shouted as he saw the information page of the books.

"That's why we were trying so hard to get you to choose these books over those, as these can help you elevate to such power that, even though your talent and potential are low, these items may reverse the board," Veylen said as he came forward toward the eight books.

All books had different designs and runes-like words engraved on them, giving off a feeling of fear, as if some demon was sealed inside. All books looked new, even though the time they existed might be more than he could estimate.

"So, I am going to take all of these."

"<Yes, is any query?>"

"Without anything in return?"

Will nodded her head.

"But why? You don't owe me anything, and it's not like we are friend or something."

"<Maybe we are friends, or not. I can't tell you, but there is something I owe you for>, which I can't repay with even everything I have right now" she said as Rey didn't understand her words.

"Okay, so tell me, which books are you going to take, or all of them?" she said, diverting her words.

"If I take all of them, is it going to be selfish in your eyes, or is it okay take them?" he asked, as he still had to ask whether he could take them or not.

"Yes, you are allowed to take them. I tell you that they were your compensatory gifts? So obviously, I can't go back on my words, even if I have to give you my most precious itme of the archive," she said with prideful emotion in her words.

"So maybe I should take one or two books, and maybe I can probably choose some of the others flying around, maybe..."

"No you can't now. There wasn't any choice to begin with for choosing from both sides. You have to take all the books or nothing from here," Will shouted like a spoiled brat.

Rey was sure that if he denied right now, the woman would throw him out immediately.

"Okay, but please don't put some slave contract on me. Ma'am, I don't have the audacity to become a slave for eternity." He begged.

Eye didn't understand what was going on inside him, as she was giving a gift, but Rey thought it was a contract that would make him her slave. She was amused by his foolish thinking.

"So let me bind these books with you, and we will be finished here before leaving anything undone," Eye said as all eight books started to float above Rey and move toward him.

The energy was different this time, as the books smoothly sailed through the air.

Before Rey could stop her, the process began as the eight books started to send their energy into Rey. As the energy seeped inside him, it began to make its way toward his soul.

As the energy entered his soul space, where his soul resided, at first there was nothing visible. But as the energy penetrated deeper, they found a transparent figure floating in the darkness. It was Rey, curled up within the darkness. The energy found its place of rest.

As the energy poured into him, his once transparent soul started to solidify. Before it could become fully solidified, something happened in the process. The surrounding darkness, which had seemed nonexistent, started to move and take action. The soul, which had been separate from it like oil in water, began to be affected by it.

As darkness began to seep into his soul, although the soul remained unaffected, the energy of the was being consumed by the darkness.

Outside Rey's body, Rey to feel pain as his soul was affected. Will, who was watching everything, was neither surprised nor shocked, as she had expected this to happen.

"<I thought it might work this way, but you are really going to make my work more complicated from the start, you know>," she said with a amused voice as she disappeared from her place. All four were worried for Rey after seeing his expression of pain and suffering.

Before they could think of something, an unexpected event occurred. A large hole started to appear in front of Rey, who was in the middle of the binding ritual.

Before they could do anything, the time in the library stopped again, and even the process was halted by her ability.

"I thought maybe when the curse is not on your body, the binding process could go smoothly, but the slumbering darkness inside you won't let anything besides the same attribute attach to you. So, I have to do some work to please your inner darkness," said someone whose voice was same as the eye. A hand with fair skin and slender fingers, like crafted with precision, appeared in front of Rey.

But the terrifying power and aura around the hand were immense, devouring the space and void around it. Light was consumed within seconds upon contact with the hand.

The hand belonged to Will, who came to help him in the binding process.

"<Even now, this world isn't powerful enough to sustain my presence. When will I be able to come and meet you?>" she said as her hand, eager to touch Rey's face, backed away upon seeing his existence starting to be devoured by her.

As she moved away, the damaged area of his skin healed within seconds. The only witnesses to the scene were the books, unaffected by her ability.

"<You should all feel blessed to be around him. I am a sorrowful soul who cannot be with the one I to be with, despite my existence. Hah! But no worries. You must first become worthy to be a part of him forever>," she said as a small droplet of pure pitch-dark water appeared before her hand and split into eight smaller droplets.

Each droplet moved toward the books, which were shaking with either fear or joy—it was impossible to tell.

The droplets infused into all eight items, initiating an evolution or mutation. The books began to change internally. The plain white pages or manuals turned dark grey.

The covers of the books also began to display dark, mystic symbols, overwriting the previous ones The aura around them grew stronger as the limits binding them changed, and the books gained a symbol recognizable to someone.

The symbol of ∞, the infinity symbol, formed on one side of each book.

"<Hmm, now they should suffice, or the main essence of the art will be erased by the essence of mine>," she said as she retracted back into the rift, which closed again, and her eye reappeared to prevent any misunderstanding.

Time began to flow again, and the energy flowing into Rey transformed within a mere millisecond.

The energy, which had multiple colors, started to change into a single dark color.

All the spectators were shocked, thinking something had gone wrong. But when they looked inside him, they were astonished by the new energy flowing within him.

What was once being consumed by the darkness within Rey was now achieving harmony with it. The harmony was so perfect that even the cracks in his soul were being mended from both inside and outside.

The soul quickly adapted to the binding ritual. As the process continued for a few minutes, the books and manual scrolls started to draw closer, and with the energy, they also seeped inside Rey, merging with his soul. Unlike before, when his soul was transparent and empty, now the soul was much solidified as something can be seen in it as one of the books floated in the center of his soul, bearing the symbol of body cultivation. Another was situated in the head area, symbolizing psyche cultivation, while one was in the navel area symbolizing the Qi cultivation. Other techniques or manuals were present in the chest and stomach areas.

As the binding completed, the eight seals of runes appeared above Rey's body and rushed toward the direction from which the books had come, which was the return Ruun had mentioned.

Once the ritual was done, Rey fell to the ground, having experienced something so intense that no one could easily endure and emerge unscathed. The soul damage was even healed by the book's energy.

After a few minutes of rest, Rey was ready to leave. Before could ask to go home, the Will eye dropped a bombshell by saying,

"Okay, so now the book selection period is done, shall we talk about some serious matters?"

'I knew it, I can't just take all these books and give nothing in return. Rey, be prepared to be a slave worker for eternity,' he thought, shedding tears internally.

"<That's not what I am talking about right now, but if you wish to be a slave, I have that option too>," the Will eye said unexpectedly, looking at Rey, who remembered that Will could hear his inner voice.

"Oh, no Ms. Will, I was just thinking some random thoughts and nothing else here. Please continue." He said as he backed away while shaking his hands in denial.

"<Okay, so the thing is that before going, I am going to place the Shadowthrone family curse on you, Rey Shadowthrone. By doing so, you will become the lowest rank bearer of the Curse. It may not benefit you initially, but in the long term, you will start to get the hang of it rather quickly," she said as she moved toward Rey, but the real surprise was yet to come.

Veylen, who heard this, was confused by the words she told everyone.

"My lord, I am sorry if I am interrupting, but isn't it me who is the lowest rank bearer of the Curse?" Veylen said, remembering that all his life, he was the only one to bear the curse at Lv.46 of Tier 0. And he knew that Rey was Lv.100, and he sho....

"I think you are under some kind of misunderstanding, Veylen Shadowthrone. The being standing in front of you, Rey Shadowthrone, is a Lv.1 of Tier 0. So in my entire experience, he should be the lowest bearer to exist, as number 1 is smaller than 47 right," she explained.

"But how? I remember that I put a huge amount of restriction over the ring, which only beings of high mana capacity of Tier 1 or a high-capacity mana-talented being of Peak Tier 0 should be able to unlock. In the worst case, the ascension realm should be the only place to open it. How was he able to unlock it before without gaining anything? It should be impossible. Are you mistaking something, My lord?" Veylen said in utter confusion.

"Are you questioning my appraisal?" she asked while her eyes shrank into slits.

"No, my lord, I was sure and confirmed that my seal on Rey's ring was to be opened with these three methods, as I did not want him to experience the same as I did in my early days. But perhaps destiny has its own plans for him," Veylen said, trying not to displease her while presenting his point.

"Oh, then maybe Rey, you really are both and unlucky to receive such gifts from the lord. Unlucky because, even though I didn't want you to suffer right now, but you have to endure them because of your spirits." Veylen said before Rey could fully understand. His vision started to blur.

He only heard a voice from Ms. Will.

"Now, I am going to awaken the true bloodline of the curse, but there needs to be some adjustment to your curse. Be prepared, and I hope we will meet soon enough." She said, but Rey didn't grasp half of it.

All the spirits and Veylen vanished from the Archive, leaving only Rey and Eye.

Eye looked around and did something unexpected to Rey.

A small ball of darkness formed in front of her, she said something to it, and threw it toward Rey's body. Once it attached to him, he also disappeared, leaving her alone.

"<Now you're the next one to manage this archive.>" She said after few seconds later to her left side as a being emerged from the ground and said to her.

"As you wish, my master." The being said before vanishing, while Eye looked around for a moment and also disappeared, leaving the archive silent.

-<To be Continued>-

What will happen next? Will this new bloodline bring trouble or fortune to Rey? Pay close attention, as the next part will reveal everything.