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Chapter 3 - The Siren Of The Abyss

A silhouette cut through the thick, choking clouds of smoke and crushed rock.

She wasn't some towering, grotesque behemoth, no massive fangs dripping acid or mountainous muscles.

No

The figure stepping out of the haze was entirely, terrifyingly human in shape.

Except she wasn't.

Her skin had this faint, sickly pale-green tint to it, smooth in a way that just felt wrong.

Two jagged obsidian horns curled up from her forehead, poking right through her dark, tangled hair.

She wore practically nothing—just these torn scraps of dark leather clinging to her curves, leaving way too much skin bare to the cold air of the abyss.

But the worst part wasn't the horns or the weird outfit.

It was the eyes.

Deep, mesmerizing crimson.

Not like a ruby, more like fresh arterial blood. And there was zero emotion behind them. No anger.

No hate. Just endless, bottomless hunger.

She gripped twin blades in her hands, short and curved like crescent moons, the edges glinting lethally.

Yet she didn't charge like a wild animal. She just walked.

Every step was deliberate, her hips swaying slowly in a way that felt less like a predator stalking prey and more like a model on a runway.

It was hypnotic honestly. Her body moved with this fluid grace that completely clashed with the deadly weapons she was holding.

And then my gaze locked with hers.

The second my eyes met those twin pools of red, the whole world seemed to warp.

The ringing in my ears faded into a dull hum, and the suffocating stench of smoke and rot? Gone. Replaced by this sudden, dizzying sweetness in the air.

My mind just clouded over.

A heavy, warm fog rolled into my brain, and my grip on my own survival instincts started to slip.

My fingers went numb.

Suddenly she didn't look like a monster anymore. She looked... beautiful.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

Why was I even fighting?

What was the point of struggling in this hellhole?

A part of my brain, drowning in that sweet fog, whispered that if I just dropped to my knees and surrendered, she'd take all the pain away.

She stopped a few paces away.

Her lips curled into a slow, wicked smile, and this long, unnaturally pointed tongue slid from her mouth, dragging across her bottom lip.

She was looking at me like I was a feast, and heaven help me, I was ready to serve myself up on a silver platter.

I was totally submerged in the illusion. I took a mindless, staggering step towards her.

Then, a sound shattered the quiet in my head.

It didn't come through my ears—it ripped straight through the nerves of my brain.

Cold, mechanical, and totally devoid of mercy.

[ WARNING: 'Charm Magic' influence detected. Wake up, or die. ]

It was the Demon King's voice.

The coldness of it was like a bucket of ice water dumped over my soul.

That warm, sweet fog in my head violently ruptured.

I blinked, gasping for air like I'd just been yanked up from underwater.

I snapped back to reality just in time to see the air ripple.

She wasn't standing a few paces away anymore.

In the fraction of a second it took my mind to clear, she'd already crossed the distance.

Right in my face.

The twin crescent blades were already a silver blur, arcing directly for my chest, seeking to carve my heart right out of my ribs.

Pure panic took the wheel. I threw my entire body backward, pushing off my back foot with literally everything I had.

Whoosh!

The blades sliced through the empty space where my heart was a millisecond ago.

The wind from the strike actually cut the fabric of my shirt.

I stumbled and rolled, kicking up dirt before finding my footing.

I stared at my hands, chest heaving.

What the hell was that?

How did I move so fast?

My body felt incredibly light, almost weightless... like the gravity here suddenly lost its grip on me.

I was moving at a speed no normal human could ever pull off.

The demon girl stood up straight and lowered her blades a bit.

She tilted her head, observing me with genuine curiosity.

"You look human..." she purred.

Her voice didn't match her body at all.

It was raspy, layered with this weird, overlapping echo that made the hairs on my neck stand up.

"But your blood... it reeks of a demon.

How wonderful. Two different flavors in a single meal."

She didn't give me a second to process that.

The ground beneath her boots literally cracked as she lunged again.

Faster this time. Way faster. She aimed high, bringing one blade down in a vicious diagonal slash meant to sever my jugular.

I tried focusing on the blade, but as she moved, the tattered scraps of leather shifting across her pale green skin caught my eye.

The Charm Magic wasn't fully gone—it was still lingering in the air like a passive aura radiating from her.

My eyes betrayed me, drifting from the lethal edge of her weapon to the sway of her body.

That microsecond of distraction was all it took.

I jerked my head back, but I was too slow.

Shhhk!

A sharp, searing line of fire ignited across my left cheek.

I hissed in pain, stumbling backward as hot blood immediately welled up from the cut and trailed down my jaw.

The metallic copper scent of my own blood hit my nostrils.

The sharp, burning sting of the wound did what the Demon King's voice couldn't—it completely obliterated the rest of the charm.

Pain is the ultimate anchor to reality.

I realized in that moment, with absolute terrifying clarity, that in this world, beauty was nothing but a snare.

A carnivorous plant showing off bright colors right before it snaps its jaws shut.

[ Your mental fortitude is pathetic. ]

The Demon King's voice mocked in my head, totally devoid of sympathy.

[ Demons prey on the weak-minded. Use the System Inventory. Summon a weapon. Now. ]

How?!

I screamed internally, wiping the blood off my face with the back of a trembling hand.

I don't even know how this works!

[ Just speak its name. But remember... in this world, absolutely nothing is free. ]

I didn't have time to ask what that meant.

She was already recovering her stance, her red eyes locked onto the fresh blood dripping from my chin.

Inventory! I shouted, the word tearing out of my raw throat.

Instantly, a translucent blue screen flickered to life in the air between us.

It wasn't some neat, organized video game menu. The text was jagged, glowing with an eerie light.

Rows of weapons hovered on the screen, each with a price tag in 'Coins'. I glanced at my balance at the top corner.

100 Coins.

I didn't exactly have the luxury of browsing. I mentally grabbed the first basic, single-edged longsword I could afford.

I expected the sword to materialize in a flash of light, or maybe just drop into my waiting hands. I was an idiot.

The moment the purchase went through

(Author's note : Welcome to all the new readers If you like the dark world of " The shadow of vessel" don't forget to save it in your library. My full effort will be to update a new chapter every day. If you like this help drop your Power Stones! Thank you for reading! )

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