The Evolution of the Void God: King of Cosmic Monsters

Chapter 2: The Hunting Grounds and the Young Master’s Scorn

The lingering adrenaline from the battle in the tunnels still throbbed in Jaden Grey’s temples. He stepped out from the ruins, his breathing heavy, each lungful of air feeling like he was inhaling glass shards. On his shoulder, the Moss Caterpillar looked dull, having lost the violet glow that had erupted moments ago. The little creature had returned to its weak, green state, as if that terrifying transformation had been nothing more than a trauma-induced hallucination.

But Jaden knew it was real. The gash on his shoulder had closed, leaving only a red, itchy scar. That was the price of a soul contract forcibly triggered by the system.

"We need to move, little one," Jaden whispered to his pet.

He avoided the main evacuation route. If Vargon’s team saw him alive, they wouldn't hesitate to finish him off permanently to remove any witness to their abandonment. Jaden chose a detour through the West Sector, an area unofficially known as the 'Carrion Fields'. Here, Rank F and E monsters roamed amongst piles of scrapped cars and concrete.

Jaden’s goal was simple: a Beast Core. He needed pure energy to stabilise his caterpillar, which was wilting after the forced evolution. Without a core, the creature might die before dawn.

Near a ruined petrol station, Jaden spotted his target. A Horned Rabbit—a single-horned creature with bloodshot eyes—was gnawing on the remains of a stray dog. Jaden crept behind a rusted school bus, clutching a blunt dagger he’d scavenged from a rubbish heap.

"Now!"

Jaden lunged. The rabbit was quick, but Jaden was desperate. He didn't care if his arm was bitten; he plunged the dagger into the monster’s neck repeatedly until it stopped moving. With trembling, blood-soaked hands, he cut open the rabbit’s chest and pulled out a small, marble-sized crystal glowing with a dim blue light.

"Got it..." Jaden breathed a sigh of relief. He was about to feed the crystal to his caterpillar when a shrill laugh shattered the silence.

"Look who crawled out of the gutter. Loser Jaden playing in the dirt with his pathetic worm?"

Jaden froze. He knew that voice. It was a voice dripping with entitlement and sickening arrogance.

Ares, the only son of a local Hunter Organisation Elder, approached with deliberately loud footsteps. He wasn't alone. Behind him, three D-Grade Hunters followed like lapdogs, each flaunting weapons far more expensive than Jaden’s entire self-worth.

But the most intimidating presence was the creature walking beside Ares. A Silver Wolf—a Rank C beast. Its fur shimmered like polished metal under the sunlight filtering through the smog. Long fangs dripped with saliva, and every step it took left small cracks in the asphalt. The sheer mana pressure from the wolf made the air around Jaden feel heavy.

"Ares," Jaden hissed through gritted teeth, instinctively tucking the Moss Caterpillar into the collar of his tattered jacket.

"Don't say my name with that filthy mouth, you peasant!" Ares spat on the ground, stopping just two metres from Jaden. "I just heard some funny news from Vargon. Said you’d died in a Shadow Stalker’s nest. But here you are... poaching in my hunting grounds."

"This is a free zone, Ares. Anyone can hunt here," Jaden replied, trying to stand tall despite his slight limp.

One of Ares’ guards, a muscular man named Korg, laughed gruffly. "Free zone? As long as Young Master Ares is here, even the ground you stand on belongs to him. Hand over that Beast Core now."

Jaden tightened his grip on the blue crystal. "I need this. My pet is injured."

Hearing that, Ares burst into such a fit of laughter that his eyes began to water. "A pet? You actually consider that disgusting insect a pet? Jaden, you are an insult to the entire Beastmaster caste. People have Dragons, Phoenixes, or at least Wolves like mine. And you? You keep fishing bait?"

Ares gave a flick of his finger. The Silver Wolf let out a low growl that vibrated through Jaden’s ribs. Every primal instinct told Jaden to run, but his ego, crushed for so many years, suddenly revolted.

"This caterpillar has never betrayed me—unlike humans," Jaden said coldly.

Ares’ expression darkened. He hated being defied, especially by someone he considered lower than dust. "How dare you speak to me like that. Korg, teach him some manners."

Without warning, Korg lunged. A mana-infused fist slammed into Jaden’s stomach.

THUD!

Jaden was sent flying back, denting the door of the school bus. Fresh blood sprayed from his mouth. His dagger clattered away, and worse, the blue Beast Core fell and rolled toward Ares’ feet.

"Cough... cough..." Jaden tried to get up, but his head was spinning.

Ares picked up the crystal, weighing it in his hand with a mocking grin. "Only Rank F? Even my wolf wouldn't deign to eat this." He dropped the crystal and crushed it into dust beneath his heel.

"NO!" Jaden screamed. That was his pet's only hope.

Ares walked closer, each step sounding like a funeral knell. He stepped on Jaden’s hand as the boy tried to reach for the crushed dust. The sound of snapping bone echoed in the quiet street. Jaden howled in pain, but Ares only pressed down harder.

"You know what’s funnier than seeing you suffer?" Ares leaned down, his face inches from Jaden’s bloodied features. "Seeing you hope. Hope is a disease for people like you, Jaden."

Ares then glanced at Jaden’s collar. He caught a slight movement from the trembling green caterpillar hidden there.

"Take that thing out," Ares ordered.

"Don't... please... not him..." Jaden whispered through tears mixed with blood.

"I said, TAKE IT OUT!" Ares grabbed Jaden by the hair, yanking his head back. "Or I’ll have my wolf rip your throat out right now."

Jaden shook violently. Inside his mind, the cold mechanical voice echoed once more.

[Warning: User's Mental Stress is Rising Drastically.]

[Synchronisation with 'The Void' Beginning to Fluctuate...]

[Please Endure. The Assimilation Process Requires a Strong Vessel.]

‘A strong vessel?’ Jaden cursed internally. He was being stepped on like a bug, and this damn system was asking him to endure?

Ares grew impatient. He reached into Jaden’s collar himself, pinching the Moss Caterpillar between his thumb and forefinger and pulling it out.

"So this is it? Your hero?" Ares held the grub up high. The caterpillar tried to squirm, but its strength was spent. "It’s pathetic. Squishy, slimy, and utterly useless. Exactly like its master."

"Give it back..." Jaden reached out, but Korg stepped on his back, pinning him to the asphalt.

"You want this back?" Ares smirked cruelly. He looked toward his Silver Wolf, which was waiting for a command. "Look, my wolf is hungry. Perhaps this caterpillar will make an interesting snack before I finish you off."

Ares slowly moved the grub toward the wolf’s wide-open maw. The razor-sharp silver fangs glistened, ready to crush the caterpillar’s soft body in one small bite.

"NO! ARES, STOP!" Jaden screamed until his throat felt like it was tearing apart.

In that moment, the world seemed to stop turning for Jaden. The humiliation, the pain, and the rage he had suppressed for years at the absolute rock bottom of his life exploded. In the darkness of his soul, a massive gate made of the void swung wide open.

[Synchronisation Exceeds Threshold: 10%.]

[Unlocking First Seal: 'Eye of the Void'.]

Jaden’s eyes, once a dull brown, suddenly changed. His pupils vanished, replaced by a pitch-black vortex that seemed to swallow the light around it. Ares, who had been laughing, suddenly felt his body freeze. An unnatural chill began to creep from the ground, enveloping the petrol station.

Even the ferocious Silver Wolf stopped growling. The fur on its neck stood on end. Its high-level predator instincts caught something terribly wrong—something that shouldn't exist in this world.

"What... what is this?" Ares muttered, his hands beginning to shake, though he still gripped the caterpillar tight.

Jaden lifted his head. Though his face was smeared with blood, his gaze was no longer that of a defeated man. It was the gaze of something observing prey from another dimension.

"Release... my pet..." Jaden said. His voice no longer trembled. It sounded like a thousand overlapping whispers rising from the dark.

The tension in the air reached a breaking point. One wrong move, and everything would explode into a massacre.