A slight jerk and a pair of eyes opened. His vision was blurry as his eyes gradually adjusted to the bright light. The human sat up and blinked furiously to regain his sight. Feeling it was up to par, he surveyed his dark surroundings.

His eyes didn’t get the chance to analyze the area when an antagonizing pain rumble throughout his whole body, shutting his eyes completely tight. Such a devastating force of power rocketed against his head, screaming was out of the question as Inaudible noises voiced from his throat, so intense blood came gushing out of his mouth.

The sinner’s insides burned almost like someone throwing Molotov’s rapid-fire inside his flesh. His mind fair no better, going haywire with earthquake shattering migraines accompanied by both body and bone aches. The thumping of his heartbeats no longer soft but more like someone stabbing his life organ at every second.

Was it possible to endure something worse than anything he felt in hell? Is this the ultimate punishment? The lone thought dissipated as the sinner shook violently from a seizure. But at last, a miracle happened. The immense pain had died down.

His eyes widen to the utmost degree, terrified at his own predicament, clenching his chest while his other arm laid helplessly on the cold metal bed. Allowing himself to regulate his breathing as the sweat pour down his face, mixing with the tears of anguish from what he had to endure.

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed something unusual about his arm, he lifted both arms and was stunned to find his blue veins replaced by the darkest shade of black he had ever seen. It was pulsating, and oddly enough, he sensed a weird power radiating from it, entranced he tried touching his blacken veins and later wince from the burning sensation.

“W-what the hell is going on with me!” He stammered, coughing more of the darkest shade of blood he’d seen come out of his body.

His face scrunched up, having no doubt believing it was the result of this black liquid coursing through his veins. If he had to guess this substance was injected inside him by a dumb brute of a demon, a poison meant either for restraining purposes or just plain torture.

However, a question arose when he discovered he wasn’t sitting on a patch of burning heated rocks. Bewildered, he knocked on the structure he was on, a metallic sound rang into his ear. His head tilted at the realization, it was a metal bed and not the hard-rocky terrain of the hellish spot he has initially been used too.

The sinner gritted his teeth to ignore the thumping pain and focus his mind on the scenery he was in. Doing so, he began to feel the sudden cold air hitting the nape of his neck. Confusion dawn on the sinner, now by no means he wasn’t an expert on this, but he definitely knew there was no such thing as cooled air in hell of all places.

The sinner gritted his teeth to bear the pain as he twisted his neck around, hardly seeing anything at all with the dim lights. Opting to squint his eyes, he saw various items in the room, items he vaguely remembered. His comprehension of such equipment came back in small tidbits of his memories.

The sinner rested a palm on his head, an odd feeling overcame him, but with this new info and understanding, he was sure this area had to be a lab or a medical room of some kind.

To his right was a counter, full of unique high-tech tools and equipment, above was an array of glass shelves with shattered bottles, beakers, and more broken tools he’d never seen before. He presumed the containers to be medicine or unknown substance, possibly the same substance which was injected to his body.

Hell may have removed his core memories like who he was and the life he had lived before, but it doesn’t remove the most basic of info. For example, knowing what an apple is or the image of a skyscraper. This undoubtedly explains why he vaguely knew these items.

However, he can’t help but feel like he has forgotten something important during his sleep before his awakening.

He brushed the feeling aside and looked up to the ceiling above to find a reason for such low lighting. All ceiling lights were broken except for one which emitted a low blue hum of light. How peculiar it was, and to top it off after noticing the fractured lights, he saw the metallic walls around him were also damage beyond belief with large cracks seizing up the walls.

On further examination of said walls, he noticed massive scorch marks which looked recently made he inquired as well as the dents marking the metallic interior all around him, nearly hidden by the darkness. Eyes widening to a considerable degree as it dawn against him.

This corresponded with the damage items he saw on the counter as if an explosion erupted in this very room, and judging from the recently made scorch marks must mean it happened not too long ago. Possibly hours before waking up.

The human looked over his body, with no signs of recent injuries… Wait, this can’t be right. Even his scars were gone, and It wasn’t the work of the hellish regen unless a demon had healed them, but the idea was absurd, he should still retain his long-term scars and bruises, and yet they had disappeared right off his body.

Jon’s curiosity for the discovery had to put on hold, he needed answers to whatever had happened here. The only other being who would have answers was Void, but at last, the blasted demon has yet to make itself known. How unusually quiet it was, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Void were the culprit for this destruction.

Somehow the unknown entity has the power to take control of his body, but the last time it did so was unclear. For all, he knows, the monster was the cause of this unknown substance to course through his veins. Its abilities are a mystery like this place he’s currently occupied in.

The sinner let out a tiresome groan as he lifted his arms to check the substance that cause him such misery, his eyebrows rose as to find no visible signs of any blacken veins, “Wait where did it go?” Were the headaches messing with his perception of reality, creating a-n illusion of it being black? He shook his head; no, he may not be in the right state of mind, but there’s no doubt what he saw was there.

His jaw tightened as his thoughts were shattered from an incoming migraine. Grunting at the intensity, he placed both hands on his ears when a loud ringing accompanied the migraine-like a duet, which blasted in his mind so loud, blood trickled out of his ears.

The nightmarish pain of both migraine and the atrocious noise came to a complete stop. The sinner breathes heavily before placing his hands down as eerie silence overcame.

“HehEh.” Is all the voice of nightmares said, a playful tone with such eerie happiness layered underneath, sending shivers across the sinner's spine. Honestly, it was by far the creepiest thing he ever heard.

Jon gritted his teeth. If he needed info, then the beast was the only way of knowing anything. Void, where are we?

“HEHahaA.”

Would you stop laughing and tell me where we are?!

“HEaehaahah!”

What the hell hap-

“HEAHHAHAHAHA”

STOP! The sinner slammed his fist down on the metal bed and creating a dent. Without a moment of hesitation, the entity spoke, “I won’t say, but I’m sure all of your questions would be explained by the sleeping gentlemen.” The sinner blinked while raising his eyebrow.

Sleeping gentleman?

Void ignored the question, “Your blood, I can smell its overwhelming power! Oh, how it brings back memories.”

The sinner’s ears caught the sound of movement. In front of him, he quickly zoned out the idiotic entities' dialogue about blood and instead focus his attention on the scorched wall.

He saw nothing until a patch of dark brown hair came into view, using what little strength he had he push himself further down the metallic bed. His legs dangle in the air, but in his line of sight, he saw an injured person lying on the wall.

The sinner froze in place and stared with wide eyes at the person, “A-a human?” He whispered to himself, he rubbed his eyes to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the eyes, but after rubbing it multiple times, he was sure this was indeed another living human being in the flesh.

Judging from what the individual was wearing (white lab coat and khaki pants), he knew this man was a scientist or doctor to some degree. The scientist looked to be in the same worsened state as he was with his lab coat scorched with torn sleeves and bloodstains on his brown shirt and blood residue on his face and mouth.

I wasn’t expecting to see another of my race for a long time, and surprisingly one that works for the demons.

“HEeh, don’t be mistaken. He isn’t a human.” Jon slightly tilted his head, “You see, I never one discuss this power of mine, but I’m able to see souls inside a mortal, and this gentlemon certainly doesn’t fit the bill of being a human nor any mortal as he lacks one.”

Wait, I don’t have a soul either, wouldn’t that just mean he’s in the same boat as I am?

“Ah, but you see my dead human, your current body IS your soul. That is why if you die again, then you cease to exist.”

Realization slowly crept the sinner, eyes widening to higher degrees as the conversation prolonged.

“I have to say his suppression of demonic energy is on another level. Hehe disregarding my ability to see souls, I most likely would’ve made the same mistake, but like many things, it’s only futile to hide anything away from me for too long hehahe.”

A sense of bewilderment struck the sinner. W-wait wait did you actually give me insightful info for once?! This must be a side effect of the experiment.

“You’re not entirely wrong, hehe.”

Jon rested a hand on his face. The information given sounded plausible so far; even if it came from an untrusted source, there’s no other choice but to accept the info. Wearily though, he’ll have to trust the entity, for now, nothing else to lose other than his dignity.

Now his last concern was the inner workings of his body.

So, any ideas what this disguised scientist has done to my weak, innocent body?

“I’m sure the best person to answer any questions about the state of your body is right Infront of you. Oh, look, he’s waking up!”

His hand moved away, and precisely what Void said, the scientist begrudgingly opened his tired eyes or at least attempted to since his right eye was bleeding and refused to open to the scientist’s disappointment, legs battered and beaten, but he stood up, nonetheless. Jon observed as the scientist rubbed his temples, accompanied by a loud groan.

The human questioned why the scientist would be injured in the first place. It’s not like he’s the one who was an experiment on without consent. “Tsk.” Annoyed by the residue of pain, his chest was emitting.

A tired expression adorned on the scientist's face, using his left eye, he stared at Jon for a moment. The human eyed the scientist with a hateful glare.

However, the scowl went unnoticed as the scientist in a calm voice said, “Ah, so you’re finally awake? Splendid.”

“You were literally asleep a few seconds ago.” Jon replied nonchalantly with a deadpan face.

The scientist did a few stretches until realization hit, his eyes widen and quickly stared at the test subject, “W-wait you’re awake! N-no, you’re ALIVE!!! Well, not alive, but ALIVE!!” The scientist leaned in, eyeing the sinner from head to toe, seeing nothing but success.

The loud, boisterous voice wasn’t doing any favors for Jon’s head, immediately another headache took root, groaning in pain, he yelled back, “Damn it not again!”

Suddenly, his body began to react horribly with spasms. All his veins glowed the same shade of black around his body, his heart ached and burned with such intense boilingly heat as if it was going to melt through his body

Sweat poured onto his face as he laid back onto the metal bed, sheltering his face with his hands to withhold the antagonizing scream. Time past and the pain lessened enough for his breathing to become steady.

His eyes were shut closed until one eyelid opened to look for the scientists, hoping the stranger was preparing some sort of medicine. Oh, how wrong he was, instead of doing anything to help, the maniac of a scientist was too busy taking notes on his tiny notepad.

Worst enough, he had an annoying grin plastered on his face, not even acknowledging the pain Jon was suffering.

“A-Are you seriously take- Agh! Just fucking help, me!”

The only response he got was an ecstatic giggle. The doctor breathed deliberately, eyes checking on his sickly patient every few seconds before documenting his findings and research into his notes.

Finally, luck was on the sinner’s side as the pain died down, almost ceasing entirely. Gasping for air and muscles feeling drained as he sat upright with the utmost difficulty.

“Amazing simply amazing! Your cries of agony bring me new motivation! Haha, in other words, this is excellent news! The lab coat wearing stranger started jotting down more words into his blasted notepad. The sinner slowly glared at the scientist ludicrously.

However, instead of addressing the issue with a cold response like usual, a slow laugh sprung up, causing some coughs in the process, but the sinner kept a low chuckle, “I guess I should’ve expected this. You’re a demon, after all.”

The scientist paused his scribbling and raised his head with a curious brow aim at the sinner, “Hmm… So, you figured that out.”

The sinner’s eyes widen at the tone shift in the doctor, a crestfallen face before transforming into one of rage in a split second and in the same second returned to his psychotic smile. It was the most emotion he’d seen, all happen in quick second intervals.

What more unnerving was the silence that issued. The scientist was no longer staring at him, no he was staring behind him in long deep thought as the world around him didn’t seem to matter for the moment. The scene looked reminiscently… As if he did the same thing before in a dream...

He quickly came to his senses and broke the silence with another question, “I take it I was right then?”

The scientist blink once, “A-ah, uh yes, yes…” The scientist peered into his notes, “A demon… I am regretfully one…” Jon raised his eyebrow, “I-I am curious on how YOU came up with that conclusion? Did you sense it, or maybe I was giving too many hints to my biology?”

Tapping his notebook, “After releasing you from your shackles, I couldn’t sense any presence of mana, nor any suppress liferen. But yet you manage to create an explosion of pure energy that I’ve never felt before! And defeated a tier 2! What powers are you hiding human?!”

The boisterous display served to anger Jon’s brain. Physically and mentally, he rested a palm on his forehead to calm the intruding headache beginning to form. “Can you slow the fuck down? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Forgive me! My excitement can get the better of me.”

No kidding

"In essence, how can I not be excited! You are my greatest creation! One that can change history!”

“I don’t understand? Whatever you have done to me makes me feel like my existence is coming to an end.” The timing was perfect when he issued severe, bloody coughing fit to make his point.

“I would like to explain it now, but as you can see, I’m not in my best of shape like you are. I’ll explain everything later, Mr…”

Without hesitation, Jon blurted out a completely different name, “Darkvoid.” His eyes widening, wait, why did I choose that name…

“HehEhe, how funny.”

Before the sinner could reply, the scientist questioned his “name.”

Shaking his legs with a painful look, replaced by a smile a second later. The ordeal went unnoticed by Darkvoid, “I find it hard to believe that is your real name.”

“I just don’t trust you with my real name, to begin with, and since we’re on this subject, what about you?”

“Eraak. You like it? I came up with it myself.” The scientist, now known as Eraak grin, Jon couldn’t help but smirk back.

“Ah, I see how it is. I’m kinda hurt, seeing as I am your greatest experiment by your words that I might receive a real name from my apparent "savior."”

Eraak nodded, “You are, indeed, correct! However, it does help to wear safety goggles around sinners like you. A great mind like me needs to enact his ultimate plan without any predicaments, so safety is critical!”

“A plan? Is it to use me to change history as you like to put it?” I don’t know why, but I’m starting to like this demon. He seems more human than any demon I've met, though.

Eraak clasped his hands together or at least tried too with his notepad and pen in the way, “As I said, I’ll tell you everything, but first I’ll have to train you to see how that body works.”

Darkvoid squinted at the mention of training. Eraak quickly made his way to the presumed exit to this room, “Before we get to that, I have to go heal my…” He gestured to his injuries, “Till then Go wash yourself up in the restroom it’s across this room.”

The door opened on its own as the mysterious doctor walked out. However, instead of leaving, he halted and stared back at Jon with the same craze expression, “You won't have any limits when I'm done with you, Darkvoid.”