The Forbidden God System

Soul Destruction Forest

The smell of fresh blood mixed with putrid mud pierced Marvin's nostrils as his consciousness was violently dragged back by the pain spreading through his body. His eyes slowly fluttered open, catching only the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. There was no starlight, no gentle sound of the night wind. There was only a crushing pressure weighing down on his chest, making every breath feel as though his throat were being strangled.

"God... damn it, this really... hurts..."

Marvin's voice was hoarse. He tried to move his fingertips, but all he felt was another wave of pain. His body, now separated from the wolf, felt like a lump of flesh that had just been skinned and beaten with a hammer.

"Am I still alive?" he whispered into the darkness. "Why... why am I still breathing?"

Marvin tried to open his eyes. But all he saw was the darkness beneath the dense canopy of ancient trees, accompanied by the sharp smell of damp earth.

"Cough! Cough!"

Fresh blood sprayed from his mouth, staining his face. Every time he coughed, his broken ribs felt as though they were stabbing into his lungs from within.

Xena... Marvin...

Those names flashed through his mind, bringing forth a blaze hotter than his physical pain.

"You really did it," Marvin muttered, his laughter breaking into a pained groan. "You threw me away to be food for the monsters here."

Suddenly, the air around him seemed to change. The atmosphere within the Forbidden Forest abruptly became unbearably heavy. It was as though an enormous invisible hand had begun pressing his body into the ground.

"What... what is this?" Marvin groaned, his teeth chattering. "Gravity... why did it suddenly become this heavy?"

Crack!

The sound of breaking bones rang out again. It was not caused by an impact, but by the extreme pressure in the air. Marvin felt as though his internal organs were being squeezed. But even more terrifying was the pain crawling through his blood vessels.

"Aaaaaagh! Stop! Stop!"

He screamed hysterically as he felt something inside his body beginning to tear apart. It was not flesh. It was not bone.

My spirit meridians...

Though crippled, Marvin still possessed remnants of withered spirit meridians. Now, this cursed gravity seemed to be forcibly pulling that remaining energy out of his soul. He could feel the energy pathways within his body tearing apart one by one, shattering into fragments of light that were then swallowed by the darkness of the forest.

"Don't take it!" he screamed, clutching his crushed chest. "It's the only thing that proves I'm human! Stop!"

The darkness did not answer. This forest had no mercy. All he could hear was the rustling wind, sounding like the mocking laughter of thousands of monsters.

"So that's the reason?" Ravian hissed between ragged breaths. "The Forbidden Forest... a place where even the soul is not allowed to remain whole. Xena, you really want me to disappear forever, don't you?"

The air around him grew colder. Marvin's hair stood on end. Amid the thick darkness, pairs of deep red glowing eyes began to emerge. One, two, then dozens of pairs surrounded his helpless body.

Shadow Predators.

The creatures crawled across the ground, emitting deafening hisses. They were low-level monsters that inhabited the depths of the Forbidden Forest, but to a human like Marvin, who had lost all his spiritual power, they were angels of death.

A Shadow Predator as large as a full-grown wolf, with protruding fangs, leaped forward. The creature immediately lunged at Marvin's right arm, burying its venomous fangs deep into his flesh.

"Argh!" Marvin screamed, his voice hoarse and filled with agony.

The flesh on his arm was mercilessly torn apart, exposing the white bone beneath. Fresh blood gushed out, provoking dozens of other Shadow Predators to swarm his body. Sharp claws ripped into his back, while savage jaws tore into his thighs and legs, which were already beginning to crumble. Wave after wave of pain slammed into his brain until he felt his consciousness beginning to drift away.

Am I going to die here? Eaten by monsters without even getting the chance to make Marco and Xena pay for what they did? Marvin screamed hysterically inside, rejecting that cursed fate with every last bit of strength he had left.

No. That oath still echoed inside his head. He could not die before seeing Marco's and Xena's blood spill before his eyes.

With one hand he could still move, Marvin clawed at the muddy ground. He dragged his shattered body forward, fighting against the unbearable pain stabbing through his nerves. His spilled blood soaked into the black earth, reacting strangely with the thick mist that shrouded the darkness of the forest.

A pack of Shadow Predators lunged again, preparing to tear out Marvin's throat and end his life. The leader of the pack opened its jaws wide and leaped straight toward Marvin's face.

"Damn all of you!" Marvin snarled, his voice filled with deep hatred.

He did not dodge. With the last of his strength, Marvin instead met the attack with his bare hand, grabbing the monster by the throat. His despair had reached its absolute limit, merging with pure hatred that altered the frequency of his soul. At the moment that perfect alignment was achieved, the darkness within him responded.

A powerful tremor struck Marvin's consciousness. Time around him seemed to stop instantly. The monsters' hissing and the pain in his body suddenly vanished, replaced by a cold silence.

Within the pitch-black space of his mind, a stiff, emotionless mechanical voice suddenly echoed, shattering the silence of his fading consciousness.

[Initialization of the Forbidden God System has begun...]

The voice echoed into every crevice of Marvin's soul, carrying a chill that froze his blood while simultaneously igniting a new power he had never felt before.

[Vessel detected with one hundred percent pure hatred. Absolute requirement fulfilled.]

Marvin gasped. He stared into the void before him, feeling a flow of dense energy beginning to seep into his shattered bones.

[Do you desire the power to destroy those who trampled upon your dignity?] the mechanical voice asked again, echoing without form inside his head.

At the brink of death, with his body torn apart and blood continuing to pour from his wounds, Marvin no longer hesitated. His mind answered with a single cry filled with determination.

"I'll give you everything!" Marvin shouted into the silence. "Take my humanity, as long as I can kill them!"