I was aware I was dreaming. The Labyrinth before me was the same as before, with everything vibrant and flourishing. Yet everything about it was different and I soon realised why.

It was too quiet.

There were no monsters, the vast space so calm you could hear a pin drop. Red spider lilies bloomed everywhere, like it was my own personal garden, and I was not alone. Typhon and Ophelia were beside me, seemingly waiting for something.

When I looked up, the roof of the Labyrinth was gone, and all I could see was brilliant night sky, stretching far and wide, in an all encompassing darkness with neither moon nor stars.

Glowing red embers took the place of stars in the sky, illuminating everything in a glowing red hue. It looked otherworldly and strange, with everything submerged in darkness. And yet, I found it all to be immensely beautiful.

I opened my eyes, slightly disappointed by the bleak surroundings in the dungeon, and I distractedly stared at rows of cells with a blank expression, my brain still foggy. Until I realised - this too was wrong.

I got up with a start.

I was underground in the secret room before my evolution! What was I doing back here?

But then, as I looked more at my surroundings, I began to notice more things that were out of place.

The dungeon was completely wrecked, entire rows of cells left in a chaotic mess, like a blizzard had run through them. All their metal gates were open, with long slash marks leaving gaps in the metal.

But unlike the claws of a ravenous beast, these cuts were clean and precise, with none of the metal warped by what had to have been a ton of force.

I quickly began to doubt these were done by any monster.

When I peered through them, the creatures inside had been reduced to nothing but blood spatter, without a single carcass left.

What the hell happened here?

As I looked around, I began to have a sinking feeling.

Unlike after my previous evolution, I was not hungry in the least, which was weird.

But I was noticeably larger than I was before which meant I definitely evolved.

I stopped in front of a cell.

Did I do this?

No, that couldn't be.

Maybe I just wasn't as hungry this time because I was more powerful now?

Yeah, that had to be it.

Yet, the more I thought about it, the less things seemed to add up. The claw marks here were clearly the result of [Dark Magic] - nothing else could cut this cleanly. And as my panic set in, I heard the calm voice of Sensei.

«You're finally awake. You must be tired, but I think it's time you met your new pit members. You've kept them waiting long enough.»

New what?

Ah! Another thing that was off was the quiet.

Where did all the Abyssal monsters go? They filled these dungeons not too long ago. I was slightly wary so I activated [Mind's Eye] to look around.

Unfortunately, what it revealed made me even more anxious. The Abyssal monsters were still here, they just weren't in the same dungeon as me. They were spread out all around me, in different parts of the massive lair.

In actuality, I was completely surrounded, and I quickly generated several poison orbs, if any of the monsters noticed my presence.

Yet, they didn't attack.

Sensei sighed in exasperation. «What do you think you're doing?»

"Trying to stay alive?"

This evolution was a mess, compared to my previous one. I was missing details and even some memories! And instead of helping, Sensei was calm. Too calm.

Just what did he mean by new Pit members?

I hesitated, before checking the number in the system.

----------------------------

Pit Members: [6704]

----------------------------

What the...

How could this be?

The numbers shown weren't static, but constantly changing as the creatures multiplied. Clearly a certain 'someone' was working especially hard to bolster the ranks of her Pit.

But still, this surge was too high!

"Don't tell me…did I…did I…merge with them?"

«You did.» Sensei cheerfully said, and I suddenly felt like crying.

"No!" It felt gross. "I don't want to!"

Bitterness clouded my thoughts as I slithered around, pacing. They tried to kill me not long ago. Why would they suddenly accept me?

Besides, I wasn't like them. Even if I killed their leader, that divide was still clear. In other words, there had to be some mistake.

"How could this happen? I'm not an Abyssal monster."

Sensei paused before saying. «They clearly think you are. Consider it a blessing that the aura of your evolved form is very similar to that of the Abyss, or they would have killed you in your sleep. You should accept them instead of fighting, you'll need the numbers if you're going to suppress the Nymph, and keep her from stealing your Pit.»

"No!" I fiercely shook my head.

What was he saying? Had he forgotten what they had done?

And what did he mean, aura similar to the Abyss?

I immediately blinked three floors above, arriving in an ancient ballroom that now seemed too small.

It was mostly wrecked in my battle with the shadow creature, but I quickly located the cracked mirror that covered the entirety of one wall.

Seeing myself, I was stunned.

My physical body was still that of a snake, but that was the extent of the resemblance. If I was to compare myself to anything, I would say I looked pretty much like a demon from hell, albeit a very pretty one.

I was drawn towards my eyes. They used to be a reflective black, but now they had glowing red pupils that made them strangely mesmerising.

My body had scales of a crystalline black colour, with an iridescent purple sheen, and the tips of these black scales were lined with deadly spikes that complimented the underside of my wings, which were red.

Tendrils of darkness radiated off me like fire whenever I moved. And although my body was solid, it took on the look of a shadow that had been partly fused with flesh.

When I spread my wings, the broad span of them was made even longer by tendrils of shadow that adorned their razor sharp tips. Red, lightning shaped markings adorned my forehead, with a phoenix red jewel in the centre, that made my curved horns look all the more wicked.

All four of them were longer than before, the two on top of my head much more prominent than the two on the sides, and they had changed from their former black colour to crimson Obsidian, with black lightning shaped marks running through their smooth curves.

My look, my form, everything had changed and I was so surprised by this that I checked my stats immediately.

----------------------------

Apostle: Aurelia [LV34 Ael Etheno]

Specie: Ailith Cerastes

Notoriety: 18900

----------------------------

HP: 1082/1082 Defence: 1220

MP: 1040/1040 Intellect: 880

SP: 960/960[1] Magic: 970

Attack: 1380 Agility: 1450

----------------------------

Skills:

[DeadlyPoisonAttack:LV10][Bleed Toxin:LV1]

[Poison Fang:LV10] [Accelerated Flight:LV1]

[Serpentine Grace:LV1] [MP Recovery:LV8]

[Dragonsteel Armour:LV1] [Dark Wave:LV1]

[Blink:LV6] [Appraisal:LV6] [Dark Clad: LV1]

[Poison Synthesis:LV10] [Mana Control:LV3]

[Necrotoxic Venom:LV4] [Poison Blade:LV7]

[Energy Conversion: LV3] [Mind's Eye: LV3]

[Thought Transference:LV1] [Charisma:LV1]

[Spatial Manoeuvring:LV1] [Mana Drain:LV4]

[Olfactory Enhancement:LV1][Summon:LV1]

[DarkBlade:LV8][Overeating:LV6][Mark:LV5]

[VisionEnhancement:LV1][Necromancy:LV1]

[Colossal Strength: LV1][Regeneration: LV6]

[Shattering Impact: LV1] [Crushing Bite: LV1]

[FearBringer:LV1][ThoughtAcceleration:LV1]

[GravityNegation:LV1][PredatoryGrace:LV1]

[Ether Detection:LV5][Sovereign's Aura:LV1]

[Lightning Strike:LV1][Crystal Defence:LV1]

[Concentration: LV6][SP Recovery: LV7]

[HP Recovery: LV8][Mana Sense: LV10]

[Sensory Field: LV1] [Venom Rain: LV5]

[Infrared Vision:LV1][Detox:LV8]

[Instantaneous Sprint:LV10]

----------------------------

Titles:

[Apostle] [Coldblooded] [Mistress of Chaos]

[Monster Slaughterer][Trickster][Merciless]

[Hero] [Dark Sovereign]

----------------------------

Unique Skills:

[Devour][Area of Authority][Ruler of Abyss]

----------------------------

Magic Items:

[Dimensional Box] [Labyrinth Atlas]

[Glossary of Aeon] [Captain's Mark]

----------------------------

Magic Skills:

[Poison Magic:LV10] [Shadow Magic:LV10]

[Dark Magic:LV5] [Dark Manipulation: LV7]

[Abyss Magic:LV1] [Poison Manipulation:LV10]

[Shadow Manipulation:LV10]

----------------------------

Attributes:

[Obsidian Horn] [Mimic] [Coercion]

[Mind Chain] [Empowered Stinger]

[Acid Blood] [Death Rattle] [Flight]

----------------------------

Pit Members: [6704]

----------------------------

Resistances:

[Rot Resistance:LV3] [Pain Mitigation:LV8]

[Faint Resistance:LV8] [Mental Warfare:LV8]

[Impact Resistance:LV10] [Dark Resistance:LV10]

[Cutting Resistance:LV10] [Wind Resistance:LV10]

[Poison Resistance:LV10] [Heat Resistance:LV8]

[Shock Resistance:LV10] [Pain Resistance:LV10]

[Paralysis Resistance:LV7]

----------------------------

Experience Points: [5830]

----------------------------

W-What was all this? It was my stats menu, yet it was not.

Wasn't the option I chose [Etheno Cerastes], so why am I [Ael Etheno]?

And what was this notoriety?

Was it a danger meter?

A nuisance score?

Or maybe a destructive meter?

I stared at it in confusion, hoping for the number to reveal something. Instead, I was drawn towards my stamina points.

"Why is there a number beside my stamina value?"

«It represents how many stamina stores you have.» Sensei replied. «Right now you only have one, so you need to eat more and get much fatter.»

I scowled. Was that all this bastard could say?

Why wasn't he concerned about other things, like why my species was different? It was clear from this that I was no longer purely a Cerastes, but something different.

When I took a peek at my core, I realised it was now completely solid.

I was shocked. I thought this would take me a year to achieve, yet it ended up taking less than a month.

I was only LV34, yet my stats were much higher than any LV34 monster I'd ever encountered, and seeing how powerful I had become, cheered me up significantly.

"Doesn't - doesn't this make me a genius?!" I exclaimed loudly, completely unable to contain my happiness.

«No, it makes you vain.» Sensei deadpanned. «Now, stop gawking at yourself and go meet your Pit members.»

"Hmph. Not yet." There were still many skills to examine.

Besides, wasn't he just jealous of my amazing new look?

And so, I decided to tease him a little.

"I've evolved again now, so when do I get to see you?" I questioned him.

Sensei didn't answer straight away, but when he did he sounded confused. «What do you mean?»

"Well, you have a core, you can't hide that. So you must have a body, or some physical form."

It made sense to me - I had a core, mortals had a core, even Abyssal monsters had one at some point.

An incorporeal system like Sensei had no business having one, if he wasn't one of those things. Unless he reverse imploded like a monster from the Abyss, but I wasn't sure if that was possible, yet.

Instead of answering me, Sensei went quiet, so I sighed.

"I'm just kidding, no need to tell me if you don't want to. I'm sure the goddess is restricting you from saying much."

But Sensei remained quiet.

"Fine, be like that then."

I cheerfully continued to examine my stats. Why were there so many new skills?

I wanted to appraise them all, but I was sure it would take me forever.

Instead, I decided to try the skills that caught my eye, like [Summon] to see what would happen, and I was so excited when I felt the mana around me begin to fluctuate.

My shadows flickered in a chaotic manner as black lightning emanated to strike a single spot in the floor, until it was charred black.

An excited hiss escaped my mouth.

What was going to happen? What formidable creature was going to appear?

And I leapt back as two shadow creatures took shape in front of me.

However, they were nothing like I expected.

When the lightning disappeared, I was left staring at two serpent-like creatures that innocently looked up at me. They looked exactly like my current self - only they were... tiny.

Too tiny!

What was this?

These two were no different from my neonate form. Actually, they might be much smaller, causing me to stare at them in confusion.

They were cute, but…

How was I supposed to fight with them?

Was it because [Summon] was just LV1?

To my annoyance, Sensei snickered in amusement.

«We all have to start somewhere.» He said, completely ignoring my disappointed frown.