Chapter Three: System Start-Up & Royal Spoils
"Uuugh… what a headache…"
Sky groaned, flopping back onto the silk pillows as golden particles shimmered faintly around him. His body felt like someone had plugged a USB full of cursed anime straight into his soul. It was overwhelming — and kinda awesome.
"I need… some rest…"
But just as he was about to close his eyes, a sharp ding rang in his ears like a Windows XP error.
His eyes flew open, glowing faintly.
[SYSTEM ONLINE][Initializing Eros Ascension Core...][Scanning host... ][Age threshold met — unlocking sealed memory cluster.][Fusion with past-life memories: 1%...]
Sky groaned again, but this time it wasn't from the headache — it was from the flood of images, knowledge, and instincts slamming into him like an emotional truck.
[10%...][Combat experience, languages, romantic history... integrating.]
[30%...][Demon bloodline resonance established. Libido rising. (Yup, we knew it.)]
[60%...][Personality sync: Sarcastic, mildly pervy, dangerously charming... confirmed.]
[90%...][Charm stat adjusting.][Bloodline: Diabolos - Pure Tier.][Passive: Hotter Than Hellfire activated.]
[100% Complete.][Memory Fusion complete.]
Then suddenly…
[ SYSTEM NOTICE: Host shutting down for final soul alignment ][Countdown Initiated:]
[10...]Sky blinked. "Wait, shutting down—"
[9...]His body stopped responding.
[8...]He could feel the bed shift under him.
[7...]Vision darkened.
[6...]Heart slowed.
[5...]Golden energy wrapped around his limbs.
[4...]Breath faded.
[3...]Whispers of ancient language echoed.
[2...]A distant voice… calling his name?
[1...]
"Young master, wake up."
A soft slap hit his cheek — not hard, just enough to wake his full consciousness.
The light around his eyes cracked — golden aura flickering — but his limbs were weak, heavy like stone.
He turned his head slightly to see the woman who had raised him. Protected him. The one person who never gave up on him.
Without thinking much, his arm slid over her waist. His fingers curled softly around her curves, and his body pressed into her back as he pulled her close.
Warm.
Soft.
Familiar.
"Uuhhhuhuh…" she gasped quietly, breath catching.
But she didn't pull away.
She relaxed into him, letting him spoon her like he had done a thousand times before.
His forehead rested gently on the back of her neck, and for one blissful moment… the world didn't matter.
Just him.
And her.
His fingers tightened just a little.
As if afraid she'd vanish when he let go.
His eyes widened fully.
And the memories hit.
He saw it now.
His mother... not the king's first wife. Not even the second. Just a quiet woman hidden in the shadows of the palace halls — unloved, unnoticed, and unprotected.
She never received gifts.Never sat beside the king.She wasn't chosen… just tolerated.
And for some reason — maybe jealousy, maybe fear — the first wife used her status to destroy her. She twisted the court, forged lies, and when Sky was still too young to hold a sword, his mother was taken away and executed without trial.
He remembered crying so hard he could barely breathe.
He remembered his tiny hands banging on locked doors as flames lit the sky outside the royal temple.
Then, at age 12, the test came.
Every Diabolos child had to awaken their bloodline.
His brothers passed — red flames, black wings, roaring auras.
Sky?
Nothing.
No stats.
No aura.
No value.
He was labeled defective.
So the king — his father — gave him a caretaker and cast them out of the castle. No gold. No land. Just silence.
The other children got weapons, estates, elite training, and luxury.
Sky got a cold shoulder and a one-way trip to the edge of nowhere.
He grew up humiliated, mocked, ignored, and insulted by servants who once bowed to him.
And on his 18th birthday?
They sent him and his caretaker even further away.
A ruined village.
No supplies.
Just a single abandoned house…
...the very one he was lying in now.
The very bed he had just woken up in.
The same bed he was spooning his caretaker in.
And yet...
All that time… she stayed.
He looked at her, curled beside him.
Beautiful, strong, quiet.
She had never pitied him.
Never let him break.
She fed him when he starved, stood by him when no one else would, and held him when the nights were too cold.
And now, as his system fully awakened… as his power returned...
He whispered into her ear, voice low and steady,
"...You're the only thing that ever made me feel like royalty."
She tensed again.
Just a moment.
But then… melted into him.
"…Sky," she breathed.
He held her tighter.
Eyes glowing softly.
Breathe calmly now.
For once in his life...
...he was finally awakening as the man the world tried to erase.