Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 300: End of the Hollow

The crimson sigils on Kaiden’s gauntlet screamed, searing with light so intense it carved shadows across the ruined chamber. His breath hitched as the corpse beneath him convulsed, as though death itself resisted being robbed of its final secret.

The daggers in his hands dissolved into raw crimson energy, unraveling back into the gauntlet. With a guttural snarl, Kaiden pressed his palm into the Countess’s chest cavity, fingers sinking into the steaming flesh.

The gauntlet answered. Its sigils unfurled, expanding outward and spreading across the Countess’s broken form, locking her carcass in a cage of writhing scarlet lines.

The chamber howled. Her sin fought back, not wanting to be consumed.

Kaiden’s head snapped back as an alien hunger slammed into him. His heart pounded like a war drum. The Countess’s essence wasn’t just power; it was an obsession, a ravenous need to gorge, devour, take. It clawed at his thoughts, trying to overwrite his will with endless appetite for more.

”I’ll never become a puppet like her, so you better give up...!” he growled.

Kaiden’s Demonic Pornstar System announced its presence when it materialized a message in his head.

[Sin Extraction Commencing...]

[Target: Countess of Gluttony]

[Resistance: 84% ... 62% ... 47% ...]

[Warning: Excessive corruption may destabilize the Successor.]

Kaiden clenched his teeth until blood ran from his gums, forcing his will down the torrent. He could feel her memories flashing. Feasts of flesh, oceans of webs, an eternity of hunger. The Countess, or perhaps the sin she cultivated, tried to latch onto his soul, whispering promises of endless satisfaction if only he gave in.

”Stop this farce already. You’re never going to take over me.”

Giving in? That just simply wasn’t going to happen. The sin of Gluttony met its match, or rather, has been defeated ever since Kaiden was given the choice of selecting between the two paths proposed by the system. The Brightest Star path, or the Mine and Mine Alone.

Kaiden went with the second option because he wanted to share what he had with his future lovers, creating genuine relationships with precious existences. Gluttony was not compatible with his desired way of life.

He slammed his other hand down on the corpse, doubling the siphon. The gauntlet’s tendrils of energy dug deeper, tearing at not flesh but concept itself—that writhing kernel of Gluttony—from its spot.

Then the system chimed again.[Ding!]

[Gluttony Fragment Assimilated.]

[Reward: Passive Ability: Overindulgence.]

[Description]

[Surplus strength, mana, or vitality expended in excess is no longer wasted. The Blood Monarch’s Gauntlet consumes the overflow, storing it as a volatile crimson charge within the host.]

[Effects]

Excess expenditure of force, mana, or stamina is absorbed rather than wasted.

Stored energy may be redirected to sustain the vessel, mending fatigue, or unleashed as bursts of destructive crimson power.

The greater the indulgence, the greater the stored return.

[Warning]

Unreleased energy grows unstable over time. Prolonged hoarding invites corruption, twisting will toward insatiable consumption.

Kaiden’s heartbeat thundered in his ears as his brain ventured to fully grasp his newly gained power.

His understanding was that, when he struck with more force than necessary, the gauntlet would now harvest the excess energy. It would linger inside him to be used later.

But there was a drawback to it as well, the mentioned danger of gluttony... He had to test it all once things calmed down and they were finally allowed to breathe in peace.

Kaiden looked down at his right hand.

The gauntlet seemed to buzz with satisfaction, but not with hunger. It felt like it was smiling. Like his choice, to reject selfish gluttony and embrace sharing his strength, had bent even the sin to his will.

Kaiden flexed his fingers. He was ascertained of an idea he already harbored: this strange piece of equipment had something like a conscience of its own, but it was not a parasite. Not a chain meant to bind its wielder. Instead, it seemed to offer a bond.

...

The chamber shook one last time, and the Countess’s carcass collapsed into a husk, brittle as ash. Crimson threads of energy coiled back into the gauntlet, then vanished into him entirely.

The system’s cold text carved itself into existence in his mind’s eyes:

[Trial One – Prove Your Wrath: COMPLETE.]

[Trial Two – Feed the Glutton: COMPLETE.]

[Trial Three – Conquer the Sinner: COMPLETE.]

And then something deeper stirred.

A pressure that had weighed on him for so long suddenly shattered. His chest heaved as the air around him warped, mana thrumming through his veins, blazing hotter, clearer, freer.

[Limiter surpassed.]

[Accumulated experience is now being awarded...]

[DING!]

Accumulated XP: 418,389

[LEVEL UP: 24 → 25]

[LEVEL UP: 25 → 26]

For a moment, the rush felt almost unreal. But then the truth set in: he hadn’t just climbed a rung on a ladder. He had leapt tiers altogether.

Kaiden pulled up the raw numbers.

”... How cruel...”

Before, to step from level 23 to 24, he had needed only twenty-four thousand experience. But now? From 25 to 26, the requirement had been two hundred and fifty thousand.

Such was the nature of bottlenecks. Once broken, the system governing the supernatural no longer recognized you as the same kind of being. It reclassified you. Elevated you.

One could say Kaiden no longer belonged to the same tier of a human being as before. He was walking among higher forms of existence now.

Breaking through one’s bottleneck was a monumental achievement, a milestone in one’s life.

Kaiden raised his head slowly. His eyes burned a wild, gluttonous orange.

”This is only just the beginning.”

He stood.

...

Despite the boss monster’s death, the chamber did not settle.

The Heart, now motherless, convulsed in fury. It pulsed erratically, being nothing more than a raw core of flesh and mana given shape that was shrieking with vibrations that rattled bone.

Freed of the Countess’s siphoning tether, the life-force it had once lent her rushed back into itself. Blackened skin that had laced across its surface peeled away, sloughing off. Beneath, its true skin became visible once again. Blood-red, pulsing with violent light.

It thrashed. Every beat shook the cavern like thunder. Spikes of living tissue erupted from the ground, aiming to impale anything that moved. Mana condensed into screaming orbs, hurled in wild arcs.

But it was just not enough.

Kaiden’s party had seen worse. And now, they were united.

Vaelira’s puppets moved forward relentlessly. They clawed and tore through the spiked growths before they could reach flesh, shielding the frontline.

Bastet stood behind them as the desert sun incarnate, her voice ringing like a hymn as spells carved through wave after wave of flesh, each searing more of the Heart away.

Nyx’s hands wove precise, intricate patterns, her upgraded arsenal of gravity and spatial control twisting the battlefield itself.

Luna blurred into lightning, her [Thunder Slash] streaking across the chamber, while Aria stood side by side with her, releasing her moonlit spells that hammered down on their enemy.

Kaiden had not yet drawn on his newborn strength. He stood with them, lending his blade and his fists, but held the deeper power back. Some cards were best kept hidden.

And together, it was enough.

Within a few dozen minutes, the Heart gave a final scream, one that was of raw sound, lacking coherent words. It convulsed and shattered from the inside out. Light burst from its core in a wave before collapsing into silence.

The great pulse was no more.

When the brilliance faded, Jack fell. The giant of iron slammed down to one knee before tipping fully forward with his hammer clattering to the floor. Sasha was already beside him, barely upright herself, her bow falling from numb fingers.

The fight was over.

A sound that was akin to tearing fabric echoed through the cavern.

Where the Heart had once pulsed, the air warped, collapsed, then pulled apart to reveal a swirling portal.

A dungeon gate.

Their way home.

They had done it. Cleared the dungeon. Averted the crisis.

It was time to go back to Earth.

At least a certain someone fervently believed that to be the case.

- KaiKaiKaiKaiKaiKaiKaiKaiKai: Come home right this instant!

- Thirsty247: I’ve seen higher-level boss battles, but man! This was something else. I’m still shaking.

- Princeless Princess: Nothing compares to the fights fought by people you care about! But even then, this one was a true spectacle. I can’t wait to rewatch the edited video, I’m sure it’ll be so cool!

- Lapdog of the Empress: The Empress carried all of the noobs as always! I am bowing so far right now that my head kisses the ground! #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy #LunaSupremacy

User Lapdog of the Empress has been timed out by Princeless Princess. Reason: spam.

As the chat exploded into triumphant messages and a few jealous ones who downplayed the achievement, many powers in the world stirred. Kaiden had once again ignored logic, reshaping what humanity thought possible.

Furthermore, now he was not just a curious being worthy of thorough study, but a man who wielded an artifact that seemed to carry terrifying potential. Capturing him now would bring both tangible and intangible benefits.

The hunt was already on, but now, it would become a crusade. Armies would march, corporations would scheme, and clandestine cabals would plot in the dark. Some would try to kidnap him with brute force, others through coercion, and still others would attempt outright seduction.

But no matter the method, one truth rang clear: Kaiden’s rise to fame would continue so long as he drew breath. His existence was too anomalous, too disruptive, for the world to simply ignore him.

And that truth burned bitterly in the hearts of his enemies. Some players couldn’t accept it at all, like ChronosX, whose CEO was outright fuming while watching the broadcast, his face flushed red, veins bulging as the feed replayed Kaiden’s impossible victory.

The world had found its next obsession.

And Kaiden had found his next war.

Volume 3: Global Stardom — End.