[Ding!]
The mechanical sound rang out again. It was crystal clear and utterly detached from the agonizing reality of the arena.
Silas's eyes snapped open. The world around him had frozen.
The massive Cloud Cobra hovered mid strike. Droplets of green acid suspended in the air like glass beads. The roar of the crowd was muted and reduced to a low distant hum.
Floating directly in front of his vision was a glowing translucent blue interface.
[Host vitals at 4%. Critical organ failure imminent. Extreme third-degree burns detected. Bone structure exposed.]
'Am I hallucinating?' Silas thought. He tried to draw a breath but his charred lungs refused to expand. 'Is this what a liquefied brain feels like?'
The text on the screen vanished and was replaced rapidly by a flurry of new prompts.
[Initializing the Ever-Sustain Protocol...]
[Soul fusion complete. Regenerative Engine engaged.]
[Condition Met: Extreme Physical Trauma.]
[Converting pain to energy...]
Suddenly, the absolute agony radiating from his exposed ribs and charred flesh began to shift. It didn't stop hurting, but the pain changed frequency.
Instead of destroying him, the torment felt like it was being siphoned away. It poured into an invisible furnace deep within his chest.
[Calculation complete. Awarding Carnage Points.]
[+3,000 Carnage Points acquired!]
A new panel materialized before him.
┌──────[ Profile ]──────┐
│ Name: Silas Vane
│ System: Ever-Sustain Protocol
│ Power Level: Low-Chain (Mortal)
│ Cell Activation: 0.01%
│ Carnage Points: 3,000
└───────────────────────┘
Silas stared at the floating numbers. His mind raced as he pulled fragments of old comic books and Donnie's insane rants about Ascendant mutations.
Was this a latent genetic ability? An Anomaly?
Before he could process the sheer absurdity of it, another prompt flashed violently in red.
[Warning: Host is about to be consumed. Suggest immediate expenditure of Carnage Points to survive.]
[Available Purchase: Stage 1 - Accelerated Cellular Reassembly (Cost: 3,000 CP)]
[Do you wish to purchase? Y/N]
He didn't have to think.
'Yes!' Silas screamed in his mind. 'Buy it! Do it now!'
[Ding! 3,000 CP deducted. Unlocking Stage 1: Accelerated Cellular Reassembly.]
The blue screens instantly shattered into motes of light that rained down on his ruined body.
Time violently resumed. The muted hum of the crowd snapped back into a deafening roar.
Splash!
The suspended droplets of acid hit the sand. And then, the healing began.
It wasn't a gentle soothing process. It was a violent and rapid biological reconstruction.
Silas threw his head back and let out a guttural roar as his body aggressively stitched itself back together.
Tendons snapped across his exposed ribs like thick rubber bands. Muscle fibers wove together at a visible sickening speed and layered over the bone.
The charred blackened edges of his skin began to bubble and stretch. A fresh pink layer of dermal tissue rapidly crawled across his chest and arms to cover the wound.
It itched intensely and burned with the heat of a branding iron. But beneath the pain was a surge of energy.
For the first time in his life, Silas felt a deep power coursing through his veins. He wasn't just healing. The new flesh felt denser and tougher.
But he was still lying flat on his back. The Cloud Cobra didn't care about the miraculous medical anomaly occurring on the sand.
It only saw a meal.
The four meter serpent struck with incredible speed.
Silas saw the massive scaly head blur toward him. He tried to roll and throw his arms up, but the cellular reassembly had left his motor functions temporarily scrambled. His muscles were too new and uncoordinated.
The beast's jaws unhinged and stretched impossibly wide.
Crunch!
The Cobra's jaws clamped down over Silas's entire upper body. The sheer kinetic force of the bite felt like being hit by a speeding truck.
The massive fangs sank deep into his shoulders. They pierced straight through his newly formed muscle and scraped against his collarbones.
[Host sustains massive piercing trauma and acid burns!]
[+400 Carnage Points awarded!]
[Accelerated Cellular Reassembly working at maximum capacity...]
Silas couldn't even scream. He was trapped in total darkness and engulfed in thick slime.
The acid immediately began eating at his face and chest, but the Ever Sustain Protocol fought back with equal ferocity.
As fast as the acid dissolved his skin, his body rebuilt it. It created a horrific endless cycle of melting and regenerating flesh.
The Cobra jerked its massive head upward and ripped Silas from the sand.
Through the sickening squelch of saliva, Silas could faintly hear the muffled gasps of the Coliseum crowd. They were watching a student get eaten alive. Morgana Thorne had gotten exactly what she wanted.
The beast tilted its head back to swallow.
Gravity shifted. Silas slid further down into the suffocating muscular tube of the serpent's throat.
The pressure was unimaginable. The muscular rings of the esophagus clamped down on him. They contracted rhythmically to force him deeper into the digestive tract.
His right arm was pinned against his chest. His left arm twisted awkwardly above his head.
He couldn't breathe. The air was entirely replaced by acidic bile that scorched his throat every time he gasped.
Crack!
The sound was deafening in the confined space. The crushing pressure of the snake's throat muscles was too much.
Silas's left arm snapped cleanly at the forearm. A second later, two of his newly healed ribs fractured under the strain.
[Host sustains severe crushing trauma and bone fractures!]
[+800 Carnage Points awarded!]
'I am going to die in here,' Silas thought. Panic finally clawed its way to the forefront of his mind.
The claustrophobia was worse than the pain. He was being squeezed like toothpaste and pushed down into a boiling vat of stomach acid.
But as the system prompts flashed in the darkness of his mind, a strange cold realization washed over him.
He was in agony. His bones were snapping. His flesh was melting.
But his core was still ticking. The pain wasn't killing him. It was feeding him!
Silas's broken arm began to set itself. The bone painfully ground back into place against the tight confines of the beast's throat. The acid burns on his face scarred over and healed thicker than before.
He wasn't just surviving. The Ever Sustain Protocol was fundamentally changing him.
As the Cloud Cobra forced him deeper into its belly, Silas Vane opened his eyes in the pitch black.
A grim blood stained smile stretched across his face, hidden entirely from the world above.
'Keep crushing me,' he thought. His hand blindly searched the slimy confines of the beast's throat for anything he could use as a weapon. 'Keep hurting me. Let us see how much energy you can give me before I tear my way out.'