Devil Slave (Satan system)

Chapter 1181: Entering The None Zone

The vessel of the Void Mappers glided through the endless expanse of space, its bizarre structure casting long shadows on the walls of the dimly lit interior. It felt alive, with the soft hum of pulsating energy and the faint groans of fused metal and organic matter shifting as they moved. Perseus leaned against a cold wall, his eyes scanning the desolate view outside. He had already resigned himself to this strange journey alongside Tomato, but something weighed on his mind. He turned toward her, watching as she hungrily tore into the scraps of meat she had scavenged from the ship’s trash—some kind of alien beast, half-eaten and barely recognizable.

Perseus sighed. "The eighth earth will soon open up," he said, his voice steady but thoughtful. "When it does, you could return with me and Victor. We’ll go home, together."

At his words, Tomato slowed down, her sharp teeth pausing on the piece of meat in her hand. For a moment, the air around her seemed to grow still. The ship’s distant creaks faded into a soft silence as she lowered the meat, a flicker of something deeper crossing her blood-red face.

"I have no home," she said, her voice quieter now, heavy with a sorrow rarely heard from her. "If I ever did have one, it was in Lenny’s arms... but he’s gone." Her third eye, hidden behind her dark sunglasses, narrowed slightly, the weight of her memories pulling her back to that fateful day. "The Morningstar ripped him to pieces. It all ended then."

Perseus watched as her face hardened, remembering those distant battles. The memories were etched into her very being—Lenny’s downfall, the explosions that tore apart their world, and the onslaught of the Morningstar’s forces. She had fought even against the Sisters of Eve, her body shattered and bleeding as the explosions closed in on the twin planets.

And then Cain—the first mirderer, but still faithful, unwavering Cain—had carried her broken form under his arm, sprinting through the collapsing world toward a portal.

But that escape had been their undoing. The blast had struck just as they entered the portal, distorting the fabric of space itself.

In that final, desperate moment, she had been torn from Cain’s grasp, swallowed by the void and lost in the swirling chaos. That was how she had first found herself in a None Zone.

Coincedentally Perseus had been somehow found himself there too, trapped, his mind fraying from the overwhelming madness that the None Zone inflicted on anything that entered.

She had found him moments before he would have been lost to the chaos, dragging him back into sanity before they both managed to escape. Since then, she had never truly belonged anywhere.

A devil, marked by the Lenny royal family, she didn’t fit in Hell.

And even Demons steered clear of her, and her ability to nullify magic meant she had to be cautious, lest she accidentally destroy entire planes with her presence. No, she had no place in this universe.

Perseus took a breath, feeling the deep sadness in her words. He reached out, gently placing a hand on her arm, his touch hesitant but sincere. "You have a home with us," he said quietly. "When the eighth earth opens, you’ll be welcomed. Loved." His voice grew softer as he spoke of the past. "I remember the days with Lenny, the adventures we had, the laughter, the bonds we formed. Trust me, it was not great and we fought a lot, and nearly killed ourselves, but we still accept our own. You belong with us, Tomato. You were always one of us."

For a fleeting moment, hope flickered in her eyes, a warmth that had been buried for so long. But it passed quickly. She shrugged his hand off, her devilish smile returning. "I’ll think about it," she muttered, her voice light but evasive.

The heavy silence that followed was broken by the grating voice of Branch echoing from the top deck, a sound that crawled through the ship’s bizarre metal structure. "We’ve reached the region," he announced. His voice had a rough edge, like broken wood grinding against itself, but there was an excitement underneath, a thrill of nearing the unknown.

Perseus stood up straighter, feeling the shift in the air. The vessel’s groans intensified, the temperature dropping as they neared the None Zone. The very fabric of space seemed to ripple outside the ship’s portholes, stars bending and twisting unnaturally in the distance. A low hum filled the ship, a sensation that vibrated deep within the bones—a warning of the cosmic anomaly that lay ahead.

Tomato wiped her hands on her torn jacket, the remains of her scavenged meat forgotten. She grinned, licking her lips in anticipation of the chaos to come. Perseus, however, couldn’t shake the feeling of impending danger. Even as he steeled himself for this place ahead, his mind wandered back to the conversation they’d just had.

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The entrance to the None Zone was impossible to see with the naked eye. It wasn’t like a black hole or any typical tear in the fabric of space—it was a void so complete that not even light dared approach it. No visible markers hinted at its existence, but the crew knew it was there. They felt it in the subtle distortions of reality, the way the ship hummed with unease as it neared the uncharted territory.

Tomato and Perseus joined Branch on the upper deck, where the captain leaned over the ship’s controls with a practiced hand, eyes narrowed in concentration. Outside the ship, space itself seemed to ripple unnaturally, but nothing visible marked the entrance. Nothing but the presence of the five massive creatures tethered to the vessel by chains.

Branch glanced at them, a rare smirk playing on his lips. "It’s not something you can see," he explained. "The None Zone, it’s more of a tear in space... a wound. But we can’t navigate it alone. We use voidlings to find the entrances, the only creatures that can survive in and out of it."

Perseus stared out at the creatures, recognizing them immediately. "Voidlings," he muttered under his breath, memories flashing back to that last day on the eighth earth he saw lenny and also.when the entities had invaded.

He could still remember the chaos they’d caused when they first appeared, the devastation they brought with them. But these voidlings—these were Obscuras, a much more dangerous kind.

The five creatures swam through the vastness of space, each one larger than the ship itself, their forms constantly shifting. What was most unsettling about them was the way they moved: not aimlessly, but with deliberate, smooth motions that resembled graceful giants in the sea. Their forms flickered between different shapes—sometimes they looked like enormous fish with luminescent scales, other times they took the appearance of majestic serpents or winged beasts. Perseus knew better than to trust what he saw.

Obscuras took the form of whatever their prey loved most. The creatures were deadly deceivers, using their beauty and allure to lure victims close. But these particular voidlings, under Branch’s control, were giants now, their minds warped from years of exposure to his influence.

Branch turned back to them, his tone dropping as he continued. "Controlling these things is no small feat. I’ve been rearing them from the time they were the size of your hand. And still... I’ve lost at least fifty men to their jaws." He glanced out at the massive voidlings swimming in space, their eyes glowing faintly. "The bigger and stronger they get, the easier it is for them to lead us into the None Zone. But it’s also more dangerous. Any moment, they could decide to devour the ship instead."

Perseus could see the chains—thick as houses—connecting the ship to the voidlings, shimmering faintly with runes that pulsed with an eerie light. It was clear the mission ahead was perilous. The Obscuras thrashed occasionally, their movements causing vibrations that shuddered through the ship’s structure. Yet, without them, there was no way they’d survive the journey into the None Zone.

The ship’s engines grew quieter as they neared the tear in space. There was an undeniable tension, the kind that came before stepping into the unknown. Perseus leaned over the railing, watching the voidlings as they guided the ship ever closer to the invisible tear.

"This is dangerous," Tomato muttered, biting into her lower lip as she stared at the giants outside.

Perseus didn’t reply, but his hand instinctively gripped the railing tighter. Branch’s words echoed in his mind, reminding him of the real stakes here. They were about to enter a place where reality was stretched thin, where even voidlings could be driven mad. Perseus knew this mission would take them to the very edge of sanity itself.

"Hold on tight," Branch called out, "we’re about to cross over."

With that, the ship plunged into the None Zone, pulled by the Obscuras, and the space around them bent in ways it shouldn’t. Reality itself seemed to ripple as they crossed the threshold into the unknown.