Kaiden's vision was swallowed by darkness.

The throne, the chamber, Calypso and his lovers, all of it vanished the instant his body touched the seat. The world around him went utterly black. No sound. No air. Just the racing pulse in his ears.

His breath caught. He looked around, but there was nothing to see. No floor, no walls, no ceiling.

When he tried to take a step, his foot didn't land anywhere. He was floating.

His heart began to pound faster. 'What the hell is going on?!'

Kaiden tried again to move, and his body responded, but not in a way that made sense. He drifted forward, or perhaps backward? He couldn't tell. There was no sense of speed or direction, just a strange feeling of motion without space.

"What is this…" Kaiden muttered under his breath. He naively thought sitting on the throne was going to be symbolic, a gesture only. Calypso giving him control in name only, in the sense of a wife letting her husband call the shots.

But this was clearly something else entirely.

Something eerie and supernatural.

Then, suddenly, a soft chime echoed in the void.

A blue screen blinked into existence before his eyes, glowing like a window of light in the endless dark.

—

[SYSTEM MESSAGE: DUNGEON INTERFACE ACTIVATED]

Dungeon ID: #A23-6679

Name: The Infernal Matriarch's Lair

Designation: Low Tier Dungeon

New Core Authority Detected.

Welcome, Kaiden Grey. Dungeon #A23-6679 recognizes you as its New Dungeon Master.

—

Kaiden blinked. "Dungeon… Master?"

—

[Do you accept?]

—

Kaiden didn't rush to say yes. In his head, dungeons were governed by the enemies, monsters who seemed to harbor an innate animosity towards humanity.

Would he undergo a change if he accepted?

A sudden ding sounded in his mind.

[Ding!]

[The Demonic Pornstar System advises the Successor to accept.]

"You finally decide to speak, huh…" Kaiden grumbled. This damned system of his refused to converse; barely did it do more than its basic functions. One such exemption to the usual was when it suggested Kaiden subjugate Bastet, as it realized that she was not a common catkin monster but an extremely rare species, the Ra-Blessed Felinid.

"Explain, please."

[Dungeons are governed by monsters and the cursed. They are set to protect their domains and, if possible, leave the dungeon to conquer even more territory. But the Successor is neither a monster nor has he been cursed.]

"Monsters and the cursed…?" Kaiden found this information hard to understand. Who was which? Were both Bastet and Calypso in the monster category? Or were they cursed…?

The system did not seem intent on explaining further.

Instead, it decreed,

[The Successor has a unique chance. A protector of the dungeon willingly relinquished her claim over it. If Calypso had been defeated, the dungeon would've been shattered. But she bent the knee willingly. Her doing so created one of the rarest phenomena known in the universe: domain inheritance. Even the Demonic Pornstar System fails to comprehend what truly compelled her to do so.]

Kaiden was about to ask if it wasn't his Great Demon of Wrath transformation that compelled her to do this. But the system was already explaining.

[There are many existences of the same race as a dungeon's boss monster. If the individual is of great strength, they may be many times more powerful than the boss monster. Yet despite holding the same race and being aware of their inferiority, boss monsters do not bend the knee.]

[It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not even the Heavenly Demon held two domains.]

"Not even him…" Kaiden couldn't help but whisper under his breath. The gravity of the situation was slowly settling over him.

If the freaking cosmic terrorist who rebelled against the universe itself only had one dungeon under his control, then it truly was an opportunity that might not come a second time.

But he had noticed something that made him hold his breath.

This was a so-called Low Tier dungeon. He didn't know how that could be, as it was read as a C-tier dungeon by the Awakened Association. But perhaps… the scale humanity operated on was too minuscule. Maybe even C-tier for humanity was considered low on the grand scale.

"It says 'Designation: Low Tier Dungeon.' I know it might be greedy, but…"

His lips turned wry, unsure if he should truly say this. But the ambition of Kaiden Grey knew no limit.

He truly strived to reach utmost supremacy.

"Shouldn't I leave this chance behind and hope for a High Tier dungeon? What if I get stuck with this one? Do you even know if a person can hold two dungeons? Maybe I should have Calypso remain the owner of this one."

[The System recognizes the great ambition of the Successor.]

[But Calypso, the former Dungeon Mistress, already bent the knee to the Succesor. She relinquished her claim freely, offering him not just her loyalty, but her legacy.]

Kaiden's already wry lips trembled. The way the system's tone shifted… it wasn't fully mechanical anymore. There was weight behind those words, a sharp reprimand that made his chest tighten.

[The Successor speaks of waiting for a higher dungeon. But he can't simply give the dungeon back, Calypso has already been deemed to have abandoned her Seat of Power.]

[How does the Successor plan to reverse the flow of time? Does the Successor wish to bend the knee to Calypso? Not as a symbolic gesture, but in truth? Will he serve under her, treat her as his superior for all eternity?]

[If his heart is prepared for that, then he may proceed.]

Kaiden swallowed hard. The screen glowed before his eyes, pulsing like a heartbeat, as if the system itself was staring straight into his soul and did not like what it saw there.

He could feel that it was disappointed.

Maybe he had been too full of himself for a moment.

His fingers flexed as he stared into the endless black. "No… I don't want to bend the knee to her. She's mine and mine alone. I'll treat what she gave me properly."

As if in response, the screen's glow steadied, calming.

[The Demonic Pornstar System acknowledges the Successor's resolve.]

[As for the Successor's other question, the system is uncertain whether an individual can hold two dungeons. However, the system firmly believes that giving up on this opportunity would be the greatest mistake of the Successor's life.]

[According to all available data within the Demonic Pornstar System's archives, only Low Tier Dungeons have ever been inherited in the history of existence.]

[They begin small, but dungeons can evolve and ascend.]

Kaiden's eyes widened. "Oh…! Can they be upgraded? Does that mean the Heavenly Demon had a High Tier one?"

The blue light pulsed one final time. Then, silence.

No further explanation came.

Kaiden exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Alright, alright. Too many questions, hmm? Thanks for the explanation."

The screen, which was physical unlike his system's screen, shifted again. The interface became clean and simple, the words crisp against the darkness.

—

[Do you accept the role of Dungeon Master?]

[Yes / No]

—

Kaiden didn't hesitate this time. "Yes."

The instant the word left his lips, the entire void shuddered. The screen before him changed.

Lines of text began scrolling across the blue screen, sterile and robotic in tone.

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