Infernal Entity: Evolving With My Demonic System

Chapter 89: Demon Slayers

The reveal from Axel’s group was disappointing.

The first thing everyone noticed was just two crystals. That was all the group laid out.

The laughter came almost immediately. Some people shook their heads, others didn’t bother hiding their smiles. The group leader who had returned with thirty crystals laughed the loudest.

"Two?" he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You guys get lost or something?"

A few people joined in the mockery.

Axel didn’t react, and neither did Ares. Nile stood with her arms crossed, her expression unreadable. Rick looked confused more than embarrassed, while Ayden and Kora were still recovering, standing quietly behind them.

Lin stepped forward and asked, "What happened?"

Axel hesitated for a moment before revealing the truth of what had happened to them.

Immediately, the laughter stopped and no one spoke. Even the student with thirty crystals went silent.

Axel went on to tell everyone that they had killed the Skavvern and survived.

A Skavvern wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t something people exaggerated about. A person doesn’t just survive an attack from one, and everyone knew that.

Within minutes, the settlement went into lockdown.

Orders were thrown around because a Skavvern showing up on an Atlas planet meant one thing. The second war was about to happen.

Axel and his group were escorted out immediately and transported back to Oval Academy on Earth.

Questions followed them all the way back. How did they survive? What kind of abilities did they use?

Axel didn’t answer any of them. People called them lucky to have survived, but the truth was simple. They hadn’t exactly survived.

Three of them had suffered fatal injuries. But Axel had saved them in exchange for their souls.

That truth haunted him. It followed him into his room, deep into his sleep. Into every quiet moment when there was nothing else to distract him.

Rick, Jayden, and Kora didn’t remember the contracts. They didn’t remember agreeing to anything. All they remembered was the Skavvern attack and then waking up later. Everything after that was a blur to them, and Axel was grateful for that.

Still, it didn’t make things easier.

The countdown to claim their souls was still there.

Thirty days.

Then twenty-five.

Then twenty.

Twenty days left until Rick’s soul would be claimed.

That alone was enough to keep Axel awake at night. The other thing on his mind was Ares.

Axel still hadn’t confronted him. Not fully. Not about what he really was and not about how much he knew. Every time Axel thought about it, Aurora’s voice echoed in his head.

"Ares is a threat. A demon slayer! Kill him in his sleep already!"

It made no sense that a demon and a possible demon slayer were sharing a room, sleeping a few feet apart.

There were no blades drawn or blood spilled, just tension.

Rick slept between them most nights, completely unaware. He didn’t know he was sharing a room with a demon and an alien from another world. He didn’t know how close he had come to dying. He was laughing again, complaining about classes and acting normal.

Axel also went to the underground pits more often to see Dasha. Her answer didn’t change.

"The Nexus Field isn’t open yet," she told him. "No fights. No money."

Axel was getting impatient. He still had 88,000 CNTs to accumulate before the month ran out. He had just less than two weeks left to do that.

He didn’t have any crystals he could trade for money. No fighting gigs. Nothing to grind, and the clock kept ticking.

Even as a demon, Axel felt anxious.

He remembered something else then that he hadn’t paid attention to. His shadow skills. He hadn’t used them, not even against the Skavvern or the Mythic creatures back at Exo.

If he couldn’t level up, then at least he could train.

That night, long after curfew, Axel left the room, scaled the fence, and made his way to the gym.

Without the sword, Axel stood alone in the middle of the room, facing a battered training dummy bolted to the floor. He didn’t see the need for the Godrend sword in a situation like this.

The lights overhead in the gym buzzed faintly, casting long shadows across the mats. His shadow stretched forward, pooling beneath the dummy’s base.

Axel exhaled slowly and focused. He navigated through the system and activated it.

< [Umbra Step Activated!] >

At first, nothing happened. Then his shadow moved.

It didn’t slide or shift like a normal shadow should. It pulled itself outward, stretching unnaturally across the floor. It reached the dummy’s feet, then kept going, crawling up and around it.

The shadow climbed the floor behind the dummy, thickening there, gathering into a darker patch.

Axel felt something tug at him, and the next thing he knew, he was pulled under, into the shadow itself.

All this happened in less than a second, but Axel felt a void made of nothing but darkness. Shadows pressed in from every side, weightless but suffocating. There was no ground, no ceiling, only layers of moving black folding into each other like slow waves.

Then he stepped out and emerged behind the dummy in a single smooth motion. The shadow beneath his feet moved back to normal instantly, as if nothing strange had happened at all.

"Whoa!" Axel exclaimed. "That was... weird."

He decided to do it again, but then he got another idea.

"Why don’t I mix it with an attack?"

He activated the skill and was pulled under once again. While inside the shadow void, Axel did something.

< [Hellrand Slash Activated!] >

Infernal energy flared along his arm, and the moment he came back up, he swung forward.

The blade of energy cut through the air in a tight, clean arc. The slash went straight through the dummy’s torso, carving a deep, smoking gash through reinforced material.

The dummy shook violently, the metal joints screeching as the force nearly tore it off its base.

"Wow... that worked..." he muttered.

After testing out Umbra Step, Axel decided to try the next shadow skill, which was Shadow Clone.

< [Shadow Clone Activated!] >

Upon activation, his shadow peeled itself off the floor. It rose upward and formed into a familiar shape. A second Axel stood beside him, made entirely of shadow. Its features were like his, but hollow, and its eyes were empty pits of darkness.

"The fuck! That’s terrifying!"

The clone didn’t move. It just stood there. Then three seconds passed, and the clone wavered. Its edges blurred, causing the solid shape to collapse inward, melting back into shadow and fading until nothing remained.

"...That’s insane," Axel said quietly.

Just then, a sound came from behind him. Someone cleared their throat.

Axel spun around instantly, infernal energy flaring out of instinct.

It was Ares, standing near the entrance.

He stared at the destroyed dummy, then at the spot where the clone had vanished.

"So," Ares said casually, "you’re a shadow demon?" He smirked slightly.

"Cool."

---

Axel didn’t know if he should be worried or relaxed. Ares had a way of standing that made everything feel calm, like he was never really caught off guard. Axel slowly lowered his guard, but his hand stayed close to his side.

Ares broke the silence first.

"Look, I know a lot has happened," he said calmly. "And I know you have questions. If you’re going to ask them, now’s the best time."

Axel stared at him for a moment, wondering what to do. Then he started.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Ares let out a small breath, almost amused.

"I’m a Thaldorian."

Axel, confused, asked, "A what?"

"Thaldorian," Ares repeated. "I was born on a planet called Thaldor."

He took a few steps forward, stopping at the edge of the training mats.

"My father is the supreme ruler of my home world."

Axel’s eyes narrowed slightly. "A ruler’s son... then why are you here?"

"Let’s just say I caused a little mischief back home," he said with a grin. "Enough that my father decided I needed... perspective."

"...That’s fancy words for he banished me to Earth. He gave me the role of a watcher. To observe humans and to watch this planet."

Axel scoffed lightly. "You don’t seem very good at staying out of things," he said.

Ares shrugged. "Hey, I try, but you lot aren’t exactly making it easy."

Axel hesitated, then asked the question that had been burning in his chest.

"Are you a demon slayer?"

Ares didn’t answer immediately. For the first time, he looked unsure.

"Demons ravaged Earth a long time ago," Ares said slowly. "Five hundred years back. They spread, corrupted, and consumed. My father called them a stain on the universe."

"Us Thaldorians are... different," Ares continued. "We are a supreme race. We wield power and magic naturally. When the decision was made to erase the demons from Earth, we were the ones sent. That eradication created what humans later called demon slayers."

"So... you are one," Axel asked.

Ares nodded once. "By birth. Not by training."

"But your sister is."

Ares snapped his head toward him. "How do you know that?"

"I overheard you," Axel said. "When she came here snooping around the other day."

Ares exhaled sharply and ran a hand through his hair.

"Diana is a true demon slayer," he said. "She trained for it, and she lives for it..." His gaze locked onto Axel. "And now you’re a problem."

"Your Infernal Core is active," Ares said. "And so is your Demonic Core. That’s not something you can hide forever."

"The beacon should have picked you up by now," Ares continued. "And when it locks into your location..."

"Thaldorians aren’t the only demon slayers out there. I can say for a fact that demon slayers from all over the universe will come for you."