Nameless King

"It can't be..." The snake hissed in disbelief with his eyes wide open. The silhouette of the Abyss Artist was distinct as if he were actually here.

"Hey, long time no see. I'm sorry, but I honestly cheated you a little." The Abyss Artist smiled slightly, emitting an unnatural kindly manner as if he'd met a pet he'd long ago lost to an accident.

The snake was an unusual beast that Wain had met by chance. He was supposed to protect Overion and subsequently Last Light from intruders because he possessed extraordinary strength, yet he did not even know who his master really was.

"What are you talking about...?" Snake asked, shaking his long tongue.

"I am not truly your master, for in the fact that silhouette you remember was a doll of darkness created by me." The Abyss Artist shrugged in a careless manner.

The snake was puzzled for a while, not understanding why the Abyss Artist did this, "Hmm...? Why did you make it so complicated...? Why did you create a silhouette?"

"It's simple. Because you had to protect me since I am your parent, not your master!" Abyss Artist exclaimed with an excited smile on his face.

"Parent...? Aren't you a human? How can a human give birth to a beast? Moreover, you are a man." The snake was completely stunned, not just him since Wain's eyes were wide open as well.

'What the hell is going on...? Don't I know much about you?' Wain's puzzled look asked the Abyss Artist.

"Hahaha, Wain, don't make that weird face, it embarrasses me." Abyss Artist laughed with a happy expression, "It wasn't at all what you thought. Snake, you probably don't remember the time when you were little, do you?"

"What? No, I have one memory. It's you and me when you found me in the middle of the woods!" Snake exclaimed in confusion.

"Besides that, name one other memory where you weren't as strong as you are now." The Abyss Artist nodded slightly as a slight smile appeared on his face.

Snake opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly his eyes went blank as he realized he couldn't remember anything.

"That one memory I created so that you wouldn't torture yourself with questions about your origins, and as you can see, my plan worked. Only now do you realize it's a little more complicated than that, but don't worry, I'm here to explain it to you." Abyss Artist said calmly before approaching Snake. He stepped forward and touched Snake's forehead with the tip of his finger, directing a small portion of his energy toward Snake.

Snake's eyes grew wide as suddenly chains with various seals appeared across his body that seemed designed to restrain the divine beast. Then, space trembled as well as chains due to the sheer amount of energy emanating from Snake.

"In fact, you've always been strong, even much stronger than you are now. Third Chronicle, this is just the beginning, this is the level of strength you had in the first hour after you were born." Abyss Artist uttered, walking closer to Snake to place her palm on the beast's head.

Abyss Artist began slowly stroking Snake's head, despite the fact that the beast was ten times his own size, then with a sincere look he said, "I am not normally sentimental at all, but can I not have feelings for one whom I have given life and for one who saved mine in return?"

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Space trembled as purple light burst from hundreds of Snake's scales while chains broke into multiple links and all seals were removed.

At the same time, the body of the beast grew even larger, about one and a half times as large as the cave that could easily fit a giant and could barely keep the Snake inside. The size wasn't the only change, as in a few moments Snake's power had grown from Third Chronicle to Demigod Stage, just in a heartbeat.

'Wow, that's really impressive. I've never seen such a beast, maybe this snake is just unique, but it looks like the Abyss Artist spent a lot of time to achieve such a result.' Wain wondered looking at Snake with a meaningful look.

Wain had fought innumerable dangerous foes, but despite that now he felt shivery and wanted to run away, however, his extensive combat experience prevented that from happening.

'Unbelievable, it's not about strength level, it's about instinct and experience. If someone on the God Stage were in my place, who got his strength from his followers and hadn't been through dozens of death fights, this one would definitely run away in fear.' Wain muttered inwardly while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

After a while, the shaking stopped as Snake's consciousness returned to him. He looked at the Abyss Artist and spoke, "I see now... You had to absorb my power all this time to survive, didn't you?"

"Yeah..." The Abyss Artist nodded in an awkward manner, "However, for the first hundred years or so, it was enough for me to heal completely. The next two hundred years, it took me to get back to normal as before that I was still weak, then another two hundred years I gave you my energy to make you even stronger since I had nowhere to put it."

"I understand. It took a long time, but in the end, everyone benefited, didn't it?" Snake muttered, bowing his head to the Abyss Artist, "You are my parent, but also my master. Now I will always be there for you."

"Hah, well, for that I have to wake up first." Abyss Artist said while rubbing the back of his head, "Anyway, let's pick a name for you first? Since you're literally reborn now, aren't you?"

The snake was surprised, until after a while he had a satisfied smile on his face, "Sure, that would be great."

"Fine, in that case, your name is Gen now!" Abyss Artist waved his hand, "Rejection is not accepted since I came up with that name all along, five hundred years ago!"