MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

After Adam left the sea and flew back to the shore, he continued his flight until he reached a nearby park and decided to walk from there on.

Walking while being completely invisible from everyone's sight brought a rather odd feeling about but he liked it nonetheless. It allowed him to be alone with his thoughts and think about what he should do and plan ahead.

He had talked big in his mind while leaving Hae-Won's tombstone but now that he was here and had cooled off his mind somewhat he began to wonder about one very important point. A crucial aspect that would decide his future path.

"How do I even become a King?"

This was an important aspect that he had to carefully think about and something he had to care about. He knew that all the Primogenitors were called Kings. But, what did this entail exactly?

"Say, Genesis. Do you know how strong the other Primogenitors are?"

[All Primogenitors are at the limit of what is allowed by the world's will or the Scales of Equilibrium.]

"Hmm… So she is as strong as mom was at her peak?"

[Not enough Data to compare the subjects. The limit of the world is only a matter of pure stats and upper limits in destruction. But everyone has a different way of using the same limit so there are definitely differences in their full power and capabilities.]

Adam mused the information that Genesis relayed to him quietly. He could understand what the book spirit was trying to convey to him. After all, thanks to his skills he was stronger than what most people would be able to perceive him to be.

He wondered what kind of powers they all had.

Sighing, he moved his hand and a flame appeared above his hands. This was not an illusion, he could clearly feel the heat of the fire that was floating above his hand.

Furthermore, the fire was actually capable of burning and hurting him if he was not careful with it.

This was not magic. This was a physical phenomenon induced by his own will and as such, his own body was not immune to it unlike how a magician would not get hurt by his or her own magic spells.

Looking at the Book of Genesis, his attention fell on a certain skill that he had acquired quite recently.

『 Skill: Adaptation

Rank: EX

Description: Death will progressively come harder and harder for you. The more you die the harder it will be for you to die of the same cause, until one day… Death will not even come to you, not even as a release… You will be damned for all eternity…

Effect: Continuously evolves your body and slowly creates resistance to the aura of death until it reaches full resistance to death and Immunity to Death itself. 』

The same went for Eternal Damnation; or more precisely the First effect of the trait.

『 Trait: Eternal Damnation

Rank: EX

Description: Even in 'Death,' you will no longer find peace nor will you find rest. Death will no longer be an escape for you, even if temporary…

Effect 1: Your mind is damned to wander the world of the living. The eternal rest of 'Death" will not come even partially any longer. 』

Those two skills had been haunting his mind ever since he had gotten them during his fight with the devil of lies— Xezbeth. The malicious intent behind the skill and trait had been made clear to him from the very start. They were not given to him as a reward but as a curse to further his misery.

The more he died, the more he would be conscious of the outside world. This meant that in the future he would not have the pleasure of closing his eyes after death and simply awakening when his body was revived to the optimal condition again.

So here was one… or rather many questions that were troubling his mind and psyche.

Would he eventually become able to affect the world even when he was dead or even obliterated into dust? He had the faintest of impressions in his heart that something along those lines won't be impossible for him after a certain point.

After all, he would be mainly using his soul to fight not his body once he achieved physical death.

In the same way, Dreams and even Magic cared more about the capabilities of the mind and soul rather than the body itself. So at the very least, in theory, he should be able to fight even while he could be defined as physically dead.

But this brought about another problem that immediately came to mind once he thought some more about the specifications of death.

If he was conscious even when he should be considered dead then would he be truly dead?

If not, then that would mean that his revival to the optimal condition, that his curse provided him with, would probably not activate as he would not be able to fulfill the condition leading to its activation.

"Ugh…"

Another matter to take into account was his newest skill— Adaptation. The description and the effects of the skill created an ambiguity that was bothering him to no end.

Did the Adaptation trigger when he actually died? Or simply whenever he was wounded?

Furthermore, how much resistance did he build for each death he had to undergo in a certain way? How many times would he need to die before becoming completely immune to the effects of death?

If he died from being cut by a sword, what would change for that matter? Would his skin become tougher to stop the blade? Would his bones change so that the sword couldn't sever his body anymore?

Once again this was a skill filled with maliciousness that had a very bad synergy with Eternal Damnation.

The more resistance he built, the harder dying would become for him. So it would take more time and more, much more pain would be involved every time he had to die in a certain way.

The effects would worsen since his mind would not break no matter what he went through and he could not fall into the slumber of death.

Eventually, he would have to suffer indefinitely with no way out.

In a way, one could say that his recent acquisitions were the most problematic EX ranked capabilities that he had obtained till now.

Just how much would his body change to accept the changes in his two new abilities? Would he start to look like a monster?

If he died by drowning, would his lugs capacity increase? Or would he develop gills like a fish?

What if he crushed his own body with gravity? Would his skin be able to completely counteract any forms of blunt damage? Or would his bone and organs develop to handle the heavier weight and not let it get crushed under its weight? [1]

His eyes looked blankly at the flame that was still hovering above his hand while extending its fiery tongues.

In the end, he could make hundreds of speculations in his mind… but there was nothing better than trying at least once to make sure.

After taking out his glove, he clenched it tightly, without protecting his hand with Prana.

The sound of sizzling immediately resounded from his hand and a charred scent came out as his hand began to burn down into nothingness.

Adam released a grunt filled with pain but did not let go and continued to clench his hand around the seething flames.

"Fuck…"

No matter how used to pain he had become by now, things that hurt would still hurt like hell. He only knew how to internalize this pain better.

It hurt quite a bit, but he managed to calm the erratic beats of his heart by breathing deeply and exhaling in a rhythmic manner.

When he finally stopped the fire, his hand had become beyond recognizable by now. A terrible stench of grilled meat and fat filled his surroundings and his limb had become beyond recognizable due to being burned so heavily by the scalding hot flames.

Adam looked at his arms with bloodshot eyes but he slowly made his agitated mind calm down till he was able to breathe steadily. There were no particular changes that were happening to his damaged hand but he did not know if it was because he didn't die or just because it simply wasn't enough to induce the skill to take action.

In the end, he couldn't help but wonder in his mind.

'Should I just throw myself in a lava volcano until I develop complete resistance to fire?'

This was truly something worth pondering, wasn't it?

[1]: Fun fact, in a supergravity environment, our bones can support very heavy weight. The first thing to burst would be our organs.

(AN: My man Adam thinking about jumping in lava and hundreds of ways to kill himself like it's just a preparing some small holiday.)