A dark empty void.

One that had become quite familiar to Adrian, since this wasn’t his first time here.

He continued floating through the void, feeling the same peaceful bliss he had, the previous two times.

Soon enough a being that seemed to be one with the darkness, opened its white glowing eyes, looking directly at him.

«You seem to have developed a rather unfortunate hobby,» the being muttered, looking at him.

"It’s not like I had a choice either," Adrian answered as he continued floating in place.

Of course, he knew that the being was Noctis, he had realized that since the moment he recalled the contract formation.

Speaking of which, he was also a soul during that moment, one that replaced the original Adrian’s soul, so how come Noctis didn’t notice a change?

Still, that wasn’t important right now.

"What happens now?" He asked as he looked at the true form of the cat before him.

«Now?» Noctis muttered in a tone that sounded amused, «You realize how truly lucky you are, to be contracted to me.»

Before Adrian could understand what it meant, he suddenly felt himself falling, but not for long because he soon found himself in another familiar space.

The Breakthrough Space.

And he wasn’t alone either.

There was Noctis, back in its cat form, but Adrian’s attention was pulled to the being behind it.

It was a familiar large serpent that he had lost a fight to...

The Oroborus.

"..." Adrian looked at it for a second before turning back to Noctis, "Do I have to fight it again?"

«Not at all,» the cat answered, «but it’d have been a lot less painful if you had to.»

Again, before he had the chance to ask anything, the Serpent suddenly launched itself towards him, and without giving him a chance to put up his guard, it slammed into his chest.

But instead of being launched backwards by the force, Adrian felt an intense pain as the Oroborus sank into his chest.

His body was locked in place as the pain got more intense as the seconds passed and he couldn’t help but let out a pained scream.

If Marion’s threads had felt like they were ripping his soul, this felt like it was burning it.

He felt as if he’d black out soon, but he couldn’t. Adrian was denied the escape of passing out as he was forced to feel every bit of pain.

Noctis watched him go through it with what seemed like satisfaction.

From the moment Adrian had become one with its abilities, it was certain that the kid would continue surprising it.

And it wasn’t disappointed.

Normally, any other soul would be ripped apart, but this....this one seemed as if it was purposely molded just for this.

«I truly do wonder what you are, Adrian.»

***

Hours passed, maybe even days, Adrian couldn’t tell.

All he knew was that the pain seemed to increase by the second, and it got to a point where he just stopped feeling anything.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain suddenly stopped, finally allowing him to fall to his knees.

Adrian was breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself down and make sense of what had just happened.

«Congratulations on gaining the Oroborus’ Mark,» Noctis’ voice was soon heard, this time closer to him.

Slowly, Adrian lifted his head and noticed that the cat was now sitting before him and looking directly at him.

No, it was more accurate to say that it was looking at his chest, causing him to also curiously follow its gaze.

Adrian finally realized that instead of what he expected of a soul, he was in his body....just completely naked.

He also paid no mind to that fact.

Instead, his eyes locked on his chest or at least what had appeared on it.

It was a black illustration of the Oroborus one that started from his shoulder and ran all the way down his torso.

In the center of his chest was its head, eating away at its tail, an action that made it seem alive.

Now, Adrian didn’t particularly have any thoughts on tattoos, back on Earth, but he was certain that the Oroborus was a lot more than just a simple tattoo.

After all, he could sense an entirely different source of power coming from it, and beyond that, he felt a strange pull on his soul toward a certain direction.

"What’s this?" He looked towards Noctis and asked.

«The Oroborus’ Mark,» the cat repeated, «though it was also a surprise to me that you could merge with it....after all, I only expected an increase in your mana, after I absorbed it.»

"I see," Adrian muttered, looking at the mark again before he added, "and I’m guessing this is my way back?"

After all, he still felt the pull on his soul, and it felt as if he was being pulled towards his body.... again.

«Precisely,» Noctis responded, «one of the Oroborus’ abilities is [Rebirth] which ensures that you always return from death....with a price.»

"And the price is?" He asked, curious about the cost of such a broken ability.

«You’ll find out soon enough,» the cat refused to tell him anything.

The pull on his soul was getting stronger by the second and Adrian had started actively trying to resist it, just to get an answer out of Noctis.

«Before you leave, there is something you must know,» the cat suddenly switched the topic, but Adrian didn’t interrupt.

«The corruption that exists in Avera...It might’ve been my fault.»

With that, the force pulling on Adrian’s soul suddenly won, drawing him back to his body before he had the chance to ask anything.

«I feel like I have a lot of explaining to do,» Noctis muttered as Adrian disappeared.

It then stood up, stretched, and added as it looked at the blood strings that were suddenly appearing within this place.

«We’ll deal with that later, for now, let’s handle the rude intruder.»

***

Meanwhile,

Marion watched the life fade from Adrian’s eyes with a gleeful grin on his face.

After years of suffering, he would finally be freed from this curse and gain a body with a lot more potential than his.

Ironically though, this was only possible thanks to the corruption.

After all, even though he had used a seemingly useless book in the library to contract an unclassified spirit, since the other spirits refused to form a contract with him.

Its abilities had only been limited to trapping things with strings.

And although that made him strong, hell even stronger than most his age, it wasn’t enough.

As someone who grew up in the streets, he believed that power was the key to gaining everything you desired.

And the goddess granted him that power in the form of this dungeon.

His spirit had suddenly mutated and although it seemed bad at first, he had turned that curse into an opportunity.

The only problem was that this body was running on a timer thanks to the corruption within it.

He could get the corruption cleansed from within him, by that little Lightbringer, but that would be a waste of all his efforts.

After all, if his spirit reverted to normal, the shard the king stole years ago, which was now within it, would also be cleansed and the mutation would reverse itself.

But the goddess proved again that he was her favorite child by letting him figure out a way to escape this dying body just a day before a perfect one was sent his way.

And standing before him, trapped by strings, was the vessel to ultimate power.

"Let’s start the preparation, shall we," he bit his finger, sat on the temple floor, and started drawing multiple different runes.

They soon took the shape of what seemed like a pentagram with an unknown language within.

In the next step, the strings that were connected to Adrian’s body suddenly extended towards the pentagram and the blood started flowing through them.

The previously invisible strings were now completely visible, with the red now coating them.

"And for the final step," Marion smiled as he stood up and took off his robe.

He let out a light groan as the red strings connected to his body, and the next second, they started glowing.

Despite the pain, excitement filled him as he watched everything go exactly as planned.

In just a few minutes, he would be reborn as a new being in a body capable of absorbing and surviving corrupted mana.

After that, he’d also be free from this cursed prison, leaving everyone else trapped within.... could this day get any better?

Well, he soon found out it couldn’t.

The blood-red strings connected between Adrian and Marion continued glowing brighter and brighter as corrupted mana flooded through them like flowing rivers.

Marion could already feel it.

The compatibility.

No, this was perfection.

Even before the ritual was complete, Adrian’s body was already unconsciously absorbing the corruption around it without collapsing.

Marion’s grin widened further.

"Perfect," he muttered.

But the next second, everything seemed to change

"Hm?"

The strings connected to Adrian suddenly trembled violently.

At first, Marion assumed it was resistance from the transfer process, but in the next second, his expression changed completely.

A moment after, the impossible happened,

Adrian.... opened his eyes.