CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER NO.72 DEMIURGIC ARCHON

[Congratulations. You have been granted the Job — Demiurgic Heir]

Only now...

Only now could I spit out a sigh of relief.

"Fuu...."

What a difficult battle this had been.

[Will you accept this Job?]

"I will."

As if it were waiting, the System immediately displayed the following messages.

Tti-ring!

[Your Job has been set.]

[You will now be given the opportunity to change to a higher-ranked version of this Job through the amount of advancement points accumulated.]

[Calculations have begun.]

[Tallying up your advancement points....]

While that was going on, I looked at my remaining HP.

[HP: 17/2560]

"Haah..." A shaky exhale escaped me. My body felt like shredded parchment barely held together by willpower. My vision flickered between light and dark—System notifications blooming like dying stars before my eyes.

Tti-ring!

I reflexively raised my head.

[You’ve exceeded the expected time limit!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

Bonus points, it said. But that was rather obvious.

’Not sure how long the expected time was, but well, I did endure for quite a long time, didn’t I?’

I began smirking in satisfaction, then all of a sudden, several messages inundated my vision.

[You did not use Immediate Return Stone!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

[You eliminated Fragment α-01!]

[Massive Bonus points will be granted.]

[Total advancement points tally has exceeded the Job-specific point limit.]

[According to the Contract, you will be given a special reward.]

Tti-ring! tti-ring! Tti-ring!

’What’s this?’

My ears hurt from all the beepings, but my focus was fixed elsewhere, and I didn’t care anymore. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t even hear those beeps now.

’A special reward?’

Those words jumped right up at me.

A reward.

Not only that, it was ’special’, too.

Soon, follow-up messages popped up.

Tti-ring!

[Your Job has been upgraded from ’Demiurgic Heir’ to ’Demiurgic Archon.’]

The words hung in front of me—each letter radiating golden aetheric light, alive, pulsing. The text didn’t just appear; it carved itself into the world like divine authority being written into reality.

Then—

Tti-ring!

[Job Advancement Complete.]

[You have acquired Job-specific skills.]

[Unique Authority Unlocked — "Genesis Core."]

[Authority Description: The right to create from nothing. The lesser echo of the Demiurge’s power, bound by will, concept, and imagination. Limitless potential, infinite danger.]

[Warning: Mortal vessel integrity is insufficient. Synchronisation cap — 0.01%.]

My body convulsed.

It was as if molten mercury poured into my veins—too heavy, too divine. I fell to one knee, gasping as the remnants of the dungeon’s distorted light fractured around me.

My body convulsed.

It was as if molten mercury poured into my veins—too heavy, too divine. I fell to one knee, gasping as the remnants of the dungeon’s distorted light fractured around me.

"Ghh...!—"

A sound escaped my throat that didn’t belong to any human. My blood boiled into pure radiance, my bones vibrated like glass struck by thunder. The System wasn’t lying; this power wasn’t meant for flesh.

[Initiating Emergency Soul Stabilisation Protocol.]

[Lucifer Sigil — Reinforcement Stage: Initiated.]

The sigil on my chest, once faintly dormant, burst open like an eye of light. Black and silver lines crawled across my skin—geometric, divine, horrific in their symmetry.

I forced air into my lungs, my vision trembling between gold and crimson.

"This... is the power of creation...?" I whispered, half in awe, half in terror.

A tiny sphere of light hovered over my palm—no mana, no element, no attribute. Just existence. A drop of reality.

My instincts screamed to crush it before it crushed me, but I didn’t. I stared at it—at the formless potential it carried—and then willed it to dissolve. The sphere blinked out like it had never been.

I fell to one knee, gasping. Every cell screamed. My body wasn’t built for this much raw existence energy—it was like trying to hold a star inside a human frame.

But then the pain began to change.

It shifted from destruction to reconstruction. My broken bones realigned. My skin shimmered faintly with ethereal light. My heart—once demon black—pulsed with alternating flashes of gold and crimson.

It wasn’t healing. It was reforging.

Bit by bit, I could feel the old vessel—Dominic’s body—aligning perfectly with the transmigrated soul that had taken it. The gap between him and me was vanishing. The System didn’t erase the human soul; it merged it with the demonic one.

One consciousness. One will. One name.

Dominic Nocturne von Morningstar.

Tti-ring!

[Synchronisation Complete.]

[New Passive Skill Gained — Demiurgic Physiology (Lv.1)]

[All Stats Increased by 250 Points.]

[Title Acquired — The One Who Creates in Defiance.]

A slow smile crept onto my lips despite the lingering ache.

"Creates in defiance, huh... fitting."

I rose, flexing my fingers. The faintest motion sent ripples through the air, reality bending just slightly in response. I clenched my fist, and the distortion snapped back into place.

[Name: Dominic Nocturne von Morningstar.]

[Level: 51]

[Job: Demiurgic Archon]

Indeed, there was a new term added to my Job column.

The System definitely said that I’d be able to get a higher-ranked version of my Job according to the amount of advancement points I had earned. And also, it mentioned that the point tally had exceeded the limits of the Job itself, too.

The end result from all that was this ’Demiurgic Archon’

.

"So, is this...."

....The special reward the System was talking about?

Are you fu*king kidding me?

This is insane!

[Job-specific skills]

— Active skills:

• [Genesis Manifestation] — Constructs temporary reality fragments using pure Aetheric Concept. Power, form, and scale are limited only by imagination and vessel integrity.

• [Creation Reversal] —Rewrites the last five seconds of a manifested construct’s existence. Cost: exponentially increases with each reversal.

• [Aether Domain] —Temporarily imposes the user’s conceptual laws on a localised area. Duration scales with SPIRAL control and soul stability.

— Passive skills:

• [Conceptual Instinct] —Subconscious adaptation to metaphysical structures. Grants intuition toward reality manipulation and defensive creation.

• [Lucifer’s Insight] —The eyes of rebellion. Perceive flaws, seams, and corruption in any existing structure—physical, magical, or spiritual.

Tti-ring!

[Additional System Notice: Synchronisation below 1%. Usage of Demiurgic Skills carries the risk of soul burnout, existential collapse, or dimensional implosion. Proceed with extreme caution.]

I laughed softly, the sound breaking the still air.

"Yeah... no pressure at all."

Tti-ring!

[It is detected that the ’User’ hasn’t used the ’Rune Stone: King’s Call’]

’What the fu*k is even that?’ I frowned, blinking at the new notification.

Tti-ring!

[Item: Rune Stone]

[Type: Skill]

— This particular rune stone contains the skill ’King’s Call’.

— Crush or destroy it to acquire the said skill.

I reached out, hesitant.

’Destroy it... and take it.’

The System’s words were simple, but the implications weren’t. I didn’t even know what the cost might be. I could feel the faint pulse of it already probing, testing my resolve. My body was still screaming from the Fragment’s trial, my soul barely stabilised within the Demiurgic resonance—but a small, stubborn spark inside me whispered: I can handle this.

"Fine," I muttered. My fingers wrapped around the stone, the aetheric hum sharpening into a screeching pitch in response.

BOOM.

The Rune Stone cracked.

Not shattered—cracked. Light spilt from the fracture lines like molten gold, and for a moment, I thought it might explode. I gritted my teeth, channelling my willpower into the stone, forcing it to yield. My pulse synced with the rhythm of the fracture, the tiny shards of power spinning around my hand.

Then, with a final snap, the Rune Stone imploded inwardly, the fragments collapsing into a concentrated core of radiant energy. My palm burned, my fingers tingled, and I felt something new awaken inside me.

Tti-ring!

[Skill Acquired — King’s Call]

’Description.’

[Name: King’s Call]

[Type: Active]

—Required Mana to activate: None

— Creates a shadow soldier by extracting Mana from the recently deceased lifeform.

— The odds of extraction failure will rise higher depending on the target’s original Stat values, as well as the length of time since its death.

— Number of shadows that can be extracted: 0/30.

A shiver ran down my spine as the King’s Call settled into my soul. It wasn’t just another skill—it felt like a fragment of dominion, an echo of sovereign authority that wanted me to bend life and death alike to my will. The energy pulsing through my veins seemed to whisper promises of armies and loyalty that would obey without question.

My gaze roamed the dungeon, everywhere littered the corpses of the knights I’d torn apart. Silver shards of armour, broken swords, scattered in chaotic patterns, frozen in time like a war tableau. A dozen lifeless bodies still radiated faint traces of residual energy—enough for King’s Call to sense them, enough for me to tap into.

I flexed my fingers experimentally, willing the skill to awaken.

[Please set the command phrase to activate the King’s Call skill.]

’I gotta set a separate activation phrase for this skill?’

I pondered for a bit, before muttering out almost instinctively.

"Rise... as mine."

When I did....

Wuuaaahhhh....

Thick, heavy moans resounded out from somewhere and at the same time, the shadows of the fallen knights began wiggling as if they were still alive.

I scanned my surroundings once more.

All the shadows found near me were beginning to move.

Soon enough, a black hand rose up from one of the shadows. It pressed down on the ground hard, and slowly, the arm attached to it rose up.

’Oh my god!’

My eyes opened wider and wider.

Those things were.... people.

No, soldiers possessing the outer appearance of a person!

Soldiers kitted out head to toe in jet-black armour climbed out of the shadows one by one.

’This is my new skill??’

By the time I recovered my wits, a couple of dozen soldiers were standing by my side, waiting.

[King’s Call was a success.]

Tens of soldiers were now surrounding me.

’What the hell is this....?’

I approached the nearest soldier.

The first thing I did was to touch it. When I placed my hand on it, I felt something metallic.

As it turned out, the metal-looking armours weren’t just for show.

Indeed, these guys were all outfitted in real black armour and real weapons.

’At first glance, they look like people, don’t they?’

However, they weren’t people. I couldn’t sense any signs of life from them. They didn’t breathe, and there were no heartbeats I could hear.

On top of this....

"..."

I swallowed down my shocked gasp.

I sneaked a glance inside the helmet through the eye holes and found nothing but pure darkness in there. I slowly took several steps back after feeling like I was being sucked in.

’....They are all undead.’

Shadow soldiers – monsters, pulled out from the shadows of the dead.

I swallowed down my saliva.

’If these things are really my soldiers, then....’

I raised my arm and pointed to my right.

And the soldiers all uniformly shifted their bodies to the right.

The end of my hand slowly moved to my front.

And the soldiers too followed after my hand and slowly faced their front.

I stood in the middle of them.

I did my best to calm my pounding heart and lowered my hand.

And at the same time....

Every single soldier knelt down before me.

They were moving according to my will.

"Hah..."

I let out a soft gasp of admiration as the ends of my lips arched up.

’Isn’t this so cool?’

***

Stone me, I can take it!

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